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Topic ClosedThe Beatles Remasters: Mono or Stereo

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Poll Question: Which mixes do you prefer on the 10 albums mixed in mono AND stereo?
Poll Choice Votes Poll Statistics
13 [29.55%]
31 [70.45%]
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Fritha View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 09 2009 at 12:04
I've celebrated the Beatles Day to the fullest: cranking my stereo box-set (bought in my local record shop called Yellow Submarine in Finnish :D) in chronological order and finally becoming familiar with the entire Beatles catalogue. Right now I'm listening to the White Album for the first time ever, believe it or not! It really was worth waiting for this glorious day and hear it in such great sound quality! I was only familiar with a couple of tracks on it and all I can say so far is...What a quirky album, lol. Such a marked difference to what went on before... I'll have lots of fun with it in the future!

This stuff may be forty years old by now but omg, does it stand up even today... It must have been mind blowing to be a contemporary witness to this music way back then.  
I was made to love magic
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 09 2009 at 08:23
i ordered Hard Days Night, Rubber Soul, Sgt.Pepper, White album and Abbey Road, hope they turn up today Ermm
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 09 2009 at 08:05
I listened to the stereo version of A Hard Day's Night and it sounds so much better!

In the end the love you take is equal to the love you made...
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 09 2009 at 07:58

I was listening to the Stereo re-master version of Beatles For Sale a couple of hours ago in a local HMV. They played it over their PA system.

The sound was just incredible and many of us just stopped up and was listening. Most of us with a big grin, myself included. Finally; The Beatles albums has got the justice they deserves. Unfortunate, I do not have the HMV PA system at home. But be kind to yourself and go to a record shop today. Ask them to play a re-master over the PA system. Enjoy ! 

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 06 2009 at 19:36
Well now that we know the story, I guess most of us will have to settle for stereo.
 
Mono box set is limited edition.  Stereo box set not limited.  Individual albums all stereo. 
Can you tell me where we're headin'?
Lincoln County Road or Armageddon.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 06 2009 at 17:12
I just hooked up with a guy from another forum who was able to get the White Album, Abbey Road and Let it Be from a CD outlet where he knows the owner. He says these re-masters are miles ahead of the old pressings. I know this guy well, and he generally doesn't like modern re-masters, plus he's also a vinyl buff as well. He says these are right up with his British vinyl collection. So I'll take that as a good sign.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 06 2009 at 15:43
I heard them in Mono as a kid. Help the first LP I ever bought is in mono and the original Sgt Peppers is mono as well that I have.
I will buy the remaster of Abbey Road ( stereo)which is not in the mono set. I will not purchase Yellow Submarine again as the original cd version will do fine (one of them is enough). Let it Be maybe.
Matt

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 06 2009 at 15:31
Originally posted by progkidjoel progkidjoel wrote:

Originally posted by chopper chopper wrote:

The mono versions do have a few interesting differences but if we were meant to listen to mono recordings, God wouldn't have given us 2 ears.


Indeed he wouldn'tve!



So I guess since we've all got an ear on our forehead and two more in the back of out heads, God mean't for us to listen to 5.1 surround.
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Equality 7-2521 View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 06 2009 at 13:10
Depends on the song to me honestly. I'd much rather hear something like For No One in mono, but the A Day In The Life I would greatly prefer in stereo.
"One had to be a Newton to notice that the moon is falling, when everyone sees that it doesn't fall. "
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 06 2009 at 13:08
with a few days to go before their release, i quote from "Record Collector" 's interview with Allan Rouse, head of Beatles remastering project for EMI Abbey Road Studios..
 
"The remastering was done using 24-bit technology, yet the albums are only being released on 16-bit CD's.  Is there a reason why they're not being released on higher quality formats such as DVD-A,  SACD or Blu-ray?
 
It was EMI and Apple's choice. The masters now exist on 24-bit 192 kHz, ready and waiting should they want to put them on a higher resolution format.
 
Regrettably most people have gone backwards in terms of listening.......hi-res is not of great importance to most people......we now have a buying public who aren't as interested in sound quality as they used to be, which is sad. 
 
It's all mobile today, not many would sit down in the living room and listen to an album all the way through...most people buying these CD's will be plugging them into their iPod....or listening to them in the car.
 
We're mastering in the very best quality possible, but do know that 99% of people will hear it as an MP3 file...and not complain. 
The Beatles are one of the few bands where you need to release their music on Vinyl,CD and high-res. Not all bands need that, but this band does because of the vast age group of people that are interested...  "
 
(the strange thing here though is if sound quality is not a priority, what on earth have they  been doing the last four years remastering them..? Confused)
 
 
" Without question, Vinyl will be a popular choice. "   
 
Undoubtedly!!!  Big smile
 that makes sense!


Edited by mystic fred - September 06 2009 at 13:20
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 30 2009 at 01:49
Originally posted by chopper chopper wrote:

The mono versions do have a few interesting differences but if we were meant to listen to mono recordings, God wouldn't have given us 2 ears.


Indeed he wouldn'tve!


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 30 2009 at 01:23
Well, apparently many of y'alls Beatles albums are in much better shape than mine, mine being 40 years old and not necesarily cared for with due respect back when.  What can I say, I was a kid at the time, no idea that the things would have any sort of importance later. 
 
