Notice, too, that the U-matic is an “EQ copy” and not a “flat copy.” Therefore, some mastering was done for the production of this CD master.
I noticed that, although I have a feeling that was just a generic indication that it was something prepared for release, as opposed to some sort of transfer for archival or work purposes. I would assume *anything* sent from EMI meant for release would have "EQ copy" on it, regardless of whether EQ was used or not. There was apparently very little EQ used at all on the original CDs, but it seems like Help! and Rubber Soul were even more hands-off than the other CDs. Whereas on Revolver they "faded the fades" to digital silence between most or all tracks, on Help! and Rubber Soul most or all of the fades have *not* been "helped", and the song to song transitions seem to be what they are on the master tapes. That's especially interesting, since the first 4 also had their fades "helped", which seems to suggest these two were *never* meant for release, since it seems unlikely EMI would have changed their approach just for Help! and Rubber Soul. Does anyone know if the Canadian copies of Revolver are identical to the standard issues? Obviously they would have the same mix, but I'm curious if an earlier, "hands-off" transfer may have been used by mistake.
Ok, so, I just got a DA CD of Revolver, and it's identical to my US pressing...except for the fades and pauses: On top is my US CD from the early '90s, matrix "46441 MASTERED BY EMI MFG." On the bottom is my Canadian CD, apparently from the 1990-1994 era, matrix "DISQUE AMERIC 016R3<011>C2246441". Note both that the gap is shorter on the US CD, as well as that the Canadian CD doesn't "fade the fade", and there's tape machine noise all the way through to the start of Eleanor Rigby (the US CD has digital silence between the songs). What the what? This is a minor, minor difference, but it's still quite interesting. Was this lack of tweaking unique to the Canadian CDs? Or did original (US? UK?) pressings match, only to be replaced with secret remasters later? My US pressing of Beatles For Sale, which has the "tweaked gaps", seems to be a very early Specialty pressing, which seems to suggest that the tweaking was happening early on. Who did the tweaking? EMI, or Capitol?
This is still the best thread on this whole forum, for me. The shock of this find at the time was brilliant.
Looks like the US pressing has some kind of NR on the fade, too, that’s absent on the Canadian pressing.
Amazing info Luke. How you were not working as a researcher for one of these companies, back when all these catalogs were being compiled, and released,, in the Cd's prime era, is our loss. I imagine the truly definitive collections we'd all still be listening to today.
All I've found so far is a bunch of near identical CDs to the common versions, just differing peak levels etc.
Look at between 2:35-2:36.5. There is a lot less random noise in the US pressing than the Canadian, but the levels of the music content are the same.
The levels of the music aren't the same. You can see there's a bit of red all the way through the fade on the Canadian, but it's just blue on the US. The fade on the US actually starts just before 2:33.
For all 0.5 of you interested in such minutia, here's the end of Taxman on the Canadian CD: Dropbox - Taxman end DA.flac - Simplify your life The same from the US EMI CD: Dropbox - Taxman end EMI.flac - Simplify your life And a null test between the two: Dropbox - Taxman end DA minus EMI.flac - Simplify your life
Actually, there's one spot on the Canadian Revolver that is probably audible to most people under normal listening conditions: the start of I Want To Tell You. The opening notes are much more audible, even without the volume cranked to 10. Canadian CD: Dropbox - I Want To Tell You start DA.flac - Simplify your life US EMI CD: Dropbox - I Want To Tell You start EMI.flac - Simplify your life And the null test: Dropbox - I Want To Tell You start DA minus EMI.flac - Simplify your life
Now i am super curious if the other "disque" cds from canada have these tiny differences in their fades.
Beatles For Sale - Identical to my US CD, except about a second is removed between the sides, including the very tail end of the fade on Kansas City. Magical Mystery Tour - Identical to my US CD, except the very start of the CD is cut off slightly (before the actual music starts). Not even differences in levels. I know there's at least one pressing of Let It Be with noise reduction. At the moment I don't recall where that's from.
My UK copy matches matrix variant 1 here: The Beatles - Revolver Luke, can you post your spectrogram settings? It took me a while to realize that you had switched to Linear. I can pretty much replicate the end of Taxman, but my start of Rigby looks off in comparison. Anyway, the UK follows your US (fade to digital black) but, looking to CH. 1, the UK fade is finished by 2:36.0 and Rigby starts at 2:40.0. Your US looks to have those points at 2:36.5 and 2:39.85. So, the gap is slightly shorter on the US.
Scale: Linear Min: 0 Max: 22050 Gain: 20 Range: 80 High boost: 0 Algorithm: Frequencies Size: 256 Type: Hanning Factor: 1
Thanks for that. OK, partially scratch what I wrote earlier. I don't use Audacity much so made a screw up. With Rigby inserted at the end of Taxman AND both songs selected to change the spectral view simultaneously, I get the same spectral view as you. However, I was wrong about the gap. UK CD Taxman fade-out on Ch. 1 ends at 2:36.0 (as before, with some very low level extending to 2.36.6). Rigby fade-in on Ch. 1 begins at 2:39.3 - 2:39.4. So the gap (3.3 seconds) is the same as the US, only the start points of the CDs must be different (by 0.5 seconds).
