I Found a Beatles Let It Be Master Tape | Where Did It Come From & How Does It Sound?

I'm beginning to think you have something special... because if the best "known" mix of these Beatles albums is from YOUR master tape(s)... then you have have the best recording (in existence) of the best stereo mix, put out by the Beatles... that can't be re-created...

great video Andrew. I enjoyed that. 😀

hey brian Do You or any body out there know what kind of monitors the beatles listen back on when they were actually recording? a while back I heard it was A pair of Altec lansing or Leslie monitors ? but I have no way of conforming this.Thanks!

Amazing! Imagine having one of these from Oasis though 🤯

How can anyone think that vinyl could ever sound better than reel-to-reel tape when it's the original source format that vinyls are derived from, magic?
Vinyl sounds horrible compared to studio tape and digital recording.

So glad you mentioned the smell.

What is the “Emitape” book behind you to the right? Or is it a book at all?

Where the hell do you get these things!

Andrew, I love analog tape. I became an apprentice audio engineer in 1966 here in the US. I worked with Ampex 440 tape decks and later the Ampex 300 series. I had my own TEAC 1/4" 2 track and Tascam 1/2" 4 track reel to reel machines. I love the format

How could it be recorded in 1972?

Why do Apple Records release remastered and remixed Beatles songs every once in a while but never release the original masters and mixes for digital?

You aren't kidding when you say early pre-recorded reel-to-reel tapes were a luxury item. In the US, Capitol's first Stereo Fidelity 7.5 ips 2 track stereo tapes sold for $12.95 in 1957, equivalent to $139 in 2023.

Wow!

Who gives a shit!

There is something special about reel to reel in my heart. Through most of my childhood i wanted one and eventually got a battery portable with 3 inch spools. It was terrible as didn't even have a pinch roller so tape speed varied as tape built up on take up spool. Ok as long as played back on same machine. My dad bought a Fidelity in 1967. 3.75ips with 5.75in spools. I would record Alan Freeman doing the charts in 1967. Still got the recordings. When i grew up i bought a Revox B77 in 1979 instead of buying a decent car. Since then my collection has grown with Ferrograph series 6 stereo and mono versions and love the Truvox machines too. I tend to stick to half track machines and preferably 7.5/15ips. Got a soft spot for the high end Philips too such as the N4450. Also got plenty of domestic machines including Stella, Dansette and a very old 'Sound' tape recorder bought by my Grandfather in the 50s. There is something special listening to high quality music and watching the spools going round and round, especially NAB spools 😊

I have some Beatles cassettes here in New zealand that were duplicated from vinyl.
They are proper commercial tapes that were duplicated in EMI pressing plant Lower Hutt New zealand around 1973 but obviously couldn't locate a master tape so cheated and took it from a record.

I have a "Beatles Master Tape, no one can listen. Splendid!

In my case, i have the Bible as an original, written by Moses, but i can't show you.

Sorry to comment on an old video, Andrew, but I can't resist. I work for the public radio in Uruguay, transferring our tape archives to digital. We have around 8500 reel-to-reel tapes, mostly containing live recordings from our Symphonic orchestra (called OSSODRE, acronym for something like Radio and Television Official Service's Symphonic Orchestra). These recordings are from 1950 to 1990. I'm using the only remaining working Revox PR 99 tape machine. Most of our tapes are 7,5 ips, but we also have a lot on 15 ips. I know exactly what you meant about the pleasure of looking a tape running on the machine. It's almost hypnotic! No need to say (but I'm going to) that I love your channel and all the information you give us. And I always wondered about how a Beatles' master tape looks like, so I enjoyed this video a lot. Thanks for it. PS: We have a lot of BBC Transcription Service's tapes, but all of them contains only classical music. As you can imagine, the first time I was allowed to check the underground archives I RAN looking for any Beatles' content. No luck!

Tape may be 1st generation, but tape compared to other music media is a bit of a pain to deal with. And tape eventually STRETCHES! Records don't pop or hiss or click if you handle them properly. Hey, my friend Keith ZUMBRUN says...HI!

i thought you would play it for us...haha
eventually,i found myself was Wrong.

My Beatles holy grail is a 10" Emidisc acetate for "Day Tripper" demo. A friend of my son's, had an elderly lady neighbor give him a box of '60's lps. Under those was some old newspapers and just under that was the 10". They were Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Animals, etc. So judging by the lot and genre, I'm hoping that it isn't a bootleg of some kind. But it has a second hole drilled next to the spindle hole, which is visible from the other side, because it's covered by the label. And, inside the 2 holes metal can be seen.There are 2 pencil notations written on the label - "K.S." and 10-11-65. Like I said, I hope it is the real deal.

