BOB CREWE’s intent as has been said…... back in the early 60s….. was always MONO[until the album 'Dawn' and his experience of 8 Track recording with Tom Dowd]. And as they were a 45 group Bob designed the vocal arrangements with Nick Massi/Bob Gaudio and the group for a close ‘open harmony’ mix and Charlie Calello has discussed this recently with us on podcast [and in his book ‘Another Season’.]
Apart from the Christmas Album which is ‘centered vocals’ with orchestra spread, [in STEREO] the Engineers at Vee-Jay and Philips were left to mix the STEREO album mixes from 3/4 track multi’s. Hence in most cases WIDE [ping-pong] STEREO with vocals of the group[together with Frankie on backing vocals] mixed on one track...way out right channel…with Frankie’s lead vocal centered….that is up until to 1967 [with notable exceptions] and the advent of 16 track recording consoles at Mirasound and beyond.
These early 60s multi-track tapes as Charlie Calello says were designed ‘purely for MONO’. To be mixed down and issued as 45s or MONO albums. STEREO was to all intents an afterthought and a ‘sales’ novelty sound. The CD age gave us the albums mixed to STEREO as the Engineer’s had deemed appropriate [largely unsupervised] and we have hardly ever had the TRUE MONO mixes until now on the Snapper Box Set. Mixing to STEREO back then was demanding for recording on mainly 4 track consoles and so what we got on 'Dawn' was a surprise....but entirely inconsistent.
HOWEVER this became the first return appearance of ‘centered vocals’ with instruments spread on teir STEREO albums...this is as it was released in STEREO.
DISC 6 DAWN GO AWAY & 11 OTHERS MONO/STEREO
Philips PHM200124/PHS600124 No.6 [3/64]
STEREO –
Big Man’s World E-31103 [EnhancedMONO/Pseudo STEREO]
You Send Me 2-31104 [Separated Vocals Wide Stereo]
The Mountain’s High 2-31105 [Centered Vocals -Wide Instruments in each Channel]
Life Is But A Dream 2-31106 [Centered Vocals -Wide Instruments in each Channel]
Church Bells May Ring 2-31107 [Centered Vocals - Wide Instruments in each Channel]
Dawn(Go Away) E-30926 [EnhancedMONO/Pseudo STEREO]
Only Yesterday E-31108[EnhancedMONO/Pseudo STEREO]
Sixteen Candles 2-31109 [Centered Vocals - Wide Instruments in each Channel]
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do 2-31110 [Separated Vocals Wide Stereo]
Earth Angel 2-31111 [Separated Vocals Wide Stereo]
Don’t Let Go 2-31112 [Centered Vocals - Wide Instruments in each Channel]
Do You Wanna Dance 2-31113 [Centered Vocals - Wide Instruments in each Channel]
‘Rag Doll’ followed but with only one centered mix.
DISC 7 RAG DOLL MONO/STEREO
Philips PHM/S200146/PHS600146 No. 7 [7/64]
STEREO -
Save It For Me 2-32842 [Separated Vocals Wide Stereo]
The Touch Of You 2-32843 [Separated Vocals Wide Stereo]
Danger 2-32844 [Separated Vocals Wide Stereo]
Marcie 2-32845 [Separated Vocals Wide Stereo]
No-One Cares 2-32846 [Separated Vocals Wide Stereo]
Rag Doll 2-32689 [Separated Vocals Wide Stereo]
An Angel Cried 2-32847 [Separated Vocals Wide Stereo]
Funny Face 2-32848 [Separated Vocals Wide Stereo]
Huggin’ My Pillow 2-32849 [EnhancedMONO/Pseudo STEREO]
The Setting Sun 2-32850 [Separated Vocals Wide Stereo]
Ronnie 2-31178 [EnhancedMONO/Pseudo STEREO]
On Broadway Tonight 2-32851 [Centered Vocals - Wide Instruments in each Channel]
It is true that Bob Crewe would eventually return to mixing ALL group mixes to ‘centered vocals’ from 1967 when at Mirasound Studio on 16 track Ampex desks and he rescued some mixes in this form from past multi’s for the Edizione D’Oro Set in 1968.
Frankie’s unique blend with the group was always the way Crewe wanted them and the job of fixing the past STEREO Masters is long overdue given the power of DES. The failure to match the 1990s BEST CDs in the Snapper Box Set was disapointing with poor Dynamic Range and excessive bass added. I wanted to create mixes at least complement these facts with backing vocals alongside Frankie Valli. My late friend and German sound engineer had managed to attempt to salvage the BEST MASTERS available and transferred the ACE CD DAWN/RAG DOLL 2fer via DSD at 1 bit.
Taking this all a step further with AI technology and the power to separate mixes to create new multi-tracks became my ambition in 2022 and it took me a year to learn and create something that would at least demonstrate what could be possible. So I have personally using a PCM transfer from this DSD copy extracted either 4/5 stems from each STEREO channel or created 4/5 stems from the MONO only tracks. Re-mixing was done with Audacity and re-Mastering in Wavelab Elements and all of the above listed album mixes has been done to create the most balanced set of STEREO Mixes for the Four Seasons UK Appreciation Society MASTERS LIBRARY. Trying all the time to be faithful to Bob Crewe’s intent for the group in STEREO, as the 7 Mixes listed above from the original STEREO albums
I have put that Volume in my Mega storage and as the BSN Music specialist group is closing I am sharing this with you guys now. I had no wishes for a commercial release particularly as Bob Gaudio, Frankie Valli and Bill Inglot have no interest in AI creations even though they do in my opinion capture the group as they should have sounded in STEREO….but to each their own.
Hear are two examples of this set
I may find a way to share the full CD Set[with Bonus Tracks] someplace. The cover is below.
https://mega.nz/file/4uFEGayC#eMplAS8lMiXCzv1Pcp_LvqZ8LFWiMaSVC0kFK6Zbsa8
Other albums from the best album CDs of the 1990s such as the Vee-Jay Masters preserved as well as the other Philips albums up to NEW GOLD HITS need this treatment to the consistency of Charlie Calello’s balanced instrumentation with vocals together in a ‘center stage’ vocal harmony.
I am lacking any motivation to tackle these in this way and the closure of Both Sides Now STEREO Forum has only compounding that…..but it has been good being there and there may be ways to continue to discuss and share great ‘harmony’ based Digital Extraction Re-Mixes from the past catalogues.
Casey Chameleon
PS...I have updated my notes to reflect the US spelling but both 'centre and 'center' mean the same thing.......SINGERS TOGETHER!!!
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