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Mono recordings - two questions...

1) While I have been an analog fan since the 70's, I never ventured into mono recordings... from an audiophile perspective, how does one listen to mono recordings?  For example, does 'imaging/soundstage depth' matter and is it accomplished through a well-mic'd mono recording?  Obviously tonal balance, impact, resolution are all qualities that should shine through...

2) Would appreciate recommendations of well recorded MONO LP's -- recently bought a Julie London LP in mono it sounded surprisingly nice/natural... not so hot as many later stereo pop recordings...  my musical preference would be for vocals in pop, jazz and soul/r & b realms... in modern artists I would equate these to Diana Krall, Gregory Porter, Adele, Kurt Elling, Sam Smith, M Buble etc etc - 

Thanks in advance
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bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,806 posts
 
Three Pop/Rock groups and one solo artist whose early LP's (pre-1968 or so) are better in mono than stereo are The Kinks, Beach Boys, Beatles, and Dylan. The Kinks and Beach Boys because their "stereo" LP's (with the exception of The BB's Surfer Girl album) are in actuality reprocessed mono, and sound terrible. Dylan because his early stereo LP's have his guitar, voice, and harmonica panned left, center, and right---ridiculous! The Beatles because they and producer George Martin spent a long time getting the mono mixes right, the stereo mixes left for an assistant engineer to do in a quicky session. Also, some of the stereo mixes on my original UK EMI pressings have the voices panned hard left, the instruments hard right. Also ridiculous.
pryso
1,928 posts
 
Thanks bdp24.  I was trying to present an overview, but specific artist info like you offered should be helpful, specifically for reasons you mentioned.

About the only thing worse than hard panning were the "electronically enhanced" stereo records, released to catch gullible consumers. 
terry9
2,334 posts
 
Good comments above.

I use a mono cartridge for mono recordings, Miyajima Zero. It blossoms with obsessive setup, surprisingly so for a conical stylus.

My special favourites in mono are Casals' Bach Cello Suites, Joan Baez, and lots of really interesting music from Kirsten Flagstad, Isobel Baillie. Furtwangler, etc. Best of all, they are cheap precisely because they are mono!
tablejockey
3,905 posts
 
bdp24-good reminder how great the early mono  Beach Boys albums sound. I have the first 6, which I think are the essential for any BB fan.

Just thought I'd mention I played that Julie London album while having dinner, and I've fallen in love(again) with her.
Something interesting- on "Cry me a River", during the outro where she repeats "I cried a river over you", during  the 2nd from the last verse, some  ham fisted engineer cranked the reverb knob...oops! 

That album is a perfect example why mono is king. I've taken this album to shows and played it on uber systems...breathtaking.
terry9
2,334 posts
 
Belafonte at Carnegie Hall - mono is just as good as the stereo
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