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The Beatles: Remastered 9/9/09

post #1 of 196
4/7/09 at 4:25pm
Thread Starter 
This is awesome.

Quote:
(CNN) -- For fans of The Beatles, 09/09/09 will mark a new invasion.

Apple Corps Ltd. and EMI Music have announced that as the date for the release of the entire original Beatles catalogue, digitally remastered.

That includes all 12 Beatles albums in stereo, with track listings and artwork as originally released in the UK. The package will also contain the LP version of "Magical Mystery Tour" (initially released as a double-EP in Britain, though available on CD since 1987) and the collections "Past Masters Vol. I and II" combined as one title.

The release marks the first time that the first four Beatles albums are being made available in their entirety on compact disc, and it also coincides with the release of "The Beatles: Rock Band" video game.
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post #2 of 196
4/7/09 at 4:28pm
Damn, no word on the original mono mixes?

EDIT: Never mind, its mentioned in the article. It's good that they're going to be doing the mono mixes cause that's the way the albums were meant to be heard. The stereo mixes were rushed after the fact jobs that none of The Beatles were involved in.
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post #3 of 196
4/7/09 at 4:41pm
Quote:
They also slightly boosted the volume levels.
And the Loudness Wars continues. Was this really necessary? I have a volume knob.

Quote:
"For people who are plugged into iPods and the whole digital music scene, it's going to be a lot better for them."
Oh, right.

I like that they're doing a lot of cleaning, but, I'm also pretty happy with the discs (and black plastic) I have already. This might be filed under Unnecessary for me, but I'll certainly be curious to give them a listen.
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post #4 of 196
4/7/09 at 5:24pm
Stupid question: when it comes to the Beatles, is it better to listen to them in stereo or mono? Like...if it was originally recorded in mono, is that then naturally the preferred premastered versions? Who supervised the stereo mixing in the first place? George Martin? Some other producer?

Also, isn’t this around the same time that Beatles: Rock Band comes out? Ahh, corporate synergy.
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post #5 of 196
4/7/09 at 5:39pm
The mono mixes are the versions to listen to. The Beatles themselves supervised the mixes along with George Martin. They were very hands on and spent as much time mixing as they did recording. When the final mono mixes were done, The Beatles considered the album finished and left for vacation leaving the engineer, Geoff Emmerick, to work on the stereo mixes which he threw together in a few days. So, therefore, the mono mixes are the versions The Beatles wanted you to listen to (this goes as well for The Zombies "Odyssey and Oracle" album as well.

Because Stereo became the dominant form, good clean copies of the Beatles albums in mono on vinyl are rare and quite expensive. So, even if you have the album on vinyl, I would still recommend picking up the mono mixes on cd.

Check out Geoff Emmerick's book "Here, There, and Everywhere" for more information on the mixes. It's a good book and has lots of interesting tidbits about how The Beatles recorded their albums
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post #6 of 196
4/7/09 at 5:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Parker View Post
Stupid question: when it comes to the Beatles, is it better to listen to them in stereo or mono? Like...if it was originally recorded in mono, is that then naturally the preferred premastered versions? Who supervised the stereo mixing in the first place? George Martin? Some other producer?
Probably depends on the album and maybe even the song. Here are some notes I found on the mono/stereo mixes for Revolver. Not sure if you have the patience to wade through this sort of info for all the albums (I don't), but I'm guessing that it's practically a matter of preference, not overall quality.

You may know this, but the difference is in more than just the overall sound - there are certain tracks that are highlighted or omitted based on whether it's stereo or mono. Even the tempos can be slightly different (the Wiki article on Sgt. Pepper notes some differences in tone and tempo on "She's Leaving Home" and "Lucy...").

Slightly off-topic, but one of the biggest mono/stereo discrepancies I've ever noticed is on the Zombies' "This Will Be Our Year," the mono mix containing an entire horn part that's missing from the stereo version.

ETA - Okay, that was weird. Beaten by deepfix and we both referenced Odessey and Oracle.
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post #7 of 196
4/7/09 at 5:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveB View Post

Slightly off-topic, but one of the biggest mono/stereo discrepancies I've ever noticed is on the Zombies' "This Will Be Our Year," the mono mix containing an entire horn part that's missing from the stereo version.

That's a good example, because I've heard both versions of that song and could never figure out why the horn section isn't int he stereo version.

With the Beatles, however...weren't there at least a couple of later albums mixed in stereo at the time of release?

