Bob Dylan LP remasters by Mobile Fidelity starting w/Freewheelin' & Another Side...

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Sunsales, Jul 15, 2012.

  1. chacha

    chacha Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    mill valley CA USA
    Well, who knows on that one. Only those that have heard the master tape I suppose.
     
  2. Joey_Corleone

    Joey_Corleone Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rockford, MI
    This is something I have been thinking a lot about. What is the "right" version? Is it the sound on the original record? Is it what is on the master tape? Is it some other mastering that is ultimately an interpretation and presentation of that tape? Isn't mastering something that is done by working with the master tape of the final mix then applying EQ and other tweaks that might be necessary?

    I mean, if the goal is to hear what is ON the master tape, why not just do a flat transfer?

    Lately I have been thinking that the master tape is THE reference point. What is done after that is up to the mastering engineer. I think it is his job to tweek the sound and the content of that master tape to present it in the best sounding way. This is of course subjective. Unless the artist is directly involved with mastering I suppose there IS no right version...it is preference. We know Dylan and The Beatles were involved to some degree with the MIXES but not necessarily mastering. So, I think what master you prefer is really just preference...unless your goal is to reproduce the original record, which was originally just the mastering engineers vision and interpretation of the master tape at the time.

    What you guys think? I used to get really caught up in the idea that the original record is THE standard, but I think I have changed my thought on that. The original record and any remasters are all basically fundamentally the same thing - presentations and interpretations of the master tape. So again, unless the artist is involved in that or dictates one way or another I think it is hard to say that one master or another is "right".
     
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  3. Merrick

    Merrick The return of the Thin White Duke

    Location:
    Portland
    Vinyl can't reliably reproduce everything that's on the master tape without EQ as far as I understand it. There have been some flat transfers released digitally, and sometimes they sound great. Other times they could benefit from some EQ moves to make them sound more dynamic.

    I'd say you'd have to take it on a case by case basis to be honest. The master tape will always give you the best SQ though, regardless of whether or not it's the most enjoyable version.
     
  4. DeRosa

    DeRosa Vinyl Forever

    I wonder how many people noticed the album is just over 27 minutes!
    (Side 2 of Desire is longer than that!!)

    I'm pretty sure they could actually have fit all of Nashville Skyline on 1 record, even at 45 rpm.
     
    Last edited: Feb 16, 2017
  5. chacha

    chacha Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    mill valley CA USA
    Nashville on 2 discs is nuts.
     
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  6. Merrick

    Merrick The return of the Thin White Duke

    Location:
    Portland
    They couldn't justify the $50 MSRP if it were one disc.
     
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  7. soundQman

    soundQman Senior Member

    Location:
    Arlington, VA, USA
    Yeah, they should have done Blood on the Tracks instead as a 2-45s job.
     
  8. chacha

    chacha Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    mill valley CA USA
    Agreed. Maybe that's a licensing issue?
     
  9. I have both Airplane MFSL LP's too and yes they are both incredible. So you know you really need to hear the Dylan mono's done by MFSL. Don't you? ;)
     
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  10. I wouldn't bank on Dylan having any interest in the whole stereo / mono debate. All we know is that he worked on / approved the mono mix and cared little about the current 'gimmick' that was stereo. I doubt he's ever played his own albums much since the day anyway. I'm betting he plays the mono if he does. Dylan doesn't strike me as being someone who gets involved in post-production issues, once an album mix has been sorted. He moves on too quickly and rarely looks backwards. If he cared about mastering he'd have cancelled the CD's of Modern Times in 2006. Don't forget we're talking MIXES here, not EQ or mastering so your last point doesn't really hold up for me.
     
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  11. It's an interesting set of questions and one which we cannot provide any conclusive answers to. There are a few artists who personally playback test pressings to approve the final 'mix'. Presumably the mastering would be similar to the final product which appears on the shelves? Bjork certainly listens to her vinyl releases before signing them off and I read that Dylan took several acetates for Self Portrait to his New York home and spent some time making notes about the changes he required. He wasn't in the studio hearing a master tape played back.

    Incidentally on this last point, I think this buries the whole "I loaded up all that **** on my own bootleg album, so to speak" myth once and for all. I don't know about anyone else but I'm not buying into the idea that Dylan threw SP together to counter the bootleg records and as a kind of **** you to the whole counter culture. He spent hours combing through a great pile of acetates to make fine adjustments to the mix and sound. That's hardly the behaviour of someone who is chucking c**p out to p**s everyone off.
     
