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How Rare Is Ping Pong?
Topic Started: Jun 14 2012, 10:22 AM (483 Views)
samartin3
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So, I've recently learned about a few promo releases by Capitol in which the channels jump back and forth from left to right throughout the song, and thus creating a form of stereo referred to as 'ping-pong'.

The releases I know of so far that were given this treatment are:

It Won't Be Long
I Want To Hold Your Hand
This Boy

Are these like as rare as it gets? Cos I've never heard of them before now, and yet they were issued in 1964 to help promote the Capitol albums.

Just being able to hear them would be great, like a downloaded copy or something. I'm not really interested in buying the records, particularly since I would exprect to be paying through the nose for them.
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Easy-E
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Where did you find that out? 'Cos if its the orig stereo mixes that PPM, WTB and HDN have (where the left and right channels are hard panned) thats on all the UK stereo issues. But if that's not what it is and its a US thing, Frank will know!
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samartin3
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This information came from a book called The Beatles Mixes by Schoeler and Schmidt, 2000.

In it, they describe in detail all the Beatles mixes released worldwide, and in the case of these 3 songs they make it quite clear that the ping-pong version is completely different to the versions found on the British albums, Capitol albums, and British singles. These were promo singles, and therefore produced for the purpose of novelty, thus the jumping back and forth of channels.

I can't imagine what they would sound like, but I'd love to hear them!
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namralos
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Capitol Records (USA) did not issue a promo single for "I Want to Hold Your Hand" until 1984, when they released it in true stereo on one side and mono on the other.

Capitol did not release "This Boy" on a single until 1993, when it appears in mono.

Capitol has never released "It Won't Be Long" as a single. The song appears in true stereo on Meet the Beatles.

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The term "ping pong" is associated with recordings that have wide stereo separation. That would include ALL recordings made on twin-track -- everything on the Beatles first two British albums, but also on Rubber Soul. But that has nothing to do with Capitol records, or promo singles, and it wasn't a novelty.

Rubber Soul was mixed with wide separation in order to make a stereo mix that easily collapsed into mono when played on a mono machine. PPM and WTB have a wide separation because there were only two tracks. In order to get more than a two-track sound out of a twin-track machine, you had to use multiple generations. (Example: the stereo mixes of "Money" and "From me to You.")

The channels do not "jump back and forth."

--------------------------

On the other hand, if you are referring to Duophonic, that was a process of artificial double-tracking invented by Capitol to rechannel mono into stereo.

At the time, the record companies wanted to offer buyers of stereo records records that were 100% in stereo. So they created several means of tricking the ear into thinking that a mono record was in stereo.

Duophonic (the basis for ADT) was accomplished by taking two copies of the mono recording -- left and right -- and delaying one of them by a few milliseconds. This made it sound like there was different sound coming from both channels.

In America, Capitol Records was not sent stereo mixes of the Beatles songs that were released only as singles in England. In some cases, stereo mixes definitely existed, so most likely, they just assumed that the singles were mixed for mono only and did not request stereo mixes. Several of these were given the Duophonic treatment for inclusion on stereo albums.
"I'll Get You" (but the harmonica appears to be on a track by itself)
"I Want to Hold Your Hand"/"This Boy"
"You Can't Do That"
"I Feel Fine"/"She's a Woman"
"Ticket to Ride"/"Yes it Is"

Capitol also used the more common "high/low" process for rechanneling mono into stereo. The bass was boosted on one track, while the treble was boosted on the other. Songs like "And Your Bird Can Sing" were given that treatment instead of Duophonic.

