Beatles Stereo Vinyl Remasters! Lp's and Box Set Nov.13.2012 - US/UK Pre-orders

[nf0603]

I notice that Abbey Road has been this perennial seller on vinyl and is still in print (and of course I own a copy), but why is that the only one that Capitol still mass-markets on vinyl? I would love a reissued White Album on vinyl (you cannot find a good quality used version for less than $25 anyways), as well as easier-to-find versions of the pre-Pepper releases. Surely if Radiohead and Coldplay's albums reissued made money for Capitol, why not The Beatles? Abbey Road on vinyl alone sells about 30,000 a year.

[painted_klown]

Sorry to bump an old thread here, but did the vinyl mono box set ever get released?

I was looking forward to that myself, and thus, have put off buying the mono CD box set because of it.

[dobyblue]

Good timing on the bump, just yesterday the Stereo Box Set pre-order date and some info was released.

Framer says 24/192 will be used, but I'd like confirmation from EMI/Abbey Road. No date on the Mono set yet but I hope that announcement will follow. I think probably pressing time and consistency of pressings are primary concerns so I imagine these will all be pressed somewhere in Europe or at RTI.

http://www.analogplanet.com/content/...g-mid-november

[Johnny Vinyl]

I think they'll press on both continents. Then 10 years from now we can discuss which pressing was better and why.

[dobyblue]

If they do I'll be importing from Amazon UK and you can get in on it if you like, haha.

[Johnny Vinyl]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

If they do I'll be importing from Amazon UK and you can get in on it if you like, haha.

Sign me up!

[Johnny Vinyl]

Listened to the Capitol Abbey Road on Saturday and it's mint, so that would be a good one to compare. Just pulled out my Apple Let It Be and I'll bring that as well, provided the condition is good (it should be).

[Deciazulado]

And the band begins to play

beatlesremastered.jpg

[dobyblue]

The Beatles In Stereo Vinyl Box Set

Manufactured on 180-gram, audiophile quality vinyl with replicated artwork, the 14 albums return to their original glory with details including the poster in The Beatles (The White Album), the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band’s cut-outs, and special inner bags for some of the titles. Each album will be available individually, and accompanied by a stunning, elegantly designed 252-page hardbound book in a lavish boxed edition which is limited to 50,000 copies worldwide.

The book, exclusive to the boxed edition, is authored by award-winning radio producer Kevin Howlett and features a dedicated chapter for each of the albums, as well as insight into the creation of the remasters and how the vinyl albums were prepared. The 12”x12” book showcases a wealth of photographs spanning The Beatles’ recording career, including many images which were not included in the 2009 CD booklets.

The titles include The Beatles’ 12 original UK albums, first released between 1963 and 1970, the US-originated Magical Mystery Tour, now part of the group’s core catalogue, and Past Masters, Volumes One & Two, featuring non-album A-sides and B-sides, EP tracks and rarities.

Since it was recorded, The Beatles’ music has been heard on a variety of formats – from chunky reel-to-reel tapes and eight-track cartridges to invisible computer files. But there has never been a more romantic or thrilling medium for music than a long-playing twelve-inch disc. We ‘play’ records. The process of carefully slipping the disc out of the sleeve, cleaning it and lowering the stylus provides a personal involvement in the reproduction of the music.

In September, 2009, The Beatles’ remastered albums on CD graced charts around the world. Seventeen million album sales within seven months was resounding evidence of the timeless relevance of their legacy. Through five decades, the music of The Beatles has captivated generation upon generation.

For producer Rick Rubin, surveying The Beatles’ recorded achievements is akin to witnessing a miracle. “If we look at it by today’s standards, whoever the most popular bands in the world are, they will typically put out an album every four years,” Rubin said in a 2009 radio series interview. “So, let’s say two albums as an eight year cycle. And think of the growth or change between those two albums. The idea that The Beatles made thirteen albums in seven years and went through that arc of change... it can’t be done. Truthfully, I think of it as proof of God, because it’s beyond man’s ability.”

There has always been demand for The Beatles’ albums on vinyl. Indeed, 2011’s best-selling vinyl LP in the United States was Abbey Road. Following the success of The Beatles’ acclaimed, GRAMMY Award-winning 2009 CD remasters, it was decided that the sound experts at EMI’s Abbey Road Studios should create new versions of The Beatles’ vinyl LPs. The project demanded the same meticulous approach taken for the CD releases, and the brief was a simple one: cut the digital remasters to vinyl with an absolute minimum of compromise to the sound. However, the process involved to do that was far from simple.

