Beatles MFSL/Coltrane remaster channel separation: a drawback for headphone users?

Yes, this is accurate to how the original master were made.  Stereo was a new thing back then and the jury was still out on how to handle the new technology.  The debate between the Beatles on mono and stereo still rages today.  Thats why you can pick your poison.  The consensus is most of their stuff sounds best in original mono while few albums or perhaps a handful of songs sound better in stereo.  Very subjective.  Then you get into mono masters converted to stereo.  Then stereo masters converted to mono then converted back to stereo.  Its a deep, dark and seedy business w/ all this complexity and subjectivity surrounding the Beatle's Masters.  I had to Youtube every master I could to see which songs/albums I preferred on stereo versus mono and purchased accordingly.  Sadly you can't buy the Mono albums separately.  Its a big big debate to preserve the originality of the recordings versus proper modern remastering.  I recommend you check out the Beatles Love album.  It has a slight bit of mashup since it's a threatical Cirque de Soleil production but its as good as it gets.  It was done by Sir George Martin who did 95% of the original Beatles stuff but was largely excluded from the decision process on the new Remasters FWIR.  The mastering on the Love album is ideal Beatles sound in the modern sense w/ respect to stereo mixing and soundstage.

Good luck.  

hardtimes, I remember when this "Stereo" effect on the Beatles recordings really became  even more noticeably confusing to me as a young listener.It started with the original USA recording of Sgt Peppers......I walk to the store to buy my new prized release and upon returning home, My mom and I couldn't hear any of the singing, or barely. What the hell I thought! I was playing' it on my dads console HI-FI, not yet a true stereo piece of gear....To our surprise when our family got an extension "Stereo" speaker the music jelled a Little better....But as Anaxilus said above record company's were confused on which way to record, Mono or Stereo because they wanted the best return on their dollars.......Kind of like the sacd vs dvdaudio/ blueray wars we are going through now.........But what was really funky and somewhat cool in the late 60s and throughout the 70's was the way they would "Pan" the sound from left to right back and forth. Listen to any70's Rock album, especially with headphones and you'll see what I'm talking about! ......  You would never hear a live band or group sound like that "Live" unless it was for effects....Unplugged, not a chance....Some of the older guys will know what I'm talking about....As far as your question and disappointment, Just think, That's what I thought 40+ yrs ago, I feel your pain...........Try to find the Mono mixes! I know that's a bitch.....But that's the record companys for you, RIGHT!

It is not just the Beatles but nearly all early recordings that have been remastered/converted to stereo.The only way I can listen to them is to play them in mono.

A lot of the CD transplants are a joke and not worth buying.

I have very early Baez recordings on CD that sound nothing like the original vinyl,same for a few other artists.

Stay well away from Remastered CD's.

What's this doing in the high-end forum?

I've moved this thread to a more appropriate spot, the music forum.

For some of my music files of old recordings with extreme channel separation, I use Audacity software to create a mono fold-down version (collapsing both channels into one). I did this with the first two Beatles albums from the 9/9/09 stereo releases that have the annoying vocals-on-one-side-instruments-on-the-other-side mix. Months later I had a chance to compare my mono fold-downs to the true mono Beatles releases of the same two albums, and I was hard pressed to tell any difference. Might be a different story for the later Beatles albums, though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bostonears 

For some of my music files of old recordings with extreme channel separation, I use Audacity software to create a mono fold-down version (collapsing both channels into one). I did this with the first two Beatles albums from the 9/9/09 stereo releases that have the annoying vocals-on-one-side-instruments-on-the-other-side mix. Months later I had a chance to compare my mono fold-downs to the true mono Beatles releases of the same two albums, and I was hard pressed to tell any difference. Might be a different story for the later Beatles albums, though.

Interesting.  Nice to know buying the Monos might not be necessary.