Comments for goodrob13.com

Comment on Guitar Lesson – The Fact Remains by Juliana Hatfield by Rob

Rob — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 20:53:05 +0000

Hi Michael, glad I could help! I’m getting ready to post more video lessons soon, so please check back.

Comment on Guitar Lesson – The Fact Remains by Juliana Hatfield by Michael

Michael — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 04:24:41 +0000

Thanks for this, so hard to find Juliana Hatfield tab and lessons on the ‘net. Probably my favourite song on How to Walk Away.

Comment on Beatles Review – Revolver Remastered CDs by Jeremy S

Jeremy S — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 18:16:17 +0000

Hey. Just a bit curious about your interpretation of the dynamic range of the mono version. Are you sure that the average level means anything compared to either stereo version? In the stereo versions it looks like one channel is decidedly quieter the way it’s mixed while the mono is almost but obviously not quite a combination of the left and right channels occurring twice, meaning there would be more sound in both channels and thus should be a higher average level of sound…

Comment on Bass Lesson – And Your Bird Can Sing by The Beatles by megapoop12

megapoop12 — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 17:20:51 +0000

hey good rob ur vids help me alot i learnd how to play come together in just 4 days after getting my bass with no experientce at all thanks to u and i would love if u would post a vid on how to play a few easy spongebob songs on bass~thank you

Comment on Guitar Lesson – Nowhere Man by The Beatles by Rob

Rob — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 23:46:14 +0000

Alejandro, thanks for your nice comment, glad I could help!

Magenta, I have a huge backlog of requests which I’ll start working on this winter. I know my posting here and on YouTube has been extremely sporadic the past year and I apologize. I’ve been going through some huge steps in my life – all of them good – and I should be back up and running in a few months (more Beatles reviews, more YouTube video lessons, etc.). In the meantime, I hope you keep enjoying my existing content and leaving comments. Thanks again!

Comment on Beatles Review – Abbey Road Remastered CD by Danny

Danny — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 19:23:29 +0000

@Pablo – definitely not – the sound of vinyl will always be different – it captures the sound in a completely different way – there’s different physics at play behind that process.

Comment on Beatles Review – Revolver Remastered CDs by Rob

Rob — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 17:46:44 +0000

Hi Slade,

Thanks for your excellent comment. You’re right, I didn’t grow up in the 1960s and experience the great music from that era as it was being released in real-time. I experienced it a generation later via my parents. I definitely prefer most music from that era to 99.99999% of music from the last 12 years (1999 to today), but my parents *did* grow up during that era and they owned all of the Beatles albums in stereo. Perhaps one reason I’m so stuck on those versions is because they were the only ones I grew up with and got used to hearing. I also liked how my father would move the balance fader all the way to the left or right and point out different things happening in the songs to me (“Listen to Ringo’s drumming on this part!” or “Check out George’s guitar work right here.”).

I know that those old songs were purposely mixed in mono to sound full, saturated, and sometimes chaotic…but I strongly feel that in hindsight, the majority of the time the stereo versions hold up better. To me, the mono versions often sound dated, which is great for someone like you who grew up with them because they transport you back to that fun, youthful, exciting time…whereas the stereo versions often sound clearer and have higher fidelity, and are sometimes more powerful.

That said, after listening to both the mono and stereo remasters these past 21 months, I’ve come to the conclusion that I can’t wholly recommend one boxed set over the other. For me, it’s on a song-by-song basis. If I absolutely *had* to chose only one boxed set to buy and listen to for the rest of my life, then yes, I’d choose the stereo set, but in reality I mix and match the different versions to create what I feel like are the ultimate albums.

I know my posting here and on YouTube has been extremely sporadic this past year and I apologize. I’ve been going through some huge steps in my life – all of them good – and I should be back up and running by winter (more Beatles reviews, more YouTube video lessons, etc.). In the meantime, I hope people keep enjoying my existing content and leaving comments. Thanks again!

