That's what I liked about the 4-CD Motown box set -- original mono singles mixes. Then Universal
used the stereo mixes whenever they could find them for almost all the subsequent reissues.
Sometimes the stereo claifies a guitar lick or a bass line or drum track, but it rarely serves the
singer or the song until the very late 60's onward.
BTW, while we're on this subject, I gotta make sure all Creedence fans know that Concord Music Group
(current owner of the Fantasy empire) put out a 2CD collection of all the official mono singles
mixes a year or two ago. It's great, and most of these versions were never available on the many LP
and CD issues. But this is what most people heard as the songs shot up the charts thanks to AM radio
play.
-- Tom Fine
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Olhsson" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 1:53 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] First high-fidelity recordings released in 1944?
> -----Original Message-----
> From Tom Fine: "...Also, from what I've read in recent times, which might be
> some 20-20 hindsight, the Beatles got interested in the recording and
> production process relatively early and did want to approve the mono mixes
> before they went to the pressing plant. British artists like the Who and the
> Kinks were also interested in the process, and in fact the Kinks were quoted
> crediting Pye engineer Bob Auger for working magic with a toy-guitar track
> and ending up with a charting single (I forgot the particulars, but I do
> remember that was the jist of the quote)..."
>
> Something most successful artists have in common is a great interest in what
> their recordings sound like. Remember that the mix needed to satisfy Norman
> Smith, George Martin AND the band. At that time most pop records were
> produced for mono with all of the production decisions having been made in
> terms of what sounded best in mono. Stereo had the very same status that
> quad had a decade later. It was only when record stores refused to stock
> mono that stereo began being taken seriously by most people in the industry.
> FM stereo also nudged it along. The mono Beatles mixes certainly were better
> mixes as were our mono mixes at Motown for the very same reason.
>
>
> Bob Olhsson Audio Mastery, Nashville TN
> Mastering, Audio for Picture, Mix Evaluation and Quality Control
> Over 40 years making people sound better than they ever imagined!
> 615.562.4346 http://www.bobolhsson.com http://audiomastery.com
>
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