Mono albums to Stereo Albums

[tubemusic]

If an album was recorded mono and pressed to vinyl in mono how is it then sold as a stereo pressing too. For an example " Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers ‎– Meet You At The Jazz Corner Of The World (Volume 1)" sold in 1960 as mono then released in 1987 as Stereo. Now the Art Blakey is just an example I'm using. There are tons of old albums that were recorded in mono but later released in stereo. My question, how is that done? Thanks

 

[johnebravo]

If an album was recorded mono and pressed to vinyl in mono how is it then sold as a stereo pressing too. For an example " Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers ‎– Meet You At The Jazz Corner Of The World (Volume 1)" sold in 1960 as mono then released in 1987 as Stereo. Now the Art Blakey is just an example I'm using. There are tons of old albums that were recorded in mono but later released in stereo. My question, how is that done? Thanks

If they were recorded in mono, and mono only, it can't be done. If, however, it was originally recorded in stereo, there may have been both mono and stereo issues originally, since in those days, if you had a mono stylus, you couldn't play stereo records.

There were also later reissues of "mono only" recordings which were "electronically processed to simulate stereo", but those are typically regarded as far less desirable. On the other hand, they may sound just great if the music on it is right -- I've got more than a few of those.

 

[for_p1]

Another thing is mislabeled disks. Some I heard marked as "stereo" didn't have any sound outside of dead center in sound stage.

 

[Sam Cogley]

A whole lot of stuff was recorded with two, three or four track equipment even in the early 1950s, then mixed down to mono for sale. The famous 1954 Fritz Reiner/Chicago Symphony Orchestra recording of "Also Sprach Zarathustra" is a great example - while commercial stereo LPs were still three years away, it was recorded on a two or three track tape machine, making true stereo releases possible.

 

[fips152]

Duophonic

If an album was recorded mono and pressed to vinyl in mono how is it then sold as a stereo pressing too. For an example " Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers ?– Meet You At The Jazz Corner Of The World (Volume 1)" sold in 1960 as mono then released in 1987 as Stereo. Now the Art Blakey is just an example I'm using. There are tons of old albums that were recorded in mono but later released in stereo. My question, how is that done? Thanks

Most of those originally-mono LP recordings that were later released as stereo were "electronically processed to simulate stereo" (or some similar phrase). See "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duophonic" for some details.

Some of the originally-mono LP releases were recorded on early two, three, or four-track recorders and from those tapes true stereo masters for pressings could be made.

Also, starting in 1954, commercilly-available reel-to-reel releases of true stereo recordings were available (but not entire catalogs, just a small subset of what was available on mono LP).