What does Steve Hoffman think of the new Beatles Sgt. Pepper remix?

Good catch.
Per one source: "Megan Martha "Meg" White (born December 10, 1974) is an American drummer and occasional singer known for her work with Jack White in the Detroit rock duo The White Stripes. On an impulse, she played on Jack's drums in 1997. The two decided to form a band and began performing two months later, calling themselves The White Stripes because of their last name and Meg's affinity for peppermint candy. The band quickly became a Detroit underground favorite, before reaching national, then international fame. White has been nominated for various awards as a part of the White Stripes, and has received four Grammy Awards."

 

No, you didnt use the words "sounds like"

This is a direct quote from your post:

That's definitely the biggest problem with these remixes. Cheap compressor plug-ins pumping and swelling, poking in and out. And the "defenders" can't hear it at all. It makes you wonder.

So you state that Giles and team used compression "improperly". I guess you are expert at mixing and mastering?

Can you post or send a link to your discography so we can all compare your work to that of Giles and the EMI engineering team?

You know it's been clear you dont like the SP 17 remix, but it's another thing to question the credentials, equipment and the professionalism of those at EMI.

 

"WonkyWilly said: ↑
The remixes have higher DR's than some of the original mixes."

Yes, I quite obviously quoted and bolded that part in my response. But, WonkyWilly did not answer it to my satisfaction except that he meant something different than he wrote.

 

I personally see no logic in this.
I don't understand how, let's say, any tastefully mastered DR 12 album would sound any worse on entry level, inexpensive equipment compared to loud, compressed equivalent? IMHO, it won't. People who don't care about sound quality, won't give a damn if the mix has high dynamics and isn't so loud. They just turn up the volume knob or change the EQ to their liking - problem solved. (I wonder actually if they would do even that).

It's so easy to adjust the sound even on mobile phone these days. So why compress it and piss the listeners who care?

Seriously, just looks like intentional sabotage to me or plain stupidity.

 

Come on, you don't actually think that's possible, do you? Let's not make Beatles obssessives look nuttier than we already do!

 

Exactly. Every device, music app and streaming service have bass boost or similar function, why this boost have to be applied to the main mix, and pressed on physical formats (and even on a hi rez physical format)?!?

 

I had always thought that the loudness compression had something to do with volume limiting-portable CD players and headphones being sold ( to parents, to give to their kids), ostensibly to protect their hearing. Apologies if someone has mentioned this point already.

 

For better or worse that's what the suits want. In this case, the directive comes from Jeff Jones himself. The Beatles and their respective estates have the absolute right to approve or disapprove ANY new product, even vetoing Jeff if they feel the need. So Jeff is telling Giles and the crew at Abbey Road Studios (no longer EMI) to make the new releases sound as modern as possible. In 5 or 10 years, they will probably reverse course and re-issue the latest material as "taken from the original analog tapes without any modern artifacts" or some such directive. It's Marketing 101. Is it right? Well, that's up to each consumer to justify or not. Looks like we'll get remixes for a few more albums, at least, then we'll see what happens in the future. New hardware and software developments means we'll continue to get new product for a long time to come. Of course NEW doesn't mean "better" either. Such a conundrum. Ron

 

There are only two Beatles (less than a majority) to approve or disapprove of decisions concerning remixes, and they are well into their seventies.
....Just sayin'.

 

But they are still Beatles, which no one on this forum can say.

Just sayin’.

 

No...plus Yoko and Olivia.

 

I'm not sure about the point you're getting at; to clarify mine I only meant that decisions about the Beatles artistic output no longer benefit from two of its members, one of them having been the leader. Also, our hearing, as well as our tastes, change in our old age ~ a natural fact.

Yoko and Olivia are not Beatles. I was making the point from an artistic perspective, not a legal one

 

Gee that's funny. Paul and Ringos decisions and everything that they approved on the Sgt. Peppers 2017 stereo mix is exactly in line with what they would have wanted and approved of back in 1967. Regardless of age.

 

But from a legal point, they have as much say as Paul & Ringo do about what’s released.

 

perhaps, perhaps not. who can say ?

*edit:
[ clarification ]
Remember the Beatles themselves only made a mono mix of their album ~ they had nothing to do with the 1967 stereo mix.

 

We can because we know what The Beatles were aiming for back in 1966 and 1967 that is exactly what Paul and Ringo got finally after 50 years from Giles Martin with this new remix.

 

Again, back to my point of there only being two living Beatles now. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't John Lennon once say something to the effect of : 'if you haven't heard the mono Sgt Pepper, you haven't heard Sgt Pepper' (?)

* notice edit to my original post

 

I hate to keep disagreeing with you. I know youre a good guy. The Beatles sat in and supervised as well as gave much input to quite a few of the Sgt.Peppers stereo mixing sessions, especially A Day In the Life.

 

John sure did say that. Then a while after that he told George Martin that he wish they could all go back an re-record everything they did. (Obviously in stereo at the time).

 

Fair enough ~ if true then I stand corrected on that point. I recall having read info. to the contrary, but as I've said before I'm no authority on the Beatles history. It's just that I was under the impression John never cared much for those mixes, and so without his and George's input into the 2017 project we can only trust that Paul, Ringo, Yoko, and Olivia know what George and John would have wanted.

 

See also: 2009 Stereo remasters. Volume and bass boosted for the iPod generation Which of course is one of the things the purists took umbrage with...even before the damn remasters were even released!

Do a search and read some of those 2009 "The Beatles Remasters Are Coming!!!" discussions (you don't have to read all 23 volumes unless yer a total sadomasochist, of course). The bitching and moaning and moral indignation some folks here have toward this 2017 Pepper remix (of which I listened to exactly once before chucking the files in the ol' recycle bin...I wasn't a fan myself, but then I'm not a big Pepper guy to begin with) is nothing compared to the remasters.

 

Seems like you're contradicting yourself.
As you say The Beatles supervised the original stereo mixing session of A Day In The Life.
Then why is the new stereo mix nothing like the original stereo mix? If Giles wanted the remix, as you say , to be "exactly in line with what they would have wanted and approved of back in 1967". Why doesn't it respect the mixing decisions of the 1967 stereo as approved by ALL four Beatles?
Because Giles just mixed it how HE thinks it sounds best which is understandable. Why all the unnecessary glorification?

Ondra

 

This remix is only 1 album out of the whole catalogue. The true test will come when Giles needs to remix the entire catalogue. Like his 1’s remix, this release would have given him an idea of what he did right and wrong. He will likely take heed of the complaints and be a lot more conservative with the compression. If and when he remixes all the albums he will know that he needs to be very careful and not take too many risks.

 

Giles Martin works for Sonos. So he is familiar with the sound that consumers get when they stream music. That probably influenced him as well. Maybe he thinks compression is necessary when streaming music.