Originally Posted By alexbook So, the Beatles are reissuing their whole catalog, all newly remixed using the latest technology and with various bonus features like limited edition packaging and "making of" documentaries. It's the first complete reissue since they released these records on CD back in the 1980's. What's bugging me is that every single advertisement and news story I've seen or heard has used the phrase "digitally remastered for the first time." Were the previous CDs not "digitally remastered"? Or is it that the previous CDs were digitally mastered and this is the first complete *re*mastering? Or what? Nobody seems to know. This is the kind of thing that drives me up the wall.
Originally Posted By mawnck The first batch of Beatles CDs, released in 1987, were indeed "digitally remastered," as is every audio CD on the planet that is sourced from an analog tape or disc. You may thank the marketing weenies for the confusion, as usual. What they MEAN is that the Beatles catalog has never been *upgraded* from the 1987 versions. In other words, if you go to Target today and buy one of the "core" Beatles albums, you'll get the exact same sound quality as a disc from 20 years ago. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Most "remasters" nowadays are made to make the CDs louder, and not necessarily to improve the sound. CDs were designed to handle a certain audio level, and that level has been largely ignored since the late 90s. Extra processing is necessary to get the extra volume out of an audio format that wasn't designed for it, so audiophiles will often prefer the older, less futzed editions. Joe Sixpack, on the other hand, doesn't appreciate the damage, and just gets mad that the older CD is "too soft." The 1987 Beatles CDs are recorded at the older (correct) level, but the situation is a little different. Even in 1987, EMI's work on the Beatles recordings was criticized as a botched job. The first four albums were rather poor dubs from mono master tapes, while "Help" and "Rubber Soul" were digitally **remixed** (IE new mix, new reverb, new EQ) and sounded different from the original Beatle-approved versions. "Revolver" and up were better, taken from the first generation mix tapes, with the only major criticism being some overuse of noise reduction. (More to follow.)
Originally Posted By mawnck So, onward to the new batch. We do know it will be at least somewhat louder, because that's what 99% of the population expects. They promise that they have not maxed it out like so many other recent CDs have done. We do know that they are using the very finest 2009 technology to get the optimal sound from the masters. We do know that the first four albums will be stereo, except for a few "Please Please Me" cuts that were never stereo to begin with. Unfortunately, we also know that they will be using the 1987 mixes of "Help" and "Rubber Soul." And that they've used noise reduction again, although they promise it's only about 5 minutes out of the whole catalog, and we'll never even notice. (This kind of thing makes my teeth itch.) Of course they're in spiffier packages too, which they'd pretty much have to be after the 1987 no-frills versions. (Still more to follow.)
Originally Posted By A Happy Haunt my collection of Beatles CD will do..I do not feel the need to "upgrade". anyone else?
Originally Posted By alexbook >>We do know that the first four albums will be stereo, except for a few "Please Please Me" cuts that were never stereo to begin with.<< I've read that they're going to be releasing both stereo and mono mixes of some tracks, which should be amusing.
Originally Posted By mawnck The CDs are also available as a big box set with extra goodies. So what if you PREFER the mono versions, which a lot of us do? (Yes, they're different, sometimes dramatically so.) And what if you want the REAL stereo mixes of "Help" and "Rubber Soul"? They've got *another* limited edition box set just for you. Remastered mono editions of all the albums from "Please Please Me" to the White Album (which was the last one for which a mono mix exists), plus the original 1965-66 stereo mixes of the two "problem" albums. Not sold separately. So if you're a True Beatles Fan, you're looking at well north of $400, and you'd probably better preorder now if you want the box sets. Drat them and their darn musical genius.
Originally Posted By alexbook >>The first batch of Beatles CDs, released in 1987, were indeed "digitally remastered," as is every audio CD on the planet that is sourced from an analog tape or disc. You may thank the marketing weenies for the confusion, as usual.<< Yes, I'm not objecting to the reissues themselves, just to the marketing. I'm enough of a nerd that hearing and reading the phrase "digitally remastered for the first time" multiple times a day is like fingernails on a chalkboard. I'm afraid that two more months of it will send me to the loony bin. It's bugging me even more than when they advertised "1" as containing "27 number 1 hits," which it didn't, or "Let It Be ... Naked" as the original 1969 mix of "Let It Be," which it wasn't.
