Geoff Emerick's Tape of Sgt Pepper's in Mono

[harrylime]

I'm having serious doubts about the veracity of the claim that this is a pre-mastering tape. First of all the fidelity is simply too low, even retail reel to reel, 8-track and cassettes of this albums sound better. But the dead giveaway is that the inner groove part features the 15 kHz tone in the way the CD version replicates it (and post-'87 cassette), but this was never part of any master, it was communicated to Harry Moss as part of the lacquer cutting directive (together with making the gibberish end up in the runout groove). He added it during the cutting phase...

This was relatively simple for Harry Moss to do, indeed the tone was not added until the disc cutting stage. "It was done at the same pitch as the police dog whistles, " says Moss. "My dog hears it now when I play the record. The dog will suddenly sit up and look around and I'd think 'Oh yeah, that's the one with the 15 KC on the end!' "

As per Lewisohn in The Beatles Recording Sessions.

What could have happened is that this was a dub of the playback of a test acetate, which would explain the low fidelity, but still why would GE or anyone else record this and subsequently take home with him rather than just make an actual bounce of the master...

To me this just feels (and sounds) like someone's home cassette dub of a mono Pepper LP which is now perpetrated to be something far more important.

[dmh84]

Thanks for the share--
and for the detective work!

[jcdowen]

I'm having serious doubts about the veracity of the claim that this is a pre-mastering tape. First of all the fidelity is simply too low, even retail reel to reel, 8-track and cassettes of this albums sound better. But the dead giveaway is that the inner groove part features the 15 kHz tone in the way the CD version replicates it (and post-'87 cassette), but this was never part of any master, it was communicated to Harry Moss as part of the lacquer cutting directive (together with making the gibberish end up in the runout groove). He added it during the cutting phase...

This was relatively simple for Harry Moss to do, indeed the tone was not added until the disc cutting stage. "It was done at the same pitch as the police dog whistles, " says Moss. "My dog hears it now when I play the record. The dog will suddenly sit up and look around and I'd think 'Oh yeah, that's the one with the 15 KC on the end!' "

As per Lewisohn in The Beatles Recording Sessions.

What could have happened is that this was a dub of the playback of a test acetate, which would explain the low fidelity, but still why would GE or anyone else record this and subsequently take home with him rather than just make an actual bounce of the master...

To me this just feels (and sounds) like someone's home cassette dub of a mono Pepper LP which is now perpetrated to be something far more important.

Hi,

I’m certain of my source on the file being authentic, although you may be correct that it could have been an acetate as opposed to a tape. Is there any other ways to validate the authenticity? I’ll ask him next time I see if there’s any more info.

Cheers,
JC

[Tex]

It's not simply from 2009 mono remaster?

[gaizoku]

Thank you.

[Kwai Chang]

I love this topic: Sgt Pepper in MONO!
I know it well.
Something got my attention.
I only sampled Reprise but it sounded like a remix but in reality, I think it was fuzz add to overmodulated bass spectrum and the crowd-sound-effects part floated in and out of the thing a la tape loop. My brain says noticeably different. But, how unusual...in this madness? I don't see how Emerick could have a different mix. I hate chicanery...but, this is what the future holds. Even if it doesn't sound like the Beatles...it DOES! So, who's word will be believed? Will any be true? This isn't a discussion of ethic artificial philosophy but I would love to hear other 'expert' opinion of what I heard in just that track!
Thank you!
The beginning...
KC

[BTL1210]

AWESOME share - Thank you ....

[harrylime]

I’m certain of my source on the file being authentic, although you may be correct that it could have been an acetate as opposed to a tape. Is there any other ways to validate the authenticity? I’ll ask him next time I see if there’s any more info.

It's not simply from 2009 mono remaster?

First of all I checked against the usual suspects of the Dr Ebbetts UK Mono and the '09 CD, but both don't offer the end part as separate tracks from A Day In The Life and both segue the 15 kHz right into the gibberish, while the mystery tape has a pause between them. So my original statement about the tape replicating the CD is incorrect, the CD perfectly replicates the original LP, but the mystery tape does not.

Then I picked the Mirror Spock Japanese red wax mono (EAS70137) and lo and behold it has the same configuration, ironically it calls the end track 'Outer groove' while the mystery tape calls it 'Inner groove':



The noticeable difference is that the mystery tape has a distinct wobbly fade in and out on the tone



Which would indicate it was made using a microphone dub rather than from a line signal, as both a (cheap) mic and its preamp have distinct attack response to 'clean' signals rather than a broad spectrum sound like music or vocal. Which could also explain its low fidelity and bassy sound. Don't forget Keith employed this to the max on his Philips cassette recorder for The Stone's distinct guitar sound on songs like Satisfaction.

It could also still be that the actual source is a different 'replicating' release than the Japanese mono LP (like on tape), but the resemblance is too striking for me to discount it relating to the Japanese replication in some way or another. That combined with how the UK LP was implemented by Moss (tone right into gibberish) it also means the chance of it being a dub of a test acetate is virtually 0. I would file this under yet another useless bootleg that gets amped up to something it's not to make a profit (or just boast about someone's collection, what we here in NL call a 'Fennootje' after Fenno Werkman who has this tendency).

[Tex]

If you digitally record the line output of a CD player you can also get a wobble but not sure the same fast wobble as the image.

Digital clocks are not actually that stable.

[Feromount]

DANKE!