*Posting here because the music section is gone*
Paul McCartney being the asshole he is made the Mono and Stereo mixes of the White Album completely different to encourage people to buy two copies of the same double album.
Unlike say Sgt. Pepper, every song is different and has a better mix in either Mono or Stereo, meaning we have to Frankenstein the album together.
I've looked it up and I've only really found individual opinions, so I've made a poll to see which version of each song is best.
[url]https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1DxnTB2k9zLhB1mjUGlT_OtnqeY6GuCB_32j5QKoR1tE/viewform[/url]
please submit to the poll i'll love you forever
I never even realized this was a thing. Never put two and two together. Now I get why it was big deal during re releases a few years back. I honestly thought it had more to do with vintage vs. modern production :v:.
Youtubing examples, I can now see it [I]is[/I] a big deal!
My first impressions was that stereo is superior sounding. Less of the song being cutoff from the sounds of it.
[QUOTE=NO ONE;49627346]I never even realized this was a thing. Never put two and two together. Now I get why it was big deal during re releases a few years back. I honestly thought it had more to do with vintage vs. modern production :v:.
Youtubing examples, I can now see it [I]is[/I] a big deal!
My first impressions was that stereo is superior sounding. Less of the song being cutoff from the sounds of it.[/QUOTE]
It's different for each song, though. Unlike Sgt Pepper the whole album isn't better in one format, it's a mixture. That's what this poll is for.
For example, IMO Happiness is a Warm Gun and Yer Blues are far better in Mono, whereas Helter Skelter and Bungalow Bill are a lot better in Stereo.
Idk man, I prefer the entire album in Stereo.
[QUOTE=bdd458;49631213]Idk man, I prefer the entire album in Stereo.[/QUOTE]
I understand what you mean, what I don't get is how people can prefer the Stereo singles over the Mono singles.
Even John Lennon himself said that the Stereo mix of "Revolution" was crap
Sometimes stereo can be a little gimmicky if they play with it [I]too much[/I] without any purpose or a sense of space (Pink Floyd did that well)
Stereo was kind of like 3D movies for a while, at least in terms of application, and it's kind of weird that we've accepted more dimensionality in our music so quickly but it's had a harder time catching on in photography and motion pictures
I totally hate how they did Dear Prudence in stereo, with the main melody being only on the right ear, vocals and bass on the left year. Feels really akward to listen to it with headphones
[QUOTE=BigJoeyLemons;49636087]Sometimes stereo can be a little gimmicky if they play with it [I]too much[/I] without any purpose or a sense of space (Pink Floyd did that well)
Stereo was kind of like 3D movies for a while, at least in terms of application, and it's kind of weird that we've accepted more dimensionality in our music so quickly but it's had a harder time catching on in photography and motion pictures[/QUOTE]
A lot of the times the reason why Stereo was so hard-panned was to make sure nothing was lost when being played on Mono only systems, especially before 1968 when Mono was the most popular format.
This is why they generally calmed down on the hard panning around '68/'69
Also because as you said, Stereo was so new and novel, as well as most of the time the Stereo mixes got less attention than the Mono.
[QUOTE=Tobin;49636268]A lot of the times the reason why Stereo was so hard-panned was to make sure nothing was lost when being played on Mono only systems, especially before 1968 when Mono was the most popular format.[/QUOTE]
The least they could've done was keep the drums, bass, and lead vocals in the center. That way the mix wouldn't sound like complete shit in stereo and would still collapse to mono just as well
Every time I hear a stereo mix of a classic song with the drums hard panned to the left or something I want to rip out my eardrums
I guess I'm the opposite then, I fucking love the hard panning.
Like, I remember the first time I listened to A Day In the Life in my car, it was like John was sitting in the passenger seat right there and singing with the instrumentation primarily near me. That made me fall in love with the hard pan.
It's not nearly as bad on speakers, especially when you're not in a listening environment like this where the stereo image is really defined
[img]http://www.tnt-audio.com/gif/wasp.gif[/img]
Try listening to a hard-panned mix on headphones sometime and see how long you last :v:
I can get past the hard panning if the mix itself is good, which is why I prefer a lot of the songs on this album in Stereo.
BTW, every Beatles album before the White Album were meant to be heard in mono. Stereo just became an afterthought. The White Album is fine in stereo, especially when the album goes on a left turn with Revolution 9. At least album didn't have terrible remastering/remixing as Sgt. Pepper's
[QUOTE=gunguy765;49641723]BTW, every Beatles album before the White Album were meant to be heard in mono. Stereo just became an afterthought. The White Album is fine in stereo, especially when the album goes on a left turn with Revolution 9. At least album didn't have terrible remastering/remixing as Sgt. Pepper's[/QUOTE]
As said earlier, the White Album as a whole wasn't meant to be heard in either format, but individual songs were.
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