Beatles 1987 and 2009 masters

[GTRTony]

So I couldn't find the box sets (I'm going to hunt down the mono one if it's the last thing I do!), but I got all the new 2009 remasters. I love them. There's not a huge earth shattering difference, but to me it sounds like if you got the original record, put it on the turntable on a good stereo and got that first, scratch free play. A lot heavier, and Ringo's drums really punch more than before.

I opened the 1987 and 2009 versions of Taxman in Logic 9 (192 kbps VBR mp3's, I was too lazy to bust out the CD's so be aware of that). Here's what the waveforms look like. There's no clipping when it plays, I had them both going at the same time when I took the screenshot and it pushed the 1-2 bus past zero. The new version brought it up to 0.0 db quite a few times but the red light never went off. The old version, at least in this first verse slice, never went higher than -1.3 db.

Here's the first two verses of Taxman. The remaster has more silence in the beginning so I moved it up to reasonably match the old one, then sliced them up so that the first verse is the 1987 version, and the second verse is the 2009 version. I left all the faders at zero, and no effects except for a fast fadeout at the end:

I hope this is the right forum to post this, my apologies if I put it in the wrong thread. I would love to know more about what they did with what tapes/masters in the newest versions vs. the old ones!

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

What is this "Beatles" thing you're talking about???

G.

 

[XLR]

Thanks for your comparisons. Big Beatles fan here.

I believe though, that posting the actual tracks, even for comparison, is a copyright violation.

 

[GTRTony]

Some garage band.

I loved this article about the new masters: http://www.avclub.com/articles/chuck-klosterman-repeats-the-beatles,32560/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=avclub_rss_daily

 

[GTRTony]

Thanks for your comparisons. Big Beatles fan here.

I believe though, that posting the actual tracks, even for comparison, is a copyright violation.

Woah, really? I'll take it down if so. I was thinking that just two verses would be cool under fair use...

Should I take the mp3 down?

 

[XLR]

Too late dude. I've already reported you to the proper authorities.

JK

 

[Seafroggys]

I bought the Past Masters and Abbey Road yesterday. Haven't really put them through great speakers, just my parent's cheap ass stereo speakers, but I can tell the bass guitar is more prominent and the drums sound a lot better.

It just sucks that I already have all of the 1987 releases, sans Let it Be (I have 2003's Let it Be Naked instead), the Past Masters (which justified that purchase), and Yellow Submarine (I have the 1999 Songtrack instead). Gah!

But yeah, Abbey Road sounded good, time to run them on some better playback speakers. Maybe even my RP-6's....*shock*

 

[GTRTony]

Well I have my mobile phone send me notifications of updates to this thread so if I find out it's really not kosher, I'll take it down ASAP. My intent is to show how much cooler the newer ones sound, thus hopefully generating more revenue to the wonderful folks who own the copyright

I've listened to them twice through, on headphones and on my stereo. Haven't had a good Beatles kick in a while, and now it'll be nice to not have to turn them up in shuffle all the time.

 

[GTRTony]

It just sucks that I already have all of the 1987 releases, sans Let it Be (I have 2003's Let it Be Naked instead), the Past Masters (which justified that purchase), and Yellow Submarine (I have the 1999 Songtrack instead). Gah!

It's funny, the remastered Let It Be is still not as crisp or punchy as Let It Be...Naked. Phil Spector really phoned that one in... LIB...Naked is my favorite version of that disc still.

I've got a Pioneer SX-737 and some Yamaha 3-way sealed bookshelf speakers and it sounds awesome, especially cranked. I mix on this setup too

 

[darrin_h2000]

I have the whole catalog...Im not going to replace them again every time the whores at the record company get a new black box to put the music through

 

[XLR]

I am .

 

[JRSIV]

I was so relieved that Apple decided not to remix the catalog ala' the "Yellow Submarine Songtrack" CD of 1999 to go along with the remastering. The original mixes, even the early stereo ones the Beatles didn't really care about, are history.

I think these remasters are great! "Abbey Road" sounds so much like the vinyl it's scary. And it's all on 16 bit CD's! The Abbey Road engineers took 4 years to do this project and it shows. This is the last gasp of the CD as we know it and it's definitely going out in style.

I personally don't have a problem re-buying music if it's stuff I love and the sound quality and/or package is greatly improved. These remasters are much better than the '87 discs and if you're a Beatles fan, they are required purchases.

 

[TheGuitarMan]

The Beatles + mono = win

That's all I have to say about that.

 

[Seafroggys]

I dunno, I actually think the '99 Yellow Submarine remixes are a huge improvement. Sure its not the "original" sound, but hearing vocals centered is such a relief sometimes.