Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band [VINYL]

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DB – They were quarter inch 30 IPS tapes. I was amazed at how it corresponded with that first record I had been listening to. I thought it would be more open and detailed, but there was very little difference in terms of those early vinyl recordings, which is a testament to how good they were. That’s the thing about this album – how well it was recorded and produced. And how the tape sounded like the original vinyl issue – there was so little difference. The tape was nearly identical. Fewer than 500 copies of the Audio-5 album were made. This is fewer than the Nimbus Supercut production run, making it one of the rarest Sgt. Pepper’s… factory pressings in existence. It was never available at retail outlets and was sold only for “cash in hand” at the hi-fi show. And its audiophile provenance makes it all the more desirable.

Those tapes were one generation from the absolute original, and they sounded so good - clean, quiet - just superb, really. They were very nice to work with. For the half speed, I was able to run the 30ips original at 15ips, so the system worked very well to accommodate the dynamic range and frequency response on the tape. Thus, a lifelong appreciation of the Beatles started for me. Yellow Submarine is one of their more underappreciated albums, but it is still my favorite to this day. I listen to it every few months without fail. DB – It’s more artistically correct, and quite a nice atmospheric effect. Whereas with the early Rubber Soul it’s an extreme technical pan, and it just sits in place.I also take issue with some of Martin’s stereophonic choices. Why, for example, should the first three notes of the harpsichord theme that introduces “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” be placed in the left channel, while the fourth (and others) find themselves in the right? The effect not only comes across as arbitrary, it distracts from the musical line. DB – Yeah, for me it was fantastic, because it was one of the very first albums I bought. It was the stereo version, and in fact, I still have that copy (laughs). I heard it for the first time in 1967, and I was mesmerized. At the time, I was working for the government as an electronics technician in training. I listened to this incredible sound coming off that record, and said ‘Wow, what is this?” I was fascinated, and I thought to myself, “I want to do this for a living!” This will be the very first time Apple have authorised a super deluxe edition box set of a Beatles studio long-player. Yet for most fans the Anniversary Edition’s promise is for greater authenticity, better sound, and less clunky stereophonics. For me, it’s a split decision. First, the sound. The original LP and CD of Sgt. Pepper are quite similar sounding. They share thin tonality and pond-flat dynamics. The CD is worse due to sharp highs and pervasive edginess that make it hard to listen to. A 2009 CD remastered by Guy Massey and Steve Rooke smooths and fills things out. Rhythms have more drive, dynamics have some life, and the superior transparency makes details more audible. Not surprisingly, since it was made from the very same digital remasters, the LP found in The Beatles 2012 vinyl box set sounds very much like this CD. Both constitute worthy upgrades over their predecessors.

The Beatles "Sgt Pepper" 50th Anniversary Gold Vinyl Cd Record And Autographed Cover Mounted In A GOLD Frame- Unique Collectable/Gift

The standard line about the album is that, at its centre, it’s a work of tremendous warmth and inclusion, that attempts, as Ed Vulliamy writes in the accompanying book, to “embrace everybody – ‘the man from the motor trade’, ‘the girl with kaleidoscope eyes’”. There are moments where it sounds like a high-water mark of hippy-era optimism before disillusion set in. Their fans are lovely and the band want to take them home, life is getting better and a splendid time is guaranteed for all – including traffic wardens, worried parents of errant teens and cosy sexagenarian couples. DB - My first job was a Van Morrison best of compilation, and we had to put the master together as well as cut the master lacquers. I had already been editing tape at home, so I gave it a go. Richard said, “no, it’s not good enough” and told me to do it again. He pointed out the level issues and other aspects to me, and then how to do it right. It was a great learning process. The album was released and was quite popular. The facility was then bought by Columbia and became CBS records. Not much difference, but there was a bit more diverse product coming through. DB – When I started mastering in 1971, I was told to leave the recordings alone – no EQ or other changes allowed! The priority was to transfer the audio on to the vinyl without distortion. And if you have a good clean vinyl of a traditionally cut record, you’ve got a bit of gold there, because they don’t age. Vinyl is a very accurate physical representation of the audio modulations etched into it. The second pressing of this LP took place in 1969 for both the mono and stereo version. It displays "the Gramophone & Co. Ltd." but no "sold in UK".