(Actually, not so.  I knew I was listening to something that was changing my life.  I just did not know how...).
 
I think I'll get the Past Masters CD in both mono and stereo, then decide from there.  Once I hear Rain in  both formats, all will beome clear.
Can you tell me where we're headin'?
Lincoln County Road or Armageddon.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 29 2009 at 07:18

fair enough mr M,  you are very lucky having those MFSL Beatle albums, they should sound good on any system! Clap

i have an SACD/DVD-A player, i never really felt comfortable with digital, and have always thought advances in this digital lark were making the best of a bad job - after saving up for a CD player in 1983 and a collection of my favourite albums on CD it was all a huge disappointment and never botherered with them until SACD / DVD-A came out some years ago and appreciated the improvements, and many recent  20bit reissues of old albums (Creedence Clearwater Revival,  the  Doors)  on SACD and  showed a marked improvement over some of the original albums which were not mastered   to  their   best i must admit.
 
I am surprised you found the SACD flat, whereas i found these recordings to be very three-dimensional and didn't need any adjustments at all - hence my suspecting a fault in your setup,  are you using an SACD player with 5.1 channel amp?  I have always been averse to graphic equalisers of any kind, believing their use implicates shortcomings within a system -     the  exception   is  computer music or recording live where one is battling with shortcomings at every turn in a home studio.
 
I rarely play music from the computer, always throu analogue equipment and have rarely found any problem with SACD or DVD-A, though CD 's do sound flat and clinical, but everyone is different, my vinyl records do have a much better sense of space, tighter bass and smooth treble, but i do listen to these most of the time on a Linn Sondek so CD's seem like a step down after a long listening period, but one's ears adjust after a time.  I'm not a hifi snob and sorry if  i came over as such, i just wish everybody could hear great sound - there are those who own those sumptuously expensive setups that you see at the shows,  to hear my system would be a disappointment for them but there is nothing wrong with getting the best from resources one can afford Wink
 
I like to do my own drumming on a Roland TD-12 ,  i agree with you about the hi-hats, love to hear them cut through but overall accept an original recording as it is but appreciate some intelligent remixing or mastering where possible, hence some vinyl 180g  reissues (Quiex etc.) in my collection (the Led Zeppelin albums from this range are stunning!).
 
Smile
 
btw you  should listen   to "Metanoia" by Porcupine tree for good drum recording, the set is very prominent and almost in-the-room.
 


Edited by mystic fred - August 29 2009 at 07:26
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marktheshark View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 28 2009 at 17:59
Hey, it's my thread, if you want to talk tech, go for it. Surely you have wanted to at least tweek the bass, mid-range or treble when listening to something. I always like boost the treble a little because as a former drummer, I like the hi-hats and cymbals jump out more, I can pick-up on the rythms better. Little things like that. But I'm not one of those bass-boost junkies that want the earthquake effect all the time.

The SACDs sound great in terms of clarity and warmth, but to me it's all flat. I don't know if this is a tech thing or an artist thing where if you get the SACD you have no choice but listen to it the way the artist wanted you to.

But in a nutshell, if the Beatles catalogue does come out in SACD form, I'll go for it anyway. But in the meantime I've the got the MSFL vinyl collection I bought in the 80s transfered to lossless CD and they sound great.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 28 2009 at 14:15
i've never used an equalizer ,    they can degrade the signal, not improve it....
 
(perhaps we should be in "tech talk", i   ha ve inadvertantly hijacked the Beatles thread.)..Embarrassed
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 28 2009 at 12:51
Nothing wrong with system, it's a MacIntosh, I've been an audio buff for over 30 years. It's just that a SACD sounds flat to me. DVD-As are alright because the signal is digital as opposed to the analog signal an SACD sends. So a digital equalizer will work with those but not with SACDs.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 28 2009 at 12:28
^no need to tweak the eq, it is self tweaking !  Wink
 
 
...seriously, if you need to adjust SACD or DVD-A there is something seriously wrong with the way your system is set up, wrong cables, wrong speakers...?
 
 


Edited by mystic fred - August 28 2009 at 12:31
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 28 2009 at 12:26
I'm not too keen on SACD because I like to be able to EQ the sound to my liking and you can't do that with SACD.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 28 2009 at 03:40
crackle and rustle is not inevitable and need not be a problem if recores are cleaned,  anyone with reasonable hearing will detect the differences between analogue and digital very easily they are so obvious, like the difference between stereo and mono, believe me you don't know what you're missing!  Tongue
 
 true high end audio equipment only comes with an on/off switch and nothing else, no filters, even no tone controls..Wink
 
   


Edited by mystic fred - August 28 2009 at 03:43
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 28 2009 at 03:30

Don't know about CD mainly for storage and convenience, to me their main attraction is the absence of the inevitable crack and rustle of any vinyl players that always set my teeth on edge.

Apparently my hearing is just not acute enough to detect any big difference between analog and digital, so I'm happy with CDs.

As for mono mixes: No thanks, I like my stereo sound.

But I was just thinking: HiFi eqipment used to come with a mono/stereo switch for people that wanted that for some reason. Does this exist at all any more?

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