imsjry

A crazy question.....if I have a Mono switch on my receiver and I use it while listening to the stereo CD's, is it the same as listening to the mono discs? I'd guess not since the mixes should be different but thought I throw that out there.

I think I found the answer to my question over on Amazon:

"You might be able to get 'mono' from stereo, but it won't be authentic. Each channel of stereo was mixed based on the notion that there's another channel (some individual instruments or voices in a stereo-optimized mix might be too quiet or too loud in a mono context), plus many of the most obscure subtleties of the overall recording were supposedly lost in the channel-splitting process. Even if much of the 'stereo' was recycled from mono, that doesn't necessarily mean the music is going to sound very much like the original mono after you fuse both channels back together. If it's not going to sound like the mono that John Lennon thought I should be hearing, then it's hardly worthwhile."

I am still so torn over which box I want to get. After all this talk about how the mono's are better, I am almost willing to make the plunge. But I know I want Yellow Sub, Abbey Rd, and Let it Be too. And the cost of the mono box it a bit nuts. And I also want the damn Rock Band game!

Boy, The Beatles have me this year. I guess they really haven't gotten any cash out of me since the Anthology stuff so it's been a while....

A crazy question.....if I have a Mono switch on my receiver and I use it while listening to the stereo CD's, is it the same as listening to the mono discs? I'd guess not since the mixes should be different but thought I throw that out there.

Because that's where they decided to put it. The '65 stereo mixes are probably of more interest to collectors (i.e., the people who are likely to buy the mono box) than anyone else.

So the stereo version of Rubber Soul will be different then the stereo mix included on the mono version? Again, why the hell did they make this so complicated?!

"Tommy" will always be my favorite.

The Rubber Soul disc in the mono box will have both the mono mixes and the original 1965 stereo mixes. They didn't use the stereo masters to create the mono mixes -- they put both mixes on that disc.

Why is the stereo mix also included on the mono version of Rubber Soul? I don't understand.

http://www.beatlesnews.com/news/the-beatles/200908151922/details-of-beatles-remasters-summarized-in-chicago.html

So did anyone else plow through this? Could they have made these releases any more complicated? I have so many questions I don't know where to start. Like when they talk about using the "stereo masters" for the Rubber Soul Mono release. Huh?

It still seems like the stereo box is the way to go just so you can have all the discs instead of having to buy Let It Be and Abbey Road separately.

I am going to go to the record store this weekend and probably drop a few hundred dollars...this can be dangerous!

You actually have a "record store"? I didn't think those existed anymore.....

I know this is sacrilege, but many of Dylan and Tweedy's lyrics work better on paper then in song form. Funny how words can work both ways.

One more question:

If the Mono Box is so "limited", will it even be available at say Best Buy and other chains? I only can find a pre-order on a few sites (Amazon, B&N).

joss, my comment that there is no best way to listen to these albums wasnt an attempt to debate that the stereo mixes were blessed by the Beatles. There is no arguing that point. And people can let that fact sway them as they wish, of course. But you are going to have a hard time convincing me that we should write off how people have been listening to, and loving, the Beatles for the last 40 years. That may an overstatement of what you are saying, but it certainly seems like a fair leap based on what you've been saying here.

This is a great point. When I recently heard Strawberry Fields in mono for the first time in my life, it just sounded......wrong. I really missed all the panning and stuff because I always felt that was such a huge part of the song. Same goes for Walrus and Tomorrow Never Knows.

The good news is it's going to be like hearing The Beatles "new" all over again for me in mono.

i cancelled my preorders last week. after listening a number of times to the stereo clips, i came to the conclusion that i would always feel gyped if i had them only. so, i'm currently not getting it. the only thing is i need to either just fork out for the mono box set - or take a gamble that they'll release them seperately in the future. i think it's a pretty good gamble, but the other thing is that they don't and these mono box sets end up being like gold dust.

Or you can just always download and burn the invevitable FLAC versions. Not that I would personally ever do or abvocate such a thing....

if stereo/mono on the same disc bothers someone enough, they can just burn a seperate CD(s).

i'm thinking dollars and cents...

So after all this conversation, what is the best way to own these? Buy the mono box and then Yellow Sub, Abbey, and Let it Be separate? If the mono is supposed to be the best way to hear this music, why is it only a limited release? I just don't get the logic there.

