Love the Zombies mono recordings.
Mono recordings and my new respect for them
At 61 I owned plenty of recordings with a mono version when young. Until recently, thanks to streaming, I have a new respect for mono. I mean why own a STEREO to listen an antiquated version of music? (My young self would have scoffed...)
So for the last few years I have been learning online about the advantages. And of course the initial fact that most people had mono reproduction so music was mixed to that standard. Makes sense.
Thanks to streaming I get to hear plenty of mono. It has its appeal for sure! Just listened to "I can see for miles" by The Who. It had great stage and sound and was not just one narrow beam of sound.
So hurray for Mono and the streaming revolution in general! I get to relearn so much music from my past that I thought I had nailed!
Happy Listening!
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- 13 posts total
Many mono recordings are completely different mixes from the stereo version and not a simple fold down of the stereo mix to mono. For people listening in mono to a stereo record, that is the equivalent of a simple fold down and the result may not be as good as a dedicated mono mix. I know people who actually have extremely high end mono systems. For stereo recordings, they do have to listen to a simple combination of the two channels where there is no dedicated mono mix, which leads to some less than ideal results. Also, I have clearly heard advantages to doing that combination of left and right as more than a simple summing circuit or by software from a streaming service. I like when a transformer is used to do the summing, the sound is less dry and I don't care if the altered sound is an artifact of phase shifting or whatever; it always sounds better. |
@russ69 2 channel system |
The box set version of Cream’ “I Feel Free” in mono off Fresh Cream (‘66) sounds amazingly better than the stereo mix, which has some weird instrument placement going on….all the drums out of one channel, etc. It’s well known that musicians (Beatles, etc.) in the 60’s would personally be there when the mono mixes were being done and then go home, leaving the stereo mix to whoever was left in the studio. AM radio, mono only, ruled the airwaves then. |
- 13 posts total