The first stage in transferring the sound of a master recording to vinyl is the creation of a disc to be used during vinyl manufacture. There were two options to consider. A Direct Metal Master (DMM), developed in the late seventies, allows sound to be cut directly into a stainless steel disc coated with a hard copper alloy. The older, alternative method is to cut the sound into the soft lacquer coating on a nickel disc - the first of several steps leading to the production of a stamper to press the vinyl.

A ‘blind’ listening test was arranged to choose between a ‘lacquer’ or ‘copper’ cut. Using both methods, A Hard Day’s Night was pressed with ten seconds of silence at the beginning and end of each side. This allowed not only the reproduction of the music to be assessed, but also the noise made by the vinyl itself. After much discussion, two factors swung the decision towards using the lacquer process. First, it was judged to create a warmer sound than a DMM. Secondly, there was a practical advantage of having ‘blank’ discs of a consistent quality when cutting lacquers.

The next step was to use the Neumann VMS80 cutting lathe at Abbey Road. Following thorough mechanical and electrical tests to ensure it was operating in peak condition, engineer Sean Magee cut the LPs in chronological release order. He used the original 24-bit remasters rather than the 16-bit versions that were required for CD production. It was also decided to use the remasters that had not undergone ‘limiting’ - a procedure to increase the sound level, which is deemed necessary for most current pop CDs.

Having made initial test cuts, Magee pinpointed any sound problems that can occur during playback of vinyl records. To rectify them, changes were made to the remasters with a Digital Audio Workstation. For example, each vinyl album was listened to for any ‘sibilant episodes’ - vocal distortion that can occur on consonant sounds such as S and T. These were corrected by reducing the level in the very small portion of sound causing the undesired effect. Similarly, any likelihood of ‘inner-groove distortion’ was addressed. As the stylus approaches the centre of the record, it is liable to track the groove less accurately. This can affect the high-middle frequencies, producing a ‘mushy’ sound particularly noticeable on vocals. Using what Magee has described as ‘surgical EQ,’ problem frequencies were identified and reduced in level to compensate for this.

The last phase of the vinyl mastering process began with the arrival of the first batches of test pressings made from master lacquers that had been sent to the two pressing plant factories. Stringent quality tests identified any noise or click appearing on more than one test pressing in the same place. If this happened, it was clear that the undesired sounds had been introduced either during the cutting or the pressing stage and so the test records were rejected. In the quest to achieve the highest quality possible, the Abbey Road team worked closely with the pressing factories and the manufacturers of the lacquer and cutting styli.

An additional and unusual challenge was to ensure the proper playback of the sounds embedded in the ‘lock-groove’ at the end of side two of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Requiring a combination of good timing and luck, it had always been a lengthy and costly process to make it work properly. In fact, it was so tricky, it had never been attempted for American pressings of the LP. Naturally, Sean Magee and the team perfected this and the garbled message is heard as originally intended on the remastered Sgt. Pepper LP.

27 September 2012

So...

1) 24-bit sourced
2) No limiting
3) Lacquer, not DMM

This is about the best news we could get shy of full analogue (AAA) chain. The USB 24/44.1 files had limiting, so this lends more credence to Fremer's assertion that they would be using the 24/192 masters.

The book sounds great too, I'll wait to see how much Amazon UK lists it for, everywhere in the US is listing at $399 which is a bit rich for me at the moment. If they knock 30% off at some point that would be $279 which is definitely what I'd be comfortable paying.

Looks like there will definitely only be one pressing plant doing these. Sounds like a lot of work to make sure everything is going to be whisper quiet and consistent.

I'm excited. I know I only want the mono set, but I do like a few of the albums in stereo as well not just the ones that are ONLY available in stereo, so I might have to spring for this one in time.

[Deciazulado]

The Beatles Stereo Vinyl Box Set




The Beatles Stereo Vinyl Box Set

[jedilips]

I'm very happy with my Blue Box, so I don't 'need' this, but it's hard to say no to mint Beatles vinyl.

Maybe I'll be able to hold out for a mono box instead.

[Johnny Vinyl]

I owe you one Steve as I thought for sure this would be pressed on both sides of the Atlantic. The price is a bit rich for me, but I might consider the MONO boxset if I could get it for under $300 all in.

