Good Vibrations (2021 Stereo Mix) + New SoundsOfSummer Info

I will certainly reserve judgement, but from experience I'm quite certain that hearing an extracted mix in hi-res will not fix the issues. 

I also take your point about the jarring effect that hearing a mono track played amongst a majority of stereo tracks can have. The ear gets used to a certain thing.

However, my experience of listening to the mono mixes seems to be the exact opposite of what you describe. It could be that we have different equipment or different media, but I think the truth is we probably have different ears, and listen for different things. I hear nothing dirty or muddy in the Pet Sounds mono mix. That being said, I love the stereo mix also as it retains a sonic authenticity that a lot of the more recent 'in the box' mixes lack. This is because vintage gear was used throughout. All I hear in the new mixes is the sound of plugin compression and EQ, and for me that is a very negative sensation as the former destroys the depth, and the latter introduces the harshness you have described. It is as jarring for me as the Sirius FM mono experience is for you, and it fatigues my ears quickly. Perhaps if Mark went back to using the large collection of vintage outboard gear he has I would enjoy these new mixes more. 


I believe it is also what you are used to, and what your formative experiences are of first hearing this music. My first deep exposure to this catalogue was the late 80's, when a lot of it was out of print and all that was available was the mono LPs or cassettes. I'm always open to the stereo mixes, but for me the initial magic that I first heard aged 15 will always be locked within those monophonic grooves. So perhaps its partly nostalgia.

I should also add I have great respect for Mark, as his stewardship of the catalogue has brought us many fantastic things over the years. No one should be above constructive criticism though, and I bemoan his complete move away from the analogue domain in respect to this historic body of work. I'm not saying that no software plugins should be used, I'm a firm believer that the right tool should be used for each specific task. Giles Martin has this balance right, and I wouldn't be surprised if he took his cue (somewhat poetically) from the Pet Sounds remix when tackling Sgt Pepper's.

Lastly, I don't understand your argument stating that because the performers and engineers at the recording date experienced the session in stereo, then a stereo mix is preferable. The actors and crew in Gone With the Wind experienced the film both in colour and 3D, does that mean all old films should be colourised and viewed through stereoscopic glasses? These recording were designed to be in mono, and whereas black and white films are treated with respect and their artistry is acknowledged, mono recordings are not treated similarly. Why?


I will however choose my Sistine Chapel analogies more carefully in future 

My first album was Pet Sounds.  I had a suitcase Zenith record player with a 2” speaker.  My parents had a stereo which I blasted and had the left-right “stereo.”  I did not know any better.  It is really all relative and tech driven.  I had the honor of seeing the Sistine Chapel in the early 90s after the restoration which was panned by some as looking “cartoonish” - but I had no basis of comparison as between the before-and-after the restoration, and no one (unless they were in the sound business) had headphones to isolate the sound from the background noise in your home.

People say that the Pet Sounds mono is the best which could mean that Brian took a hearing deficit and turned it into a gift.  I’d prefer unheard/unreleased tracks and sessions to anything else and really enjoy hearing it all cobbled together.  One of my favorite tracks on the PS Sessions is Trombone Dixie.       

A second track from the upcoming expanded edition of Sounds of Summer is now available for streaming. It’s the 2021 stereo remix of ’Shut Down’ and fans of trunk-rattling bass and sucked out midrange will be overjoyed. Centered vocals too so it will probably sound amazing on a tiny pair of earbuds. This new mix has a really cool artificial quality to it. Great stuff!

Is this the same thing? I found this on YouTube where it's been there it says for 4 months. This doesn't sound good whatever it is.

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It will become available when it’s Friday in your timezone

I’m sorry if my post in any way offended or upset you. That wasn’t my intention at all. I was merely stating a personal opinion.

Yes, we still have the original, vintage mixes and I don’t mind the endless stream of remixes. Bring it on! The more the merrier. Some of the remixes have been revelatory. The 2012 Smiley Smile stereo remix is my go-to version of that album and I love the fact that we get spoilt for choice.

I don’t mind the actual MIX of the 2021 Shut Down but it’s the excessive additional tweaking I find weird. It’s like they slapped a Waves MaxxBass VST on the track and turned it up to 11 to artificially extend the bass and scooped out the mids to make it sound contemporary. It doesn’t quite gel in my super duper mega humble opinion. It’s a song recorded 60 years ago and it sounds like they tried way to hard to modernize it to fit the flow of Spotify playlists.

