Everything Beatles out Today

[bouche]

THE BEATLES’ ENTIRE ORIGINAL RECORDED CATALOGUE REMASTERED BY APPLE

CORPS LTD. OUT TODAY

I Saw Her Standing There

Beatles Fest Fandemonium

The Beatles Official Website

Apple Corps Ltd. and EMI Music 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 TODAY as well as 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 utilizing

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.

href='http://beatles.fanfire.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Store.woa/wa/artist?
artistName=Beatles.com&categoryName=Remasters&sourceCode=BEAWEB">VISIT

THE BEATLES STORE

Re-mastering the Beatles catalogue

The re-mastering process

commenced with an extensive period conducting tests before finally

copying the analogue master tapes into the digital medium. When this was

completed, the transfer was achieved using a Pro Tools workstation

operating at 24 bit 192 kHz resolution via a Prism A-D converter.

Transferring was a lengthy procedure done a track at a time. Although

EMI tape does not suffer the oxide loss associated with some later

analogue tapes, there was nevertheless a slight build up of dust, which

was removed from the tape machine heads between each title.

From the onset, considerable thought was given to what audio

restorative processes were going to be allowed. It was agreed that

electrical clicks, microphone vocal pops, excessive sibilance and bad

edits should be improved where possible, so long as it didn’t impact on

the original integrity of the songs.

In addition, de-noising technology, which is often associated with

re-mastering, was to be used, but subtly and sparingly. Eventually, less

than five of the 525 minutes of Beatles music was subjected to this

process. Finally, as is common with today’s music, overall limiting - to

increase the volume level of the CD - has been used, but on the stereo

versions only. However, it was unanimously agreed that because of the

importance of The Beatles’ music, limiting would be used moderately, so

as to retain the original dynamics of the recordings.

When all of the albums had been transferred, each song was then

listened to several times to locate any of the agreed imperfections.

These were then addressed by Guy Massey, working with Audio Restoration

engineer Simon Gibson.

Mastering could now take place, once the earliest vinyl pressings,

along with the existing CDs, were loaded into Pro Tools, thus allowing

comparisons to be made with the original master tapes during the

equalization process. When an album had been completed, it was

auditioned the next day in studio three – a room familiar to the

engineers, as all of the recent Beatles mixing projects had taken place

in there – and any further alteration of EQ could be addressed back in

the mastering room. Following the initial satisfaction of Guy and Steve,

Allan Rouse and Mike Heatley then checked each new re-master in yet

another location and offered any further suggestions. This continued

until all 13 albums were completed to the team’s satisfaction.

[blurasis]

Feeling tempted now

http://wp.me/sleZG-beatles

[bouche]

I'm guaranteed to get Beatles Rockband this week. As far as the remasters go, I've spent plenty of money on Beatles albums being introduced to new formats such as the CD back in the 80's after already having albums and tapes.

I've listened to Please Please Me, and I wish I had that clarity 20 years ago when I was learning some of them George Harrison parts on the guitar.

[Kanada Kev]

I'm guaranteed to get Beatles Rockband this week. As far as the remasters go, I've spent plenty of money on Beatles albums being introduced to new formats such as the CD back in the 80's after already having albums and tapes.

I'm with you there. I'm hitting the store today to grab Rockband Beatles. I have no qualms spending the $60 or whatever on it. My 7-year-old reminded me this morning to go and buy it. He can't wait to play it too. To be a kid growing up WITHOUT the Beatles would be sad IMHO.

I'll be interested to see how sales go for the box set and the individual albums. I'm sure it will be large, but not like what they may have been expecting. It may really show the grasp that iTunes has on the recording industry's distribution methods. The delay for an iTunes release (it has to happen eventually) I'm sure this is for economic reasons. Grab the cash selling the CDs ... sell the set of remastered mono mixes for the die-hards/purists ... then look for a 180g vinyl release in time for Christmas ... then release on iTunes for yet another round of purchasing.