Thank you both, and thanks deepfix for the book rec, I'll look into that.
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post #8 of 196
4/7/09 at 6:03pm
Worth noting: The first two Beatles albums (Please Please Me, With the Beatles) were originally produced in mono and have always existed in that form, while the last two (Abbey Road, Let It Be) were only produced in stereo. So, basically, you don't have to make any hard mono/stereo decisions with those four albums.

Also worth noting: Stereo mixes that were done by George Martin in the late-1980s for the current Beatles CDs are different than the stereo mixes produced for vinyl in the 1960s. There is a whole lot of controversy over their differences that I won't go into here. You can research it yourself.
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post #9 of 196
4/7/09 at 6:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trav McGee View Post
And the Loudness Wars continues. Was this really necessary? I have a volume knob.



Oh, right.

I like that they're doing a lot of cleaning, but, I'm also pretty happy with the discs (and black plastic) I have already. This might be filed under Unnecessary for me, but I'll certainly be curious to give them a listen.

Pretty much how I feel.
And as Malmordo points out, the history of the various recordings the Beatles made is really,really, complex.
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post #10 of 196
4/8/09 at 11:50am
I grew up mostly with the mono vinyl, and except for a couple of the later albums, really only got stereo Beatles when the CD's came out (with all that implies).

But now that I've heard all the various versions that are out there over the years, I don't have strong feelings one way or the other. A lot of the FX stuff on Revolver and Pepper sounds radically different mono vs stereo, and some of the stereo mixes of the songs themselves still sound odd to me, but just because I got used to the mono doesn't necessarily mean I prefer it across the board. I'll certainly be curious to hear the new mixes.

I'm sure the mono was probably closer to their "vision" (if that's the right world for an aural construction), and it's definitely the way my brain still "hears" the music from when I was a kid.

I guess that, since the Beatles catalog is relatively limited, and has been locked in place for decades, ANY new approach is at least novel enough to be worth a listen.

I even listened to that Cirque Du Soleil thing. Once.
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post #11 of 196
4/8/09 at 12:05pm
I liked the Cirque Du Soleil thing. Some of it was kinda lame, but a lot of it was smart. I agree with what McCartney said about it, though, "I only wish they took it farther." It was better than "Let It Be...Naked" at least, although I guess that's not saying much.

I have a few Beatles records on vinyl, but they're only stereo so I have no basis for comparison. The mono versions are either hard to find or incredibly expensive. On top of that, I'm always looking for the British versions so I can get the complete track list that I've grown accustomed to. Hell, buying a new Beatles record (which are all stereo as far as I can tell) is fucking expensive. They're all over $30 bucks, which is kinda ridiculous.
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post #12 of 196
4/8/09 at 1:02pm
I generally prefer stereo - even if it isn't true to the artist's intentions - though it's always nice when the consumer gets both in one package. CD remasters of The Kinks' Village Green Preservation Society, The Hollies' For Certain Because... and Pink Floyd's Piper at the Gates of Dawn all offer both mono and stereo mixes, and for that reason alone they are welcome additions to my collection.
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post #13 of 196
4/8/09 at 1:09pm
Thread Starter 
I'm more excited (and scared) about the remastering process that the albums are going through. I look forward to hearing the cleaned up recordings, but I'm also afraid that they'll remove some of the charm that the flaws can provide.

I agree, punching up the volume on the tracks gives me a few worries, but I'll wait and hear how this changes the fidelity before I pass judgment on this decision.
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post #14 of 196
9/3/09 at 8:20am
Holy shit, the release date is next week. It's gonna be hell on my wallet.
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post #15 of 196
9/3/09 at 9:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trav McGee View Post
And the Loudness Wars continues. Was this really necessary? I have a volume knob.

Yea, that’s pretty much all I needed to hear. I think I'll stick with the copies I already own, thank you very much.

This is the reason I avoid remasters like the plague.
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post #16 of 196
9/3/09 at 11:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by capinkevey View Post
Yea, that’s pretty much all I needed to hear. I think I'll stick with the copies I already own, thank you very much.

This is the reason I avoid remasters like the plague.
Why? There are some tracks that could use it.

Bear in mind that Dr Ebetts, the man who thus far has created the best sounding Beatles releases to date have said they blew what he's done out of the water and as such he'll stop doing his releases.

Having owned all of his releases that makes me very excited because his are fantastic.
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post #17 of 196
9/3/09 at 11:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dragon Ma View Post
Holy shit, the release date is next week. It's gonna be hell on my wallet.
Yeah, but I have the feeling they'll be available for a while. I think I'll start with Revolver and A Hard Day's Night, then treat myself to the others every month or so.
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post #18 of 196
9/3/09 at 12:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DrVenkman View Post
Why? There are some tracks that could use it.

