Giles Martin: Update the Beatles

I personally can't wait for the catalogue to get a stereo remix. The perfect complement to my Beatles 2014 mono LP needledrops.

 

I can't wait to hear what the rest of the catalog sounds like with cheap compression applied to it!

 

What is so bad about a little compression to make it sound modern? The vocals would also be centered and no more ping pong stereo. Youngsters would also start listening to the Beatles as well. How is that a bad thing?

 

The remix and the original stereo are apples and oranges.

They achieve different aims.

Young people aren't gravitating, to any larger degree... to my knowledge... to the remix.

If that's who this remix was meant for...I don't think they achieved their goal.

Actually, I think Giles and Apple particularly listened to the vocal minority...who advocate so strongly for mono.

And tried to create a Mono/Stereo Hybrid.

People should be okay with reasoned and balanced criticism of the remix.

And not expect Unanimity of Thought.

That's the great thing about freedom of expression and free speech.

Not having just one sanctioned and allowed point of view.

 

I don't see the justification of your remarks in the article I read. At least Apple is doing it right with keeping the originals in print. Anyway, who cares? either buy the re-mix or the original. Dial up either one on what ever subscription service that person has and enjoy it. At least they aren't short sighted like Genesis and The Who, where the remix is all that's been available anywhere for 10 and 20 years respectively.

 

Giles Martin has proven himself to be the perfect Beatles remixer. I hope he remixes all the albums in a similar vein to the 1+ remixes.

 

The better the equipment I listen on, the worse the remix sounds compared to the original stereo. I find the remix suits my car stereo, which has a fair amount of road noise to ride through.

 

I'll admit it. I LOVE the Sgt Pepper remaster!

 

What is "ping pong stereo"? Is that like when you move the left and right balance from side to side?

Only time The Beatles ever did that was at the end of "Revolution #9". Can't see removing that making much of a difference to younger listeners.

 

It's the hard panning on the early Beatles albums as well as on RS and Revolver

 

I figured, sorry to be a bit sarcastic.

I have ranted about it elsewhere, but I love the hard panning and wish people were more adventurous with stereo today.

 

For me, the worst application of ping pong stereo is what was done to Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds on the remixed Sgt Pepper. A Horrible decision and not at all musical. The gently floating, slowly panned vocals on the original Pepper album stereo mix were perfectly done and conveyed the sense of the album, but were not duplicated in the remix. But instead we got the gratuitous ping pong piano notes in the remix which are just cheap and amateurish.

 

I don't understand people being upset about this. If you are happy with an early release great for you. It's not the end of the world. I will buy the WA remix. If I don't like it I have my other versions. It's not you have trade the old one in to get the new one.

 

The mixing tricks are super gimmicky and representative of the latest "toys" that wanna-be's in the industry have latched onto. Like when EMI discovered No-Noise and proceeded to add it to everything. But people don't see it that way.

I don't think it's as much a case of being an "audiophile" as it is a matter of simply having good taste when it comes to mixing.

 

So are you say that Giles is a wanna-be? Last time I checked, he's in the industry.

I don't agree with all of the choices that he made, but at least we should show him some respect.

 

Giles Martin is not a wannabe. He is respected in the industry and has worked with many artists including Kate Bush, Elvis Costello and Paul McCartney. He also worked with George Harrison's songs for the Martin Scorsese doc Living in a Material World. Do some research on him before making silly comments about him.

 

Good point. It doesn't change the music it improves it. The remixes are what future generations and the current generation will listen to. They won't give a toss about the mono mixes unfortunately. Unfortunately half the stereo mixes sound weak and have panning as well. That's why remixing the mono mixes is the way forward.

 

Let's be real about this too, forget about "stereo/mono/"remixes", etc. - How do people listen to, or hear this music? Earbuds from a smartphone? Play Station to a sound bar?
Can the nuances be even noticed? Only geeks on this forum put any value on these kinds of things. The music is THERE, it's kind of hard to change that once it is heard, any way...

 

I do all my listening via headphones so remixes would be perfect for someone like me. To me the mono mixes sound flat and compressed via headphones. They just don’t sound as good as playing them via speakers. The stereo mixes give me a headache, especially when there are only vocals in the right channel. So as a headphone listener I would gladly rebuy the catalogue if it was remixed.

 

I think I am all for 'remixing' if they can improve the sound in stereo so that it sounds more correctly balanced and lose the awful 'cheap' mega basic stereo sound EMI had back in the early to mid sixties of 'vocals and the odd lone instrument on one channel' / 'the rest of the instruments on the other' (which plagued a number of Beatles songs early on, several Hollies albums, other group albums and tracks such as Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, The Swinging Blue Jeans, The Fourmost etc, also some Cliff/Shadows tracks - where it sounds as if Cliff has stomped off in a temper right up to the other end of the studio to sing alone !) and generally make the original performances sound clearer and stronger...

In his interview with Andy Peebles in late 1980 John Lennon wondered why EMI had that mega basic stereo sound too

'Help !' always had a very 'muddy' sounding mix - the stereo version particularly (and these stereo mixes were often rushed jobs without the producer present) and we all saw how the 'Yellow Submarine' album was sharpened up in terms of clarity compared to the original mix - 'Hey Bulldog' was a revelation in sound

also some sixties stereo versions included both errors and imperfections that the more prized (then) mono versions had corrected but the (then deemed less important) stereo versions were left with (Beatles; 'Please Please Me', 'I Should Have Known Better', 'If I Fell' etc, Hollies; 'Lawdy Miss Clawdy', Cliff/Shadows; 'On The Beach', Freddie & The Dreamers; 'Some Other Guy' etc) ...these could be 'repaired' in stereo now

the original stereo and mono versions are around anyway so no problem there if you prefer to listen to the original releases

 

This to me is a win win. The original mixes will always be there to listen to should they remain your go to choice. Now we have possibly a fresh prospective, fresh ears and perhaps new technology that can be applied to the material to create something new from something very familiar. Not necessarily better just new.

Now the choice reverts to the fans, buy the new mixes or not, listen to them or not. In any event the existence of new mixes should be a good thing as choice is a wonderful thing.

 

Why does it matter if young people like the Beatles or not? In their own day, the Beatles themselves would have laughed themselves silly at the thought of all those squares worrying if their generation would like “It’s a Long Way To Tipperary” and Al Jolson.

 

Turn Birthday into an EDM track with special guest rapper G-Eazy.

 

I think some of the Yellow Submarine Soundtrack mixes show how Giles Martin has gone very wrong. Hey Bulldog I agree sounds great on this. Remixing should improve things especially as digital has improved so much in the last 20 years. This makes Giles efforts even more inexcusable. Even the Lp which is supposed to have been cut without added compression is a hard listen. The whole feel of the album has been lost. I think the better your equipment the worse this is going to sound. I really like the YSS reissue in spite of no noise and some compression as it's a more competent mixing job.

 

EMI wasn't the only one doing this. Almost all stereo recordings during that period were done that way - even on some jazz recordings. The only recordings that didn't have this - or very rarely - was on classical music.