DCC Archive Hoffman Remastered Beatles/Stones CD -- How Much Would You Pay?

Although I suspect that the major impediment to having DCC issue remastered CDs (or SACD's) of the Beatles and (London/ABCKO) Stones catalogs is not financial, I wonder how much the people on this list would be willing to pay? I really wouldn't think twice about paying $50 per disc -- hell, I paid that much for the out-of-print London/Decca Aftermath CD, and I'm sure the Japanese Abbey Road CD sells for at least that much on eBay. I'd probably be willing to pay even more if the CDs were mono/stereo twofers or featured expanded artwork.

 

I wouldn't either ... but let's not give them any ideas. ;-)

Considering what original UK vinyls go for ... clearly there are people willing to shell out. If remasters that even come within a stone's throw of the sound quality of those were to see the light of day, audiophiles would surely snatch 'em up no matter what the price.

As far as the average consumer, though ... I'm not so sure. There's a definite cap as to how much they'll pay for software.

 

I wonder how many CDs of each title DCC would have to sell (assuming a suggested retail price of $50/disc) in order to make a profit.

 

I'll pay more for more. I see nothing wrong with that. Most real Beatles an stones fans are fanatical. They'd pay for an SACD player PLUS the discs just to hear something amazing. There's plenty of ideas going through my head, but not unlike what some of you might have as selling ideas...

 

I've already said many times before that if the people running Sony had any sense, they'd offer to supply Abbey Road studios with the necessary DSD mastering equipment at no cost and send their best mastering engineers to supervise the DSD transfers of the Beatles original master tapes and underwrite the costs of a "Beatles on SACD" advertising campaign.

 

It's a shame that these 2 catalogs are next to impossible to get a green light for DCC (or even a competent/correct tapes remaster). The Beatles and Stones are such an important part of music history and to have only very sub-par stuff available is just sad. How many times have we stated this? What to do, what to do... Does anybody know black magic or know how to cast a suggestive spell??

Todd

 

Somehow somebody at Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs back in the early 80's managed to convince both Allen Klein and Apple to allow MFSL to release half-speed mastered LPs of the Stones and Beatles catalogs. So I can't say for sure that it can't be done. But I suspect that DCC would need to offer a ridiculous sum of money and also have "friends in high places" in order to secure the rights to reissue these catalogs on gold CD or SACD. Money alone isn't going to do it, since neither Klein nor Apple appear to be all that interested in maximizing profits -- if they did, both catalogs would have been remastered and repackaged long ago.

 

I'd pay $75 each for any Beatles or Stones title DSD-remastered by SH from the best existing tape source and released on SACD. Bring it on Steve!

 

Originally posted by David Olstein:
>> I've already said many times before that if the people running Sony had any sense, they'd offer to supply Abbey Road studios with the necessary DSD mastering equipment at no cost and send their best mastering engineers to supervise the DSD transfers of the Beatles original master tapes and underwrite the costs of a "Beatles on SACD" advertising campaign. <<

Don't look now David, but a Sonoma DSD station has been installed at Abbey Road studios (this past Summer). As for the rest, blame Ono's and McCartney's lawyers, not Sony.


August 2001

Following successful projects in Germany, UK and Belgium, EMI is to release a number of its major artists on Super Audio CD over coming
months.

Initial plans see EMI releasing around 17 titles on Super Audio CD. Also, the record company is establishing a Super Audio CD production centre
at its Abbey Road Recording Studios in London.

Artists currently in discussion for the first batch of releases include Geri Halliwell, Fun Lovin' Criminals, Beverley Knight, Coldplay, Joe Cocker,
David Bowie, Pet Shop Boys, Tina Turner and Paul McCartney.

DSD comes to Abbey Road
At the heart of Super Audio CD is a new 1-bit recording system called Direct Stream Digital (DSD). This high-resolution recording and mastering
technology enables record companies to release new productions, as well as re-releases that have been re-mastered from analogue and digital
master tapes on Super Audio CD. A hybrid Super Audio CD disc can contain the same music in three different ways - a) high resolution stereo
DSD, b) up to 5.1 channel surround DSD, plus c) a "regular" CD recording which can be played back on any standard CD player. The stereo and
multichannel DSD recordings can possess separate mixes to suit each speaker configuration.

EMI's Abbey Road Studios installed its first DSD workstation in July this year, a Sonoma multichannel recorder, editor and mastering system,
developed by Sony. This installation is part of the studio's continual drive for audio excellence at the cutting edge of sound recording.


-Ends-


EMI Press Office contact:
SACD Format contact:
Cathy Cremer - + 44 (0) 207 605 5430
Bob Charlton - +44 (0) 207 559 9891

 

I suspect Y. O. is the one who needs to be convinced. Paul and Ringo have already heard what Steve can do, and George is an LP fan, and has stated his skepticism about (regular) digital.
I would not be surprised if all this bashing that goes on here about Peter M. is counterproductive. The guy's human, and no one wants to have his work ripped apart. Maybe some of the important parties are going to defend him and other Abbey Road engineers in the face of all these attacks.
David is absolutely 100% spot-on about SACD. If the Beatles were redone properly on SACD, there'd be more SACD players sold the first day than there have been in the last two years.

 

Although I am not a big fan of the Beatles or the Rolling Stones, I do like Rubber Soul, Abbey Road, and the White Album.

But if Steve Hoffman remastered the Beatles and the Stones catalogs, I would probably like to have HOT ROCKS, and the three Beatles albums mentioned above.

What I would pay, would depend entirely on my mood at the time...

However, I would pay $100 for a Steve Hoffman mastered "Heavy Horses" by Jethro Tull.

Tony

 

Ya reckon the Beatles catalog would first go to a 24/96 workstation for EQ, limiting and no-noise, then across the hall to the DSD station. I wouldn't be at all surprised, though I would hope it wouldn't happen like that.