Beatles remasters

[DanFromBrooklyn]

Hi all,

I'm a huge Beatles fan and plan on getting all the remasters, but I'm curious: which version(s) will everyone here, if you plan to, be buying? Mono or stereo?  Box set or single releases?  My knee-jerk reaction was just to get the stereo box, but then I heard some reports that the actual disc packaging is better in the single disc issues, etc.  Plus, I'm wondering if its better to own the early albums in mono. (I'm a completest, but not that much of a completest that I'd buy the albums in both mono and stereo.) Thoughts?

Best,
Dan

[Matt]

I'd like to get the mono box set, but they're pretty much gone everywhere. There are still some stereo boxes at Best Buy for $200, which I guess is a pretty good deal. While I'd prefer to hear the albums recorded for mono - everything up to THE WHITE ALBUM - as originally intended, the stereo mixes will probably still sound pretty great. You win either way.

Are they even releasing the individual albums in both mono and stereo? Looking at Amazon, they only list items like ABBEY ROAD (REMASTERED) and REVOLVER (REMASTERED), etc. I assume they're the stereo mixes. It looks like the only place to get the mono mixes is the sold-out mono box, which - despite the limited-to-10,000-copies news - they'll be making more of in the future. Still, the mono box costs about fifty bucks more than the stereo box, and even then you don't get ABBEY ROAD or LET IT BE, since they were recorded for stereo.

As you can see, I'm equally puzzled about all this. We'll make it, though.

September's looking to be pretty expensive, what with the Beatles reissues and the new YLT album next week, and the Big Star box the week after that. Yikes.

[nec13]

You win either way.

Basically.

I think it depends on what your preferences are. If you want to hear the albums as they were intended to be heard (up until The White Album), you should go with the mono remasters. Personally, I prefer stereo. But like Matt said, you can't go wrong either way.

[DanFromBrooklyn]

Thanks, guys.  Yeah, it's confusing, but I'm sure both will sound great and be really revelatory.  And don't forget Beatles Rock Band. September will be crazy expensive.

Speaking of deluxe remasters, we really need one of RAM already.  

P.S. Just found this insightful post at allmusic:

http://blog.allmusic.com/2009/8/31/a-splendid-time-is-guaranteed-for-all-the-beatles-remastered/

[Matt]

Just saw this:

Geoff Emerick/Engineer - On The Beatles In Mono - Sept 2, 2009

Geoff Emerick was The Beatles principle recording engineer from Revolver through Abbey Road which is when The Beatles were doing their most adventurous work. Emerick was greatly responsible for the sound of those Beatles albums. When I say sound, I mean the sound - not the music. The music itself was made by The Beatles themselves with the help of George Martin on arrangements.

Because of Emerick’s close relationship to The Beatles recordings it makes sense to listen to what he says as far as the mono mix vs. stereo mix debate. I think they are enlightening as far as making clear why The Beatles Mono Box Set is so essential for serious Beatles fans. What follows are some quotes from Emerick on The Beatles in mono.

“Back in 1967, most people’s record players were mono; stereo was still largely the purview of high-end audiophiles. True Beatles fans would do well to avail themselves of the mono versions of Sgt. Pepper and Revolver because far more time and effort went into those mixes than into the stereo mixes.”

“In contrast to the way they carefully oversaw the original mono mixes, the group had expressed no interest in even being present when we did the [stereo mixes of Sgt. Pepper] that’s how little thought we all gave stereo in those days.”

“Only stereo mixes were done [for Abbey Road] (that had been the case since The White Album.)”

The Beatles Mono Box Set

The box set includes the original mono versions of The Beatles first 10 albums. The Beatles songs from Yellow Submarine are actually included as well (in the Mono Masters double disc set of non album tracks.) The Beatles final two albums Let It Be & Abbey Road are not included because (as Emerick’s quote above mentions) they were never mixed in mono.

