The Beatles' White Album is next in the queue

[esimms86]

70 takes of "Sexy Sadie" to choose from...

 

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/beatles-white-album-reissue/

[kilroy]

What is the mastering quality of these new releases? Any reduction in dynamic range?

[firedog]

We don't know because they aren't out yet...A few reviewers who've been given a listen say they sound good.

[firedog]

I definitely don't want to hear 70 takes of Sexy Sadie. Does this mean the box set will be 12 discs and $250.

[PAP]

Was that album also recorded on a 4 track or had they moved on to 8 by then?

[firedog]

The White Album was recorded in several studios, because Abbey Road hadn't been updated to 8 track so they did a lot of work at studios like Trident, which did have 8 track.

Quote

 

from Wikipedia: 

In mid-1968, Trident Studios were among the first in the UK to use Dolby noise reduction, and employ an eight-track reel to reel recording deck.

While Abbey Road Studios still only used four-track at the time, Trident's Ampex eight-track machine drew the Beatles on 31 July 1968 to record their single "Hey Jude". Paul McCartney later said about recording the track at Trident: "Words cannot describe the pleasure of listening back to the final mix of 'Hey Jude' on four giant Tannoy speakers which dwarfed everything else in the room ..."^{[1][page needed]} The White Album tracks "Dear Prudence", "Honey Pie", "Savoy Truffle" and "Martha My Dear" were also recorded there, and on 22 February 1969, the Beatles first recorded "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" for the album Abbey Road. John Lennon and Yoko Ono later returned with the Plastic Ono Band to record "Cold Turkey" featuring Eric Clapton on lead guitar.

 

 

On Giles Martin's Twitter feed, he denies he was trying to say that he was going to be working on a remaster of the White Album next. He said he was just saying "the White Album was the next album" after SP. Said he hasn't been asked to do a remaster of it. 

[PAP]

Thank you for the very thorough answer firedog.

I should think that the new mix of the white album could be very interesting then. I mean less overdubs and more tracks with only one instrument on them.

 

[PAP]

Paul McCartney goes through The White album track by track. 

 Poul on the white album

[AnotherSpin]

3 hours ago, PAP said:

Paul McCartney goes through The White album track by track. 

 Poul on the white album

Did he participate in most of it?

 

[firedog]

14 hours ago, AnotherSpin said:

Did he participate in most of it?

 

Of course.  Although there are some songs which are closer to "solo" efforts by either John,  Paul, or George. But that's only a few of them. 

[PAP]

Paul's reaction to why it was not a single LP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow6W7U-ccd0

[ted_b]

It's here Nov 9th!!!!!  I cannot wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   YES! ?

https://www.thebeatles.com/news/beatles-celebrate-‘-beatles’-‘white-album’-special-anniversary-releases

 

To help with the wait, here are three Back In The USSR examples (2018 mix, Esther demo, 5th take backing instrumental)

https://thebeatles.lnk.to/BackInTheUSSR

[firedog]

Yes! Now they just have to get Revolver and Rubber Soul done....

The album was mostly 8 track and recorded mixed pretty well in stereo, so it's not a situation like  Sgt. Pepper. 

 

Love hearing the demos. Sometimes I like them better than the finished project.

It will be interesting to hear what GM does with it. So far I'm pleased with his work on the Beatles' catalogue.

[firedog]

Listening to the remix of "USSR" on Tidal, I'm fairly pleased. Not radically different.
 

Doesn't seem more volume compressed than the 2009 remaster. What is good is that you can definitely hear more detail, such as the individual voices making up backing vocals. That's a good thing in my book. 

[ted_b]

Agreed, and not bright at all...if anything a little dark (listening via Apple Music on cans though).  Details are nice.

[TubeLover]

Some fascinating notes from Rolling Stone:

 

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/beatles-unheard-white-album-exclusive-first-listen-727928/

 

 

JC

[fritzg]

Any word on the files on the Blu-Ray?

[ted_b]

22 minutes ago, fritzg said:

Any word on the files on the Blu-Ray?

Although not sure what sample rate they infer by "high resolution" (likely same 24/96 as Pepper)  but this from the press release:

Blu-ray: 

- 2018 album mix in high resolution PCM stereo

- 2018 DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 album mix

- 2018 Dolby True HD 5.1 album mix

- 2018 direct transfer of the album’s original mono mix

[firedog]

Hi-res at Abbey Road seems always to be 24/96. EMI and Abbey Road have specifically said they regard 24\192 only as an archive/mastering format, and see no practical or sonic advantage in producing material for sale at 4X rates. 

[firedog]

Wow, the price has gone up today at Amazon. (now $180 for the full deluxe set). It's actually cheaper in the UK, which almost never happens. I know they have a "pre-release" price guarantee, but I think I may wait for the release to see if the price goes down. 
 

[ted_b]

47 minutes ago, firedog said:

Hi-res at Abbey Road seems always to be 24/96. EMI and Abbey Road have specifically said they regard 24\192 only as an archive/mastering format, and see no practical or sonic advantage in producing material for sale at 4X rates. 

Yes, that's been their stance, and it is so absurd.  Give us the highest sample rate, the closest to the masters!!!  Especially when they already have it, and BluRay supports it.

[firedog]

9 minutes ago, ted_b said:

Yes, that's been their stance, and it is so absurd.  Give us the highest sample rate, the closest to the masters!!!  Especially when they already have it, and BluRay supports it.

Yes, but from what I understand, their work method means they end up working in 24/96, not 24/192 - so there's no 24/192 to sell us in any case. They do this also with new releases of classical music, not just remasters and remixes of pop catalog material. 

[ted_b]

I'm simply saying they have archived their initial work in 24/192, so it wouldn't be tough to create the masters from them.  Then anyone can downsample to fit into a 24/96 release package.  Anyway.....I'm wasting all our time here...it won't happen.   And with the limiters, etc that they work with (for authenticity) the 24/96 is likely pretty damn close to what we'd get at 24/192 anyway I guess.

[PAP]

Why not offer both versions? Very strange indeed. 

[firedog]

What I’m trying to say is that my understanding is that there aren’t two versions. As I understand their process, they digitize the original tapes in 192, but after that they do all, or almost all the “work” in 96. So there isn’t a remix or a remaster in 192, just in 96. So what is being released is the highest res version available.

 

I guess at some point they could take the George Martin masters that have been digitized in 192 and release those, but for albums like the 2017 Pepper and this one I don’t think there is 192 to release.