Beatles Remasters On Vinyl: Please Post News Here (Part Two)

There are always going to be collectors or audiophiles who will be willing to pay a premium for vintage Beatles, regardless of the fact that the vinyl is old. A lot of those BC-13 boxes are in NM condition and were hardly played.

The remasters did not drive the price down of the original UK Y&B pressings.

 

Thats because the remasters were cd only, and also because Y&Bs are for the most part, first pressings from the country of origin, which will always be desired and collectable no matter what is released. I don't expect the prices of Y&B's to go down ever, but the vinyl boxset is giving those who are interested in acquiring something like the bc-13 another option, one that is more attractive especially if one isn't in the know in regards to various pressings, or the differences between analog/digital. The prices on bc-13s should go down a bit to make up for the fact that new vinyl is going to detract from the demand for them.
How much the market value will actually go down is anyones guess.

 

I don't agree.

I think there will always be a demand for the BC-13 box, especially if the new pressings are not well received. In that case, I don't think the prices will drop.

 

If these new LPs are 100% Analog, and actually have some BASS on them, they will make all existing Beatles vinyl obsolete and that includes the BC-13 Blue Box.

I HAD the Blue Box. Sonically, it was nothing to write home about...just stock versions of the Beatles albums in one box. Some sounded ok, some didnt. I did much better with 60s Parly vinyl so I gave the BC-13 to my bass player who is low on funds.

I'm really hopeful that the mastering team that did the 2009 reissues thought to run a 30 ips analog tape master off the multis as well as a digital master. It only makes sense since they did all that work. And, if they DID do a 30 ips master, then these LPs should be mastered from that. And they should sound great.

 

I'm hoping they did that, but there's a lot of ifs in your story!
Currently I think they will use a high-res digital master for this, but I hope one of the folks working for EMI/Apple will give some information about that!

 

I skipped the remastered red and blue CD compilations last fall. I already have the remastered stereo and mono boxes, as well as the USB key, and figured it wasn't worth it just for the clean intro to "A Day in the Life." But you know how this is.

So I'm thinking now I might actually pre-order the blue compilation on vinyl and make up my mind whether or not to get everything else in September. I don't really mind whether they're cut from analog or digital sources so long as they sound great in my room. I'd go for stereo and mono boxes all over again. Japanese pressings if ever they decide to offer them.

Best,

Robert

 

Not sure what you mean by "off the multis" -- the 2009 albums were not remixes. In any case, what you're describing would mean an extra analog generation loss (compared to cutting a lacquer directly from the actual stereo master tapes, or running the cleaned-up hi-res digital through analog processing straight to the lathe).

I assume HTM's original mastering notes exist. Does anyone know whether those notes would be specific to the original Abbey Road lathes and signal processors, or are the notes general enough that someone could use them as a guideline on other equipment?

 

Actually, it's good. I like the idea of 20-somethings buying records, no matter used or new. Such a shame we don't have anything like that in Russia. No used vinyl market, no cheap Crosley TTs in stores... sad.

 

Before my time as a member here but didn't Allan Rouse in one of his posted remarks say they did have them in their archives as they had used them as a reference for the cd issue mastering?

 

I think it's fairly certain that they will use the digital files they created when they were preparing the cds. To do otherwise would make no sense. They went back to the original tapes, have cleaned them up, and now the files are there and ready. To start all over again would be silly. If you read the interview with the team that worked on them in Record Collector it makes no mention of making analogue copies for a future vinyl campaign.

Now, they have done all the work and the digital files they have will be the source for all future projects now.

No reason though that they won't sound amazing on vinyl if they are mastered well, pressed well etc.

 

This makes sense to me. I can't imagine going back to the master tapes again two years later to appease the audiophile community. Not that I would complain if they did!

 

Hope they manage to get the beginning of "A Hard Day's Night" sounding like it should!

 

When Abkco did the Stones catalog for SACD in 2002, they also archived the original masters they used to 30ips tape at the same time they transferred them to DSD. Apparently their original intent was to do the 2003 LP reissues from these analog copies but in the end they decided to cut from the DSD masters for the sake of consistency between the SACD and LP releases. Given the work done on the 2009 Beatles remasters, I can see them using the same reasoning. The question is more a matter of whether they'll go back to the 24/192 archive files and then redo all the analog mastering moves they did afterwards (24/192->analog->mastering console->24/44.1) or whether they'll just take the mastered 24/44.1 files and cut from them.

Almost anyone who's heard the 2010 Stones boxes will tell you such digitally sourced vinyl can sound tremendous if the mastering is right. The '64-69 box has generally gotten rave reviews, but even the '71-'05 box sounds good if you discount the extra compression done to the sources they used. In other words, it is possible to cut incredible sounding vinyl from such sources if 1. the mastering is done right, and 2. the cutting is done right.

Time will tell.

 

That would be nice.

 

This basically sucks. All analog is the way to go. Sure, they can make nice sounding vinyl, but it will be digital. Analog is better and would sound the best, but what do they care, they just want the easy and cheap way out, to get our hard earned money. If they go with the 24/44.1 mastering, they should be put in jail for grand theft.

 

If they try to correct it... But I think that beginning remains the same as on 2009 remasters (and 2010 Red album)...

 

I think the chances of getting analog are about 5%. This is business baby, so stop complaining. They already have the digital files prepared and they won´t add and extra cost to an eagerly anticipated product running a risk that can ruin their careers as music industry managers. The cd boxes sold amazingly well and there is a whole new generation waiting for the vinyl remasters. From a managment perspective, there is no sense on going analog to satisfy the desires of people like us. The new vinyl will sell great even if they are sourced from a tape left by Ringo in an octopus´garden 40 years ago. We might not buy it, but a lot of other definitely will.

 

I wish Dylan was still the big influence on the Beatles he was in the mid-sixties. He could turn them on to all-analogue reasonably priced mono boxed-set.

 

I bought the DSD Hot Rocks vinyl. Very quiet vinyl, clean sound, but still missing something in the airiness or presence. I don't go to it much but when I do- the same feelings return.

 

Agreed. But have you heard the 2010 '64-'69 box? It sounds more analog than some all-analog albums I own! The missing airiness and presence is much more apparent there. Even the second box sourced from overly-compressed 16/44.1 masters has its moments (Black and Blue is stunning).

 

I have possibly one of the last EMI U.K. analogue blue boxes from August, 1986. It sounds great.

Where are the masters for those LP releases? (The metal parts, the mothers, the stampers, etc.?) If they were stored away correctly, could they not be pulled out and used again?

Same question for the early 1980s red/black mono box set?

 

Where are the original analogue U.K. masters, mothers, stampers, etc.

They probably have Harry Moss' notes and everything.

 

Funny you should say that, since it was the Beatles' mono CD box from 2009 that inspired Dylan's mono box of 2010...