Piper At The Gates Of Dawn In Mono... Amazing!

[Tenniru]

I just got a really good transfer of PaTGoD in mono. I knew to expect diffirences (I'm the kind of person who keeps a bootleg of the mono Sgt. Pepper instead of the stereo CD), but this was incredible. You can see how the band was really involved with this mix, whereas the stereo mix was slapped together and wound up losing a whole lot of sound. Here's what I've been able to pick out so far:

ASTRONOMY DOMINE
-The chatter begins earlier and is in a diffirent position with the music.
-The vocals have a very light, fast layer of echo over them.
-Before the band suddenly stops and it gets quiet, someone makes a "shhoooop" noise not heard in the stereo mix.
-The first few guitar noises in the quiet bit have echo over them.

LUCIFER SAM
-In certain areas of the song, there is a layer of echo on Syd's voice and sometime there isn't. There is no echo on the stereo version. This is most notable on "Jenny Gentle, you're a witch...".

MATILDA MOTHER
-The sharp echo is more audible on Rick Wright's voice, it appears of of nowhere on Syd's line (it wasn't there on stereo), and the infamous "Sunshine" edit seems more obvious as it comes in as they're vocalizing; and it's a hard edit.

FLAMING
-There is a layer of phasing on Syd's voice, much like what was on the mono version of the Beatles' "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" (and lost on stereo).
-Those clicking noises during the instrumental are louder.

POW. R TOC. H
-A lot of crazier voices that were missing/inaudible on the stereo version are here. Also, it seems like Nick Mason's drum outro is longer.

TAKE UP THY STETHOSCOPE AND WALK
-The "doctor, doctor" chants have a fast layer of echo on them, as do the "music seems to help the pain" vocal bit in the end.

INTERSTELLAR OVERDRIVE
-Here is the most obvious diffirence. Rick Wright's organ is accompanying Syd's guitar through the whole song; on the stereo mix, it was removed completely. Also, a few guitar noise overdubs were lost in the stereo version. Through the song, there is noticably more organ.

THE GNOME
-Aside from sharp echo, no diffirence. The "tapping" drum sound seems to change through the first verse, though...

CHAPTER 24
-A phasing effect here that was lost in the stereo version.

THE SCARECROW
-No changes.

BIKE
-No changes, except the silence between the song's end and the sound collage is shorter, the "laughing ducks" part appears to have two loops going on at the same time slightly out of sync, and there's a phasing effect... on the drums.

Has anyone else found any diffirences in the mono version?

[Mooner]

Piper was originally mixed by the band in mono - they had nothing to do with the reissue of the stereo remix. In a way, their recording company bootlegged their own client and screwed it up in the process.

[Dovregubben]

The mono verion is a lot better

[my breakfast.]

The mono takes of all the songs were given priority mixing in Mono as it was the more recognised as a format, so they would sell more copies of Piper in mono in 1967... but hey, stereo takes over and now we are stuck with the weaker stereo mix of the album, which was given less consideration in the studio as a sort of 'hmph.... well we must do it is stereo I guess...' type attutude... and the rest as they say, is history.

[Arnie Layne]

Does anyone know where this is available to download please? One of my fave PF albums, would love to hear it, thanks

[SetTheControls]

That's interesting. Never found that much of a difference in a mono and stereo mix of an album.

[Neil1567/2]

The remastered mono version was released on CD for the 30th aniversary in 1997 with new cover art on the outer box.This is still available from Amazon and such places but is relatively pricey.

[Chris Moise]

Piper was originally mixed by the band in mono - they had nothing to do with the reissue of the stereo remix. In a way, their recording company bootlegged their own client and screwed it up in the process.

The band didn't mix Piper. It was mixed by EMI engineer Peter Bown.

[Mooner]

Piper was originally mixed by the band in mono - they had nothing to do with the reissue of the stereo remix. In a way, their recording company bootlegged their own client and screwed it up in the process.

The band didn't mix Piper. It was mixed by EMI engineer Peter Bown.

