.jpg)
The Beatles remastered CDs. (Apple Corps Ltd.)
Some of the process in the four year project at Abbey Road Studios to digitally remaster the Beatles catalog and get the Beatles remastered CDs and "The Beatles: Rock Band" released was outlined in a press release issued this week by Prism Sound.
The project, which involved 13 albums of music, took four years and many hours of work by Abbey Road's engineering team. The work was led by project coordinator Allan Rouse and included Guy Massey (Senior Recording Engineer), Steve Rooke (Senior Mastering Engineer), Paul Hicks (Recording Engineer), Sean Magee (Mastering Engineer), Sam Okell (Recording Engineer) and Simon Gibson (Audio Restoration Engineer).
The first part of the process, which was undertaken by Guy Massey and Paul Hicks, involved transferring each song from analog tape to the digital domain. Prism Sound's ADA-8XR multi-channel modular ADA converters were used to transfer the material into Pro Tools and the songs were then formatted into 24 bit/192kHz and video referenced.
Simon Gibson, using a SADiE 5 system with built-in Cedar Retouch, then began the careful process of restoring the audio without compromising the character of the original recordings. De-noising technology was used subtly and sparingly to remove noises such as audible clicks and pops from mics and faders, but performance-based imperfections, such as breaths and coughs, was retained, the company's information said.
"The integration of Cedar Retouch into SADiE 5 has literally changed the way I work by making the whole restoration process much quicker, easier and more precise," Gibson says. "The visual element provided by SADiE was essential on this project because I was able to zoom in and actually see what was happening to the audio. By changing the zoom I could look at the mid and low range frequencies and see how to get the best out of them. Each song on each album had its own issues, but with SADiE 5 and Cedar Retouch I could easily identify problems such as tape drop outs because the broad upper frequency shading was interrupted by a thin strip, which indicated where the audio needed gating."
While Gibson was restoring the album tracks, he also used a SADiE5 and Cedar Retouch system to help Giles Martin and Paul Hicks create the audio for "The Beatles: Rock Band" video game.
"In order to use the original songs within the game we had to isolate individual instruments and voices so that players can have individual control. Given that many of the Beatles earlier recordings were done on two or four track tape, this was quite a tall order. However, with SADie 5 and Cedar Retouch, I was able to pick them apart note by note and effectively rub out the frequencies we didn't want. It was incredibly labour intensive and took ages to do, but the results were worth it because the majority of The Beatles catalogue can now be used in the game."
Throughout the entire restoration and remastering process, care was taken to maintain the authenticity and integrity of the original analog recordings. The team deliberated every change at every step of the way to ensure that the audio remained as pure as possible.
"We didn't want to have a negative effect on the resulting audio," Gibson says. "Instead, we wanted to end up with audio that was as close as possible to the original, recorded studio sound. In terms of audio restoration this meant taking a subtle, almost forensic approach to the job. I was fortunate to have both the time and budget to do this."
Following restoration, all 13 albums were mastered by Steve Rooke and Sean Magee, who handled the stereo and mono recordings respectively. A SADiE Series 5 PCM 8 DAW were used in the mastering process and Prism Sound converters were used to transfer the audio back into the analogue domain and for noise shaping. Most of the EQ-ing was done on Abbey Road's 1972 EMI TG mastering console, but a Prism Sound MEA2 was also used for additional EQ where finer steps or specific target frequencies were required.
The 13 remastered albums were released through EMI Music and Apple Corps Ltd. on Sept. 9. Graham Boswell, sales and marketing director for Prism Sound, called it "an extradinary honor" that the company's equipment was involved in the process.
Comments
I didn't understand a word of this.
...and that is why you fail...
works for me!
All this technology used for restoration/remastering and we still have tape dropouts in "she loves you" (compare to the 1962-1966 version on cd), low quality or compressed sounding "komm gib mir deine hand" (compare to US Capitol's "Something New" version, sounds way better and clearer), some other anomalies that should have been left in (first drum kick pedal squeek in intro to "all i've gotta do" was removed) and everyone complaining of too much bass for stereo. I wonder if the best masters were used for each song. Other than that, they did a good job.
There's dropout in the mono version of "Day Tripper" too...but not in "Yes It Is"...at least I didn't hear any. Four years for this?
Does anyone have the MFSL CD's (Boot/Import) as a reference to the new remasters? I have to say, I think the MFSL sound superior to the remasters, especially up through Help!. A Hard Day's Night and Help sound very flat and muddy compared to the MFSL, which are transfers from vinyl. Just another mans opinion. I very impressed with the remasters from Rubber Soul on. Anyone have a problem with the "corrected" clicks/toggle switch in I Want You (She's So Heavy)? I can't believe they removed them! They did finally clean up the crackle in John's big "yeahhhhhh" at the end of the vocal track.
Does anyone have the MFSL CD's (Boot/Import) as a reference to the new remasters? I have to say, I think the MFSL sound superior to the remasters, especially up through Help!. A Hard Day's Night and Help sound very flat and muddy compared to the MFSL, which are transfers from vinyl. Just another mans opinion. I very impressed with the remasters from Rubber Soul on. Anyone have a problem with the "corrected" clicks/toggle switch in I Want You (She's So Heavy)? I can't believe they removed them! They did finally clean up the crackle in John's big "yeahhhhhh" at the end of the vocal track.
