New Beatles releases - stereo vs. mono box sets

KaneRobot

KaneRobot

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I'm not much of a Beatles fan so my knowledge in this department is limited. I'm going to buy one of these new box sets for a friend's birthday. I'm leaning towards the stereo set since a) it's cheaper and b) Includes more albums, since some of them were originally recorded in stereo and are not included in the mono set.

Anyone who has bought or pirated both - is there any major reason to buy the mono set over the stereo one? Other than it's "limited?" I've heard some people comparing them say they enjoy the sound of the mono versions more but it wasn't overwhelmingly in favor of one or the other. Feel free to get into violent arguments over "original artist intent" or whatever.
 
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I haven't heard them, but a local radio station was comparing them yesterday and said that there are dramatic differences in the songs, some of the mono tracks are shorter and musical elements are noticably different, particularly 'Daytripper'.

They didn't infer this as a bad thing, but it was very interesting. They had a Beatles historian on that discussed their preference for recording in Mono.

I'm curious to see what others have to say about the subject.
 
Purists will want the mono recordings because of claims that this is how the songs were intended to be heard (aside from being limited). Everyone else will want the stereo set - the sound quality is unreal. NPR has a really nice online comparison of the two.
 
Yeah honestly I don't think anyone would get much out of the mono set if they weren't around for the original releases. It has to relate to your own personal musical heritage to have any relevance.

They did a similar thing a few years ago where they released a set of all the American albums. All my memories of The Beatles are from the "canonized" British albums, which is what they based all the CD releases on, to avoid redundancy. So the American set wasn't a practical purchase, but for people like my parents who actually bought "Meet The Beatles" and stuff like that, they can be a neat trip down memory lane. But for someone like me, it's just a bunch of redundant tracks.
 
[quote name='KaneRobot']I'm not much of a Beatles fan so my knowledge in this department is limited. I'm going to buy one of these new box sets for a friend's birthday. I'm leaning towards the stereo set since a) it's cheaper and b) Includes more albums, since some of them were originally recorded in stereo and are not included in the mono set.

Anyone who has bought or pirated both - is there any major reason to buy the mono set over the stereo one? Other than it's "limited?" I've heard some people comparing them say they enjoy the sound of the mono versions more but it wasn't overwhelmingly in favor of one or the other. Feel free to get into violent arguments over "original artist intent" or whatever.[/QUOTE]

If you plan on listening to them on headphones, I would say get the mono boxset along White Album in stereo & the missing albums.

The stereo boxset sounds fine on a normal system but on headphones, poor panning and certain things being confirmed to one speaker become way too apparent/annoying.
 
Yeah, the mono sounds insanely better on headphones, without a doubt. The quality between the original cd releases and the stereo remasters is still night and day, though. Unless you're a major Beatles fan or audiophile, the stereo remasters will more than suffice.
 
Since I have all the albums already, I can't see myself rebuying them, even if there are in stereo and sound "better"... I'd rather have it how it was released.

"Love" is enough for me... an album that really brings out a lot in the songs, but I like the old school stuff.

Also, 13 bucks for the new remasters at Best Buy is kinda crazy, they should all have been 9.99

Lastly, I will probably pick up the new edition of Past Masters... the only thing I don't have from them.
 
The way they were released on cd sounds nothing like how they were originally released on vinyl. These reissues do a great job of recapturing it.
 
[quote name='DestroVega']Also, 13 bucks for the new remasters at Best Buy is kinda crazy, they should all have been 9.99

Lastly, I will probably pick up the new edition of Past Masters... the only thing I don't have from them.[/QUOTE]

Past Masters is a wonderful thing. The Beatles have got to be the only band where a 2-disc collection of non-album tracks could honestly be mistaken for a "greatest hits" package.

For those not familiar with it, Past Masters basically fills in all the gaps in the Beatles canon if you get all the British albums. So the 13 main albums + Past Masters will give you everything, without any redundant tracks. Take away "Past Masters" and you'd be missing out on stuff like "Day Tripper" and "Hey Jude" (unless you get one of the compilation CD's, of course, but that's when you start getting into redundant tracks!)!
 
[quote name='st0neface']Yeah, the mono sounds insanely better on headphones, without a doubt. The quality between the original cd releases and the stereo remasters is still night and day, though. Unless you're a major Beatles fan or audiophile, the stereo remasters will more than suffice.[/QUOTE]

this. I do the majority of my music listening on headphones and i really like the mono masters better. There are definitely some poor panning choices that come through on headphones on the stereo. It's a cool comparison though to listen to both back to back.

also +1 on these sounding amazing, stereo or mono. the hair on my arms stood up listening to the white album yesterday, it was like listening to it for the first time.
 
I prefer the mono versions almost across the board when it comes to The Beatles. While the stereos sound better from an audiophile perspective, they just don't work musically. The panning ends up being very, very distracting and the music doesn't have the same "oomph" as the mono versions.

