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Digitally remastered Beatles back-catalogue due

 
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colby



Joined: 06 Feb 2009
Posts: 1216

PostPosted: Tue Apr 07, 2009 2:47 pm    Post subject: Digitally remastered Beatles back-catalogue due Reply with quote

I've just been passed this interesting information and I'm very excited!

Quote from a Beatles.com press release just issued:


"We are delighted to announce the release of the original Beatles catalogue, which has been digitally re-mastered for the first time, for worldwide CD release on Wednesday, September 9, 2009 (09-09-09), the same date as the release of the widely anticipated "The Beatles: Rock Band" video game.

Each of the CDs is packaged with replicated original UK album art, including expanded booklets containing original and newly written liner notes and rare photos. For a limited period, each CD will also be embedded with a brief documentary film about the album. On the same date, two new Beatles boxed CD collections will also be released.

The albums have been re-mastered by a dedicated team of engineers at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London over a four year period utilising state of the art recording technology alongside vintage studio equipment, carefully maintaining the authenticity and integrity of the original analogue recordings. The result of this painstaking process is the highest fidelity the catalogue has seen since its original release.

The collection comprises all 12 Beatles albums in stereo, with track listings and artwork as originally released in the UK, and 'Magical Mystery Tour,' which became part of The Beatles' core catalogue when the CDs were first released in 1987. In addition, the collections 'Past Masters Vol. I and II' are now combined as one title, for a total of 14 titles over 16 discs. This will mark the first time that the first four Beatles albums will be available in stereo in their entirety on compact disc. These 14 albums, along with a DVD collection of the documentaries, will also be available for purchase together in a stereo boxed set.

Within each CD's new packaging, booklets include detailed historical notes along with informative recording notes. With the exception of the 'Past Masters' set, newly produced mini-documentaries on the making of each album, directed by Bob Smeaton, are included as QuickTime files on each album. The documentaries contain archival footage, rare photographs and never-before-heard studio chat from The Beatles, offering a unique and very personal insight into the studio atmosphere.

A second boxed set has been created with the collector in mind. 'The Beatles in Mono' gathers together, in one place, all of the Beatles recordings that were mixed for a mono release. It will contain 10 of the albums with their original mono mixes, plus two further discs of mono masters (covering similar ground to the stereo tracks on 'Past Masters'). As an added bonus, the mono "Help!" and "Rubber Soul" discs also include the original 1965 stereo mixes, which have not been previously released on CD. These albums will be packaged in mini-vinyl CD replicas of the original sleeves with all original inserts and label designs retained.

Discussions regarding the digital distribution of the catalogue will continue. There is no further information available at this time."

Can't wait to get this lot! Smile
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RockitRon



Joined: 07 Dec 2006
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 07, 2009 3:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Excellent news. About four years too late, mind.

And one vital piece of information is missing from that press release Rolling Eyes
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Briant



Joined: 02 Jun 2007
Posts: 964
Location: Liverpool England UK

PostPosted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 11:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's a spoof comment about this subject I found today.....


http://fab4yerblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/top-ten-most-disappointing-things-about.html
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davem



Joined: 13 Mar 2009
Posts: 115

PostPosted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 7:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I grew up in the beatles era,i watched the black and white programmes with them on,witnessed the split and the solo projects and still i cannot find one single track i would put on a i pod.Everything they have done leaves me totally unmoved am i unique in this?
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colby



Joined: 06 Feb 2009
Posts: 1216

PostPosted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 7:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

davem wrote:
I grew up in the beatles era,i watched the black and white programmes with them on,witnessed the split and the solo projects and still i cannot find one single track i would put on a i pod.Everything they have done leaves me totally unmoved am i unique in this?


Probably. I have the lot on my iPods and I find the lyrics and music created by four young guys from Liverpool to be utterly unique and......... unmatched.

Just think - John Lennon penned "If I Fell" (on A Hard Day's Night, 1964). How such a young guy can pen such a beautiful song is beyond me. Sublime.

Of course, it's a matter of "whatever floats yer boat, whack" but for me personally there can be nothing better.
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Mark Mayhew



Joined: 11 Dec 2006
Posts: 2897

PostPosted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 7:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A Day In The Life still one of my favourite all time songs-ahead of its time then and still sounding brilliant today.

How anyone who likes music cannot find one Beatles song that they find great baffles me.


