Motown mono mixes: 1964

[Sotosound]

I found this old thread today via Google, and it probably needs to be placed in a gold frame and hung up on a wall somewhere.

As well as the meat of the discussion, there's an interesting counterpoint between one person's love for the minutiae of individual Motown mono mixes and their dismissal of other comments relating in part to stereo, and another person's love of well-recorded classical music and their dismissal of the first poster's love for the minutiae of Motown mono mixes.

It made me reflect again on just how far both fans and industry people have tied themselves up in knots over the years about mixes in a world where 99.99% of punters wouldn't even notice as long as the mix wasn't too bad.

For instance, on The Complete Motown Singles there are two mixes of "Bernadette" and, to be honest, although the second is marginally better, I doubt that it was in any way necessary.

And the single mix of "This Old Heart Of Mine [[Is Weak For You)" is a fold of an alternative stereo mix.

And in the UK we all bought a fold-down of the stereo mix of "War" by Edwin Starr and didn't even know.

Away from Motown, RCA in the UK put out the wrong mixes of several Mamas And Papas singles, as well as "MacArthur Park" by Richard Harris to the sound of crickets chirping. Nobody knew. We all just bought good songs that we heard on the radio.

And then there's Bill Porter, who just did a stereo mix that was set up to survive folding down into mono for wider release, and we punters never had a clue as we danced around to Roy Orbison's "Oh Pretty Woman" or cried to "It's Over" [[with its slight phasey-ness on the slightly recessed and folded stings).

So we, and that includes me, ponder the relevant merits and demerits of various mixes whilst most of those who bought the finished article probably couldn't have cared less in most cases.

This suggests that there's far more difference between those who create music and those who buy it than anything that makes a real practical difference in most cases and that, for the majority of recorded music, the search for a perfect mix is more a personal need in the creators than a commercial need for the marketplace.

YMMV.

[WaitingWatchingLookingForAChance]

I found this old thread today via Google, and it probably needs to be placed in a gold frame and hung up on a wall somewhere.

As well as the meat of the discussion, there's an interesting counterpoint between one person's love for the minutiae of individual Motown mono mixes and their dismissal of other comments relating in part to stereo, and another person's love of well-recorded classical music and their dismissal of the first poster's love for the minutiae of Motown mono mixes.

It made me reflect again on just how far both fans and industry people have tied themselves up in knots over the years about mixes in a world where 99.99% of punters wouldn't even notice as long as the mix wasn't too bad.

For instance, on The Complete Motown Singles there are two mixes of "Bernadette" and, to be honest, although the second is marginally better, I doubt that it was in any way necessary.

And the single mix of "This Old Heart Of Mine [[Is Weak For You)" is a fold of an alternative stereo mix.

And in the UK we all bought a fold-down of the stereo mix of "War" by Edwin Starr and didn't even know.

Away from Motown, RCA in the UK put out the wrong mixes of several Mamas And Papas singles, as well as "MacArthur Park" by Richard Harris to the sound of crickets chirping. Nobody knew. We all just bought good songs that we heard on the radio.

And then there's Bill Porter, who just did a stereo mix that was set up to survive folding down into mono for wider release, and we punters never had a clue as we danced around to Roy Orbison's "Oh Pretty Woman" or cried to "It's Over" [[with its slight phasey-ness on the slightly recessed and folded stings).

So we, and that includes me, ponder the relevant merits and demerits of various mixes whilst most of those who bought the finished article probably couldn't have cared less in most cases.

This suggests that there's far more difference between those who create music and those who buy it than anything that makes a real practical difference in most cases and that, for the majority of recorded music, the search for a perfect mix is more a personal need in the creators than a commercial need for the marketplace.

YMMV.

Nicely said. I made sure to save the link of this thread so that if such a discussion should come up again, I'll know where I read this or that comment. Reading Mr. McLean's comments was eye-opening [and conversation-stopping] to say the least. Yet, it was interesting that there were comments right after his that seemed to completely ignore his very, very, very in-depth response. It was a little like the time a few of us were talking about something or other; one asked a question, another responded for about a minute and a half - then, the one who asked the question, just kind of blew it all off by asking the same question again. Anyway, I'm glad you brought this tread back into the light.