Paradise - Pre-Release Thread

[Hundred Dollar Bill 21,459]

Anyone notice that Blue Velvet, Bel Air, and Yayo are in mono?! I think there's a better chance though of one of us getting killed by an elephant dropping from a skyscraper than these songs appearing in mono on the Paradise release (the Blue Velvet single is in stereo) but, damn, that would be great. Too bad it'll never happen.

 

Why would you prefer that? I hate mono, it makes it seem like the song is confined by space. Is it one of those Monicker things, where my puny knowledge of audiophiles is squashed by your ever-knowing greatness?

 

TEACH ME YOUR WAYS!!!!!

[Monicker 3,030]

Why would you prefer that? I hate mono, it makes it seem like the song is confined by space. Is it one of those Monicker things, where my puny knowledge of audiophiles is squashed by your ever-knowing greatness?

 

TEACH ME YOUR WAYS!!!!!

 

Well, you asked for it...

 

Naw, it just comes down to personal preferences like most everything else in life. I think mono and stereo each have their place and i like them both for different reasons. I'm happy that they both exist, i wouldn't want to do without either one. I am definitely not one of those people who fetishize mono. I know exactly what you mean when you say that it sounds "confined," that's true in a sense. People talk about stereo "opening up" the music and allowing it to "breathe," how it has more space. All true things. Mono is tighter, punchier, more compact. There are two main things about mono: it tends to sound really powerful, there's this great energy to it that stereo often lacks. The other thing is that it's good for creating more of a blend with the overall sound, if that's what's desired. Sure, you lose clarity and openness with mono but you make up for it with the way the music just hits you stronger. A good mono mix smacks you right in the middle of your chest and it just feels great. You usually have to turn it up louder than you would a stereo recording to get the full effect though.

 

Some music is more suited for mono while other music is more suited for stereo. For me personally, i like mono for music with a sparse arrangement because if there are such few instruments, why do you really need to have all that separation? A lot of stuff that’s intended to "rock" tends to sound better in mono. What's really great is when you have the luxury of having both a stereo mix and a (true) mono mix of the same song. That's REALLY fun because you can experience the same song very differently. For me, mono is more for enjoying without thinking too much about it, and stereo is more for really paying attention, studying the music and production, scrutinizing it.

 

Also though, i said that i would like it if those songs on Paradise were in mono because it would be unheard of for a mainstream pop artist today to release music in mono. That would totally shit on industry standards and i think that would be refreshing, funny, and cute, sincerely. I can see Lana being a badass and doing something like that.

 

I remember when the Blue Jeans video leaked a few days early, the audio in the video was in mono (granted, not true mono, but a "fold down") but i thought it sounded fantastic. It had so much energy to it that really suited that song, and the blending that happens naturally with mono really, really helped with the BTD production, it smoothed it out and kind of obscured a lot of the overproduced, glossy aspects. I was BLASTING that leaked video all day for those few days. I have since folded down Blue Jeans, Lolita, and a few other BTD songs and will listen to them like that from time to time when i just want to blast some of those songs and feel them in a more visceral way.

[Monicker 3,030]

Why would you prefer that? I hate mono, it makes it seem like the song is confined by space. Is it one of those Monicker things, where my puny knowledge of audiophiles is squashed by your ever-knowing greatness?

 

TEACH ME YOUR WAYS!!!!!

 

 

HDB, check these out. I wanted to give you something more tangible rather than a rambling post.

 

Here’s Wouldn’t It Be Nice by The Beach Boys in mono (how it was originally mixed in 1966) and a modern stereo mix of the song.

 

First Stereo:

 

Make sure you do NOT turn the volume all the way up, leave a little room to play the mono back louder. Listen to the clarity and separation. You can pick certain instruments apart. In this mix you can actually hear that, yes, indeed, the driving force of the backing track is two accordions! Listen to how the background vocals pop out and shimmer. Listen to the bed of horns and all the percussion. You can hear different parts weaving in and out and you feel the sound sort of enveloping you from all around, like you're in a pool that's filled with the music rather than water. The song has a certain elegance in stereo.

 

Now Mono:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E4FRtrD9aQ

 

Turn the volume up slightly louder than you did the stereo mix. All of the aforementioned is gone. Everything blends. It’s like the whole song is one big well-oiled machine, all the parts indistinguishable from each other, coming together to create a whole. It’s not about the details at all (many of which are lost!) but rather the big picture. If everything before was a collection of separate sounds, this is just one big mass of a single sound, but listen to the power that it carries. It’s like a train that’s coming straight at you and it’s going to rip your head off.

