30 Albums Where the Mono Mix Completely Destroys the Stereo Version

https://www.headphonesty.com/2026/05/albums-mono-mix-destroys-stereo-version/

Some of the most iconic records ever pressed sound wrong in stereo. ...

..The production story behind Sgt. Pepper has become part of music history. The Beatles and George Martin spent three weeks refining the mono mix. The stereo version was rushed, mostly without the band present. You can hear that difference immediately...

.. Brian Wilson built Pet Sounds like a wall of sound in miniature. ... were designed to blend into a single emotional texture. Mono is where that design fully comes alive. ...

... In the UK, Procol Harum was released only in mono. The later US “stereo” edition wasn’t a true stereo mix at all. It was rechanneled pseudo-stereo, created artificially from the mono source ..

... Stephen Stills and Neil Young openly criticized the stereo mix of Buffalo Springfield when the album came out. That’s part of what makes the mono version so important. ...

... most of the Animals’ material was intended primarily for mono release. Many stereo versions that appeared later were rechanneled from the mono masters rather than sourced from true stereo recordings. The practical difference is easy to hear on material like “House of the Rising Sun.”...

.. Simon & Garfunkel (1968) on Bookends was remarkably intricate for its time. The dedicated mono mix presents the album with a different sense of balance and focus than the stereo version.

... No Better Than This by John Mellencamp (2010): Recorded in mono with vintage equipment, this album treats the format as part of the songwriting. Mellencamp’s voice, the room tone, and the small-band arrangements arrive with field-recording plainness, making the songs feel closer to a live document than a studio reconstruction ...

More https://www.headphonesty.com/2026/05/albums-mono-mix-destroys-stereo-version/

So why am I building an ai generated public domain song library if I agree ai music is generally unappealing? Well, I think it's an exception, it's different scenario, it's has a specific objective, it is appealing because it focus is only songs that are nearly 100 years old or older, and presents those historic vintage songs which rarely if ever get heard anymore otherwise. Will others like it at much as I to actually stay tuned in? (If they ever tune in at all), I guess that remains to be seen. Maybe this whole project will prove to be a complete failure, or maybe people will find it intriguing. I don't know, but as for the present; I both enjoy creating it and listening to the playlist.

Interest in AI Music Declines Most Among Young Listeners, Luminate Study Finds
https://www.billboard.com/pro/ai-music-interest-declines-young-listeners-luminate-study/
According to a new study from Luminate,... .. Overall, U.S. listeners have had a net negative interest in listening to music if they knew it was produced using generative AI since they were first surveyed in May 2025, but that score became even more negative by the next time they were tallied in November. Millennials were the most open to listening to AI-assisted music, and Boomers constituted the group least likely to say they would feel positively about listening to AI-assisted music. ... .. The latest November 2025 survey occurred right around the time that top music companies — including Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group, Merlin, Kobalt and more — and AI music firms like Suno, Udio and ElevenLabs’ Eleven Music, started to come together to forge AI licensing deals. ... — about a third of respondents can be described as ambivalent toward AI use. ... ..

... Monet, the AI project of Telisha “Nikki” Jones, which landed songs on Billboard‘s Adult R&B Airplay and Hot Gospel Songs charts, is the clearest example of this sharp decline. Luminate notes that her music had over 7 million total weekly streams in September 2025, but by March 2026, her total weekly streams decreased to below 3 million. As music companies continue to resolve their lawsuits with AI companies like Suno and Udio and reach new licensing deals, those deals could have a significant impact on consumer sentiment ...

"... The reasons for how this one chart-topping achievement passed by so many significant rock acts are many. Some bands were more album-oriented than others, a few didn't really care about singles, others found their popularity in other ways, and many were just unlucky. Here then are the most objectively and massively famous and vital rock stars that never had a No. 1 hit. ..."

