What are Micro Dynamics in music? Beatles Tony Sheridan Polydor era vs. Parlophone..

Thanks!
I have a cd with the title 'The early tapes of The Beatles' with this stuff:
550 037-2
(P) 1993 (c) 1998 Spectrum Music a Polygram Company
Is this good?

 

Agreed on all counts. As for the Sheridan material, I've always thought it sounded so good because it was recorded organically with such a minimal signal path. They just put up a few mics, (probably telefunkens) fed them into a 15 ips tube deck and said "Go". No effects, no crazy processing.

The fact that "Cry For a Shadow" was even stereo is a real treat. Georges guitar is all by itself (almost) with the rest of the band on the other channel. Awesome.

 

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=206057&highlight=beatles+polydor

 

I have a German 1975 Polydor LP pressing of the Sheridan recordings, and it's just as Steve says...the music has that "breath of life" quality he's always extolling here and at his audiophile lectures. Different studios, different labels=different recording, mixing and mastering philosophies. EMI pop recordings in the mid-20th Century were notoriously conservative in their production values, to the point where they sounded almost lifeless compared to, say, Decca, Pye or some other independent European record label. George Martin, Norman Smith and the Beatles had to work within the strict policies of EMI/Abbey Road studios and the results from the first 5 albums, "Please Please Me" to "Help!", pretty much reflect that policy. So it's a minor miracle that so many of their early records sound as good as they do, given the primitive technical conditions and the conservative philosophy of their record label. Just my 2 cents...

 

Silly boy....

I thought you of all people would acknowledge that the term Micro Dynamics is made-up word with no real meaning.



















[/SARCASM]

 

Here's a 30 second clip from 'When The Saints Go Marching In' from the Sheridan/Beatle recordngs.

Even through the horribly boosted treble on this Pickwick LP pressing, the lovely micro-dynamics may still be evident.

When The Saints...clip

 

quick observation: my 1970 Polydor is RL mastered!....always loved it.

 

Just on my little comp speakers (( a JVC Small shelf system )) this sounds VERY good.....Im impressed. I tried it using that "WOW" setting on the media player and it has a quite unique and very cool soundstage (( albeit not real ))...haha Fun!



Oooh we were talking micro-dynamics though (( almost forgot getting into the song! )) Yes it sounds great, but I really honestly wasnt aware of the term (( micro-dynamics )) and how steve described the definition of it. Im assuming it means basically small dynamic range changes "within" the average sound levels. As opposed to the extreme dynamics of the lowest level and the highest recorded level.

Kind of the "mid-range" of dynamics.....!

 

Is micro-dynamism equipment-related?

 

Steve can probably answer this better but micro dynamics are in the recording. Some equipment will reproduce them better than others, but the equipment does not create them if they are not there in the recording

 

Do you mean this CD?



If so, the problem I have with that CD is that it contains the mono "Ain't She Sweet" with the drum overdub and the later version of "Sweet Georgia Brown" with modified lyrics.

 

I wasn't too clear on that term either, but I found his 'finger in the sludge' analogy very apt and illustrative. Especially when applied to the EMI Beatles recordings vis a-vis Sheridan.

 

So what are microdynamics?

 

It is certainly a word that lacks a definition. "Just listen to" will not do.

 

I have two versions if this is what you are referring to.

 

I was friends with some very prominent audiophiles (Steve Weimann and Ray Marion who owned a shop called "Pro Musica" in Urbana, IL) during the late 1970's and 80's and I pointed this out to them back then (using the Polydor gatefold LP that was out in the U.S. at the time).

The reality is that EMI U.K. pop recordings, especially of the Beatles early stuff (Please, Please Me and With the Beatles) of that era simply were not very good (thin sounding and lifeless). I surmise that EMI's recording "higher-ups" were trying to record pop and rock records just as they would easy listening instrumentals and chamber orchestral groups. Thus, the pop records sounded dead.

Dave Dexter of Capitol heard it too, and his staff attempted to compensate for the "deadness" by "livening" up some of the songs and reequalizing them. But, he couldn't re-introduce the "micro-dynamics" that Mr. Hoffman mentions into recordings that had all of their life quashed out of them at the source.

Even the Beatles recognized how dead EMI's records sounded when they asked "why can't we get the bass sounds like Tamla-Motown??", "Why do American records sound so good while ours sound like s***?" etc.

The Rolling Stones attempted to get the "American Sound" by recording at Chess instead of Decca (and their Chess recordings do display this concept of "micro-dynamics" better than their other UK recordings of the time).

EMI's biggest problem in the 1960's was that their arrogant white-coated engineering managers were so busy trying to "protect the equipment" that they made no-exception rules that made their recordings sound dead to American ears. Also, EMI's "higher ups" were making all engineering under one set of rules -- those laid down for CLASSICAL and DANCE BAND recordings. Maybe that's why no British pop recording artist was able to cross the Atlantic until the Beatles. And maybe the Capitol guys who reequalized "I Want To Hold Your Hand" to make it "fuller" were responsible for the Beatles! Perhaps, if not for "Dave Dexter" who was just vilified in another thread, we would have never heard of the Beatles and would not be having this discussion today.

 

Yes,for me was also surprise,Early Tapes on Polydor cd have nice sound.Much better compares to later early The Beatles albums.

