What do you mean, "original"? and what do you mean by remastered? And on what medium are you talking about?
The likely short answer is if you are seeking a current vinyl record set mastered from the original analogue tapes or a copy thereof, then the answer is, "No."
The likely short answer is if you are seeking a current vinyl record set mastered from the original analogue tapes or a copy thereof, then the answer is, "No."
I just want original recordings as offered back when they were first done. Not "remastered" as currently advertised. I have a couple of "remastered" and celebrated as superior recordings by Capitol. Well they "absolutely SUCK". Changing the frequency response of a recording in an effort to "improve" it is total BS! There's all kinds of information missing from those "remastered" versions. I have a few earlier offerings that are actually original recordings so I know what I'm talking about. I'm looking for a complete set but it looks like it doesn't exist. Format I want is CD. The ones I mentioned I have are CD so format isn't the issue.
My 1987, first issue CD versions (up to Sgt. Pepper) are annotated AAD i.e. Analogue tape recorder used during session recording and subsequent mixing and/or editing. Digital tape recorder used during mastering (transcription).
From that I take it that these CDs were produced from the original analogue master tapes and only "remastered" in the sense of being digitally transferred to CD.
Look to auction for Parlophone CDP 7 464 35 (Please Please Me), through 36, 37, 38 ... and up to 42 (Sgt. Pepper).
From that I take it that these CDs were produced from the original analogue master tapes and only "remastered" in the sense of being digitally transferred to CD.
Look to auction for Parlophone CDP 7 464 35 (Please Please Me), through 36, 37, 38 ... and up to 42 (Sgt. Pepper).
Attachments
Let me confirm: you have the CDs issued a few years back by EMI (the parent organization of Parlophone, which was the label owned by EMI when The Beatles were recorded - at least until Apple was formed) that reproduced the track lineup and art of the US LP albums of The Beatles. This includes the Capitol-only albums such as Yesterday and Today, the 'fake-stereo"albums such as Meet the Beatles, the truncated versions of Rubber Soul, as well as A Hard Days Night, which was issued in the US under the United Artist's label (as they distributed the film in the US).
You do not like the sound on them?
Can you give us some quotes from the CD liner notes that speak to the tapes used in the remastering, and who did the remastering?
I also want to know what you mean by "when they were first done." The original 1987-1989 (I think) issues of The Beatles on CD, the original British LP albums (of which I have owned only two as imports which I bought in 1971), or the original American LPs (of which I owned Sgt. Pepper, White Album, Magical Mystery Tour, "Hey Jude," Let It Be, and Abbey Road. I also heard and played the Capitol albums from 1973-77 on my college radio station WBRU. We had two albums with the two different versions of "I'm Looking Through You" - with and without the false start.
This is the thing: "original recordings" mean different things in different contexts. For example: All the US albums were made from copies of the original tapes in Engand, be they copies of thee twin tacks or the copies of the mono or stereo LP masters. So right there, you are no longer "original recordings." Then, for every album until Sgt.Pepper, I believe, Capitol re-recorded the masters sent from England for further editing and processing - compression and more reverberation. All this is well documented. That resulted in yet another generation away from the English master tapes. Then, the Capitol processed tape was likely copied to create the production masters for the LP record mastering process on the lathes. This is to assure that if there was an accident or loss from Capitol to the LP mastered, this would not result in a costly and time-consuming re-do of the Capitol processing. So, one is talking about a further generation of tape away from the English master. Finally, and no matter what tape one is talking about to do the vinyl mastering on the lathe - even the "original master" - the mastering engineer often added EQ compression. Often this was at direction noted on the tape box sent to him/her; more often this was done to reflect his/her view as to what would make an acceptable "cut." Lots of this is discussed in various articles throughout the decades in TapeOp Magazine, as well as online in various forums. And depending upon which company and engineer mastered the tape into the acetate, different equipment would make it sound different. Finally, the acetate has to be-cut at intervals because the acetate can only make so many copies which are then used after some intermediate steps) to make the moulds used for actually pressing the vinyl LP. Thus, for The Beatles LPs, it is a certainty that the LPs produced in the 1970s and 1980s were from completely different mastering companies and engineers. And the source tape for mastering may also be another copy. This brings to mind yet another issue: deterioration of the master tapes- of any generation. If you keep using them to make copies, they eventually begin to loose integrity as tape oxide is shed. Thus, even for the tapes in England, each time EMI had to run the original master to make a copy for whatever use (e.g., TV show; another request for copy form an affiliate or licensee in another country,( that contributes to loss of signal integrity on the tape.
The bottom line, IMO, is that we cannot get back to the sound quality of the original Beatles LPs using exist tape of whatever provenance WITHOUT some sort of processing. A different line of argument also applies to CDs but in general the issues are the same. FWIW, did not like the 1987-89 issues of the Beatles on CD but that is all we had and we were happy as we had been waiting years for the CDs to be issued. I now have the box set of the EMI-British Beatles albums in stereo, and the comparable box set of the Beatles in mono. I zm reasonably happy with them. I also have the Box set of the re-mixed Sgt Pepper that recreated the album by going back to th original 4-track tracking tapes, and they area revelation in terms of clarity. But it is not the same in terms of slight balancing and EQ. Such is life: choices were made and we have to live with them. They could have done worst: witness Frank Zappa's personal remixes of his Albums which rendered some of them as completely new experiences very different from the albums we had come to know and love when they were LPs.
