The Beatles Mono vs. Stereo, Part 2

posted by Rob on July 26, 2009 at 11:30 pm | Comments (24)

In April, I wrote a blog entry titled The Beatles Mono vs. Stereo (Remastered CDs Coming Sept. 2009). In it, I discussed the upcoming Beatles remastered CD boxed sets and my preference for the stereo versions of their albums. I also created and posted several mono vs. stereo audio clips, so you could hear the difference.

That post has been very popular, so as a follow-up – and as a reminder that the new sets are less than seven weeks away – I’ve created more mono/stereo comparison clips and posted them below. After putting these samples together, I still believe that the stereo mixes are superior to the mono mixes. Listen for yourself and let me know which mixes you prefer (listen to these clips in headphones for a more dramatic effect):

“I Call Your Name” 1964, short stereo/mono comparison clip:

Listen:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download:
58 second MP3 file – 2.2 MB (right-click to save)

- – -

“If I Fell” 1964, short stereo/mono comparison clip:

Listen:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download:
58 second MP3 file – 2.3 MB (right-click to save)

- – -

“I’m Looking Through You” 1965, short stereo/mono comparison clip:

Listen:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download:
59 second MP3 file – 2.3 MB (right-click to save)

- – -

“I’m Happy Just to Dance with You” 1964, short stereo/mono comparison clip:

Listen:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download:
58 second MP3 file – 2.2 MB (right-click to save)

- – -

“In My Life” 1965, short stereo/mono comparison clip:

Listen:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download:
58 second MP3 file – 2.2 MB (right-click to save)

- – -

“I Should Have Known Better” 1964, short stereo/mono comparison clip:

Listen:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download:
57 second MP3 file – 2.2 MB (right-click to save)

- – -

“Long Tall Sally” 1964, short stereo/mono comparison clip:

Listen:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download:
49 second MP3 file – 1.9 MB (right-click to save)

- – -

“No Reply” 1964, short stereo/mono comparison clip:

Listen:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download:
56 second MP3 file – 2.2 MB (right-click to save)

- – -

“Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” 1965, short stereo/mono comparison clip:

Listen:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download:
58 second MP3 file – 2.2 MB (right-click to save)

- – -

“Please Please Me” 1963, short stereo/mono comparison clip:

Listen:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download:
58 second MP3 file – 2.2 MB (right-click to save)

- – -

“Rock and Roll Music” 1964, short stereo/mono comparison clip:

Listen:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download:
53 second MP3 file – 2.1 MB (right-click to save)

- – -

“Run for Your Life” 1965, short stereo/mono comparison clip:

Listen:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download:
58 second MP3 file – 2.2 MB (right-click to save)

- – -

“Think for Yourself” 1965, short stereo/mono comparison clip:

Listen:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download:
56 second MP3 file – 2.2 MB (right-click to save)

- – -

“Twist and Shout” 1963, short stereo/mono comparison clip:

Listen:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download:
37 second MP3 file – 1.4 MB (right-click to save)

- – -

If you’re planning on buying only one of the boxed sets and aren’t sure which one, I hope my audio clips in this post and my previous one help you decide. Keep in mind, these clips aren’t comparing the remastered versions of the songs that are coming out in September. I obviously don’t have access to those yet (I wish I did!), but I assume their sound quality will be even better. For now though, at least you can hear the difference between the mono and stereo mixes.

While I’m on the subject of the remasters, I pre-ordered both boxed sets on Amazon about a week ago. They set me back $448. Ouch! At least if the price goes down between now and September 9, I’ll pay the lower price, though I doubt that’ll happen.

For the price I’m paying, I really hope the sets are worth it in terms of mastering quality. The first thing I’ll do when I receive them is rip a few of the songs to my computer and analyze the waveforms. If there are any signs of the loundess war (brickwall limiting, hard-clipping, or severe dynamic range compression), I’m returning them. I’ll post my impressions and waveform analyses as soon as the CDs arrive in September.

In the meantime, which boxed set are you going to buy, mono, stereo, or both?

Rate this post:
Reward this post with a little donation:

The Beatles Mono vs. Stereo (Remastered CDs Coming Sept. 2009)

posted by Rob on April 26, 2009 at 9:32 pm | Comments (38)

I’m a huge fan of The Beatles. I grew up listening to my parents’ old Beatles records, 45s, 8-tracks, and cassette tapes. They even bought me some of my own as I got a little older. Then, in 1987, they started upgrading to CD and by the late 1980s, we had almost every Beatles album in digital form. At that point, our records sat in crates untouched. We still used our tapes in the car, but at home, we enjoyed our crystal clear Beatles CDs.

