Your favorite mono fold downs...

Today I was listening to the mono Brazilian version of Abbey Road by the Beatles and I have to say, to me it sounds awesome. It sounds different than when I simply take the normal stereo version and fold it to mono. Everything's so punchy and tight, it almost sounds like a legitimate Beatles mono mix. I realize it's not an ideal way to get a mono mix, but whoever prepared this one did a good job. Does anyone else have a fold down mix they particularly like?

 

BUMP

 

There are a few pseudo stereo LPS I folded down myself. That gave me great satisfaction although it's quite hard to recreate the exact aural pallette of the original mono release that way.

 

Interesting...what are some of the LPs you folded down?

 

Let it Bleed from the Rolling Stones mono box set.

 

The Kinks-Come Dancing, 1982

 

I recently received a NM Chilean pressing with matrix XEX-749/750...yes: in mono! No Her Majesty though.
Sounds very nice, a lot of punch and deep bass...just like a real good mono mix. I agree that it's very well done considering is a fold down.

 

Clapton’s “Jingle Bells” is better in fold-down mono...

 

I did a fold down on all the Beatle songs that were only issued in stereo just because I wanted mono versions of all their songs to play through an old Pye radio (1950s vintage). The mono CD set took me up as far as the White Album. The next two albums and a few singles needed the mono treatment.

Abbey Road does indeed sound good in mono as long as you remember that central vocals are boosted by several decibels when you fold down a stereo recording.

 

“The Beatles’ Second Album” - mono version T-2080
“Hold Me Tight” and “I Wanna Be Your Man” from the mono “Meet The Beatles!” T-2047

 

Can you verify something? I downloaded the Brazilian mono mix but in I Want You there is a glitch that I think I remember from the original cd release where it distorts during Lennon's scream. Can you tell me if that's on your version too? I'd be surprised if it is.

 

not a fan of mono and for sure not a fan of mono fold downs! LOL...so that would be NONE!

 

not a fold down...

 

The Brazilian fold-down of Abbey Road has had some EQ tweaks done to it , that's why it sounds like it does even though it wasn't mixed to mono.

 

can't think of many

Johnny Rivers - Realization
From Elvis In Memphis (UK)
The Rolling Stones - Aftermath (US)

 

It sounds like you're describing the fold down for The Stone's Let It Bleed. I completely get what you're saying in terms of "punchy and tight). If you're a fan of LIB and are pretty familiar with the stereo mix (in stereo), I highly suggest you give the FD a chance. And for that matter, the fold down of Beggar's Banquet isn't far behind.

 

I "liked" because I used to feel the same way till i heard those two Stones albums I just mentioned, above.

 

gotcha...I get it. : )

 

Theoretically, any stereo mix where everything is mixed wide left and right would fold down fine to mono. Of course, even with the wonky stereo mixes of the 60's, this is rarely the case as lead vocals at least are usually centered. As others have remarked though, the original stereo Rubber Soul might make a good candidate, as I believe everything there was mixed wide (if I'm not mistaken - personally, I will always prefer the true mono mix).

Though the negative effects of a fold down can be mitigated somewhat with tonal adjustments if you know what you're doing, it's never going to rival a true mono mix of the same material (or even a good stereo one for that matter). About the best thing I can say for mono fold downs is they don't sound as bad as most "reprocessed stereo".

 

Great post but I don't know if I fully agree. A true mono mix is, first of all, great simply for the fact that it offers an alternate way of hearing the album ("alternate" as in an entirely other mix...in some cases more obvious than others). But this in and of itself doesn't guarantee that it'll sound particularly great. But yes, either way it *is* better than "reprocessed" stereo.

 

I get that a quick-and-dirty DIY fold down to mono might be a lazy way to tame an annoying stereo mix, like, say, a Dylan song with the vocals hard right and the guitar hard left.

But a "favorite" mono fold down? What is the argument than any fold down is an improvement in sound? I've enjoyed the CCR mono singles while driving around but who could honestly say that it improves on the original stereo versions of those songs? In general, no matter how much you fiddle and EQ it, isn't it just an indisputably worst practice in terms of sound quality?

 

I wasn't by any means implying that 'any' true mono mix will always sound good - there are good and bad mixes, mono and stereo alike. But to me, if the mixes in question are either a mono fold down or a reprocessed stereo version , it pretty much invalidates them as a listening option by default.

Yes, totally agree. In fact, more and more I find myself turning to even less-than-ideal 60's stereo mixes when it's pretty obvious that the mono alternative is a fold down. Recent case in point - the 1968 U.S. mono promo of Smokey and the Miracles' Special Occasion LP I'm pretty sure is a complete fold down (even including the singles), and though the stereo version is too much of a 'wide stereo' treatment for my taste, I now prefer it (oddly, they did a better job with the 1967 stereo Make it Happen LP - also, I'm pretty sure, a fold down in its mono version)...

 

Let It Bleed and Beggar's Banquet, with the one know dedicated mix on BB.

 

Believe it or not, I totally understand what you mean by "invalidates". When I first learned that the Beggars Banquet and Let It Bleed monos were both foldowns (save for Sympathy on the former), the first words that came to mind were, "what's the point..???" But strictly sound-wise, I have to admit that I was very pleasantly surprised. Due to the pros and cons of both album's original stereo mixes, I actually found myself liking the way they sounded better with both channels combined into "one". Possibly, these are just two very rare exceptions...but I just wanted to point them out.

 

I happened across a mono version of Ornette Coleman's The Shape Of Jazz To Come that Rhino put out a few years ago. Thought it sounded great, but it was the only one of the Ornette Atlantic records that got the treatment. So I took the digitized The Atlantic Years box set and made a mono version. Punchy and tight, like everyone says - and just different enough to make some extremely familiar music sound fresh & new enough to go back into heavy rotation.