New Beatles remasters

Some reviewers have said that the re-mastered Beatles CDs are louder than the originals by a noticeable amount. Is this something that you corrected for in your listening?

again; i've only compared new to 80's CD with Abbey Road. in this example the overall level of gain of the vocals was possibly slightly higher on the new remastered CD, which is really of no real consequence. what i did was level match the vocals. the difference is that while the vocals are quite similar in level, everything else is more alive and dynamic....mostly somewhat louder. but it's way more than that. since there are blacker backgrounds and more separation between musical mines, you simply hear farther into the mix, and things are both more prominent and you hear things that were previously obscure.

i don't want to guess about how these CD's compare to my Lp pressings, but i won't be surprised if they don't get into that level of detail.

so the answer to your question is that yes; they are louder but the main reason is the compressed and homogenized mix of the 80's CD's. if you A/B the old and new you will notice that the vocals are similar in level but everything else seems louder.

i think the degree of diference might be affected by the quality of one's playback system. maybe the 80's CD's were appropriate to the early crap redbook players.

for the guys who have mono and stereo,if you had only one choice would you go mono or stereo?

i bought both but have only started listening.

buy the mono box, and the individual later Stereo discs missing from the Mono box. that will get you closest to the real thing.

caution; my mind may change as i spend more time listening.

I bought two of the mono boxes and the three stereo only albums (Yellow Submarine, Abbey Road and Let It Be). I've always preferred the original mono albums to the ping pong stereo of the early records. Unless they release on SACD I can't imagine better sounding digital versions.

I have the mono and think it is great as described above.

Does the stereo version of Rubber Soul (and some others) still contain the voices on one side and the instruments coming out of the other channel? I have always hated that - George Martin blew it on those original stereo mixes - did they fix it on these new stereo releases?

Mikelavigne,

Excellent points you made on Abbey Road.

I have the mono box but haven't started on that. Bought Abbey Road and Let It Be and started in reverse chronological order (I guess). I played "Let It Be" a couple of times in a row and enjoyed the improvement. There are some lovely songs there - "Across the Universe" was so inspired. And "Get Back" just powers along.

But when I put Abbey Road on it did not get off the CD player until about 6 spins. What a fantastic effort. Although slightly lifted, it is nothing like the modern loudness you see on contemporary CDs. Nothing to concern one's self.

The musical lines present themselves as separate entities if you focus on them, but become part of a beautiful whole when you back off the concentration and it just envelopes. The richness and tunefulness in the bass lines and the drumming are outstanding and are immediately noticed as a vast improvement. There just seems to be an accuracy in the presentation, a feeling of being much closer to what they intended us to hear - and I am left marveling at the sheer ability of the songwriting. The second half medly made more sense to me than I can recall. The whole thing is just so lovely, and so well structured - and this is what I hear.

Regards,