diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index e5da8fcf122973e3bf807e849ef9afd9877524af..ecbbadd19a9bbca90f37535d7299fbaa4aedca13 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -24,10 +24,10 @@ stages:
 
 # print some info on the runner setup
 .print-common-info: &print-common-info
-  - echo "--------------------------------------------\n"
+  - echo "--------------------------------------------"
   - python3 --version
   - pip3 freeze | grep "numpy\|scipy\|YAML\|pytest\|black\|isort\|flake8"
-  - echo "--------------------------------------------\n\n"
+  - echo "--------------------------------------------"
 
 
 # script anchor for updating the codec repo
@@ -36,7 +36,12 @@ stages:
   # NOTE: CODEC_DIR has to be in PATH
   - cd $CODEC_DIR
   # make sure that we are at latest main
-  - git pull
+  # TODO: temporarily use the RC1a tag
+  - git restore .
+  - git checkout 20230511-RC1a-listening-tests
+  - echo "--------------------------------------------"
+  - echo "Building codec on commit $(git rev-parse HEAD --short)"
+  - echo "--------------------------------------------"
   # only builds if code has actually changed
   - make -j
   - cd $dir
diff --git a/ivas_processing_scripts/audiotools/audio.py b/ivas_processing_scripts/audiotools/audio.py
index 3bc10c53d702b5732b0988f9fc6e21a96c293ff0..0922ae3814a794d34f93dcfc8338471de01652c3 100755
--- a/ivas_processing_scripts/audiotools/audio.py
+++ b/ivas_processing_scripts/audiotools/audio.py
@@ -308,7 +308,8 @@ class ObjectBasedAudio(Audio):
             if pos.shape[1] < 5:
                 raise ValueError("Metadata incomplete. Columns are missing.")
             elif pos.shape[1] > 5:
-                if pos.shape[1] == 7:
+                if pos.shape[1] <= 8:
+                    # TODO: FIXME
                     pos = pos[:, :5]
                 else:
                     raise ValueError(