The hype-machine has to work hard to get people to open up their wallets now. See if the Beatles have what it takes. I'm guessing the video game will be the real big seller of all of them.

Edited September 9, 2009 by Guest

[TheAlphaNerd]

The video game is a prime example of a great new distribution method...

I will gladly fork out the money for the music in this new formate... and will most likely buy all the downloadable content.

Why? Because the money is going to innovative thinkers, because I'll be getting a new product.

I understand that the remasters are technically a new product... but I can afford to crank out over 400 bucks after tax's for all the music, I'd rather buy a new guitar, or a new midi controller (which might I add I will be doing this week!).

I understand that we live in a capitalistic society, and no one does anything for free, but I don't want to pay $180 for albums I have bought before, especially when the majority of that money I am spending is going to waste.

Cost of packaging, cost of transport, cost of retail space, cost of production.... how much of this $180 is purely for the music.

I am all for supporting the economy, but our methods of media distribution are archaic and need to change.

If I could download the album in flac (or other lossless audio format) for $100, I would have done it in a second!

[DevO]

I, for one, will be clicking on Blurasis'ss link.

Although this is the first time in many years I've actually really wanted to play a particular video game! If I had a Wii I'd defiitely get the Beatles game.

[Freak By Night]

I just realized I have more Wings on CD than I do Beatles.

Time to rectify that.

For the life of me though, I cannot understand why anyone would want to listen to mono recordings.

[Kanada Kev]

Just got back from the store with my new purchase:

Fuck i hate being at work right now

[bouche]

I just realized I have more Wings on CD than I do Beatles.

Time to rectify that.

For the life of me though, I cannot understand why anyone would want to listen to mono recordings.

I've got a USB key here that you can burn to CD.

[bouche]

Just got back from the store with my new purchase:

Fuck i hate being at work right now

hahah! You beat me to it!

[Kanada Kev]

Yeah, but I won't be playing it until about 5:30pm I wish we had an "office Wii"

I totally need another Wii "guitar" (I wan't Paul's Hoffner bass) ... but $100?

[TheAlphaNerd]

For the life of me though, I cannot understand why anyone would want to listen to mono recordings.

It is because the original releases of the the majority of the beatles albums were originally put out in Mono. This would mean that the month's the band and producer spent perfecting the sound would have been for the Mono release.

Jon was Quoted as saying if you havn't heard Sgt. Peppers in Mono you have never heard it at all.

I have done some audio comparisons and I have to say that the mono recordings do sound a hell of a lot better. They have a fuller sound, and the band sounds like they are much closer.

For more information check out this article

http://gizmodo.com/5216258/sorry-stereo-but-beatles-in-mono-rocks-a-lot-more

[AD]

Jon was Quoted as saying if you havn't heard Sgt. Peppers in Mono you have never heard it at all.

That quote has been widely attributed to George Martin as well.

I'm perfectly happy with the stereo recordings. To each their own.

[TheAlphaNerd]

For me I enjoy hearing the music as it was originally intended... but realistically these remasters are not even that... I have some FLAC rips of original mono vinyl's, and some rare red Japanese mono vinyl's

When listening to these next to the original stereo recordings you can hear a HUGE difference

[ollie]

Would you hear a difference if you weren't doing a direct comparison or if no one told you there was a difference though? I'm sure the new discs sound great but there's a whole lot of marketing going on here!

And why would anyone be clamouring for a remastered product to be put on iTunes in 128K mp3 format?

[AD]

Good point re. marketing. The old recordings (stereo and mono) made them the greatest band in history. The songs haven't changed one bit from those recordings.

[Kanada Kev]

Just got back from the store with my new purchase:

Fuck i hate being at work right now

hahah! You beat me to it!

