The peculiar nature of the Sgt. Pepper 50th anniversary mix and its consequences for The White Album

I like listening to mono Beatles on my computer speakers or on a Bose bluetooth mono speaker. It sounds really good that way and the clarity is fine. For headphones I like listening to the remixes because they don’t have the panning. Since I own a 2009 mono cd set, owning a remixed catalogue on cd would be the perfect collection for me.

 

Yep. If you're interested, I can tell you how to get it for a low, low, low price

 

Mr. Heath

 

I always thought Pepper would benefit from a more modern mix, particularly removing the bounce layers by mixing from primary sources, and like what was done there. I never felt that way about WA, and I am primarily interested in what will be done with 5.1.

Most interesting part of stereo will be if he tries to do stereo versions true to the distinctions in mono tracks, especially Dont Pass Me By.

OTOH I hope he keeps the fade in/out in Helter Skelter, like he did the stereo version of chicken in Good Morning.

Revolution 9 I hope he keeps untouched in stereo as the mixing and panning done there was integral to the art. Remixing that would be about as appealing to me as bringing someone in to redo guitar or vocals on another track.

It will be interesting to see what he does with the 5.1 of Revolution 9. Glad Yoko who was involved with original mix is still around to approve that personally and hope she is involved in process there beyond saying yay or may to end results.

 

Having just completed my own recording project with someone else doing the mixing of my songs without me in the room and sending me versions to approve or comment on really gave me an appreciation for how much difference a mix makes. And made me really glad to get my own hands on the physical faders (and ProTools automation as well) to mix the last 2 tracks on the release. Which in turn made me extra appreciative of the talent of the guy that produced and mixed 16 of the 18 tracks (Lon Van Eaton), though in the end I am most satisfied with the 2 self produced ones.

 

Yes I'm interested..........
Beave

 

"Die" (German) = "The" (English)
This is about all I remember from 5 years of high school German.

 

Specifically, it is "the" for a plural noun or a feminine singular noun. Five years of high school German and an Arts major got me that far.

 

@lukpac

Is the above true or was Die Beatles just EQ’d differently?

 

Beatles Myths DEBUNKED

Rubber Soul mono vinyl-the loud cut

 

Actually I gave it another listen yesterday for the first time with my headphones and I prefer everyone of the remixes besides Lovely Rita and A Day In the Life.

Highlights are When I’m Sixty-Four, which just sounds beautiful with centered vocals.
Getting Better which sounds way more rockier.
LSD’s chorus which was always not half as good as the verses and sounded pretty plain, now sounds really impactful. Infinitely better, though some vocal nuances are missing on the verses now which is a big miss for me.
The Reprise with Paul’s yelling vocals at the end from mono. So cool. My hopes for 50th White Album are now far, far higher.

 

Just curious, what don’t you like about Lovely Rita? I agree with you wholeheartedly on ADITL, but I’ve really liked this new, punchy remix of Rita

 

I actually quite like it but I like the sound of the intro better which to me is the best part of the song and wince I don’t dislike the original mix I don’t mind keeping it just for the intro.
Same with A Day In the Life really. New mix is pretty cool but I actually like the way the vocals pan around the place on the old.

 

I haven’t checked, but it FEELS like the original stereo mix is a little faster than both the mono and steel remix of Rita. It makes the song sound a little sunnier. If they’re all the same speed, then it must be the EQ.

I completely agree about them ADITL remix. They also raised the drums volume and brought down the volume of the guitar and piano. Ruins the atmosphere to me.

 

It's going to do the exact same for the White Album as it did for Pepper: It's going to be a celebration of a fantastic 50 year old album that will inevitably have the desired intention of (in order of importance) 1) Bringing new ears to The Beatles, 2) Allow old fans to reacquaint themselves with some fantastic memories and 3) Give the hardcore fans new things to dissect.

