Mono Byrds

[Mal]

OK, time to open this can of worms.....

What is the state of the Byrds mono recordings?

Lost, missing, damaged or are they just lying unused in the side of a mountain somewhere?!

I have the two volumes of the mono singles issued on LP circa 1980 (second volume issued in UK only I think). These sound OK (Vol. I is a bit phasey - did someone play the tape with a stereo head and sum the channels?.....) and are, according to the liner notes, "taken from original single masters".

The CD version of volume one, which came out a few years after the LPs, sounds BAD! Were different masters used for all the tracks? The wrong version of "Why" is used on the CD (despite the liner notes specifically stating that it is the single version - DOH!).

So, what of the mono masters?
Has Sundazed released any mono Byrds LPs?
Will we ever see mono Byrds on SACD (no remixes please :p)?

[Grant]

Oh, they're likely sitting in a huge vault inside of a mountain somewhere in the northeastern US.

[Andrew]

Let's hope they're safe somewhere.

[btomarra]

They should have released the mono single of Goin' Back as a bonus track on Notorious Byrd Brothers. They need to release these babies as a collection.

I like the revamped Byrds Greatest Hits but it's still weak on song selection. I believe the total CD time is under 40 minutes (even with the three bonus tracks)!

The Byrds need a one or two disc anthology. There are good imports out there.

Brian

:)

[Steve Hoffman]

Originally posted by Malc S


I have the two volumes of the mono singles issued on LP circa 1980 (second volume issued in UK only I think). These sound OK (Vol. I is a bit phasey - did someone play the tape with a stereo head and sum the channels?.....)

The CD version of volume one, which came out a few years after the LPs, sounds BAD! Were different masters used for all the tracks? The wrong version of "Why" is used on the CD (despite the liner notes specifically stating that it is the single version - DOH!).
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Those Byrd singles albums do sound pretty bad, and yes they did the dumb mastering no-no No. 1, by playing a mono tape with a stereo head and then COMBINING the channels during mastering. Dreadful. I'm sure the original tapes are fine. I just don't think anyone is going to do anything with them in the near future, now that there is so much, er, remixing going on.

[Grant]

Steve, I know playing a mono tape with a stereo head is bad news, but one engineer told me that the common method was to take the best sounding side. Some insist that you should only use a mono head.

What is your view, and what is the common procedure?

[Steve Hoffman]

Originally posted by Grant
Steve, I know playing a mono tape with a stereo head is bad news, but one engineer told me that the common method was to take the best sounding side. Some insist that you should only use a mono head.

What is your view, and what is the common procedure?

Well, first of all, playing a mono tape with a stereo head isn't bad news, I do it all the time. Combining the channels to reform it into mono is bad news and it is shocking how many CD's have mono mixes on them that are "out of phase". No excuse for this type of bull***** mastering.

Phew. Well, to answer your question, I usually use the left or right channel of the mono feed, depending on which side is less worn than the other. Using a mono head means that there is a lot of stuff being transferred that I might not want, like noise, etc.

Now, there is nothing wrong with using a mono head, in fact some mastering engineers brag about doing it that way, but I like more control than that. So, usually I just pick and choose the best part of the mono tape from a stereo signal.

[Mal]

Don't you lose a little S/N ratio if you only use half the tape width?

I remember my old boss telling me that he once calculated that when recording one channel on to a 1-inch 16 track, that it was good to use 4 tracks on the tape to get the optimum S/N (beyond that the law of diminishing returns came into play).

[Steve Hoffman]

Not really. The gain is you can pick the part of the signal that has the least problem. That to me is the best thing about doing it this way. S/N doesn't really count when the program is that much louder than the "floor".

[Ronflugelguy]

What's an EXTREME MEMBER? :confused: