Albumen har remastrats under en fyraårsperiod av ett team på EMI's Abbey
Road Studios i London. Samlingen inkluderar alla tolv Beatlesalbumen i stereo, med låtordning och utseende som när de ursprungligen gavs ut i England och i Sverige. Då tillsammans med Magical Mystery Tour vilken ursprungligen var en dubbel-EP men som sedan varit en del av The Beatles albumkatalog alltsedan CD-skivorna först gavs ut år 1987.
Dessutom är nu ’Past Masters Vol. I och II’ sammanslagna till en dubbel-cd. Totalt 14 album ges ut varav två är dubbelalbum.
För första gången ges de fyra första Beatlesalbumen ut i stereo på CD. Dessa
14 album, kommer också att ges ut tillsammans i en stereobox.
I varje CD-häfte finns detaljerade inspelningsdetaljer samt en historisk tillbakablick på samtliga album.
Med undantag av ’Past Masters’, så innehåller varje album QuickTime-filer med nyproducerade minidokumentärer om respektive inspelning. Dokumentärerna innehåller arkivfilmer, unika bilder och aldrig tidigare publicerat småprat i studion mellan tagningarna. Detta ger en unik och mycket personlig insyn i studioatmosfären.
I stereoboxen finns dessa dokumentärer på en separat DVD.
Ytterligare en Cd-box har satts samman för den riktige Beatlessamlaren. ”The Beatles In Mono”. Denna box sammanställer för första gången alla The Beatles inspelningar vilka ursprungligen mixats för en utgivning i mono.
Detta var den vanligaste formen att presentera ljud när inspelningarna ursprungligen gjordes. Boxen innehåller 10 av albumen i sina ursprungliga monomixningar, varav flera aldrig tidigare har givits ut på CD.
Dessutom ingår i boxen ytterligare två album vilka samlar ihop övriga monomixningar vilka tidigare ursprungligen utgivits på singel och EP-plattor. Som en extra bonus innehåller CD-albumen ”Help!” och “Rubber Soul” de ursprungliga stereomixningarna från 1965. Dessa har aldrig tidigare givits ut på CD.
Dessa album förpackas som kopior av LP-skivorna, komplett med respektive innerpåsar och etiketter.
Re-mastering the Beatles catalogue.
The re-mastering process commenced with an extensive period conducting tests before finally copying the analogue master tapes into the digital medium. When this was completed, the transfer was achieved using a Pro Tools workstation operating at 24 bit 192 kHz resolution via a Prism A-D converter. Transferring was a lengthy procedure done a track at a time. Although EMI tape does not suffer the oxide loss associated with some later analogue tapes, there was nevertheless a slight build up of dust, which was removed from the tape machine heads between each title.
From the onset, considerable thought was given to what audio restorative processes
were going to be allowed. It was agreed that electrical clicks, microphone vocal pops,
excessive sibilance and bad edits should be improved where possible, so long as it
didn't impact on the original integrity of the songs.
In addition, de-noising technology, which is often associated with re-mastering, was to be used, but subtly and sparingly. Eventually, less than five of the 525 minutes of
Beatles music was subjected to this process. Finally, as is common with today’s music, overall limiting - to increase the volume level of the CD - has been used, but on the stereo versions only. However, it was unanimously agreed that because of the importance of The Beatles’ music, limiting would be used moderately, so as to retain the original dynamics of the recordings.
When all of the albums had been transferred, each song was then listened to several times to locate any of the agreed imperfections. These were then addressed by Guy Massey, working with Audio Restoration engineer Simon Gibson.
Mastering could now take place, once the earliest vinyl pressings, along with the existing CD's, were loaded into Pro Tools, thus allowing comparisons to be made with the original master tapes during the equalization process. When an album had been completed, it was auditioned the next day in studio three - a room familiar to the engineers, as all of the recent Beatles mixing projects had taken place in there - and any further alteration of EQ could be addressed back in the mastering room.
Following the initial satisfaction of Guy and Steve, Allan Rouse and Mike Heatley then checked each new re-master in yet another location and offered any further suggestions. This continued until all 13 albums were completed to the team's satisfaction. |