These original mono mix Beatles CDs are not available for individual purchase, only as a part of this box set. The individual CDs available are only those in stereo. So if you want to hear The Beatles as Geoff Emerick believes you should hear them you will need to Buy The Beatles Mono Box Set and then you can purchase the stereo mixes for Let It Be & Abbey Road to complete your collection (although personally I ordered the entire Stereo Box Set too as I want to hear both versions of their albums.)

I figured as much. Guess I'll be holding out for a mono box, then...

[ian]

i wonder if the mono remasters will sound any better than the dr ebbetts mono red wax needledrops ive been listening to for years

those were revelatory to me

[Chad from Oregon]

I have a stereo box on pre-order. How much was it going for on Amazon before selling out?

[Gilly]

i wonder if the mono remasters will sound any better than the dr ebbetts mono red wax needledrops ive been listening to for years

those were revelatory to me

Yeah me too. The guy behind the DESS sets came out a month or so ago and said he heard the new remasters and stopped working on masters and pressing his cds because he said that there was no way that he could ever do better than these new remasters. That's pretty great considering how amazing the mono (and stereo) Ebbetts pressings sound. If he says they're amazing, that's about as glowing of a review as you can get.

[amiright??]

i wonder if the mono remasters will sound any better than the dr ebbetts mono red wax needledrops ive been listening to for years

those were revelatory to me

Yeah me too. The guy behind the DESS sets came out a month or so ago and said he heard the new remasters and stopped working on masters and pressing his cds because he said that there was no way that he could ever do better than these new remasters. That's pretty great considering how amazing the mono (and stereo) Ebbetts pressings sound. If he says they're amazing, that's about as glowing of a review as you can get.

What are the Ebbetts pressings?  I've heard about them and I've tried to read about them, but I could never find a clear explanation that I felt really explained to me what people were talking about.

[Gilly]

They are basically needle drops on the highest quality equipment of original copies of what are considered the best pressings of all of the Beatles releases. They aren't remasters, but rather masters. The original CD's were awful remasters in stereo. The Ebbetts are pretty easy to track down on the web and like Ian said, they are revelatory. I'm very surprised that they will be surpassed by a remaster.

[ian]

one of my first posts on here was asking why tom preferred mono versions of albums, it was before i really "got" it.

then i heard the mono mix of revolver and when taxman kicks in... you hear all the instruments working together, front and center, instead of hard panned left or right. it was a major "oh" moment.

i guess for the non-nerd types, who don't track down weird bootleg recordings clandestinely, you're gonna be in for a treat when you get to hear how many of these albums were really meant to sound.

[masterofsparks]

Amazon has a note that more mono boxes will be produced due to unprecedented demand.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_85181171_3?ie=UTF8&docId=1000419971&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=hero-quick-promo&pf_rd_r=1KQFTMQNMPXZ3WBZQK5F&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=488831391&pf_rd_i=B002BSHWUU

[Matt]

Looking at Amazon Canada, they have mono boxes available for $600-plus. Stereo boxes, on the other hand, are only $175.

Another complication with the mono box is that the copy of PAST MASTERS includes songs from YELLOW SUBMARINE - "All Together Now", "It's All Too Much", etc. - at the expense of latter-day singles like "Old Brown Shoe" and "The Ballad of John and Yoko". So, if you wanted remastered versions of those singles, you'd have to go ahead and purchase a stereo copy of the album anyway.

I think I'll just buy the stereo box and be done with it. The mono mixes will always be out there on the Internet.

[DanFromBrooklyn]

one of my first posts on here was asking why tom preferred mono versions of albums, it was before i really "got" it.

then i heard the mono mix of revolver and when taxman kicks in... you hear all the instruments working together, front and center, instead of hard panned left or right. it was a major "oh" moment.

i guess for the non-nerd types, who don't track down weird bootleg recordings clandestinely, you're gonna be in for a treat when you get to hear how many of these albums were really meant to sound.

I think you just convinced me to go Mono!

[akaJudge]

How many times in my life will I have to buy the Beatles' catalog?