Last edited by Mark Mayhew on Thu Apr 09, 2009 8:49 am; edited 1 time in total
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davem



Joined: 13 Mar 2009
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 8:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Must be me then i do like music but i cannot find one beatles track that i really like sorry and all that they leave me totally unmoved.
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Briant



Joined: 02 Jun 2007
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Location: Liverpool England UK

PostPosted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 8:20 am    Post subject: Beatles for sale..... Reply with quote

My favourites are 'The Beatles (White Album)', 'Abbey Road', 'Revolver' and 'Rubber Soul.' However, I think 'Sgt Pepper' is greatly overrated and I prefer the version of 'A day in the life' by Big Daddy, that is done in Buddy Holly style! Laughing
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colby



Joined: 06 Feb 2009
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 10:23 am    Post subject: Re: Beatles for sale..... Reply with quote

Briant wrote:
My favourites are 'The Beatles (White Album)', 'Abbey Road', 'Revolver' and 'Rubber Soul.' However, I think 'Sgt Pepper' is greatly overrated...


My favourite album is "Abbey Road" for all sorts of personal reasons. Whilst I do like "Sgt. Pepper" for its technical innovation (how on earth George Martin and Geoff Emerick obtained such great production on a custom-built EMI 1" four-track and desk is beyond me!), it's not my all-time favourite. In terms of its concept, however, it was without a doubt brilliant simply becuae it was a completely new way of presenting an album's worth of songs.

I also love "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver"; superb song-writing, great musical performance and brilliant production. As I mentioned before, how those four guys in their early/mid 20s produced so much fabulous music is astounding.
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RockitRon



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PostPosted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 3:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't have a favourite, they're all brilliant, although Let It Be is the runt of the litter.

I thought from the way the press release was worded that it was just a box set, initially at least. Turns out they're all released individually, Amazon are taking pre-orders at £8.98 for the single ones and £15.99 for the White and PastMasters. Quite a lay out, if you want them all at once.
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colby



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PostPosted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 4:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

RockitRon wrote:
I don't have a favourite, they're all brilliant, although Let It Be is the runt of the litter.


Definitely. It was always obvious that there was a lot of bad feeling during recording - at least whilst they were at Twickenham, not so bad when they got Billy Preston & co in over at Saville Row.

I'd love to see the film again - I first saw it in the cinema but haven't seen it since it was shown on BBC2 over Christmas 1979 (days after my daughter was born). They showed all the Beatles film over that period and I have them on VHS, but the Let It Be recording was duff. It has never been re-released.

I do like the remasters that made up "Let It Be Naked", though. The audio mastering quality on that is much better - especially since all the sugary stuff had been stripped back.
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nod



Joined: 24 Dec 2006
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 5:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What is 'digitally remastered' ?

Does it mean they have remixed it or simply made it louder which seems to be the norm these days ?

How will you tell the difference, and if so is it really the original ? Rolling Eyes
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colby



Joined: 06 Feb 2009
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 8:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

nod wrote:
What is 'digitally remastered' ?


It means that the studio engineers pull out the original multitrack master tape, containing all the parallel synchronous tracks each containing a unique sound - every guitar, drums, several vocals on individual tracks, etc., other effects, and digitise each one into a digital audio system like Pro Tools (the industry standard). It's here that the natural tape hiss that's on even the best tapes is removed and the sound is tidied up before performing a new mix down to stereo.

In the old days, the "mix" would be made in real time by one or more technicians adjusting the track faders on the mixers as the whole lot was re-recorded to a separate stereo recorder or to two spare tracks on the same multitrack machine. In analogue recording, every copy of a sound adds tape hiss (called "noise" in tech terms). Doing it all digitally keeps it clean and the original fidelity of the sound is retained. After all you're just copying ones and zeroes from one place to another.

In re-mastering lots of the Beatles music for the Cirque du Soleil show called "Love" at Abbey Road, George Martin's son (name forgotten) went back to the original studio tapes of all the songs used and digitised the lot into ProTools from scratch. The sound quality is excellent.

That's what has been done for the new re-issued series.

It will be interesting to hear how the Sgt Pepper tracks emerge because of the large amount of analogue track-bouncing that occured to build up the stereo picture on a mere 4-track machine. That's why that particular album was so innovative - how they did it so well is anybody's guess. Mind you, EMI's Abbey Road engineers were - and still are - the best in the business.

nod wrote:
How will you tell the difference, and if so is it really the original ?


On a good audio system you'll certainly tell the difference, and it should be as good as the original.
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