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12.26am
4 February 2021
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I have a book All The Songs by Margotin and Guesdon. It refers to stereo mixes done of all albums at the time of recording. Why did they do this? And are they the vocals on one channel and instrumentation the other mixes?
Unless Paul McCartney knocks on my door I am unlikely to be impressed.
11.26pm
Reviewers
17 December 2012
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Sorry for the delay, @Paul Prole, been a bit absent from the forum recently.
They did stereo mixes because stereo was beginning to move across from being a mainly classical format in the 50s into the pop market. With the exception of Help ! and Rubber Soul , the stereo mixes used for the 2009 remasters are George Martin’s original 60s stereo mixes, and so do include those strange early stereo mixes of instrumentation on one channel and vocals on the other.
As for the Help ! and Rubber Soul original stereo mixes, when George Martin heard those ahead of their initial CD release in 1987 he was unhappy with them, and remixed them for their CD release, and those remixes were used for the 2009 remasters; however, George Martin’s original 60s mix of both albums were included as bonuses on their respective 2009 mono remaster discs.
"I only said we were bigger than Rod... and now there's all this!" Ron Nasty
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The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966
1.55am
4 February 2021
Offline Ah thanks. So that is strange. Did the penny finally drop about how to use stereo for pop music during Help ? And then strange that having sorted stereo they kept releasing in mono and also bonus those two albums over the ones that followed. I’ve got them all bar Sgt. Peppers remasterd in stereo anyway so I’m Beatled up enough I think. Just a few bits and pieces here and there. Next is a shorted Star Club on CD. Had the original double vinyl and what’s missing doesn’t hurt too much.
Unless Paul McCartney knocks on my door I am unlikely to be impressed.
11.58am
2 May 2013
Offline You can have ‘fun’ with some of those stereo recordings due to the unusual separation. Take a track like ‘I’m Looking Through You ‘. Throw the speaker balance fully left (or right) and hear something quite different. Ideally if you are fortunate to have a hi-fi separate amplifier with a ‘mono’ button press that in too.
12.09pm
2 May 2013
Offline Paul Prole said
Ah thanks. So that is strange. Did the penny finally drop about how to use stereo for pop music during Help ? And then strange that having sorted stereo they kept releasing in mono and also bonus those two albums over the ones that followed. I’ve got them all bar Sgt. Peppers remasterd in stereo anyway so I’m Beatled up enough I think. Just a few bits and pieces here and there. Next is a shorted Star Club on CD. Had the original double vinyl and what’s missing doesn’t hurt too much.
Mono was the predominant format in the early to mid-60’s, stereo only really got established for ‘pop’ records late in the decade and ultimately took over from mono for LP’s which is why Abbey Road and Let It Be were not released in mono. The Beatles spent days with George Martin on the mixes of their earlier mono albums but left him to his own devices on the stereo alternatives because it was at the time almost a novelty. Bizarrely though many singles continued in mono beyond the end of 1968 and on some labels well into the 1970’s.
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Paul Prole7.46pm
4 February 2021
Offline Yes I remember buying the odd single in the early 70’s that were in mono and my child brain just thought “How cheap is that!” 
Unless Paul McCartney knocks on my door I am unlikely to be impressed.
