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Beatles in Mono. - Page 16

post #451 of 538
11/5/09 at 11:15am


Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony Hom View Post




That would be a noble thing to do, remixes alongside the original mixes. but the recording studios are not so noble, as are the publishing companies. They would probably insist that both sets of same songs be charged as twice the royalties.  It would lend further proof as to why the mono and stereo where not simply put onto one disc. They could have easily done this with the first 9 albums, but they didn't. There is some element of Beatles legal department that would not give consumers two Beatles albums for the price of one, and of course very few of the mainstream public would pay even for a single Beatles album at twice the price.
 
Sounds like supposition to me.  How do you explain the "Capitol Albums" box sets which all have the stereo and mono versions on the same disc?

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post #452 of 538
11/5/09 at 11:25am


Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack Gilvey View Post

On another note, I've really been enjoying losslessly streaming the monos to my bedside Grace internet radio. Sounds wonderful at the low volumes I ask of it, and such a radio (minus the streaming ;) ) is probably what they had in mind as a likely destination for the mixes.

I dunno, Jack.  I thought the Beatles were supposed to be listened-to on something like this:



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post #453 of 538
11/6/09 at 7:17am


Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Frezon View Post




I dunno, Jack.  I thought the Beatles were supposed to be listened-to on something like this:



 


As opposed to something like THIS:

 

http://www.thebeatles.com/#/news/APPLE_AND_EMI_TO_RELEASE

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post #454 of 538
11/6/09 at 9:17am
 I tried one but my network couldn't find it. :)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Frezon View Post




I dunno, Jack.  I thought the Beatles were supposed to be listened-to on something like this:


 


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post #455 of 538
11/6/09 at 11:07am


Quote:
Originally Posted by Carlo Medina View Post

...it's not surprising you could fit four onto one CD-R especially if you are using a really efficient lossless codec.

... I used exactaudiocopy to burn a bit-for-bit image onto my computer and then purchased some Taiyo-Yuden CD-Rs...

I was using the Windows Media Player that came with Vista.  Not sure how efficient its lossless codec is.   I was going to download exactaudiocopy, but McAfee warned that the download was dangerous, with viruses and spyware, so I did not.   

What's the word on Windows Media Player?   I assume not so good.
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post #456 of 538
11/6/09 at 6:45pm
I use Exact Audio Copy, too. I am not sure why you received a security warning, but the program works very well. I use an external LAME MP3 encoder plug-in with EAC for MP3 encoding, but also used just EAC to rip the CD's to my PC for burning -- for some reason Nero could not copy the stereo CDs directly.
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post #457 of 538
11/9/09 at 12:04pm


Quote:
Originally Posted by Philip Hamm View Post



Sounds like supposition to me.  How do you explain the "Capitol Albums" box sets which all have the stereo and mono versions on the same disc?
 

They were not working with the original stereo masters, Capitol had duplicate masters, one that might be another generation down, and also had reverb added and duophonic stereo in some cases. I believe they fall under those albums legacy US catalog, but the UK catalog is a different model altogether. Plus the Capitol box sets were aimed at collectors, as was the UK mono box set. I don't think the stereo masters are marketed towards collectors, yet they did not want to make a stereo CD aimed at collectors, and one aimed at mass market. So they compromised and came out with elaborate covers to spiff up the albums jackets and a stereo box set for the collectors.
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post #458 of 538
11/14/09 at 7:18pm
I see that the mono set is widely available again.  I was in Borders today and saw a copy on the shelf - if I had had a good coupon on hand I probably would have bought it then and there.   I see that Barnes & Noble online has it for 20% off (more off if you are a member) and Amazon also has it for 20% off.  Deep Discount has it for 30% off.  Still it is quite expensive.  I bought a number of the stereo CDs the first week on sale.  I am really tempted. ...
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post #459 of 538
11/15/09 at 7:36pm

Quote:
 I am really tempted. ...

 

I would recommend it if you are tempted. It's a beautiful set and supposedly it still is not going to be around forever.
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post #460 of 538
11/17/09 at 12:17pm
I found The Beatles Stereo Box set today at Costco. Not sure this is has been discussed here or in the Bargain thread, didn't see any mention. It was at the surprisingly low price of $174.00. I checked Amazon's price and that's $4 less then Amazon.
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post #461 of 538
11/18/09 at 6:37pm
So, now it looks like The Beatles Mono Box Set will be one of my Christmas presents.  :)
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post #462 of 538
11/18/09 at 7:18pm
The HMV in downtown Vancouver had 60 (sixty) copies of the mono set on Monday.

