Hello Stephen,
THanks for these study-videos.  When you were working on the original sessions did you perform the mastering as well as the engineering and mix-down?Or was mastering performed separately at, say, the preparation-for-vinyl stage?  If someone else did a final mastering prior to pressing did that represent a loss of control that you/the band were ever uncomfortable with?
Regards,
Keith

COMMENT:  Working to get my book out to the fans, so you'll get a short answer. It's covered in the book, forthcoming. Stay tuned.

Like someone other than the author best does the editing of a book, someone who did not mix the original track best does Mastering. Mastering engineers are a breed unto themselves. I have my favorites and used Artisan for mastering. We mixed on Altec monitors and mastered on JBL monitors. I was at all sessions and OKed the final master LP matrix. A test pressing was made and then Carl signed-off on the final if he liked it. Thus artistic control was maintained, at least with the first issues. A "LP Master Tape" was also made at this time. This tape contained all the EQ and level changes made for the LP matrix, so that any need for a new matrix (due to sales) is a flat transfer from the LP Master Tape. European releases are all made from the LP Master Tape or a copy thereof. Therefore, reissues of the LP and all foreign issues are one or two generations removed from the actual mix master. Re-issues of the new HD digital versions are the work of mastering engineers outside of the group's influence. These remasters usually have analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog steps which renders a sonic signature different from the original, not necessarily bad, but different. If you want to hear the original, you must find a first-issue pressing and reproduce the LP on a completely analog playback system.

~SWD

Thanks.  I was curious because I remember George Harrison commenting that when Capitol got hold of Beatles' masters they tended to compress them.    He wasn't happy but I got the impression that they (the Beatles), had no control over what EMI's sister company did with their productions when they got to the US.
Looking forward to the book. 
Regards

Keith

Hello Stephen,
THanks for these study-videos.  When you were working on the original sessions did you perform the mastering as well as the engineering and mix-down?Or was mastering performed separately at, say, the preparation-for-vinyl stage?  If someone else did a final mastering prior to pressing did that represent a loss of control that you/the band were ever uncomfortable with?
Regards,
Keith

Stephen, I have just spent a happy time listening to the new mixes, especially Heroes and Villains.  The clarity delivered by the two processes you allude to is impressive. For the first time one is almost invited into the mix.  I have a thought and a question.  On the spacial expansion in the stereo image, I found myself sparing a thought for the one person who probably could not "get it": Brian.  Forgive me, I collapsed it to mono to see what he would probably hear: a clearer, sharper reproduction. The question: is the effect of the restoration of the leading edge of the sound waves restoring what would have been heard over the studio monitors at final mix or does it restore clarity that would have already been eroded by tape transfers and bouncing prior to final mix-down?Best regards,
Keith

COMMENT:  The process of restoring leading edge harmonics does, in theory, look back to the first generation of recording and on up-through the last (in analog) and to the result of A2D and D2A conversions (in digital). The outcome should be more in keeping with what the engineers and artists hear in the control room directly from microphones in the studio.

Leading edge harmonics are the cues used by the human brain to clarity and separate several similar sonic events. They're like "markers" the brain uses to make sense of the auditory input it receives from the tympanic membrane (ear). Remember the ear does not hear sound. It only senses barometric pressure changes and converts them to electro-chemical signals. But due to a phenomena called "latent synaptic transfer" or the delay in time it takes a nerve signal to pass from one synaptic connection to the next, the ear uses a coded methodology to send sonic signals to the brain, otherwise it would not be able to pass signals higher than 1,200 Hz. What we perceive as sound is purely happening in the brain and not in the atmosphere. Sound is a mental phenomenon or a mental projection externalized, that is, only existing between your ears although presented to you as if external to your body. One important cue of this coded methodology to which the brain responds is the first crest of the wave of barometric pressure change it receives. This first crest, continues to undulate and becomes a tone. But the first shape of the wave front -- the leading edge -- is the most significant. It establishes the “pattern recognition” used by the brain to recall any sonic event.

Due to phase anomalies in copying, physical deterioration over time, magnetic creep from storage, and digital dither or time-code flutter in conversion, the leading edge may be eliminated or depressed so that the body of the wave form becomes the leading edge, removing the best cue for clarity from ever reaching the ear, unless it is restored. This is NOT done by turning up the treble -- that is a false clarity that soon fatigues the brain and makes listening less than musical sounding. Some of these so-called "new releases" in HD or from mystical Japanese mastering houses have so much top end it makes my teeth grind. Besides not having the playback half of the matrix, they lack the very core of the production. But they also tend to follow the current style of today by adding too much top end in the name of clarity. In reality what they are really doing is upsetting the musical balance and not clarifying anything. It's like adding more sugar to a cake or coke. At first it tastes better because it's sweeter, but soon you want "the real thing" and New Coke is discarded in favor of the Classic stuff.

There are about twenty songs finished and waiting on their respective editorial comments to be added. As they become study-videos, compare – side-by-side --  some of their sound with the new re-issues. You will at first think the new releases have more transparency, but as you listen more and more it becomes a thinness to the sound. The robustness and fullness that makes for a more musical resonance is lacking. The alternate solution, leading edge restoration, will over time sound more pleasing, because it resembles what the brain recognizes as a “musical model” more in keeping with a natural representation. That’s why I say, if it sounds a little dull to what you are use to hearing, just turn it up a notch or two. That will bring the loudness of the restored-leading-edge-balance in-line with the false loudness that treble boost brings, however with it will come a more musically satisfying listening experience – and in the end it’s the music that counts.

     ~swd

Thanks Stephen,
There must be considerable challenges in reconstructing the leading edge.  For example, two takes of the same vocal recorded using different microphones would produce distinct versions with subtle but noticeable sonic qualities/textures.  How do you address that, even where you know the original equipment used?
Keith

Stephen, I have just spent a happy time listening to the new mixes, especially Heroes and Villains.  The clarity delivered by the two processes you allude to is impressive. For the first time one is almost invited into the mix.  I have a thought and a question.  On the spacial expansion in the stereo image, I found myself sparing a thought for the one person who probably could not "get it": Brian.  Forgive me, I collapsed it to mono to see what he would probably hear: a clearer, sharper reproduction.  The question: is the effect of the restoration of the leading edge of the sound waves restoring what would have been heard over the studio monitors at final mix or does it restore clarity that would have already been eroded by tape transfers and bouncing prior to final mix-down?
Best regards,
Keith