MONO VS STEREO (PLUS THE BEACH BOYS AND MORE!)

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Larry Graves AKA Canadian Studmuffin is from Trenton Ontario Canada and has been creating original videos on YouTube since February 2006. I have many videos on rock music, comedy videos, cat videos, reaction videos and much more!

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[djhrecordhound]

Subject A--Brian/Beach Boys/mono vs stereo:
Loved their hits all my life, and as a recording nut myself, always loved Brian's recording production too. What amazes me most is how Brian made some of the absolute best stereo mixes in existence, but with one deaf ear.
From a production standpoint, mixing mono is very hard to get right. Everything is up-front in a tiny closet, and you have to make every sound fit into that confined space. In a "fold-down" from stereo to mono, some frequencies cancel each other out, which means voices or instruments disappear.
Brian's (and later Beatles') mono mixes are genius because he somehow crammed far more into a mono mix than should've ever been possible.

Subject B--Depression, etc.:
Larry, I live with depression, mostly alone. It's partly why I was put on permanent disability. Let's just say I was affected by lots of bad stuff no child should've grown up with.
My condolences about Mittens and Jinx, btw. Loss can bring on hard downswings, but you're fighting a good fight by making yourself busy. That's an inspiration to me.

[morrisgautreau]

STEREO! I need that dynamic range and dimensionality! (And yes I watched the whole video first before commenting.)

[josephsmall]

This reminds me of something I went through a few years ago with the song "A Whiter Shade Of
Pale" by Procol Harum. There's a mono version, a fake stereo version, and a actual stereo (Longer)
version. I prefer the longer stereo one which you can listen to on YouTube. Most people only
heard the mono, or fake stereo one on the radio (or on a 45 single).

[benwilliams]

Its so great you’ve gotten into the Beach Boys so much. Listening to them in mono and then stereo is a journey of itself - I always go for the mixes the band wanted at the time. With Beach Boys it has to be mono but the 2012 stereo mixes are great.

[jameswilson]

The Beach Boys' stereo mixes of 'Today!", "Summer Days (And Summer Nights)" and "Wild Honey" didn't exist until the 2010's. The stereo mixes are relatively new. I think the newer stereo mixes are mostly very good. But sometimes, the mixes are missing certain elements from the songs. Or, they just sound very different. I agree about the early Beatles albums. especially the first two UK albums. You get all the vocals on one side, and all the instruments on the other. In the case of The Rolling Stones, from 1963 - 1966, I think the mono mixes almost always have more "punch" to them. Then you have albums like The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper" and Pink Floyd's "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn", where the mono mix has exclusive overdubs.

[myworms]

Stereo mixes sounded bad until 16 track consoles became a thing.

[ronsaunders]

I made it to the end. So it looks like the Beach Boy album that's in the mail is not in your collection. It's almost certainly in mono though but it will be a fine addition to your collection.

[djhrecordhound]

Borrowed an earlier Beach Boys album on CD from the local library years ago. It had the German version of In My Room as a bonus cut. Can't remember which CD it was from, but it's on a mixtape here somewhere...

[jameswilson]

"All Summer Long" is in stereo on The Beach Boys' twofer CD. That's another great Beach Boys album.

[samstjohn]

Glen's wrong, the Beach Boys are awesome!

[michaelshiflett]

You got the monetization back??? Yes!!!

[toymen-zezr]

I prefer the Stereo, great sound, Good video!

[imperialjoe]

I believe most The Beach Boys 2 in 1 CDs are done in stereo except for the Today/summer days summer nights. Back in the 60s those two albums were never mixed in stereo. It wasn’t until 2012 that they got a real stereo mix. The 2012 mixes are a little bit more expensive but they sound superb. I hope to get them on vinyl someday

[maccaphotos]

I was like you for years with not liking the mono versions until I bought the 2014 mono re-issue of Sgt. Pepper and that changed for me, I loved it because it has a different mix then the stereo version, sounds heavier, also Revolver mono has a different mix and sounds great to me.

[nicholasperl]

Great to hear you're getting mileage out of those stereo versions. Ironically, I'm a certified mono junkie haha. I enjoy the sense of cohesion, like an inherent "wall of sound." It really feels like the mixer has full control over how each instrument is perceived. That being said, stereo obviously has its own advantages, particularly on headphones. Much more immersive

[Stetho]

I want to say stereo is better but those old 60s stereo mixes drive me insane on headphones. Mono all the way for those. Even on the loudspeakers the mono mixes seem to have more punch for the most part. I will say what Giles Martin is doing is very good so I hope he does the early Beatles stuff.

[seansheppard]

Hi Larry. Cool Genesis shirt. I have one just like it. 🙂 I love the Jon Anderson/Band Geeks True album a lot. Anderson sings beautifully and the Geeks are great players.

[aerialtour]

Hey Larry good Beach Boys collection- I don’t nearly have as many Beach Boys in my collection, I have the Smile Super Deluxe & Thirty Years of The Beach Boys Box sets- Feels Flows 2 cd- Pet Sounds (Steve Hoffman version) & bootleg cd’s. What I dont have are the original Beach Boys albums. So as far as the mono vs stereo I tend to lean towards the stereo versions myself, I don’t know if the early Beach Boys stereo mixes were done as a secondary mix similar to the Beatles- where the mono versions were done as the preferred mixes! I don’t mind the early stereo Beatles mixes w/vocals on one speaker & music on the other, I mostly listen without headphones anyway. John Lennon said once that the Beatles stereo versions had the guts/taken out of them as opposed to the punchier sounding mono mixes (which does sound true). Also the Beatles stereo versions were not given the same treatment by George Martin like the mono mixes & the Beatles weren’t even involved w/the stereo mixing. I do welcome new stereo mixes as long as they stick as closely to the original sound & not alot of heavy handed bass/compression. In all I do like the original stereo mixes & sound range. Hang in there Larry you will get past this difficult time in your life.

[johng]

A lot of 60's albums in stereo sound way to separated, especially on headphones. I'm glad the new beatles stereo remixes have brought things more to the centre.

[tdunph]

Brian Wilson presents Smile is absolutely fantastic! The closest and best we are going to get to what he had inside his head but it's his revisionist version obviously. Enjoy it Larry!!