What would be the point of remastering the Beatles?

[Me]

I've been reading through some of the posts here, and noticed a couple people bring up the fact that they'd like to hear the Beatles albums remastered. What's the point? The Beatles did it right the first time, there's just no real need to remaster them. I'll admit, I still haven't made the complete transition from tape to CD with the Beatles yet. But everytime I buy a Beatles CD I listen to it and am just amazed at the quality...They already sound great and just don't need to be remastered.

[Daniel_Pérez]

Well, I'm keeping all my Beatles CDs, but remastering improves the sound quality, compare the original edition of "Yellow Submarine" and the new one, which has also been remixed.

[Me]

I've got "Yellow Submarine" and yes, I do notice a difference, but is it really necessary? The music sounded just fine before, would it really bother you if you had never heard it before?

[Daniel_Pérez]

Well,maybe not, but maybe it's also a bit bothering to know that it can sound better. Before the new yellow submarine came out, it was just fine, but when I had the new version of "Hey Bulldog", I never played the old one again.

[admin]

The Beatles did an outstanding job of recording their music in spite of what must now be considered technical limitations. There can be no doubt that they would do an even more superb job with today's technology. As they say practice makes perfect, but a little technology goes a long way too. I like the old recordings, which we will always have, but see no harm in pushing the envelope.

[markthemd]

Most of the Beatles CD's were re mastered not from the multi track tapes but rathe rfrom the 2 track stereo master mix.

the Yellow submarine songtrack CD is from the mulit tracks.

get out your Past masters two disc and listen to the Day Tripper cut ...what is wrong with this?

There are drop outs and skips!!!!!!

I have my old vinyl 45 and granted it is not in the best of shape but it does NOT have these defects!

I think they should have Geoff Emerick remaster the lot from the multi tracks and have the band and widow approve them and issue them all .

Damned I hate to re buy all of them ,but the Y.S.sontrack is generally so much better.Compare Nowhere Man on Rubber soul to the 'New'version.

[Craig]

In our quest for new sounds from our favorite band, I think we may be getting a little crazy!
Let us leave what was done-complete with all of the gliches-DONE!
Instead-does any one-Group or otherwise-have film of them (other than Let It Be) doing sessions for any of their earlier work? I care about the quality of the music, but the re-issue mania is geared to make $'s. Comments??

[admin]

Craig: Yes we do have a tendency to analyze things to the end. It think that The Beatles took out many sections from their recordings that they considered gliches that we would have quite enjoyed. The Beatles' Anthology series made that point, to me at lease. At times I think that some of the Beatles, Lennon at least, felt that whole songs were gliches. Should there be a different version of a song out there that we are able to enjoy because of yet undiscovered mixing or sound engineering I am all for it. Having said that, my personal quest to learn their music is based on the "original" 213 recordings that were officially released.

With regard to the videos of the Fab Four. Hold on to your Rickenbacker. With DVD's and with the potential to transfer old tapes and films to this new medium there will be plenty of sights and sounds for us to analyze over the next decade.

[Todd]

Here's a radical idea that's sure to make purists cringe... Remix the Beatle catalog in 5.1 surround sound for DVD-Audio! Their MUSIC is timeless but its PRESENTATION is dated. If you've heard the Beatle approved 5.1 soundtrack to the Yellow Submarine DVD, you know what the potential is. The beauty about DVD-Audio is that several album mixes can fit on a disk with room to spare... So you could have the mono mix of SGT. Pepper as well as stereo and surround mixes. The sample rate is also much higher than CDs so the sound itself would be improved. Most of their records were recorded multi-track so they wouldn't be a problem to remix. The Beatles and their engineers would supervise, of course. Can you imagine "Abbey Road" coming from six speakers instead of two? Just a thought.

[fatrat]

Here's the solution to this problem: Release the British albums on 2fers mono/stereo remastered using sonic solutions from the original first generation tapes.
Add bonus tracks that would have been released as singles/45s at the time the LP was out
I know this will never happen but maybe as a limited edition they could release the American LPs on CD up to Sgt.Pepper.

I emailed Abbey Road about the old Beatles Catologe and praised Peter Mew's and Peter Cobbin's work on the Yellow Sub. songtrack and Beatles 1. I would guess that something is in the works over at Abbey Road, and this is just the first stuff they have worked on, to see if it would sell. I dont know if I will get a responce from them, they are keeping it hush hush.

FATRAT

[FretlessOnly]

I thought this might be dredged up in light of the superlative events of 09/09/09.

'Nuff said.

[libratune]

Great spelunking! It's okay to turn off that light on your helmet.

[soundmasterg]

At some point the original tape master tracks will be unuseable as tape does degrade over time. It has to be stored correctly, tails out, in the proper environment as regards to temperature and humidity, etc., but even with that, the tape will eventually be unuseable.

Greg

[wj350]

What would be the point of remastering the Beatles?

[beatlefreak]

At some point the original tape master tracks will be unuseable as tape does degrade over time. It has to be stored correctly, tails out, in the proper environment as regards to temperature and humidity, etc., but even with that, the tape will eventually be unuseable.

These days with a lossless digital transfer, I can't imagine even trying to use the original analog tapes.