Mono is definitely better than stereo for the tracks recorded in mono.

 

The difference between "Help!" (the song) in mono and the stereo version is important. The mono sound is more punchy, and the vocal harmonies sound more enthusiastic.

 

Missing the mono versions is missing the way every people listened to them then, on radio, singles, EPs, LPs...

 

The mono sound helps to understand the beatles phenomenon.

I guess I always assumed most people grew up on the stereo versions like I did. To me, those are the correct versions. I have never heard a mono version of a Post-"Hard Day's Night" Beatles song on the radio now that I think about it it. So when I hear the mono's they just sound.....not right.

And are you guys saying the the Beatles themselves had ZERO involvement in the stereo mastering of their albums? That is amazing if so and I always felt that sound was part of their genius. For me, the stereo effect is used almost like another instrument and is integral to many of their songs. Call me crazy....

Other than the bass sounding a bit "punchier", what is the big difference? I guess as someone who grew up on the stereo versions, I don't see the love or want for mono. To me mono is like listening in black and white and the stereo is like listening in 3D color.

I want BUCKY back !!!

Larry and Charlie were the ones for me. Why he let those guys go is anyone's guess...

So looks like Amazon has pre-order pricing on both box sets. Anyone else just gonna wait to see what the sales are that week?

What was released a few weeks ago are the first 4 solo albums with new remastering. They sound amazing compared to the CD's that have long been on sale by WB. In fact, they sound just like the material on the Archives release. I doubt they will bother redoing the titles that came out in 2003, but who knows with Neil....

I'm very happy with them. I bought them all a few days ago and I listened to them all yesterday. I also owned all the original cd versions, save for the first self-titled disc. After i listened to these, I went to Disc Replay(that's the used music store where i work) and sold my original copies. I won't need them anymore. These remastered discs are both louder and crisper. Also, my boss took a look at an audiophile message board that he frequents, and the Neil Young fans there had apparently heard them and gave them pretty good reviews. I wish i had that link to post here, but I don't.

If you've heard the Cd's from the Archives Box; they are exactly like that. Amazing when compared to the original CD's!

Interestingly, I got Wilco (The Album) and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot on vinyl yesterday in the mail :-) and yes, they both sound superb and "warmer" then the CD's. However, even on the first listens I hear all the pops and clicks which made me remember why I loved CD's in the first place. To me, the fact that a CD is always going to sound the same vs. the crap that an album will produce over time makes CD the better technology (for me).

Didn't you get a CD with your vinyl release? Just pop that into the player and compare it to the vinyl. It should be quite clear just how different it is, and how much louder it is, on the same volume setting of your amplifier.

Of course the CD "sounds" louder then the record with the same amp volume setting. A CD player and a phonograph output totally different impedance levels. I'm not saying they aren't mastered differently, but the above example is not a vaild test of the "loudness" of the mastering.

dylan's band is great...dylan is not. he really isn't.

See, I totally disagree with this. His two current guitarists can't solo their way out of a paper bag. Dylan should be playing with a much higher caliber of musicians imo. His vocals and phrasing were fantastic in Milwaukee a few weeks ago, bit the repetitive staccato guitar parts got old after 4 songs. They played the same notes over and over through the entire song. Every one....

It took a bit of snooping, but I loaded

 

rtsp://streaming.smartleydunn.com/streaming.smartleydunn.com/20090415_wilco_milwaukee_100.mov

 

in QuickTime Player and it showed what appeared to be a variable bit rate. It never dipped much below 128kb/s, so that's probably what it is.

 

Thank you so much for checkiong this out. According to DIME, it would have to be 192kbs or higher. I'm not gonna bother with it being banned again. I will just try and share it through a file hosting site or something. Stay tuned.

I still don't understand why there are other torrents up there from webcasts......

"That's Not the Issue"?? Odd choice.

I tried torrenting a copy of the recent Roadcase show on Wilcoweb. The torrent got banned because I had no bitrate information for the stream. Anyone have a clue how to find that information out?

I have ATWR and GBT. GBT has much more material, I know that. I'm still trying to sort through it all to really know what is different about the two.

Both sound the same to me quality-wise.