A friend of mine recently gave me some LP's to transfer for him that he found at his father's house.

The LP's are all beat to crap, some containing some nice rat poo and others containing mold spores. All of them are in terrible condition but workable none the less.

One of those LP's just happens to be an original six-eye red and black mono pressing of Dave Brubeck's Time Out.

I saw it and was shocked that it was so beaten up. Someone must have listened to this A LOT. I cleaned it 3 times and put it on. WOW! I have never heard the mono version and I have a custom stereo version but even in this crappy condition the mono beats out every other version I have heard. It has "that" sound - nice, warm natural.

I cleaned it up a bit and it sounds great despite the remaining noise. At the request of my friend, further noise reduction was used (skillfully!) but I am still amazed at the sound this thing has.

Here is a clip. The first part is the LP after a bit of clean-up and the second part is the finished version. It's not perfect but that is due to the condition of the LP. Regardless, the sound still comes across.

Makes me wonder why this has never been released in mono. Most of all, it makes me wonder what this would sound like!!!!

Anyway, just wanted to share this discovery with you guys!

wow, it really does sound fantastic. it sounds very "there," if that makes sense.

Yes! Makes sense!

I think I may have to seek out a mint pressing.

Anybody want to help!?

if i see one during a music search, i'll let you know

Thanks! Keep a look out for a Mono Kind of Blue as well.

Well - I have finished the entire album and the only thing I can say is WOW. I have never truly heard Time Out until today. Truly mind-blowing sound. I really do wonder why the mono has never been released.

Anyways - time to burn it, delete it and move along.

LOL! No. I will wait until I find a minty pressing.

Plus, I hate demonoid people. I shared one thing there and everyone was bitching. People there tend to bite from the hand they eat from. HOWEVER, I know there is a lot of work of mine on that darn site.

Here is another magical mono clip. Dean Martin singing On An Evening In Roma. This was another surprise. I have a mint stereo version and it sounds fantastic but the mono has "that" sound to it. Amazing really. What kills me is that this album has also never been released.

I really don't care as I have the vinyl but man, does this sound rock! I wonder why Capitol doesn't grab it's bootstraps and release these gems in mono AND stereo without over-doing the noise reduction. I'm sure they would manage to sell more than a few of these.

There were so many pressings of "Time Out" you should be able to find a nice mono version. I found one at "Half Price Books", so it's definitely possible.

Also, at least with classical, talk about massive bass that mono recordings have, and the clarity really comes with a nice mono cartridge.

Yes! Makes sense!

I think I may have to seek out a mint pressing.

Anybody want to help!?

I'm in

Not Time Out, but Classic Records' version of Birth of the Cool is mono:

The Classic Reissue was cut from the original 30 ips mono master tapes using our all tube mono cutting system at Bernie Grundman Mastering.

(from here).

I was only over there on their site because I was looking for the picture that comes with their DAD's -- it's basically their version of the K2 process -- very minimal, with as short of a chain as possible, and as high quality every step of the way as possible. If anyone knows what I'm talking about it and can find it, I'd appreciate it.

Not Time Out, but Classic Records' version of Birth of the Cool is mono: (from here).

I was only over there on their site because I was looking for the picture that comes with their DAD's -- it's basically their version of the K2 process -- very minimal, with as short of a chain as possible, and as high quality every step of the way as possible. If anyone knows what I'm talking about it and can find it, I'd appreciate it.

That's awesome! If anyone wants to buy and send it my way for transfer that would be awesome too.