Freddy King: dual mono-to-stereo mixes

The current thread now underway about the Freddy King instrumental albums reminded me of the dual mono-to-stereo conversions on the Modern Blues reissues. Anyone know anything about the process used to create these mixes? Don't think I've ever seen it used elsewhere.

Check out this blurb in the liner-notes for "Freddy King Sings", Modern Blues Recordings(MBCD-722)(1989):

"With one exception, the songs on this reissue are in stereo -- for the very first time. An audio information/image recovery system developed by Keith Keller's Digital Soundscapes was used in mastering the original King Records dual-mono, two-track studio masters, converting them to true stereo for this release. The recovery system delivers live-performance ambience and image information othewise inaudible on the studio masters. This first-ever conversion to true stereo of dual-mono souce material makes this reissue a milestone in archival sound restoration"

The process was also used on Freddy King's "Just Pickin'", Modern Blues Recordings (MBXLCD-721)(1989), where the above blurb is repeated with following addendum:
"Digital transfers and reissue mastering by Randall Merryman. Stereo conversions by Randall Merryman at F.O.C. Sound, Nashville, TN. Audio information/image recovery hardware for stereo conversions courtesy of Keith Keller's Digital Soundscapes (Seven Seas Audio), Seattle, WA."

 

I've got that CD somewhere, and try not to think about it....atrocious waste of money!

Beyond that, most of that stuff had TRUE stereo masters to begin with, so there was no need to doctor mono tapes and 'convert' them to stereo. Curious, too, that mono tape could be converted to 'stereo,' but when the source was disk, they couldn't do the same.

Whatever this process entails, in modern terms, I think 'faux 5.1,' for some reason....