DOORS Strange Days mono-mix

Hello- I was wondering about this album in mono. I have read here that some think it is a stereo-fold. . .I would like to have some elaboration please. Why, how. . .etc

I hear a dedicated mix there (I have a gold label U.S. pressing EKL-4014). Furthermore I also have Love 'Forever Changes' EKL-4013, and Butterfield Blues Band 'Pigboy Crabshaw' EKL-4015 and these mono-mixes also sound dedicated. So why would Doors 'Strange Days' be only stereo fold-down??

Thanks in advance!

 

Steve has said it was a fold down. When the "Strange Days" DCC was being prepared there was talk about including the mono mix, but Steve says that they discovered it was just a clever fold down. Only two of the songs were dedicated mixes.

 

Unhappy Girl and the title track were mixed for mono, the rest is a fold down per past threads here. I'm pretty sure Love's Forever Changes is all fold down too. It doesn't sound like a mono mix to me because the tracks just have that squashed sound to it, probably from frequency cancellation from combining L+R channels.

 

"My Eyes Have Seen You" may sound like a fold-down, but it has a different fade than the stereo. The stereo has Jim singing "television skies" repeatedly, on the mono he stops after a few, and the band just churns on. There is no difference in length.

 

I think Steve mentioned use of EQ changes in the fold-down to have it give the impression it was a dedicated mix

 

Man, the mono 45s from this album just rock - fold downs or not!

 

We're talking about "Strange Days" in this thread, Steve. There is a separate thread about the mono "Waiting for the Sun".

And, btw, here is a quote from Steve regarding this album:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showpost.php?p=1522607&postcount=11

 

After 29,000 posts? Just kiddin Steve.

 

How late did Doors true mono 45's go 'til?

 

The Unknown Soldier/ We Could Be So Good Together was the last mono 45 in the USA. However, Roadhouse Blues/You Make Me Real was also mono but this was after Hello, I Love You, Touch Me and a number of other singles had been released in stereo.
I must say that I have never sat down and determined if they were folds or not but I have always thought that they were legit mono mixes.

 

"You Make Me Real" / "Roadhouse Blues" is a true mono mix and was issued in the U.S. There's a thread or two somewhere about The Doors 45 mixes.

The last song to appear on 45 in mono, probably a fold-down, was "The Mosquito" in 1972 although the b-side was stereo.

 

I just found a pretty nice copy of this for $5. Fold-down or not, I'm pretty psyched about it!

 

One of the songs, might be Eyes Have Seen You, has some tambourine that is lacking in the stereo mix.

 

The whole album is a dedicated mono mix.

 

Has anyone associated with Bruce Botnick ever asked him about this? If anyone knows, he would.

 

I am reviving this thread, for I am also curious about the details regarding the purported mono mix fold down of Strange Days. For some reason, I find the sound on the old Mono LP to be the most pleasing to my ears. It surprises me that this is not a dedicated mono mix.

So, if it is a fold down, how does one determine that?

How was the fold down accomplished? Was the album mixed to stereo, then that tape was played and folded down to make a mono master tape? I don't hear any additional tape hiss on the mono version, which one might expect from that process.

Also, some songs seem to have different instrument balances, including the title track. This is noticeable even when I "fold down" the stereo LP using my vintage receiver, which allows me to combine channels.

I'm confused

The fades on "My Eyes Have Seen You" are definitely different between the two version. I carefully compared the original Elektra green label mono and stereo LPs last night.

On EKS-74014 (Stereo) Morrison sings "On an endless roll" about 15 times, right up to the fade.

On EKL-4014 (Mono) Morrison sings "On an endless roll" only about five or six times, before his voice is faded out. The band continues afterward. How could a fold down accomplish this???

That would be a good source!

 

Here's an interesting interview with Bruce Botnick. In it, he talks about mono sounds in general, but not the specifics of Doors mono/stereo or fold down mixes.

http://www.musicangle.com/feat.php?id=144&format=printable

 

I can't find the thread, but it's been mentioned that Steve was mistaken and this is indeed a DEDICATED mono mix

Edit: LOL, love how in post #3 I'm hawking the generally assumed information on EQ changes/compression making this seem like a dedicated mix

 

Thanks for the reply! I have searched far and wide on the 'net, but have not been able to come up with any definitive information. My ears tell me that the Mono record sounds different (better) but I'm not sure why.

One thing, though, the Stereo and Mono versions of Strange Days are more similar than most albums from the early and mid sixties, where the differences may be substantial (like Sgt. Pepper or most Motown LPs).



P.S. I had a thought that maybe some of the two mixes could have been made at the same time. They could have simultaneously fed outputs from the mixing deck into two separate tape machines--one mono, one two track. Would this technically be considered a fold down?

 

No idea.

Anyone else out there have info or have a mono record to shed some light on this?

 

Someone must have connections with Botnick round these parts here to ask about this?