yaya97
Super Member
This morning an album that I have been looking for on fleabay ( Joyride by Stantley Turrentine) appreared twice.. One in mono (original 65) for only $26 and a later Liberty Stereo pressing (white and blue with Van gelder stamp) for $9. I felt cheap so I hit the buy now on the stereo one. As expected 10 minutes later the MONO version was also gone.
I then had regrets...I missed out on the awesome mono sound.... then I read this on accousticsounds website
The Truth about Blue Note Monos
Many customers have wondered why we've chosen to favor Stereo over Mono in our latest Blue Note Records reissue project. It seems there's a fair amount of misinformation out there regarding a perception that Mono Blue Notes are superior to their Stereo counterparts. The truth is, every Rudy Van Gelder Blue Note session after October 30, 1958 was recorded in Stereo only. The Mono releases of those recordings were created by folding down the Stereo master tape. In other words, there was no true Mono master, only a Stereo master that then birthed the Mono master! There was a short period of time - March 1957 to October 30, 1958 - when RVG did in fact run dual Mono and Stereo session tapes. For Blue Notes from that period of time, the Mono version was in fact cut from a Mono master. But for all others, every Mono was cut from a folded-down Stereo tape. In fact, the master tape boxes from these great sessions each include a notation by RVG himself that says, "monaural masters made 50/50 from stereo master."
Mono Blue Notes are typically much more desirable on the collector's market. Because of that, the assumption of everyone involved with both the Analogue Productions and Music Matters, Ltd. Blue Note reissue projects was that the Mono master tapes were going to sound better than the Stereo master tapes. Imagine the surprise when mastering engineers Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman discovered that there were no true Mono master tapes for sessions later than October 1958! But of course the real proof is in the reel. Without a single exception, Kevin, Steve and everyone involved agreed that the Stereo masters sounded vastly superior to the summed Mono masters. The Stereos, in every instance, sounded much more lifelike with far greater detail, air and ambience.
Another point supporting our choice to favor Stereo, as if there's any need for one after that discovery, is that listeners can still choose to hear these classic recordings played back in Mono by simply pushing the Mono button on their preamp or by using a Y-connector to feed the two Stereo channels into Mono, exactly as RVG himself did.
So, however you choose to enjoy these reissues, we hope we've helped to dispel a myth.
Ifeel a bit better...:tears:
I then had regrets...I missed out on the awesome mono sound.... then I read this on accousticsounds website
The Truth about Blue Note Monos
Many customers have wondered why we've chosen to favor Stereo over Mono in our latest Blue Note Records reissue project. It seems there's a fair amount of misinformation out there regarding a perception that Mono Blue Notes are superior to their Stereo counterparts. The truth is, every Rudy Van Gelder Blue Note session after October 30, 1958 was recorded in Stereo only. The Mono releases of those recordings were created by folding down the Stereo master tape. In other words, there was no true Mono master, only a Stereo master that then birthed the Mono master! There was a short period of time - March 1957 to October 30, 1958 - when RVG did in fact run dual Mono and Stereo session tapes. For Blue Notes from that period of time, the Mono version was in fact cut from a Mono master. But for all others, every Mono was cut from a folded-down Stereo tape. In fact, the master tape boxes from these great sessions each include a notation by RVG himself that says, "monaural masters made 50/50 from stereo master."
Mono Blue Notes are typically much more desirable on the collector's market. Because of that, the assumption of everyone involved with both the Analogue Productions and Music Matters, Ltd. Blue Note reissue projects was that the Mono master tapes were going to sound better than the Stereo master tapes. Imagine the surprise when mastering engineers Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman discovered that there were no true Mono master tapes for sessions later than October 1958! But of course the real proof is in the reel. Without a single exception, Kevin, Steve and everyone involved agreed that the Stereo masters sounded vastly superior to the summed Mono masters. The Stereos, in every instance, sounded much more lifelike with far greater detail, air and ambience.
Another point supporting our choice to favor Stereo, as if there's any need for one after that discovery, is that listeners can still choose to hear these classic recordings played back in Mono by simply pushing the Mono button on their preamp or by using a Y-connector to feed the two Stereo channels into Mono, exactly as RVG himself did.
So, however you choose to enjoy these reissues, we hope we've helped to dispel a myth.
Ifeel a bit better...:tears:
