Thoughts on Beatles 2009 Remasters?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by A Saucerful of Scarlets, Jan 3, 2018.

  1. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    you bet your bippy! who said I didn't own it? LOL...apology accepted...think before you post something you can only assume...
     
  2. MikeManaic61

    MikeManaic61 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    My thoughts? Well I have Revolver, Sgt, Abbey and White album so they sound great to me.

    Still can't get into of their earlier albums (except for Help!,love that one), I wouldn't know how to put it but it comes off as bubblegum pop for pre teens.
     
  3. Tommyboy

    Tommyboy Senior Member

    Location:
    New York
    That’s not practical at all from a business perspective.You think people would shell out money for all 3 at once?? Perhaps the fanatics, but not the casual fan. Besides, who was thinking of remixing the catalog in 2009, when it was never remastered properly.
     
    Gila likes this.
  4. A Saucerful of Scarlets

    A Saucerful of Scarlets Commenter Turned Viewer Thread Starter

    Please Please Me and With the Beatles are definitely not bubblegum pop for teens. They’re classic, early 60’s rock. Help! is probably their closest to bubblegum pop. AHDN is more folk rock, especially the second side, although the first side is very poppy. BFS is less so but has elements in their originals but is more classic rock again with lots of 50’s covers. Rubber Soul is a mature rock album, their breakthrough album to drugs where they explored deeper themes and concepts.

    Just my thoughts on them each. If anything, try and get into RS. My favourite Beatles album besides Sgt. Pepper’s. :)
     
  5. bherbert

    bherbert Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Africa
    I believe the Beatles peaked with Rubber Soul or Revolver. I reckon it’s their 2 best albums. After those 2 the decline was steady with the odd classic papering over the cracks. Like A Day In The Life and Strawberry Fields. Penny Lane as well.
     
  6. pathosdrama

    pathosdrama Forum Resident

    Location:
    Firenze, Italy
    In my opinion, they are the best version available of their music.
    I remember people really raving for the remasters, in 2009. I'm a bit surprised by the dimininshed prestige they mantained over the years.

    And thanks again to the great people who run the SH board for that magical mono box that I won ;)
     
    905 likes this.
  7. A Saucerful of Scarlets

    A Saucerful of Scarlets Commenter Turned Viewer Thread Starter

    Sgt. Pepper's and Abbey Road were declines?
     
    CraigBic and leudanielm like this.
  8. A Saucerful of Scarlets

    A Saucerful of Scarlets Commenter Turned Viewer Thread Starter

    You won a mono box??? When was this a thing?
     
  9. pathosdrama

    pathosdrama Forum Resident

    Location:
    Firenze, Italy
    In 2009. Right after they were issued, the SH board held a contest.
    All we had to do was to post on the thread to be eligible for winning a mono box. I was lucky enough :)
     
    Diego Lucas, apesfan, 905 and 2 others like this.
  10. DRM

    DRM Forum Resident

    Per http://www.friktech.com/btls/beatlesinstereo.pdf

    When George Martin wanted to create the best possible sound for a mono single, he was accustomed to making what amounted to a stereo mix first. As he once described it, he used the twin-track setup as a step in the process of making a single mix. How was this accomplished? During the recording process, George Martin would arrange the instruments so that their volumes and placement did not interfere with one another. He had several microphone setups from which to choose. Some instruments would be placed onto one channel of the twin-track tape, while other instruments and vocals would be placed onto the other channel. This way, if everything worked well during the initial recording stage, the only thing that remained for the creation of a proper mono mix was some balancing and EQ’ing.

    All Parlophone singles were released in mono only back then, so they didn’t need to be released in stereo. Album tracks, however, were normally released in both mono and stereo. Ever since stereo was introduced in 1958, George Martin was mixing albums for stereo. In All You Need is Ears, he described the differences between mixing a comedy album for stereo and mixing a classical album for stereo. Since the stereo mix was basically complete already, little needed to be done at that point except to transfer the master tape onto a mix tape. Since mixing for twin track had been done during the recording stage, the final stereo mix was easy to create, taking less time than the mono mix to make.

