Requesting EMI Deltas

[Krussell2021]

Does anybody know if there are bootlegs of EMI Delta reels of the Beatles. I'm sure I've read somewhere that EMI (knowingly or unwittingly) used the deltas for the Hits and Twist And Shout EPs.

More enlightenment on this topic would be gratefully appreciated.

Many thanks.

Kevin

[Lord Reith]

There's only the one for Misery, A Taste Of Honey, There's A Place, I Saw Her Standing There and Do You Want To Know A Secret. I don't believe they used any of the deltas but just made mono foldowns from the twintracks.

Oh they did use the count in for ISHST from the delta because it's missing from the tape.

[jgjohnson]

I think I remember that Andrew from Polygram, said in one of his videos that the versions of Please Please Me and Ask Me Why that are on the original UK 45 were from the Delta tape.
They were better in his opinion, especially Ask Me Why which is drier and has less reverb.
I tried to find the video where he said this but can't, so maybe I'm imagining things.

[Choking Smoker]

I think I remember that Andrew from Polygram, said in one of his videos that the versions of Please Please Me and Ask Me Why that are on the original UK 45 were from the Delta tape.
They were better in his opinion, especially Ask Me Why which is drier and has less reverb.
I tried to find the video where he said this but can't, so maybe I'm imagining things.

It's true, the difference in Ask me Why is pretty obvious, Please Please Me a lot less so but I think it is a tad 'drier'.

[Golem]

Maybe a stupid question, but I'm just curious, what is a delta?

[harrylime]

Delta Mono, a mono recording made live during the session rather than mixed from twin-track. Was rarely used except for some singles to save time and effort. Last used I believe on From Me To You, but it has also been hypothesised that it was used for SLY as that could partly explain why the session reels disappeared (as the single is obviously a multi take edit, so they could have cut up the delta mono takes for that). The policy change to keep all session reels from then on was partly the reason for delta to go out of favour, together with quad being introduced of course.

Fore info see for example this SH thread: https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/ ... 63.928539/

[Golem]

huh, neat, so that would mean the mixing would be slightly different right?

or is the mono mix sourced from the delta with the stereo mix sourced from the twin track?

[harrylime]

They had both options, that was the point. If the delta turned out to be fine, it saved them the hassle of mixing it from twin-track. When they did expect to use editing and/or overdubs, they often didn't bother to 'run the delta' as it obviously also required a double set up: they had to carefully mix to mono there and then for the delta to be even usable, and a second tape machine had to be operated to record it. But yes, that also meant a delta would by definition be distinguishable from a regular mono-mix-from-twin-track. For example PPM/AMW original single has drier mixes which were the delta recordings (although what was used for PPM's mono album version is up for debate I believe).

It also goes to show what Abbey Road (and thus George Martin) was used to recording: stuff that's often very predictable, so it made sense to record straight to mono. With The Beatles (ha ), they went al crazy with cutting up a lot of the songs when they felt some parts of takes outshined others, SLY was the ultimate example were RR even changed the recording setup during the sessions, leading to the infamous sonically different sections. I wouldn't be surprised if they caught flak from management from that, but they never mentioned it (while someone did mention you would get in trouble for something as benign as not matching impedances correctly).

[Krussell2021]

I'm trying to get my head around this. Why would there be a count in on ISHST on the Delta, but not on the twin track.

[Spaniard in da Works]

I think I remember that Andrew from Polygram, said in one of his videos that the versions of Please Please Me and Ask Me Why that are on the original UK 45 were from the Delta tape.
They were better in his opinion, especially Ask Me Why which is drier and has less reverb.
I tried to find the video where he said this but can't, so maybe I'm imagining things.

It's true, the difference in Ask me Why is pretty obvious, Please Please Me a lot less so but I think it is a tad 'drier'.

With all the editing, overdubbing and such that was done on Please Please Me, I'm skeptic there would be any delta mono for that.