The Beatles - Stereo Vinyl 2012 Box Set

By Kory Grow at Rolling Stone
Five years to the day after the release of The Beatles in Mono, a box set of the group's monaurally mixed catalog through 1968, the band is issuing a vinyl version of the box set. Although the quartet put out stereo versions of their albums concurrent with the mono ones throughout most of their career, the Beatles considered the mono versions as definitive.
The limited-edition 14-LP Beatles in Monovinyl box set includes the group's first nine U.K. albums – from Please Please Me to The Beatles – the American-compiled Magical Mystery Tour and a collection of Mono Masters, which consist of non-album singles and tracks, all on 180-gram vinyl with artwork matching the original releases and a 108-page hardbound book. Each mono LP will also be available to purchase individually, outside of the box set.
Grammy-winning engineer Sean Magee and Grammy-winning mastering supervisor Steve Berkowitz remastered each record for vinyl in the same room at Abbey Road Studios where most of the group's albums were recorded, using quarter-inch master tapes without the help of any digital technology. Instead, they opted for the mastering procedures used in the Sixties, even consulting notes used by the original engineers who cut the vinyl. Magee and Berkowitz spent weeks listening to the recordings, comparing the masters with first pressings of the vinyl albums from the 1960s.
The record cover–sized book accompanying the box set contains new essays and a detailed account of the mastering process by radio producer Kevin Howlett. It also contains rare photos of the Beatles in the studio, archive documents and articles and ads from publications in the Sixties.
The box set and the individual mono vinyl releases will be available September 9th.
The Beatles issued a vinyl box set of the stereo versions of the albums in 2012. Magee told Rolling Stone that while he spent less time working on the vinyl editions than he did on the CD versions of the box set, he did encounter some roadblocks, mostly concerning the letter "S," which was coming out raspy and distorted on LP. This required him to reduce the volume on almost every "S." "A good example is 'She Said She Said,'" he said. "It's time-consuming, but it's the best thing to do – attention to detail, and being as fastidious as you can."
Earlier this year, the Beatles put out a CD box set called The U.S. Albums, which contained the American versions of their LPs and their rearranged track lists. The release was meant to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the group's arrival in the United States and coincided with the Beatles receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys and a TV program called The Night That Changed America. For the latter, Paul McCartney teamed with Ringo Starr for "Hey Jude," among other performances.

The Beatles - In Mono Vinyl Box Set

By Steve Guttenberg at Cnet.com
If you're under 40, there's a good chance you've never heard the Beatles' music the way it sounded in the 1960s. All of their music, every note of it, was recorded on analog tape -- but all of the Beatles' CDs and LPs mastered after 1986 were sourced from digital masters. Even the 2012 remastered stereo LPswere cut from digital masters. So the big news here is the 2014 remastered mono Beatles LPs are the first to be 100 percent all-analog albums since the 1980s. If you've never heard the band's older LPs, the new mono, 180-gram LPs will knock you for a loop. I have the limited-edition "The Beatles in Mono" box set, but the mono LPs are also available individually.
To put some perspective on why I'm making a big deal about this, almost all new LPs by today's bands are mastered from digital sources, even when they were originally analog recordings! Digital is cheaper and faster technology. Analog tapes are delicate, locating an analog tape machine in tip top condition isn't easy, and mastering all-analog LPs can be a big hassle. Generations of engineers have grown up with digital -- they don't always have the skill set required to get the best out of analog tapes.
That's why the latest Beatles mastering job was performed at Abbey Road Studios by engineer Sean Magee and mastering supervisor and all-around nice guy Steve Berkowitz. "The Beatles in Mono" CD boxed set released in 2009 was created from digital masters. For this vinyl project Magee and Berkowitz cut the records with the original analog tape masters, and no digital converters were used. Magee and Berkowitz worked in the same room at Abbey Road where most of The Beatles' albums were cut in the 1960s, guided by the sound of the first-generation albums and detailed transfer notes made by the original cutting engineers.
Their hard work paid off -- the new LPs are the quietest pressings I've ever played, with nary a pop or click. The quality control issues I experienced with the 2012 stereo LP remasters are thankfully not repeated with the mono LPs. The LPs for all markets are being manufactured in Germany.
I own a ton of stereo British and American pressed Beatles albums, but just two original mono British pressings, "Rubber Soul " and "Revolver." Both of these are in excellent condition so they were called into service for comparison listening tests. My old LPs sounded a tad more compressed and less clear, the 2014 versions were more three-dimensional. Obviously, they were much quieter, and there was more depth and body to the sound of voices and instruments. I felt like I was listening back through time and tapping into more of the Beatles' energy. Vocals are more present and, for lack of a better word, complete.
I know some Beatles fans prefer the sound of the mono versions of the albums -- possibly because the mono mixes were supervised and approved by The Beatles back in the day -- the stereo mixes were not. Even so, the mono versions never really connected with me -- but there's something about the sound of the 2014 LPs that's turning me around. The more direct quality of the sound, compared with the stereo versions, is addicting. The orchestral climax on "A Day in the Life" sounds more dramatic on the mono "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" LP. I've heard the tune a zillion times before, and now it's changed for me. That's monumental.
The box set's 12-by-12-inch hardcover book features new essays and a detailed history of the mastering process. The book is beautifully illustrated with studio photos of The Beatles, fascinating archive documents, and articles and advertisements sourced from 1960s publications. The quality of the printing is superb; the large storage box for the 14 LPs and book is nicely done.
For the mono-curious, I'd recommend starting with "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," but any album from "Rubber Soul" forward would do; The 14-disc "The Beatles in Mono" box set would make a terrific gift for any Beatle fan with a high-end turntable. The last three Beatles albums, "Yellow Submarine," "Let It Be," and "Abbey Road" were stereo only and never released in mono, so they're not included in this new series.