Entire Beatles' catalogue getting remastered on CD and a strong chance of Blu-rays

[Alan A]

Originally Posted by PrinceLH

I just hope that they release the first four albums in stereo. It's been ridiculous that the first four British LP's have yet to release their CD's remastered. I have collected the first two Capitol boxsets, the Capitol Years, but missing is side one of the Hard Days Night soundtrack. The rights to the movie did not allow for these songs to be included in the boxset. To the best of my knowledge, the movie title song, Hard Day's Night, is not on CD in Stereo anywhere. I do have the original LP's, in Stereo, U.S. and British Mixes. Many of the American "Dave Dexter" mixes are substandard.

All the albums are being issued in stereo, best to buy the boxset imho as you get a really cool dvd

[dobyblue]

You haven't heard Sgt. Peppers until you've heard it in mono.
~John Lennon

I thought Sir George Martin stated the only reason that he recorded the first four albums in two tracks was to make a better mono mix and that stereo was never intended. I think vocals on one side and music on the other is terrible.

I just picked up the Dr. Ebbett's needle drop of Sgt. Peppers (Mono) US Capitol release, must give it a listen when I get home.

[sbjork]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

You haven't heard Sgt. Peppers until you've heard it in mono.
~John Lennon

I thought Sir George Martin stated the only reason that he recorded the first four albums in two tracks was to make a better mono mix and that stereo was never intended. I think vocals on one side and music on the other is terrible.

I just picked up the Dr. Ebbett's needle drop of Sgt. Peppers (Mono) US Capitol release, must give it a listen when I get home.

You are correct about the mixes, at least for the earliest albums like Please Please Me and With the Beatles. The next two seem to have a bit more of a spread.

[PlacervilleGuy]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

The most recent Beatles' project, "Love" on dvd-audio, was mastered very well and sounded incredible in 5.1 surround. If the remasters are like that release I will be picking up some of them.

I have "Love" on DVD-A. The first time I listened to it, it sounded SO good, I cried! That has NEVER happened to me before. Please, please me, and release ALL of the Beatles' albums in Surround!! BluRay or DVD-A, I don't much care. Tho the higher-rez BluRay would be welcome. I just hope they do it before ol' Sir George Martin kicks-off. But I guess his genes are well ensconced in his son Giles. I liked the fact that for $24, you got a DVD-A/DVD-V hybrid plus a CD. My vote would be to release the catalog that way.

[Suntory_Times]

Originally Posted by sbjork

LPs by nature have compressed dynamic range, but I will vouch for the fact that the MFSL LPs of the Beatles recordings are the best that they have ever sounded. The original master tapes for older recordings like that also have more limited dynamic range due to the recording technology of the time (to say nothing of the increased noise floor.) That said, I do agree with you about the choices that are often made in the digital mastering process, but I think that it has a much greater impact with newer recordings.

I agree with you but I love oversimplifying. I mean, just listen to Metallica's re-released vinyls (imo they sound better then the original releases, and guitars have never sounded as good as they do in the rerelease Ride The Lighning and Untitled album) and compare them to there new album *shudders uncontrolably* which is mastered by the same company (and people if I remember correctly). However in there deffense what they where giving in the case of Death Magnetic was apparently so loud already there was nothing they could do to save it (a statement regarding this has been made public, and they even go as far as saying they regret bieng involved with it).

Hopefully these will be good (and be mixed and mastered properly, but I can't see them toping the original vinyl experience (hopefully they will also be re-released on vinyl).

On a side note wasn't the abbey road album rereleased on white vinyl with significant flaws at some point? (or do I need to take my crazy pills again)

[bushsheker]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

The most recent Beatles' project, "Love" on dvd-audio, was mastered very well and sounded incredible in 5.1 surround. If the remasters are like that release I will be picking up some of them.

agre 100%. lets hope gilles martin got his hands on all the other masters and did what he did to them like he did with the love album, then you will have for the first time, a fine collection, and not before time to.

[Deciazulado]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

You haven't heard Sgt. Peppers until you've heard it in mono.
~John Lennon

I thought Sir George Martin stated the only reason that he recorded the first four albums in two tracks was to make a better mono mix and that stereo was never intended. I think vocals on one side and music on the other is terrible.

I just picked up the Dr. Ebbett's needle drop of Sgt. Peppers (Mono) US Capitol release, must give it a listen when I get home.

Originally Posted by sbjork

You are correct about the mixes, at least for the earliest albums like Please Please Me and With the Beatles. The next two seem to have a bit more of a spread.

A Hard Day's Night and For Sale were recorded in 4-tracks.

[sbjork]

Originally Posted by Deciazulado

A Hard Day's Night and For Sale were recorded in 4-tracks.