 

Hmm, didn’t know that. Maybe you should make a thread on that to double check

 

Didn't most listeners at home have a table top turntable (Mono) or in some select areas a console (Stereo-playback) to play LP's? The '67 mix should sound the way it was mixed for the buying public.

2017 mix is for now.

 

I’m not by my computer, but I just checked on my iTunes library on my phone, and the 1967 stereo is 2:42. Both the mono and the remix are 2:45. Considering that the song starts immediately after When I’m 64 and that Good Morning Good Morning begins immediately after the final piano flourish, I doubt that all three of those seconds are dead air. So I’m guessing that it does run faster in the original stereo.

 

Interesting. Steve said himself it was unprocessed but of course it isn’t impossible he’s wrong

 

Just loaded them into Audacity and confirmed the original stereo is faster. I personally prefer it a touch faster, so I matched the silences (which were almost exactly the same) and raised the pitch and tempo to match the running time of the original stereo mix. It sounds the way my brain remembers it!

 

The 1967 stereo mix is about +30 cents sharper/higher/faster than then 1967 mono mix.

After a few cases I learned not to trust the track length times, and not because of the silences at the start and the end. I can give you example right off the same album - it's Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. The times are about the same, 3:28. The mono mix is lower in pitch, but stereo mix has a slightly longer fade out and the running times therefore "even out". These days I just check the pitch of a couple of preferably clean sounding notes with Transcribe! software.

Do you also prefer the "faster" Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds? Just like with Lovely Rita, the 2017 stereo mix uses the original 1967 mono "slower" speed.

 

Thank you!

I have noticed the difference in speed with Lucy but enjoy both mixes, as the mono has additional effects which make it dreamy, while the sped up stereo compensates a little for the more pedestrian mix choices re flanging.

 

Well, it depends of the gender: "Die" is for female, "Der" for male, "Das" for neutral.
But here obviously the "Die" is for plural !

 

I liked the new remix from the first time I heard it, but gosh I've never listened to any particular track back-to-back with the older mix before now. Rita is totally transformed on the remix, feels so much more full and layered. The guitar and piano are barely audible in the old mix, and the bass is nice and loud in both but complements the song a lot more when it's centered. The ending feels almost completely different too. Good stuff.

Not sure how I feel about a White Album remix though... I feel like many of the songs on that one are mixed perfectly, especially given that many are super simple and therefore don't "bury" certain instruments/parts the way that some of the Pepper songs do. Even Dear Prudence, one of the more complex ones, already has such a sublime mix as-is... listening to the "look around-round" section on headphones is one of my favorite moments in the entire Beatles canon, with the way the background vocals and lead guitar weave around John, and the bass and rhythm guitar kind of hopping off each other... so good. Honestly the only change I'd make to the mix is to have the fadein & fadeout be a *touch* less steep so you could hear the intro/outro pattern a bit more clearly

 

Getting back the OP's question of how Pepper influences the White Album...

The brand of "mono rock champion" was NOT accurate for Giles's approach to the 1+ songs, or Love. He was more a "stereo preservationist" ...until Pepper. He was on a mission to prove Pepper rocked, translating the rocking mono into a first-ever rocking stereo (replacing the "cerebral stereo" that existed before). And he did it it, didn't he? Who knew Mr. Kite rocked also? Just make it DR6 and turn up the bass - presto!!

But... the White Album doesn't have this idea of the hidden mono rock album. Most fans can quickly list their mono and stereo faves song by song on the album. The mono has some better mixes, but the stereo sounds fine too. Given this, I have the same hope for the WA 50 as I had for Pepper 50 - that Giles will be more of a 1+ style preservationist, using pre-mix stems to soley bring up the SQ, and not tinker with the overall presentation of the songs.

But.. now that he's been to the Dark Side with Pepper, will he be able to wield such control now? Will this be a headphone, or loudspeaker remix?

I'd like to hope we get the pre Pepper Giles for the stereo, and a total madman on the 5.1 mix. He may turn Revolution 9 into everyone's favorite 5.1 track!