I thought that Abbey Road used 1-inch 4-track machines during the Beatles sessions, so the bouncing
degradation wouldn't be as bad. Don Cox, if you don't like "produced sound recordings," then you'll
never like the Beatles so you probably should pay no attention to the hubub. Very little popular
music since the 50s has been "documentary recordings." So count on overdubbing, sound effects,
track-bouncing and all other manner of production techniques. The Beatles were among the most
innovative of their generation as far as using the studio and electronic recording production
techniques as allies and fortifications of their compositions. This whole MO is not universally
loved. That's why there's the stop button and the off switch.

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Shoshani" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2012 1:15 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Interesting details on new Beatles LP reissues


> On 11/15/2012 11:16 AM, Lou Judson wrote:
>> Didn't you ever hear the L.O.V.E. CD or the 2009 remasters? Remember, the originals were
>> half-inch four tracks on souped up EMI/Studer tape machines. George Martin himself commented that
>> they sounded "stunning" when he went to remaster them...
>>
>> Your preconceptions are getting in the way of reality!
>>
>> <L>
>> Lou Judson
>> Intuitive Audio
>> 415-883-2689
>
> That isn't what Don is talking about. The mixdown masters are standard 1/4" EMItape half track
> stereo and full track mono. But they derive from half-inch four track session tapes (or one-inch
> eight track for the last year-ish of their work) that by and large were recorded by filling up all
> four tracks of one tape, then bouncing all four of those down to a mono mix on one track of a new
> tape, filling the three vacant tracks and then doing yet another mono mixdown of that to a new new
> tape, and so forth, until the song was finished.
>
> There are some songs that had three or four such generational masters; nearly everything on Sgt.
> Pepper and The White Album was done this way, as were the more complex singles such as Strawberry
> Fields Forever, Penny Lane, and Revolution. On some songs, such as "Getting Better" the hiss and
> degradation are quite noticeable to modern ears, but it's the only way they had at their disposal
> at the time.
>
> Michael Shoshani
> Chicago
>
>>
>> On Nov 15, 2012, at 6:04 AM, Don Cox wrote:
>>
>>> The problem with the Beatles is that their "Master Tapes" are not master
>>> tapes but second or third generation copies, because of the bouncing
>>> down.
>>>
>>> I don't see how good sound can ever be extracted from them.
>>>
>>> Regards
>>
>