  12. Classicrock

    Classicrock Senior Member

    Location:
    South West, UK.
    LOL. It's not that bad. I like a break every few tracks. Getting up and down regularly is good for your health.
     
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  13. moonshiner

    moonshiner Forum Resident

    Location:
    Italy
    It's the only stereo reissue that I have not bought..for now
     
  14. Has MFSL reissued Slow Train Coming? If not, they're missing a trick there, surely? That would sound great spread over 2 LP's. I only have Blonde On Blonde and Blood On The Tracks on MFSL stereo reissues and Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and John Wesley Harding on mono MFSL reissues. I'm not sure I want the first four solo albums on LP at all as I'm more than satisfied with the mono CD box for those. I'm not big on Dylan in the 70's (even less so in the 80's/90's) so I'll stick to my original UK pressing of Desire (an album I don't rate at all), the remix CD of Street Legal and the remastered CD of Planet Waves. I already have New Morning on MOV reissue and Self Portrait on Sundazed, cut by Kevin Gray. I'm not sure I even have Nashville Skyline on CD anymore. It's brevity enables its complete disappearance from my collection.
     
  15. nightenrock

    nightenrock Forum Resident

    I thought that "The Times They Are a-Changin'" is by far the best sounding of the MFSL mono reissues so far -- on the system I've played them back on. The best I've ever heard that album sound in any mix or mastering. The extra bass on the others seemed a bit annoying and distracting to me (and I usually like some bass). Maybe I need to go back and listen again and/or try them on another system.
     
  16. Millington

    Millington Forum Resident

    All done & dusted in 28 minutes, chacha. But what a superb 28 minutes!
     
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  17. Merrick

    Merrick The return of the Thin White Duke

    Location:
    Portland
    You keep using the word gimmick for stereo, which I understand was a conception some people had about stereophonic sound when mono reigned supreme, but are there interviews with Dylan from that period where he refers to stereo as a gimmick? Or are you extrapolating that he considered it a gimmick because he only approved the mono mixes of those albums?
     
  18. chacha

    chacha Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    mill valley CA USA
    I think Times was a great sounding album to begin with. I have an original mono that sounds really good.
     
  19. Eduardo Denaro

    Eduardo Denaro Forum Resident

    Location:
    Minnesota
    Well I just put on Times mono 45. Sounds great. Here are a few things I'm noticing in my collection. The banner.

    Times Mono - Original Master Recording
    Times Stereo - Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab

    BIABH Mono - Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab
    BIABH Stereo - Original Master Recording

    H61 Mono - Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab
    H61 Stereo - Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab

    JWH Mono - Original Master Recording
    JWH Stereo - Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab

    I just thought that this was interesting. There used to be a lot of banner banter around here. Thought I'd get it started again. Times sounds very good. Can't wait for the next batch.
     
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  20. chacha

    chacha Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    mill valley CA USA
    My guess is that the banner use here doesn't impact the sound quality end result. Could be wrong but I would bet the copy tapes used are first rate.
     
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  21. chacha

    chacha Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    mill valley CA USA
    Anyone happen to know if the mono Bringing It All Back Home is a remix like the stereo apparently is or is it the original mix from the sixties?
    Also is the mono Times They Are Changing a remix as well? I heard that they had to remix for the Sony box set because they couldn't find the mono master so is the MFSL from that remixed tape?
     
  22. Eduardo Denaro

    Eduardo Denaro Forum Resident

    Location:
    Minnesota
    Well if we go back to the banner it says that Times Mono is the Original Master. Probably not a remix. Where I'd say that the BIABH is the same version Sony used due to the banner of MFSL.
     
  23. chacha

    chacha Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    mill valley CA USA
    But they apparently couldn't find the master of Times for the Sony box. Seems doubtful that it would turn up for MFSL. Maybe then the remix is the new "Master Tape"? Just guessing.
     
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  24. Joey_Corleone

    Joey_Corleone Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rockford, MI
    My guess would be mfsl used the same new mix. I can't imagine how esteemed engineer like Berkowitz couldn't find the original, and it suddenly showed up. ESPECIALLY given the attention to detail and work Sony and the team put into that project.

    The fact that Berkowitz and team created a new mono mix from 3 track multitracks is well known because the original mono master was missing. At least according to Isis magazine which is the best source you will find on the internet about Dylan remasters
     
    chacha likes this.
  25. Tommyboy

    Tommyboy Senior Member

    Location:
    New York
    Was it Berkowitz or Mark Wilder?
     

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