http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...1D28.DTL&tsp=1

So usually this is where I get on my soapbox and complain about the label prostituting the Beatles brand name and compelling people to buy the same albums a second, third and fourth time (I am on at least the third copy of some of the albums).

Instead, having seen some of the packaging, I am actually considering purchasing them this fall.

I have become the man. I am now that which I despise. I should have fought this "advancing age" thing a lot harder, I guess

Why would you buy them? What does remastering do anyway? (This is a serious question, no sarcasm)

Actually it is the packaging that drew me in. Remastering should improve the sound over what is currently available, but I always was okay with the CD's, all things considered. I still have most of the records and they are in decent enough shape, not to mention that my home stereo is not top of the line anyway.

Remastering of remastered albums is a scam, like bottled water. Remastering an album that has never been released on CD or one that has never had a reasonable remastering, now that's a great idea. There's no need to rehash the Beatles. I think the worst rehasher is Jimmy Page; he's almost as bad as Aerosmith with releasing a greatest hits package every three years.

The only way I'd buy another Beatles album would be if it's a never before released studio sessions, jams, or live package.

Otherwise, no soup for the label. No soup for them!

And yet, I might still buy some of them to replace the CD's I already have. So the issue is not that they are trying to rip me off, but rather that I might actually let them for the sake of brand new liner notes and photos

I'm looking forward to these. The last time the Beatles' albums were remastered was something like 1987, so it'll be interesting to see what the new CDs sound like.

Unless they go for the 'louder is better' approach that seems to plague modern music, that is.

I don't own Magical Mystery Tour or Let It Be anyway so I'll probably just get those ones

wow! that sounds like a great purchase you are going to have, lemme see whether it is available on the site you have given or not! i would love to get one set for me also!

They aren't supposed to be released until September, so you have time. www.thebeatles.com has some of the packaging.

As to be expected....I have knowledge about this.


The good news is they're finally releasing all the mono versions....and these will be the UK releases of both mono and stereo. For the earlier recordings The Beatles and George Martin were always involved in the mixing of the mono versions....while other people took care of the stereo versions. It wasn't until later recordings they bothered with being involved with the stereo versions.


The bad news for those with financial limitations. While the stereo versions will be released as individual recordings....the mono recordings are being released as part of a 10 cd box set. The mono versions of Help! and Rubber Soul will include the stereo versions....which haven't been released on cd before.


They could have included the mono and stereo of each recording on one cd and had room for some demo and/or alternate takes....but that would have made too much sense and not provided them the chance of milking even more money out of their fans.


They could have also released these as hybrid SACDs instead of the basic CD.


More bad news....


"Re-mastering the Beatles catalogue

The re-mastering process commenced with an extensive period conducting tests before finally copying the analogue master tapes into the digital medium. When this was completed, the transfer was achieved using a Pro Tools workstation operating at 24 bit 192 kHz resolution via a Prism A-D converter. Transferring was a lengthy procedure done a track at a time. Although EMI tape does not suffer the oxide loss associated with some later analogue tapes, there was nevertheless a slight build up of dust, which was removed from the tape machine heads between each title.

From the onset, considerable thought was given to what audio restorative processes were going to be allowed. It was agreed that electrical clicks, microphone vocal pops, excessive sibilance and bad edits should be improved where possible, so long as it didn’t impact on the original integrity of the songs.

In addition, de-noising technology, which is often associated with re-mastering, was to be used, but subtly and sparingly. Eventually, less than five of the 525 minutes of Beatles music was subjected to this process. Finally, as is common with today’s music, overall limiting - to increase the volume level of the CD - has been used, but on the stereo versions only. However, it was unanimously agreed that because of the importance of The Beatles’ music, limiting would be used moderately, so as to retain the original dynamics of the recordings.

When all of the albums had been transferred, each song was then listened to several times to locate any of the agreed imperfections. These were then addressed by Guy Massey, working with Audio Restoration engineer Simon Gibson.

Mastering could now take place, once the earliest vinyl pressings, along with the existing CDs, were loaded into Pro Tools, thus allowing comparisons to be made with the original master tapes during the equalization process. When an album had been completed, it was auditioned the next day in studio three – a room familiar to the engineers, as all of the recent Beatles mixing projects had taken place in there – and any further alteration of EQ could be addressed back in the mastering room. Following the initial satisfaction of Guy and Steve, Allan Rouse and Mike Heatley then checked each new re-master in yet another location and offered any further suggestions. This continued until all 13 albums were completed to the team’s satisfaction."