Great. Thank you for this treatise. Very informative. I'm perfectly okay with variations which may alter the original except when it grossly skews what I know as I originally heard and have on early vinyl and cd. The 2cd anniversary editions 2019/2017 Calderstone Productions of Abbey Road and Sgt Pepper were very expensive and imo are a pos. The Beatles Unplugged cd I have is sped up, very annoying. I put it away before hearing it anywhere near all the way through, just horrible. The remastered White Album with the Apple logos emblazened are a pos compared to the EMI plain white version, as is the remastered Abbey Road version with Apple logos compared to the earlier chrome version. Both of which sound like the original vinyl to my ears. Those remasters have skewed FR and consequently have missing information. The attempt is to fool you into thinking it sounds better, probably only fooling the dingbat who remixed it.
You could find the old vinyl records, physically clean them, and record to HDD, then convert to a digital format of your choice.
With the advent of CD, another issue was that the older recordings, with 60 dB dynamic range, would sound dull on the 120 dB range offered by the CD format.
So after the first lots of CDs, which were more or less format conversions, the music was manipulated for more dynamic range, by the recording engineers, some extra bass and treble, maybe different emphasis on vocals, this ranged from just a simple manipulation of a recorded disk, to a remix if the original vocal and instrument tracks were available.
So it is not only the Beatles, many songs now have thumping bass and screechy vocals, and sound quite different from the original.
Listen to a song on AM on an old valve radio, and the same one on streaming digital, if possible using the same amp and speakers, it will be very different.
With the advent of CD, another issue was that the older recordings, with 60 dB dynamic range, would sound dull on the 120 dB range offered by the CD format.
So after the first lots of CDs, which were more or less format conversions, the music was manipulated for more dynamic range, by the recording engineers, some extra bass and treble, maybe different emphasis on vocals, this ranged from just a simple manipulation of a recorded disk, to a remix if the original vocal and instrument tracks were available.
So it is not only the Beatles, many songs now have thumping bass and screechy vocals, and sound quite different from the original.
Listen to a song on AM on an old valve radio, and the same one on streaming digital, if possible using the same amp and speakers, it will be very different.
May I ask what the "Beatles Unplugged" album is: do you mean Let It be Naked? Did you read the notes to the CD: many of the songs are different takes or different composite edits. I listen to that CD and prefer that to listening to the recent EMI remaster in the bx sets, to tell you the truth. I have no interest in purchasing the Peter Jackson version.
As for the White Album, I heard the 24 bit version streamed over Roon (at JR Audio in Bethesda MD), as I recall into a system so expensive I could not begin to think of affording it. But, the EQs were perfect, and there was a lot of "detail" that was brought out without being fatiguing One example is the sound of the horns in Savoy Truffle and a couple other songs. Just amazing. Also listening to some foot tapping by Paul in Blackbird. I took a friend who ended up buying a Benchmark AB-2 amp and a DAC/Streamer from Mytek at JR Audio, and he agreed with me. WE also listened to th remastered CDs and they sounded fine, but with less detail, that's all. I think some compression was added from the original vinyl but them's the shakes: its what the market wants. I don't think you are ever going to get to original, first pressing/release English LPs at this point.
OH, and I should say that the Original Master Recording vinyl of Abbey Road (which I gave away decades ago) was SWEEEET. But it did not precisely match the ordinary Capitol vinyl I had. In most instances it was better but in some cases a bit of detail was missing at certain points - I'm trying to remember and thinking about the Moog arpeggios in "Because". However, this could have been a product of my phono playback system: adding resonances to one LP and not resonating with another. Just another reason why I have never looked back on vinyl.
what I find funny when talking about the beatles albums is that they were cut to play on the cheapest Dansettes in teenagers bedrooms so were eq'd not for best sound, but survivable excursions (like many other albums of the time).
Talking about "survivable excursions', in 1963 I foolishly lent my original mono 'With The Beatles' album to a friend, who took it to a party.
Needless to say, it did not survive the excursion!
Needless to say, it did not survive the excursion!
Sorry, yes I did mean Let It Be Naked. Yes, I find that EMI version of the White Album superb. Low level resolution makes it sound very coherent. I do have a very revealing system so good recordings are quite apparent. I have a few "Original Master Recordings" on vinyl including the Abbey Road one and I remember not being impressed by them(I have not listened to vinyl in 25 years) because they sound way too saturated again obscuring detail and more importantly degrading transient performance. Anomalies don't bother me a bit. As Nareshbrd mentioned, straight format conversions don't bother me either. I have a box set of ZZ TOP that are supposed to be disappointing but I think they are excellent, very original sounding.
I would not have attended that particular party even if I had been invited to it.
In retrospect, my teenage life during the sixties seems to have been a continual party!
And we didn't agonise over the sound quality of Beatles records. It was the Beatles FFS! Everything they produced sounded good!
