[Jeff and Jane Scott]

> From: bluscombe at skynews.com.au [mailto:bluscombe at skynews.com.au]
>
> I recently read that there are mono mixes of almost every Beatles album.
> However these were actually different mixes to the stereo
> releases, not just
> merely "mixed-to-mono" from the stereo masters.   Same with the 30th
> Anniversary version of Pink Floyd's "Piper At The Gates Of Dawn"
> i believe.
> So they could be interesting to collect, but not even that is happening
> today.


When these albums were originally released, mono was the standard.  Stereo
was just a sort of gimmick.  The mix that the band would be involved with
(and possibly do themselves to some extent) was the mono mix.  Some
anonymous studio body would later do another mix for the marginal stereo
market.

So there is the interest in those mono mixes because that's where you hear
what the artist themselves produced.

By the late 60s of course, stereo had become the standard.

In the early 70s, bands like Pink Floyd would prepare both a stereo and a
quadrophonic mix (for four speakers) but quad didn't really take off and was
more or less gone by the middle of the decade.

So there's the historical perspective.  I don't know why anyone would want
to do stuff mono today, but on the other hand there's also no point in
panning stuff from left to right and back again just because you can.


jeff...