Vinyl MFSL Beatle Box vs Vinyl EMI Beatle Box (Import)
ugh
typical for the medium, and unusually for MFSL The Beatles set sounds
terrible. If the gentleman inquiring is a true audiophile...and his rig
sounds alright...he will hate the top end midrange eqing MFSL did.
Been discussed for years in audiophile rags how bad the set sounds.
Randy Novak wrote:
> Buy the MFSL box. Those are the half speed masters. the first four
> lp's are in stereo. They are pressed on virgin vinyl. They are the
> next best thing to the cd's. All the albums were limited editions.
> With the Beatles is the most valuable. Why this is so is because
> while pressing the lp the mother broke after only about 500 or so
> pressings. I don't know much about the British box set, but I am sure
> it can't compare.
>
> Randy
>
> Tremain Downey wrote:
>
>> I am considering buying a Beatles Box Set. Has anyone compared the
>> MFSL
>> Beatle Box Set and the EMI Beatle Box Set? What is the difference
>> in
>> the sound quality?
>>
>> I use a Thorens turntable, Sumiko Blue Point Special, and high-end
>> phono
>> amp, etc.
>>
>> Any comments appreciated.
>
anab...@alphalink.com.au
The first four cd's are a disgrace.
With regards to the MFSL stuff well,
Mobile fidelity got 2 weeks to cut the Beatles albums.That's how long
the tapes were allowed out of the vault(apparently you can thank yoko
for that.According to one of the m.f. engineers,she'd pull down your
pants and play with it before she gave you anything!!)Therefore the
box set was a real 2 week rush job and the guy who cut the records was
deaf in one ear!!!(he later unfortunately died of aids).He thought the
inner groove on sgt pepper was a piece of junk at the end of the
master tape, so he left it out!!!(he also cut the UHQR of sgt pepper
and left out the inner groove on that too!!!)
HOWEVER, WHEN MFSL RELEASED THE ALBUMS INDIVIDUALLY IT IS A WHOLE NEW
BALL GAME.For the most part a new guy from capitol cut the first five
albums , sgt pepper ,yellow submarine and let it be.The difference is
astonishing!!!!They also had 2 weeks on each L.P.not just a box set.
The individual album releases for the most part(but not all) cream
everything else.
The exceptions are: Sgt Peppers(even though the new guy was good,
Nimbus records in England cut a Hi-Fi pressing that has never been
surpassed)
Magical Mystery tour .Even though they had the U.K. mastertape used
for the U.K. cassette tape(which is everything in stereo), they still
used the capitol version!!!!.They did however, get it right with their
MFSL high quality cassette tape.
For M.M.T. you must buy the german pressing(the before digital version
with the non gatefold cover).
White Album and Abbey Rd.MFSL used the u.k. tape for the box set and
the Capitol tape for the individual release.
I think I like the white vinyl German(pre digital) l.p. release of the
white album the best.
For Abbey Rd,I've never been able to make up my mind.
To confuse things even further MFSL did a test pressing run of the
entire box set in UHQR format!!! Five copies each!!!!!The rubber soul
UHQR(I'm lucky enough to have a copy) is awesome.God knows what the
rest sound like..
For some reason with Help, I prefer the side one tracks on the USA
capitol version the best (with the exception of ticket to ride) over
the seperate MFSL version.As for side 2 the seperate MFSL is much
better.However, the early pressings from MFSL,do generally tend to
sound more punchy and dynamic than later pressings form MFSL on the
same title.
With the Beatles (the seperate issue) is the rarist MFSL L.p.
They pressed 300 lp's and then someone at the factory accidently
dropped the mother pressing!!!! With the box set there are just under
25,000 copies released.
UHQR of Sgt Pepper 5000 copies released.
The rest varied between 10,000 and 25,000 depending on
sales.
Michael P Patrick
Several of the albums were available from Mobile Fidelity WAY before the box
set came out. Then after the box set came out, individual titles were still
available, right? Were these versions all mastered at different times?
Are you saying that Mobile Fidelity got the tapes a second (or third?) time
and that they remastered the albums which were available AFTER the box set was
manufactured?
How many times did they master these records? How many times did they have
the tapes on hand? Is any of this documented?