Comment on Beatles Review – Revolver Remastered CDs by Slade Barker

Slade Barker — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 15:30:56 +0000

This is a very interesting review to me, a guy who grew up with the mono American 45s & (when I was very, very good) LPs. It is clear that you weren’t around when these records were new & all over the radio & at the beach on transistor radios & so on. It’s absolutely fascinating to hear how a Gen X-er with a great stereo system perceives the differences in the mono & stereo versions. I find your preference for the stereo versions (in most cases) fascinating because I think you’re missing the point by a mile. You are judging the tracks based on “clarity” & how crowded the mix is, & other high-toned stuff that would have made Beatle fans scratch their heads back in the ’60s. I find your preference for the stereo versions (in most cases) fascinating because I think you’re missing the point. You want one era to sound like another era. The problem is that what you hear as flaws or shortcomings are there intentionally & are the actual way that 95% of listeners heard them back then — & loved them for it. NOBODY listening to rock music in the ’60s had a stereo. That was for their classical or jazz parents or Hugh Hefner wannabes trying to impress their dates! Similarly, you complain that the mono versions are too busy & packed full of the maximum sound. What you’re missing here is that this is what the ’60s sounded like! The idea was to grab listeners by the ear. (Think of Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound — 50 musicians recorded in mono, & only mono. Same with Brian Wilson’s Beach Boys records.) Instead, you are judging rock ‘n’ roll by classical music technical standards. That’s the wrong way to hear it. You don’t realize that “Revolver” was mixed to be sound great on half-decent phonographs & really BAD portable record players & low-fi transistor radios. If the mono mixes make your fancy stereo system sound cheap, that’s a GOOD thing! (But not to you, & you of course have a right to your high [fi] standards.) I am almost afraid to hear what you think about the mono versions of what I consider the two acid tests of Beatles sound: “I’m Down,” originally the b-side of a vinyl 45 with “Help!” on the other side, & “Revolution” (the hit single version), also originally on a vinyl 45 (with “Hey Jude” on the other side). The maxed-out tape saturation on “I’m Down” & incredibly slicing guitar-work on “Revolution” were only heard in terribly watered-down stereo mixes, so that no one who wasn’t listening to pop in the ’60s even knows how radical they sounded. (The Rolling Stones had to travel to Chess Records in Chicago to find out how Chess engineers were getting “that” sound: they were letting the needle run way into the red, something that the proper classical-trained engineers the Stones had been working with in London considered a terrible no-no. The Stones learned their lesson, but unfortunately it’s the much-diluted stereo version of “Satisfaction” that you always hear on the radio — with its over-amped acoustic guitars making it sound like a folk song, as a friend of mine noted — rather than the slashing, mono mix with its stabbing electric guitars that scared parents so badly in 1965! (To hear the difference, compare the wimpy stereo version on “40 Licks” or “Hot Rocks” with the much-superior but little-heard mono version on the mono singles collection.)
I also wonder if you’ve heard Sony’s recently-released mono versions of the early Bob Dylan albums that just came out, which should be a revelation to anyone who has only heard the stereo mix of “Mr. Tambourine Man” or “Blowin’ in the Wind” (which has Bob’s voice way off to one side & his guitar way off to the other as if he were Plastic Man!). The same goes for Collectors’ Choice’s relatively recent reissues of the singles of Paul Revere & the Raiders and/or Jan & Dean that haven’t been heard in their hit mono versions since the 1960s. You could make all the same points about the mono mixes of these records, but THIS IS HOW THEY WERE MEANT TO BE HEARD. I reckon that, after a lot of this kind of listening, your head & ears will be in a whole new place & you will suddenly “get” it. I believe this because you obviously have great ears. But this is a matter of mindset, not “brickwall limiting” & other fancy stuff.
P.S. Might I make a suggestion when you’re doing A-to-B comparisons? It’s much easier to follow your logic when you feature an excerpt from one version, then start all over with the same excerpt from the other. When you make the comparison by seamlessly going back & forth between the mono & stereo mixes, I get totally confused. I can’t be the only one!

Comment on Guitar Lesson – Nowhere Man by The Beatles by Magenta Smith

Magenta Smith — Thu, 26 May 2011 13:32:26 +0000

I love the Beatles. I want to learn how to play some of their songs. Thanks for this…Can you teach us how to play “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”?

Comment on Bass Lesson – And Your Bird Can Sing by The Beatles by Bobby Brennan

Bobby Brennan — Tue, 10 May 2011 12:36:23 +0000

dude you are the best i have been tring to play for year but have a hard time cause i feel presure from the people that are tring to teach me you have this way of not putting any presure at all i mean i learn that mathew sweet jam sick of my self for my girl friend in one day thank alot i mean it and as soon as i get payed will definitly drop u some money was wondering if u knew any punk rock that is more my stuff but as more people tell me that it is the easyest in the world to play still cant any way any ideas or thoughts would be the best thanks again rob