The Beatles mono recordings

Don't get me wrong, the LPs are the gold standard. They were cut from the master tapes with much care and attention. The fact is though, the mono CDs were also mastered with care and attention. Does the 16/44.1 digital format limit the full fidelity of the original tapes? Perhaps. This is pop music, however, not hifi classical or jazz.

 

Order from the U.S. and pay the postage! You're still ahead.

My copy of Revolver from Amazon arrived last night and was packaged surprisingly well - LP sized box inside a much larger box.

 

ROFLMAO

I don't care about The Beatles' "artistic vision" or the fact that it's "not authentic," my own personal "Rubber Soul" that I go to 9.9 times out of 10 is a compilation I made using both stereo and mono UK needle drops with one exception, with the Capitol version tracklist — starting off with "I've Just Seen A Face" and including the false start on "I'm Looking Through You" (that's the exception) as "Rubber Soul" is supposed to — with "Nowhere Man" added after "You Won't See Me" and "We Can Work It Out" added after "Girl."

Because it works.

 

because all that matters now is the remixes of which will eventually replace all of the original mixes...you'll see, mark my words. ; )

 

Nice approach. I love that false start. It took me so long to get used to its absence once the UK version became canon.

 

The Fab Four, the best Beatles tribute band, uses the false start in their version of "Looking Through You."

I know Capitol bastardized a lot of their stuff, but the two times they hit the jackpot were "Second Album," which may be my favorite "Beatle album" ever, and in making "Rubber Soul" a more acoustic album. I've tried, believe me I've tried, but it simply is impossible for me to think opening "Rubber Soul" with "Drive My Car" sounds right.

 

Yup, the U.S. Rubber Soul is a good listen - the acoustic sound of most of the tunes helps it hang together really well. I have soft spot for Yesterday and Today, also, since it was the first one I got, back in 1970s.

 

Bring 'em on. They're 2 for 2 so far.

 

Agreed.

 

I tracked down 2 of the mono albums on vinyl recently, not originals though - Rubber Soul and Revolver. The 2014 versions. I think they're slightly better than the comparable stereos, but not much in it. Because you haven't got the hard panned vocals and drums etc., the mono sounds more natural, no getting away from it. But I wouldn't describe it as life-altering. We have to remember The Beatles, at their peak, sounded pretty amazing whether in mono or stereo.

 

yes, negative two for two. : )

 

Yeah, well, I prefer the stereo albums from A HARD DAY’S NIGHT onward. Why wouldn’t they stay in print? It’s just opinions and money. Some things stay in print longer, some don’t. On vinyl, these days, nothing stays in print for long, so, if you want it, better buy it soon.

 

Most people in those days would have listened on mono record players and from the lucky stereo owners only few would have had decent magnetic cartridges with a good stereo separation.

The rest of the stereo cartridges at the time would have been crystal with stereo separation practically non existent and ceramic were you would have noticed the panning but the stereo effect would have been greatly reduced compared to what you get with modern cartridges
.
I think in those days if you were exposed to a panning effect on a stereo player people would have thought "FAR OUT!!!".

 

To me, the MONO tracks are essential for the earlier albums. When the EP and Singles boxes came out, I was blown away.

 

I have been a Beatles fan from when it was unfashionable to be so (approx 1979) and, in the UK, survived on stereo on either UK or, oddly, Greek or Spanish reissues of the UK LP's then with a few Canadian Capitol mixed in (my Revolver, until buying it on CD, was Canadian so 11 track Revolver and Yesterday and Today). I did the late 80's CD's and then the more recent Stereo box and then the Mono. I recently found both the Rubber Soul and Revolver 2014 Mono vinyl for not bank-robbing money as well.

I do wonder if we are reaching the end now for premium releases of Beatles material. At some point, I'm convinced we'll get the 2010's Stereo and Mono out as single disc CD releases (or double plus for the White Album of course) or, possibly, a Giles Martin remixed version of the whole lot. Half of it probably already exists anyway given the "Love" project, "Yellow Sub Songbook", 2017 Sgt Pepper remix etc.

Mono v Stereo - it has to be in the ear of the listener. Revolver is the real debate stirrer from my point of view (and surprised that it didn't get the serious "box set" treatment in 2016 considering its influence). The differences are very clear. For most of the rest, I can take either. It's the songs for me.

My abiding memory of early Beatles record buying is having to stand in the middle of the living room in our family home to listen because my records were stereo and, even though Dad bought what was a pretty good Technics Hi-fi for 1978, he had put the speakers in opposing corners of a long room. An early education for a 12 year old on the merits of separation but a memory of my blissfully unaware Dad, who is now departed, but it makes me smile every time. I can't blame him - you're not expecting intricate variations of backward guitar on a James Last or Liberace record are you?

 

UK Stereo versions are still great, and you can get plenty of the 70's & 80's AAA (EMI black box) reissues pretty cheap.

 

Not sure how you arrived at a consensus here, but for me the first 2 albums and Rubber Soul are the only 3 I think the mono clearly trumps the stereo mixes. Lots of individual song exceptions too where I find mono preferably.

 

Revolver is one of the most frustrating albums in their catalogue for me, as far as mixing goes. Most of the electric guitar songs and Love You To sound better in mono, played loud, but not all of them: Tomorrow Never Knows and She Said She Said sound markedly better in stereo, especially the former, which has a more precise and full mix of the effects and gives Ringo's drums pride of place in the center. Yellow Submarine is better in mono, as is Eleanor Rigby. Got To Get You Into My Life is atrociously mixed in either guise because someone made a terrible mixdown of the original rhythm track, and Ringo is buried in the mix. But at least in stereo, the separation lets you pick him out a little better.

 

I do agree - it's not a given for either mix for the LP as a whole. But this is the joy of 60's music making. They (and Mr Martin and Mr Emerick) squeezed every bit of juice out of the limited gear to get the sound on that record.

It's always said that The Beatles attended the mono mixing but not the stereo on most albums, so the mono must be the preferred. The mono is their preferred position on how their work should sound - the stereo is the alternative and, on a fair number of tracks through their canon, is actually better for me.

Plus the fact that any hifi setup that goes beyond maybe 200 quid is probably giving better representation of sound clarity than even their mixing speaker at EMI at the time! Clipped off piano end on "Day In The Life" for starters because the speakers at the time couldn't reproduce it. What else could those speakers not do? Joy of hindsight...

 

Not true, except for Help! and Rubber Soul.

 

Huh?

 

It's already happening, though saying it always seems to start an argument...

 

The mixes are the same, except for Help and Rubber Soul. The mastering is different for all of them.
And also, of course, the Pepper and WA remixes.

 

Oh, when I originally replied I assumed he was talking about the Dexterized Capitol mixes and not the original Parlophone LPs.

 

I'm fairly certain we have a decade of remixes ahead of us. Then, based on where the tech is at that time, we'll get another wave - perhaps it'll be demixing next. And of course, on my bucket list, is to see the Beatles holograms perform Sgt Pepper live on stage.