Read More: https://www.grunge.com/2152116/rock-legends-zero-number-one-hit/

A Newly Discovered Recording Lets You Hear Delta Blues Legend Robert Johnson in Stunning Clarity https://www.openculture.com/2026/04/recording-lets-you-hear-delta-blues-legend-robert-johnson-in-stunning-clarity.html

"... Some of that had to do with the less-than-ideal quality of the recordings that have long circulated, but this test pressing of Johnson’s second take sounds different. Uploaded by sound restorer Nick Dellow, it was originally made in 1940 straight from the metal master by Columbia Records producer George Avakian, who would go on to work with everyone from Miles Davis to Edith Piaf to John Cage. The sonic muddiness of most Robert Johnson releases thus far has done its part to prevent modern-day listeners from getting quite what the big deal was about him. But perhaps the unprecedented clarity of this recording will get the hair of young musicians and mature connoisseurs alike standing on end. ..."

https://youtu.be/gmnNi8oPsrQ?si=J3CgDk3TlKTDnVBL

Too bad it'll be another 10 years till it reaches public domain.

https://www.lauraerickson.com/radio/

For the Birds Retrospective Part 2-Radio?! (April 2, 2026)

 
Laura never imagined doing anything on the radio, until a cataclysmic event made her rush in to fill a vacuum. https://www.lauraerickson.com/radio/#

Unfortunately, I'm seeing more and more DMCA takedown announcements there, as well as bad links (which I assume is the quick and dirty way to implement a takedown until you can get up a proper message).

Some of these may be legitimate, if misguided.  Some are almost certainly bogus claims, or at the very least very questionable.

One in particular I saw involved an Australian electronics magazine from the 1930s and 1940s.  This particular individual claimed full copyright on these magazines, which is likely false, at least in Australia.

Until 2006, Australia's copyright laws were 50 years for the published work.  For magazines, I believe that the entire magazine such as layout, etc. was 50 years, and life+50 years for each individual article.  However, if the authors of said articles were unknown, it defaulted to 50 years from publication.

It is highly likely that most magazines published in the 1930s and 1940s were only protected in Australia for that initial 50 years, and therefore are in the public domain in that country.

In the U.S., which is where the worldradiohistory site is located (I think), the magazine would have had to explicitly register the copyright when it was published, and then, for these magazines, renewed that copyright in the 1960s.  They would then have had to reregister the copyright during the 1970s, when the laws were changed, to take advantage of the proposed extensions.  Otherwise, the copyright would have expired when the initial renewal term ended in the 1980s or 1990s.

Who knows if that was done?  I doubt it for an obscure, Australian, electronics magazine.

So it's likely that these magazines are in the public domain in the U.S.  Ironically, they're probably also in the public domain in Australia.  But for a non profit, it's easier to just acquiesce to these DMCA demands than to legally fight them (and spend lots of money you probably don't have).  In the meantime, access to historical documents is effectively lost.  All because of stupidity and greed.

Perhaps not monetary greed, as I can't imagine anyone paying to see them.  It appears to be sheer possessiveness - they're mine, and I'm not letting anyone else get access to them!

I fear that this copyright insanity, if it keeps going, is going to literally obliterate history.

https://jdroth.com/twenty-mp3s-of-great-songs-from-1901-1920/

Twenty mp3s of Great Songs from 1901-1920

It’s a shame most people are unfamiliar with American Popular Music. ... ...  — I could rip mp3s from my collection and post them. So I have. All mp3s in this entry are in the Public Domain — download and share!

The best way to introduce this music is probably to offer the entire 1991 RCA collection called Nipper’s Greatest Hits: 1901-1920. This disc is long out-of-print. It sells for $190 on Amazon. One copy recently sold for $60 on eBay. In the early days of eBay, I lost a bidding war for this disc. I contacted the winning bidder, and she graciously made me a copy of the disc and the insert.

According to the liner notes:

The selections of Nipper’s Greatest Hits: 1901-1920, are redolent of those days when performers played and sang into a simple acoustical horn whose vibrations were sensitized onto the wax of a revolving disc. Today’s digital restoration of the early shellac records not only eliminates unwanted ticks, pops, and surface noise; it also amplifies the sound signal, so that in this compilation one hears those musical pioneers in their best guise.

Here are all twenty songs from the set,.... This isn’t a comprehensive list of popular music of the era. ... However, it’s a good representation music that was popular one hundred years ago. ..."

https://jdroth.com/twenty-mp3s-of-great-songs-from-1901-1920/

Note: These PSAs have no end dates & may be broadcast anywhere in the world or streamed online.

Thank you for using the live read copy and airing the pre-recorded PSAs—we are happy to make these messages available for you and your listeners. Please note that The Foundation for a Better Life does not sponsor any type of program. Therefore, we ask that when using the Live Read copy or the PSAs please avoid language that indicates any sponsorship.

It was intended to be played on a 9 string lyre, with accompanying lyrics.  I just heard a modern recreation of the piece, a sung Prayer, and it was pretty interesting.

You certainly wouldn't have to worry about the copyright on the music score.