WoW! I may have an extra copy of the game now. The Wife just called from Sears and says she found the full kit (drums' date=' guitar, mic, game) for the Wii for $159. It's $249 everywhere else! They only had one left so maybe this was an error in price at Sears? Their website says $249. I'm confused

http://www.sears.ca/gp/product/B002O016SE/188-0633171-9016407?ie=UTF8&searsBrand=core

Some pics of the contents here (minus the cat):

http://www.destructoid.com/elephant/photo-m.phtml?post_key=147843

[img']http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3422/3887119850_5b785c1081.jpg

Edited September 9, 2009 by Guest

[TheAlphaNerd]

As per hearing a difference, I would definitely hear it if no one had mentioned it... would I have every listened to the mono if I had not read about it is another question entirely. Some songs have different different mix's, and some even have entirely different BPM's, which causes the song to have an entirely different pitch in ALL of the stereo releases. Considering the Beatles originally mastered everything in Mono, that would mean you have never heard these songs in their correct key (I am including a link to a megaupload download that includes the Stereo and Mono version of She's Leaving home so you can hear this yourself). The stereo mix's were made in a couple days rather than a couple months when they were originally released.

As for the overall mix in comparing mono to stereo... if you compare an original mono release to the earlier stereo remasters it sounds entirely different in the warmth of the sound, and how far away the band sounds. If you listen to the stereo Sgt. Peppers the band sounds about 20 - 30 feet away, in the mono version they sound perhaps 5 or so.

You really need to give it a listen to hear it

Also I want to make it clear that I'm not necessarily pimping out the new releases, as much as I'm pimping the mono releases. The latest release happens to be the best way to get your hands on all of the mono releases on CD without going to a bootleg, bootlegs which in my opinion do not sound nearly as crisp as the latest releases.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ST2741TV

[ollie]

Good point re. marketing. The old recordings (stereo and mono) made them the greatest band in history. The songs haven't changed one bit from those recordings.

I don't get the spin that this is going to introduce The Beatles to a whole new generation of fans. I somehow doubt the tweens were just waiting for the catalogue to be remastered before getting on the bus.

[ollie]

You really need to give it a listen to hear it

Thanks for the comparison! I listened to the stereo and mono back to back. My first impression was that the stereo mix was better. I like its separation and oomph!

But listening to snippets back to back, the change is key is really noticeable! So in that sense I think the mono is better.

I'm going to pick up a few discs but am undecided on the mix for now.

Thanks again!

[bouche]

WoW! I may have an extra copy of the game now. The Wife just called from Sears and says she found the full kit (drums, guitar, mic, game) for the Wii for $159. It's $249 everywhere else! They only had one left so maybe this was an error in price at Sears? Their website says $249. I'm confused

There definitely was an error in the price. I thought that she bought the wrong set until I saw your pics. LUCKY bastarded great deal! I wonder how many people are selling their regular rockband gear?

We waded through the cavern club and ed sullivan before making dinner. I love the in-game prizes. I got a prize/present for collecting 10 photos (i think) and I was very surprised. It's not like your standard in-game achievement at all!

[Kanada Kev]

pfftt.. deal was too good to be true. Those pics were ones i found online HOPING the set I was getting.

Turns out she got the "super value Beatle pack". Just the ROckband2 "strat" guitar and drums with the Beatles game in the box.

I played the game on my Wii with my Guitar Hero World Tour instruments and all is good. Gonna take back the box. Maybe just pick up an extra guitar somewhere to allow for more players.

Any experience having GHWT instruments playing at the same time as a RB2 guitar on the same Wii? Wonder if it works.

Great friggin' game!!! Got to Abbey Road 67-68 and had to pack it in. Lovin' it so far.

[blurasis]

Bought Revolver. Can't wait to hear it!

[bouche]

After we played (I was ringo), I went back in and played the full cavern club set on Extreme guitar and attained the 5 stars needed for all of the photos.

[Booche]

Quit fluffing yourself Bouchard, you know full well there is another thread for that kinda bullshit talk.