 

 

Is one "better" than the other? Of course not, it comes down to personal preference. But it also doesn't have to be about one or the other. To me, they're BOTH essential, they both have their own value for totally different reasons. When i listen to the stereo mix, i marvel at the intricacies of the composition, arrangement, and production and i think, Wow, Brian Wilson was not of this earth. How the fuck did he compose, arrange, produce, and sing this? When i listen to the mono mix i just FEEL the song and it makes me want to cry.

[evilentity 13,303]

Here’s Wouldn’t It Be Nice by The Beach Boys in mono (how it was originally mixed in 1966) and a modern stereo mix of the song.

The still used for the stereo mix YouTube video makes me wonder what auto-tuned animal noises Emile Haynie would have put on an album entitled Pet Sounds. Or imagine "Good Vibrations" with auto-tuned loon instead of an Electro-Theremin.

 

The mono mix brings back memories of when I first fell in love with pop music during my oldies phase in grade school. After I'd go to bed, I'd turn on my crappy alarm clock radio just loud enough to hear it well and just quiet enough to avoid my parents' detection. I'd listen late into the night, marking off songs I'd heard on a Top 1000 Oldies list printed on an advert in the local paper for the oldies station, checking them off one by one by the light of a flashlight hidden under my pillow. Ah, memories...

[ednafrau 831]

thank you for master class, monicker! it is such a luxury to have both mono and stereo versions of an album. "pet sounds" and the zombies' "odessey and oracle" are two i love, and, personally, in both i prefer the mono. if lana does this, it would be amazing, sonically and because it would introduce a new-"old" concept in audio and maybe develop a better sensibility and appreciation and attention to detail in a generation not accustomed to that

[Ben 42]

I'm really excited for this release. She always delivers, and the previews sound really incredible. I love that they made a box set, too. Pre-ordered that one.

[Hundred Dollar Bill 21,459]

 

HDB, check these out. I wanted to give you something more tangible rather than a rambling post.

 

Here’s Wouldn’t It Be Nice by The Beach Boys in mono (how it was originally mixed in 1966) and a modern stereo mix of the song.

 

First Stereo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0spkrwl9Qk

 

Make sure you do NOT turn the volume all the way up, leave a little room to play the mono back louder. Listen to the clarity and separation. You can pick certain instruments apart. In this mix you can actually hear that, yes, indeed, the driving force of the backing track is two accordions! Listen to how the background vocals pop out and shimmer. Listen to the bed of horns and all the percussion. You can hear different parts weaving in and out and you feel the sound sort of enveloping you from all around, like you're in a pool that's filled with the music rather than water. The song has a certain elegance in stereo.

 

Now Mono:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E4FRtrD9aQ

 

Turn the volume up slightly louder than you did the stereo mix. All of the aforementioned is gone. Everything blends. It’s like the whole song is one big well-oiled machine, all the parts indistinguishable from each other, coming together to create a whole. It’s not about the details at all (many of which are lost!) but rather the big picture. If everything before was a collection of separate sounds, this is just one big mass of a single sound, but listen to the power that it carries. It’s like a train that’s coming straight at you and it’s going to rip your head off.

 

 

Is one "better" than the other? Of course not, it comes down to personal preference. But it also doesn't have to be about one or the other. To me, they're BOTH essential, they both have their own value for totally different reasons. When i listen to the stereo mix, i marvel at the intricacies of the composition, arrangement, and production and i think, Wow, Brian Wilson was not of this earth. How the fuck did he compose, arrange, produce, and sing this? When i listen to the mono mix i just FEEL the song and it makes me want to cry.

 

 

I really felt the difference now that you've pointed it out and I've paid attention to it. That was a really awesome experience! Thank you for that. I definitely felt the "train" effect that you were talking about in the mono mix, especially towards the last minute of the song. I think I'm going to make duplicate files for the songs on Paradise Edition and convert them to mono so I can listen to them next to each other like I just did with these songs. I know I'll always prefer stereo though, I'm a very attention-to-detail person in terms of music and a few other things. You're awesome!

[ednafrau 831]

The still used for the stereo mix YouTube video makes me wonder what auto-tuned animal noises Emile Haynie would have put on an album entitled Pet Sounds. Or imagine "Good Vibrations" with auto-tuned loon instead of an Electro-Theremin.

 

The mono mix brings back memories of when I first fell in love with pop music during my oldies phase in grade school. After I'd go to bed, I'd turn on my crappy alarm clock radio just loud enough to hear it well and just quiet enough to avoid my parents' detection. I'd listen late into the night, marking off songs I'd heard on a Top 1000 Oldies list printed on an advert in the local paper for the oldies station, checking them off one by one by the light of a flashlight hidden under my pillow. Ah, memories...

