Capitol BEATLES Duophonic

After all the discussion of the Beatles Capitol Years Box duophonic tracks in a recent thread, I decided to check them out again deliberately.

I Want To Hold Your Hand didn't seem that bad. Even when you know what was done to the mix to create the fake stereo, there was indeed an illusion, if that is what it is, of separation and space. Unfortunately, I do not have any other mix of the song to compare it to back to back. Maybe someone here can do that comparison and review it. I wonder if it's possible that the Ted Jensen remastering improved the sound compared to the original vinyl releases that gave Duophonic its dubious reputation.

 

The mono mix (which the duophonic mix was made from) (obviously) of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" has a lot of punch. Far more, than both true stereo mixes of the song. I'm sure that helps.

I actually was surprised with the duophonic "This Boy." It didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. That said, the duophonic "I Feel Fine" and "She's A Woman" is another story...

 

The blighter...

 

...familiarity...

 

So you gave him the 'Spock Grip' and proceeded to use your version, right?

 

He was probably just "used to" the duo-phony version as "stereo".

 

Fake-stereo "more stereo" than real stereo, heh. This reminds me of Bob Norberg seemingly not thinking stereo is not stereo enough when he even does that "widening" on stuff that's already in stereo. Or maybe once Mark heard how crappy that stereo mix of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" was, he preferred the Duophonic! I almost can't blame him.

 

Wow, that's crazy! Good story though, Steve - thanks!

 

Hi Jose,
Just a quick reminder about the Capitol Box Vol 1 or the original Cap LP's is that not all the songs that were in Stereo are Fake Stereo or Duophonic.

Many times I've gotten the feeling that because the UK versions are mostly preferred for being in True Stereo except for a couple of songs that because our US Stereo LP's were remastered by Dave Dextor Jr, that all the songs were Duophonic or Fake Stereo that were on every Stereo LP. However they all weren't Fake Stereo or Duophonic on all songs. They were just different sounding than the UK stereo versions.

It seemed though when a hit mono 45 was put out then it was released on a Stereo album usually those songs would be the Fake Stereo or Duophonic versions which in hind sight is a bit of a drag.

Then again to many like myself (not too many here though) I still look at it as another mix of the song to have so I'm still a happy camper!

 

And as I sit here and listen to my CDR of selected Cap Box stuff.....all I can say is Beatles 65 is a killer.......throw your Beatles For Sale EMI cd in the garbage!

 

So, Steve, how did you do this "gentle fake stereo" version? Techniques, please! I'm interested in DCS/DES stereo and maybe some of your techniques will be useful in that context. What was the "MGM method?"

Personally I always thought Duophonic was one of the BETTER fake stereo techniques! RCA's method IMO was a HORROR , and some of the later Columbia I thought sounded pretty good . Mercury didn't impress me much , and Atlantic/Atco was IMO an ATROCITY.

BTW, sorry for the thread-crap!