I have had it up to here waiting for the Beatles catalogue to be remastered

The main problem with Rubber Soul is the awful instruments-go-in-this-channel, vocals-go-in-this-channel stereo separation on some of the tracks. Did someone say that George Martin actually remixed it for the 1987 issue? Why didn't he do it properly?

He did.

File under: Can't please all the people all of the time.

I suppose it's good for making karaoke versions of Michelle.

The Beatles - 13 Special Issues Bundle - Beatles Bundle - Price: £29.90

The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour Special Edition £2.30

The guitar in the Past Masters version of Revolution is fucking UNVBELIEVABLE.

The main problem with Rubber Soul is the awful instruments-go-in-this-channel, vocals-go-in-this-channel stereo separation on some of the tracks. Did someone say that George Martin actually remixed it for the 1987 issue? Why didn't he do it properly?

― Alba, Wednesday, September 9, 2009 8:13 AM

otm. can someone list the albums where the stereo works? at first it seemed to me that it was revolver and onward, like the stereo amps up the psychedelia. but now i wonder if the mono versions are the only ones to fuck with in their catalog

The stereo's not bothering me at all on Rubber Soul.

I now have six.

not bothering you on speakers or on headphones? cuz i'm finding the headphone separation almost unlistenable

I'm on speakers at the moment, but my headphone amp has a crossfeed circuit so it shouldn't be too much of an issue there either.

Unlistenable? Really? Some people. I listened to Rubber Soul twice last night on my best headphones and loved what I was hearing.

I just listened to it this lunchtime (this is the 87 version, not the new one - but if there's no remixing going on then I imagine it's the same) on my iPod and it was even worse than I remembered. I thought it was just on a few tracks, but the vocals-in-one-ear separation runs through the whole album - it's just that's it's more noticeable on tracks like Michelle.

I have the original mono LP! (sniff)

Yeah, well Rubber Soul's at the top of my mono remaster want list.

I would actually, like, buy some of these if they came out on vinyl :(

Unlistenable? Really? Some people.

i h8 hard panned mixes

Fair enough, I can see that. I guess I've just only ever heard the '87 CD version before, so I just figured thats the way it was meant to be.

It IS the way it's 'meant' to be, in stereo.

Yeah, I mean, I've never heard the mono mixes... so this is the only way I've ever heard it and the remaster sounds fantastic to me.

How does the original stereo Rubber Soul mix compare with the 87 remix? Anyone?

I've just bought the mono box + Abbey Road just like I said I wasn't gonna. I'm a mug! They got me!

Cute little sleeves etc though. I'll listen to them later.

you know, all this love for the remasters, i just wonder if this could be a watershed moment in the so called "loudness wars".
ie. record labels realising lots of people dont like compressed to fuck mastering.

Doubt it. It's a very different marketing proposition. These aren't being sold on the back of people hearing the tracks blaring out of the TV or radio.

Though I suppose other reissues have fallen into the same category and still got the compression treatment - has it actually become the norm with remastered reissues, or just a regular-enough annoyance?

isn't the rubber soul 87 remix the same mix as this one. this is just a remaster OF that remix iirc. for 20 THOUSAND comments on this subject go the steve hoffman forum.

am intrigued if anyone's heard the MONO remaster of REVOLUTION yet. the old mono DESTROYS the old stereo.

I did not know that Beatles for Sale was the meanest Beatles album. So what do I know? Obviously not much. I am posting on a Beatles thread. Imagine that. And one about remasters, to boot.

Buggeration, the Mono Masters disc doesn't have "Old Brown Shoe". Pisses me off. It's good that it includes the tracks from the Yellow Submarine LP though. I just don't get why they couldn't have included (the stereo versions of) Abbey Road and Let it Be in among the set, just to round the catalogue off. Why leave them outstanding, especially at this price?

isn't the rubber soul 87 remix the same mix as this one.

Yes, it is. I'm asking about how it compares with the pre-87 stereo one (which I think is included on the new mono box set, paradoxically).

So yes, these are a little bit worthwhile.

Oh god We Can Work It Out is there best song ever ever ever. So delicate and rich now, not that fucking harsh buzz.

The stereo separation thing isn't so much of an issue (in general, not necessarily just this song) on headphones because the individual instruments are now that much more real and clear; it's not weird anymore, it's just positioning.

i downloaded a fairly low kbps version of this so paradoxically it's essentially the worst i've ever heard the Beatles sounding.

Ringo's fucking awesome.

It was nice to see HMV in Manchester had lined up racks of copies of Ian Mcdonald's REVOLUTION IN THE HEAD next to all the CD box sets this afternoon. I hope it sells another few hundred thousand copies on the back of all this, like it deserves to. I know a lot of ILXers don't like it mind.

Did someone say that George Martin actually remixed it for the 1987 issue? Why didn't he do it properly?

What he mainly did was the decrease the panning, which would have been a good idea on the first two, but they were never released in stereo back then. Otherwise, I guess the decreased panning was more a matter of keeping up with the trends of the late 80s, where the heavily panned headphone synthpop of the early 80s had been replaced with considerably more modest panning. That trend has long since passed though, so he might have used the old stereo mixes or given them a new try.

Just moving the positions of instruments from where people were used to hearing them would have been a bit wrong IMO, plus then he'd also need to do a whole lot of overdubbing to be able to have more stuff in the middle. I do realize Brian Wilson has done exactly that with a lot of his old Beach Boys stereo mixes though, which were originally usually either the backing track or the vocals in mono only and then the other recorded on top of the one stereo-mixed-into-mono track.

I think it's a great book but I read an old McCartney interview today where he was slagging it off.

i think it's a great book too -- what was McCartney's prob with it? Just that McDonald wasn't there? If Paul wants to write a comprehensive account of all Beatles songs/sessions, he should do it!

Admittedly we didn't take huge numbers (simply because it would be so expensive), but we sold out of all the Beatles remasters we had today, including both versions of the boxset. Regardless of how the sound it's great news for us.

*the sound = they sound

He was annoyed because McDonald kept attributing motives to him that he didn't have: "This was McCartney's answer to..." "No it wasn't! It's just a song that I wrote!"

I guess that would be annoying. Still a great book tho!

Oh god We Can Work It Out is there best song ever ever ever. So delicate and rich now, not that fucking harsh buzz.
But did you really notice a big difference from the original Past Masters or Beatles 1? I didn't. Since they were later comps, they already sounded pretty damn good.
I pre-ordered seven titles and of course Past Masters was the only one I got in the mail today. Looking forward to hearing Rubber Soul and Beatles for Sale in particular — hopefully tomorrow.

Oh man the original Past Masters is loud and harsh, and 1 is just a fucking horrific mess. These are amazing.

Either my ears are shot (possible) or I need to use headphones. Anyway, I had time for only a quick listen today and I'll sink my teeth into it more tonight. Thanks.

I went to pick up their Rock Band today and swore I'd limit myself to only two more of the remasters, but walked out with four!

Has anyone gotten the mono box set? I'm leaning toward picking it up...

Couple of Stylus guys have got it and are going nuts on our forum.

Btw, talked to a dude at B3st Buy... they had about 40 Stereo boxes and 20 Mono boxes, all were gone by 10 minutes after open this morning.

Has anyone gotten the mono box set?

Yes. Listening to it right now. Birthday is fucking incendiary.

Looking forward to hearing Revolution 9. Hoo boy.

holy shit...

YSI?