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Beginning with the 2017 Sgt. Pepper 50th anniversary release, a series of deluxe reissues (The Beatles, Abbey Road, Let It Be, Revolver, 1962-1966, 1967-1970) featuring remixing and the application of MAL (“machine-assisted learning”) to deconstruct and re-assemble the master recordings have hit the streets. Supervised by engineer Sam Okell and Giles Martin, these issues have met with mixed reactions from fans, especially those who hold the original recordings sacrosanct. For some they are revelatory; for others, an abomination.
I convened a 2-man panel of returning guests with expert ears to assess them. John Leckie (Abbey Road engineer for John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Pink Floyd and producer for Radiohead, XTC, The Stone Roses, The Verve, New Order) has one of the finest sets of ears in the business, as does producer/engineer/author Jerry Hammack (https://www.beatlesrecordingreferencemanuals.com/), whose newest work, The Beatles’ Recording Techniques: Recreating The Classic EMI Studios Sound In Your Home Studio, has just been published.
This conversation is front-loaded with techie-talk, but soon finds its level with an analysis of the work done for these new sets and whether or not they achieved a clear-cut goal.
For Jerry’s newest: https://www.beatlesrecordingtechniques.com/
I agree with the comments about the remixes. Very good insight from the professionals. However, I think your guests are misguided in their comments regarding 45rpm singles in the UK versus the US. As a first generation record collector I have first hand experience with collecting singles from both countries and in all cases (including Motown) the UK pressings are far superior in frequency response, especially bass which is almost totally lacking from US pressings. This is probably because US record companies knew that their singles were being listened to on transistor radios and portable record players with tiny speakers that could not reproduce bass, or it would likely blow the speakers. So, I don’t know if these guys have actually listened to and compared a US pressing with a UK one since the 1970s. I have a feeling they are speaking from memory. The US Motown singles may have been “louder” but definitely not anywhere close to the quality of UK ones. There were also stories that went around the Record Shows in the early collecting days that in the US the vinyl was recycled for singles and albums which contributed to the poorer quality US pressings than records pressed in the UK, Europe and especially Japan.
Also, Robert I couldn’t help but think about your gateway experience with the red and blue albums when the comment was made that the mixes you hear when you are first exposed to music are the ones that you are going to remember as being “normal.” It was agreed that many of the original red and blue mixes were subpar which made me wonder if the “ice cream” version of Revolution is, for you, the preferred mix, as well as all the others on the red and blue albums.