I would expect them to be sitting on most of them for awhile.
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post #463 of 538
11/29/09 at 10:04pm
I was shocked when I saw the price of  $99.99 that amazon had for the stereo set on Black Friday.  I'm hoping that boxing day will see similar prices for both sets in Canada.  If that happens, I'll be getting both.
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post #464 of 538
12/10/09 at 9:11am
Question...

Was that $99 Amazon price for the STEREO boxed set

a DEAL OF THE DAY or a lightning round deal?

Lightning round deals are harder to catch.

 

I am waiting, hoping, Amazon puts that set back up for
$99 so that I can complete my Beatles set (I have the MONO).
 

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post #465 of 538
12/10/09 at 9:39am


Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronald Epstein View Post

Question...

Was that $99 Amazon price for the STEREO boxed set

a DEAL OF THE DAY or a lightning round deal?

Lightning round deals are harder to catch.

 

I am waiting, hoping, Amazon puts that set back up for
$99 so that I can complete my Beatles set (I have the MONO).
 


It was a Lightning round deal.  I wish the stereo set had the original album liner notes like the mono set.  I will IM you if I see that price again.
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post #466 of 538
12/10/09 at 9:54am

Quote:
I will IM you if I see that price again.


Tim, thank you so much.
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post #467 of 538
12/25/09 at 7:23pm
Yes, indeed the mono box was one of my presents today.  I'm looking forward to exploring these recordings.
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post #468 of 538
12/27/09 at 6:14pm
Merry Christmas, Neil! 
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post #469 of 538
12/28/09 at 8:17am


Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilO View Post

Yes, indeed the mono box was one of my presents today.  I'm looking forward to exploring these recordings.

I finally got to open my set at Christmas, too, Neil. Unfortunately, I was too busy over the holiday weekend to listen to any of the recordings. I did have time to make copies for the car and rip MP3's for my iPod, though. This morning on the drive to work I finally had my first listen -- Sgt. Pepper in mono!

I like the packaging better than the stereo set. The mono box fits on a shelf, and the exact replication of the original album covers and inserts is very cool.

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post #470 of 538
12/28/09 at 8:24am
Scott,

So coincidental that you are talking about this.

I am spending the entire day ripping the STEREO
and MONO sets to my iPod.

I am hoping the Apple Lossless encoding does not
mar these recordings in any way.  I know Apple
Lossless is not as good as a true rip, but I do hope
it retains the overall quality of these recordings and
I also hope that you also at least selected that format
for the rip you did. 
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post #471 of 538
12/28/09 at 11:45am
I can't bring myself to rip the mono CDs to my iPod yet, considering that I have the entire stereo catalog there already. I'm listening to them the "old-fashioned way" - spinning the discs in a CD tray!
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post #472 of 538
12/28/09 at 1:23pm
Says who, Ron?

Even John Atkinson at Stereophile has written that an Apple Lossless rip is bit accurate to the source when a CD is made from the resulting file.

I do not think you have any worries.

Brian 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronald Epstein View Post

I am hoping the Apple Lossless encoding does not
mar these recordings in any way.  I know Apple
Lossless is not as good as a true rip, but I do hope
it retains the overall quality of these recordings and
I also hope that you also at least selected that format
for the rip you did. 


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post #473 of 538
12/28/09 at 1:32pm
I'm not sitting here badmouthing Apple Lossless.

However, it is a compression tool no matter how
you look at it.

I just wanted to make certain that I don't lose any
quality from these remastered DVDs where every
sonic nuance counts.

From what you are saying, it does not look like I will. 
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post #474 of 538
12/29/09 at 7:25am
Understood.

FWIW, if Apple Lossless does somehow lose data, I will have >5 years worth of CD rips to do again. :-)

For your reading pleasure, here is what I was recalling:

http://www.stereophile.com/digitalprocessors/505apple/#

I also use an Airport Express to stream my lossless files to me 2CH system. This article was very reassuring.

Brian 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronald Epstein View Post

I'm not sitting here badmouthing Apple Lossless.

However, it is a compression tool no matter how
you look at it.

I just wanted to make certain that I don't lose any
quality from these remastered DVDs where every
sonic nuance counts.

From what you are saying, it does not look like I will. 


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post #475 of 538
12/29/09 at 11:16am
Ron,

I use my iPod for casual music listening while traveling, so my priorities for music encoding are probably different than yours. Personally, I rip/encode everything to a variable bit rate MP3 using Exact Audio Copy and an external LAME encoder, using a VBR of about 224Kbps. This seems to give me the best combination of audio quality and file size reduction, allowing me to fit a considerable amount of music on an 8GB Nano while traveling. IMO, the audio quality is still excellent when listening with my Etymotic earbuds -- which, unfortunately today I discovered have a dead channel. So, until I get new earbuds, I will not be listening to the MP3's.