George Martin and company began to offer true stereo mixes to EMI affiliates who wanted them. As a result, quite a few songs appeared in true stereo for the first time outside of the UK:
"From Me to You" -- on Beatles Greatest (Germany)
"I Want to Hold Your Hand" -- on Beatles Greatest (Germany)
"Long Tall Sally," "I Call Your Name," "Thank You Girl" -- on the Beatles Second Album (USA)
"Slow Down," "Matchbox," "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand" -- on Something New (USA)
"She's a Woman" -- on Greatest Hits Vol. 2 (Australia)
"Bad Boy" -- appeared first in mono and stereo on Beatles VI (USA)
"I'm Down" -- on Help! EP (Japan)
"Get Back"/"Don't Let Me Down" -- in all countries that switched to stereo singles, notably the USA.

Capitol actually requested true stereo for songs beginning in late 1965, and they often got them. Examples: "We Can Work it Out" and "Day Tripper," which appeared in stereo first in America and Australia. After they did not get stereo mixes for Yesterday and Today in a timely fashion, they waited around for stereo mixes of "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Hello Goodbye," but three of the songs on Magical Mystery Tour are still in rechanneled stereo, as time was running out to prepare the Capitol album.

Several songs did not appear in true stereo anywhere in the world at any time while the Beatles were together. Not counting the songs for which only mono masters exist, these are:
"Penny Lane" -- on the Essential Beatles (Australia, NZ) in late 1971.
"Baby, You're a Rich Man" -- on the German MMT album in early 1972.
"This Boy" -- first appearance on a Canadian reissue single in 1976
"Sie Liebt Dich" -- on the US Rarities album in 1980
"The Inner Light" -- on the extra EP with the EP boxed set in 1981
"Yes it Is" -- on the cassette, Only the Beatles, in 1986
"Only a Northern Song" -- on the album Yellow Submarine Songtrack, in 1999
"I am the Walrus" -- on the album, Love, in 2006 (intro and outro are not clean)

No mix of "You Know My Name" that resembles the single has ever been released in stereo, although a stereo mix of the song that is quite different is on Anthology.
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samartin3
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Thank you for that very large reply, namralos, I appreciate your time.

Since posting my original question however, I have done some more research and found information that differs from what you've said about lack of release of a promo single during the 60s.

It seems that Capitol did make a promo single (PRO 2549) containing all 3 of those songs together with an open ended Beatles interview, and it was issued to US radio stations for airplay between February 4th and 21st 1964 to promote the LP Meet The Beatles.

The mixes of the songs on this promo were originally regarded as ping-pong mixes, but it has since been determined that these were not specially made mixes but a mastering error at the Capitol plant. Apparently this error resulted in a random jumping from left to right, and all the copies of this record issued to the stations sound the same.

So maybe they were an accident, but it would still be interesting to hear them if anyone knows where they could be found? The sound can hardly have done the Beatles any favours at the time.
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namralos
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That was not a SINGLE but an interview (compact 33) EP, correctly numbered PRO-2548/PRO-2549, that contained four tracks.

The PRO prefix indicates that the record was in MONO.
Capitol used DPRO- for Duophonic releases and SPRO- for stereo.

If anyone has a copy that "bounces around," it is a flawed copy -- an error. Since the record was pressed in MONO, the only way it would sound like stereo is if the grooves were warped, or if the cutting lathe vibrated when it should not have. Pressing errors are not particularly interesting unless something truly weird happens.

For example, some copies of the US Sgt. Pepper that were pressed at the Jacksonville, IL, plant have an error on the track "Good Morning Good Morning." One of the channels drops out during parts of the song. It is horribly distracting. Perry and I put it into the price guide, but its value has gone DOWN since the Guide came out. Most people don't want to hear errors; they want the record to sound right.

That compact 33 costs a fortune with its original sleeve.
Here's one for sale now.

The record by itself goes for as much as $1000. I might one day want one for my collection, but I certainly don't want a defective copy.
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samartin3
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I thank you again.

I'm only interested in hearing them because they were regarded for a long time as legitimate (& bizarre) mixes. I agree that in most cases an error in production is pointless, but an error that was long assumed as a strange or ping-pong mix? That's more interesting to hear cos it has a little more history to it. But not for those prices!

Thanks for the link, and your help.
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