The Beatles PAST MASTERS Apple Records / Parlophone 1s Edition DOUBLE ALBUM SET

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The Beatles PAST MASTERS Apple Records / Parlophone 1s Edition DOUBLE ALBUM SET

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• Copyright © – Apple Corps Ltd.
• Pressed By – Optimal Media GmbH
• Record Company – EMI Records Ltd.
• Lacquer Cut At – Abbey Road Studios

• Composed By – John Lennon, Paul McCartney* (tracks: A1 to A9, B2, B5, B6, B8 to C5, C7 to D3, D5 to D7)
• Lacquer Cut By [Runout Etching i…i], Mastered By [Vinyl Mastering] – Sean Magee
• Liner Notes [All Notes] – Kevin Howlett
• Photography By [Photo Editing], Research – Aaron Bremner, Dorcas Lynn
• Producer [All Recordings Produced By] – George Martin

• Matrix / Runout (Side A runout, etched): 5099969943515 BA00180-01 A2
• Matrix / Runout (Side B runout, etched): 5099969943515 BA00180-01 B1 i…i A
• Matrix / Runout (Side C runout, etched): 5099969943515 BA00180-02 C1
• Matrix / Runout (Side D runout, etched): 5099969943515 BA00180-02 D1 i…i O

The Beatles Past Masters Volumes One and Two on 180-gram double LP

Cut at Abbey Road Studios using non-limited 24-bit digital masters sourced from the original analog master tapes!

"Love Me Do" (Original Single Version), "She Loves You," "I'll Get You," and "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number" Presented in Mono

Pressed on 180-gram vinyl; the Beatles' Past Masters albums make their North American LP debut in stereo

Optimum audiophile-quality sound from a first-rate team of producers and engineers

Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Songs of All Time - "Rain" - Rated 469/500!

For years the most anticipated vinyl reissues have been from the one, the only Beatles catalog. Finally, after a delay due to the meticulousness of the remastering process and assorted other hurdles, that day has come. The Beatles catalog is getting the audiophile treatment! 180-gram vinyl pressings cut at Abbey Road Studios using the non-limited 24-bit digital masters sourced from the original master tapes!

These titles update the Beatles classic albums, which have continued to sell strongly and attract new generations of fans long after the quartet disbanded in 1970. For this reissue, individual titles were sourced from the original master tapes. Then each title was copied into 24-bit/44.1 kHz files and cut to lacquer at Abbey Road Studios. It was a painstaking process with maximum attention paid to every detail.

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 Past Masters. Once two separate releases, the anthologies are combined here on a double album for the enjoyment of fans everywhere.

For its Beatles' Stereo Albums series on LP, Capitol/Apple turned to a crack team of engineers to remaster the entire studio catalog from the original sources. The team, including Guy Massey, Steve Rooke and Sam Okell with Paul Hicks and Sean Magee undertook a four-year restoration process for the LP versions, combining state-of-the-art equipment, vintage studio gear and rigorous testing to meet the highest fidelity standards and produce authentic unsurpassed sound rivaling the original LPs. There is no longer any need to pay hundreds of dollars for Japanese pressings!

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, for the first time in analog, distinctions pertaining to equipment, recording techniques, and studio ambience can now fully be detected.

Extensive testing was done before engineers copied the analog master tapes into digital files using 24-bit/192 kHz resolution and a Prism A-D converter. Dust build-ups were removed from tape machine heads after the completion of each title. Artifacts such as electrical clicks, microphone vocal pops, excessive sibilance and poor edits were improved upon as long as they were judged not to damage the integrity of the songs. The 24/192 transfers were done to produce an archival copy of the tapes and then those files were reduced to 24/44.1 kHz files for final mastering. De-noising technology was applied in only a few necessary spots and on a sum total of less than five of the entire 525 minutes of Beatles music. 

The digital files were cut to lacquers at Abbey Road Studios. Engineer Sean Magee cut the LPs in chronological release order. He used the original 24-bit remasters rather than the 16-bit versions that were required for CD production. It was decided to use the remasters that had not undergone "limiting," a procedure to increase the sound level.

Steps to eliminate vocal distortions and inner-groove distortions were addressed using a digital workstation. The latter can affect high-middle frequencies, producing a "mushy" sound noticeable on vocals. Using what Magee has described as "surgical EQ," problem frequencies were identified and reduced in level to compensate for this.

Lastly, the first batches of test pressings made from the master lacquers that had been sent to two pressing plants were judged. Records with any noise or click appearing on more than one test pressing in the same place were rejected, on the grounds that undesired sound had been introduced either during the cutting or pressing stage. The remasters have the absolute best sound quality, producing the quietest vinyl lacquers.

For producer Rick Rubin, The Beatles' recorded achievements are akin to a miracle. The most popular bands in the world today typically produce an album every four years, Rubin told a 2009 radio audience. That's two albums as an eight-year cycle. "And think of the growth or change between those two albums. The idea that The Beatles made thirteen albums in seven years and went through that arc of change ... it can't be done. Truthfully, I think of it as proof of God, because it's beyond man's ability."