Bear in mind that Dr Ebetts, the man who thus far has created the best sounding Beatles releases to date have said they blew what he's done out of the water and as such he'll stop doing his releases.

Having owned all of his releases that makes me very excited because his are fantastic.
Well, I'll certainly check them out, I am curious to hear them.

But I just don't have any patience the constant increasing of volume and over compressed sound of albums today. Especially with remasters, it's almost a given that the volume is going to be blasted, usually resulting in clipping and music with no dynamic range.

I'm not saying that’s necessarily going to be the case here, but just the fact that their saying it’s going to louder gives me pause.

If I want the music to be louder, I'll just turn up the volume.
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post #19 of 196
9/3/09 at 12:26pm
I can't decide if I want to get the boxed sets or buy each album individually. I know either way Abbey Road will be the first one I listen to.
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post #20 of 196
9/3/09 at 1:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by capinkevey View Post
Well, I'll certainly check them out, I am curious to hear them.

But I just don't have any patience the constant increasing of volume and over compressed sound of albums today. Especially with remasters, it's almost a given that the volume is going to be blasted, usually resulting in clipping and music with no dynamic range.

I'm not saying that’s necessarily going to be the case here, but just the fact that their saying it’s going to louder gives me pause.

If I want the music to be louder, I'll just turn up the volume.
That's fair enough, but none of the reviews so far have indicated that we're seeing some Red Hot Chilli Peppers-esque clipping. To be honest given that they've worked on the releases for years I can't see someone allowing that to fly.
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post #21 of 196
9/3/09 at 1:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DrVenkman View Post
That's fair enough, but none of the reviews so far have indicated that we're seeing some Red Hot Chilli Peppers-esque clipping. To be honest given that they've worked on the releases for years I can't see someone allowing that to fly.
Yea that’s a good point, they seem to actually care how their albums sound. Like I said I will definitely give them a listen, but just as a rule of thumb I try to stay away from remasters. I’ll hope for the best though.

Years of terrible remasters and hunting for original releases have left me jaded.
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post #22 of 196
9/3/09 at 1:45pm
I'm starting with my favorite Beatles' album-Beatles For Sale. And then A Hard Day's Night and Help. 64-65 is the group at their most feel good and magical. With a week to go, I'm trying to fight off Beatle-mania!
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post #23 of 196
9/4/09 at 4:03am
Trading in a ton of DVDs and some CDs at my local record store to get the mono box set on the cheap. I'm really looking forward to it because I've actually kept myself from listening to the Beatles for four-five years - just so I don't get tired of them. Can't wait to come back with fresh ears.
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post #24 of 196
9/4/09 at 12:00pm
Here's one to ponder:

The journey from Ed Sullivan to Sgt Pepper-- all the hit singles and albums, the haircuts, "yeah yeah yeah," Beatle boots, the movies, "Swinging London," Shea Stadium, "bigger than Jesus," the "butcher cover," the last show at Candlestick Park, all the rest-- took a bit less than three and a half years.

Or this:

It was only twenty years between the death of Glenn Miller and The Beatles' Sullivan appearance. It's now been forty-five years since Sullivan, and yet The Beatles are more a part of today's musical mainstream than Miller and his contemporaries were in 1964.
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post #25 of 196
9/4/09 at 12:08pm
Amazon is already sold out of both box sets.
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post #26 of 196
9/4/09 at 3:11pm
Just found out today you have to buy the box set to get the mono mixes. Oh well, what's another 300 dollars??:
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post #27 of 196
9/4/09 at 3:29pm
as much as i want these NOW NOW NOW I'll wait for a bit and just ask away at Christmas.
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post #28 of 196
9/4/09 at 3:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fat Elvis View Post
Just found out today you have to buy the box set to get the mono mixes. Oh well, what's another 300 dollars??:
And, of course, no matter what they say now, they might decide to release them individually later on.
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post #29 of 196
9/8/09 at 12:08pm
Borders is also sold out, but they anticipate getting more before the end of the month. If you use the code SLG6537K it's $185 shipped. I don't remember seeing it anywhere else cheaper, though correct me if I am wrong.
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post #30 of 196
9/8/09 at 12:38pm
I thought these came out today, so I browbeat a poor Wal-Mart clerk to check in the back and he came out with THE WHITE ALBUM and he couldn't find any of the others. I bought it and then checked online and discovered they're not supposed to be out till tomorrow. Oops. Sorry, Wal-Mart dude.

