The three cubes combine to present all 122 albums remastered in the 1990s by Mercury Living Presence’s original producer and remastering supervisor Wilma Cozart Fine. But that is not all….

NEVER BEFORE ON CD….

Working with Wilma Cozart Fine’s son, Thomas Fine, and Andrew Walter at London’s Abbey Road Studios, we are proud to present 10 new albums, never before on CD, mixed down from the original tapes, restored and remastered.

This has involved the application of new technology combined with delicate handling of these fragile tapes, some untouched since original release in the late 1950s, to secure the best possible sound. The results are remarkable and beyond all expectation, due in part to new processes which can eliminate the mechanical distortion, wow and flutter and smearing inherent in the recording techniques of the 1950s without destroying the original, bright, clear sound which made the label so famous.

EXCEPTIONAL DOCUMENTATION

Illustrated with contemporaneous photographs, the booklet offers an exceptional level of detail. This includes a paragraph on each and every recording, setting out the location, the dates, the tapes, the microphones, the engineer, the producer - in fact everything the collector loves to read. Clarification is also given regarding the original catalogue numbers - this of course is important in cases where two albums have been reduced down to a single CD. The history of the label in its later years is also told with refreshing insight and honesty.

TECHNICAL NOTE

The technologies of analogue tape playback and digital remastering have advanced since Wilma Cozart Fine produced the 122 Mercury Living Presence CDs in the 1990s. Tapes that were not viable at the time can now be transferred and mastered with exciting results. Tape transfers are now done at a higher resolution than the CD sampling rate of the 1990s. Abbey Road Studios mastering engineer Andrew Walter has transferred tapes at 96kHz / 24-bit, and worked in that format throughout the mastering process.

Walter also had at his disposal the full array of digital tools to repair issues like rumble and hum and to smooth out sonic differences between tapes. In the case of the mono material, this greatly improves the audibility of the full orchestra and bring the sonic character more in line with the later stereo recordings on the label.

Three albums have also benefitted from a new tape-transfer process entitled ‘Plangent Process’, a novel system of hardware and software that is able to lock to the bias frequency, micro-correct playback speed and thus eliminate wow and flutter. The audible results are greater clarity and focus even from a deteriorated dub tape. With first-generation tapes such as the Hindemith / Schoenberg/Stravinsky band music and the Beethoven ‘Eroica’ 3-track tapes, this process eliminates many of the mechanical distortions inherent in 1950s tape recording technology such as smearing, audible wow, fluttering string sound and vague ambience, yielding a more faithful rendition of the original recording.

Extensive illustrated booklet, with exceptional level of detail, to include a paragraph on each and every recording, setting out the location, the dates, the tapes, the microphones, the engineer, the producer - in fact everything the real collectors loves to read. Clarification is also given regarding the original catalogue numbers - this of course is important in cases where two albums have been reduced down to a single CD.

The set is presented in a 53CD box with hinged lid (as previous Mercury Presence) and original sleeves.