Great content, man. I've gone down a rabbit hole of this subject and would like to share some context. In the stereo booklets, the end section talks about how the album was recorded. Something to take from that are 3 numbers: 2, 4 and 8 When these were recorded to analogue tape in the 60's, these numbers represent the amount of tracks on the tape itself. Please Please Me and With The Beatles were recorded on 2 track tape: instruments wired to one track and the vocals to the next track. This left small room for overdubs (like handclaps, harmonicas and harmoniums added after the song was recorded) without risking sound degradation by recopying the tape to a new blank tape to free up space. Those first two albums were recorded like this to edit the vocals and instruments easier. It's intent was to make the mono mix the best it could be. The stereo release of Please Please Me was released MONTHS after the release date of said album (obviously mono), and George Martin had no clue they even released it! Stereo was an afterthought. As you basically said, kids had cheap record players with one speaker. Some of their dad's who were audiophiles had the stereo setup and were listening to classical music or jazz. Rock n' Roll was pretty much mono in the UK until the late 60's. The next two albums mark the most common tape used: 4 track. Much more room for overdubs. They put the voice in the center! an organ here on the left; a guitar solo here on the right. But the ONE reason I can't listen to the Beatles in stereo is because they didn't put the drums in the center like the vocals! Ringo is off to the left channel like a feature instrument rather the backbone of the song! This sounds strange in Paperback Writer, I Feel Fine (which ruins the vibe of that 60's af song) and countless others (Sgt. Pepper!) This may not bother all. I researched the recording history of the first 9 albums. George Martin and engineers (Norman Smith and later Geoff Emerick) would start to put in effort with stereo (in my opinion around Beatles For Sale). Some of the mixes felt rushed; others were solid. In my research, mono was usually FIRST to be mixed and was the thing that got finished or remixed first. The only time stereo took precedent was for obligations outside of the album (like United Artists needing mixes for the movie and American soundtrack). Producers will even tell you today you want to focus on mono before you dip into stereo; to get it down perfectly balanced. And I feel that's part of George Martin's goal (along with the familiarity with UK rock n' roll being a mono dominated genre). Stereo mixes of A Hard Day's Night and Beatles For Sale are good. A Hard Day's Night has warts (like John's misaligned double track intro on 'If I Fell' and Paul's squeaky voice at the last '...was in vain,') but for the fan that doesn't care, or the fan who can get over RINGO not being panned into the center (drums on only the left track, that's insanity), then you can get away with the stereo. But if anyone is still reading, thank you first of all. But also, The Beatles, their producer and engineers were mono focused for a very long time. Their self titled album ("The White Album") is where it gets complicated. But if you can pick up the mono CDs, even just to burn them, do it. They were meant to be in mono. The artists wanted their finished product to be what mono sounded like. Stereo was in its mainstream infancy in the UK and sometimes was an after thought. I like to think it was split in pieces and spread around the stereo soundscape. It doesn't blend, and it's music chunks in corners and some elements in the middle. It's rough. The Beatles mono mixes sound like a band together in the same room, balanced and engineered to give you the impression it's one coherent song. The mono mix just sounds normal and full.....altogether; the stereo sound pulled apart with not enough panning or reverb to make it sound like one collective song. edit: spelling and addition of 'full....." at the end.

@BurgundySkies

14 күн бұрын

Thank you for this. Additional context and info will always be welcomed, if not always for me, at least for other people visiting. I became familiar in the past couple of years with all the elements that shaped the original mixes, and this demix tech that has been out for the past two years should allow for stronger stereo mixes. Of course, given that any mix is a personal thing for the engineer/producer, and the fact that anyone can make mistakes, there will always be results that do not please everyone (see the new mix of Magical Mystery Tour from the 2023 Blue album). But, at least for Stereo, some of these were sorely needed.

@matthewhumcke3182

14 күн бұрын

@@BurgundySkies Good point: some Beatles could use a stereo refresh for a full sounding, wide stereo image. That Magically Mystery Tour remix is likely a cut and paste job from the MMT box set that came out in I think 2012. Unless they tinkered with it recently, most 2023 Blue album tracks are a cut and paste of the Giles Martin/Sam Okell anniversary editions. I've never heard the MMT box set (it contains a replica double EP as one of its goodies) so im curious.

Great work on these videos dude

@BurgundySkies

3 ай бұрын

Thank you very much for watching and for the appreciation. It does mean a lot.

