The Beatles

Started by cine, October 23, 2003, 10:24:15 AM

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

tpfkabi

Quote from: Ravi on April 07, 2009, 08:17:29 PM
I hope these remasters are done well, i.e., not compressed or noise-reduced or improperly EQed to death.

there is a lot longer release on the Beatle site that goes into that.
I am Torgo. I take care of the place while the Master is away.

bonanzataz

Well they say they're going to boost the volume a bit so there's definitely gonna be some compression. I have faith that they won't overdo it, but I also don't really care because I'm just gonna stick with the old masters anyway.
The corpses all hang headless and limp bodies with no surprises and the blood drains down like devil's rain we'll bathe tonight I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls Demon I am and face I peel to see your skin turned inside out, 'cause gotta have you on my wall gotta have you on my wall, 'cause I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls collect the heads of little girls and put 'em on my wall hack the heads off little girls and put 'em on my wall I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls

tpfkabi

i've never been totally sure if the Stereo versions on the original CD's that exist now are correct.

some of those mixes are pretty weird - all vocals on one side - instruments on the other.

i have read that they only were there for Mono mixes and didn't care as much about Stereo.

i just read that Geoff Emerick book last year, but i've forgotten most of it probably.
I am Torgo. I take care of the place while the Master is away.

SiliasRuby

They loved mono and that's how they recorded all of their albums. I've been listening to these guys since I was 9 years old and I'll never get old for them. Some times I'm ashamed that I was born in 1984 when I should have been born in 1948. Not you guys, but I know plenty of people who listen to shitty music. Hey, I listen to some myself (I also apolgteticly love limp bizkit) but these people are completely fine and proud to be ignorant about one of the best bands in history. Those who are only slightly naive when it comes to the Beatles but dismiss them, thinking they only wrote high quality backstreet boys are cut from my friends list and I'll dismiss them as comple fucking idiots. Sorry, I get very passionate about one of my favorite bands.

From 'Rubber Soul' on they were pushing boundries and experimenting, trying to go deeper, harder, faster with their melodies. I compare them to Radiohead in that they were always willing to stretch themselves and their music until they popped which I think will happen to Radiohead soon.

As you might have figured I own all of their official albums. They are on my computer. I have 4 actual beatles LP vinyl records: Meet The Beatles, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The White Album and Magical Mystery Tour. I even have the 'Paul is dead' radio hour on 2 mp3's. For the record I don't believe he's dead. I think John was just fucking with us with all these notable clues. Anyway, Awesome music

I secretly want Trent Reznor to cover 'I want you (she's so heavy)' on his next album, either him or metallica. No one ever talks about that song and its my second favorite, right under 'helter skelter'. I'm actually listening to them now at home in my bed because I'm very sick at the moment. I don't give a fuck how this makes me look but I often dance along to their music, happily.

I unfortunately only have a little more than 25 songs from the anthology albums...so if anyone has any links to any of the anthology albums let me know.
The Beatles know Jesus Christ has returned to Earth and is in Los Angeles.

When you are getting fucked by the big corporations remember to use a condom.

There was a FISH in the perkalater!!!

My Collection

tpfkabi

Anyone who likes early solo McCartney would probably like Emitt Rhodes - he had a song on Royal Tenenbaums. Hip-O recently released a 2 CD comp with all four of his out of print solo albums. They say it's "limited" with only 5,000 copies pressed.

What's really great* is that Emitt has actually started recording again with a band:

http://www.myspace.com/theemittrhodesband

*Then again, no one's really heard any output from him since the mid 70's.

I am Torgo. I take care of the place while the Master is away.

MacGuffin

Remastered Beatles CDs: A sneak preview
Source: Los Angeles Times

How do the newly remastered Beatles CDs sound?

As one who got a sneak preview recently at Capitol Records in Hollywood, let me boil it down to one word: Fab.

These won't leave anyone feeling that they've been missing out for all these years, and they're not likely to make Beatlemaniacs out of anyone who hasn't cared for the Liverpudlians' sound before now.

But they do offer something that might have seemed nearly impossible so many years down the line: a fresh listen.

Two of EMI Records' engineers who have overseen the remasters, Allen Rouse and Guy Massey, were on hand to A:B the new versions against the CDs that Beatles fans have been accustomed to since they were first issued 22 years ago.

