Has anyone made a good mix of WMGGW from the 5.1? It's the one remix I'm disappointed with. It's difficult on the headphones for the same reason the original is difficult (mainly drums far right). I looked at the 5.1 channels and they're kind of a mess way with the way everything seems to be everywhere. I'm not satisfied with what I was able to do.
I am sure this has been covered in this thread. Is there any other way to hear the Esher Demo Tracks besides directly buying the CDs? Streaming, downloads?
I’ve been listening to the remix quite a bit recently. It’s certainly given me a deeper appreciation of the music and the back story. The only song that still leaves me lukewarm, is Savoy Truffle, but that’s a minor quibble.
I went back to listening to the original mix shortly after the remix came out. It was a cool listen but I still feel more comfortable with the old mix. The outtakes are gold and the Esher stuff is priceless too.
Been listening to the remix for a few months now and over all i still like the original stereo remix better. Now if they remixed it more like the outtakes on discs 4 - 6 then I would have liked it much more. Worst remix song is Helter Skelter. What happened to the Bass? seems to be very low down in the remix. If only they put the Drums and the overdubbed snare in the centre and in this case put the bass left and the guitars right. Instead we get almost the same stereo image as the original but with the bass missing! Also what was Giles thinking when he moves the vocal from the right to the centre half way through Happiness is a warm gun? Best remix is Birthday, love the spreaded out stereo image compared to the original. Wish he did the same for ob-la-di-ob-la-da instead we have something not much different to the original. Seems like for a lot of the songs Giles keeps fairly close to the original placement but with a narrower stereo image eg Yer blues, Everybody's got something to hide except me and my monkey and While my guitar gently weeps. Also listen to the intro of Martha my dear, the piano seems to be spread across the stereo image. Is this spectral editing? I wish he wouldn't do things like that. Overall the remix is a bit of a disappointment but the Esher demos and outtakes are great!
I agree 100% I didn't know what to expect from the Pepper's50th before it was released but I loved it immediately. The lead vocals, the backing vocals and harmonies and then the drums, yeah it rocked. I do understand the criticisms of Pepper's50th and I still play my 1987 CD. FWIW I think Sgt Pepper's is the best album of all time. Before the WA50th came out I went on a White Album binge, I bought every different LP I could get and listened to them a lot. The stereo mix on the original 1968 release is just amazing, it stands on it own two feet and compared to other albums of 1968 (which btw was the real first year of stereo LPs for rock) the White Album's mix was a lot different than other '68 rock mixes but then again we are talking about The Beatles here. The 2018 mix just doesn't work for me, I could say it was a disappointment but that's not entirely true because I thought they could very much lose the feel of the album and they did. And that feel was "written" via the stereo mix by Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, Starr, Martin & crew whereas Sgt Pepper's was by only Martin & crew. Maybe I am in the camp of "you don't paint a mustache on the Mona Lisa" after all. I can't wait to get new stereo remixes on Revolver and backwards but it's unnecessary for the White Album and forward but I'll be pre-ordering AB50th in late August or early September, I can't wait.
I think John's vocal was mixed down too much and thus ruins it for me. The original mix has the Paul and John vocals almost a duet with John down a bit. In tge new mix, John is almost not audible.
I feel Giles didn’t do as good a job with the White Album as he did with Pepper. Some of the mixes sound rushed and although dynamics are improved, I feel he doesn’t dot the i’s and cross the t’s. For every issue he ‘fixes’, he introduces another. The ending of Birthday is shoddy. The lead guitar doesn’t fade like the original mixes but is left up to audibly finish with a squawk. Chris
with previous stuff said I now have loaded in my 5-Disc; Peppers50th WA50th Disc 1 WA50th Disc 2 Imagine Lennon 87 CD Wild Life Wings '87 CD Like they used to say on the postcards, Having a wonderful time wish you were here!
Played the new mix maybe twice....meh. But I love the Esher demoes along with the outtakes. Still play my 1987 2 cd set the most, even over the 2009 mono and 2014 mono vinyl. Love the flat transfer sound of the 1987.
5 months into absorbing the miraculous WA50th, I hope someone can please tell me : what is that wobbly sound which runs throughout "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," both old and new mixes, but never more audibly than later in the new one? It may well be a human voice at times, in fact I'm certain it often is, possibly combined with a fluttering, "sobbing" whammy-bar effect. But I don't think that's all, especially in the last 20 seconds or so, when it really pops out of the mix. There, I suddenly have the impression that It's A Musical Saw ! (loudest on Right side in stereo, Right Rear in 5.1). I just don't know what to think. I have no knowledge of anyone asking Giles Martin about it, though this remix has been controversial, and taken apart from many angles. And while I've certainly never heard of The Beatles using a saw before or after, Chris Thomas did play a number of important incidental parts on several WA songs. Could this be another contribution from him? Actually, for me it's in the same realm as the question of who's doing the high vocal keening along with the drumroll/rattling wine bottle at the end of "Long Long Long"? I'd love to know if ALL these warblings were from both songs' author/producer Harrison! An Indian vocal technique he learned? You'd think such info would've come out before. It feels to me, at this point, like a real omission in the technical credits. Jeff
The wobbly sound in "While My Guitar" is Clapton's guitar going through a voltage regulator. They did that because they felt the sound of his unaltered guitar wasn't really right for the song.
And what about "Revolution 9? For all the lavish praise both the stereo and especially the 5.1 remixes have received, along with Martin's talk about its increased power to shock and engulf, I've yet to hear definitive word from him or anyone else that the piece was remixed. (Even though, yes, it does sound it to me). At which notion my mind boggles at the thought that he might actually have been able to not only pull together all the original loop elements. OK, that might somehow be possible. But then, having done that, how did he recreate that mixing scheme? Even with the visual assistance of ProTools analyzing the original multitrack tape transfer (if there is one), it's all SO subjective. I want answers! And if it's basically an elaborate re-master, I want to know that, too, because then it's a new gold-standard master class for such forensic audio adventures. Anyone know? Thanks again. Jeff
I'm not trying to describe Clapton's guitar. This sound is a separate element, to my ears, anyway. But thanks, I will gladly listen again. Jeff
That's the Hammond organ part I think you're talking about. It was played live on the basic track by John. On the final 8 track tape it somehow got processed along with Clapton's lead guitar even though they were on different tracks, which is why on the mono mix you hear both parts being varisped at the same time.