Early Stereo on Capitol Records

[Stefan Wood]

I thought Mercury did the same with their classical line, recording in mono and stereo.

[DMP]

In a couple of cases, didn't Capitol go back and re-record entire albums in stereo? I think this is the case with at least one June Christy LP...

[Teasing the Korean]

In a couple of cases, didn't Capitol go back and re-record entire albums in stereo? I think this is the case with at least one June Christy LP...

Yes, Something Cool.

I thought Mercury did the same with their classical line, recording in mono and stereo.

Yes, this was not exclusive to Capitol.

[Chuck Nessa]

Everybody did it for a while.

[Shrdlu]

It's not geekdom at all. It's a very important point. As most LPs sold at the time were mono, it's not surprising that the companies put more effort into their production.

As an aside, the stereo version of Cannonball Adderley's "Domination", from much later (about 1966), sounds outstanding.

[alocispepraluger102]

i have at least 2 copies of otl with a stereo cover(including the track lists) and a mono pressing. thousands of these were made. more could have been sold by labeling them mono.

ebbtide sounds to me like it's from another studio date.

spring is here may be from the original dates.

Edited March 7, 2010 by alocispepraluger102

[stereover]

I have most if not all of the earliest UK Capitol ((STEREO)) pressings on LP format from 1957 to 1963. Does any member actually know the FIRST Capitol release on stereo? irrespective of catalogue #.

Edited January 29 by stereover

[Big Beat Steve]

On 8/15/2009 at 4:25 AM, Teasing the Korean said:

Thanks Jack. Well, my opinions about which I like better are subjective; but the descriptions of the different recording techniques are factual. If anyone has any of these Capitol titles from this (brief) period in both mono and stereo and compares them, they will hear the difference between the ambient hall sound on the stereo albums and the more present, detailed sound on the mono records. Whichever of the two sounds better is a matter of preference. I appreciate both aesthetics for different reasons. Either way, I think it's interesting to compare the two approaches, and to realize that a universally admired album may have been heard and appreciated by so many people, albeit in two significantly different forms.

This is one of the cases where it is welcome to see an age-old thread revived (as it happened recently here, though for a question not related directly to your initial posts). I had not paid much intention to this thread the first time round. But in fairly recent times I've "accumulated" both stereo and mono original pressings of Bill Holman's "Great Big Band" LP (Cap. (S)T1464) and will now put them on my "to do" record listening stack for a listening comparison. 

[Teasing the Korean]

4 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

This is one of the cases where it is welcome to see an age-old thread revived (as it happened recently here, though for a question not related directly to your initial posts). I had not paid much intention to this thread the first time round. But in fairly recent times I've "accumulated" both stereo and mono original pressings of Bill Holman's "Great Big Band" LP (Cap. (S)T1464) and will now put them on my "to do" record listening stack for a listening comparison. 

Based on the number 1464, this album post-dates the dual-miking period.  By this time, everything would have been recorded two a three-track, and mixed to both stereo and mono.

The catalog numbers from the dual-miking period fall between the high 800s to maybe the low 1000s.

[Big Beat Steve]

Meaning that - simply put - the aural difference does not go beyond the "stereo effect" and depends on how effectively the stereo separation has been handled?

[Teasing the Korean]

1 hour ago, Big Beat Steve said:

Meaning that - simply put - the aural difference does not go beyond the "stereo effect" and depends on how effectively the stereo separation has been handled?

More or less, although there can still be major differences between mono and stereo mixes from the same multi-track master, especially in terms of how the center channel elements are balanced with elements placed left or right.  Also EQ and reverb differences.

[stereover]

I received this week a superb first pressing from [1958] of: "Frank Sinatra Sings For Only The Lonely" with the deluxe laminated sleeve on BOTH side a scalloped sleeved one. Never seen another. 'Captol Stereo Full Spectrum Of Sound' white banner on top. Another superb example I own is the Glen Gray [Mono] only release of: "Sounds Of The Great Bands" also from 1958 with similar laminated sleeve on both sides, very colourful and glossy. Very aesthetically pleasing!

Edited February 23 by stereover
extra wordage.

[hopkins]

You can listen to the mono version of "Only the Lonely" on most streaming services, and on YouTube:

 

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLt_qn2fMyYsYzQGYcjvKkE-FJzEuJq2Yn&si=CsoJySCesg384SnB

 

It is interesting to read about these differences between stereo and mono recordings.

Edited February 29 by hopkins