mono Elvis Presley question
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Topic: mono Elvis Presley question
Posted By: Todd Ireland
Subject: mono Elvis Presley question
Date Posted: 30 April 2014 at 8:49pm
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I'm struck by the almost complete lack of mono mixes available on CD of Elvis Presley's Top 40 singles from 1960-1971. Other than a half dozen 1969-1970 hits on the From Elvis in Memphis (Legacy Edition) (RCA/Legacy 751497), Presley's mono output from the aforementioned time period has been remarkably scarce in digital.
Now, I seem to recall reading that most, if not all, of Elvis Presley's post-1960 material on RCA Victor was recorded and mixed in stereo and then eventually folded down to mono for commercial 45 and mono LP release. Can anyone confirm this? Are there known instances during this particular time period where an Elvis mono 45 was issued as a dedicated mix and not a fold-down? |
Replies:
Posted By: Brian W.
Date Posted: 01 May 2014 at 3:13am
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Not exactly. Certainly nowhere near all.
Only the tracks recorded and mixed by Bill Porter at RCA Nashville were fold-downs. Which excludes any movie soundtrack songs, such as "Return to Sender." He monitored the fold-down live in the studio and balanced the mix with that. (And much of Elvis's catalog from that era has been remixed, too.) Some additional compression might have been added in the mastering stage, but, yeah, the for the stuff that Bill Porter produced at RCA Studios Nashville, he said himself that every Elvis track he ever produced there was folded down for the mono. He added an additional horn overdub for "Suspicious Minds" at a Las Vegas studio to the mono fold, which had to be dubbed live onto the finished mono mix because there were no remaining tracks on the multitrack tape. So all stereo versions of "Suspicious Minds" with the 45's horn overdub are digital-era sync-ups... the horn was digitally isolated from the mono 45 and pasted over the stereo mix. Check out an '80s import CD frm BMG called "Elvis Forever: 32 Hits." It has many of his '60s hits in true mono, including "Return to Sender" and "Devil in Disguise," the latter of which was not a Bill Porter mix either. |
Posted By: Todd Ireland
Date Posted: 01 May 2014 at 4:04am
| Good info, Brian. Thanks! |
Posted By: vanmeter
Date Posted: 01 May 2014 at 6:16am
| I just found a WLP of "Long Legged Girl," which, while not a Top 40 hit, is certainly a dedicated mix - it actually has some drive and power to it (the bass part is especially prominent) unlike the original stereo mix. |
Posted By: Indy500
Date Posted: 01 May 2014 at 6:33am
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The balance between vocals and music sounds terrible on a fold-down of I'm
Leavin'. |
Posted By: PopArchivist
Date Posted: 27 August 2018 at 8:42pm
| Bumped. Anyone know of where on CD Are You Lonesome Tonight and Stuck On You are in mono? |
Posted By: Brian W.
Date Posted: 28 August 2018 at 3:38am
On the above-mentioned import CD, "Elvis Forever: 32 Hits." https://www.discogs.com/Elvis-Presley-Elvis-Forever/release/1097254 - https://www.discogs.com/Elvis-Presley-Elvis-Forever/release/ 1097254 |
PopArchivist wrote: