So, why such extreme stereo separation on Beatles albums?

Yes! That vocal fits the nature of the song--the subject, the lyric, the EXCITEMENT--that's why it was used. Similarly, the 'weary slowdown' perfectly fits "You Won't See Me". The sort of subtley/complexity that you tend not to get in these Dark Latter Days with everything on Earth click-tracked and pitch-corrected to death.

 

Bingo!

 

Well, they were under a lot of pressure at the time. I guess they ran out of time.

 

Wow! Don't think I ever heard that. Can't relax on music like that--demands attention. McCartney is a powerhouse vocalist, well-matched with Lennon.

 

I would guess that at the time they were quite satisfied with the result. Who knows what revisionist words may have been uttered later. 'Perfection' really is the enemy for this sort of high-energy music.

 

Absolutely. With the Beatles is an awesome record, despite some rather sloppy playing at times. Prefer it over Please Please Me. Early Beatles at its finest and captured the energy of their early gigs in a studio enviroment. The BBC Sessions are quite nice too from this period. Many superior versions.

 

Very neat and still sounds great.

 

If you want perfection, go listen to the Super Bowl Halftime Show. I'll keep Hold Me Tight.

 

McCartney called it a "work song" in his interview with Mark Lewisohn that opened Recording Sessions. That is, he didn't think too highly of it.

As far as takes go, keep in mind the mono is an edit of two overdub takes, while the stereo is just one of the takes. Somebody could make a new edit in stereo to match, though, since that tape does exist.

There may have been prejudice, it's just it seems quite unlikely that was coming from "the board room" or other higher ups at EMI.

 

Why do we care though? Whenever issues of remixing or remastering old material are put to an artist, those opinions are nearly always disregarded as worthless/revisionist/can't be trusted/etc. (See numerous Jimmy Page/Zep remaster threads) Since we can't have it both ways, whatever McCartney thought about it in 1988 shouldn't matter either. In 1963, he liked it enough to attempt to record it more than most songs of the era.

 

Isn't this the version used in the movie Strawberry Fields Forever when they flash between the Cavern Club and the high school sock hop? Instantly loved it!!

 

I'm merely putting forward what McCartney stated.

 

Yes! And I used to think that John would have sung that lower line instead of Paul...

 

I should've said 10TB! Either way, back in the 1990s, this was an incredibly high number just for drum beats.

Yep, I agree with that. I remember falling out my chair laughing when The Rutles hit in 1977, and whatever session drummer they higher could duplicate the exact same sound, which was hilarious.

 

I only use so much space because I'm using BFD2 with several expansion packs. I'm not looping beats that someone else came up with. I'm creating drum parts with real sampled drum hits (up to 35 velocities for each hit type) for around 20 different drumkits that you can mix and match. The sounds can be triggered with an electronic drumkit as well (Roland, Alesis, etc.). So I guess I'm using drum sounds rather than beats.

 

I notice that on all of the late night shows the lead vocal is mixed a bit down and distant in the mix, the same way it sounds on stage when the monitors are not loud enough and you hear the vocals bouncing off the walls rather than straight from a driver. I suspect this is to accommodate surround or something. It must be tough to mix for surround broadcasts from a booth.

I always like drummers that are behind the beat, as long as they are consistently behind the beat. I think that is one of the things that defined the whole rock sound. Some are more back of the beat than others. I like the way Charlie Watts was always a bit back of the beat as well. I always thought that the kick and bass in most of Zeplins stuff was just behind the beat enough to give it a really punchy sound.

Some people were starting to get Curtis Mathis color TVs in the late 50s and early 60s here, but color didn't take 0ff until the mid 60s. Before the mid 60s there were not that many shows being broadcast in color.
Most cities here had 2-3 network channels and a UHF PBS type of station. Most of the PBS/UHF stations were low power stations that didn't have much range.
I remember sitting in front of the old black n white with rabbit ears waiting to see CCR on Ed Sullivan. Had been listening to them for quite a while and had no clue what they really looked like.
I think our first color TV was around 1971.

 

Anyone? (best using headphones)

 

Fixed it for ya.

 

No, that wasn't Pete Best. That was Andy White! There was nothing to fix! LOL

Pete Best never got to record "officially" at Abbey Road aside from that very first session that produced that bizarre "Love Me Do." It's Andy White on that version of "Please Please Me." It sounds NOTHING like Pete's playing.

 

Sorry, i got confused. Now i remember that Anthology 1 does indeed include that Please Please Me version.
The best word to describe Pete's drumming on the early take of Love Me Do really is "bizarre" LOL.

 

No prob.

I always felt bad for Pete in general for the raw deal he got, and more so after hearing that version of "Love Me Do." I never thought he was a "great" drummer, but hearing that version put what I thought for years was maybe too harsh a criticism from George Martin about his playing into perspective. What a horrible first impression to make! I sure wouldn't have wanted him playing on the records after hearing that. To my ears his performance sounds like extreme nervousness that spilled over into blind panic.

 

In fact the two channels were on VHF. The BBC used Band 1 (1-5), the commercial channels utilised Band 3 (6-13). Band 2 is, of course, the FM band (87-108).

 

Haven't listened to your clip (yet), but I did play around with the two mixes myself a few days ago. Certainly odd. I do take back my earlier statements that the mono and stereo mixes were the same (take 7) except for the intro.