That being said, there are some exceptions. Beatles for Sale in stereo is an absolute stunner on the new remaster. The original tube-cut vinyl was legendary, and this new disc comes damn close to it. It really is a fantastic mix and greatly enhances the overall feel of the album. The White Album has to be owned in both versions because some of the mixing and production choices vary wildly on the album. Sometimes, the stereo mixing is done really well, other times it sucks all the life out of the song. Helter Skelter and While My Guitar Gently Weeps are good examples of the later. The new remaster of the stereo mix is a real doozy sound quality wise, though, and is probably the best sounding album of the entire stereo set. You also need the stereo Past Masters for the few songs that aren't on the Mono Masters set, and I'd say many of the songs on the 2nd disc are worth having in stereo as well, especially Hey Jude and The Inner Light.

There are also some stereo mixes which may be worth owning, but I'm not too hot on. A Hard Day's Night isn't bad in stereo, and some of the songs are in fact better in stereo, but some are better in mono. The stereo Sgt Pepper sounds weak after hearing the mono, IMO, but A Day in the Life is probably better in stereo, which may warrant a purchase by itself. I'll have to hear more, but Magical Mystery Tour could also be considered.

To sum it up, I think you need

Mono Box
Beatles for Sale
The White Album
Abbey Road
Let it Be
Past Masters

And I'd probably get these down the road, maybe used or at a discount:

A Hard Day's Night
Sgt. Pepper
Magical Mystery Tour

The packaging on the stereo discs is also really well done. Glossy cardboard, great pictures, and great booklets. I obviously removed the CDs from the little flaps and stuck them in their own slim jewel cases. The mono box, though, is absolutely stunning. We're talking about ultra high quality mini-LP reproductions of the original UK mono pressings. They even come in their own resealable little bags! The book that comes with the mono box is also really nice.
 
Why not just get the stereo albums and just turn the balance all the way to one speaker thereby making it mono if you want it in mono? Best of both worlds.
 
[quote name='Chuplayer']Why not just get the stereo albums and just turn the balance all the way to one speaker thereby making it mono if you want it in mono? Best of both worlds.[/QUOTE]

#-o
 
[quote name='Chuplayer']Why not just get the stereo albums and just turn the balance all the way to one speaker thereby making it mono if you want it in mono? Best of both worlds.[/QUOTE]

implied-facepalm.jpg
 
[quote name='Jesus_S_Preston']Go back to dolls chu, audio just aint fo you.[/QUOTE]
Quite the contrary. I've got an ear for music. I just don't get why everybody's so weirded out about my idea. It's quite simple, really. Panning is eliminated solely based on the fact that there's no place to pan to. Frankly, I'm surprised somebody hasn't come up with the idea sooner.
 
Aren't you an engineer or some shit? You should know better.

Your idea isn't new. It's called a "fold-down" and it's garbage.
 
[quote name='Mojimbo']Aren't you an engineer or some shit? You should know better.

Your idea isn't new. It's called a "fold-down" and it's garbage.[/QUOTE]
I'm not an audio engineer. I'm just calling it as I see it, and if the sound ain't got no place to go, what's the difference? Maybe there were some subtle differences in their manipulation of the mono source material such as volume adjustments in the stereo mixes, but it's still all there, and it's all still mono.
 
[quote name='Chuplayer']I'm not an audio engineer. I'm just calling it as I see it, and if the sound ain't got no place to go, what's the difference? Maybe there were some subtle differences in their manipulation of the mono source material such as volume adjustments in the stereo mixes, but it's still all there, and it's all still mono.[/QUOTE]

[quote name='evanft']
implied-facepalm.jpg
[/QUOTE].
 
Okay, when somebody stops posting the implied facepalm and explains why my idea doesn't work, I'll concede my point.
 
[quote name='Chuplayer']Okay, when somebody stops posting the implied facepalm and explains why my idea doesn't work, I'll concede my point.[/QUOTE]

Instead of going into the technical side of mixing for mono versus mixing for stereo, I can give you a one word answer why it is a bad idea:

"Headphones."

And that's just one reason.

I recall reading in one of the Beatles books where Harrison (I think) was talking about the first time he heard a Beatles CD and that the horns were suddenly very obvious and stood out. (I'm paraphrasing, since I can't find the book off-hand...)
 
[quote name='Chuplayer']Okay, when somebody stops posting the implied facepalm and explains why my idea doesn't work, I'll concede my point.[/QUOTE]

[quote name='evanft']
implied-facepalm.jpg
[/QUOTE]

[quote name='Christee']I think I can help on the subject of folddowns versus real mono mixes. When you fold down a stereo mix, whatever was in the middle becomes louder compared to what was in the sides in the resulting mono mix because it was in both channels before folding down and therefore gets *doubled*. A real mono mix would have all the elements balanced the way the engineer wanted them.
That was basically why the Beatles' Rubber Soul album was mixed with nothing in the middle on the stereo mixes.[/QUOTE]
.
 
Well, the Let it Be that was just rereleased is obviously remastered. Let it Be...Naked is a remixing of the album with a slightly different track list. It removes the 'wall of sound' production that Phil Spector added to the album before the original release. The result is supposed to be a lot truer to the original idea of the album, to "get back" to a grittier, rawer sound without grand production. The tracks are also remastered though, to answer your original question. I personally prefer the Naked version myself.
 
I have all their albums, besides Yellow Submarine, but I was buying their albums around the time Naked came out... so that's the only version I have.

I knew about the remixing and breaking down the wall of sound, didn't know the tracklisting was altered.
 
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