    No, these mixes did not merely consist of “instruments on one side and vocals on the other.” Instruments would be included with the vocal track, but not in such a way that they would interfere with the vocals. “I Saw Her Standing There,” for example, features instrumentation along with the vocal track. In fact, quite a few of the songs from the Please Please Me album are carefully arranged so that the placement of the instruments and vocals on the twin track tape (i.e., the stereo mix) allows them to complement one another. Listen to “Boys,” which places the drums and vocals together, and the remarkable spread on “There’s a Place.”
     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2018
    Dan The Man1, gja586 and Saint Johnny like this.
  11. MikeManaic61

    MikeManaic61 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    Thanks for that! I'll get Rubber Soul soon and might check out With the Beatles after some listens on Tidal.
     
  12. bherbert

    bherbert Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Africa
    IMO yes. Not on the same level of quality as Rubber Soul and Revolver.
     
  13. A well respected man

    A well respected man Some Mother's Son

    Location:
    Madrid, Spain
    That text says the same thing Martin says: when he had only two tracks, he arranged the recording (and inevitably that arrangement became the stereo mix) in order to obtain a good mono mix, which was the absolute priority, not to have a good stereo:

    "The reason I used the stereo machine in twin-track form was simply to make the mono better, to delay the vital decision of submerging the voices into the background. I certainly didn't separate them for people to hear them separate!"

    By the way, the text seems to imply that Martin continued that method for every single. It's not true. They started recording on four tracks precisely when making IWTHYH. And Martin used the four tracks exactly the same as with album tracks, distributing the elements and then mixing separately for mono and stereo. That's when he really started mixing in stereo with a purpose, with two tracks he was just preparing the mono mix when arranging the two tracks.
     
    Gila likes this.
  14. Crimson jon

    Crimson jon Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston
    You like help but not rubber soul? Try early tracks like I'll follow the sun, no reply, if I fell(for the amazing vocal harmony).
     
  15. MikeManaic61

    MikeManaic61 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    I never said I didn't like Rubber Soul lol. Maybe I was being too hasty when listening to their early stuff, I'm going to give it another shot.
     
    Crimson jon likes this.
  16. Benno123

    Benno123 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ohio
    This from the king of assumptions, like assuming your inane opinion is needed in every single thread/topic on this board ... when John Lennon records his next album is when I will apologize.
     
  17. dudley07726

    dudley07726 Forum Resident

    Location:
    FLA
    How wrong can one be?
     
  18. douglas mcclenaghan

    douglas mcclenaghan Forum Resident

    It's a perfectly valid position, shared by many. Revolver is generally regarded as their peak. I don't particularly like Rubber Soul, but the songs and sound on Revolver are fabulous, especially on these 2009 masters.
     
    ohnothimagen and bherbert like this.
  19. Laservampire

    Laservampire Down with this sort of thing

    It would be awesome to have the Beatles catalog transferred by Plangent Process, then released as 24/96 flat transfers of the mono and stereo masters.

    No futzing, just the sound of the master tapes.
     
    Dan The Man1 likes this.
  20. DRM

    DRM Forum Resident

    Per http://www.friktech.com/btls/beatlesinstereo.pdf

    "In those days, the recording consoles created masters from twin-track tapes. George Martin didn’t know much about rock bands, but he knew his production techniques, and he was familiar with stereo sound:

    “…I soon realised that even where we were not issuing the records in stereo, the stereo producing technique could still be very useful to the producer if he simply used its two tracks and mixed them to make a mono record.”2

    2. All You Need Is Ears, George Martin, St. Martin’s Press, 1979, p. 142
     
  21. DRM

    DRM Forum Resident

    [​IMG]
     
  22. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    too late now...
     
  23. A Saucerful of Scarlets

    A Saucerful of Scarlets Commenter Turned Viewer Thread Starter

    I think Rubber Soul and Pepper’s are their best albums, but I think they’re all amazing, so to say oens worse than another isn’t saying anything of its quality at all. Although I do think Revolver is their weakest of Rubber Soul and on besides Yellow Sub and Let It Be.
     
  24. MikeManaic61

    MikeManaic61 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    How would you rate Magical Mystery Tour?
     
  25. MaestroDavros

    MaestroDavros Forum Resident

    Location:
    D.C. Metro Area
    They could if they really wanted to.

    The problem is they don't.

    Also Abbey Road typically prefers to do all Beatles related transfers in house, and are incredibly proud of this self sufficiency. The concept of shipping the tapes over to America for a tape transfer, just to use a wow and flutter removal process that they would probably prefer to come up with a proprietary variation of their own, is unthinkable to them.
     
    dartira likes this.

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