Instead, Klaus Voorman’s hand-drawn art and collage — which includes The Beatles’ real eyes of psychedelic “experience” piercing through to the knowing viewer — capture more of the irreverent, forward-looking mood of where The Beatles actually were in 1966, and where the then-burgeoning underground music scene was heading via West Coast and London psychedelia movements alike. People who heard the Master Tapes always say that they are in fantastic condition and sound fabulous. Neither the 1980s CDs nor the 2009 CDs sound great, although they put a lot of work in it. At least that is what the engineers said at the time. It’s like we have too much bias in life anyway — too many preconceptions. People decide they want to hear something in a different way, then they do hear it a different way. I mean, a) I’m not deleting anything people already have, but b) I couldn’t do what I do if I was working in a purely analog domain. It would be impossible. It’s as simple as that. But, you ask, is it perfect? Well, Revolver as an album is already perfect unto itself [Agreed!—MM], and that designation of perfection will always be bestowed upon the original mono mix as constructed by The Beatles with original producer George Martin in 1966. However, the box set’s new stereo mix is a close second, for those of you who enjoy two-channel listening (Beatles or otherwise). It is a strong improvement over the earlier stereo mixes, revealing many new sonic details which were previously not possible.

What a pity that they are not able to give us (audiophile) consumers that experience. The finished product does not sound like it. Pressing plant and lacquer cut credit identified through runouts. Runouts are etched, Optimal plating symbols may be mirrored and inverted. Martin: Yes. It’s that collaborative nature and balance of the song that happens, which is really cool, to me. MM adds: If you want to read more about the minutiae behind the mixing and de-mixing process for the Revolver box set vinyl directly from Giles Martin, go here to read Mike Mettler’s in-depth wax-centric interview.] Mettler: And, really, you actually do have to listen to something before you decide you like it, or don’t like it. If you like the mono, it’s gonna be in the Revolver box set. If you want the stereo only, you can buy it separately. Like you said, you’re not taking anything away from anyone. You’re giving people the option: “Here are X number of versions.”

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Why are they not able to transfer that "original" sound into the digital domain or onto LP records (I am not referring to the Mono Box set, although I am missing a Mono Box set in Hi-Resolution and audiophile quality, which means with full dynamics and no added compression and all that nonsense)? Martin: Not yet, to be honest. We haven’t gotten that far — to look at the [earlier] stereo recordings and do a good job of that. Things get more complicated. Again, you don’t want to do things for the sake of it.

Mettler: Was there ever any thought of going with 140-gram vinyl for Revolver, as opposed to 180-gram? Did that ever come up? Martin: And when it comes to the vinyl — I mean, we are in the digital domain cutting the vinyl, but it does mean we can do a half-speed cut, for instance. That means we get a more accurate cut, and a better-sounding vinyl. [Note: All Revolver vinyl is being pressed at GZ, in the Czech Republic.] Mettler: For those people who have this little asterisk in their head about “the digital thing” being involved in the Revolver process, what is your response to that line of thinking? What do you say to them?

This album was cut from the original master tapes using a completely analogue signal path and with constant reference to the notes made by the cutting engineer for the first pressing of the LP. It has been made with current technology and without imposing the restrictions necessitated by the limitations of record players in the 1960s. Consequently, this version reveals more of the content of the audio on the master tapes. And he’ll talk about the dynamics. Generally, he’s really happy. When we come across the guitar solo in “Taxman,” which I think I have on the right-hand side, he’ll go, “Let's turn it up in the middle to make it loud,” or say the same with the guitars in “And Your Bird Can Sing.” And then we talk about the song. That’s the way we’ll work through it. Martin: Absolutely. And that’s all of it. They’re the only people who have to sign off. That’s it. There’s no record label sign off and there are no A&R teams, or anything like that. And, bizarrely, I’m trying to take away technology. People don’t realize, I’m actually trying to take it away. I had this meeting recently with some people who were talking about compression. “But, see, you do realize that all music is compressed or limited — it has been for years. There’s only a small period of time between like 1972 and 1979 where there wasn’t heavy, heavy limiting.” And I was like, “Well, what were your favorite records?” They were like, “’Sultans of Swing’ by Dire Straits [from 1978], and also toss in some Pink Floyd” — all kinds of stuff from that period of time. It’s amazing how many preconceived rules people have in their head about things. Giles Martin: The mono is a straight, pure transfer of the mono master. The stereo is a stereo mix that has been remixed, and the other one [the mono] hasn’t. There’s no point in me doing a new mono mix. Someone asked me about it today — like, “Why don’t you?” There isn’t any point, really.

Selected items are only available for delivery via the Royal Mail 48® service and other items are available for delivery using this service for a charge.Last week, I told you about strawberry fields, where — sorry, wrong Beatles reference. One, two, three, four (cough) — last week, I told you how it will be on October 28, when Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol/UMe will be releasing The Beatles seminal August 1966 album Revolver in a 180g 4LP/1EP Special Edition Super Deluxe box set. (You can go here to read all the details regarding what comprises that release.) Because of the nature of the bouncing process to make so-called “reduction mixes” along the way, instrumental detailing was no doubt lost or buried in the process — for all its glories, one of the downsides of analog recording is you lose information with each generation of copying. Many times, that lost sonic data (if you will) was crucial to delivering a sense of realism — and that sense of place in so far as studio ambiance is concerned. This is, in part, one reason many analog jazz recordings cut basically live-to-tape in the 1950s and early-1960s sound so great. The Revolver box set of course showcases the Grammy-winning original album artwork created by The Beatles’ longtime friend, German bassist, artist — and, for some of the solo-era Beatles, future musical collaborator — Klaus Voormann. But we also get to see the alternate cover art by longtime photographer/collaborator Robert Friedman, who had done many of their album cover photos including the iconic one for With The Beatles (a.k.a. Meet The Beatles in the U.S.). More literal in concept, the alternate Revolver cover design gracing the Sessions LP gatefold cover features a groovy swirling collage of images of all four Beatles. It is very cool in its own way, but I can kind of see why they opted to not go with it. Martin: No — it happens all over the stereo, actually. But certain cases are interesting enough where I could separate the acoustic guitar and the drums on the other side of the brain completely — but it doesn’t sound right if I do so. The acoustic guitar sounds like it needs the drums near it, you know. There are certain things where you feel like you’ve lost your keys — like something has gone missing.