Three of us — I was joined by writers for a couple of audiophile magazines — listened to a CD that included portions of new and old versions of 14 songs spanning the group's recording career.

Calendar will have an in-depth piece in Sunday's Arts & Music section looking behind the scenes of the remastering process as well as a glimpse into the Fab Four's entry into the world of videogames through The Beatles: Rock Band.

But here are a few observations from the preview session:


• "Till There Was You":  On the '87 CD, Paul McCartney's voice still sounds dreamily mellow, somewhat masked, on the Meredith Willson love song from "The Music Man"; the new version brings out more fullness in his voice, as well as more crispness in the percussion work.

• "Eight Days A Week": This exuberant track sounded immediately compressed in the old CD master; the new one gains openness and adds noticeable presence to the signature hand claps.

• "Yesterday": Remastering can't alter the beauty of McCartney's classic lament, but now the pluck of his fingers on the strings of his acoustic guitar is even more visceral.

• "In My Life": As in many of the previewed tracks, it's the drums and bass that are most immediately improved. Even though it's not a powerhouse track, Ringo's rhythmic accents are bigger and sharper.

• "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band": The opening guitar riff felt like it would rip through the speakers in Capitol's Studio C with the added vibrancy Paul's lead guitar gets in the new version.

• "Good Night": The closing track from "The Beatles," a.k.a. the White Album, starts with string accompaniment that sounded canned on the old CD. I noted a slight harshness in the remastered version but also a fuller orchestral sound and an especially appealing purity in the flutes behind Ringo's sweetly melancholy vocal.

• "The Long and Winding Road": Paul may cringe at those sweeping strings that Phil Spector overdubbed onto his swan-song Beatles ballad, but they sound even broader and more spacious on the remaster than on the 1987 CD.

After the prepared A:B CD was through, Rouse and Massey opened the floor for requests. I asked to hear "She's Leaving Home" from the mono mix of "Sgt. Pepper," because the track was slowed down for the stereo mix that most U.S. listeners (myself included) are used to. McCartney's voice sounded sweeter, the harp more luminous.

I also got them to cue up Harrison's "Savoy Truffle" from the White Album. As a longtime sax player, I wanted to hear how the sax section came through the remastering -- nicely fat -- but the part that grabbed the attention of everyone in the room was the screaming guitar solo, which picks up considerable sting in the new version.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

tpfkabi

**i copied and pasted this from another board so hopefully it's not confusing. it seems mono is really the way to go, but that is a lot of money. seems if it is as Emerick says, this should be the one they'd most be trying to get out there. my wish is that they put the albums out with both mixes - most of their albums don't take up half of a CD (other than White, Sgt, Abbey maybe?)**

Geoff Emerick talking about mixing:

Quote


Question: In your new book with Howard Massey, Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles (Gotham), you write that "true Beatles fans" should get the mono versions of Revolver and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band "because far more time and effort went into those mixes than into the stereo mixes."

Answer: We mixed Sgt. Pepper in three weeks — of that, only three days were spent on the stereo version.


So, out of 21 days (if they worked every day) it took 18 days to mix the album in mono, and 3 for stereo.


Quote


Question: That might explain something that has always bothered me. In the transition from "Good Morning Good Morning" to the reprise of thetitle track, the famous segue from chicken to guitar is missing a noteon the stereo version.
I never noticed that!

Question: Here, let's listen. [KR does an A/B comparison of the mono and stereo versions.] That one extra note in the mono version makes a big difference. The segue is much smoother.
Yeah, exactly. That's something that [Paul] McCartney would have immediately picked up on if he'd been at the stereo mixing session.There's a reason for that note being there. And it's great that you brought this in; I'm glad you pointed that out, because it's a very good example of going from the mono to the stereo. It's such a small thing, but it's an extremely valid point: that was the way they wanted it.

The mono version of Pepper is indeed the only one — it's the mix the Beatles were present at. And we might have gone back for another day to redo the stereo version if it had been for an error like that. Because all those little touches are so important on that album.That's why it's such a perfect album — and it's why I wouldn't even allow the mastering engineer [to alter it]. I wrote on the tape box:"Please transfer flat."

