Beatles Revolver Box Set (Dolby Atmos Mix available for streaming; No Blu-Ray)

[rtbluray]

I don't think we'll ever see fully remixed box sets of the albums "Yellow Submarine" or "Magical Mystery Tour".

"Yellow Submarine" was basically 4 news songs with the previously released title track (from "Revolver", ironically) and "All You Need is Love" (which had already been released as a single the year before.)
"Magical Mystery Tour", on the other hand, wasn't even released as an album in the UK.
Side 2 of the US album was nothing more than a collection of singles and B-sides released during that period. Plus, we already have perfectly good remixes of both "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" on the "Sgt Pepper" Blu-Ray and as many working with the Beatles have already said, both of those songs belonged on "Sgt Pepper" more than they did on "Magical Mystery Tour".

So as far as I'm concerned, I would much rather that the remixing and release teams focused on albums like "Revolver" and "Rubber Soul" first, and it sounds like that is exactly what they are doing.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

I don't think we'll ever see fully remixed box sets of the albums "Yellow Submarine" or "Magical Mystery Tour".

"Yellow Submarine" was basically 4 news songs with the previously released title track (from "Revolver", ironically) and "All You Need is Love" (which had already been released as a single the year before.)
"Magical Mystery Tour", on the other hand, wasn't even released as an album in the UK.
Side 2 of the US album was nothing more than a collection of singles and B-sides released during that period. Plus, we already have perfectly good remixes of both "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" on the "Sgt Pepper" Blu-Ray and as many working with the Beatles have already said, both of those songs belonged on "Sgt Pepper" more than they did on "Magical Mystery Tour".

So as far as I'm concerned, I would much rather that the remixing and release teams focused on albums like "Revolver" and "Rubber Soul" first, and it sounds like that is exactly what they are doing.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

I need to go back to my files and see what they did with songs #4 "Eleanor Rigby / Julia (Transition)" & #14 "Within You Without You / Tomorrow Never Knows" on the DVD of LOVE; heck that was released about what 16 years now?

I'm confident after listening to Revolver some today, that the use of current (16 years later) professional de-mix (stem extraction) and re-mixing could most likely result in some satisfactory results in surround.

Are they so bold now to attempt all this?

Pulled Eleanor Rigby / Julia (Transition) from the LOVE DVD to take a look at it in Audacity for kicks. I'm not a Beatles expert and others here are much better at analyzing the audio than I am, so just some personal thoughts.

First off the LFE seems to me like some Low Pass filtered ~<1K of the orchestra tracks.

The fronts have most of the Violin in the left and sounds like Cello in the right with vocals mixed in some.

The center has a lot of the violin in it and Paul's vocals seem very discrete ("Highlighted below" without the back-up vocals.)

In the rears a lot of the orchestra and Paul's main vocals are mixed into them, but it also has discrete sounding back-up vocals without Paul's main vocals "Highlighted below".

Would love some other opinions of this.

 

[bookofsaturdays]

Let's hope not. Those are a poor excuse for an official release , me thinks.

I completely agree, I’d buy up a MMT super deluxe in a heartbeat. One of the only projects Capitol really got right and bests its UK counterpart.

 

[ar surround]

Pulled Eleanor Rigby / Julia (Transition) from the LOVE DVD to take a look at it in Audacity for kicks. I'm not a Beatles expert and others here are much better at analyzing the audio than I am, so just some personal thoughts.

First off the LFE seems to me like some Low Pass filtered ~<1K of the orchestra tracks.

The fronts have most of the Violin in the left and sounds like Cello in the right with vocals mixed in some.

The center has a lot of the violin in it and Paul's vocals seem very discrete ("Highlighted below" without the back-up vocals.)

In the rears a lot of the orchestra and Paul's main vocals are mixed into them, but it also has discrete sounding back-up vocals without Paul's main vocals "Highlighted below".

Would love some other opinions of this.

View attachment 82083

[Edit: See @boxhead 's post #27 below setting me straight on this. Thanks, boxhead.]

I hear pretty much the same thing. However, the left rear appears to be a duplicate of the violin in the left front at a lower level; and the right rear seems to be a duplicate of the cello in the right front at a lower level. The rears also include the double tracking of Paul's voice where present as well as the background vocals. As you noted, the LFE sounds filtered but I only hear a cello, not an orchestra.

I have never heard anything in this track that resembled an orchestra other than the violin and the cello. Some reviewers have called it a quartet in this track, but it's simply duplication of the violin and cello in the rears at a lower level.

