This next mono to stereo mix is a TV recording, and less noticeable separation than the others. https://youtu.be/U5XE4GNQWoQ

In the late 80s, BBC Enterprises released a couple of  LPs of Crosby tracks dating from 1927 through to 1938 - later available on CD - in a series called “The Classic Years in Digital Stereo”. The tracks were transferred by an Australian sound engineer called Robert Parker who, according to the CD sleeve note, had developed, “a unique system for extracting high quality stereo sound from early mono 78 rpm records”. I’ve just been listening to the CDs for the first time in a good few years and I think they’re very impressive. Good, clean transfers with - to my ears at any rate - very natural stereo separation. I don’t know whether they’re available to stream anywhere, but I’m sure if anyone can find them, ModernBingFan can!

I doubt the guy who did this new White Christmas will do another Bing one, although he did a fantastic job on Judy Garland’s original version of Over the Rainbow. I requested the guy who did Pistol Packin’ Mama and The Oldest Established to possibly do the radio versions of Autumn Leaves and When the World Was Young from the Bing Sings The Johnny Mercer Songbook cd though.

jeremyrose wrote:

In the late 80s, BBC Enterprises released a couple of LPs of Crosby tracks dating from 1927 through to 1938 - later available on CD - in a series called “The Classic Years in Digital Stereo”. The tracks were transferred by an Australian sound engineer called Robert Parker who, according to the CD sleeve note, had developed, “a unique system for extracting high quality stereo sound from early mono 78 rpm records”. I’ve just been listening to the CDs for the first time in a good few years and I think they’re very impressive. Good, clean transfers with - to my ears at any rate - very natural stereo separation. I don’t know whether they’re available to stream anywhere, but I’m sure if anyone can find them, ModernBingFan can!

Robert Parker certainly devised a method that added life and a stereo breadth to old recordings that many found realistic, though some purists were critical. There were several series under slightly different "banners" - 
Jazz Classics in Digital Stereo -The Golden Years in Digital Stereo - The Classic Years in Digital Stereo. 
There was a heavy emphasis on jazz from the 1920s and 30s. Releases initially were on the ABC label in Australia and these were also taken up by BBC in Britain. Later issues were on Nimbus and Metronome and I am aware of several sets  that Parker engineered for RCA, of Glenn Miller, Ray Noble, Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman.

There were many CDs, possibly well over 100, but fewer LPs as there were no LP equivalents for later issues. 
I know of four Crosby CDs -   
BING CROSBY IN DIGITAL STEREO 1927 to 1934
https://www.discogs.com/Bing-Crosby-1927-To-1934/release/9120612
BING CROSBY - CLASSIC CROSBY IN DIGITAL STEREO 1931 TO 1938
https://www.discogs.com/Bing-Crosby-Classic-Crosby-1931-To-1938/release/7625156
BING CROSBY - SONG HITS FROM THE MOVIES 1930 to 1953 - The Classic Years In Digital Stereo
https://www.discogs.com/Bing-Crosby-1930-1953-Song-Hits-From-The-Movies/release/5588217
CROSBY CLASSICS - 24 HITS 1931-40 - Classic Years in Digital Stereo
https://www.discogs.com/Bing-Crosby-Crosby-Classics-24-Hits-1931-40/release/15610646

There is a Facebook group dedicated to Robert Parker issues though recently it has tended to drift to other matters.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/21330368941/

As to the current stereo recreations on Youtube, on close hearing and comparison it seems to me that the effect mainly depends on two things - (1) splitting the audio spectrum and removing parts of the audio where orchestral sounds predominate from the mono mix, then  placing them back in one channel after first adding some reverberation to that separated orchestral sound - (2) taking out transient sounds - drums, chimes etc, and isolating them in the same way.  Success requires judicious selection of parts of the frequency spectrum and the effectiveness also depends on the original content..
In the examples it seems quite effective but my impression is that they are not achieving the levels reached by Robert Parker 30 plus years ago. I think he was using essentially similar basic methods but was isolating more individual elements -  instruments or groups of instruments. Because in many instances he was dealing with older material he also widened the dynamic range, giving extra "punch"  and broadened the audio spectrum, giving more life. He also added varying degrees of reverberation to different instrumental groupings. The result was not so much precise placing between speakers but an overall sense of separation and added atmosphere.
 

Richard Baker wrote:

As to the current stereo recreations on Youtube, on close hearing and comparison it seems to me that the effect mainly depends on two things - (1) splitting the audio spectrum and removing parts of the audio where orchestral sounds predominate from the mono mix, then  placing them back in one channel after first adding some reverberation to that separated orchestral sound - (2) taking out transient sounds - drums, chimes etc, and isolating them in the same way.  Success requires judicious selection of parts of the frequency spectrum and the effectiveness also depends on the original content..
In the examples it seems quite effective but my impression is that they are not achieving the levels reached by Robert Parker 30 plus years ago. I think he was using essentially similar basic methods but was isolating more individual elements -  instruments or groups of instruments. Because in many instances he was dealing with older material he also widened the dynamic range, giving extra "punch"  and broadened the audio spectrum, giving more life. He also added varying degrees of reverberation to different instrumental groupings. The result was not so much precise placing between speakers but an overall sense of separation and added atmosphere.
 

It seems like Robert Parker’s stereo conversions are a mix of these current ones and the slapping reverb on mono tracks in the LP era. His certainly sound more like a hifi mono recording with reverb and a good amount of recording separation, albeit I can’t tell much actual stereo separation. Whereas with these new ones it is more of separating stereo wise to create stereo, but not as much give that similar to hifi recording separation as Robert Parker did. If only we could get a good mix of both.

Fascinating stuff...

I remember the vogue for “artificial stereo” and some of the results were pretty dire! Parker’s efforts certainly seem to be a cut above. I’ve had the two BBC CD releases for many years - probably since they first came out. I see that although they were released on the BBC label, the discs were manufactured by Nimbus records. They were released in 1987 and ‘90 respectively, during one of those odd “transition” periods in audio playback fashions which seem to occur every few decades, being available on CD, LP and cassette!

The Nimbus and Metronome releases must have passed me by first time around, but thanks to eBay they are now winging their way to me. There’s quite a bit of duplication with the BBC releases, but the “Movie Hits” CD has quite a few of the ‘40s and ‘50s tracks that ModernBingFan hankers after.

ModernBingFan0377 wrote:

I have also tried my hand at ‘remixing’ a mono recording into stereo. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1waSRJ8EkEkEELVe_ncFTQXVN94FaeUMT/view?usp=drivesdk

Well done ModernBingFan.
Quite effective positioning. A lot of the effectiveness of such an approach depends on selection of material and the track you used is ideal. You've managed to separate voices from orchestra very well. 
 

I bought a table model stereo which promoted stereophonic sound. The player had a speaker on each side and the trick was to place the machine in a corner and have the sound bounce off the wall. Think it was an HMV /RCA machine.
I remember the Fred and Cyd film ‘Silk Stockings’ from 1957 and the song and words - you’ve got to have glorious technicolour, breath taking CinemaScope and stereophonic sound.

I agree I do not like fake stereo as well as extracted stereo any mono recording should be left as mono.

Incidentally the first Bing record i bought was "The Best Of Bing" in 1977 unfortunately it was in what they called "Electronically Reprocessed Mono Recordings To Stereo" it sounded atrocious made Bing;s voice sound like an echo chamber like a subway train coming through a tunnel.