I do any critical listening on my home setup with the original source discs and a Sony ES 5-disc SACD/CD player, so I do not stream the ripped audio tracks from a PC through my home system.

For my car, I make exact copies of the WAV files to play in the CD player, combining two albums onto a single disc where possible to save on CD-R's. My car is older, and its audio system does not have the ability to play MP3's or other compressed formats. This is more to protect the original CDs -- I would never take the original CDs from a $200 plus collector's set in my car.


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post #476 of 538
12/30/09 at 4:45am
I listened to Sgt. Pepper, Magical Mystery Tour, and the first disc of The White Album last night.  I was really impressed with The White Album in mono -- the music just seems to be made for mono. With Sgt. Pepper, my initial reaction is that I prefer the stereo mix, but that may be just because those mixes are so ingrained in my brain.

As for Magical Mystery Tour, the mono mix seemed fine, with the exception of "Your Mother Should Know". The vocals on that track seemed very distorted to me, and I was listening on my main HT system.
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post #477 of 538
12/30/09 at 4:51am
Scott,

I'm not personally fond of the mono mixes, though I will
admit I have not really given them a chance.

One big revelation for me (and I mentioned this earlier) 
was the SGT. PEPPER REPRISE.  Compare the mono
to the stereo and the MONO clearly gives you a lot more
nuances including crowd cheers and Paul's yelling.  Even
the sound effect that starts that song off sounds much
different in mono.
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post #478 of 538
1/1/10 at 6:55pm
I have now been through more than half the collection, and it is interesting to hear the variations in many of the mixes -- including the SGT. PEPPER REPRISE that Ron mentions above.  In some cases, I prefer the mono mix, while others the stereo mix seems better (although I've heard them so many times, it could just be familiarity instead of preference). I do miss Ringo's "I've got blisters on my fingers" at the end of HELTER SKELTER, though.

I plan to go through these recordings several more times before I make up my mind. It certainly is enjoyable, though, to finally be able to listen and compare.

Edited by Scott Merryfield - 1/2/10 at 4:20am
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post #479 of 538
1/9/10 at 8:05pm
Thread Starter 
My good friend, who has loved the music of the Beatles for about as long as I have (mid-1960s), just wrote to me about this.  It's probably been discussed on this Board (and maybe even in this thread).  I seem to recall a few posters discussing the USB box set.  Hopefully, there will be some new information here.  I don't understand all of what he wrote, but that's okay.  I'm sure people on this Board will know what he means with regard to certain technical aspects.

****************

I love the anthology DVD set -- it is truly a treasure. This week I discovered something even more amazing than the new stereo box set -- the Beatles Stereo USB box set! I suddenly realized that this set is extremely limited, and has far more than the MP3 versions I thought it had. It also has FLAC files (lossless compressed files) of superior sound files of the entire set. These files are sampled at 24 bits, as opposed to the limits of the CDs at 16 bits, and let me tell you it is the most amazing Beatles sound experience available anywhere. When McCartney plays bass on "With A Little Help..." there is a BASS AMP right in front of you! When John plays "Julia"--you can see him playing the guitar right before you. And it goes on and on. BEST SOUND EVER for every track! I am truly astounded. I never dreamed to have better-than CD versions of the entire catalogue and that this truly is!
 
I highly recommend it if you can find it, but you need a computer with a sound system connected to appreciate it, or a fairly advanced unit of some kind that will play from a USB drive. The design is beautiful, too. It's a 1 1/2 inch round green apple made of heavy metal (no pun intended), and the stem comes out and is in fact the tiny USB drive that almost any computer will accept. I am so impressed with the design, and the package, but most importantly with the music! It never sounded better. This is the set to have, IMHO. I think this new format is the next phase in recorded music. 

Until the whole catalogue is remixed (which will happen), this USB set will be the standard for the original Beatles albums.
 
Also -- Ringo's new CD, Y Not, is out Tuesday. I have it already of course. It's light years ahead of Liverpool 8 -- which isn't saying much, unfortunately. Paul is on two tracks, including a duet singing with Ringo on one track.
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post #480 of 538
1/9/10 at 9:35pm
Interesting read, Scott. One question about what he wrote. He writes:
Quote:
 
Until the whole catalogue is remixed (which will happen), this USB set will be the standard for the original Beatles albums.
Is this statement based on any inside information he has or only his speculation?

Thanks!
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