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42 minutes ago, Jakeboy said:

Because of the other thread—-Big Star #1 Record has been spinning non-stop this week.

I love the way the acoustics are recorded on the Big Star records. It's not a very organic sound, but the heavy compression/EQ gives those tracks, "sparkle", for lack of a better term.

I've been searching the web for Jim Dickinson/John Fry articles on this subject to no avail, mostly. There was some talk about how the new (then...) Dolby process was a key to getting the guitars to step up a bit.

 

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1 hour ago, RobB said:

I love the way the acoustics are recorded on the Big Star records. It's not a very organic sound, but the heavy compression/EQ gives those tracks, "sparkle", for lack of a better term.

I've been searching the web for Jim Dickinson/John Fry articles on this subject to no avail, mostly. There was some talk about how the new (then...) Dolby process was a key to getting the guitars to step up a bit.

 

Yes, the acoustics sometimes sound almost electric, but not like Keith Richards 60s acoustics. You are correct.. the compressionand eq remind me of some of Jeff Lynne’s  power pop acoustic productions...such as some of the guitars on TP’s Full Moon Fever.

I am mesmerized by the electrics though. Jangly, crunchy and articulate at the same time. Good production on those guitars. 

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I have a clutch of 33-1/3 RPM LPs that are in mono, including the 2014 EMI/Parlophone reissue/remaster of the real Beatles LPs in mono, plus a nice smattering of 1950s-'60s vintage LPs rescued from thrift shops. I also have a pretty nice monophonic phono cartridge, which really focuses the essence of the music and drops the noise floor to near zero. Last night I swapped out my stereo cartridge for the mono one and dialed in the proper tracking force, rake angle, and anti-skate settings to bring out the best in it. Then I started spinning some of those luscious-sounding mono LPs, starting with an awesome 3-LP reissue of "After Midnight" by Nat King Cole plus a backing trio. It's a 3-LP set mastered at 45 4pm, which is sort of equivlalent to 30 ips tape. Here are a couple of King Cole classics I treated myself to last night. Nat makes it look and sound so easy. Nat sold so many hit records in his heyday that the Capitol Records tower in Hollywood was dubbed as "The house that Nat built." 

It's Only a Paper Moon:

 

and Route 66. Look at how he makes it look (and sound) so easy:

And then I spun the Parlophone/EMI mix and master of "A Hard Day's Night," not the abomination put out by Universal in the USA in 1964:

 

Aah... I feel better now. I'll be spinning some more today.

Edited by JohnnyB
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When I first got back into vinyl in 2007, a co-worker of my wife gave me a storage box full of LPs that had been sitting and (apparently) catching dusk. There were a lot of albums I was aware of, and apparently we had some similar tastes because he had some obscure jazz albums that I had. One that piqued my interest was 1964's "Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown." by the Vince Guaraldi Trio. I always liked Guaraldi, even before he did the soundtracks for the Peanuts primetime specials, such as the Top 40 hit, "Cast Your Fate to the Wind." That may have been my introduction to jazz and the personal discovery that I liked jazz a lot.

So when I got home I excitedly put the Guaraldi album on and to my dismay, it was too noisy to listen to. So I shelved it. A couple years later I bought a mono cartridge to play the 2014 EMI/Parlophone release of The Beatles albums in mono. Then to play a hunch while I had the mono cartridge on the tonearm, I played this Guaraldi album, and to my surprise and delight, the mono cartridge played it entirely noise-free. I'm listening to it now and enjoying the hell out of it. Guaraldi had a creative, bouncy, endearing form of improvisation. He died way too young (1976, age 47).

 

Edited by JohnnyB
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Pat Travers:  Swing!: New album of Big Band music from a blues/rock guitarist (!) Prepping for an interview with Travers

King Crimson: Meltdown--Live in Mexico: Three CDs (over 3 1/2 hrs. of music) + a Blu-Ray by the latest incarnation of the band, which features three drummers (! again). Prepping for an interview with guitarist Jakko Jaksyzk, who recently garnered a PRS SE signature model with the "Schzoid Man" face on the body.

Travers + King Crimson.jpg

Jakszyk-SE Schizoid-LO.jpg

Edited by Willie G. Moseley
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I gave a spin of the Beatles' first album, "Please Please Me" recorded at Abbey Road and pressed by EMI/Parlophone in 1963. In the USA at the time, this isn't how we heard their albums. Capitol (a division of EMI) had the distribution rights in the USA and they created their own versions with a shortened assortment of tracks culled from the British albums and singles. Then they transferred them into fake stereo, panning the instruments to one channel and the vocals to the other.

The mono pressings are so much richer and immediate-sounding. You really "hear The Beatles as never before." I played the whole album through yesterday and enjoyed every minute of it. There was a short deadline for recording this album and The Beatles made the suggestion that they fill out the album with their set list at The Cavern club in Liverpool. There is a ring of authenticity to this album and it also demonstrates how ahead of the rock and pop scenes The Beatles were, even at the beginning of their big break.

Ignore the "Stereo" label on the album art. The one I played at home is this LP.

 

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55 minutes ago, RobB said:

Eeeeeeasy, there, Skippy...Every Beatlenerd knows the mono mixes pack maximum Beatle-punch. 

I used to be a stereo guy all the way, but reading Geoff Emerick's book Here, There, and Everywhere, changed all that for me when he mentioned that he and the rest of the crew spent 5 hours on the stereo mix of Sgt. Pepper's and 5 days mixing the mono version. It also hit home when I read that EMI designed and made their own tape machines, which is why a)they sounded so good, and b)they were slow to upgrade them to multi-channel machines, essential for getting an honest, good-sounding stereo mix.

Edited by JohnnyB
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11 hours ago, JohnnyB said:

I used to be a stereo guy all the way, but reading Geoff Emerick's book Here, There, and Everywhere, changed all that for me when he mentioned that he and the rest of the crew spend 5 hours on the stereo mix of Sgt. Pepper's and 5 days mixing the mono version. 

Yep, with ya. Ken Scott’s book is really good, too. 

Edited by RobB
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