Beatles Reissues on VINYL Finally


Set to ship on November 13th, 2012.

The Beatles Stereo Albums 180g 16LP Limited Edition Box Set, plus available as individual LPs.

All 12 Studio Albums plus Magical Mystery Tour and Past Masters in a Stereo Box Set.

Sourced from the Original Master Tapes.

Cut at Abbey Road Studios by a First-Rate Team of Producers and Engineers.

Proper care and a painstaking series of steps were taken to ensure that music lovers would hear the Fab Four in all their glory. With EMI’s legendary Abbey Road Studios providing the backdrop, the four-year restoration process combined veteran expertise, state-of-the-art equipment, vintage studio gear, and rigorous testing to net what is without doubt the highest fidelity possible and authentic, jaw-dropping sound guaranteed to rival the original LPs. There is no longer any need to pay hundreds of dollars for Japanese pressings.

At the start of the restoration process, engineers conducted extensive tests before copying the analog master tapes into the digital realm using 24-bit/192 kHz resolution and a Prism A-D converter. Dust build-ups were removed from tape machine heads after the completion of each title. Artifacts such as electrical clicks, microphone vocal pops, excessive sibilance, and poor edits were improved upon as long as it was determined that doing so didn’t at all damage the integrity of the songs. Similarly, de-noising technology was applied in only a few necessary spots and on a sum total of less than five of the entire 525 minutes of Beatles music. Compression was also used sparingly and only on the stereo versions to preserve the sanctity of the dynamics.

A rigorous string of checks and balances ensured that the results exceeded expectations. Subject to numerous playback tests, songs were auditioned by the remastering team to determine if any lingering mistakes needed correction. The restored versions were also compared side-by-side against the original vinyl pressings (loaded into Pro Tools), and then again auditioned in the same studio where all recent Beatles projects, including Love, were mixed. Once all EQ issues had been addressed, another round of listening litmus tests occurred in still another location. Finalization required the approval of everyone involved in the remastering process. For this project, there was no such thing as too many cooks in the kitchen. Yes, it took a village to get it right.

Each album features original U.K. vinyl album artwork, original U.K. track listings, expanded booklets containing original and newly penned liner notes, recording notes, rare photos, and fold-out packaging. Everything comes housed in a tall, glossy, hard black lift-top case augmented with a magnetic clasp.
128x128mofimadness

Showing 7 responses by stickman451

Mono vinyl would require a second tone arm and mono cartridge... it's only money...
I noticed that Messrs Pearson and Fremer have just gotten thier box sets; will be interesting to hear thier thoughts...

I have mine but haven't opened it yet. Aiming for this weekend.
I opened my extra copy of SPLHCB last night (still haven't open the box set) and was pleasantly surprised; it sounds decent, not wonderful but good. I wish that they had used a better pressing plant, the vinyl is nosier than it has to be be. The cover art is also decent, much better I think than Abbey Road....

I will still probably return the unopened box set (alread got the RMA # from AS) but I am going to wait until I receive the 1978 Blue Box set that I picked-up off of eBay; if it is as good as I have heard others claim then the new box set goes back.
Well, I played the new Abbey Road last night; not good.
Actually I had ordered both a complete Box Set(which I have
not opened yet) and a single copy of Abbey Road.

It sounds terrible! It is closed-in, distant, and almost
distorted; maybe my copy is just a really bad pressing???
Not sure.

I am going to call AS today and discuss returning the Box
Set and may send the open copy of AR back so that they can
take a listen and make their own judgement.

The artwork on Abbey Road is also very disappointing; not
high quality at all. The colors on the cover seem washed-out
and the paper material just seems cheap, like re-cycled
cardboard...

Mr. Fremer gave the new Abbey Road a '10' for Music (I
agree) and an "8" for Sound...NO WAY. I like and
respect Mikey, have spoken to him many times at the various
shows, but he has missed this one big time. A "5"
on Sound is much closer to the Truth.

I don't get caught-up in the vinyl vs digital debates or the
192/24 vs 96/24 vs 44/24 vs 44/16 and so on...Yes, overall I
think on average vinyl typically trumps digital (but not
always; there are many variables and most go back to how
well was the original recording was done and handled); I
just want the version that sounds the Best or Great!

This new Beatles Box set is pretty much a failure; it's
really disappointing that we cannot get the record companies
to present an outstanding quality, hi-resolution, and top
quality Box set of the absolute greatest music group of ALL
TIME. Shame on EMI and all parties that were involved in
the release.