Why are the first four Beatles CDs in mono?

Question

Although the original Beatles vinyl albums were released in mono and stereo (except Abbey Road), why are the compact disc versions of the first four albums in mono?

Answer 1

All the Beatle albums were released in both stereo and mono originally, at least up to the White Album. The Beatles usually would actually sit in during the mono mixes and thus their imput was greatly felt. Oddly, they rarely cared about the stereo mixes. People started collecting the mono versions because they knew the beatles had more imput on them. Also, there are some differences between the mono and stereo mixes. The jet comes in differently in the mono mix of "Back In The USSR" than it does in the stereo mix. Sometimes you can here more talking in the mono mixes. One of the most interesting differences is on the song "Please, Please Me". In the stereo version at one point in the song, Paul and John screw up. When they supposed to be singing the same line, they both sing something different. You can here John cracking up on it. This is not on the mono version. Another thing, some of the albums sound better in mono than stereo. The Please, Please Me album sounds better, at least to most people, in mono than stereo. In fact, when the cd of it was released, they chose the mono version over the stereo version. This was true to the first four albums. Capitol Records are releasing US version of the albums that include both the mono and stereo mixes. The fact that most Beatle albums are short compared to today's music, they simply could fit two albums on one cd, so they added the mono mixes to them. If you own the cd's with both stereo and mono mixes, give it a listen. See how many differences you can here. Oh, just as a note, the first couple of Beatle albums were not 4 track. They were recorded directly to 2-track stereo. The mono was mixed to mono from the stereo tape. Basically, the two track master had instruments on one channel and the vocals one the other. George martin hated the stereo mixes because it was just the two track master copied over. He said he never intended for that to be the stereo mix. That's another reason for the cd's being in mono. The first song to use a 4-track recorder was "I Want To Hold Your Hand". I don't think it was a question of quality, the mono mixes were just better mixes.

Answer 2

Because The Beatles themselves and producer George Martin were not satisfied with the stereo mixes which tended to be vocals on one side and instruments on the other. At the time the albums were originally released the dominant format was still mono and the stereo mixes were often done in a rush to cash in on the new stereo 'gimmick'. The definitive mixes were therefore the mono ones, hence the use of these for the CDs.
I believe that all of the Beatles' catalogue has now been re-mixed and remastered using the latest technology so I wouldn't be surprised to see new stereo mixes of the first four albums appear when they are finally released as internet downloads.
In the meantime you can find stereo mixes of most of the songs from the first 4 albums on 2 box sets featuring the first 8 Capitol albums which were released in America.

Answer 3

Contrary to Mr Cynic's opinion, it's not a money making / lack of effort thing. Those albums were recorded on 4 track tape (records now use 24, 32 and 64 track recording) and if more than 4 tracks were required, they would have to bounce three tracks down to one, mixing as they went to make space. The equipment that people had to play music on at the time was all one speaker (Dansette record players etc) and so everything was geared to sound layered and together through the one outlet. Bear in mind Elvis' first album only a few years earlier was recorded onto one track tape and had to be mixed live. Because of these limitations, the mono mix was a very high-grade skill of which George Martin was a master, layering each instrument and vocal to form a cohesive, warm soundscape. Stereo was new at the time and not particularly well explored, so what happened was that the 4 track tapes were mixed to mono which took a great deal of time and care (in many ways it's harder than today's stereo mixing), to ensure the best results for all the radios and record players with mono only output. The fact that stereo was coming in created a small demand for stereo versions, so, having completed the mono mix, they simply chucked two tracks to the left and two tracks to the right, with few adjustments, to create the stereo mix. It didn't get a lot of time spent on it because it wasn't necessary in 1963. Any recording engineer will tell you that to get a mix that sounds great in mono and stereo is quite a task. You have to layer it and make it sound natural both up and down and front to back (volume and delay / reverb / space creation) and also from left to right (natural sounding placement without overly seperating). So it's no surprise that the stereo mixes of the early Beatles records don't really work. They sound ropey to be honest. Hence, the best CD copy you can have is the carefully produced mono mixes remastered.

Answer 4

Multi-tracking and stereo recordings were brand new to the popular-music recording industry in the early 60's. It wasn't until 1951 that the public had a chance to hear a stereo recording at the worlds fair in New York and it wasn't until 1958-61 that England and the US had transmitted stereo radio waves to the public.

What I'm trying to say is that mixing a bands sound together to put on a record in a stereo environment was an absolutely brand-new technique. The early stereo recordings of pop music wasn't about the translating of width and depth of a recording but more about the separation of sound. Blah blah blah... what that means is that in a Beatles song you would hear the drums and bass on the left side speaker and the guitars and vocals on the right or some other configuration. It sounded very strange and wasn't favored by many people. This why the Beatles and other bands released mono and stereo albums.

To add problems to this was the fact that many record players and car radios had one speaker or a mono set of speakers. Record players and car radios didn't need a set of speakers to reproduce a stereo signal. It wasn't until the popularization of FM and the normalizing of stereo techniques in the studio that record players and car radios even came with a stereo configuration.

Even now listening to an original Beatles stereo recording (pre Revolver album) on a CD can sound a little weird and thusly more people prefer the mono versions. In turn making executives pick the one format that people wont complain about.

I hope this made sense and helps you with your answer.

Answer 5

Because that is how they were recorded at the time, I don't want to sound patronising but music is an art form and the art was created as is. If you got stereo it would not be the original music, it would be someone else's interpretation of what the original songs would have sounded like if they had been recorded in stereo. It is a bit like buying the Mona Lisa after someone decided that they didn't like the smile because it was crooked so they paint over it, that would be a travesty and so would messing around with someones music because they think it might sound better.

Actually I think that some of the tracks on "With the Beatles" were in stereo but it was very primitive in that you had the music coming out of one speaker and the voices coming out of the other. It was awful because them singing without the music was bad and the music without the voices was so-so, it was only when the package was put together that the magic showed.

Answer 6

Because the very first Beatles recordings were done on pretty much simple antiquated recording equipment, now destined for the Smithsonian.

In fact, most ALL analog and mono recorded material burned to CD fare little much better being digitally treated, other than you feel and hear analog recording limitations.

I've been told that new digital CD recording techonology will soon "re-treat" analog recording by reconstructing it digitally and re-present it in full digital sound.

Answer 7

Its all down to making the maximum money out of the recordings for the least amount of effort. Dressed up as the keep "true" to the original idea.
EMI & 'The Beatles' know that they can keep re-packaging these recordings and people will buy them. They don't need the money so there is no incentive to go back and improve the original.

Answer 8

I'm just making a guess here, but hopefully it suits you. I think it could be some crazy **** that Micheal Jackson decided on, or perhaps the demand for the mono versions was higher for some reason. Some people do prefer mono, but I just can't imagine it being a majority. Good question.

Answer 9

Because they wanted them to sound like the original LPs.

Answer 10

Because they are SOoooo Monotonous......imo.