DB - I made a copy, put it on another tape machine, and when I was watching where the cutter heard was going, and was able to hit “go” on the other tape machine to make it play in the right spot – and it just worked. Those tapes were one generation from the absolute original, and they sounded so good - clean, quiet - just superb, really. That was also included on the tape, so I was able to match up the lock groove effect as per the original, so I was quite pleased with that! Apart from Richard Harvey at CBS, who taught me the ground rules - and did a good job of it - I never actually had a formal education in mastering, as there were no courses in those days. These dedicated audiophiles and regular show attendees wanted these pressings to be top quality recordings that would highlight EMI Australia’s capabilities as an audiophile label.

SGT. PEPPER - Beatles Collecting Guide SGT. PEPPER - Beatles Collecting Guide

And when I worked at EMI in Australia, there was an engineer there who had worked at Abbey Road at that time, named Richard Lush – I think he was the original assistant engineer on Sgt. I worked for the Sydney Water Board in their electronic section as a cadet design engineer, looking after two-way radios and telemetry systems. AnalogPlanet reader Bill Wright interviews Australian mastering engineer Don Bartley, who cut lacquers back in 1983 for what many consider to be the best sounding and certainly the rarest pressing of Sgt. I thought it would be more open and detailed, but there was very little difference in terms of those early vinyl recordings, which is a testament to how good they were.

He still owns it and indicated it has a clarity and immediacy missing in the other analog-sourced stereo versions he has heard. The vinyl records at the time were high quality – if you had a good pressing and a good system, it was an amazing representation of what was going on in the performance, and what was meant to be released. The soundtrack was a combination of elements – classical, Indian sitar, English vaudeville and psychedelic rock. There was a whole hierarchy of people involved in the day-to-day maintenance and production of the studio.

and Most Sought After Pressing of The Origin of The Rarest and Most Sought After Pressing of

Since this was 1983 and mastering technology had improved since the late 1960’s, the sonic result was said to be spectacular.

DB – When I started mastering in 1971, I was told to leave the recordings alone – no EQ or other changes allowed! It was a position in the mastering rooms for international releases from Columbia, Polydor and Warners, as well as some local product.

The original release was so successful they needed to keep re cutting parts to supply the factory with stampers. They had spent two to three weeks mixing it for mono, and just as they were sending it off, someone came running down from the office and said ‘by the way, we need a stereo mix. We didn’t have much equipment around to do that, but I ended up adjusting the EQ on the tape machine, as well as using a graphic equalizer - that’s how the album was released, and I won my first client.Pepper's was released in 1967 in both mono and stereo version with catalogue numbers PMC 7027 and PCS 7027 respectively. In stereo, it’s moving around a bit, which makes it interesting in one respect – but the mono mix is a different experience. Moss versions, the original Holland pressing, the Mobile Fidelity standard issue and UHQR, and the Japanese, UK and Australian red vinyl editions. When they built the Australian EMI studio in Sydney, they based their studio operation on the Abbey Road system. I’d been cutting records for ten years before I joined EMI, and so I came in relatively experienced, but I was amazed that every single day, there was a technician in the studio, making sure everything was working perfectly, noting any odd settings.

In 2005, the album was placed at number one on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".He adjusted the threshold every time they sang the chorus, and momentarily adjusted an EQ on certain words as it was coming straight off the ¼” tape.