What does the "book" say? I don't have a copy.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

I hear pretty much the same thing. However, the left rear appears to be a duplicate of the violin in the left front at a lower level; and the right rear seems to be a duplicate of the cello in the right front at a lower level. The rears also include the double tracking of Paul's voice where present as well as the background vocals. As you noted, the LFE sounds filtered but I only hear a cello, not an orchestra.

I have never heard anything in this track that resembled an orchestra other than the violin and the cello. Some reviewers have called it a quartet in this track, but it's simply duplication of the violin and cello in the rears at a lower level.

What does the "book" say? I don't have a copy.

Good stuff ar, we need some real Beatles aficionados in here to chime in!

Yeah a quartet probably more likely, if I hear more than 1 or 2 string instruments, I just think orchestra ; but I'll listen closer next time. I also was hearing mostly a lower level reflection of the fronts in the rears with other vocals. But that LFE seems like an odd duck to me .
So for individual tracks to work with are we thinking Paul's main vocals one, backup vocals one track, violins one track and cellos for a 4th track; or something more complex?

 

[boxhead]

I hear pretty much the same thing. However, the left rear appears to be a duplicate of the violin in the left front at a lower level; and the right rear seems to be a duplicate of the cello in the right front at a lower level. The rears also include the double tracking of Paul's voice where present as well as the background vocals. As you noted, the LFE sounds filtered but I only hear a cello, not an orchestra.

I have never heard anything in this track that resembled an orchestra other than the violin and the cello. Some reviewers have called it a quartet in this track, but it's simply duplication of the violin and cello in the rears at a lower level.

What does the "book" say? I don't have a copy.

I'm guessing you're referring to the Beatles Recording Reference Manual? It records that a string octet was used, comprising 4 violins, 2 violas and 2 cellos. Here's the recording and mix-down diagram from the book:

So two of each of violins, violins, violas & cellos were recorded to tracks 1-4. These were then mixed down to a single track, which opened up three tracks for the addition of vocals, backing vocals, congas & finger cymbals. The asterisks indicate that the latter two were subsequently discarded and were replaced with a second Paul McCartney lead vocal, doubling the choruses of the song.

So based on this the unique elements available for a multichannel mix would be:

Violins (2)
Violins (2)
Violas (2)
Cellos (2)
Main Vocal 1
Main Vocal 2
Backing Vocals

Even if they were to use the De-Mix technology at Abbey Rd the most they could do would be to split each of the doubled up strings, and I'm not sure that that would achieve all that much.

 

[madscot]

I hope this is true, my revolver cd has started skipping and i’ve been contemplating replacing it but now I will wait and see

 

[MidiMagic]

I just saw a new LP copy of Revolver in the record rack at Walmart.

 

[madscot]

I just saw a new LP copy of Revolver in the record rack at Walmart.

I believe the beatles are still the biggest selling band in the world (overall sales) therefore i’d imagine all their albums will be reprinted on a regular basis

 

[~dave~~wave~]

I just saw a new LP copy of Revolver in the record rack at Walmart.

Imagine seeing a new Edison cylinder of Caruso in a dime store in 1966.

 

[marcb]

Guys guys guys, yes the FINAL mix was froma 4 track BUT there were MANY A REELS where PREMIXES/Bounce downs were done from that exist...!!!

True...too some degree. Some tracks don’t have many bounces and multiple instruments were recorded to a single track - which is why separation technology is probably needed to create a surround mix which would satisfy folks here.

I’m not convinced the technology is there yet to create mixes worthy of The Beatles, but we’ll see. But it wouldn’t be the first time suboptimal technology was used on the Beatles material.

 

[marcb]

I believe the beatles are still the biggest selling band in the world (overall sales) therefore i’d imagine all their albums will be reprinted on a regular basis

I wouldn’t make that assumption.

 

[marcb]

I don't think we'll ever see fully remixed box sets of the albums "Yellow Submarine" or "Magical Mystery Tour".

"Yellow Submarine" was basically 4 news songs with the previously released title track (from "Revolver", ironically) and "All You Need is Love" (which had already been released as a single the year before.)
"Magical Mystery Tour", on the other hand, wasn't even released as an album in the UK.
Side 2 of the US album was nothing more than a collection of singles and B-sides released during that period. Plus, we already have perfectly good remixes of both "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" on the "Sgt Pepper" Blu-Ray and as many working with the Beatles have already said, both of those songs belonged on "Sgt Pepper" more than they did on "Magical Mystery Tour".

So as far as I'm concerned, I would much rather that the remixing and release teams focused on albums like "Revolver" and "Rubber Soul" first, and it sounds like that is exactly what they are doing.

The Magical Mystery Tour LP has been considered by Apple to be part of the core canon for 35 years now. I definitely think you’ll see a deluxe MMT box at some point. The question is - if they wait until the 60th in 2027 - will physical box sets even still be a thing?

