As a non-analytic anecdote, I have a Magnum Dynalab XM radio that was tuned to Breakfast_With_The_Beatles about a month ago. I stopped dead in my tracks when I casually walked into the room, then sat down to listen to what captivated my attention. A few minutes later the announcer said that they were sourcing all the tracks from the new vinyl. So even with the limitations of XM, it was one of those audiophile moments that passed the mindfulness test as I was riveted onto the sound.
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.
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.
64 responses Add your response
Mofimadness, I agree. Mike Fremer did a perfect job in assessing the Beatles box set and not just because I agree with him. I think the balance between cost and quality make this a must have edition and like Mike, I hope someday there will be a definitive 45 RPM version for those of us that want the extra quality. |
Here is Fremer's final comments on the new BoxSet as a whole. I agree with him 100%. http://www.analogplanet.com/content/emis-beatles-box-perspective |
Audiotomb, I agree, the LOVE compilation is the best vinyl recording of the Beatles I've ever heard. It's funny, members of my music group varied on their preference on previous shoot out sessions. A couple were like Fremer, pretty positive on the new digital and I understood what they were hearing. Overall the digital is less up front and lower volume. What's happening in my system is the loudness levels of each Beatle and instrument is free to rise and fall more than other versions. This (particular thing) mimics what happens on "some" master tapes of other artists I own. I guess it's a good problem to have, the Beatles are a fine group and I don't mind listening to most of these issues, except for the original USA versions I bought when they were new. My originals are perfect, many still have the original shrink, even the rare Butcher cover version. Alas, the USA remix and mucking about really trashed the fine original mix the Brits did. Still, back in the day I was so excited to get them I never noticed. I had a high end system then too but I guess we were so excited about the music we never thought about a better version. |
Albert Enjoy the process I only did a sampling of the new US remasters and sent away for their European import cousins - still in transit Still can't believe the decision to go from the 24:44.1 digital tapes Try out longer "original" "non mashup" sections of the Love compilation on lp. I believe these are from 24/192 sources. |
Gpgr4ble, Within our group I have access to original Parlophone UK first press (certainly not every title). The German "Die Beatles" pressing. The new 2012 digital mastered version already mentioned. The Sweden red wax mono version and Japan pressing with OBI and last, I have both Revolver and Rubber soul master dub 15 IPS tapes for my Studer. In previous tests the master dubs killed everything on vinyl but it's nice to have a reference everyone in my group agrees is the best. This could take some time, other members of my music group have various pressings. I have the original USA, the analog blue box, the new digital release and tape. Everyone will have to agree to bring their part and we will start early and go at it with a group vote. |
All this talk caused me to locate and purchase the '78 analog reissue blue box set. After I get them cleaned with my Audio Desk I'll make comparisons. The good news is the previous owner was an audiophile with a very fine analog system and all the LPs were previously cleaned with a VPI 17F. I have great expectations for this. Sincerely hope it's better than the new 2012 reissue I already purchased. |
The lifelessness of the digitally remastered White Album relative even to my early Capitol pressing led me on a WA quest that ended today with purchase of a clean French pressing by Pathe Marconi EMI. This one escapes the thinness of the Capitol, and has the authoritative LF that is the main virtue of the digital remaster. Most importantly, unlike the remaster it is dynamic and ALIVE. Thank you Abbey Road for remastering a reverse barometer of this LP. |
Fremer has reviewed almost all of the LPs in the boxset. He found a couple of duds, but overall, I think he liked the results. http://www.analogplanet.com/ Scroll down the page to see each individual review. |
Audiotomb, I sprung for the Seargent Pepper reissue and have just been comparing it to my Blue Box copy. I couldn't agree more. The reissue is just not as dynamic which IMO is what makes this title fun to play. The solid tubey thump of Paul's bass just doesn't come through as palpably. The rest of the tonal balance just isn't as good either and the vinyl from my Blue Box is much more quiet. The vinyl was also not flat. This was one of Fremer's favorites from the new box so I would guess it's a fair representation. I got Past Masters as well and am not sorry due to the unique mix of songs it contains with descent sound. Seargent Pepper will at least look nice framed on the wall. I think this set will still appeal to those with nothing else to go on. As for me, I'm done with it. The Blue Box is still very obtainable and clearly superior IMO. It will run slightly more expensive than the new set now days and I expect that the prices on it will only be going up as a result of this release. |