 

♥ such a lovely, warm remembrance, evil! and such a horrible sonic nightmare, imagining the emile haynie-produced "pet sounds"! *shudder*

[Monicker 3,030]

The still used for the stereo mix YouTube video makes me wonder what auto-tuned animal noises Emile Haynie would have put on an album entitled Pet Sounds. Or imagine "Good Vibrations" with auto-tuned loon instead of an Electro-Theremin.

 

Ha, you are a mad man! What a terrible thought. Although Auto-Tuned Loon instead of theremin on GV is a hilarious thought. You know, Pet Sounds does end with the sound of barking dogs...

 

The mono mix brings back memories of when I first fell in love with pop music during my oldies phase in grade school. After I'd go to bed, I'd turn on my crappy alarm clock radio just loud enough to hear it well and just quiet enough to avoid my parents' detection. I'd listen late into the night, marking off songs I'd heard on a Top 1000 Oldies list printed on an advert in the local paper for the oldies station, checking them off one by one by the light of a flashlight hidden under my pillow. Ah, memories...

 

Oh my god, that is the BEST, seriously. What a great memory/thought. Especially checking off each song as you went along.

 

thank you for master class, monicker! it is such a luxury to have both mono and stereo versions of an album. "pet sounds" and the zombies' "odessey and oracle" are two i love, and, personally, in both i prefer the mono. if lana does this, it would be amazing, sonically and because it would introduce a new-"old" concept in audio and maybe develop a better sensibility and appreciation and attention to detail in a generation not accustomed to that

 

Yeah!! And as you probably know, Pet Sounds and Odessey & Oracle actually have differences in the music between the mono and stereo versions--missing overdubs and double tracked vocals on some of the stereo versions, things that were overdubbed live during mono mixdown! Because the multitracks obviously don't have those overdubs, when stereo mixes were later created, they had to be done without those parts, so it becomes even more of a unique experience when you compare the mono and stereo versions. Take, for example, You Still Believe In Me on Pet Sounds: Brian's lead vocal is double tracked on the mono because he overdubbed the second vocal during mixdown to mono, so the stereo version is a single tracked lead, and this really gives the song a very different feel, in addition to the general mono/stereo difference!

 

I really felt the difference now that you've pointed it out and I've paid attention to it. That was a really awesome experience! Thank you for that. I definitely felt the "train" effect that you were talking about in the mono mix, especially towards the last minute of the song. I think I'm going to make duplicate files for the songs on Paradise Edition and convert them to mono so I can listen to them next to each other like I just did with these songs. I know I'll always prefer stereo though, I'm a very attention-to-detail person in terms of music and a few other things. You're awesome!

 

Awesome! Blue Velvet sounds better in mono to me! I definitely also recommend doing Blue Jeans and Lolita, those both seriously rock in mono, especially the bridge of BJ, oh my god. Lolita is just ridiculous, it sounds like you're being pummeled over the head in the best way possible. And like i said before, it takes a bit of the shine off of Emile's production.

[Sitar 22,171]

Oldies apply to evilentity's childhood? Crazy.

[drewby 9,215]

Gonna be mad if just the EP doesn't a physical release. I really don't want to repurchase the album for the 2nd disc.

 

Maybe I'll send the first one to campus radio

[Darren 36]

Holy Fuck I can't wait for November and 2013! She's gonna slays basic bitches' weaves

[Darren 36]

The Instrumental for YAYO slays.

[Coney Island King 24,963]

The new snippets are good.

 

People don't seem to be liking the new vibe of Yayo. I prefer the old one too from what i can hear so far, but this new one is cool too, it matches the haunting california guitar-esque vibe of the rest of the album.

 

Body Electric is so dark and creepy, i love it.

 

Bel Air sounds very cinematic too.

[greymillenium 541]

Does anyone else hear 'LA, LA, LA, LA' in beginning of the Gods & Monters snippet?

[Harlem 1,941]

Praying for the HMV limited edition signed copies seeing as they had them for BTD

[drewby 9,215]

After these new previews, I still think my favorites will be American and Body Electric

[Tristesse 1,761]

Hum I'm excited for a few songs on the EP .. And i'm very disappointed with Body Electric, it's horriblery auto-tuned, the instrumental sucks, it seems emotionless, flat ... I'll keep listening the live versions for sure.

by the way the songs i'm expecting the most is Bel Air.

 

Anyway, will you buy the re-release or the EP itself ?

[Alex 20]

Will You Still Love Me? is not on.

[teethclick 894]

Praying for the HMV limited edition signed copies seeing as they had them for BTD

Signed? erm wat