But... holy crap does it sound amazing. I cranked it all the way up. Every note is full and rich, and it sounds like it was recorded yesterday. "Dear Prudence" actually teared me up a little.
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post #31 of 196
9/8/09 at 1:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan "Nordling" Cerny View Post
I thought these came out today, so I browbeat a poor Wal-Mart clerk to check in the back and he came out with THE WHITE ALBUM and he couldn't find any of the others. I bought it and then checked online and discovered they're not supposed to be out till tomorrow. Oops. Sorry, Wal-Mart dude.

But... holy crap does it sound amazing. I cranked it all the way up. Every note is full and rich, and it sounds like it was recorded yesterday. "Dear Prudence" actually teared me up a little.
They did a special on CKUA from Edmonton on Friday night. These sound amazing. Plus the documentary hosted by Randy Bachman was all kinds of cool.

I'm saving up for one of these so hopefully I'll be able to afford the albums and the turntable.
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post #32 of 196
9/8/09 at 1:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan "Nordling" Cerny View Post
I thought these came out today, so I browbeat a poor Wal-Mart clerk to check in the back and he came out with THE WHITE ALBUM and he couldn't find any of the others. I bought it and then checked online and discovered they're not supposed to be out till tomorrow. Oops. Sorry, Wal-Mart dude.

But... holy crap does it sound amazing. I cranked it all the way up. Every note is full and rich, and it sounds like it was recorded yesterday. "Dear Prudence" actually teared me up a little.
So good to hear. I can't decide if I'm gonna use my lunch break to pick these up tomorrow or if I'm gonna get them after work. I want to get the boxed set but if I have to buy the albums individually I can deal with that.
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post #33 of 196
9/8/09 at 2:25pm
Got this already.
Waiting to get home to listen!
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post #34 of 196
9/8/09 at 2:35pm
Ordered the Stereo box from Best Buy today. Very excited for these. I regret not being able to get the mono box, but...well, what can you do?
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post #35 of 196
9/8/09 at 3:04pm
Not too sure about the stereo mix. It is kinda weird. I think I'd prefer the box set in mono.
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post #36 of 196
9/8/09 at 3:37pm
Regarding the mono box, according to Amazon, the company will be releasing more. It will still be a limited edition, but not limited to 10,000 like is originally was. They don't have any info on when new stock will arrive, however.
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post #37 of 196
9/8/09 at 4:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pop Zeus View Post
Not too sure about the stereo mix. It is kinda weird. I think I'd prefer the box set in mono.
Why is it weird?
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post #38 of 196
9/8/09 at 5:07pm
My CD Warehouse ordered the mono box set for me. 250 bucks, figured that's about as cheap as I'll get. Unfortunately, none of the box sets they came in. Looks like the first 10,000 might already be sold out.

I'm trying to get a copy through Barnes & Noble now. Their computer says unavailable, but they have my number if they can get one from the distributor.

I did pick up Beatles For Sale today, so i feel fine.
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post #39 of 196
9/8/09 at 5:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Parker View Post
Why is it weird?
Because the right and left speaker don't play the same thing?
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post #40 of 196
9/8/09 at 5:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Parker View Post
Why is it weird?
In many of the tracks, the separation has all of the vocals or the drums all in one channel. In certain cases, they are using a different vocal take instead of the original release. Its slightly jarring as you're listening to them on headphones.

As a point of contrast, the stereo remix of Pet Sounds is a lot more nuanced with subtler channel separation. That said, what I've heard of these Beatles remasters is excellent and totally worth getting in some form. The albums have never sounded better. There isn't a whole lot of artificial compression in order to make everything louder. And the added clarity doesn't destroy any of the loud/quiet dynamics.
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post #41 of 196
9/8/09 at 5:14pm
I've never been much of an audiophile (and my first exposure to The Beatles came on pocket transistor radios, AM car radios, mono TV sound, and my lame little record player, so almost any new version sounds different to me), but I'm going to be curious to compare these new mixes with the "Songtrack" CD they released to coincide with the 5.1 DVD version of Yellow Submarine (excising all the orchestral stuff in favor of including all the other Beatle songs from the movie). With a couple of tiny exceptions, I thought that CD sounded pretty ace, myself.
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post #42 of 196
9/8/09 at 5:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveB View Post
Because the right and left speaker don't play the same thing?

So just reverse the wires.
Duh.
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post #43 of 196
9/8/09 at 5:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pop Zeus View Post
In many of the tracks, the separation has all of the vocals or the drums all in one channel. In certain cases, they are using a different vocal take instead of the original release. Its slightly jarring as you're listening to them on headphones.
Listening to The Beatles on headphones has always had that problem; stereo was pretty new to pop music back then, and as others have pointed out, it wasn't till the Revolver/Pepper era that the Beatles themselves started paying attention to its potential.

