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RE: Is Mono The New Stereo?

As I understand the situation with the Beatles re-issues in mono, the Beatles actually took great pains in mixing the mono versions and the stereo versions were often slapped together and/or mixed by others. I think Mr Fremer discusses this at length on his website, AnalogPlanet. Many of us want to hear the Beatles as they, themselves, intended. We are also audiophiles, after all, and also want wonderful sound at a reasonable price. Hence, all the excitement about the new Beatles mono re-issues.

In the 50's and 60's most jazz and rock was recorded primarily in mono and when issued in stereo, the instruments/voices were paned hard left and right. I have a lot of jazz LPs where the mono just plain sounds way better than the stereo. The color, impact, image density and naturalness of the mono just sounds better. Also, check out the Beach Boys stereo or duophonic LPs and compare them to the monos. I have and , to my ear and taste, the monos are much preferable. This is the case for many groups of that time period. They were recorded, mixed, and were intended to be played in mono. When stereo first came along, LPs were issued in that format as a second thought. By the late 1960's, stereo had caught on, artists, producers and engineers were then thinking predominantly in terms of stereo and had more experience with it. It tended to sound very good in many cases. Early to mid-late Beatles, I think, need to be heard in mono (I do like the stereo versions of the later Beatles, though). Now, many of us can afford to hear them in mono, the form the Beatles intended themselves to be heard in. The early Parlophone mono Beatles Lps have gotten prohibitively expensive and the $20 mono re-issues are a godsend and a revelation.



Edits: 09/21/14 09/21/14

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  • RE: Is Mono The New Stereo? - BillyBenBilly 07:58:10 09/21/14 (0)

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