Worst stereo mix in rock and roll history, worst mono mix....

I listened to Dave Mason's self titled album today for the first time. Some good music on there, but the mix immediately made me think of this thread. It wasn't quite the worst, but the channels were a little too separated, and I'm sure the arrangements would have sounded better if it had a different mix.

 

I know I've already said Bend Me, Shape Me is the worst stereo mix I've heard, but I just remembered another song that deserves an honourable mention:

Unlike Bend Me, Shape Me, the problem isn't so much the panning (although it could have been improved with regards to the vocals). What ruins it is the constant mixing-in-and-out of all the instruments (especially the drums it seems) and the bizarre echo effect that drenches sections of the songs and obliterates everything. Also, good luck trying to hear what Greg Dempsey is singing at the end of each verse because his vocals are buried. I'm not sure what they were trying to achieve with this stereo mix (I'd guess they wanted it to sound 'out there' and avant-garde), but the result is it sounds like the producer or engineer was mindlessly playing with the faders on the mixing desk for a laugh, especially towards the end of the song. The mono single mix on the other hand, which can be heard here, has none of these issues - they just left everything alone and mixed it straight, and it sounds a thousand times better.

 

Well, the difference between the mono and stereo here makes me think that whoever mixed the latter was on acid!

 

That is hilarious!

 

I find it mostly an annoying lost opportunity, but there are other equally ill-advised mixes.

 

Also, the other problem with Bend Me, Shape Me is the Stereo is too slow. Annoyingly so. Another good reason why all turntables need pitch control.

 

Oh, I can imagine there are others. I dread to think what they sound like though.

Actually the stereo mix plays at the original speed. The mono single mix was sped up.

 

These mixes treated stereo as a gimmick v. audiophile opportunity.

 

One thing I can say about the stereo version of Bend Me Shape Me as compared to the mono; I can hear the multiple edits a lot clearer.

 

I forget if I contributed to this thread yet.

Kinks' "Face to Face" stereo, 1966.

Love, "Love", 1966.

Both of these albums are terrible in stereo, and great in mono. "Face to Face" is missing backing vocals all over the place, probably because they were added in the mono mixes. "Love" has a wall-of-guitars sound in mono that's lost in the stereo, and "Mushroom Clouds" fades out 15 seconds early.

Several of the albums and songs in this thread seem to reference stereo mixes done by David Hassinger at RCA studios. He did "Somebody to Love" and a lot of the Stones stuff. I have no problem with his mono mixes, though.

Yardbirds' "Roger The Engineer"/"Over Under Sideways Down", also 1966, is a real mixed bag in stereo. Some of it is terrible.

In all these cases, it's the not-enough-tracks problem, I think.

Shangri-Las, consistently disappointing in stereo.

 

It sounds like a marijuana mix to me. The echo is the giveaway. Echo seems like SUCH a good idea on pot.

 

I guess so and dub often has masses of echo effects, of course. Not that I'd have made that connection til now..

Well, I WAS young- once.

 

Well, it IS 4/20.

 

The stereo mix of "IWTHYH" makes it one of the wimpiest tracks ever. "Paperback Writer" and "Revolution" are- just as John Lennon stated- pieces of ice cream in stereo. Horrible.

 

The mono mix on the MFSL disc sounds tighter and more concise but lacks some punch.

 

Disguises:

15 seconds longer than what? The mono mix? That's the case with every release of the stereo mix that I'm aware of.

 

On LP, the first stereo appearance of that song was on Backtrack 3.
The stereo mix is on very few LP's I'm aware of.

 

No, it was first released in stereo on "The Who" in Germany in 1966.

 

Never knew that about that track, but I seen a picture of the album cover so I know the one your talking about.

 

http://www.discogs.com/Who-The-Who/release/1958686

1. Run Run Run
2. Heatwave
3. In The City
4. Boris The Spider
5. I Need You
6. Circles

1. Don't Look Away
2. See My Way
3. Whiskey Man
4. Cobwebs and Strange
5. Disguises
6. I'm A Boy

All true stereo except Circles and See My Way. That stereo mix of In The City is relatively rare.

Issued in Japan as "I'm A Boy" with the tracks rearranged a bit.

 

The first two Turtles albums were done that way, and those were 3 and 4-track recordings.
I can't stand stereo recordings where the engineer would place a track in the center mixed out of phase.
Mamas & The Papas, Young-Holt Unlimited, Motown, Kinks.
Play it in mono and it becomes a Music Minus One album, or karaoke.

 

At least the stereo version of "Bend Me Shape Me" ran at the correct speed unlike the mono '45....

 

That whole DVD is Ginger dissing Jack.....pretty much ruined a otherwise good DVD.

 

The title track of White Light/White Heat is...dare I say this as a huge VU fan - an absolute mess, mix wise (mono or stereo). You can't hear the drums at at all, just this 'crash crash crash' sound way in the background and something pounding under the bass/piano. Oh to remix that one track and bring Moe's lovely thuddery back into play! I love the album and its 'everything up to 11' aesthetic but why did they mix its lead single so badly? I suppose time was a factor (they just had a few days in the studio to do the whole thing).

In saying, I still love the track..I just wish that they'd done the drums better....