In retrospect, my teenage life during the sixties seems to have been a continual party!
And we didn't agonise over the sound quality of Beatles records. It was the Beatles FFS! Everything they produced sounded good!
Same here, those 'actually' were the days, eh? Historical heyday in every way. These young kids nowadays..pfft.
Back then the envy of the audio world was the guy that had 500 45s and a portable record player. But then the 70s arrived and we grew up.
What a shame.
Back then the envy of the audio world was the guy that had 500 45s and a portable record player. But then the 70s arrived and we grew up.
What a shame.
Allow me to share something I witnessed one day on a holiday with my pals in the Isle of Man during the summer of 1966.
A passenger ferry service connected the Isle of Man to Liverpool, so naturally the huge beach at Douglas was a holiday magnet for Liverpudlians.
In those days, everyone took a transistor radio to the beach, and they all tuned in to the BBC Light Programme.
All was relatively calm that particular day, that is until the newly released Yellow Submarine came on the radio.
At that point the hundreds of holidaymakers spontaneously sang along, and the entire length of the crowded beach resounded to their communal voices.
Now, that was the true sound of the Beatles! 😎
A passenger ferry service connected the Isle of Man to Liverpool, so naturally the huge beach at Douglas was a holiday magnet for Liverpudlians.
In those days, everyone took a transistor radio to the beach, and they all tuned in to the BBC Light Programme.
All was relatively calm that particular day, that is until the newly released Yellow Submarine came on the radio.
At that point the hundreds of holidaymakers spontaneously sang along, and the entire length of the crowded beach resounded to their communal voices.
Now, that was the true sound of the Beatles! 😎
I clearly remember watching a TV programme on which the group appeared clad in leather jackets and calling themselves the Silver Beatles.
I don't recall what song they sang though, as I didn't pay a lot of attention at the time.
If that appearance was actually recorded in the first place, it must have been wiped, missing a valuable archive opportunity.
I don't recall what song they sang though, as I didn't pay a lot of attention at the time.
If that appearance was actually recorded in the first place, it must have been wiped, missing a valuable archive opportunity.
I think very highly of The Beatles (as you might guess from my posts in this thread). So you would not be surprised if I mention that I was highly offended by a Washington Post (DC) "critic," saying The Beatles were "overrated." This bon mot was embedded in an article channeling the angst of some members of the younger generations over the preponderance of news focusing on Peter Jackson's documentary on the making of Let It Be. I have tried over and over to find a link to that article online but I think it was scrubbed by the WPost. I can understand that someone might not like the Beatles' music; one is entitled to one's opinion and listening choices, right? But to have a critic, who is supposed to be somewhat more objective or at least have a greater perspective, pronounce that the Beatles are overrated...
For those of you who have not seen the analyses of Beatles' music by Scott Freiman (Deconstructing the Beatles), I highly, highly recommend his videos. Apart from the musical analyses, his recounting of The Beatles' discography, and particularly the time intervals between releases, as well as the daily schedule of The Beatles, is enlightening.
Finally, a story: before I retired, I led a voluntary music appreciation group at work, where we would sit during lunch and have presentations by group members of their favorite artists or styles of music. One of my presentations focused on time signatures in music (2/4, 4/4, 3/4, 5/4, 7/4 etc.). I remarked how you hardly hear any time signatures other than 4/4 in pop in the last 30 years, much less changes in time signature in a song (think Bacharach and David). Several weeks later, one of the members made me listen to a Radio Head song - rather long as I recall and I'm sorry that I am not familiar with their catalog - pointing to a time change. After the song finished, I said, "Well, The Beatles did several different time changes in "Happiness is a Warm Gun," and also threw in a medieval technique for breaking up the time in a single measure - the hemiola (well, I see that there is now a lot of controversy over the proper name of that technique which Leonard Bernstein also used in the song, America from West Side Story). And I think "Happiness" is about 3 minutes long and pretty catchy too!"
For those of you who have not seen the analyses of Beatles' music by Scott Freiman (Deconstructing the Beatles), I highly, highly recommend his videos. Apart from the musical analyses, his recounting of The Beatles' discography, and particularly the time intervals between releases, as well as the daily schedule of The Beatles, is enlightening.
Finally, a story: before I retired, I led a voluntary music appreciation group at work, where we would sit during lunch and have presentations by group members of their favorite artists or styles of music. One of my presentations focused on time signatures in music (2/4, 4/4, 3/4, 5/4, 7/4 etc.). I remarked how you hardly hear any time signatures other than 4/4 in pop in the last 30 years, much less changes in time signature in a song (think Bacharach and David). Several weeks later, one of the members made me listen to a Radio Head song - rather long as I recall and I'm sorry that I am not familiar with their catalog - pointing to a time change. After the song finished, I said, "Well, The Beatles did several different time changes in "Happiness is a Warm Gun," and also threw in a medieval technique for breaking up the time in a single measure - the hemiola (well, I see that there is now a lot of controversy over the proper name of that technique which Leonard Bernstein also used in the song, America from West Side Story). And I think "Happiness" is about 3 minutes long and pretty catchy too!"