Indeed. I had to retire my turntable and am waiting to upgrade my speakers prior to buying a new turntable, but my memory was that Please Please Me and With the Beatles were not "true" stereo, while Beatles for Sale and A Hard Day's Night were. I did not want to go out on a limb without verifying that, but it looks like my memory is correct. For once.

[Suntory_Times]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009...tered-reissued

Bad news I think considering that it states this: On the bright side, Howlett remarked, "they sound louder than previous CD reissues."

[Clark Kent]

Exciting news today. 5.1 surround mixes of each album have already been prepared during the course of this remastering project. They are intended to be used for the eventual Blu-ray releases...in 2012 celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' debut. Start saving your pennies today.

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

Exciting news today. 5.1 surround mixes of each album have already been prepared during the course of this remastering project. They are intended to be used for the eventual Blu-ray releases...in 2012 celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' debut. Start saving your pennies today.

I love you, can I say that?

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by Suntory_Times

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009...tered-reissued

Bad news I think considering that it states this: On the bright side, Howlett remarked, "they sound louder than previous CD reissues."

That's enough to make you want to cry!

[louismir]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

Exciting news today. 5.1 surround mixes of each album have already been prepared during the course of this remastering project. They are intended to be used for the eventual Blu-ray releases...in 2012 celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' debut. Start saving your pennies today.

What is the source of this news?

[JamesN]

Originally Posted by Deciazulado

A Hard Day's Night and For Sale were recorded in 4-tracks.

Yes, but just because the recordings were made on 4-track decks doesn't mean they were intended for stereo mixing and release. The Beatles and their engineering team used the 4-track decks of their day in very creative ways. They would record instruments and vocals across all 4 tracks, and then "mix down" the tracks to a single track on another 4-track deck, giving them 3 more empty tracks to work with. If they filled those up, they would mix down again to another tape, and so on.

Obviously, in those days, once a set of tracks were mixed down, they were stuck with the choices they had made for that combination of instruments and vocals. But the goal back then was to free up additional tracks on which to work, and not necessarily to achieve the best possible stereo mix. The *final* master tape *could* still end up with all the instruments on a single track and vocals on the remaining 3. Not ideal material for a stereo mix.

Luckily, all of the original intermediate tapes have survived, and the original pre-mixed-down tracks can be retrieved, synchronized, and remixed on modern multi-track equipment. This is how the Love DVD-A and the DD 5.1 Yellow Submarine mixes were achieved. Theoretically, the same technologies could be applied to anything in the Beatles' catalogue that was originally created using their "mix down" process.

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by JamesN

Luckily, all of the original intermediate tapes have survived, and the original pre-mixed-down tracks can be retrieved, synchronized, and remixed on modern multi-track equipment. This is how the Love DVD-A and the DD 5.1 Yellow Submarine mixes were achieved. Theoretically, the same technologies could be applied to anything in the Beatles' catalogue that was originally created using their "mix down" process.

This means as long as this is being remastered and not remixed that the terrible pans of drums only on one side in the stereo mixes will remain right?

I think I'll be tracking down the mono LP's on vinyl and awaiting some high resolution mixes in 2012.

[Clark Kent]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

This means as long as this is being remastered and not remixed that the terrible pans of drums only on one side in the stereo mixes will remain right?

I think I'll be tracking down the mono LP's on vinyl and awaiting some high resolution mixes in 2012.

The entire mono output of the Beatles is coming out in a special deluxe cd box set on 9/09/09. Unfortunately that will be the only way to get the mono albums remastered at the current moment. The mastering of this mono box is supposedly very audiophile-friendly.

[dobyblue]

Well if the "Beatles expert" comments from the Guardian are any indication (it's louder) then I don't think it will be very audiophile friendly on a format that doesn't support loudness.

CD = 96dB
SACD = 120dB

If it's "louder" then it should be on SACD.

[listerone]

I'm a child of the 60's who loves...LOVES....music of many kinds.Particularly music from the 60's.Rock,pop,folk...even some Sinatra and "easy listening" (my parents' music).If the Beatles catalog is released on blu ray and is is worthy of the format,quality wise,I'm all in up through Abbey Road.

As far as penetration is concerned I think that HD tv's have enough penetration now that release of the Beatles catalog...or Star Wars (for example) could,alone,cause a huge rush to blu ray players.

[Johnny Vinyl]

Just give me the entire catalog on MoFi OMR's and I'll be a happy camper.

John

[Stereo24192]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

Exciting news today. 5.1 surround mixes of each album have already been prepared during the course of this remastering project. They are intended to be used for the eventual Blu-ray releases...in 2012 celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' debut. Start saving your pennies today.

Reliable source?

If it's true it's sensational news!
But why wait for three years?
It could have given music on Blu-ray a nice jump-start.