Originally Posted By alexbook >>my collection of Beatles CD will do..I do not feel the need to "upgrade". anyone else?<< I won't be upgrading anytime soon. I'd rather buy new music. Now, if they would actually release something new (like the Christmas album, or the Hollywood Bowl album), I'd be rushing to pre-order it.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>I've read that they're going to be releasing both stereo and mono mixes of some tracks, which should be amusing.<< Nothing amusing about it, actually. In many cases (Paperback Writer, Yellow Submarine, Lady Madonna, the entire With the Beatles album just to name a few), the stereo mix - the official one - is kind of a mess. Mono was considered more important, since that was what was going on the radio and in the jukeboxes. The mono was also mixed first, and there were a few cases where a careless engineer hit "record" instead of "play," erasing some brief bits of the session tracks, which meant they had to work around them when making the stereo version. One of the reasons people like me were so eager to snap up such things as the "Capitol Albums" box sets and the "Complete Singles" megabox (where you paid a ridiculous sum for a stack of 2-song discs) was to get the superior mono mixes. Had they done a better job on the first 6 CDs in 1987, I might not be considering this batch myself.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <One of the reasons people like me were so eager to snap up such things as the "Capitol Albums" box sets and the "Complete Singles" megabox (where you paid a ridiculous sum for a stack of 2-song discs) was to get the superior mono mixes. > You and me both. Also, a weird thing with the Capitol albums. You know how, as one song is fading out, you start hearing the song you know is next in your head just before it starts? I had gotten so used to the order on the 1987 Beatles CD's that I'd listened to for 20 years (which were based on the British Parlophone albums rather than the American Capitol ones, with widely different song lineups from their first album up through Revolver), that it caught me up short for a while listening to the Capitol albums on CD... I kept expecting a different song to come next. Listening to the Capitol albums on CD, once I got used to the new orders, brought me instantly back to the 60's and 70's, when I listened to the songs in THAT order. It was a subtle but unmistakable jolt back to the past.
Originally Posted By alexbook Speaking of the 60's U.S. albums, I'd like the "Hard Day's Night" and "Help!" soundtrack CDs. Do they exist outside the box sets? I've never found them for sale separately.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 I'd look at ebay. Hard Day's Night might be problematic, since it was a United Artists release in the US, and was not included in the box set of Capitol albums. Help was, and you may find an e-bay-er willing to sell separately. AFAIK, the US Hard Days Night is not on CD at all.
Originally Posted By mawnck >> AFAIK, the US Hard Days Night is not on CD at all.<< Correct ... at least not legitimately. Capitol decided to get all technical on us and not put that United Artists album in the box set, even though they now own the entire UA catalog and reissued AHDN on Capitol years ago. It might have also had something to do with the fact that UA used fake stereo versions of all the Beatles tracks, rather than going through all the agonizing effort and expense of having true stereo tapes shipped from the UK.
Originally Posted By alexbook >>AFAIK, the US Hard Days Night is not on CD at all.<< That sad. Not that the instrumentals were great, but they were a part of history. Still, "Help!" is the one I'd *really* like. I know the Beatles themselves didn't care for it, but I enjoyed it. >>Help was, and you may find an e-bay-er willing to sell separately.<< I'll keep an eye out. Or one of these days I may break down and buy the whole box. This conversation is making me sad that I ditched my record player and LPs.
Originally Posted By mawnck >> Or one of these days I may break down and buy the whole box.<< Two observations: (1) It ain't getting any cheaper and (2) Make sure you get the corrected version with the tiny "SK1" on the sticker. Early copies used the stereo mixes for some of the "mono" versions. If your mono "I'm Looking Through You" has the false starts, that's one of the bad ones.
Originally Posted By A Happy Haunt I just purchased the remastered Let It Be & it sounds absolutely beautiful!! If your missing any CD's from your Beatle library it's time to fill in the gaps! Plus, they're only $12 at Target!
Originally Posted By mawnck My Stereo Box set just arrived from Amazon with a big gash in its side, courtesy of the USPS. I'm most irked. Back it goes. Fortunately the Mono Box survived intact, and I've got I Am the Mono Walrus blasting right now, whether my coworkers like it or not. Sounds nice, but I'll know for sure when I get it home onto the "real" system. Come on, clock ....