I own a blue box, german pressed horzu MMT and japanese hey jude, 62-66, 67-70. I ordered us mmt and past masters to fill out the blue box These do not cut it. Much less dynamics, tonally off, it's as if a wet blanket was laid over the proceedings Tose on steve hoffman forums have complained of numerous problems on the us - rainbo plant pressing - no fills, warps, offcenter. My two discs were fine except one had a residue sheen. Posters listed vertually no problems with the european boxset which they ordered via amazon uk. I ordered the same albums, hoping for a sonic improvement, if so I'll jump for the EU box Check out the ever growing beatles box thread http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/beatles-remasters-on-vinyl-part-10.302243/#post-8271441 |
I opened my extra copy of SPLHCB last night (still haven't open the box set) and was pleasantly surprised; it sounds decent, not wonderful but good. I wish that they had used a better pressing plant, the vinyl is nosier than it has to be be. The cover art is also decent, much better I think than Abbey Road.... I will still probably return the unopened box set (alread got the RMA # from AS) but I am going to wait until I receive the 1978 Blue Box set that I picked-up off of eBay; if it is as good as I have heard others claim then the new box set goes back. |
I noticed almost all of the feedback is from the US. Are there other pressings from other countries? If so, what are you hearing? I picked up Rubber Soul to fill a hole in my collection, and other than the mid 60's funky stereo, found it good. Also picked up Revolver and after changing VTA thought it was good also. Originally sounded muffled. I do not have any other vinyl versions of these two recordings to compare these to so I am satisfied with my purchase. Maybe I would be more critical if I had 6 versions but was never that kind of fan. |
I decided to try Past Masters because it's a unique collection I don't have elsewhere (non-LP singles) and I was curious about these reissues. Mine was at 1/2 Price Books of all places. They seem to carry more new vinyl these days. Anyway, I'm pleasantly surprised by the sound. I don't know if I'll buy any more because I have the Blue Box which is better. I also have the original Capitals and Black and Yellow Parlophones. It's hard to beat the old Parlophones but each one is a $100+ gamble to find a clean sounding one. I'm sorry to hear about the Abbey Road problems because that's another I would be tempted to try. Any feedback on Sgt. Pepper? A good copy of that can sound amazing. Paul's bass can have a full tubey quality that's rarely encountered. If this reissue reproduces that well it's worth $22 just for that. |
Got Magical Mystery tour because my 1978 Netherlands blue box set didn't have it. Upon first listen the sound is quite good and detailed, the opening horns, drums and bass are all solid and confirm how heavy the Beatles were. The artwork and graphics are all great and well done. I'm satisified with the MMTour at least. |
I stopped by my local record shop yesterday to pick up one or two of these reissues. To my disappointment the guy there told me they did not have any copies of Abbey Road because all of the ones they received were defective. Apparently they all had extremely obvious surface noise and poor overall sound quality. Reading reviews from customers on Amazon confirms that several of these were pressed very poorly. The White Album is the other one that gets mentioned as having lots of surface noise. I was really excited about these albums being reissued and almost bit on the presell of them, but decided to wait to hear the reports on their sound before committing. It looks like I made the right choice. I'll probably buy one or two of the individual releases when they are on sale but no box set for me. Too bad. |
Well, I played the new Abbey Road last night; not good. Actually I had ordered both a complete Box Set(which I have not opened yet) and a single copy of Abbey Road. It sounds terrible! It is closed-in, distant, and almost distorted; maybe my copy is just a really bad pressing??? Not sure. I am going to call AS today and discuss returning the Box Set and may send the open copy of AR back so that they can take a listen and make their own judgement. The artwork on Abbey Road is also very disappointing; not high quality at all. The colors on the cover seem washed-out and the paper material just seems cheap, like re-cycled cardboard... Mr. Fremer gave the new Abbey Road a '10' for Music (I agree) and an "8" for Sound...NO WAY. I like and respect Mikey, have spoken to him many times at the various shows, but he has missed this one big time. A "5" on Sound is much closer to the Truth. I don't get caught-up in the vinyl vs digital debates or the 192/24 vs 96/24 vs 44/24 vs 44/16 and so on...Yes, overall I think on average vinyl typically trumps digital (but not always; there are many variables and most go back to how well was the original recording was done and handled); I just want the version that sounds the Best or Great! This new Beatles Box set is pretty much a failure; it's really disappointing that we cannot get the record companies to present an outstanding quality, hi-resolution, and top quality Box set of the absolute greatest music group of ALL TIME. Shame on EMI and all parties that were involved in the release. |
I find myself agreeing very strongly with Mr. Fremer. I think this box set for the price is well worthwhile, especially for those of us that bought the USA versions on day of release and have nothing else. I do like the 1979 Blue Box set and we also played the (Sweden) red vinyl monos and all have something to contribute. Like Mike says, depends on what you expect and what tonal balance your system is. I ordered my box set from Walmart before they raised the price. Shipping only $1.97 and the complete set for $280.76. For that I'll gladly keep mine and maybe search for original Parlophone at hundreds of dollars each when (and if) the economy improves. |
