Hear for yourself! Make sure to have headphones (or earbuds) on, and listen to this YouTube video!

 

Stereo Pros:

• Depth to the sounds
• More even balance of the instruments
• Clearer on digital playback

In the stereo version of “Twist and Shout”, you can clearly hear how the sound engineers isolated the vocals from the guitar and drums. This leads to the lead guitar being much more prominent than in the mono version, but also causes the background vocalists (Harrison and McCartney) to sound less connected to the rest of the song. The mono version has a greater overall intensity and cohesive dynamic, with a texture that sounds much more intentional than the stereo, which has a broken up and sort of inconsistent relationship of the sounds. All of these specific differences not to mention the historical or cultural significances that are tied up with the original mono recordings, which heavily influenced its initial popularity for audiences in 1963.

Pros to Mono:

• Authentic way The Beatles intended the music to be heard
• Higher intensity to the songs
• Sounds more intimate with the artists
• More effort put in to the production