Your Favorite MONO mix vs. Stereo

I never understood wow anyone could pick a bad stereo mix over a superior mono mix just because it has separation.

 

Even the White album...what does that mean! lol

I've only had the mono version in my house. I've loved my mono double lp for years and years, well into the CD age. Then someone gave me a mono "bootleg" copy as a gift. The only time I hear the stereo versions is in the car listening to the radio. The stereo mixes don't blow me away. They just don't seem to rock as well imo.

 

Every Motown hit released prior to 72.

 

I've always thought the mono version of The Electric Prunes' debut album was fantastic. It's awesome in stereo as well, but the mono mix just has something about it...

 

I've thought about this a bit. I think it has to do with separation (or space between the instruments) being perceived as higher fidelity. To a lot of people the sound of 60's mono mixes is too jumbled to sound HiFi, but when there is space in between the instruments all of a sudden you can hear more clearly and you think that it sounds more HiFi...energy be damned.

 

The Chet Atkins Album: "A Session With Chet Atkins" RCA LPM-1090 is so well mixed you would swear it was stereo.

 

BUMP.

I, too, have never heard Kinks' SE in mono, save for my Two Sisters/Waterloo 45..(which I definitely like better than the stereo mixes)

 

The mono mix of "Love Me Till The Sun Shines" is on the 2-CD "Ultimate Kinks" collection. It doesn't sound much better (if any) than the stereo mix. If I recall correctly, the mono runs a little faster than the stereo mix.

 

I like both the mono and stereo version of Linda Ronstadt's "Love Has No Pride" for different reasons. The mono has a more interesting instrumental mix, but the lead vocal is too wet. I think Steve made the correct choice in using the stereo version for Linda's DCC Greatest Hits album. For an artist like her, go with the better sounding vocal.

 

So would I. There's been speculation from various sources that it did indeed exist in a miniscule pressing for radio play only, but until I see pics, I don't believe it.

Hunt down the 45 with JOKE on one side and GREASY HEART on the other. GH is quite the ballsy mono mix!

Refresh my memory.....was the CROWN OF CREATION single in mono or stereo? And what was the flip? LATHER, perhaps?

 

Cream - Fresh Cream, Disraeli Gears
Yardbirds - Roger the Engineer
Beatles - Revolver, The Beatles (etc.)

 

45's:

Beatles:

"Revolution" MONO kicks butt over Stereo

"Rain" MONO kicks butt over Stereo

 

Go on, rub it in, LOL! I've been looking for mono Time Out and Time Further Out for a while...just can't get them reasonably priced in Australia. Looks like inflated ebay prices (plus $20 postage tags) is the only way to go.

Anyway, I quite like S&G "Bookends" album in mono. Also a bit partial to The Kink's "Village Green Preservation Society" album.

This is from a guy who would take the 2-track stereo "Please Please Me" and "With The Beatles" albums over the monos anyday...

 

Jethro Tull This was
Dead Golden Road to Unlimited Devotion
the Sgt Pepper Reprise
most of the first Country Joe and the Fish lp

 

The 59th Street Bridge Song by Harpers Bizarre kicks butt in mono, and wimps along in stereo.

Joy To The World by Three Dog Night is absolutely horrible in stereo, let alone that it's also a bad mix too.

 

Lady Madonna

 

I agree - I'm definitely appreciating mono mixes over bad stereo mixes more, but even a song like "Jelly Jungle" by The Lemon Pipers - the impact of the panning string section in the beginning is so important - I can't imagine what a dud that song would sound like in mono.

Anyway, not a popular song, but a great bubblepsych tune. I always make sure and get inbetween the speakers when I play that song.

Jeff

 

dang! somebody beat me to it! lol I have the 1976 Capitol re-issue, and it's a NM copy of the disc in mono, and I confirmed on this board that it's the same mix as on the original Parlophone and Capitol 1966 singles. And I have to add 'Rain' as well, the B-side. These two are a one-two punch for sure.

And I see someone else mentioned 'Rain' before me-I didn't see that post before I wrote this one, but I am glad that someone else has heard it in mono also.

 

forgive the double post but was this mixed by Bill Porter?

 

Yes.

Synergy and good arrangements be damned too.

A recent thread on Wide Panning is good reading too.

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=123731&highlight=message+mary

 

Mind you, I was assuming that the original lp had been released in both stereo and mono, just like "...Pillow" (and "...Baxter"?) and that the mono sources for the COC sessions were existing for sure.
Sorry I don't know much more.

 

The Association - "Windy"

 

Same with the mono mix of "Shotgun" compared to the stereo.

 

I have a couple of 45s by Boston's legendary REMAINS, and their stuff is so much much more exciting in hard mono than on the creampuff stereo mixes.

I'm dying to score a mono copy of their LP, but it's rare as heck in either format.