Carpenters Stereo, Mono & CSG

Quadraphonic The Singles 69-73. Just spun the single quad version of Close to You and loved a different mix to start my day.
 
It's clear from this interview that Richard just doesn't love and know music but that he also knows and loves the business side of the industry. Quite an intelligent man on the scientific side of it all as well.
I agree. It also brings to mind that a lot of education systems around the world, (maybe all education systems), don't allow people the opportunity to shine and demonstrate their ability and potential. I recall that a teacher of Karen and Richard called them 'average students' in print or in a live interview, yet Richard in particular, (probably Karen, too, with her drumming), has demonstrated that he has strong intelligence of a certain type. He also sounds to me in interviews as if he's intelligent, generally. I believe the education system in the US, like a lot of places, was quite test-driven in the past, (and maybe still is). That means lots of chalk and talk, being put to sleep by the teacher, lots of thought control and action control, regurgitating of facts and cramming. Memorising facts and regurgitating them in tests actually exercises one of the lower forms of intelligence. That is, you don't have to be particularly bright to succeed. You just need to be a particular type of thinker, (or non-thinker), prepared to be told what to think and what to do, to be a good listener and be prepared to put time in memorising things. Assessments of whether a person is intelligent or not, particularly back then, would largely depend on the intelligence of the person making the judgement and their ability to perceive the talents of the person they were looking at. Thank goodness Karen and Richard later hit a music department that obviously enthused them and gave them the opportunity to demonstrate what they were capable of and to be creative. We probably have a lot to be thankful for towards Frank Pooler and the other people in the Downey music department in the 60s. I apologise for seeming completely off topic for this thread. However, being aware of Richard clearly demonstrating his intelligence in a number of ways, as in this article and with these areas of his work, and remembering him being described as an average student, therefore, nothing 'out of the box', brought all this to mind.
 
Can someone point me towards a list of all the Carpenters songs that have dedicated mono mixes (not fold-downs)? I'm also interested in which of those dedicated mixes have appeared on CD releases?
 
Interesting article. I think things like this go back quite a way with other artists who have had stereo mixes put down into mono for single release. Just listen to the punch on The Beatles "Paperback Writer" and compare it to the stereo mix. George Martin and EMI knew they had to increase the output slightly for AM radio for a better listening experience. Mind you, here in the U.K., we were a bit more behind on the acceptance of stereo especially for singles.
I think Richard should do a special anniversary album of the mono mixes they did for singles, although maybe there aren’t enough for a full album.
 
There are 30 Carpenters mono singles and that's enough for a fantastic mono 45 box set. These were all US mono 45's, however Calling Occupants was not released as a mono in the US that I am aware of...someone on here says they have a mono 45 of Calling but it was a Canadian pressing. The poster provided a picture of the label but I've never seen one otherwise.
Let's hope Richard tackles this project one day, the set could be a box including the stereo and mono versions together across several discs.
 
Here is the list of Mono 45's

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
Your Wonderful Parade
Beechwood 45789
(Want You) Back In My Life Again
I Believe You
Bless the Beasts
Those Good Old Dreams
Goofus
Ticket to Ride
Sweet Sweet Smile
All You Get FLIALS
Calling Occupants
INTBIL
Solitaire
Touch MWWD
It's Going TTST
There's a KOH
I Won't LADWY
Goodbye TL
Only Yesterday
For All WK
Sing
Hurting EO
Rainy Days
Superstar
Yesterday OM
We've OJB
Please Mr P
(They Long to Be) CTY
Top OTW
 
Wow, I didn't realize so many of the singles had dedicated mono mixes. I'm assuming that the mono 45s were only available as promotional, radio-station copies?
I wished they had done a mono for Merry Christmas Darling and Ave Maria. It's also pretty rare that an artist by the 80's would still be issuing mono 45's. We have quite a few from the MIA album.
 
I’m also surprised there are so many dedicated mono mixes. I notice “Maybe It’s You” isn’t on the list. So the mono mix on the promo single is a fold-down?
 
The mono mixes would usually take the place of the B-side song, so that radio stations could have their pick, depending on if they were broadcasting on AM (which would be mono) or FM (which could handle both stereo and mono broadcasts).

Really TTR & YWP was the only true mono single release.

Also the mono version of SCICTT appeared on the Perry Como Christmas DVD in 2013 as the special was originally mixed in mono, so the mono mix was used. The 2016 Christmas Memories DVD has the 1984 Stereo remix.
 
I believe he meant that those were the only ones issued to the public at large.

Promo mono tracks exist for just about every single. Some may be fold-downs or cleverly mixed dedicated mono mixes. Richard and his engineers did top-notch work to ensure that the tracks sounded good on AM radio.

Listen to this mono mix of "Superstar". You can hear the extra reverb and the compression of the mix.
 
These would make a very cool set, indeed...
I agree and with this recent article uncovered....Richard was very candid about their process in creating mono versions of the singles and why we have them. This would be right up his alley in releasing a set like this on CD and providing liner notes for each mono single. Now wouldn't it be cool if this is already in the pipeline for an upcoming release and we don't even know about it? We didn't even know that Public TV was going to release The Complete Singles Collection, did we?

This article is really worth a 2nd read especially after hearing all these mono mixes. It also clears up why the CSG processing appears on some of the singles.
 
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Unfortunately "Rainy Days and Mondays" isn't one of the few "mono 45" videos I found. I would love to hear what that sounds like.
 
Harry, if we listen to a CSG 45 like say MCD with headphones we know it will sound weird and out of phase. Is it possible for an amateur like me to import that 45 with the CSG processing say using Audacity and import it into a single channel and then after coded listen back to this single channel with headphones and hear something very different?
 
Theoretically if you collapse a CSG track to mono, it will sound the way it would have on a mono radio station.

In Audacity, import the CSG track in its stereo state, select Tracks>Stereo To Mono and that's what you would have heard on a mono station. Now, AM radio stations would also have some compression that they added along with some high frequency roll-off.
 
Theoretically if you collapse a CSG track to mono, it will sound the way it would have on a mono radio station.

In Audacity, import the CSG track in its stereo state, select Tracks>Stereo To Mono and that's what you would have heard on a mono station. Now, AM radio stations would also have some compression that they added along with some high frequency roll-off.
I'm going to try that this weekend with a couple of those CSG 45's..will be interesting to hear this.
 
Isn't there also an option in audacity to add some slight compression? It's called Compressor but it processes as adding Dynamic Compression. I've never tried it but I guess I play around with it and see if I can get more of that AM sound on the CSG fold down.
 
^One of the better descriptions I've read.

Also, with good headphones it feels like your brain is being sucked out.
 
WARM did not have the CSG. Herb's only record with CSG was THE BRASS ARE COMIN'.
 
I was in Orlando in February 1987? I believe. I had to rent a car and they gave me a Toyota Celica. It had an AM and FM stereo radio. AM stereo was a new format about that time. Are there still any AM stereo stations even broadcasting? I’ve never even seen an AM stereo radio of any kind offered for sale. I know there were a couple of stations in the Orlando, Fl. area broadcasting in stereo then. The red stereo light would come on to indicate it was a stereo broadcast. Obviously the format flopped? Harry or Chris, any knowledge or experience? Thank you.
 
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