Before any decision however I want to hear the feedback on this and wouldn't buy blind......just too much money for that.

[BluRayFred]

This is a huge disappointment to me. The idea that such a long awaited vinyl remaster comes to us sourced from same digital files that I had no interest in when first released is completely appalling to me. I had such high hopes and now it appears they are permanently dashed.

[hitmanhart408]

Im SO excited about this!! Its insanely steep but I really want it. I was hoping amazon would have it at a cheaper price.
This site has it for $350 http://store.acousticsounds.com/

[Angel Eyes]

I really want these as well but I will be going the individual route. Dont care about the box or the book and for me the most important albums are Rubber Soul through Let it Be (excluding Yellow Submarine Soundtrack).

[dobyblue]

Abbey Road confirmed in an e-mail posted this morning that they did indeed go back to the 24/192 master archives and did all their remastering in 24/96. The vinyl will be cut from these new 24/96 masters, so they will not see limiting like the CD stereo cuts did. From everything I've heard the recent 24/96 sourced McCartney vinyl is great, so I'm excited about these but may just pick up the couple titles I want and save my cash for the Mono set.

For those that really want analogue, you can still find a mint Blue Box from 1978 for around $350~$400, same price as the new Stereo box set will be.

http://www.discogs.com/Beatles-The-B...elease/2023842
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/The-Beatle...item27cb39485c

Or a factory sealed MFSL collection for only $3,450!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Beatles-The-...item2ebd7551c6

Originally Posted by Angel Eyes

I really want these as well but I will be going the individual route. Dont care about the box or the book and for me the most important albums are Rubber Soul through Let it Be (excluding Yellow Submarine Soundtrack).

Keep in mind Rubber Soul and Help! will be 16-bit masters as they're using the George Martin mixes from 1987.

http://wogew.blogspot.ca/2009/09/1987-cd-mixes.html

Giles Martin: Rubber Soul and Help! were remixed by my dad in 1988 or '87 for CD. And when we did "Love", we got to do Yesterday, and I couldn't understand why there were so much echo and reverb on the voice 'cause it was very non-Beatles. And it was only when I came back and I was listening to the remasters I asked "how come this is the case?" and they said "well we are remastering the eighties versions of [Rubber Soul and Help!]" and I said "why aren't we remastering the originals, we should remaster what came out then [in 1965]?"
---
And they said "Well, your father wouldn't be very happy with us not remastering the versions he did in the eighties."
So I spoke to my dad and I asked "Do you mind if they remaster the sixties version?" and he went "I don't even remember doing them in the eighties!"

Allan Rouse in an interview with Record Collector: "The remasters were based on the master-tapes, with the exception of two albums: George Martin's 1987 mixes of Help! and Rubber Soul. People are questioning why we used those. George Martin is the fifth Beatle. He chose to do it. You can argue with him, but I'm not going to."

So there you have it! The stereo remasters are the 1987 remixes out of the involved remastering engineers' misguided rspect for Sir George!

The original stereo mixes will likely find their way to the Mono box set coming out in 2013, as they were on the 2009 CD mono releases. Kind of sad that one of their best albums isn't even going to be from the recent analogue tape conversion. All they had to do was pick up the bleeding phone!!

[TylerDurden]

I'll more than likely go the individual route. Does Amazon have listings for single albums? I really want Past Masters but I only see the preorder on Soundstage direct.

http://www.soundstagedirect.com/beatles-vinyl.shtml

[kristoffer]

I will buy the White album yet again.

[Deciazulado]

Originally Posted by TylerDurden

I'll more than likely go the individual route. Does Amazon have listings for single albums? I really want Past Masters but I only see the preorder on Soundstage direct.

Past Masters Vinyl Lp

[Deciazulado]

Love Me Do 7" 45RPM




Please Please Me Vinyl Lp




With the Beatles Vinyl Lp




A Hard Day's Night Vinyl Lp




Beatles For Sale Vinyl Lp




Beatles Revolver Vinyl Lp




Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Vinyl Lp




Yellow Submarine Vinyl LP


. .

Magical Mystery Tour Vinyl LP . . . . . . . . . Magical Mystery Tour Collectors Box Set Blu-ray with Mono Vinyl Ep




The Beatles Vinyl Lp




Let it Be Vinyl Lp




Abbey Road Vinyl Lp