Here is Fremer's take on only the Abbey Road title from the new Box Set: http://www.analogplanet.com/content/abbey-roadblock |
Well, if you read the article that mofimadness posted, it is pretty clear that digitizing a tape during the mastering process does not necessarily ruin the sound, it can actually improve it. Who would have thought that? Here is an excerpt from a report Michael Lavorgna wrote about RMAF 2012 on the Audiostream website: "People. Music. Enjoyment. In my opinion, this is what our hi-fi hobby is all about. What's its not about is finding fault in a comparative or theoretical way. While differences and ideas are rampant, a hi-fi show smacks you upside your head with the fact that people make hi-fi gear and while theories and attitudes go into the mix, entering different rooms is like entering different worlds in terms how each person decides to approach reproducing music. In the end its people's enjoyment of music that is the deciding factor and even here we have nearly as many points of view as people. I know for some this notion of enjoyment is a constant source of frustration because they know they're right and everyone who disagrees with them is wrong. From my way of seeing and listening, the only positive outcome of this attitude is a lot of frown lines." Makes a lot of sense doesn't it? |
Here is an interesting review comparing the BC-13 Box Set, the MOFI Box Set and the NEW box set. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-11-12/entertainment/ct-ent-1113-beatles-vinyl-20121112_1_beatles-nostalgia-beatles-catalog-beatles-lps I've had my new box set since Saturday, (it got delivered early) but I have a nasty cold that has plugged up my ears, so I haven't even opened it yet. I'll post my impressions once my cold goes away. |
Mikelavigne, it seems we mostly agree. I wasn't saying digital can't sound good or an LP sourced from digital can't sound good. BUT, it's either analog or digital right? Anything involving digital is basically digital whether it sounds good because the 1 and 0's are what eventually make it to vinyl. It doesn't have the full vinyl magic. I'm certainly not anti-digital but was curious what vinyl purists think about Lp's made from digital masters? Aren't most of the new Lp's being pressed made from digital masters? That's what I believe, so I only buy old vinyl. |
For the vinyl purists out there, isn't it true that vinyl that comes from digital still has the problems associated with digital, and in fact is digital played with a needle? This is like the old AAD cd's only put back on vinyl. It's fake vinyl. The only vinyl I would buy is analog vinyl. I have the mono cd's, they're good but not vinyl. i'm a vinyl purist. there are quite a few good sounding Lps sourced from digital recordings. i have many dozens of Lps that come to mind, particularly late 70's and 80's classical digital recordings which sound good. would they sound better if they had been analog recordings? sure, but they were not and if we like the music on vinyl then we have no choice. i have CD's of many of these digitally sourced Lps and the Lps sound better by far. as far as what a digitally sourced recording does to vinyl in a general sense, there are plenty of opinions, but it just has less meat on the bones and lacks the air, ease, ambient detail, and overall detail. but these things are matters of degree. a digital recording is not an evil thing, it's just less of the good things. and there are plenty of crap sounding Lps sourced from digital recordings too. too numerous to mention. but.....to take an analog recording (likely the most significant in history based on interest), dumb it down to digital, and then put it on vinyl.....that cannot ever be as good as keeping it analog. the only excpetion is when the analog tapes are damaged in some way and need digital repairs. and that is what is a shame about this Beatles set; what it could have been! |
For the vinyl purists out there, isn't it true that vinyl that comes from digital still has the problems associated with digital, and in fact is digital played with a needle? This is like the old AAD cd's only put back on vinyl. It's fake vinyl. The only vinyl I would buy is analog vinyl. I have the mono cd's, they're good but not vinyl. |
Yawn, yawn, yawn. Beatles on vinyl mastered from PCM. what the vinyl loving world does not need. most of us have multiple pressings of all these albums and don't need another. this is not a comment on the sound, which i expect to be pretty good, maybe even very good; until we hear them who can say and we need to be open minded. but to me this is an opportunity wasted. to go to all this time and trouble and not have these analog based is the sad part. what would get me in a lather would be an analog based 45rpm box set with the monos and stereo mixes like what Classic did with Led Zepplin. they could pretty much name their price. when this PCM based set does get released no doubt many will enjoy it and i have no problem with that. maybe it will pull more people into getting vinyl set-ups. which would be good. but i do think about what might have been. :( |
I have LPs of Let it Be Naked, Yellow Submarine Songtrack, and the #1 Hits albums, which were all digitally remastered. In a perfect world I'd prefer an all-analog chain, but these LPs aren't too bad, with excellent clarity and dynamics. If the new ones hit that sound quality at $22.99, that's a decent deal. Still, for everything up to the White Album, I'll wait for the mono versions scheduled for 2013, or search for early EMI mono versions at used record stores. |