Just curious and trying to make sense of your densely worded posting! It
seems to be the tip of the iceberg...
mp
Andrew Blythe
years later Magical Mystery Tour was released using MSFL's half speed
mastering technique. In fact, the "master" for the MMT album was
Capitol's sub master which included three songs (Penny Lane, All You
Need Is Love, and Baby, You're a Rich Man) in reprocessed stereo instead
of true stereo. Abbey Road's master tape was also Capitol's sub master.
I also recall that MSFL decided to release a boxed set of the original
British Beatles albums as a set and as individual albums using the half
speed mastering. This was sometime in the mid '80's.
A. Blythe
Caretaker
Apple Scruffs Beatlyrics Homepage
(http://fab4music.findhere.com)
anab...@alphalink.com.au
wrote:
Anyway you can just do a Ctrl c and then a Ctrl v with the document,
so it comes in with your text (no attachments)?
I tried sending stuff on another newsgroup and it never made it.
>
>; I hope
>everyone can open it. I scanned it and saved it as an Word 97 document.
>I'm posting as a new post, one page at a time, because the file is
>so large trying to send it has not been working properly. The post will
>be MFSL 1, 2 . . . I hope it works. Hopefully (if it
>works) it will shed more light on this subject.
>
><p>Correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I know the MFSL pressings are
>the only place you can find the first four lp's in clean stereo as well
>as some other tracks on other lps in the set. Save maybe the Jap
>pressings.
Well EMI,before cd's had everything in stereo.In fact the mono stuff
was hard to get usually except for the Japanese mono stuff that got
released in the early 80's.
Funny thing though when capitol usa recatalogued their lp's in the
late 80's with the CLJ catalogue series,the yesterday and today l.p.
with the clj catalogue came out in mono!! Has stereo all over the
cover and label but you play it!! It's the usa mono release with the
unusual guitar in I'm only sleeping and John saying "O.K.Herb" at the
end of Dr Robert (not found on any other mono version).
><p>Randy
><p>anab...@alphalink.com.au wrote:
><blockquote TYPE=CITE>On Sat, 06 Mar 1999 06:23:11 -0500, ugh <ce...@voltaire.com>
>wrote:
><br>The first four cd's are a disgrace.
><br>With regards to the MFSL stuff well,
><br>Mobile fidelity got 2 weeks to cut the Beatles albums.That's how long
><br>the tapes were allowed out of the vault(apparently you can thank yoko
><br>for that.According to one of the m.f. engineers,she'd pull down your
><br>pants and play with it before she gave you anything!!)Therefore the
><br>box set was a real 2 week rush job and the guy who cut the records
>was
><br>deaf in one ear!!!(he later unfortunately died of aids).He thought
>the
><br>inner groove on sgt pepper was a piece of junk at the end of the
><br>master tape, so he left it out!!!(he also cut the UHQR of sgt pepper
><br>and left out the inner groove on that too!!!)
><br>HOWEVER, WHEN MFSL RELEASED THE ALBUMS INDIVIDUALLY IT IS A WHOLE NEW
><br>BALL GAME.For the most part a new guy from capitol cut the first five
><br>albums , sgt pepper ,yellow submarine and let it be.The difference
>is
><br>astonishing!!!!They also had 2 weeks on each L.P.not just a box set.
><br>The individual album releases for the most part(but not all) cream
><br>everything else.
><br>The exceptions are: Sgt Peppers(even though the new guy was good,
><br>Nimbus records in England cut a Hi-Fi pressing that has never been
><br>surpassed)
><br>Magical Mystery tour .Even though they had the U.K. mastertape
>used
><br>for the U.K. cassette tape(which is everything in stereo), they
>still
><br>used the capitol version!!!!.They did however, get it right with their
><br>MFSL high quality cassette tape.
><br>For M.M.T. you must buy the german pressing(the before digital version
><br>with the non gatefold cover).
><br>White Album and Abbey Rd.MFSL used the u.k. tape for the box set and
><br>the Capitol tape for the individual release.
><br>I think I like the white vinyl German(pre digital) l.p. release of
>the
><br>white album the best.
><br>For Abbey Rd,I've never been able to make up my mind.
><br>To confuse things even further MFSL did a test pressing run of the
><br>entire box set in UHQR format!!! Five copies each!!!!!The rubber soul
><br>UHQR(I'm lucky enough to have a copy) is awesome.God knows what
>the
><br>rest sound like..