Interesting. I can't make the same comparison because, although I have the 2009 stereo CDs, I don't have the mono CD boxset. I do, however, have the 2014 mono LPs, and I have UK stereo pressings of the LPs from the late '70s/early '80s (and those represent the overall sound I'm most familiar with). My impression, in brief, is that the first two albums are definitely better in mono, mainly because of the unnatural separation of vocals from instruments on the stereo versions. It's also worth noting that, on the stereo 'Please Please Me' LP, 'Love Me Do' and 'PS I Love You' are in really horrible fake stereo (the stereo CD, thankfully, keeps those two tracks in mono). It's also worth mentioning that, on 'With The Beatles', the stereo mix of 'Money' is properly balanced (centred vocals), unlike the other tracks, and it does sound good - but I still prefer it in mono. While 'A Hard's Days Night' represents an improvement in stereo presentation, I still prefer the mono. More care seems to have been taken with the mono mix, as is especially clear with 'I Should Have Known Better' (harmonica intro) and 'If I Fell' (the second 'love was in vain' line). But 'Tell Me Why' sounds like it has more energy in stereo, in my opinion, so that one track is an exception for me. With 'Beatles for Sale', I prefer the stereo version. It sounds warmer, more dynamic and engaging to my ears. Having said that, it's not a strong preference.

@BurgundySkies

7 ай бұрын

That's very good insight. Thank you for this. First let me say that having the MONO Lp set, you already have one of the highest possible bars set. Then you have the stereos from 70s and 80s... second high bar. I am trying to get my hands on some vinyl and will be in a better position to judge further, but until then: I generally agree (and it does seem like it is a somewhat general opinion) that the first 4 albums are better in Mono, and I guess it slowly starts to shift as the Beatles and GM themselves started to pay more atention to stereo mixes. However I find it interesting that you'd keep Beatles for Sale in stereo. Not controversial, just interesting. On the other hand I guess it just goes to prove that with Beatles releases it's all such a mishmash of mixes, pressings, prints etc... That in order to have some very good variants of each song, one needs to get 3-4 versions of each damned album combined with some compilations. And this goes for both CD and Vinyl. With the Stereo versions (the real ones I mean), the good part is that when listening with speakers, in the vast majority of cases I don't have any significant beefs. When putting headphones on... well... it's a rollercoaster. I wouldn't mind some instruments inbalance if at least main vocals were centered.

I’m not saying it’s all bad, but the songs were never meant for the hard panning, some of the bad edits, and or missing hard to hear sound effects. I’m excited to hear If I Fell in stereo without Paul’s voice cracking in the chorus or I Should Have Known Better without the missing harmonica.

@BurgundySkies

5 ай бұрын

It's not all bad of course. But I mean, yesterday was walking outside and twist and shout popped up in my headphones. I mean... it's just so... wrong. All that screaming in only one ear it's... disturbing.

Mono sound is limiting, but the mono mixes overall are hands down the better proper mixes. Besides the hard panning of the original stereo, at times there were bad edits and hard to hear/missing sound effects. Often times different takes were used. Lastly, the Beatles themselves focused on those mono mixes up until Abbey Road and Let It Be.

@BurgundySkies

6 ай бұрын

Yeah, I don't think there can be any doubt about that. It's well known that until the 2nd part of their career as a group neither them or GM really put enough effort in Stereo mixes. On the other hand a lot of their songs, even earlier ones would fit well on Stereo if mixed properly.

@tankmchavocproductions6907

5 ай бұрын

The White Album had equal focus on both the mono and stereo versions. By this time the Beatles had heard that people were buying their albums twice because of the mono/stereo differences, and they decided to make the WA different on purpose. Unfortunately only the stereo WA came out here in the US.

I like this video all around, but my favorite bit was that Burt Bacharach meets the Beach Boys music playing in the background. It sounds like the High Llamas.

@BurgundySkies

7 ай бұрын

Thank you for taking the time to watch. Indeed the track is nice, it's one of those generic tracks you can get for things like youtube without risking your content be taken off. It's called "A Story Everybody Knows" by Ziv Moran.

@farrellmcnulty909

7 ай бұрын

@@BurgundySkies .Thanks for that.

I think the stereo cleaner but the mono mix is better.

@BurgundySkies

7 ай бұрын

that's a pretty good summary 😁😁😁