(OUTDATED) Watching Rainbows - The Ultimate Get Back Sessions Remaster (BETA RELEASE)

[iPanggo]

Hi everyone, I'm posting here for the first time.

A while ago I wanted to take a look at the full Get Back sessions, I already knew about A/B road, but somebody informed me that the "New Blue Soap" set is way more complete, accurate and also in AI stereo.
And while it is, the truth is that I don't like it that much, because it cuts all of the audio frequencies above 11khz, making it hard to listen

So I just thought, why don't I make my own set?

The goal of this set is to remaster every bit of audio to a full spectrum high quality, while at the same time being the most complete and accurate set.
What I'm doing essentially is using Cubase and various VST plugins to balance the volumes, frequencies, remove some anomalies such as humming, tape noise, clicks and pops, and I'm also creating fake stereo with an ADT plugin (it's very subtle, but it creates a nice ambience)
I started doing this many months ago, sharing each day on youtube, until I got to January 7th and youtube blocked my videos for copyright.
So just a few days ago I revised them and I'm starting uploading them on archive.org. I call this set "Watching Rainbows"

(Unfortunately, the BETA version of this set is not available anymore, due to me and my team concluding that it doesn't hold up to any quality standard. It's now June 12th 2023, and what this set is turning into is much, much better than what I released on November 2022)

NEW UPDATE THREAD: viewtopic.php?f=12&t=6558
~the WR team

[cliftdean74]

How do I download this?

[powerPC]

Thank you iPanggo! A worthwhile project indeed

[iPanggo]

How do I download this?

Just click the column icon. it will take you to the archive page

[alphabeatles]

Thanks for your work here! Anybody tackling this audio deserves a special place in Beatles Heaven!

Now, as for more handy links (in this case, the FLAC option):

https://archive.org/compress/20220823_2 ... 3_2141.zip
https://archive.org/compress/20220830_2 ... 0_2010.zip

iPanggo: Keep these on Archive.org but also please post easy-to-download zipped files on a sharing site.

Another stray thought: The Nagras are only going to be lo-res because 1) they're Nagras and 2) they were transferred on some early digital format such as Mini-discs, as I recall. So achieving "full spectrum high quality" may be debatable .

On iMac speakers it sounds quite decent, I will check with cans later.

[iPanggo]

Thanks for your work here! Anybody tackling this audio deserves a special place in Beatles Heaven!

Now, as for more handy links (in this case, the FLAC option):

https://archive.org/compress/20220823_2 ... 3_2141.zip
https://archive.org/compress/20220830_2 ... 0_2010.zip

iPanggo: Keep these on Archive.org but also please post easy-to-download zipped files on a sharing site.

Another stray thought: The Nagras are only going to be lo-res because 1) they're Nagras and 2) they were transferred on some early digital format such as Mini-discs, as I recall. So achieving "full spectrum high quality" may be debatable .

On iMac speakers it sounds quite decent, I will check with cans later.

Yeah, I noticed that many rolls are compressed with ATRAC cutting at 16khz, but what I'm doing is using Ozone 9 and Fabfilter Saturn 2 to saturate that part of the spectrum and bring it up. It's working fairly well. Also, some boots like Day By Day don't have this compression, they sound incredible honestly.

As for the zipped stuff, I'm obviously going to do that. This is just a test release, if people like it it will evolve in a great set, with artwork and stuff.

[alphabeatles]

Very good, yeah, please keep going! One you start this particular project you can't stop, otherwise you go to Beatles Hell!

[WestBeatles]

just wondering what sources you used for the basis of your remaster. was it just A/B Road or Day By Day etc. ?

[iPanggo]

just wondering what sources you used for the basis of your remaster. was it just A/B Road or Day By Day etc. ?

I'm using various sources, since A/B road is incomplete. For the moment I'm using Yellow Dog's Day By Day and Beginning Of The End for the A rolls, Kum Back for the B rolls, and Yellow Dog's The Twickenham Sessions, since that compilation has some B rolls in way better quality. I'm also checking new audio from the Get Back doc

[BDJ]

Looks like a project that will keep you busy for a while, and I hope you enjoy it.

I agree with you that many (all?) AI generate tracks lack high frequencies, above 11kHz. With good equipment, and young ears, you can actually hear that. I often also detect a swishy atmosphere, softening of the highs and lows, that I don't like.

Regarding your other 'corrections', I am not sure I would prefer them over the originals (Day by Day, A/B road).

There are no artefacts (pops and clicks) that need removing, and the Nagra recordings are pretty low in tape noise and hiss by themselves; treating them inevitably goes at the expense of some high frequencies. And ADT......ouch!

The ATRAC compression on some tracks is actually there; but it is an excellent compression algorithm, which only results in loss of frequencies above 16kHz. I challenge anyone to a A-B test to hear which track has ATRAC and which one hasn't. The difference is only detected when you inspect the spectrum.

It could be a good thing to normalise volume and EQ a bit, but I would be very careful with it. Twickenham and Apple Studios have very different soundscapes; to what do you normalise the EQ?