Pink Floyd RSD 2018 (mono Piper)

LOL. Canada is between USA and Alaska, so you all know!

 

I grew up driving south to visit Canada.

 

I’m afraid I hijacked this thread with a halfhearted joke about why Europe (whether or not that includes the UK) seems to have had more copies of the RSD Piper than the US. I defer on the topic of the soul of the band.

 

This is a total shot in the dark but does anyone know what monitors were being used in the mastering facilities at Abbey Road circa 1967?

 

I listened to it this morning. Sounds good though I’m not sure it sounds different from the CD. Possibly a bit more bass? I’m going to have to A/B them. Anyone make a comparison?

 

I bought one today from Discogs. It was $70 Canadian but I had to buy from Italy. Cheapest copy I could find.

 

I hung mine up. Unfortunately Syd looks rather dorky in that photo.

 

I'm pretty sure it was Altec 605A's in 612 cabinets at Abbey Road during the 1960s, according to Vintage studio monitors? - Page 3 - Gearslutz Pro Audio Community but not sure if Floyd were in Studio 2 or 3, so assuming the same monitors?

 

Okay.

 

I was hearing sibilance too but my hearing is damaged. Esses often sound distorted to me so I wasn’t sure if it was me or the record.

 

Okay. Only brought it up because you’d compared it to an early UK pressing.

 

Floyd were in studio 3.

 

Yeah, but that's recording. I believe Abbey Road had smaller rooms that were used for most of the actual mixing, and certainly they had special disc cutting rooms for mastering.

 

just grabbed a brand new copy from the US on discogs for $50... Very happy with that price

 

Yes, exactly. Here’s the Floyd behind the studio 3 mixing console:

Those look like 15” coaxial Altecs but I don’t think those are 612 cabinets.

At any rate, the above monitors were reputedly not quite up-to-snuff so it’s likely the monitors in the mixing/mastering rooms were of a higher caliber.

 

Liner notes, Ron

 

LOL probably why they silhouetted it

 

wasn't it Syd who designed the back cover and silhouette?

 

I want to hear more impressions and comparisons. Does it sound better than a typical US Tower? On the same level as the Grumdman stereo? I have the 3 disc CD box set somewhere but I don’t remember listening critically to the mono mix.

 

From Superdeluxeedition:

“This is a new mono remaster by James Guthrie, Joel Plante and Bernie Grundman. The vinyl masters were cut in 2018 from the original analogue mono master tape.”

True or false?
Excuse me if this was covered earlier.

 

Finally got to listen to my copy this afternoon. Dead quiet vinyl, really nice sound and it is distinctly different in many ways from the more familiar stereo mix. The only other version of the mono mix I have heard is from the 3CD anniversary set from 2007. This is a really nice presentation.

 

Just chipping in - if you’re in Hong Kong it might be worth checking White Noise records in Mong Kok (assuming you haven’t already). They were one of the only HK stores participating in RSD and ‘might’ have mono Piper in stock.

White Noise Records

 

I didn't manage to get a copy of Piper, but I was given a free Johnny Cash Early Singles RSD album. I was pleasantly surprised; I'm not familiar with his music, but this is a great opportunity to familiarize myself with some of his music (and thus understand why my mom always wanted to watch him on tv all those years ago).

 

Yes.

 

Another poster complained of a level variation in "Flaming" and I compared the new LP to a rip of an early UK pressing and discovered that the level variation is just part of the mono mix and wasn't a mistake by Bernie Grundman. AAA isn't really relevant to my point, I think he mistook a mix variation for a mastering error.