I really should keep my foot out of my mouth... does funny things to my tongue. Yes. More correctly, the original recording was built as a mono endeavor, not stereo.

[sugarcool6]

I know that finding something new about something you already know, like an album you love, can stirr up some magic. But there is a lot of excageration about the mono-piper.
As a whole the album seems a bit more 'natural' because it is as the band intended. But I don't support everything about the mono-album.

The sounds that were on the mono-version and wich disapeared on the stereo-version, its wrong and its a shame that an organsound on 'Interstellar Overdrive" is gone on
the stereo. But I really must differ on the tracks Chapter 24 and Flaming. I think the stereo-version overall is better maybe (I've not yet discovered it..) some background effects are
gone but I think the "phasing' effect is rightfully missing from the stereo. The voice is stripped from 'studio-excess' on the stereo and comes on much more natural on the stereo.
I definitely like the stereo version of Chapter and Flaming above the 'doctored'-phasing version of the mono.

I think only a few songs in pop gained something by phasing in pop (Nirvana-Rainbow Chaser/Small Faces - Itch..Park/Jimi Hendrix -ElectricLadyLand) but in the case of Beatles and Pink Floyd
it doesn't add so much to the sound and in some cases you have to listen more than once to actually discover the phasing, its not clear enough and superfluous.

When I never heard the mono and didn't know better listening for the first time...the 'fake-stereo' on and off that is on the record, in the beginning had a primitive 'surround' effect, lightly
but still, now it has become indeed somewhat annoying especially
when you listen to the stereo version in surround by accident. Its is terrible how "Interstellar Overdrive' ends with this 'ping-pong' fakery to the ears.
And as I listen more closely its also on some other parts of this record. That is indeed something they could have dealt with. There are enough 'wrong' stereo versions out there digitally
and analogue to have a historically correct version on the market. That is done and now let's put out a version that is better.

It would be very easy to create a new mix where the original stereo is improved by ending the 'ping-pong' or 'left-right' effect and to put in sounds that disappeared for instance some footsteps
and voices, organsounds etc. Let's say a stereo-mix that contains everything the mono has (except the phasing). OK when a defenitive mono-mix is published again then everything should be
kept as it was intended for the band wanted it that way. But the stereo wasn't really what they wanted then you can use it as a startingpoint to bring out a better stereo-mix.
Its someting the band would have surely done if they had the chance in 1967 but there was no time back then to do it properly as the mono-version was actually the official one.

By the way despite of the mistakes the old stereoversion is not that awfull to dismiss it. It was maybe a 'rushed' job but not terribly done...mind you back then stereo was the future so this was
an honest but litle bit scetchy attempt to do something with it. Therefore I like both versions equally

[Massed Gadgets]

I remember when I first heard the mono mix of Piper it was a total revelation. It elevated my opinion of the album considerably.

[whackystrings]

I always found the stereo mix with the hard panning L/R of the Beatles and TPATGOD jarring and unnatural. Fine if I am at the other end of the room or farther, but in close proximity to the speakers I don't enjoy the music. Piper in mono and the mono box set of the Beatles get my big thumbs up. I know nothing about shooting B&W film but working within the limitations and optimizing everything to its best possible outcome is probably a lot like mixing in mono. No doubt some mono mixes are just stereo-summed but I think there is some artistry to getting the mono mix right.

[Vlad The Impaler]

In many ways it has more balls than the stereo. Got it, like it.

[my breakfast.]

A lot of early stereo mixes rob the 'balls' from the tracks. Anything with the drums and/or bass panned off to one side is going to sound lopsided and a bit under-powered, ultimately. Some of the worst offenders are those early stereo mixes with 100% different 'data' in each channel. Even some of the first heavy albums, like Outsideinside by Blue Cheer, seem to lack a certain power. With the Blue Cheer album I feel that they didn't really know how to mix something so rich and full sounding and, at times, it sounds like everything might fall apart. It also didn't help that even on Outsideinside the drums are mixed down to a single mono track, which the producer then either sticks in the middle of the mix or pans off to one side or other.