Playback of Older Monaural Recordings on A Modern Stereo System

From the earliest days of stereo�s introduction on LPs the record labels lauded that monaural records were compatible with and could be played on stereo systems with untarnished fidelity. The one phenomenon rarely if ever mentioned was that if a stereo reproducer, whether it was a cartridge or a CD player, encounters two equal left/right signals, such as a monaural recording, a null occurs which locks the reproduced sound somewhere towards the middle between the two speakers of a stereo setup. This does not sound bad but generally sucks the immediacy and vitality of the original monaural signal dry. In the 1980s Bob Carver played a monaural orchestral recording known for its sound on a purely monaural system consisting of a single Allison One speaker and the sound just came alive, appearing to come from the entire wall behind the speaker. The same recording was then played on a stereo system of identical quality except for two speakers and amps and it did not sound nearly as good as the null compromised the sound. Several methods have been introduced into the remastering process since to address that problem as it was discovered that many monaural recordings have out of phase microphone signals imbedded, especially those which used multiple mikes in their creation. If these out of phase signals are extracted from the recording and then reintroduced across 2 stereo channels and remixed with the original single monaural recording the null disappears and the resulting mix plays on two speakers or headphones exactly as if the two speakers were one. The end result can be much more satisfying than the common practice of identical left/right signals used on most remasterings of monaural recordings. Other methods of adding ambience to monaural or creating unequal channels in the remastering process have also been used but the extraction process is the only one that preserves the original fidelity and spatial characteristics of the original monaural recording while taking into account that the majority of people today listen to music over two or more speakers or with stereo headphones. That is why I apply this extraction process to all of my remasterings of monaural recordings to assure proper playback on a stereo system typical of today. In almost every instance, the sound reproduction is more alive and natural when such care is taken in the remastering process for older monaural recordings.

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I prefer stereo however quadraphonic was pretty cool. 🙂