We had fun mixing those mono tracks. And the thing is, if someone screwed up on the last bar of any mix, we'd go back to the beginningand redo it right from the top. We'd never do an edit piece and spliceit in. I know we did for "Strawberry Fields Forever," but that was the exception... A mix was a performance by the people on the mixing console. For instance, with 4-track, on the last overdub track, you may have a guitar, a keyboard, a couple of harmony voices, and something else, and there's a question of moving the pan pot because the voices are in the middle, and there's a drop-in for the guitar over to one side to make room for the next drop-in because that relates to that, and you have to change the echo and switch it back — and I've got only one pair of hands. We did the best we could. And it was a performance. Which was great. I mean, the feeling after doing a mix was just brilliant.

I used to ride all the guitar bits and lift up all the drum breaks.Always, after the last note of any guitar solo, when George [Harrison]was taking his finger off the note, I used to boost that 20 dB so you could actually feel that presence. It's like Paul counting off the reprise of "Sgt. Pepper" — you can hear that energy. It's all little stuff like that.
I am Torgo. I take care of the place while the Master is away.

tpfkabi

i'm trying to stay away from these, but the original mono versions are really calling me.

anyone find a cheaper price than Amazon for the mono?

DDD and B&N only list stereo.

i didn't see either box set in person at Target or Best Buy.

saw plenty of the stand alone stereo albums though.

i guess hearing these in mono is equivalent to watching the original star wars trilogy - it was how you would have heard (seen) it if you were there at the time.
I am Torgo. I take care of the place while the Master is away.

Pas

then again it is not hearing them as the ''best'' version the band made them (if that sentence makes sense) I mean, they spent more time on the mono yes but it might just be because it sounded so shitty and took so much time to make it sound right. I'm just talking out of my ass here, I don't know anything about mixing

BUT I heard the new Rubber Soul stereo and it definitely sounds a bit nicer, especially the high pitch sounds. and Rubber Soul is my favorite Beatles album since always. Revolver I didn't really notice the difference but I wasn't playing it loud.

I haven't bought these remasters because I already have all the Beatles albums I want and also they have plenty enough money, I'll probably download my favorite ones

tpfkabi

Quote from: Pas Rap on September 11, 2009, 09:48:32 AM
then again it is not hearing them as the ''best'' version the band made them (if that sentence makes sense) I mean, they spent more time on the mono yes but it might just be because it sounded so shitty and took so much time to make it sound right. I'm just talking out of my ass here, I don't know anything about mixing

if you want to hear what you would hear if you bought their record on that day back when the albums originally came out, you would get mono.

in a similiar case with Pet Sounds - they have a CD with the original Mono mix by Brian Wilson and then a newer Stereo mix. honestly, i probably like listening to the new Stereo mix - it's more lush and you can hear parts more clearly - except that when they went to do the mix all the elements weren't available. it really hurts one song where a double tracked vocal is missing. so really mono is the truth. stereo is the lush. if stereo had all the parts i would proabably listen to it more.

i'm sure there are some essays written well about the difference between the versions/box sets.
I am Torgo. I take care of the place while the Master is away.

Pas

yeah surely there are

a good exemple for me of a perfect remaster is Let It Be Naked, which is marketed as ''the way it was intented to be'' and I think it's much better than Let it Be.

tpfkabi

Quote from: Pas Rap on September 11, 2009, 11:39:24 AM
yeah surely there are

a good exemple for me of a perfect remaster is Let It Be Naked, which is marketed as ''the way it was intented to be'' and I think it's much better than Let it Be.

that's controversial though - if you know the history behind it.

here are some reviews i've been reading:

http://www.amazon.com/review/RHLOCMWFJQ5VS/ref=cm_cd_pg_pg2?ie=UTF8&cdPage=2

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

http://www.tonepublications.com/music/beatles-box-in-stereo-and-mono/

I am Torgo. I take care of the place while the Master is away.

SiliasRuby

I REALLY know the history of it and all beatles history, which is really scary because I should be a beatles scholar.
The Beatles know Jesus Christ has returned to Earth and is in Los Angeles.

When you are getting fucked by the big corporations remember to use a condom.

There was a FISH in the perkalater!!!

My Collection

tpfkabi

Quote from: SiliasRuby on September 11, 2009, 01:57:16 PM
I REALLY know the history of it and all beatles history, which is really scary because I should be a beatles scholar.

did you get anything?

I am Torgo. I take care of the place while the Master is away.

SiliasRuby

The Beatles know Jesus Christ has returned to Earth and is in Los Angeles.

When you are getting fucked by the big corporations remember to use a condom.

There was a FISH in the perkalater!!!

My Collection