4 September 2016

Mr. Jeff Jones
Apple Corps Ltd.
27 Ovington Square
London, SW3 1LJ, United Kingdom

Dear Mr. Jones:

As a Beatles fan for over 35 years—especially from the recording/production perspective—I’m writing you with the hopes that you will authorize a proper stereo remixing of The Beatles official recorded catalog.

I firmly believe that if The Beatles, George Martin and EMI were not constrained by the 1960’s recording technology, limited duoraul mixing experience, and astonishingly frugal studio time, then the entire Beatles stereo catalog would have the caliber of mixes similar to the Yellow Submarine Songtrack and Love releases (and selected tracks from the most recent Beatles 1 re-release); an audio presentation based on a true "concert stage" mix resulting in a more fulfilled listening experience of the band’s quintessential layered vocals and multi-dimensional musicianship.

A prime example is "Eleanor Rigby" from Yellow Submarine Songtrack. It’s astounding to experience the string octet in true stereo and not reduced down to one channel (as are many of the Beatles’ backing rhythm tracks). And "Revolution" from Love, with the drums and bass driving the center of the mix and each guitar given its own distinct space (vs. squashed together on one channel) sounds like The Beatles are right there in the room with you. So imagine how much more spacious “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” and “Birthday” would sound if these songs' mono backing tracks were properly remixed in stereo.

And those are my observations of the more "basic" 4-track recordings. I can’t begin to describe the sonic appreciation for Love’s “I Am the Walrus”, Yellow Submarine Songtrack’s “All You Need Is Love” and Beatles 1's "Penny Lane". These stereo tracks remixed from the pre-reduction tapes provide increased depth of the stereo perspective and greater clarity to the layers of harmonies and instruments. By contrast, even the versions on the 2009 remastered Magical Mystery Tour absolutely pale in comparison.

After hearing the remixes on Yellow Submarine Songtrack and Love (and selected tracks from the most recent Beatles 1 re-release), it’s now truly very difficult for me to listen to the abysmal, lopsided and out-dated stereo mixes of the rest of the Beatles catalog (especially on headphones). It’s a completely incorrect stage mix—with the drums-guitar-piano in one channel, and vocals-bass-percussion in the other—as it’s not how a concert performance is truly experienced.

And to address those obstinate fans who don’t subscribe to this perspective of “tampering” with The Beatles’ stereo recorded output: why then, starting with Abbey Road (and continuing with their solo efforts) did The Beatles records have more appropriate stereo mixes? Because they finally could. It was the mid-1969 upgrades to multi-track studio equipment along with experienced engineers (and the additional studio time allocated to them) that had everything to do with it.

With the native tracks obviously available and recent technological advancements to isolate specific instruments (e.g. CEDAR Retouch for Beatles Rock Band), a proper stereo mixing job CAN be accomplished from the pre-reduction mixes, specifically the 4-track recordings from 1963-1968 (the stereo mixes from 1969 recorded on an 8-track console are certainly more than acceptable, and it's understandable that there are limitations with the very early 2-track recordings).

So what’s the business rationale for Apple Corps Ltd. for such an endeavor?

An informal poll from a life-long Beatles fan: if the remixed stereo (and perhaps 5:1 mixes?) are of the caliber of Yellow Submarine Songtrack and Love, I'd pay $25 USD for each album. Multiply that by 13 then multiply again by a minimum 250,000 production-centric fans like myself and you have quite a successful return on your investment.

Or better yet, for headphoned-eared aficionados like myself and my friends, provide the native pre-reduction multi-tracks digitally so we can spend the balance of our waking hours mixing The Beatles’ catalogue to our hearts’ desire (informal poll #2: I’d pay $50 for each disk; and you could even offer a Beatles-branded mixing App with a replica EMI Studios mixing board!) I’ve been seeing/hearing isolated tracks on the internet for some time now; why not beat the Beatleggers to the punch and release the isolated tracks legitimately?

Don't take the approach of a commercial lowest-common denominator release; instead look back at what made your Legacy Recordings series so successful at Sony.

I'm well aware there's no way every Beatles fan will be happy. But look what we have to date:

1960's mono mixes for the purist; "as the Beatles intended"
1960's stereo mixes for the obdurate; "good enough then, good enough now" (even tho Lennon himself had subsequently made unfavorable comments about the atrocious 60's stereo mixes, specifically "Revolution")

So why not a properly-remixed stereo catalog that would truly give Beatles fans something new to experience, as well as provide new generations of fans with the depth and clarity they’re accustomed to with more contemporary recordings?

To quote Giles Martin via Sir George and Sir Paul: “You do what you can if they could do it now.”

Kind regards,
Mike Sekulich

P.S. start with Revolver