Beatles Please Please Me Album Stereo Mix- MFSL Version

You are saying that the REDD 37 could output Stereo and Mono simultaneously?

 

Yes. As I said, that was the usual method of recording up to mid-1963.

 

In this back and forth on what was or wasn't done vis-a-vis the stereo mix of the Please Please Me LP, if the generally held belief that Germany received a flat transfer without added compression and EQ is simply a canard, then what accounts for the immediately noticeable difference in sound between a ~1 mat UK Please Please Me and an ~A2 / ~B2 Die Beatles Please Please Me?

 

Very different mastering. Apart from the different EQ, check the left (instruments) channel of both - you will see that the German master has this lowered in volume (not less compression, just turned down about 3dB). The right (vocal) channel is pretty much the same, though this imbalance means that the overall sound is quite different.

 

Apart from the data provided by slane, I have always found very unlikely that EMI sends a tape to Germany before even having the final master for the UK version. And we are talking about a new band here, was really such a hurry and demand from Germany for this album that they got an early tape?

 

The Beatles were HUGELY popular in Germany at that time. So it actually makes perfect sense.

 

It appears that the cut in question SHZE 117 A-2 / SHZE 117 B-2 would have been later, perhaps 1966. I don't know if there's anything special about the 1964 cut.

 

Even less likely that in 1966 they would send an unfinished tape, and not a copy of the master they were using for all the countries.

 

So post #67 here is incorrect?:

A complete Beatles UK Singles compilation

"O/D, overdub. "voiceover", SI, Superimposition as the EMI studio called it. All basically the same thing. In the days of TWIN TRACK BEATLES RECORDING A bounce from one tape machine to another to overdub something extra for the song. The hand claps in I SAW HER STANDING THERE were O/D, Paul's second vocal in A TASTE OF HONEY was overdubbed, Piano in MISERY, Harmonica in THERE'S A PLACE, etc. EMI called it an "SI" or superimposition. When they got their four track machine in studio 2 they didn't have to bounce to add stuff anymore until they got to Revolver, etc. and wanted to add a bunch of stuff when the four channels were filled up or they needed to do something special like on the earlier song HELP! when George couldn't get the lead lick right.

So, the "Please Please Me" LP O/D twin track master was the "final" work part, to be used to make a mono and stereo cutting tape for record release. A FLAT 1:1 dub of the stereo was made for export to Germany and became "DIE BEATLES" LP in that country (only the -2 cutting is any good). A dub with compression and EQ was done for UK record cutting and became the first British stereo release. DIE BEATLES is better to me vs. the Parlophone because it doesn't have the final layer of compression and EQ on the tape therefore it's more natural sounding..."

 

Yes. Though making two different dubs of the twin-track would be easy enough, matching every fade-out exactly would be nigh on impossible.

Plus only one stereo (and simultaneous mono, for the most part) mix/copy of the twin-track is documented (all done on 25 Feb 1963).

 

Ondra is correct. I have had an mp3 of this version for many years and I always figured it was done by spectral stereo. I don't have that version anymore because I remixed the first two albums so that the vocals and bass are in the center. I ended up with George's guitar on the left echoing into the center, the Paul's vocal and bass in the center and John's guitar and background vocal on the right along with Ringo's drums. George's lead break is in the middle. Sounds like it was recorded last week.

 

>>>>??? I dont see whats "impossible" about it. You log the tape counter number when the fade is to start, and you log the tape counter number at the end of the fade. Using this method you can recreate the fade EXACTLY a hundred times. I did this nearly every day on my Teac 3440 when I was making trial mixes.

 

They didnt send an unfinished tape. The mix itself was done. They simply decided to let EMI Germany make their own cutting master, if they so chose. Nothing odd there, at all.

 

Maybe I'm missing it but who said anything about EMI sending a tape to Germany before even having the final UK master?

Nevertheless recall that the first record with Beatles on it was in Germany.

 

Then why didn't they do that when they made dedicated mono and stereo mixes of Misery and Baby It's You on Feb 25 (these were not done using the 2T/A method)?

Because it wasn't important to ensure every mix exactly corresponds to another. So why would they follow it exactly on the phantom 'uncompressed' stereo mix?

 

"Very different mastering" doesnt remove compression and limiting.

 

I know, and it didn't.

 

Could have been a million different reasons. The most likely being it sounded good to them as is , so they went with it. Or, Time was getting late and they wanted to get them done. None of us were there.

 

Slane: Do you OWN The correct "Die Beatles"? honest answer. please.

 

Fair question, but there could be a thousand reasons why they didn't.

 

Every time they tried to replicate a mix there is always something to give it away, however minor. It's the nature of the beast.

Yet Die Beatles has the exact same fade outs (not just the fade out points, but the curve of the fade)?

Yes.

 

I'm surprised no-one has had access to EMI's archives in Cologne to get a definitive answer. Or perhaps the archives are gone?

 

Let's consider this from another perspective. What evidence is there that a unique dub of the twin track was made for Germany? No one has produced any studio documentation or testimony from anyone directly involved in the alleged dubbing or mastering of the German LP. The claim seems to be entirely based on the different sound of the LP, something that is not proof and can likely be accounted for by notably different EQ and the rebalancing of the channels.

 

Nothing odd? Really? If they added compression and EQ is because they thought the album sounded like that. So a version before those elements is unfinished. Why would they send that tape and let other people decide how the album should sound? And why only to Germany? It makes no sense at all.

 

No......the "extra" compression and limiting was for the vinyl cutting master. They probably had different lathes in Germany and so the making of the vinyl cutting master tape was best left to the German cutting engineer, who knew what EQ and compression was best suited for the German lathe. Makes total sense.