I know, another Beatles thread. But this might be something. I found a needledrop of this promo 45 promoting the UK release of Rock 'N' Roll Music: The Beatles - Rock 'N' Roll Music Medley This 45 has a different stereo mix of I'm Down than the original 1965 one on Past Masters: I'm Down 1976 sample.wav The lead vocals and backing track are panned in the center with the two backing vocal tracks panned left and right. Compared to the common mix that has the backing track panned left, the lead vocals and one of the backing vocals panned center and the other backing vocals panned right. Forgive my ignorance, but is there anything special about this mix or is it just the 1976 remix George Martin did for RnR Music?
I've never heard this mix. The backing vocals sound too quiet. If I remember correctly, it's not the version found on the RnR Music album.
The lead vocal seems to be a bit lower in the mix and has more reverb unless that's because of the additional compression.
Didn’t George Martin go back and remix the American version? The UK refused to use Martin’s tapes weirdly enough so maybe these were either the UK version or an unreleased version. Rock 'n' Roll Music (album) - Wikipedia
George Martin's remixes only did things like reverse the channels and narrow the stereo image a bit. Although it seems like he possibly did make a new stereo mix of I'm Down according to the sample I found. ...Unless this is already common knowledge and I just didn't know about it. haha I currently don't have any versions of Rock N Roll Music, so could everybody check their copies to see if it features this mix?
George Martin did not remix anything. All he did was narrow the stereo image of the existing tapes used for the US album. He did not go back to the multi-tracks.
Hully gully. Something else to track down now. I wonder if it's ever had any sort of digital release.
Before the "R&R" LP in 1976, the only way to find "I'm Down" in stereo was on a Japanese EP, in wide stereo. George Martin narrowed the original stereo image by using a bit of phase cancellation, and gave you a semi-new mix.
Wow, this is great! Not just a manipulation of the common stereo mix, real alternate stereo mix! Thanks @RingoStarr39 ! Ondra
A few years ago @lukpac and I had a conversation and deduced that the Rock and Roll Music compilation used the 1965 stereo mix of "I'm Down" (we compared it with the JPN EP version), so this may be the elusive 1976 remix that John Barrett makes reference to.
Just to clarify, I only have that short sample I posted. I wish I had the entire thing. It comes from a so called "Rock N Roll Music Medley" so only that small sample was included. The full mix has to be out there somewhere if it was used for that promo.
I'll try to post it on YouTube soon. Hopefully it won't get blocked since it's only 20 seconds long. In the meantime, if you copy the file to your own Google Drive you should be able to download the copy.
I just listenend the complete `Rock n roll music medley` again. I have never noticed this real alternate stereo version It´s great. Hopefully someone can tell us the source.
Here's the relevant documentation from John Barrett's notes. 18/6/65 stereo mixing session: Barrett notes "ALL TITLES CUT OUT FOR LP", and I'm Down has "*YEX 957" above it, which is the matrix for side 3 of Rock 'N' Roll Music. And here's an entry from 28/4/1976: Barrett indicates it was cut out for the LP, but at this point it's almost a certainty that it was the 1965 mix that ended up on the LP. About a week later, on 6/5/1976, there's an entry for "SALES SAMPLER": Could that be what was used to cut the medley? Note that, according to Barrett's notes, neither E13510 (the 1976 mix tape) nor AR34457 (the sales sampler tape) remained in the archives. Here's something to ponder: did Barrett simply make a mistake in his notes, in that the 1976 remix was never intended for the LP, but rather just the medley? Or was it in fact originally made for the LP, only to be subsequently replaced (before release date) by the 1965 mix? I'll say this: the 1976 mix definitely sounds more "of its time", with centered backing and lead vocal and split backing vocals. Here's how the two mixes compare: 1965 mix: left - backing center - lead vocal + backing vocals/percussion right - backing vocals (there also seems to be a bit of organ in at least one spot) 1976 mix: left - backing vocals/percussion center - lead vocal + backing right - backing vocals It's unclear what track the organ is on that pops up in the center later in the song. Presumably on the backing vocals/percussion track, but we can't compare to the 1976 mix there. Are there any notes from George Martin on I'm Down? Recording The Beatles indicate this, which apparently comes from "tape boxes and written documentation": Track 1: Drums, Bass, Electric Guitar, Organ Track 2: Backing Vocals, Bongo, Organ Track 3: Vocals Track 4: Backing Vocals, Guitar It doesn't seem like track 4 has guitar...unless it was moved from right to left for the solo for some reason?
I think that track 4 has the entire band for the solo section. George didn't play very good solo on the basic live track (track 1) but couldn't redo just the guitar as it shared the same track with the backing. So they punched in the entire band again for the solo. That should be on track 4. Ringo played cymbal on the punched in piece but you can hear him playing hi-hat for this section on the leakage of the original backing track. So yes, track 4 moves from right to left for the solo, not just the guitar but the entire band. At the end of the solo you can hear the decay of the drums/cymbal panning back to the right while Paul starts singing again We're all alone... Ondra