Yellow Sub is much trickier - if only because of its sales potential (or lack thereof). But I could see those tracks being lumped into some other collection.

 

[atomicdog]

https://www.discoverdade.com/rock/giles-martin-confirms-beatles-revolver-remix-in-planning-stages/

 

[atomicdog]

Revolver + Rubber Soul

Beatles archive producer Giles Martin confirmed that both Revolver and Rubber Soul reissues are being considered. Martin, who is the son of the group's late-producer George Martin, has been behind the boards for the recent remixes and box sets for the band's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the "White Album," Abbey Road, and newly released Let It Be collections.

 

[ar surround]

I wouldn’t make that assumption.

According to Business Insider, it actually is The Beatles at 183 million units based on 'total certified album units sold"...whatever that is. I suspect that there are all sorts of ways to measure "sales" especially now with streaming.

[EDIT: The Business Insider article only covers US sales. According to Wikipedia (oh boy), the worldwide Total Certified Units are 290 million with claimed sales of 500 to 600 million. Drake has Total Certified Units of 404 million with claimed sales of 170 million. Why The Beatles' claimed sales are higher than their certified sales yet Drake's are the other way around is beyond me. Doh!]

https://www.businessinsider.com/best-selling-music-artists-of-all-time-2016-9
The only thing for certain is that I seem to be very happy to give them my money whenever a new incarnation of their material appears.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Maybe some Apples to Oranges comparisons and "Back to the Future" considerations; but more thoughts on the possibilities for Revolver in surround.

I'm reminded of what was done in Apple Spatial Audio (Atmos) on this 1958 recording of Ella Fitzgerald – Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Irving Berlin Songbook; I'm sure they used all sorts of modern trickery to get this one sounding nice and surroundy (how many tracks utilized back then -3 maybe?) Those of you that have a 5.1 or Atmos with heights setup with Apple 4K TV can check it out.

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...ng-via-tidal-apple.31491/page-118#post-639665
and here's what Steven Wilson said about mixing the 4 recorded channels in the JT This Was 50th Anniversary Edition notes:

I just really hope they try a surround mix and don't try and sell me a huge box set of just re-mixed stereo material.

 

[rtbluray]

The Magical Mystery Tour LP has been considered by Apple to be part of the core canon for 35 years now. I definitely think you’ll see a deluxe MMT box at some point. The question is - if they wait until the 60th in 2027 - will physical box sets even still be a thing?

Yellow Sub is much trickier - if only because of its sales potential (or lack thereof). But I could see those tracks being lumped into some other collection.

I disagree.
I think if they really had intentions of putting together a "Magical Mystery Tour" box set then they would not have included the remixes (and videos too!) of "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" on the "Sgt Pepper" box set.
The only reason that the album version of "Magical Mystery Tour" was integrated into the Beatles catalogue of UK albums is because it was the easiest way to collect the film's 6 songs and those 5 singles onto a release when the Beatles catalogue was first released on CD in the late 1980s.

By including the remixes of "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" on the "Sgt Pepper" box set, they were basically saying this is where these songs should have been all along.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

I don't think we'll ever see fully remixed box sets of the albums "Yellow Submarine" or "Magical Mystery Tour".

"Yellow Submarine" was basically 4 news songs with the previously released title track (from "Revolver", ironically) and "All You Need is Love" (which had already been released as a single the year before.)

I wouldn't question Yellow Submarine , decent 5.1 mixes are already out.

"Magical Mystery Tour", on the other hand, wasn't even released as an album in the UK.

Yes I know that it was released as a 4 or 6 song EP by Parlophone in the UK in 67 , but they eventually saw the error of their ways , and did a double take....as in 1976 Parlophone followed Capitol Records U. S. A./Canada ( that would be their target $$$ market btw) and released the complete album with the B sides as Capitol did back in 67.
And to this day that complete MMT is the New Official release on both sides of the Atlantic...or World Wide for that matter.

And although we have Penny Lane & Strawberry Fields on Sgt Pepper , now that's never stopped the O'Kell/Martin team at Abbey Road from releasing additional surround remixes of the same material.
Consider the songs fr Love and Anthology as prime examples . I might even add the #1 album in that scenario.

But to say because of that original release only being 4 tunes and Capitol had but B sides plus the original that that should be the norm? And that MMT bluray already exists so that should suffice ?..with songs of that inferior film soundtrack , and not the far better Studio versions . Well I believe true Beatles fans can't accept that .

In my opinion I would consider that MMT should and must be released in that now defacto full album.
To completely overlook it does a great injustice to any and all Beatle fans .

Nuff said,

Fizzy