Comments on: Mono vs. Stereo || “Psychedelic Sounds…”

By: Private Beach

Private Beach — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 13:08:56 +0000

To say that “Mono is way inferior to Stereo on a number of levels” may be true of good live recordings. For studio recordings, however, It is certainly not true in cases where, for instance, the voice is placed on one track and an acoustic guitar on the other, rather than them both taking centre stage as in real life. In reality, which sounds better is entirely a product of the mixing and production. In many cases, earlier recordings often sound better in mono because the mono mix was given more care and attention, or because the novelty of stereo at the time led producers to use exaggerated stereo effects which now sound gimmicky. I believe reissues should offer both versions (as recent Kinks and Donovan remasters have done) so listeners can choose for themselves which they prefer.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 15:48:50 +0000

I prefer mono very few albums are a toss up or I prefer the stereo:
Toss-ups are:
Odessey and oracle
and
Sf sorrow where the mono sounds too thin but the stereo version is crazy and the mono sounds shrill on some songs.

By: Kenneth

Kenneth — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 20:37:55 +0000

In the world of Beach Boys, here is an excellent resource on the subject: http://www.btinternet.com/~bellagio/monostereo.html

I like mono listening, especially in my car & other places where there is limited access
to both speaker channels equally. Stereo (generally speaking) tends to thrill me only on headphones or within other balanced listening zones.

Thanks, Brian & please tour the LOVE YOU album this year!

By: Aberdown

Aberdown — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 11:40:03 +0000

I’m going to blow your socks off with this coment but i’m beggining to think all cd’s sound better in mono.
Pink Floyd certainly does

By: gary

gary — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:02:28 +0000

i never cared for the cramped, fuzzy sound of mono recordings. this one is no exception. maybe if i had monophonic hearing [heard well only out of one ear like brian wilson] i would appreciate mono more, but i do hear in stereo like just about any living thing on earth, and appreciate the increased clarity of true stereo sound. it is good that you offer listeners a choice between stereo and mono versions of this recording. choice is one thing that phil spector and bill inglot deny listeners with their pig-headed insistence on mono-only releases.

By: Len Liechti

Len Liechti — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:48:12 +0000

How about a uReview on the White Album? Flawed but indispensible masterpiece, or overlong self-indugent monument to a crumbling institution?

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:54:15 +0000

Hey, it’s funny you mention the White Album. I know the Beatles reissues just came out a couple of days ago. I haven’t bought any yet but the White Album will be the very first purchase for me. My favorite Beatles discs are Rubber Soul and Revolver but the White Album and Abbey Road come right after. The White Album though, I haven’t heard it in a long time because I’m too wrapped up with these local/unknown bands but remember songs like Dear Prudence, Bungalow Bill, Sexie Sadie, I’m So Tired, I Will, Yer Blues, Cry Baby Cry and so forth – amazing stuff, hasn’t age at all and still some of my favorite Beatles tunes are on that record. I love the early records too. Some may say For Sale is uneven or flawed but I think it’s mostly good and the first three songs on that record….I’m A Loser, No Reply and Baby’s In Black are an absolute knock out.

By: Len Liechti

Len Liechti — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:40:09 +0000

Hey, guys, a fun thread this perhaps, but ultimately a futile one. Mono or Stereo? Valve or solid state? Analogue or digital? Vinyl or CD or MP3? What exactly is “better”? A Beethoven symphony sounds better in stereo than in mono because stereo gives a truer impression of how the orchestra sounds spread out on a stage – and that sort of music was written purely with auditorium performance in mind, so that’s got to be the right way to hear it at home. And you gotta love classical music on CD, without all the crackles and pops in the quieter passages. I first heard rock’n'roll on my grandparents’ massive old wooden-cabinet AM valve radio with twelve-inch speaker, the bass throbbing and the sibilants well damped, and it’s never sounded better. Rock’n'roll was mixed to be played on such primitive gear, using recording kit just as primitive – and initially on 78rpm, let’s not forget. Old fifties tracks sound metallic and harsh on a CD through a modern small-speaker player, where the tops are over-emphasised, and even worse on iPod; their timbres don’t take kindly to being digitised. The Beatles’ early stuff was recorded principally with mono reproduction in mind, because that’s all most people had in those days, especially in the UK. The lousy stereo mixes were an afterthought, mainly for the US market, and were as crude as they were – often simply vocals on one track, backing on the other – because George Martin and his engineer had only two tracks at their disposal to work with from the start. The situation was well reversed by the time of the White Album – what point in “Revolution 9″ without all the stereo panning and swirling? Pet Sounds was Brian’s baby, and was constructed and mixed by Brian according to how he heard it through his monaural hearing – the mono mix is bound to sound better, because that’s how the whole project was conceived. When Hendrix was creating Are You Experienced, he and Eddie Kramer played the mixing desk pan slider like another instrument. How flat does that title track sound in mono? I know, I first owned that album in mono. The purity of the recording process since the seventies, with solid state electronics, 48 tracks and eventually digital storage, means that music made during these later years will sound inferior when reproduced on equipment subject to the mechanical distortions and other imperfections we like to think of as “warmth”. Most dance music recorded since the seventies sounds infinitely better on CD than on vinyl: I still remember the first time I heard the kick drum on Lionel Richie’s “Dancing On The Ceiling” and said “wow”. The plain truth is that all music, being of its time, sounds best on the sort of kit it was originally recorded for. So keep your vinyl deck AND your CD player, get yourself an amp with a stereo/mono switch, and stop worrying.

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 01:39:38 +0000

Where is the Lama when you need him? He’s the official 13th Floor Elevators scribe. I think the mono mix sounds much better (check out an original)…it’s that obvious, if you know anything about the 13th Floor Elevators’ debut it’s all about the mono mix. It’s got lots of punch and presence where the stereo mix sounds somewhat unfinished and sluggish. Compare stereo vs mono with “Roller Coaster” and you’ll notice the obvious difference. For some recordings the mono mix works best….My Generation and Piper At The Gates Of Dawn.

By: The Matching Mole

The Matching Mole — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:44:58 +0000

Funny, when I play my mono LPs the soundstage is deep and wide. This is true whether it’s single-mike recordings from the 1940s (Duke Ellington’s orchestra) or multi-mike, multi-tracked recordings from the 1960s (um, The Beatles, Beach Boys, etc.).

And the soundstage on the new Beatles mono CDs? I swear I heard tablas coming from my garage, and I’m pretty sure Ringo was stage right, which would be my guest room. Weren’t nothing flat about that.

Now, tell us about about how you tried mono sound reproduction before you dismissed it. Thanks!