Why did George Martin remix Rubber Soul for cd?

Clearly I was mistaken thinking the FINAL four channel multi-tracks were considered THE master. I shant make that error again....thanks
PS In the case of the Beatles then there are two sets of masters....Mono and Stereo. I think this is what confused me all along.

 

How are Mark Furmanek's MMT remixes that were done for the MMT video release in the late 80's? I know Mark synced up the pre-bounced tapes for his remixes. I'm not sure what trakcs he did. IIRC Blue Jay Way, Your Mother Should Know and one or two others..

 

edited by me....

....because it was already covered in the previous posts.

 

The weird thing is, he not only remixed Help and Rubber Soul, but he recreated digital mixes of the original mixes while adding digital echo. If he was going to remix them, he could at least have created NEW mixes.


Evan

 

I think what he means is that even though it is a complete remix, the final results are very similar to the original mix. Instead of saying a slight remix was done it would be more accurate to say that there were slight changes made in the new remix.

 

Ha, thanks Michael, Steve already gave me a lesson on proper terminology...but yea that's what I meant....Ron

 

Getting back to the topic I have made an .mp3 clip demonstrating the mixing differences between Martin's '87 remix and the original LP. Obviously there is quite a difference in sound quality so please pay attention to the mixes. The first part is the '87 remix which is followed by the same section from the U.K. vinyl.

You Won't See Me

 

That's so sad.

 

The UK LP sounds like a mid 60's folk rock album. The remix has a sound quality similar to Simple Minds or Big Country...

 

Took the words right out of my mouth. George Martin's intention was obviously to improve the overall sound without drastically changing the stereo mix that everyone knew, so that only people with crystal ears like most of you on this board would notice the difference. The average Beatles fan out there probably hasn't noticed any difference, but if the songs had been drastically remixed like they were in the "Yellow Submarine Songtrack", everyone would have noticed and the complaints wouldn't be restricted to the audiophile community. It seems to me this policy is often used in remixes: trying to improve the sound as a whole without adding drastic changes that will alter the general "feel" of the recording. Weren't the Bowie albums remixed on Ryko? If they were, that's the policy they used for sure. A different policy from this one would be to ignore the original mix completely and just try to make the song sound its best. I would say that's what was done in the aforementioned "Yellow Submarine Songtrack" and also "The Superior Sound of Elton John".

You can move things around in a room in order to better clean it, then put everything back into place. That's the first policy. Most people will notice that the room is clean, but not everyone will notice that things were moved. Or you can rearrange the room entirely. That's the second policy. This is all from a listener's perspective, or course.

 

And, as noted, he failed; a waste of time.

I'm sure the *average* Beatles fan thinks 1 sounds great. Far be it from us to prove them wrong....

YS was considered for what it was: a novelty. Like the 5.1 from the DVD, the rules that apply to stereo remixing weren't applicable: it was a special project, not a remix of a previously released Lp, and they made a point of packaging and selling it that way.

Once you remix, you HAVE changed the "feel" of the recording, forever. There is no way to paint the same picture twice in the same way. In 5.1, we take this as a given; in stereo, with an established mix, this usually results in different sonics, but not necessarily *better* sonics.

Well, less NR and maybe the SONGTRACK would have sounded better; again, it sure did sound different, and we did get "Only A Northern Song"'s master take(or something close to it)in stereo, finally, and the *restored* title track to fix a missing part in the original stereo mix.

I have a thing about neatness; it's arbitrarily applied, but if so much as a pencil is moved within my immediate environment, I'll notice it. Must be an audiophile thing, because if I don't catch something in a mix right away, someone else will. We're hopelessly anal, and proud of it....

 

I had read in interviews with Mike Jarrett and George Martin (both posted in various threads here ad nauseum) that Martin wanted to remix Help & RS from the muti's in order to improve sound quality that had suffered due to multiple bounces upon bounces of tracks (and probably due to oversaturation of tape). He thought that redubbing each individual part to digital tape and then remixing in digital (using the original mixes as reference) would result in better sound quality. Obviously, something went wrong . . . not just with the use of digital reverb . . .

 

Are you sure you're listening to Help & Rubber Soul? We're talking about the Beatles here . . .

The remixes are not very good, but they don't magically transform the Beatles into something they are not. The use of digital reverb on select tracks doesn't sound too hot, but it definitely doesn't make the album sound like "modern rock."

In other words, methinks you exaggerate a little bit!

 

Actually, a couple of missing parts. "All right, let's hit it!" (spoken by John?) before the marching band comes in and John's shouted "A life of ease".

 

Jarrett actually doesn't say anything about bouncing, just about "improved" quality by going back to the four tracks, so I probably didn't remember what I read correctly. Wouldn't be the first time!

George Martin doesn't say anything about bouncing either, just that he wanted to make them "a bit better." I'll look later for other interviews, but for now I am blaming my bad memory of these interviews. Sorry Steve, I guess I'm the one that's weird, not Martin!

 

In addition, there was no stereo mix of "All You Need Is Love" back in 1967. In fact, "All You Need Is Love" was not mixed into stereo until 29 October 1968; that stereo mix then appeared on the Yellow Submarine soundtrack LP (UK: Apple PCS 7070; US: Apple SW-153). As such, of the three songs which appeared on the US MMT LP in mono or fake stereo, "All You Need Is Love" was the only one to be mixed into stereo before The Beatles broke up.

 

...and what a great mix it is...

 

Some songs on Young Americans were remixed, or alternate mixes pulled from the vault, while the remainder of Ryko CDs were not. The only exception is some of the bonus cuts were newly mixed for the reissue project.

 

i like his "Blue Jay Way", the soundstage is really wide.

He tended to make things a little brighter than the original mixes,
but he seems to get such a solid presence on the vocal that I like his mixes despite the brightness.

Listen to the suff he did on the Capitol Collectors Series reissues (not beatles but all vintage material remixed for stereo) and you get a good idea of his style. OR you could just get the 1962-66 2-cd set and listen to his Beatles remixes (like "A Hard Day's Night") there.

 

Ron Furmanek

 

Him too!