Why Giles Won’t Remix Rubber Soul/Revolver

Nowhere man sounds great on the remix.
Think for yourself is lame anyway.

 

So, there were no additional reels used for tape bouncing on Rubber Soul/Revolver? Everything was just dropped to one channel, the other three were wiped, and they added more if needed?

I figured that started on at least Revolver.

 

DES (Digitally Extracted Stereo) technology would make light work out of separating the vocals from the other instruments on the tracks where that is an issue.

 

Worth remembering that this "excuse" did not deter a certain George Harrison from remixing his Revolver tunes for Yellow Submarine OST. And he did "Yellow Submarine" too!

 

This is fantastic news!

However I don’t think it’s the end of the story. If Beatles, Inc (and thus Giles) can find some way to re-mix them - and they won’t stop trying to find a way - to make another buck under the silly excuse of making their music more palatable to younger fans, they will.

 

For any other poor soul who's wracked with doubt, I've got a secret tip, but you've got to promise to keep it quiet.



Are you ready?



Every page of this site has a search box at the top right. You can even search thread titles!

But I've already said too much.

 

Dunno, man. If there were any two Beatles albums that needed a stereo re-mix, IMO, it'd be these two. I mean, hell, even the mono version of Revolver, while a great mix, sounds flatter than a dime. I've had no interest in Beatle remixes so far, but these two...

 

These albums don't need to be remixed. People who want a "different listening experience" should find other music.

 

It’s actually the opposite, the instrumentals were done to 3 track or 4 track and then were mixed down to track 1 on a 8 track with the other 7 open for vocals. Then when mixing down sometimes Brian would add something while Chuck Britz was doing the mix.

 

LOL, thanks - today sucked and I needed a good laugh.

 

I find pleasure in listening to remixes - nobody has to listen to them if they don't want to. That is the beauty of these remixes, they are an additive experience.

 

......also from Anthology....Got To Get You Into My Life (even if only in part), Taxman and the instrumental backing track and backup vocals of Here, There and Everywhere. And there's the various remixes of Yellow Submarine.

 

That might be easier than you think!

 

Amen!

 

Yes it was recorded on 4-track BUT the difference is the bouncing of tracks (mixing 4 track into 1 track on another tape, giving you 3 more tracks to work with). What happened for Sgt Pepper is that they took all these tracks and synced them togther (with just one bounce you have 7 tracks to work with, with 2 bounces 10 tracks...).
With Revolver there was no bounce at all if I remember correctly. For instance, in Taxman, the whole band is on one track. There's not much you can do with it. Except with demixing, but the process is still in its infancy.

 

Giles will never make everyone happy. he can only hope he doesn't make too many sad. or worse.

 

Separating dialogue from guitar noodling is pretty easy to do (try Reafir on Substract mode) but separating drums from the rest of the band, then try to separate bass from guitars, and now try to separate both guitars is much more difficult!!

 

How about a mono remix.

 

I would love a full mix of "Got to Get You Into My Life" where Ringo's fills can be heard as they should.

 

Yep.

Truth is, very few people actually care either way, and most of 'em are here already.

 

It's ridiculous here at times, you can't seem to be able to comment negatively on the Giles remixes without having your character criticised, sometimes very rudely, even though it's fair to say they are very contentious. We can't all be expected to think Giles the right man for this kind of thing, his work is an improvement and it really needs doing.

What I find with these remixes is on first listen the clarity impresses me, but it's a shallow first impression. On further listening I find them rather sterile sounding and they lose a fair bit of character, the things that make them of their time, by that I don't mean dated. Not everything has to sound incredibly pristine and modern. If people now or in the future can't appreciate a 50+ year old recording with the flaws that go with that, it's their problem, not the music's. I don't think tampering with history to appease perfectionists or making presumptions about what today's and future generations want is a good way forward. The Beatles music has done perfectly well without the 'fixes' on the 2009 remasters and before these remixes. It's popularity was hardly confined to people who were around in the 60s.

 

He was hired to assist his father on Love, because he knew what could be achieved with digital technology and he did a great job.
Then he was hired to work on the Beatles Rock Band BECAUSE of what he did on Love.
Then he was hired to remix Sgt Pepper. But let's not forget he's not the only person working on those remixes. Of course he's the guy being interviewed because 'he's the son of...' but at least there's a talking head to do the promotion. But as much as I love what Geoff Emerick did for Revolver, Sgt Pepper, part of Magical Mystery Tour & Abbey Road, I find that what he did on Anthology subpar (lousy edits, bad choice of material). Giles Martin (and his team) found some really fascinating outtakes.
Now if I'm really honest: I still find 'his' Sgt Pepper remix absolutely fantastic. I mean it's much more faithful to the mono mix than the original was. I still don't like the weird intro to Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds but the rest is awesome. I mean it's been years that most fans said the mono mix was the mix to go to and the stereo mix was not close to the band's vision of the album. And now we have something that is close to the mono mix but in stereo!!! Nice concept here!!
Now for the White Album & Abbey Road remixes, I don't think they were needed (the stereo mixes of these albums were already supervised by the Beatles themselves). I got the White Album remix and I didn't bother for Abbey Road. I was really expecting a Magical Mystery Tour/Yellow Submarine remix much closer to the mono mixes (like what have been done with Sgt Pepper). But hey... You Can't Always Get What You Want.
Oh he did 1+ too! Much better than the 2000 version!!!
Now if you don't like the remixes, you still have the original mixes

 

He used ADT on remixes, why wouldn't he use Fairchild (but I guess that the Fairchild was recorded to tape already)

 

Abbey Road has been experimenting for some time with their “demixung” technology and have even publicly demonstrated it at their studio open days. When I went in 2019 they played a bit of George Harrison’s isolated guitar part on She Loves You, which they achieved with this tech. I have no doubt that we won’t have to wait too long for them to have a go at all the early Beatles recordings so they can sell them to us all once again.

 

There's not a lot of bouncing on Rubber Soul and Revolver. On a lot of Revolver tracks, the band was recorded on ONE track!