BEATLES CD sound quality.... (1 Viewer)

[Jagan Seshadri]

I believe that Simon & Garfunkel's "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme" remastered CD was remixed from the original multitracks because the original mix tapes had deteriorated.

Those new mixes seriously beat out the first CD issue of that album.

-JNS

 

[Ryan Spaight]

The 5.1 mixes on the Yellow Sub "songtrack" are a neat novelty, but I shudder at thought of stuff like that replacing the real deal.
We've already lost the original versions of Help and Rubber Soul, as well as the stereo versions of the first four and mono versions of everything through the White Album. You can argue all day about whether the new ones are "better," but that's a piece of cultural history that's gone from the shelves.
I like the idea of releasing the earlier records like Pet Sounds -- the mono and stereo versions on one disc. Remaster everything from the original two-tracks (or one-track) to DSD and release 'em on hybrid SACD so everyone can enjoy. Sell everything (including the Past Masters collections) in a box for $200. No remixing. No surround. Just the music that changed the world. Isn't that enough?
Ryan

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

I still have held on to my old US vinyl release (purchased circa 1979 when I was 11) of Rubber Soul just because I can't get used to hearing the intro to "I'm Looking Through You" without those first couple of notes. :frowning:
Regards,

 

[Jack Gilvey]

I still have held on to my old US vinyl release (purchased circa 1979 when I was 11) of Rubber Soul just because I can't get used to hearing the intro to "I'm Looking Through You" without those first couple of notes.

I hear ya'.

 

[Jagan Seshadri]

Extra notes?

Hmm. My only exposure to the Beatles has been those official EMI CD releases. I bet I'd feel it unusual to hear those extra notes!!

-JNS

 

[Ryan L B]

since I know nothing about records or quality. Is it better to try to find all of the beatles records seperatly, in a box set, or just try to find the red and blue albums. How much would they cost compared to the cd's. Also, any decent record player recomendations I could find on either ebay or some kind of antique shop.

 

[Jack Gilvey]

Extra notes?

Hmm. My only exposure to the Beatles has been those official EMI CD releases. I bet I'd feel it unusual to hear those extra notes!!

That higher two-chord riff that opens the song before it settles into the lower C/G pattern is actually played twice with a slight pause in between. The cd version leaves out the first part.

 

[Jagan Seshadri]

Almost sounds like a false start then.... Why else would it be omitted from the CD release?

-JNS

 

[Jack Gilvey]

If it were a "false" start, why would it have been included on the original release? Nahh, sounds better with it. God only knows why "they" do what "they" do to cd releases...more importantly...why do they sound so awful?

 

[Larry Geller]

It IS a false start that Capitol carelessly included on it's bastardized version of Rubber Soul in Dec., 1965. No other version of the album worldwide had it.

When George Martin remixed Rubber Soul & Help for CD release in 1987 (the only original albums to get a CD remix-I wish they'd go back to the originals), he could have restored the false start, but didn't, because it was a botch by Capitol in the first place (BTW-I miss it too).

 

[Jagan Seshadri]

False start...thought so.
I was thinking today, as I did A/B comparisons of Anthology/Revolver versions "Taxman" (incidentally while doing my taxes :frowning: ), that a remaster of the original mixes would not sound as clear as the Anthology recordings.
Remixes from multitrack tapes yielded most of the Anthology recordings, while the original mixes are forever saddled with the mixing desk technology (and tape playback heads) of the 60s. This matter of preserving the original art versus presenting the best possible sound seems to be a one-or-the-other proposition.
What exactly went wrong when EMI digitally mastered the CD's back in 1987 anyway? And why didn't George Martin use the original mixes for Help! and Rubber Soul?
-JNS

 

[Jack Gilvey]

"False" start or not...like I said, I'll take it.

Remixes from multitrack tapes yielded most of the Anthology recordings, while the original mixes are forever saddled with the mixing desk technology (and tape playback heads) of the 60s.

You haven't heard what they're even capable of (or saddled with)till you've at least heard the LP's. The cd's don't sound like the Beatles. I'd just like the original masters preserved and p[resented with as good quality as possible...that won't be on cd.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

I read somewhere that George Martin insisted that they use circa-early 70s analog mixing equipment for the Anthology tracks.

Regards,

 

[Philip Hamm]

I read somewhere that George Martin insisted that they use circa-early 70s analog mixing equipment for the Anthology tracks.

So did I. I believe it was all done using period equipment.

 

[Jack Gilvey]

And I'll bet it even used....tubes (gasp!).

 

[Ryan L B]

how much is the beatles complete recording box set on CD, and how much is the blue and red album.

 

[Jagan Seshadri]

Not tubes, actually. It was an early 70s mixing console that they used. Here is the proof.
-JNS

 

[Jack Gilvey]

Oh well, at least it was analog. Imagine what tubes could have done...

 

[Jagan Seshadri]

I'm going to have a bit of fun here; consider this hypothetical situation:

If we took a CD of the Beatles and carefully ran it back through a tube preamp and the RIAA curve and then into a Neumann disc cutting head onto nice 180-gram vinyl, would it sound like the much talked-about Beatles LPs? Would this process get rid of any digital 'harshness'?

Of course it wouldn't, but how much of the LP sound is just due to the fact it's coming off of vinyl?

-JNS

 

[Jack Gilvey]

Of course it wouldn't, but how much of the LP sound is just due to the fact it's coming off of vinyl?

Not sure what the question is. All of the LP sound is due to the analog signal carried in vinyl. It's all guessing until you've compared them, of course. There's more to digital sound than just eq problems, of course, this "harshness" vs. "warmth" thing. Good analog/tube "preserves" things cd emasculates, it's not a matter of simply adding "warmth". SACD is spectacular at this ,also, digital's great hope.

If you take a great master and filter it down to a cd, it'll probably sound ok. And a bad master will make a bad LP. It will be better preserved by an LP, in my experience.

In any event, the standard Beatles cd's sound really, really bad. They were likely botched at every step. A shame, really.