 

My version (bought one year ago) of 'the early tapes' is mentioned in wikipedia as the one "reissued with a different design in 2004 on Universal Music's Spectrum label." But on my cd the years are (p) 1993 (c) 1998, as I mentioned above.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Early_Tapes_of_The_Beatles

It is like this one:

"

EAC readings:

EAC extraction logfile from 23. January 2010, 20:32 for CD
The Beatles / The Early Tapes Of The Beatles

Used drive : HL-DT-STDVD-ROM GDR8162B Adapter: 1 ID: 1
Read mode : Secure with NO C2, accurate stream, NO disable cache
Combined read/write offset correction : 0
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No

Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo

Other options :
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000


Track 1
Filename D:\Documents and Settings\ure\Mis documentos\Mi m�sica\tony_sheridan\01 The Beatles - The Early Tapes Of The Beatles - Ain't She Sweet.wav

Peak level 67.1 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC 88985D4A
Copy OK

Track 2
Filename D:\Documents and Settings\ure\Mis documentos\Mi m�sica\tony_sheridan\02 The Beatles - The Early Tapes Of The Beatles - Cry for a Shadow.wav

Peak level 64.0 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC 59688FF8
Copy OK

Track 3
Filename D:\Documents and Settings\ure\Mis documentos\Mi m�sica\tony_sheridan\03 The Beatles - The Early Tapes Of The Beatles - When the Saints Go Marching In.wav

Peak level 66.7 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC B4E24F57
Copy OK

Track 4
Filename D:\Documents and Settings\ure\Mis documentos\Mi m�sica\tony_sheridan\04 The Beatles - The Early Tapes Of The Beatles - Why.wav

Peak level 72.6 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC 85E278C2
Copy OK

Track 5
Filename D:\Documents and Settings\ure\Mis documentos\Mi m�sica\tony_sheridan\05 The Beatles - The Early Tapes Of The Beatles - If You Love Me, Baby.wav

Peak level 60.3 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC 5EAE69BD
Copy OK

Track 6
Filename D:\Documents and Settings\ure\Mis documentos\Mi m�sica\tony_sheridan\06 The Beatles - The Early Tapes Of The Beatles - What'd I Say.wav

Peak level 64.8 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Copy CRC AA9AEDD3
Copy OK

Track 7
Filename D:\Documents and Settings\ure\Mis documentos\Mi m�sica\tony_sheridan\07 The Beatles - The Early Tapes Of The Beatles - Sweet Georgia Brown.wav

Peak level 59.7 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC 2B81E8B6
Copy OK

Track 8
Filename D:\Documents and Settings\ure\Mis documentos\Mi m�sica\tony_sheridan\08 The Beatles - The Early Tapes Of The Beatles - Let's Dance.wav

Peak level 62.0 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC F940A253
Copy OK

Track 9
Filename D:\Documents and Settings\ure\Mis documentos\Mi m�sica\tony_sheridan\09 The Beatles - The Early Tapes Of The Beatles - Ruby Baby.wav

Peak level 71.5 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC 31F31125
Copy OK

Track 10
Filename D:\Documents and Settings\ure\Mis documentos\Mi m�sica\tony_sheridan\10 The Beatles - The Early Tapes Of The Beatles - My Bonnie.wav

Peak level 63.8 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC F94F5996
Copy OK

Track 11
Filename D:\Documents and Settings\ure\Mis documentos\Mi m�sica\tony_sheridan\11 The Beatles - The Early Tapes Of The Beatles - Nobody's Child.wav

Peak level 59.1 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC 20150D02
Copy OK

Track 12
Filename D:\Documents and Settings\ure\Mis documentos\Mi m�sica\tony_sheridan\12 The Beatles - The Early Tapes Of The Beatles - Ready Teddy.wav

Peak level 67.4 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC 257CC353
Copy OK

Track 13
Filename D:\Documents and Settings\ure\Mis documentos\Mi m�sica\tony_sheridan\13 The Beatles - The Early Tapes Of The Beatles - Ya Ya (Parts 1 and 2).wav

Peak level 75.1 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC 1613B22B
Copy OK

Track 14
Filename D:\Documents and Settings\ure\Mis documentos\Mi m�sica\tony_sheridan\14 The Beatles - The Early Tapes Of The Beatles - Kansas City.wav

Peak level 77.7 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Copy CRC 8DBDE1D0
Copy OK

No errors occured


End of status report

To my ears it sounds very good, with a lot of dynamics.

(I also have a different package in a Polydor cassette tape, bought 20 or 25 years ago, and always was surprised on how good it sounded).

I would like to know whether that CD it is the same mastering as the other mentioned before, i.e. the original polydor cd release, that one:





Thank you

 

I have the tan cover cd with the orange label on the disc -
I thought it was stereo all the way thru.

Certainly punchy enough on the tracks that ARE stereo.

The bass has that "infinite depth" to it that's so disarming!

 

I dunno...don't most of the Stones Chess recordings sound like mush? Some of the early UK stuff sounds better to me. 'Little Red Rooster' for example.

Isn't it the case that there were both good and bad recordings made in both the UK and US? It is interesting how different the sound and approach was though. Compare Dionne Warwick's and Cilla Black's versions of 'Anyone Who Had A Heart'.

Maybe in the Beatles case George Martin just wasn't attuned to rock'n'roll? Perhaps they should have got Dave Clark to produce them.

 

Easy enough to check. The stereo version of "Ain't She Sweet" has the vocal in the left channel.

 

I wanna hear more about this.....Very interesting this Micro-dynamics thing!

 

The RCA stuff (Heart of Stone, Satisfaction, Get Off Of My Cloud) was mush. The Chess stuff (It's All Over Now, Time Is On My Side remake) was great.

 

Hi again

Could someone provide EAC numbers for the Polydor release of 'The early tapes...', please?

I am interested in knowing whether it is the same mastering as the re-release by Spectrum Music that I own...

Thanks