Mono or stereo?
both
Depends on mood. Mono is louder, sounds more full. I listen to the mono mix when I want to experience it as it was experienced back in the day, as a wall of sound, and as it was experienced by its composer. I listen to stereo when I want to hear the fine details.
Gee whiz, I wonder. What could the definitive edition of the album made by a man deaf in one ear be. Hmmmmm....
stereo sounds more full to me, but the voices sound too low in volume.
mono
I GRIEVE
They did that on purpose. People who wanted a stereo mix of Pet Sounds wanted to hear the instrumentals more. The first ever true stereo mix of Pet Sounds was on the Pet Sounds Sessions, which was basically a set for die-hard fans who wanted to hear every discrete detail hidden in the album's mix. Now it's just the mainstream mix, and every stereo mix release since then is essentially the Pet Sounds Sessions mix.
Purists would say mono, but it does sound better in stereo.
No. Stereo panning on a mono-mixed album is a huge gimmick. You do not gain anything as a listener by hearing wacky wibbly wobbly sound panning on your favorite tracks. I'm pretty sure that Steve Hoffman made a competent mono remaster if you cannot stand listening to the original.
Orchestral version :^)
Have you listened to Pet Sounds in stereo? That's not how it is. The album was recorded in stereo. Brian just mixed it in mono because he preferred to, because he's a Spector fanboy and Spector talked shit about stereo releases back in the day.
Yes, I'm sure the only reason that Brian mixed it in mono is because of Spector, and had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he's deaf in one ear and literally cannot hear a stereo mix properly.
Huh, I'd rather listen to an album that sounds like it was made at least 20 years after Pet Sounds, like Sgt. Pepper.
Mono as It was recorded originaly. Same with the firsts Beatles Albums
Because hiring an engineer to mix an album in stereo is just completely alien. And he totally didn't mix his solo release of Smile in stereo. Wait, he did. He has literally spoken about this in interviews. He is perfectly capable of mixing in stereo, he just listens to both sides in one ear and pans the sound to where he thinks it fits.
You listen to everything released before 67 in Mono you idiot. Did you start listening to music today? For fuck's sake.
>listening to jazz in mono
The mono mix is a murky mess. The stereo version fixes that problem.
That doesn't really qualify for Pet Sounds though, as the stereo mix was created in the 90s.
But I prefer sneedreo
Formerly mono
>listening to jazz
>not listening to jazz