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Start Date: October 7, 2021
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The Beatles Mono Masters on 180g Mono 3LP

Audiophiles Get Their Wish: Mono Masters Cut from the Original 1/4-Inch Analog Master Tapes and Pressed at Optimal on Dead-Quiet LPs

NO DIGITAL USED IN MASTERING CHAIN: Working at Abbey Road, Engineers Magee and Berkowitz Used Same Techniques Employed in 1960s for All-Analog Project

This Extraordinary Mono Pressing is the Definitive Analog Version of This Exceptional Collection

Beatles remastering engineers saved the best for last. Cut from the original 1/4-inch analog master tapes and pressed at Optimal in Germany on dead-quiet 180g LPs, the Beatles' Mono Masters is made by and for audiophiles. More collectable than its stereo and digital processors, and featuring utterly transparent-to-the-source sound, it is completely different than its stereo analog counterpart by way of the all-analog cutting process and audiophile-focused manufacturing. Purists rejoice: NO DIGITAL is involved in any part of the chain. This pressing presents the band as it was meant to be heard, in spectacular mono sound.

Mastered from quarter-inch master tapes at Abbey Road Studios by Grammy-winning engineer Sean Magee and Grammy-winning mastering supervisor Steve Berkowitz, Mono Masters exemplifies sonic transparency and analog purity. While the recent CDs and LPs were created from digital remasters, Magee and Berkowitz cut the records for the Mono Masters mono 3LP set employing the same procedures used in the 1960s, guided by the original albums and detailed transfer notes made by the original cutting engineers.

Working in the same room at Abbey Road where most of the Beatles’ albums were initially cut, the pair first dedicated weeks to concentrated listening, fastidiously comparing the master tapes with first pressings of the mono records made in the 1960s. Using a rigorously tested Studer A80 machine to play back the precious tapes, the new vinyl was cut on a 1980s-era VMS80 lathe.

The Beatles were so prolific during their decade-long reign, full-length albums couldn’t contain all their music. In England, the Fab Four often released singles that never appeared on their British albums. Some of the quartet’s best-known material saw the light of day on EPs and 45s. We’re talking internationally recognized songs ranging from “I’m Down” to “Across the Universe.” These non-LP tracks are wondrously and seamlessly assembled on Mono Masters.

More than ever before on LP, savor the rising harmonies on early classics such as “She Loves You” and “From Me To You,” and witness the edginess and palpable electricity flowing through raw, rock n’ roll numbers “Long Tall Sally” and “I Want To Hold Your Hand.” The second half of the collection, beginning in 1965, spotlights equally influential, timeless singles like the grandly distorted “Revolution” and poignant “Across the Universe.” Listening to the set in order also functions as a microcosm of the band’s evolution in the studio as distinctions pertaining to equipment, recording techniques, and studio ambience can now be detected to the fullest extent on this definitive analog pressing.

The Beatles Mono Masters Track Listing:

1. Love Me Do (Original Single Version)
2. From Me To You
3. Thank You Girl
4. She Loves You
5. I'll Get You
6. I Want To Hold Your Hand
7. This Boy
8. Kom, Gib Mir Deine Hand
9. Sie Liebt Dich
10. Long Tall Sallly
11. Call Your Name
12. Slow Down
13. Matchbox
14. I Feel Fine
15. She's a Woman
16. Bad Boy
17. Yes It Is
18. I'm Down
19. Day Tripper
20. We Can Work It Out
21. Paperback Writer
22. Rain
23. Lady Madonna
24. The Inner Light
25. Hey Jude
26. Revolution
27. Only a Northern Song
28. All Together Now
29. Hey Bulldog
30. It's All Too Much
31. Get Back (with Billy Preston)
32. Don't Let Me Down (with Billy Preston)
33. Across The Universe
34. You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)