><br>For some reason with Help, I prefer the side one tracks on the USA
><br>capitol version the best (with the exception of ticket to ride) over
><br>the seperate MFSL version.As for side 2 the seperate MFSL is much
><br>better.However, the early pressings from MFSL,do generally tend to
><br>sound more punchy and dynamic than later pressings form MFSL on the
><br>same title.
><br>With the Beatles (the seperate issue) is the rarist MFSL L.p.
><br>They pressed 300 lp's and then someone at the factory accidently
><br>dropped the mother pressing!!!! With the box set there are just under
><br>25,000 copies released.
><br>UHQR of Sgt Pepper 5000 copies released.
><br>The rest varied between 10,000 and 25,000 depending on
><br>sales.
><br>>Well I certainly disagree...the cd's are the worst of the lot as is
><br>>typical for the medium, and unusually for MFSL The Beatles set sounds
><br>>terrible. If the gentleman inquiring is a true audiophile...and his
>rig
><br>>sounds alright...he will hate the top end midrange eqing
>MFSL did.
><br>>Been discussed for years in audiophile rags how bad the set sounds.
><br>>
><br>>Randy Novak wrote:
><br>>
><br>>> Buy the MFSL box. Those are the half speed masters.
>the first four
><br>>> lp's are in stereo. They are pressed on virgin vinyl. They
>are the
><br>>> next best thing to the cd's. All the albums were limited
>editions.
><br>>> With the Beatles is the most valuable. Why this is so is because
><br>>> while pressing the lp the mother broke after only about 500 or so
><br>>> pressings. I don't know much about the British box set, but
>I am sure
><br>>> it can't compare.
><br>>>
><br>>> Randy
><br>>>
><br>>> Tremain Downey wrote:
><br>>>
><br>>>> I am considering buying a Beatles Box Set. Has anyone compared
>the
><br>>>> MFSL
><br>>>> Beatle Box Set and the EMI Beatle Box Set? What is the difference
><br>>>> in
><br>>>> the sound quality?
><br>>>>
><br>>>> I use a Thorens turntable, Sumiko Blue Point Special, and high-end
><br>>>> phono
><br>>>> amp, etc.
><br>>>>
><br>>>> Any comments appreciated.
><br>>>
><br>></blockquote>
></html>
>
Kusenko
replaced by the CJ-prefixed ones. But, a local record store (long gone)
had a few Beatles LPs left (CDs were now big) and happened to have an
ST-prefixed Yesterday & Today so I picked it up. To my surprise, the
album played in MONO, even though it was marked stereo; and it played
super quiet, one of the quietest albums I own (a good mastering job).
I'm not sure if it is the mono mixes or someone at Capitol forgot to hit
the stereo switch on the cutter (or whatever!). It's been awhile since
i've played it, and i've never compared it to my Revolver mono lp so i'm
not sure. But I guess the later CJ issue had this, too (see post
below)... very strange.
anab...@alphalink.com.au
>In 1989, all the Capitol ST cataloged numbered albums were pretty much
>replaced by the CJ-prefixed ones. But, a local record store (long gone)
>had a few Beatles LPs left (CDs were now big) and happened to have an
>ST-prefixed Yesterday & Today so I picked it up. To my surprise, the
>album played in MONO, even though it was marked stereo; and it played
>super quiet, one of the quietest albums I own (a good mastering job).
>I'm not sure if it is the mono mixes or someone at Capitol forgot to hit
>the stereo switch on the cutter (or whatever!). It's been awhile since
>i've played it, and i've never compared it to my Revolver mono lp so i'm
>not sure. But I guess the later CJ issue had this, too (see post
>below)... very strange.
Strange but handy!!!! getting a brand new copy of rare beatles mixes
for little money is a great feeling!!!!
Anyway play the tracks I mentioned below.Dr robert is the
easiest,because"O.K.Herb"is at the end of the song(although at a low
level,like John before"for you blue"when he says his"Queen sais no to
F.B.I. stuff.".)and O.K Herb is on no other version, either mono or
stereo anywhere in the world!
I guess the other good thing capitol did was releasethe mono mix in
stereo of "I should have known better"(you know how in the stereo
version, the harmonica version breaks downearly on,but in mono it
doesn't,yet on this version it's stereo without the harmonica
breakdown)on the usa version of reel music(all other versions around
the world have the standard stereo mix,only the capitol has the
remixed into stereo mono mix)