Newly announced by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab:

Street Date: June 2008
New Numbered Limited Edition Mini-LP-Style Packaging!

• Frank Sinatra - Sings For... Only The Lonely Ultradisc II™ 24 KT Gold CD
  (First Time Ever - The Superior Mono mixes available on CD)
  
  
  UDCD 792
  
  
  
• Frank Sinatra - Nice 'N' Easy Ultradisc II™ 24 KT Gold CD
  
  
  UDCD 790

[Gonzalo Duque]

I had wondered when we would see more MFSL releases on CD than just the "Songs For Swingin' Lovers" that was issued a while back. Hopefully they'll re-do the entire set!

Thanks for the info Bob!

Let's hope they use the "right" tapes this time. They'd better be something special for 30 bucks a pop.

[jtsjc1]

Great news Bob! I'm looking forward to hearing the mono mixes for Only The Lonely remastered. Hopefully they keep putting out more Capitol material its long overdue. Joe

[Gail]

SINATRA STUDENT ALERT!

Can someone tell me what this means? I gather this is some new 'crisper sound' technology? Better sound than the CDs that are currently on the market?

Originally Posted by Bob

Let's hope they use the "right" tapes this time. They'd better be something special for 30 bucks a pop.

OHYOUBETCHA!

I'll let one of you "completeists" (sp?) review them for us before I shell out that kind of $$.

[ARIES3032]

Can't wait to listen to this one, Thanks , Bob

[Ian Bradley]

Originally Posted by GeeBee

Better sound than the CDs that are currently on the market?

Exactly. The true audiophiles will tell you there has never been a compact disc reissue of Sinatra's Capitol work which matches the fidelity of the original LPs, especially the mono versions which, in many cases, were recorded, mixed, and mastered independently of the stereo issues.

Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab produced one of the best LP reissue sets of Capitol material back in the 1980s. (See MFSL Sinatra.) Until now, they have only issued one album, Songs For Swingin' Lovers, on compact disc, but that was somewhat lacking insofar as the sound sources were concerned. Hopefully, these just-announced CDs will have superior sonics.

[Gail]

Thanks so very much, Bob for clarifying.

[SinatraFan]

Wow... that's great news! I really want to get Only The Lonely, so I can have the mono mix on CD.

Thanks for the info, Bob.

[Mark]

You WANT the mono mix? How come? Just curious...

[SinatraFan]

Originally Posted by Mark

You WANT the mono mix? How come? Just curious...

On Frank's Capitol albums the mono mixes were made better than the stereo ones and you can hear the orchestra more clearly because more microphones were used during the recording process. Stereo was still in its early stages during the 1950's. Nancy played the mono version of Come Fly With Me on Nancy For Frank and it sounded wonderful!

[Gonzalo Duque]

I did hear a mono version of "Come Fly..." and in the track "Brazil" I heard the marimbas clearly during the instrumental portion. The friend I was with then played his stereo vinyl next of that same tune and the marimbas were lost. This was back in mid-1985!

Originally Posted by Mark

You WANT the mono mix? How come? Just curious...

Mark,

Like you, I was once caught up in STEREO UBER ALL. However, as the years have flown by I have grown to learn an appreciation for well-recorded monaural. And you cannot find better monaural than the Sinatra Capitol albums...especially the original gray labeled LP's.

Now, don't get me wrong. There is nothing like a finely mastered stereo recording. But those old monos can really be something.

[Mark]

I always learn something new around here. Thanks Paul, Allen, and Gonzo... Never thought I'd be out looking for a mono recording!

[Gerald]

Lately, most of the Mobile-Fidelity cds are Hybrid Super Audio CD. Are the new MFSL Frank Sinatra's cds SACD ?

[mlutthans]

See here and here. SINGS FOR ONLY THE LONELY will use the MONO mix, not stereo! Is it cold in a certain place yet???? Each CD will be packaged in a mini-LP style sleeve.

--Matt

[Jeffrey Simmons]

I recall that the Mobile Fidelity guys were doing good things on LP in the 70's but I never understood why their so highly rated masters were not digitally transposed to CD when the first Sinatra CD's were placed on the market. Bearing in mind the supposed improvement in quality of digital CD's, one would have assumed it logical that Capitol would have made a deal with those guys, so as to use the best possible master sources. Oh Well!

My ears, whilst they recognise the difference between very good sound and not so very good sound, cannot be nearly as sophisticated as some of the HI FI buffs here who can apparently tell with ease one mix from another.

I am all for having the best possible quality of recording on CD because that certainly increases the listening experience and the overall enjoyment of the recording, which deserves the best treatment. Having said that, I fully appreciate that some here, including even myself, would most likely pay for the pleasure of having again the original mono sound mixes of all those original mono Sinatra recordings on a high quality MFSL new CD (or for some even on LP) if the sound quality really is genuinely measurably improved from that which is already available. However, I am not so sure that I would rush out to buy a mono version of an original stereo recording, unless I was absolutely certain I would otherwise be missing hearing something special.

I am at a loss as to why MFSL have not also produced the stereo recordings in stereo, e.g. Only The Lonely where the original recordings were actually recorded in multi tracks for stereo. I would have thought that creating new stereo masters that actually pass the test of our many HI FI sophisticates, by exceeding in quality even the original mono studio mixes, should be the desired goal.

If it was down to me, in regard to the great stereo albums, I would suggest MFSL selling a single package which included not 1 but 2cd's, the first being the best possible (new) stereo mix also made from the actual original master sources and the second CD containing the original mono mix. That, presumably, would be a package worth listening to, comparing against each other and most likely investing in.

Originally Posted by Jeffrey Simmons

I am at a loss as to why MFSL have not also produced the stereo recordings in stereo, e.g. Only The Lonely where the original recordings were actually recorded in multi tracks for stereo. I would have thought that creating new stereo masters that actually pass the test of our many HI FI sophisticates, by exceeding in quality even the original mono studio mixes, should be the desired goal.

Only The Lonely was recorded in early 1958, when stereo was still in its infancy. Note that the stereo version of the LP did not appear until a couple of years later. (See: Early Stereo Records)

In the case of OTL, the mono and stereo recordings were totally separate. Different microphones; different tape machines; different engineers; totally different mixes. At that time, the Capitol execs were still not convinced of the value or future of stereo, and much more effort and expertise was put into the monaural recordings. Our audio guru, Martin Melucci (MMM) describes this in great detail elsewhere.

See also this thread: Frank's 50s and 60s stereo and mono recordings.