Beatles Reissues on VINYL Finally


Set to ship on November 13th, 2012.

The Beatles Stereo Albums 180g 16LP Limited Edition Box Set, plus available as individual LPs.

All 12 Studio Albums plus Magical Mystery Tour and Past Masters in a Stereo Box Set.

Sourced from the Original Master Tapes.

Cut at Abbey Road Studios by a First-Rate Team of Producers and Engineers.

Proper care and a painstaking series of steps were taken to ensure that music lovers would hear the Fab Four in all their glory. With EMI’s legendary Abbey Road Studios providing the backdrop, the four-year restoration process combined veteran expertise, state-of-the-art equipment, vintage studio gear, and rigorous testing to net what is without doubt the highest fidelity possible and authentic, jaw-dropping sound guaranteed to rival the original LPs. There is no longer any need to pay hundreds of dollars for Japanese pressings.

At the start of the restoration process, engineers conducted extensive tests before copying the analog master tapes into the digital realm using 24-bit/192 kHz resolution and a Prism A-D converter. Dust build-ups were removed from tape machine heads after the completion of each title. Artifacts such as electrical clicks, microphone vocal pops, excessive sibilance, and poor edits were improved upon as long as it was determined that doing so didn’t at all damage the integrity of the songs. Similarly, de-noising technology was applied in only a few necessary spots and on a sum total of less than five of the entire 525 minutes of Beatles music. Compression was also used sparingly and only on the stereo versions to preserve the sanctity of the dynamics.

A rigorous string of checks and balances ensured that the results exceeded expectations. Subject to numerous playback tests, songs were auditioned by the remastering team to determine if any lingering mistakes needed correction. The restored versions were also compared side-by-side against the original vinyl pressings (loaded into Pro Tools), and then again auditioned in the same studio where all recent Beatles projects, including Love, were mixed. Once all EQ issues had been addressed, another round of listening litmus tests occurred in still another location. Finalization required the approval of everyone involved in the remastering process. For this project, there was no such thing as too many cooks in the kitchen. Yes, it took a village to get it right.

Each album features original U.K. vinyl album artwork, original U.K. track listings, expanded booklets containing original and newly penned liner notes, recording notes, rare photos, and fold-out packaging. Everything comes housed in a tall, glossy, hard black lift-top case augmented with a magnetic clasp.
128x128mofimadness
I am a little nervous here to. I have a great digital and vinyl front end...if it had to go to 24/192 for the reasons stated...I think I'd just as soon stay in the digital land...pretty sure that's what I am going to do with the Norah Jones box sets about to come out...just get the SACD version...
Hello Mr. Mad MoFi (mmm,)

Thanks for the information regarding this new Beatles offering!

Fun Mostly,
Stitch.e
All that time, all the effort, all those cooks -- and we're still going to have those ridiculous stereo mixes on the early LPs, the ones with all the vocals on one channel. Oy.
Some would say that doing anything else wouldn't be authentic, would be like revising The Bible or Plato or something. I call Bolshevik on that. As everyone knows, the mono mixes were the authentic ones, with the early stereo mixes just an afterthought.
With the opportunity to make things right, why not do it? Because of fear that some purist will squeal. Phooey.
There was no good reason for them to have been mixed that way to start with. Can't someone have the courage to admit that and endeavor to get things as they should have been from the first?
Imagine hearing "I Saw Her Standing There" without having Paul standing (and singing) way over there. Imagine a mix as it should have been, as it could have been, as it would have been if The Beatles had actually paid attention to the stereo versions way back when. It's easy if you try.
But someone has got to try.
-- Howard
Agreed about the mono mixes. That was the primary goal back in the day of three track recording and it should be the goal of these releases i.e. to be as authentic to the master tapes that were the primary focus. There may be a marketing group perception that the buying public won't buy mono because they fear it won't sound good, when in fact there is considerably more coherence in a mono mix than panned mono or duophonic. Plus, once one's ears settle into mono, the room itself imparts a "stereo" like spread and the increased depth of soundstage contributes to the sense of L/R space. Plus nothing beats the punch of Paul's bass and Ringo's drums in mono.