![]() Hoffman: Or “Your Mother Should Know.” However, on Beatles For Sale, the mono version really bites because they worked so hard on it it’s so compressed and harsh sounding. Wait: They worked so hard on the mono mix of songs like “Blue Jay Way” or “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” with vocals phasing in and out of the guitars. ![]() ![]() Ever hear “Satisfaction” by the Stones in stereo? What a bummer! It’s nice to hear it, but ooh - what a terrible mix that is! The rhythm track is too quiet and all that acoustic guitar is too loud. The rhythm track is way too low on the stereo version and without that rhythm track, the whole song falls apart. And in the case of “I Want To Hold Your Hand” or “A Hard Day’s Night,” “Revolution” or “Matchbox.” “Slow Down” is another great example. It doesn’t matter to me if it’s mono or stereo, just which is the best version. “I Want To Hold Your Hand” - the same thing: it’s just too low. But I don’t enjoy the crappy… (disinterested) you know, like the stereo version of “Can’t Buy Me Love.” The rhythm track is just way too low. So I enjoy hearing the music and the singing. They’re usually less compressed and squashed than the mono mixes. Wait: There’s an argument that the vinyl surface noise adds something to the mono “Revolution.” So I took my copy of that and heaved it out the window - which is what I usually do when I don’t like something. Hoffman: That’s true, but I bought it hoping to hear that gorgeous original Parlophone mono, without all the echo, version of “Ask Me Why/Please Please Me.” But instead, they took it off their third generation LP master, which rendered everything else useless and anticlimactic for me. Wait: They used the right “Revolution ” the mono mix, that is. I wouldn’t have minded except they used the wrong tapes anyway, so what was the point? Wait: The same guys who approve things like the EP and singles box. George Harrison’s and John Lennon’s solo material is controlled by the Beatles committee. Hoffman: Paul McCartney pretty much controls all his solo things. Wait: How about the remaining solo work? Will we be hearing them on DCC? Take the piano in “Love In Song,” the woodwinds on “You Gave The Answer” or “Listen To What The Man Said” and the ‘hidden’ vocal on “Let Me Roll It.” During the guitar break - there’s no solo - you can actually hear the ambient reverb from the original scratch vocal. Wait: It’s so impressive how you can get an almost analog sounding bass out of something like McCartney, but the other instruments come off spectacularly as well - on every DCC title. Wait: Quite a blessing for fans of Badfinger’s Straight Up, which carries all bonus tracks! Hoffman: Yes, that’s Captiol’s insistence. Wait: We’ve read that MPL requires the same track lineup as the aluminum release. ![]() If you ignore that, it sounds great! I don’t think anyone else has commented on that. Hoffman: There was an instruction that you “turn it down” when it got louder. Wait: When “Rock Show” begins at the end of Venus And Mars, was there an instruction to turn up the levels? I listen to the 8-track, cassette, their CD, the Columbia CD - everything to hear what the vision was originally. Hoffman: I’ll retrieve the original English Apple version, original American, and second and third American pressings. Wait: Say you’re doing a McCartney title - what’s the process you go through? But nothing really interesting, I’m sorry to say. Sometimes they don’t furnish original tape boxes, just the original tapes, because there’s little notes scribbled on them. The thing about EMI is they’re very zealous about secrets. Wait: Any good stories about other solo Beatle albums? ![]() Wait: Do I understand correctly that you had the same model two-track machine that they originally used to mix and master the album? Hoffman: A pain in the butt! But when I finally heard “Every Night” the way I wanted to hear it (applies thick Lawrence Welk-type accent) make-a-my-life-rich-and-re-war-ding! What was it like to take on the responsibility of remastering a classic album like McCartney? Wait: Steve, you’re about as close as anyone has ever come to being a consistent favorite of the 910, mostly through your work on the solo Beatles catalog. I heard a Buddy Holly compilation of his more than a decade ago, I remember it like yesterday, and have wanted to shake his hand ever since. ![]()
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