Hi all,
Can anyone explain the reason behind the use of so-called 'Electronic Stereo' frequently over used on early RCA and other major label's reissues? The audio quality is quite appalling. Original mono is far better than that poor excuse for 'HI Fi'.

Dave, I agree with you that the sound was appalling. Many labels used this fake stereo, which they did by taking the original mono recording and giving it a slight delay in one speaker to give artificial sound separation, which didn't work well at all. What made it even more senseless was the fact that a lot of these songs were recorded in true stereo. At that time, however, many albums were released in mono or this terrible electronic stereo...

Mike I agree with you and Dave about electronic stereo,it's awful. I have Jim's L.P. He'll Have to Go and other Favorites in electronic stereo and it sounds terrible. Fortunately I found a mono version in a 2nd hand record shop and it sound much better.

I also found that many of the songs on the album were recorded in true stereo by listening to the songs on different albums or code. So why did they do this electronic stereo garbage?

Correction on my previous post I meant CDs not code. I hate Auto correct.

I believe that electronic stereo was used mainly to enhance mono recordings, although it turned out to be a bad idea. The true stereo recordings were probably made into electronic stereo as well to give all the songs the same sound on an album. That was a bad idea as well...

The electronic stereo was probably used mainly to enhance the mono recordings, which turned out to be a bad idea. The true stereo recordings were probably made into electronic stereo on those early albums to give all the songs the same sound. That was another bad idea...