The Beatles' accled original studio album remasters, released
on CD in 2009, make their long-awaited stereo vinyl debut
Manufactured on 180-gram, audiophile quality vinyl with
replicated artwork, the 14 albums return to their original glory
with details including the in The Beatles (The White
Album), the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band's cut-outs, and
special inner bags for some of the titles
The titles include The Beatles' 12 original UK albums, first
released between 1963 and 1970, the US-originated Magical Mystery
Tour, now part of the group's core catalogue, and Past Masters,
Volumes One & Two, first released individually in 1988, featuring
non-album A-sides and B-sides, EP tracks and rarities. With this
release, The Beatles' first four albums make their North American
stereo vinyl debuts
Rubber Soul features George Martin's 1986 stereo remix
There has always been demand for The Beatles' albums on vinyl.
Indeed, 2011's best-selling vinyl LP in the United States was
Abbey Road. Following the success of The Beatles' accled,
GRAMMY Award-winning 2009 CD remasters, it was decided that the
sound experts at EMI's Abbey Road Studios should create new
versions of The Beatles' vinyl LPs. The project demanded the same
meticulous approach taken for the CD releases, and the brief was
a simple one: cut the digital remasters to vinyl with an absolute
minimum of compromise to the sound. However, the process involved
to do that was far from simple
The first stage in transferring the sound of a master
to vinyl is the creation of a disc to be used during vinyl
manufacture. There were two options to consider. A Direct Metal
Master (DMM), developed in the late seventies, allows sound to be
cut directly into a stainless steel disc coated with a hard
copper alloy. The older, alternative method is to cut the sound
into the soft lacquer coating on a nickel disc - the first of
several steps leading to the production of a stamper to press the
vinyl
A 'blind' listening test was arranged to choose between a
'lacquer' or 'copper' cut. Using both methods, A Hard Day's Night
was pressed with ten seconds of silence at the beginning and end
of each side. This allowed not only the reproduction of the music
to be assessed, but also the noise made by the vinyl itself.
After much discussion, two factors swung the decision towards
using the lacquer process. First, it was judged to create a
warmer sound than a DMM. Secondly, there was a practical
advantage of having 'blank' discs of a consistent quality when
cutting lacquers
The next step was to use the Neumann VMS80 cutting lathe at
Abbey Road. Following thorough mechanical and electrical tests to
ensure it was operating in peak condition, engineer Sean Magee
cut the LPs in chronological release order. He used the original
24-bit remasters rather than the 16-bit versions that were
required for CD production. It was also decided to use the
remasters that had not undergone 'limiting' - a procedure to
increase the sound level, which is deemed necessary for most
current pop CDs
Having made initial test cuts, Magee pinpointed any sound
problems that can occur during playback of vinyl records. To
rectify them, changes were made to the remasters with a Digital
Audio Workstation. For example, each vinyl album was listened to
for any 'sibilant episodes' - vocal distortion that can occur on
consonant sounds such as S and T. These were corrected by
reducing the level in the very small portion of sound causing the
undesired effect. Similarly, any likelihood of 'inner-groove
distortion' was addressed. As the stylus approaches the centre of
the record, it is liable to track the groove less accurately.
This can affect the high-middle frequencies, producing a 'mushy'
sound particularly noticeable on vocals. Using what Magee has
described as 'surgical EQ,' problem frequencies were identified
and reduced in level to compensate for this
The last phase of the vinyl mastering process began with the
arrival of the first batches of test pressings made from master
lacquers that had been sent to the two pressing factories.
Stringent quality tests identified any noise or click appearing
on more than one test pressing in the same place. If this
happened, it was clear that the undesired sounds had been
introduced either during the cutting or the pressing stage and so
the test records were rejected. In the quest to achieve the
highest quality possible, the Abbey Road team worked closely with
the pressing factories and the manufacturers of the lacquer and
cutting styli
An additional and unusual challenge was to ensure the proper
playback of the sounds embedded in the 'lock-groove' at the end
of side two of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Requiring a
combination of good timing and luck, it had always been a lengthy
and costly process to make it work properly. In fact, it was so
tricky, it had never been attempted for American pressings of the
LP. Naturally, Sean Magee and the team perfected this and the
garbled message is heard as originally intended on the remastered
Sgt. Pepper LP.
- Disc 1.
- Side 1.
- 1. Drive My Car.
- 2. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown).
- 3. You Won't See Me.
