Fania - Mono vs. Stereo?
mannybolone
Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
Maybe some like Reynaldo can field this:Is there a huge difference in the sound quality of a Fania mono vs. stereo pressing?I'm inquiring specifically re: Barretto's "Hard Hands." I have copies of both, similar quality, just wondering which to keep.
Comments
I disagree. I think these titles would HAVE to be in mono. As I've mentioned before on SS, for some unusual reason Fania kept pressing simultaneous mono/stereo albums well into 1972. Most labels stopped doing this in 1968.[/b]
True. By the end of 1968, the industry standard would be stereo over mono. When I say that, I mean that artists, producers, and engineers would stop making separate mixes for mono and stereo, as more people were buying stereophonic equipment.
From 1969 onwards, most albums were mixed for stereo, with no mono counterparts, although there are a few exceptions. If they were[/b] released to radio in mono, most of the time they were what they call "fold downs", or simply converting the stereo mix to mono. In other words, a separate mono mix was not created. However, collectors have been discovering a few exceptions.
Fania may have sold a lot to their audience, but were still arguably "behind" what everyone else in the industry was doing. So the question would be, was Fania making different mixes for the stereo and mono pressings, or were the mono pressings just "fold downs" to cater to those who still had mono phonographs? It's possible.
I would also assume that if these songs and albums were getting any airplay, it would probably be on an AM station than FM, and the majority of people would know them in mono. It would be not unlike Motown, where hearing the stereo mix is drastically different than what was familiar.
If Fania did have a budget to create unique mixes for both the mono and stereo pressings, then the mono mixes will be significant. If the mono mixes are nothing more than fold-downs, then it would be a matter of preference. The dynamics of the recording can be different, whether it's a fold down or mixed specifically for mono, so there is still a bit of collectibility either way.
Another issue would be any Fania 45's, especially if those mixes are in "narrow stereo". On major labels, some mixes were done in "narrow stereo" so that they sounded "almost mono", which meant they could be played on AM and FM radio if need be. A good example of "narrow stereo" is the 45 mix of Steely Dan's "Do It Again", and outside of editing the synth solo, elements of that song were mixed differently too.
Yet another issue would be if an album had originally came out in mono, did Fania have enough of a budget to do a new stereo mix for a stereo pressing? A lot of songs from the 50's and 60's only existed in mono before a proper stereo mix was created in the late 60's and early 70's. That's another issue to consider, and the answers would remain in the tape library or any archiving system that exists for Fania.
I wonder if they kept making mono records because their audience was "behind" too? In other words, were there a lot of Joe Bataan fans who hadn't upgraded to stereo yet?
Which is why I had stated or were the mono pressings just "fold downs" to cater to those who still had mono phonographs?[/b]
Nonetheless, they did press separate mono pressings of certain albums, which is interesting. Playing the stereo pressings on a mono phonograph would be the same as playing the mono mixes, if the mono mixes were fold-downs. Otherwise, there could be some phasing issues, and I don't know enough about Fania (other than the music itself) to know if that had been an issue for them.