The Beatles – remastered – to be released 09-09-09
Like most Beatles fans, I’m a bit torn about the remastered albums being released in September. I mean, do I really need to purchase ANOTHER set of CDs that I already own? As a fan, I really DO want to get the newly remastered versions but I don’t think my wallet can take the hit. I’ll definitely wait to hear the verdict on whether there’s a clear distinct difference in the audio quality. and although it would be great to just get the whole entire set, I might just end up choosing specific titles that are my personal must-haves: Abbey Road, Revolver, Sgt. Peppers and the White Album.
additional tidbits about the CDs:
- release date: September 9, 2009
- each release features extended liner notes, original artwork and additional rare photos
- each release will contain a short “making of” documentary
- besides the original studio albums, Past Masters Vol. I and II will be released as well
- a box set of the CDs will be released. one set in stereo. a separate set in mono.
- the complete remastered titles are: Please Please Me, With the Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night, Beatles for Sale, Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles (The White Album), Abbey Road, Let It Be, Past Masters, Yellow Submarine
And here’s some additional info on the remastering process from the official press release:
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.
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You can pre-order the remastered Beatles CDs at CD Universe
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