I loved the new remix of Good Vibrations and I thought it was a big improvement on the 2012 remix but it’s a bit strange that the mixing/tweaking/mastering is so inconsistent from track to track.

Once again, apologies in advance if I hurt anyone’s feelings. It’s just my opinion and everyone has ’em, etc. etc. etc.

Stereo Master Level streaming from the tidal application on the album Surfin u.s.a. sounds much better than this one. In this one however I can actually hear the Rhythm guitar better. It's not just me listening with my heart to hear Dave's part but I definitely hear either Dave or carl or both chunking on the cord better in this most recent version. However the vocals sound more stereo and sweeter and clearer on the older album version. And when I say older I suppose that itself was remastered at some point. I'm not sure what version is on made in California or Sounds of Summer or 50 big ones and I can't possibly keep track.

Major deal on Amazon right now.
6LP down from $179.98 to $118.16, 34% off.
www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B09Y96F3PC/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_plhdr=t&aaxitk=70be13fa489b538443b54277cd35548b&hsa_cr_id=8057077750901&ref_=sbx_be_s_sparkle_scm_asin_0_bkgd&pd_rd_w=xhM2o&content-id=amzn1.sym.22aaccd3-32f1-4e8a-8b82-495782857be5%3Aamzn1.sym.22aaccd3-32f1-4e8a-8b82-495782857be5&pf_rd_p=22aaccd3-32f1-4e8a-8b82-495782857be5&pf_rd_r=5YBR0N5Y5N9VGW8AZ470&pd_rd_wg=fytDh&pd_rd_r=70c22244-f3da-459c-a007-906b150a59e0
3CD down from $29.98 to $19.17, 36% off
www.amazon.com/Sounds-Summer-Very-Beach-Expanded/dp/B09XGKHPVC/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?crid=A3S6XVLB2CVY&keywords=sounds+of+Summer&qid=1654008239&sprefix=sounds+of+summer%2Caps%2C237&sr=8-2
These are major price cuts, almost makes me wonder if they’re struggling to sell

I do hear muddiness, but I love it. I don't mind the clearer stereo mixes and I'm happy for everybody who enjoys them. But for me all music ever created might just as well be in mono, as I enjoy blend more than seperation. That's only me of course. The little muddiness or blurring on Pet Sounds adds to the blend. There are limits to that, of course. The muddiness of the originally released mono LP versions of "Don't Back Down" and "Drive-In" are too much even for me. Good they put cleaner versions on the mono CDs.

Which LP pressing are you referring to? The original mid-'60s pressing was made from a master that apparently had a lot of the bottom end filtered out, and the high end accentuated. Latter-day mastering engineer Steve Hoffman suspects that 10dB of 100 Hz was dialed out, and around 5dB of 5K was added in (with a top-end filter of around 10k), then the whole thing was compressed at a ratio of about 4:1. This resulted in a somewhat tinny, "transistor radio" sound. The early '70s master prepared by Carl and Steve Moffitt, however, was truer to the mix that Brian had prepared...and therefore more "muddy" to most ears. Playback systems will vary, of course. But I think when people speak of the "muddiness" of the old Pet Sounds LPs, they're referring not to the first Capitol pressings, but rather the Warner Bros. pressings and subsequent Capitol pressings.

When it comes to CD editions...well, there's quite a bit of difference there, too. The very first Pet Sounds CD, as released only in Japan at the end of the '80s, had virtually no bass frequencies and very little mid-range. It is laughably "light" in those areas. The 1993 Hoffman mastering is truer to the Warners LP sound, as is of course the 2016 50th Anniversary Capitol release (since the latter actually uses the 1972 Carl/Moffitt LP master tape). But to my ears, the best-sounding mono CD of Pet Sounds will always be the one from the 1997 box set release:  it's well-balanced, with nice non-boomy bass, plenty of mid-range, and no shrillness in the hi's. Your milage may vary!

Yet, I found it to be the worst sounding Pet Sounds that I ever heard. I’ve learned very early on not to trust anyone else’s ears, but my own. 😁