I've listened to all of the remasters (both stereo and mono except for Let It Be and Past Masters/Mono Masters, and I think they sound just fine - far better than the 1987 CDs. The only flaws I can find are in the mono version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," where Eric Clapton's guitar solo sounds a little wobbly and off-key (it's not that way on the stereo version, but that may have been the way it was recorded/mixed), and the fact that they did not add a band of silence after "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" on "Abbey Road," to recreate the sudden cutoff at the end of Side 1 of the vinyl ("Here Comes the Sun" starts sooner than on the 1987 CD). I have one of those MFSL-type bootlegs for the first four in stereo, and while it compares favorably to the 1987 mono CDs. it's not close to the stereo remasters.
The only complaints I have about the packaging are that a portion of the text in the Beatles for Sale and White Album booklets are a littie hard to read. Everything else, fine.
I think they all sound just grand! But one of the biggest disappointments for me is that they left the ADT switching error on the vocals at the first verse of Eleanor Rigby. It could have been fixed without being remixed. Just like the edit fix in Day Tripper, this error could have been easily sorted by editing / restoring a small similar piece from later in the track (I know, I've tried!)
I must say, I prefer "The Capitol Albums" series. They sound brighter and more vibrant. I just hope they do a Volume 3!
I think they all sound just grand! But one of the biggest disappointments for me is that they left the ADT switching error on the vocals at the first verse of Eleanor Rigby. It could have been fixed without being remixed. Just like the edit fix in Day Tripper, this error could have been easily sorted by editing / restoring a small similar piece from later in the track (I know, I've tried!)
Oh, and one other thing...I was sorry that the original 1967 stereo mix of Strawberry Fields wasn't added to Past Masters. Once again, they used the mix that was created for the German release of MMT (as they did in 87). It featured different instrumental 'panning' and a more surreal / echoey Lennon Vocal. I guess it'll never be reissued now! Ah well...back to the original vinyl again...!
I agree with the 1967 mix of "strawberry fields". I think they should of also used the 1964 mix of "I Call Your Name", the cowbell comes in better.
I was afraid they would use the German MMT early-70's mix of Strawberry Fields for the the remaster.
That makes it even more important that Volume 3 of the Capitol Albums box should include the original MMT album Capitol released in `67, with the `66/`67 stereo mixes of MMT/singles and the fake stereo on Penny Lane, All You Need is Love, etc.
I did find a glitch on Mono Masters..."Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand" seems to go up and down in volume - the "Something New" version on "The Capitol Albums, Volume 1" does not. The new stereo "Komm" on Past Masters sounds fine.
Re MMT: I can understand wanting the original 1966 mix of "Stawberry Fields" (maybe they can use that on a remastered Blue Album, but why would anyone want the fake stereo on "Penny Lane," "Baby You're A Rich Man," and "All You Need is Love," particularly when the original mono MMT album is available in the mono box set. Maybe there should be a new Rarities set with the above mix of SFF, "All My Loving" with the hi-hats, the composite "I Am the Walrus" from "Rarities" (this time in complete stereo), the whispering intro to "I Feel Fine," "I'll Cry Instead" with the extra verse in stereo, etc.
At The Fest for Beatles Fans in NJ in 2006, Bruce Spizer proposed the following albums for "The Capitol Albums, Volume 3 and 4":
Volume 3: "A Hard Day's Night" (the UA version), "'Yesterday'...and Today," "Hey Jude (aka "The Beatles Again," and "The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl."
Volume 4: "Rock 'N' Roll Music," "Love Songs," "Rarities" (the US version), and "Reel Music." ("20 Greatest Hits" is unnecessary because of "Beatles 1").
Just a quickie: I dug out my German Odeon 45 of "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand," and it has the same up-and-down volume level as Mono Masters. Apparently that was a glitch on the German (or French, since the song was recorded at Pathe Marconi in Paris)master tape. When Capitol issued the song on "Something New," they tweaked it to even out the volume level. Because of mastering and mixing differences, many of the songs on the US albums are going to sound different than on the Parlophone versions. For example, the mono version of "Meet the BEATLES!" is a fold-down mix, but "With the Beatles" is the genuine mono mix.
Lennon's guitar sounds plausible during the D to C intro but at 8 seconds, it takes on that fuller, far more robust and out of phase wall of sound that characterizes and powers IWTHYH. During the middle eight, you can faintly hear another guitar (Lennon?) softly strumming the Dm, G, C and Am sequence while Harrison does his arpeggios and the "strange" mystery instrument is softly paralleling Paul's bass with 5ths. Without these four track isolations, you can't hear that second faint's guitar during the middle eight. I believe that until somebody from EMI fesses up, we will never know. Mr. Aarons has written and interviewed various people and other Bealtes audiophiles but most either totally dismiss it or others do agree that something is "going on with Lennon's guitar that defies simple studio artifacts, special effects, or freak ambient anomalies. Its not a coincidence, for anyone with credible guitar experience, that Lennon could never duplicate that sound during live performances of IWTHYH and secondly, you would think that by now, with all the available digital effects at a fingers touch for guitar, that somebody could perfectly duplicate it, they can't:-)
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!