Poll: Sgt pepper mono vs stereo

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Meddle, Jan 6, 2014.

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  1. Mike in OR

    Mike in OR Through Middle-earth...onto Heart of The Sunrise

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
    MONOOOOOO
     
  2. mmars982

    mmars982 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    Pepper and White are the two that I would never be able to chose one over the other - love them both & they are different enough that I like to listen to them equally. Would have voted if there was a tie option.
     
    petem1966 and rbbert like this.
  3. The Panda

    The Panda Forum Mutant

    Location:
    Marple, PA, USA
    Both have strong points. The only way to hear the Pepper reprise is mono, but since Fixing a Hole is my favorite song on the lp and the mono buries those gorgeous backing vocals on the third verse, the stereo has the edge for me.
     
  4. therebelsell

    therebelsell Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    The Beatles themselves participated in their mono mixes and left the stereo mix to someone else. So I take the mono version to be how the album was intended, especially with Pepper.
     
  5. OneStepBeyond

    OneStepBeyond Senior Member

    Location:
    North Wales, UK
    Heard the stereo for 20 odd years, then I got to hear the mono (though I did hear a beat-up original and noticed a couple of differences, it didn't get me that much at first until I heard it again a long time later...) it WAS like hearing MORE than a different mix...

    It's only by playing the mono lots, that I now prefer it mostly. Gotta ask why I came to play it lots! :D Well, because I kept hearing and picking up on subtle differences, then occasionally playing stereo again- noticing things missing..?

    So, like most I should think, I like a mixture of the two. ADITL and WYWY needs to be stereo IMO, but the rest really shine in mono. The 'guitar/chicken' edit does irk me though!

    Mainly mono for me; so that's what I voted.
     
    Mickey2 likes this.
  6. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    I am quite shocked that, so far, the mono votes are double the stereo votes.
     
    ParloFax likes this.
  7. agaraffa

    agaraffa Senior Member

    Mono, by a wide margin.
     
    Larry L and Grant like this.
  8. Marty Milton

    Marty Milton Senior Member

    Location:
    Urbana, Illinois
    Yeah, me too. To be honest, after I got my first stereo record player in 1966, I bought nothing but stereo versions of albums. I was sold on the idea that the stereo versions were always the preferred format back then.
     
  9. Fafner88

    Fafner88 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Haifa, Israel
    I can't stand mono, so it's always stereo.
     
    oldsurferdude likes this.
  10. rbbert

    rbbert Forum Resident

    Location:
    Reno, NV, USA
    Like several others, I can't effectively vote because I like both; in fact just last night I listened to the stereo from the USB apple.
     
  11. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    I went stereo just because I hate the bad segue between "GMGM" and "SPLHCB (Reprise)" on the mono!
     
    Mickey2, KariK, 905 and 1 other person like this.
  12. littlelambdragonfly

    littlelambdragonfly Well-Known Member

    Both are great though I prefer mono with the one exception of A Day in the Life which is much more powerful in stereo, esp the last chord.
     
    John Carsell likes this.
  13. aoxomoxoa

    aoxomoxoa I'm an ear sitting in the sky

    Location:
    USA
    I like 'em both
     
    Pete Puma likes this.
  14. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    Not many. :)
     
  15. Put simply, in mono it rocks. The Beatles were a rock band. I like the mono.
     
    zobalob and Grant like this.
  16. mschrist

    mschrist Forum Resident

    Location:
    Madison, WI
    Mono. I generically prefer mono to stereo--I like its integrated sound. But "Sgt. Pepper" and John Mayall's "Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton" are the only two albums that I really, really prefer in mono. (Of course, that's only from the small sample of albums I've heard in both formats.) The Mayall I really feel strongly about--the mix is different in mono in a way that substantively changes the effect of the album. I don't feel quite as strongly about "Sgt. Pepper", but for all the little differences between the mono and stereo mixes--the scatting at the end of the reprise, the effects on the vocals on "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", the higher pitch on "She's Leaving Home"--I categorically like the mono version better. Even if, artistically, I think the differences between the mono and stereo "Sgt. Pepper" are kind of arbitrary. It's literally just a matter of my own personal likes.
     
    OneStepBeyond likes this.
  17. andy75

    andy75 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sweden
    Enjoy both of them! But the mono is much heavier, so I voted for it!

    ADITL is, like many others already have said, much nicer on the stereo.
     
    OneStepBeyond likes this.
  18. rjp

    rjp Senior Member

    Location:
    Ohio
    the poll results are confusing to say the least.

    sgt pepper was a marvel in it's day. nothing like was ever done before.

    the sonics are years ahead of it's time.

    why would you want to hear it in mono? i truly believe it was meant to be heard in stereo.
     
    oldsurferdude likes this.
  19. action pact

    action pact Music Omnivore

    That's an interesting statement, not many folks did that back then. What were your reason for purchasing both formats back in '67?
     
  20. action pact

    action pact Music Omnivore

    The sounds they got on tape were indeed revolutionary, but a 4-track recording with quite a lot of tape-to-tape bounces does not yield the best stereo imaging; it sounds more cohesive in mono. That, and the fact that the Beatles themselves were directly involved in the mono mixing session, while the stereo mix was quickly done as an afterthought, leads most to favor the mono mix.
     
  21. sathvyre

    sathvyre formerly known as ABBAmaniac

    Location:
    Europe
    I voted for stereo, cause it was the version I heard first....but I also prefer to play the mono version sometimes - it depends on my daily mood ;)
     
  22. Adam9

    Adam9 Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй.

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    In mono I like the power of the title song , the phasing effects in "Lucy", the speedier "She's Leaving Home", the louder laughing at the end of George's song (OK, that's a stretch :)), the extra ADT added to the lead guitar in "Good Morning Good Morning" that makes it scream, and probably most of all Paul's scatting at the end of the reprise. Also "A Day In The Life" comes in less abruptly after the reprise. Some of the stereo mixes aren't really balanced ("Lovely Rita" and "Mr. Kite").
    Having said that I'm listening to a "Lovely Rita" in stereo right now and enjoying it. It's the Beatles for pete's sake! :)
     
  23. Absolutely the STEREO version, with which I grew up. (...Yet I grew up also with the bad stereo version of multiple other Beatles songs, and today I vastly prefer their mono counterpart...)

    No contest... The terrible segue to Sgt Pepper Reprise in mono kills it for me... The sped-up, chipmunk-y Paul on "When I'm 64"... Near inaudible freaky voices on the outro of "Lovely Rita"... The absence of the cinematic effect of the animals chasing each others on "Good Morning"...

    I don't care if the Boys left the room and delegated the stereo mix to faceless lab coats: they did a terrific job!
     
    Mickey2 and oldsurferdude like this.
  24. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    Was there ever an "official explanation" of why the "GMGM" to "(Reprise)" segue worked so much better on the stereo version than on the mono one?

    I always loved that on the stereo one - it was all I heard for 30 years. When I finally heard the mono in 2009, I expected the same segue and was shocked by the clumsiness of what I heard.

    Not that this negates the whole mono experience, of course, but I find it bizarre that the mix they supposedly slaved over would screw up in a way the "afterthought" stereo version doesn't...
     
    Christian Taylor Lee likes this.
  25. Official? I don't know. But I believe there is a technical explanation "around here" somewhere... and I forgot what it was, naturally!
     
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