I got a cool shirt

Hi. I know I am a bit late in seeing tis video and am unsure if you with this message being a few months later. Always enjoy these videos and I have learned a lot from you in recent times. Especially about looking after my old vinyl. However, can you tell this un tech like chap why do the record companies store tape "tails out" thus meaning tapes have to be rewound before they can be listened to? Thanks for one of the most informative channels on YT

My holy grail of music would have to be Klaatu: Magentalane (1981. ST-6487) which I snagged for seven bucks. The original vinyl pressing was only released in Canada and Mexico so a think I got really lucky. Plus it was my birthday.

Do you think you could make a video on the other EMI reel to reel tapes you have behind you. Love the video.

my grandpa has a reel to reel of the beatles practicing for their last show ("get back" time) for years before get back was actually released on disney +, ive tried to find something similar but no luck! do you know if this is a rare find?

What is the name of the ending music in this video? It's beautiful <333

Is there anyway to recover songs only via multiple versions of the main master?

Given how great the sound quality of most of the Beatles' master tapes and significant content above 10 KHz, it makes me wonder why Beatles DSD/SACDs and / or 24-bit 192-KHz DVD audio are as rare as hen's teeth.🤔

Many years ago (1970’s?) a small department store in Sale, Cheshire displayed a stack - 10/15 - of The Beatles “ butcher’s” cover albums. II didn’t buy any

Gawd, this is just amazing to own that tape, bloody 'ell. <3

Absolutely fascinating!

Quite interesting. I've always thought that reel to reel tape had a better sound quality than albums (although LP's are my go-to) if they are properly recorded. I've had several reel to reel players through the years and I'm getting anxious to find another one in the very near future. I have 2 or 3 right now but they're not of the highest quality.

damn, just wow

"this tape sounds amazing, but you can't hear it here. sucks to be you."

Why not add the comparison of sound from CD...especially the blue ray boxset

I suppose you won't be sharing that transfer 🥲

my holy grails are the kinks album arthur signed by ray davies who i managed to see after the concert by running to the back of the building before he left and got his autograph.and my revolver album signed by the man who drew the cover, klaus voorman, now if i can just get that dang butcher album.but it's too rich for my blood.

I've come across torrents in DSD of RTR masters sound magnificent

My Dad has an interesting little trinket . An original first generation Bootleg tape he recorded at the Beatles Christmas Concert , Hammersmith Odeon , 1964 . Even Sir Paul McCartney doesn't have a copy .

It just amazes me what some companies did in countries do to put out their records. They seemed to just grab any old tape they had lying around and press it. You've documented before how in some countries companies have edited together their own versions of Beatles best of albums from album cuts, singles, mono and stereo tracks indiscriminately as well as EQ-ing the sound differently. You would think The Beatles and EMI would have had a vested interest in making sure every country issued a consistent and high-quality product. But then that would make Beatles collecting boring.

That said, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that in Australia they grabbed a cassette master and resequenced it into the album song order to press as an LP. I would also bet they did no reprocessing on the audio because what engineer would know the difference especially if they no longer had the original master for comparison? And who would spend the time?

Your videos are always interesting. Keep them up.

I totally get where you're coming from with this. My dad was a keen tape recorder user, back in the sixties, and was a member of the London Tape Recording Club. He used to make amazing documentaries and interviewed quite a few famous and interesting people. He owned a Ferrograph and a Vortexion tape recorder, the latter of which was Abbey Road standard, and did look like something the Beatles would have used! I can still remember the smell and the sounds of the tape recorders. There's even a tape of me being born at home in June 1964 - amazing to hear your own first cries!

Your whooshy video swipes are damned annoying and unnecessary.

As the former owner/engineer of a recording studio (Fast Forward Recording, Hollywood, CA 1984-87) I speak with some knowledge on this subject.
The reason the softer part of your tape has higher level than the disc version is not because it was cut at a higher level.

The cassette format is inherently very noisy (hiss, wow, cross-track talk, machine noise) and cassettes were played more in cars than in the home. The car environment is inherently full of noise and the compression would help the music to be heard above that.
The engineers, no doubt, compressed this recording to keep the level higher throughout. This would be an attempt to mask the cassette's deficiencies, and keep the music louder than traffic on the street.

This compression may also account for the nuances in the songs you had not previously noticed. It would have brought quieter parts of the music up in level.

Love your channel, keep up the good work!

Stored tails out because post-echo is less annoying than pre-echo.

Amazing video .. thank you so much (once again) Andrew. Back in the days, I was also fascinated by reel to reel tape machine : I spent hundred of hours ''playing'' with my parents' Grundig TK247 Deluxe .. I recently re-bought this machine .. 30 years after the original machine went out of service.