I've always thought their stuff sounded best with a fairly narrow range of stereo: a desktop stereo or a boom box seems to me to be just the right blend. Anything with wider separation (or, as with headphones, the completely discrete left-right sound) sounds less natural to me.
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post #44 of 196
9/8/09 at 5:44pm
I didn't spring for this yet, but I saw these out in a Best Buy today. Seems like the knee-jerk reaction to put new music out on Tuesday has made these discs available many places.
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post #45 of 196
9/8/09 at 5:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrMushnik View Post
Regarding the mono box, according to Amazon, the company will be releasing more. It will still be a limited edition, but not limited to 10,000 like is originally was. They don't have any info on when new stock will arrive, however.
Are you actually getting these?
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post #46 of 196
9/8/09 at 5:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeb View Post
Listening to The Beatles on headphones has always had that problem; stereo was pretty new to pop music back then, and as others have pointed out, it wasn't till the Revolver/Pepper era that the Beatles themselves started paying attention to its potential.

I've always thought their stuff sounded best with a fairly narrow range of stereo: a desktop stereo or a boom box seems to me to be just the right blend. Anything with wider separation (or, as with headphones, the completely discrete left-right sound) sounds less natural to me.
Sgt. Pepper has discrete (and terrible) left/right signals as well. I've also heard that the stereo version of "She's Leaving Home"--i.e. the one we all know--is sped up from the mono mix, and is thus in the wrong key and tempo. I believe only Abbey Road and Let It Be were originally mixed in stereo.
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post #47 of 196
9/8/09 at 6:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Count Floyd View Post
Sgt. Pepper has discrete (and terrible) left/right signals as well. I've also heard that the stereo version of "She's Leaving Home"--i.e. the one we all know--is sped up from the mono mix, and is thus in the wrong key and tempo. I believe only Abbey Road and Let It Be were originally mixed in stereo.
Yeah, there's a lot of "mix and match" where that's concerned (even when I was a kid I could hear the differences between my mono Pepper LP and what I later heard on other people's stereo copies); sometimes there's very good and very bad decisions side by side.

I was listening to the "old" version of A Hard Day's Night on headphones today (that's one of the first new ones I plan to buy this week), and while there's some left-right fussiness here and there, a few tracks like "Things We Said Today" and "When I Get Home" sound perfectly blended, even on headphones.
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post #48 of 196
9/8/09 at 6:12pm
Everything I've been reading has pretty much convinced me I need these. They haven't convinced me which version, though I'm leaning toward mono. Here's the Washngton Post's competing takes:

Stereo

Quote:
George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" on "The Beatles" (a.k.a. "The White Album") reveals the presence of a Ringo Starr kick drum that was integral to rock's greatest rhythm section, alongside Paul McCartney's bass -- a beat that drives the song with a robust heartbeat not heard before. Not heard, that is, outside of the studio control room at Abbey Road when the song was mixed in late 1968 -- until now. On Abbey Road's "Maxwell's Silver Hammer," one can even hear the tip of Starr's drumsticks as they tap his cymbals -- before, we just heard the ringing of cymbals. Ringo was always there, we just didn't hear him.
Mono

Quote:
The mono mixes, not just the stereo, have been cleaned up and refurbished for this release. So "Paperback Writer," for example, here sounds as noisy and vital as it did blaring from a transistor radio in 1966. And in stereo? I differ with my colleague Matt Hurwitz's assessment. Yes, you can certainly hear McCartney's bass line as never before, and you can hear every nuance of his vocal (because it's now six times as loud as anything else on the track). But the rest of the band might as well be playing in County Cork. The tune is sapped of its blast, its exhilaration. The beast of mono has been tamed, and what we are left with is "Paperback Writer" lite.
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post #49 of 196
9/8/09 at 6:43pm
Pete Townshend once said that the mono mix of "I Can See For Miles" makes the stereo mix sound like The Carpenters.

"Paperback Writer" is certainly the one example I always think of when comparing mono Beatles to stereo; if everything were that egregious, it'd be an easy choice. But that's really the extreme example: there's plenty of decent stereo mixed in there, too.

Though, of course, I can't possibly afford the complete mono box anyway!
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post #50 of 196
9/8/09 at 7:16pm
Heads up for bargain shoppers:

Target has each cd for $11.99 (not sure if that includes the White Album) and you get a $5 gift card for every two discs you purchase.

With the gift cards paying for a couple of them, I'm hoping to pick up 8-10 of the 14 discs.
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