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What a fascinating article, I'd really like to hear from Harry, Rudy and Chris on this one...
Great article!
I think what fascinates me most is just how far we've come with technology and the fact that AM & FM programmers would have had to have reminders, or even straight up education on whether to play the mono or stereo mix of any given tune. When you start playing with the mathematics of a +6db increase on the center, it really has a major impact on the way one perceives the mix, and certainly the overall balance even though the mix doesn't theoretically "change". The limiting that is/was used to push the output over the air and compress the level also adds another layer of complication to the whole thing if something is either out of phase, or like Elliot mentions in the article "AMs should realize the importance of using the mono mix" in order to avoid crappy playback on-air.
So I am assuming Don Elliot is referring to A Kind of Hush when he states they received a new Carpenters release and it sounded out of phase to him. Maybe it could have also been a single being released from A Kind of Hush.
Scroll down on this page to see the Canadian Mono Occupants 45 (Trevor Thurlow Productions ). Perhaps this was a mix that was done here in Canada to get around certain CRTC rules that were not in place in the US.This interview really brings it home to those of us to have found the mono 45's and have been able to collect them all for comparison. Richard here, confirms what some of us have been saying all this time. "Some mixes actually sound better in mono than they do in stereo" There is a thread someone on this forum where we talked in great length's about our discovery into this Carpenters Mono World.
So here we have Richard actually stating that before a song can go out the door, he does it in stereo, then CSG processing over 1 speaker then if Richard thinks it still doesn't sound right then they will do a mono mix. In addition, what I found interesting is that this was 1976 (the age of vinyl)...yet we still received mono mixes on vinyl well up to Made in America in 1981. So Richard had to be incorporating this same process of listening to songs they recorded and how radio stations can best play their music to get out the best sound over the radio airways.
It almost now makes sense why there were some songs that mono mixes could not be found....Merry Christmas Darling and Calling Occupants brings 2 to my memory. Although I believe it was Tom on this forum that indicated a mono mix of Calling was issued in Canada yet I've never seen or heard one. This would lend credence that after listening Richard felt these did not warrant a mono mix to be issued in the US and he considered the CSG (MCD) processing good.
I'd still love to hear other's thoughts on this....
It's possible that the CRTC may not have approved the CSG system for use in Canadian broadcasting, and hence the need for a promo 45 with regular stereo and mono sides.Scroll down on this page to see the Canadian Mono Occupants 45 (Trevor Thurlow Productions ). Perhaps this was a mix that was done here in Canada to get around certain CRTC rules that were not in place in the US.
I'm very familiar with the Canadian content rule as I first heard Canadian radio broadcasts on am in the late 70s during the nighttime hours and later on CBC'S Various shortwave radio services ( which sadly no longer exists when they shut down my beloved RCI) They would include in their announcements the CRTC edict on "Canadian Content"It's possible that the CRTC may not have approved the CSG system for use in Canadian broadcasting, and hence the need for a promo 45 with regular stereo and mono sides.
For our non-Canadian friends, the CRTC is a government body (similar to the FCC in the US), which regulates all aspects of the broadcasting system. Among other things, it requires radio stations in Canada to broadcast a certain percentage of "Canadian Content", to ensure that Canadian artists' work gets heard in their own country. To qualify as Canadian content, at least two of the following criteria must be met:
1. The lyrics or music is performed principally by a Canadian (IE: the lead singer is Canadian, or the majority of band members are Canadian)
2. The music is composed entirely by a Canadian
3. The lyrics are written entirely by a Canadian
4. The performance was recorded wholly in Canada
As a result, the Carpenters "Calling Occupants" qualified as Canadian content, as the music and lyrics were written by Canadians (the members of KLATTU)! This would help explain why it got so much radio airplay here.
I wonder if we could discuss the CSG because I'm a little more confused with this recent article. Richard said that before the song went out the door they would do it in stereo first. Then he would want to hear with CSG processing over 1 speaker then if that didn't sound right even with the CSG over it then they would do a straight mono mix.