I also mastered an AC/DC project for the Albert group. Ted Albert attended the session and spent time with me while I mastered the album. I also mastered a direct to disc recording one weekend – Crossfire, Direct to Disc. It was very successful, did very well, and it was an exciting process. Charles Fisher produced that one as well.If the new mix and stereophonics were equally laudatory, this album would be a watershed event. Sadly, this is where the younger Martin fails us. He boosted all of the vocals—as well as certain instruments—to the point where they’re right in your face. And there’s no letup. So rather than the Beatles’ carefully-plotted journey through emotional highs and lows, Martin gives us an album that’s unremittingly aggressive. Rather than inviting you into a fascinating world, as even the lousiest-sounding predecessors did, the new edition pushes you away. DB – After a couple of years on the job at EMI, management called me into a meeting. They presented me with these tapes. They said they were special tapes from Abbey Road, and they wanted to produce an audiophile version of the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album. I was amazed, and said to myself, “This is me? I’m going to work on this album?” It was like a dream coming true. It was created for the Sydney Audio Show in 1983. A team of EMI Australia executives decided to do a special release of five albums. These dedicated audiophiles and regular show attendees wanted these pressings to be top quality recordings that would highlight EMI Australia’s capabilities as an audiophile label. Given the audience, they knew these pressings needed to be of the highest quality. They had also recently spent millions of dollars to upgrade their facility and create a mirror of Abbey Road Studios, all the way down to the TG mixing board, staff assignments and maintenance schedules. Keep collections to yourself or inspire other shoppers! Keep in mind that anyone can view public collections - they may also appear in recommendations and other places. Apple, the Beatles’ label, has attempted to set things right a couple of times, first in 1982 with a remastered Beatles in Mono CD box set; and later, in 2014, with a 180-gram mono vinyl box set taken from the original analog tapes. Still, although these releases did allow us to hear the album as the Beatles had intended, they were still in mono and thus missing the spatial benefits of stereo.

I had built my own amp, mixer and speakers, so I was already a minor hi-fi buff. But it really got me thinking that I want to get into this business, this process. It was a life changing experience. I thought, “There’s something going on there I want to know more about.” I had albums before that – but this one came along, and it was a combination of everything I had been listening to. Such a clever production - it grabbed me. Inspirational is the word. DB - I really enjoyed working with clients, because I learned a lot from them - just listening to them talk about how they went about making the record, and what they wanted to hear as the end result. Some clients were very technical and specific and others were musicians, and spoke more on a musical, emotional level. I just learned so much from all of them. I never took a course. Apart from Richard Harvey at CBS, who taught me the ground rules - and did a good job of it - I never actually had a formal education in mastering, as there were no courses in those days. I’m not self-taught, but learned from a lot of people around me, and the ones who came before me. The vinyl records at the time were high quality – if you had a good pressing and a good system, it was an amazing representation of what was going on in the performance, and what was meant to be released. Vinyl in those days was capable of very high quality reproduction. Which it still is today. The Beatles "Sgt Pepper" 50th Anniversary Gold Vinyl Cd Record And Autographed Cover Mounted And Framed - Unique Collectable/Gift The DVD and Blu-ray include ‘fully restored’ version of the 1992, 50-minute documentary The Making Of Sgt. Pepper and 5.1 surround and hi-res stereo mixes of the album, plus Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever. The content is the same on the DVD and blu-ray, but the latter will offer lossless 5.1 and improved visuals.My father was an American advertising executive assigned to Japan Air Lines, and had been transferred to Yokohama. And my mother was a bit of a bohemian - born in Paris during the 1920’s, her parents were members of the Lost Generation. She was happy to be in Japan, but realized we still needed a connection to home. So one hot summer day, we rode a crowded train to a Tokyo theater specializing in American movies. BW - You certainly got the right tapes! Did you talk with Abbey Road directly, or did they send something to you on their own? So for five years I was cutting at CBS, with all kinds of fantastic music – ELP, Eagles, the Doobies, product from Europe, from Polydor, Bob Dylan, and all the Columbia classics. In those days we had to master at least four albums a day. You were not allowed to change the sound at the time, but were told to make it as loud and clean as possible on the lacquer master.