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Mono Recordings

I was listening to my brand new copy of Analog Productions "The Chirping Crickets" sitting here at the computer way of axis and the sound was wonderful. I decided to check it out at the listening position and it was surreal. Music coming from a slit in space. The first thing that popped into my head was the Outer Limits intro. Off axis you would not know it was Mono and instruments and voices attain their normal sizes. I'm not sure where the passion for mono recordings comes from. Obviously in some instances you have no choice. There is a lot of incredible music from the early to mid 50's that is incredible but given the choice I would go for the stereo version. Getting the Beatles collection on CD in Mono seems a bit odd to me. Except for the old music can anyone tell me what the attraction to mono recordings is?
128x128mijostyn

Showing 2 responses by tomcy6

tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
2,544 posts
 
The appeal of mono rock recordings has two main points. The early Beatles and Dylan recordings, and others, often had voices in one channel and instruments in the other. Not ideal. Mono versions of those recordings sound better to most people.

The mono versions of some albums, aside from the channel issue, have different mixes than the stereo versions, more prominent vocals for instance, and the mono mix is preferred by some people.

I generally prefer stereo unless there’s a specific problem with the album, but there are mono fans.


tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
2,544 posts
 
One album is Hendrix’s Axis: Bold As Love. The panning of the instruments is all over the place. Guitars and vocal are panned over reasons that don’t don’t make a lot of sense.

You got that one wrong. Jimi personally spent many hours at the mixing desk with Eddie Kramer to get all the panning and phasing just the way he wanted it, or as close as he could get with the technology available at the time. Jimi was all about psychedelic exploration at this point and he wanted this album to blow your little mind, in the vernacular of the day. You may prefer the mono at this point, but if you bought it in 1967, all that panning made perfect sense.


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