The Beatles In Mono

[CT_Shooter]

I bought The Beatles In Mono boxed set in 2009 on CD. After only hearing their recordings in stereo (re-mixed by Capitol Records for US distribution), listening to the mono versions was like hearing them for the first time. Amazing.

The Beatles in Mono was released to reflect the fact that most of the Beatles' catalogue was originally mixed and released in the monophonic format. Stereo recordings were a fairly new concept for pop music in the 1960s and did not become standard until late in that decade. This explains why the Beatles' initial album releases were mixed for mono. By the late sixties, however, stereo recording for pop music was becoming more popular and, thus, the new standard. Therefore, the last few Beatles albums—Yellow Submarine, Abbey Road, and Let It Be—were mixed and released only in stereo. Many feel that the mono mixes reflect the true intention of the band.

At that time [...] the console was about this big with four faders on it. And there was one speaker right in the middle [...] and that was it. When they invented stereo, I remember thinking 'Why? What do you want two speakers for?', because it ruined the sound from our point of view. You know, we had everything coming out of one speaker; now it had to come out of two speakers. It sounded like ... very ... naked.

Capitol butchered the sound of the recordings. Without permission from The Beatles or their producer George Martin, they added treble and extra echo to the early recordings and they manufactured fake stereo from mono recordings by putting high frequencies in one speaker and low frequencies in the other. As a result, the sound quality of the US releases was noticeably inferior to the UK originals.

https://www.pannelldiscussions.net/2014 ... e-beatles/

[markiver54]

Interesting. Did not know that. Everything the Beatles did still amazes me...true talent!

[RanchRoper]

We did 2 or 3 sets of Beatles tunes in each show with my old band. Great fun to play and sing.