The Rolling Stones - Between The Buttons (UK Mono Version)
16 Bit / 44.1 kHz (Audio CD Burnable)
01. Yesterday's Papers
02. My Obsession
03. Back Street Girl
04. Connection
05. She Smiled Sweetly
06. Cool, Calm And Collected
07. All Sold Out
08. Please Go Home
09. Who's Been Sleeping Here
10. Complicated
11. Miss Amanda Jones
12. Something Happened To Me Yesterday
(Total time: 38:49)
All tracks Mono
All of these mixes are officially unavailable on CD.
Source: UK Decca LK4852 (Side 1: XARL 7644 6A / Side 2: XARL 7645 6A)
Technics 1210mk2 w/ AT-440 MLa stylus -> M-Audio Microtrack 24/96
(A-D conversion 24 bit, 96kHz) -> Click Repair (Cl: 20, Cr: 0) -> Adobe Audition 1.5 ->
Nuendo 2.0 -> CueListTool v1.7 -> CueSplitter -> Traders Little Helper (Flac 8)
(NB: Audition 1.5 was used for adjusting DC bias, editing, (incl. manual removal of clicks
and pops), folding the stereo channels together, adding gain, and making the cue points.
Nuendo 2.0 was used for downsampling from 96 to 88.2 to 44.1
and dithering to 16 bit using the Apogee UV22hr.)
Vinyl transfer & Restoration / Torrent Produced by Prof. Stoned
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Prof. says:
I'm proud to present another great Stones mono album that has never been officially available on CD.
BtB is somewhat of an overlooked album amongst the Stones 60's catalogue and
also one that has been somewhat dismissed by the band themselves, especially Mick Jagger.
I would say it is one of the finest LP's the Stones ever did (together with Aftermath and OHOO).
If you think the Import CD with the bonustracks sounds good, then listen to this.
Transferred from a clean copy with great care.
As I have said before; if you wanna hear what the sixties sounded like, you have to hear it in MONO.
Of course, that goes for this album as well but I have to say that the stereo is no slouch either.
When listening to this in stereo, I hear a more detailed soundstage than the mono
(an early unboxed or boxed UK Decca copy will be perfectly satisfactory).
The mono version is rougher. The mixing is less precise but it ROCKS,
whereas the stereo mix tends to be too neat and just not cohesive enough with its wide panorama.
Like the mono version of its successor, the mono mix of BTB has the vocals less upfront and
focuses more on the beat (listen to 'My Obsession' and 'Please Go Home').
Another thing that sticks out on the mono mix is the extra chorus at the end of 'Yesterday's Papers'.
I also have a US and Dutch mono pressing of this title.
(I like to be well prepared before I put my energy into a new needledrop project and make
sure I'm using the best source.)
In comparing these with the UK pressing, I found that the US London (which has a different track
configuration) has signficantly more low-end and somewhat less high-mids and highs.
It also sounds a tad more compressed. Some people prefer this pressing, but when you compare
a track like 'She Smiled Sweetly', you'll hear why the UK gets the nod:
Mick's voice sounds like he's right there with you in the room, while on the US he sounds muffled.
The Dutch version is quite alright but it doesn't sparkle like the UK LP and also seems to have
a bit less low-end.
The records were professionally and carefully cleaned in three steps using Audio Intelligent’s
Enzymantic formula, Super Cleaner Formula, and Ultra pure water on a VPI 16.5
(using VPI brushes) and Nitty Gritty mini-pro 2.
I spent a lot of time manually declicking the wave file (after Click Repair had already been
applied with a medium setting) to make sure the cleanest and most natural sounding result
possible was achieved. A few pops could not be removed without causing hearable artifacts,
and so these were left alone.
I tend to do flat transfers.
However, for this recording I have chosen to use the EQ section for 7 of the 12 tracks.
I used Universal Audio's Precision EQ <http://www.uaudio.com/products/software/preceq/index.html>
As said, the mixing and (also) mastering of this album is very uneven -unlike the stereo version.
Of course, I couldn't change things like the ridiculously overbearing hi-hat in 'All sold out'
but I did attempt to make the hi-end of that track less offending to the ears.
All EQ choices were fairly conservative with respect for the original mix.
No boosting or cutting in the mids, just some minimal boosting of the low-end and some lessening
of harsh hi-end, where necessary.
If you don't agree, please don't download or whine. Thank you in advance.
Sadly, the sleeve hasn't aged as good as the vinyl.
So instead I scanned the sleeve of my dutch copy which is almost identical to the UK
one except for a few details. The label pics you see are -of course- from the UK vinyl.
Enjoy!