The set debuted at number 40 on Billboard's Top 200 chart and the magazine reported that 12,000 copies were sold in its first week of release. [17] [18] In Japan, it debuted at number 10, selling over 20,000 copies in its first week on the Oricon album charts. [19] The set was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in April 2010. [20] Charts [ edit ] Chart (2009) Remastered using digital source ( used for CD's in 2009) ??? So, what is the purpose of pressing it on vinyl ? The Beatles(Box Set, Compilation, 14×CD, Album, Enhanced, Reissue, Remastered, Stereo, 2×CD, Compilation, Reissue, Remastered, Stereo, DVD, NTSC) As you can see, the mono mixes, for those early albums, were the most important. After all, mono was how most Beatles fans were listening to their music. There are plenty of minor differences between the mono and stereo mixes which can be spotted by the fan: a few extra seconds of music here, a different sound effect there. Generally speaking, more care and attention was placed upon the mono mixes for the early albums. Abbey Road was a -4/-3 beautiful recut by Harry a few times after the original Malcolm cut. His best cutting was on the green vinyl edition, in which I actually prefer over the -2/-1 original. The MFSL has its moments but is just way too bright. I’ll take the -2/-1, but with the vinyl of this 1978 pressing.

The albums Yellow Submarine, Abbey Road and Let It Be are not included in this set, as no true mono mixes of these albums were issued. The same holds true for the songs " The Ballad of John and Yoko", " Old Brown Shoe" and the single mix of " Let It Be", which were also omitted. A mono version of the Yellow Submarine album was released in the UK, but it was simply a fold-down (two stereo channels combined into one channel) from the stereo mix, not a unique and separate mono mix. Abbey Road and Let It Be were issued in the UK in mono on reel-to-reel tape and on LP in Brazil and other countries but, again, only as fold-downs from the respective stereo versions.Morris, Christopher (3 September 2009). "EMI to press more 'Beatles in Mono' ". Variety . Retrieved 5 September 2009. Oricon Weekly Album Charts for the third week of September 2009". Oricon (in Japanese) . Retrieved 1 October 2009. I’ve rammed through so many stereo pressings of the Beatles catalogue. The mono albums are easy-just buy the CD and Vinyl mono boxes from the past decade. The stereo albums on the other hand is so complicated. There’s the originals, hundreds of recuttings, MFSL pressings, DMM pressings, digital remasters and digital transfers. I can’t really explore the CDs, but I can at least talk about the vinyl cuttings. I hate the long matrix cuts from the 80’s pressings. I heard Sgt. Pepper from the box and was disgusted as to how bad it sounded. So, I decided to try to avoid an 80s box set. It took me so unbelievably long to find this 1978 box at a decent price, but I finally found one. To compare, I have original cuttings and an MFSL box. Heres my review: Overall, this is a great sounding box. Maybe the 1980 box will sound better, but it doesn’t have these great covers so I guess nobody wins. I highly recommend this box to anyone who does not have any stereo pressings. Dutchcharts.nl – The Beatles – The Beatles In Mono" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 29 September 2023.

The fact that the discs were cut by the Beatles original cutting engineer means you are getting very authentic versions of the songs. The rare versions included (see note from anygreg) make this an interesting listen even for hardcore fans. A Hard Day’s Night was a -2/-3 cutting. Side 1 was basically the -1 but with a 2 stamped over it. I am not a fan of the -1/-1 original of A Hard Day’s Night, so side 1 was too hot and was sibilant heavy. Side 2 was a complete 180. It sounded FANTASTIC! Smooth, clear and uncongested. Would take this over the original and the MFSL.

Another reason has been the demands of Apple: that amalgamation of the remaining Beatles plus the estates of the rest. Apple want any Beatles recordings to have a particular ‘sound’, a traditional presentation based upon the original recordings which, to some extent, constrained the mastering engineers at Abbey Road. To get the required sound required a considerable amount of EQ (Equalisation: boosting or reducing the levels of different frequencies in a signal), “To physically do this in real time whilst cutting from the original analogue masters would have been almost impossible to do,” said Magee. The Beatles(Box Set, Compilation, CD, Album, Enhanced, Remastered, Stereo, CD, Album, Enhanced, Remastered, Stereo, CD, Album, Enhanced, Remastered, Stereo, CD, Album, Enhanced, Remastered, Stereo, CD, Album, Enhanced, Remastered, Stereo, CD, Album, Enhanced, Remastered, Stereo, CD, Album, Enhanced, Remastered, Stereo, CD, Album, Enhanced, Remastered, Stereo, CD, Album, Enhanced, Remastered, Stereo, 2×CD, Album, Enhanced, Remastered, Stereo, CD, Album, Enhanced, Remastered, Stereo, CD, Album, Enhanced, Remastered, Stereo, CD, Album, Enhanced, Remastered, Stereo, 2×CD, Compilation, Remastered, Stereo, DVD, DVD-Video, NTSC) Ultratop.be – The Beatles – The Beatles In Mono" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 29 September 2023.

Let it Be was a -3U/-4, and sounded decent. It’s hard to beat the original -2U/-2U, because its a masterpiece. You just need to be precise with this fantastic album. The MFSL messed it up but did bring out the drums very well. I’ll take the original though. Haber, Dave (26 August 2009). "Update: Beatles Mono Box sold-out at more retailers now" . Retrieved 28 August 2009. Overall, the 2012 vinyl discs are well pressed, quiet and detailed sounding pressings. The first run European pressings had little to no quality control issues with them. Out of my entire set, I had a copy of Abbey Road that had some noise floor issues (but was returned for a clean replacement) and the copy of Sgt. Pepper's spindle hole was too tight (which a pencil fixed). It should also be noted that due to the huge roll out (at the beginning of the vinyl revival) were a lot of quality control reports during the first release of the US pressings ( The Beatles - The Beatles) from Rainbo Records.Find sources: "The Beatles in Mono"– news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR ( March 2023) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Caro, Mark (30 September 2014). "Going Mono a Mano with the Beatles", Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 1 October 2014. The Mono Mixes from the original masters. 11 Albums pressed on heavyweight 180 g vinyl. Replicas of the original LP sleeves and artwork. The Mono Masters compilation released on vinyl for the first time. Another point of interest is that a mastering engineer’s client can have a significant effect on the final product. If Apple was not so set on retaining the original EQ, I think that the Abbey Road engineers would have produced an even better sounding suite of albums. But then, we wouldn’t be listening to The Beatles as we know them. For the audiophile, is that a bad thing? You decide. Help! Was a -2/-3, and it was far superior over the original and the mfsl. You can actually hear the vocals on “The Night Before,” and the guitar on “I’ve Just Seen a Face” sounded so great.