Beatles remasters soon available on vinyl Options

[2Bdecided]

Stereo 12th / 13th November...
http://thebeatles.com/#/news/Vinyl

Mono coming in 2013.


I'm just waiting for the first claim of how much better they sound than the CDs.

For me, the only vaguely interesting thing is whether these will be cut without peak limiting. Given that they applied the same peak limiting to the 24-bit ultra-expensive USB apple release, I doubt we'll escape it here.


However, it'll (hopefully!) be a much cheaper way of owning and playing Beatles vinyl than tracking down originals, and they'll sound better than most of the 1988 vinyl remasters. (Though for Help and Rubber Soul, they'll be the same masters!). The Beatles website is mostly selling the "experience" of playing vinyl, rather than any actual sonic superiority. How strange for a vinyl press release to be TOS 8 compliant!

Cheers,
David.

P.S. and so it starts...

linuxglobe on 27th Sep 12: “I just want to own Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road on audiophile 180 gram vinyl; I have a usb turntable, easily import into my iPhone! I *HEART* Los Beatles!!! @MarkusMcLaughln

Yeah, 'cause obviously...
digital file > vinyl stamper > vinyl > USB turntable(!!!!) > iTunes > iPhone
will sound better than
digital file > CD > iTunes > iPhone!

This post has been edited by 2Bdecided: Sep 28 2012, 11:35

[greynol]

Are you suggesting that MSFL doesn't apply EQ to the titles they remaster? I make no claims about being an authority on the subject, but if your answer is yes then reading this sentiment would be a first for me. My general experience with their releases is that the midrange has been sucked out of them.

This post has been edited by greynol: Oct 2 2012, 07:23

[_if]

I trust the new remasters weren't batch-processed with EQ applied to entire tracks. If 2Bdecided thinks both sets sound wrong, that might be an indication it's the original issues, which likely had less quality control and possibly an extra tape generation, are the less accurate ones. I didn't invest much time in comparing on Beatledrops, but I checked "With a Little Help From My Friends" and thought the 2009 CD sounded pretty similar to the original UK, with the MFSL indeed sounding like the treble was enhanced. But we can't be sure he has a completely tonally neutral signal path that isn't brightening up all recordings. I have read others say MFSL releases are brighter though.

But I have noticed people tend to give MFSL a worse rap than they deserve. I have no conclusive knowledge of whether or not how much they process their releases, but specifically, I was reading on the Steve Hoffman forums people's opinions of the best-sounding releases of Pink Floyd albums on CD. In the case of Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall, the general consensus was that their original CD issues sounded the best and the MFSLs were inferior to the 1982 Japanese "Black Triangle" DSOTM and whoever put out The Wall first before the remasters, I don't remember. I tracked down all four of these to A/B compare and my ears' findings were that the supposed Holy Grail that is the original Japanese sounded a bit duller (not that you'd really notice without listening back-to-back). That may be because MFSL equalized it, or it could because the Japanese one was taken from a copy instead of the original master. The difference wasn't huge so my bet is on option B. People said MFSL compressed DSOTM, which inspection and comparison of the waveform showed fairly surely they had not. Basically the same situation with The Wall too, so I'm guessing these kind of statements originate from before it was easy to rip two CDs and compare them without the delay of switching discs and find out how they really sound next to each other. Not to lump 2Bdecided or you, greynol, in with the Steve Hoffman people, but as I said, if both the MFSL issue and the new masters seem to sound unnatural and we pretty much know this latest remastering didn't make any radical changes, I can't feel totally confident but it's fairly reasonable to assume the original release is inaccurate, even if it is aurally pleasing inaccuracy.

Sorry if that's too off-topic. I contemplated deleting that paragraph before deciding maybe someone would have something useful to add.