post brought to you by: dyson
I’ve read all about The Beatles. Geoff Emerick’s book sums up everything you would want to read. EVER.
He stressed how much time they spent working on the mono mixes of the records. Makes complete sense. 3 or 4 track recordings? How the HELL are you supposed to make those true stereo?
Well I have listened to the new mono remasters. And you know what? I love them. Most records sound better in stereo. It’s how we’re used to listening to them. But The Beatles records weren’t meant to be listened to in stereo, it was an afterthought. And anything you do during the record making process that is an afterthought is almost always a bad idea.
Rubber Soul probably is the best example of this. Drums and bass? Why don’t we hard pan them left. What the hell. Vocals and guitar? Throw them right. Done. Put it out. Yes it all sounds nice and spread out. But that’s not how the record was mixed.
So I urge all fans to check out the mono remasters. Especially listen to Revolver. My all time favorite record. I used to hate Taxman and skip over it to Eleanor Rigby. Not anymore. The bass line on Taxman is AMAZING. It has quickly jumped up into my top bass lines of all time. All thanks to the remasters. 1:00 into Taxman and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Don’t trust me? Well then give it a listen!
I am one man who writes (pretty poorly) about music because I love it. I study, play, produce, engineer, analyze, and obsess about music. Enjoy all the topics I can muster up to write about.
if you hated Taxman you may not be a trustworthy judge…
You’re absolutely right with that statement.
But I’ve always thought The Beatles started their albums off on the wrong foot.
And with Revolver being my favorite I would have placed it somewhere else on the album.
But this is why I’m not as legendary as The Beatles…
I was just playing the Abbey Road album and thought I’d see what was being written about the Beatles. Personally I think it was a disaster re-issuing the Beatles collection on CD, so the thought of distributing it digitally makes me want to reach … The beatles were made for distribution on a mono record and this will always remain the ‘legitimate’ way to listen, preferably on an old Garrard deck with diamond stylus that scratches the heck out of vinyl
))