1. What does he mean by CSG over 1 speaker?
The designers of the CSG system probably never envisioned the popularity of headphone listening. Stereos back in those days were comprised of a central unit (phonograph, tape player, or FM stereo receiver) and two speakers or speaker systems. When you listen to a CSG recording on speakers in a casual way, it's not nearly as offensive as it is with headphones.2. When I listen to the CSG processing, it just sounds all out of phase to me. Are these type 45's really intended for DJ's who had the right equipment to decode these so they transmitted a different sound over the air vs what I am hearing when I put this 45 on my turntable? How might this really sound with the proper equipment when it reached the listeners ears over the air? What was Richard hearing that he said, yup it sounds best with the CSG here.
3. I have a white label promo of Merry Christmas Darling b/w Mr Guder and both contain the HAECO CSG processing on both sides.
So based on what we read above, Richard would have listened to the stereo version of MCD but he didn't like what he heard so he listened to it with the CSG processing and felt that was the best sound so he opted NOT to mix a mono version? Is this why we see this single with the CSG processing vs a stereo or mono mix?
So when Richard wanted to check on the CSG mix of a single, he had them combine the two channels into one so he could hear how it would sound in mono. And according to the article, when he heard problems with the CSG mix, he did a dedicated mono mix anyway.
One would think that MCD would have been issued with dedicated pure mono on the b side. Since this was the 70's and radio stations were already playing the mono format. Richard must not have liked how the mono sounded over the CSG. That is the only reasoning why we don't have a mono of MCD and several years later we'd get a mono for Santa Claus so it couldn't have been the difference in years.
You also have to remember that in 74 "Santa Claus" was also going to be used on Perry Como's Christmas Special. So maybe for that reason because it would be on radio and TV he made a mono mix that could be used anywhere.From what Harry described above, it seems likely that Richard listened to the CSG mix of MCD, and to his ears the sound was acceptable. Therefore, he may not have created a mono mix at all. Four years later, he didn't like how "Santa Claus" sounded with CSG, so he then created and released the mono mix.
And then in the 80's, before MTS sound, you had TV stations doing the reverse----broadcasting mono on the TV channel, stereo on a separate FM channel.Sort-of. Earlier in the sixties, virtually all pop music was played on mono AM radio stations. And the record companies issued 45 singles in mono only - often making dedicated mono mixes for those singles that made the sound "shine" on the AM band. They'd add some compression, boost the highs, add some reverb, etc. all to make the record sound great on AM.
FM stereo was still considered sort of experimental in the early to mid-late sixties. Most AM station owners had also started an FM station and either used it to simulcast their mono AMs or they'd program classical music or beautiful music orchestral stuff. Not many were listening to FM, so it really didn't matter.
Then a few rogue station owners decided to break away and really try to program the FMs with something with more mass appeal and pop and rock music stations began showing up on FM. And they were able to brag that they were broadcasting in stereo, which was becoming a more popular listening format due to record album being issued in both mono and stereo. It was mostly adults who had these FM receivers, and it was mostly adults who would buy the more expensive stereo albums. Kids pretty much stuck with 45s on their little portable mono phonographs.
Once stereo started getting a foothold and more and more radio stations on FM were not only stereo but playing pop and rock stuff as well, the record companies were faced with servicing stereo records to FM and mono records to AM. But it wasn't so cut and dried. There were still many listeners to these new FM stations that had mono FM receivers in their hi-fi consoles, and if the station's stereo equipment wasn't properly in phase, the mono listener got a decrease in sound quality - muffled highs, phasey sounds.
So the record companies engineers - Howard Holzer for one - came up with the CSG system for turning the record partially out of phase so that stereo listeners wouldn't be too upset, and the mono listeners wouldn't hear those nasty artifacts.
Simulcasting was just a part of the problem with stereo broadcasting on the FM and the same program on the AM in mono. But the FCC soon nuked that idea with a rule that co-owned stations couldn't simulcast more than a certain percentage of the day. That forced more stations to branch out with separate AMs and FMs.
Scroll down on this page to see the Canadian Mono Occupants 45 (Trevor Thurlow Productions ). Perhaps this was a mix that was done here in Canada to get around certain CRTC rules that were not in place in the US.
For our non-Canadian friends, the CRTC is a government body (similar to the FCC in the US), which regulates all aspects of the broadcasting system. Among other things, it requires radio stations in Canada to broadcast a certain percentage of "Canadian Content", to ensure that Canadian artists' work gets heard in their own country.
"Can con" ruined CKLW.
And CSG ruined stereo records.
And "curiosity killed the cat."And "video killed the radio star!"