All of the Beatles music my parents and I owned was in stereo. My parents owned a good stereo sound system, so why would they have bought the mono versions of Beatles albums? I didn’t even know Beatles albums were released in mono until my parents started buying the CDs. I remember being disappointed that the first four Beatles albums on CD were in mono. Why would Apple do that? As scratched and abused as our old records were, the stereo separation on those early recordings sounded great. I loved being able to “feel” the studio space in my headphones. Plus, I appreciated the fact that I could isolate the vocals and study the harmonies or isolate the instruments and focus on Paul’s bass lines, Ringo’s drumming, etc. Overall, the stereo versions sounded clearer, cleaner, and more powerful to me. Here’s an example:

“Anna (Go to Him)” 1963, short mono/stereo comparison clip:

Listen:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download:
24 second MP3 file – 0.9 MB (right-click to save)

In 2003, my old coworker Chris got me interested in the mono versions of later Beatles albums (Revolver, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, etc.), mainly so I could hear the recording and mixing variations that exist between the two versions. It may seem like a strange process today, but in the 1960s, EMI’s engineers mixed each Beatles album in mono first, then went back to the multitrack recordings, set up their effects processors all over again, and created the stereo edits and mixes from scratch – sometimes days later. That’s why the mono and stereo versions of later Beatles albums feature so many differences.

It would’ve been easier and faster to mix each album in stereo first and then simply create a mono reduction from the stereo mixes, but that’s not how it was done 45 years ago when mono was the dominant format.

Because the Beatles were present when the mono mixes were created – but supposedly not for the stereo mixes – some fans believe the mono mixes are automatically superior. According to Chris Carter, host of the weekly radio show Breakfast with the Beatles on KLOS-FM and Sirius/XM, “The mono mixes of those LPs is the way the Beatles themselves intended you to hear those albums. The stereo mixes were usually done as an afterthought by second engineers without any Beatles present.”

I strongly disagree. Just because John, Paul, George, and Ringo supposedly weren’t present for the stereo mixes, that doesn’t mean EMI’s engineers created them as an afterthought. In fact, the stereo mixes often featured improved editing and more refined special effects than the mono mixes. Here’s an example:

editing between “Good Morning Good Morning” and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)” 1967, short stereo/mono comparison clip:

Listen:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download:
59 second MP3 file – 2.3 MB (right-click to save)

I enjoy being able to hear each instrument and vocal crisply and clearly in the stereo mixes, but some people are disoriented by the severe stereo separation/hard panning in many of the songs and prefer what they consider to be the less-jarring mono versions. No problem. It’s really a matter of personal preference, but to say the stereo albums were afterthoughts is silly.

During the last several years, the later mono albums have grown on me and I’m now at the point where I don’t consider them to be inferior, just…different. I listen to the mono version of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band one day and the stereo version the next. If I had to choose one set of Beatles albums to keep though, I’d still go for the stereo versions. The mono versions are interesting and new to my ears, but they always sound a bit muffled and cluttered by comparison, especially in the busier, more ambitious recordings. A relatively sparse song like “A Day in the Life” sounds fine in mono, but a song like “Good Morning Good Morning” sounds like a jumbled mess. There’s just too much going on.

That said, the entire Beatles catalog is being remastered for the first time since 1987. The new CDs are scheduled for release on September 9, 2009, and will include the mono and stereo versions of each album, except Abbey Road and Let It Be, which were only released in stereo. That means several Beatles albums will be officially available on CD in mono or stereo for the first time ever.

Part of me is skeptical because of today’s improper mastering techniques, known as the loudness war…but part of me is optimistic after reading this Guardian.co.uk article, which states, “engineers at EMI’s Abbey Road studios spent four years on the remasters, ‘utilising state-of-the-art recording technology alongside vintage studio equipment, carefully maintaining the authenticity and integrity of the original analogue recordings.’”

That’s a good sign, but just in case, I’m begging the mastering engineer: please don’t resort to brickwall limiting or hard clipping. Give me a chance to turn the volume up on my home sound system for a change.

I know this collection of CDs isn’t going to be cheap, so I’ve already begun setting aside money. I should have enough in my Beatles fund by September. In the meantime, listen to some more of my stereo/mono comparison samples and let me know which segments you think sound better, the mono or the stereo (listen to these clips in headphones for a more dramatic effect):

“Good Morning Good Morning” 1967, short stereo/mono comparison clip:

Listen:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download:
59 second MP3 file – 2.3 MB (right-click to save)

- – -

“I’m Only Sleeping” 1966, short stereo/mono comparison clip:

Listen:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download:
57 second MP3 file – 2.2 MB (right-click to save)

- – -

“Lovely Rita” 1967, short stereo/mono comparison clip:

Listen:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download:
56 second MP3 file – 2.2 MB (right-click to save)

- – -

“Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” 1967, short stereo/mono comparison clip:

Listen:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download:
59 second MP3 file – 2.3 MB (right-click to save)

- – -

“Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!” 1967, short stereo/mono comparison clip:

Listen:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download:
59 second MP3 file – 2.3 MB (right-click to save)

- – -

“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” 1967, short stereo/mono comparison clip:

Listen:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download:
56 second MP3 file – 2.2 MB (right-click to save)

- – -

“Yellow Submarine” 1966, short mono/stereo comparison clip:

Listen:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download:
54 second MP3 file – 2.1 MB (right-click to save)

- – -

UPDATE July 26, 2009: I just posted more Beatles mono/stereo comparison clips: The Beatles Mono vs. Stereo, Part 2. I hope you find them useful!

Rate this post:
Reward this post with a little donation: