Steven Wilson: "there’s no excuse not to record at 96/24". -- Great article.

Here's another article for those among you who read German:

http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/musik/...teven-wilson-hand-cannot-erase-a-1021408.html

(At the time of this post, the Spiegel article has two errors; SW's age, and the girl had been dead for 3 years. Still a good read.)

 

I think that's the important bit. He is just making finalised decisions earlier in the mixdown/mastering chain. This is fine for him, since it's his music that he wrote, played and recorded. He presumably exerts a lot of control over what formats it is released in too. This won't be the case for every artist, and sometimes leaving in some flexibility is a good thing. It's not black and white - provided each step is done with appropriate care. At least if something is badly mastered, there's always the possibility of a better remaster down the line. If it's all built into the mix OTOH, that's all it can ever be.

 

Slightly related, do you all think SW might ever go back and clean up some of the earlier mid-2K Porcupine Tree stuff. Pretty low DR on some of those discs. He was definitely catering to the iPod / iTunes era as his later 2k PT stuff sounds a lot better.

 

Stick with the original CDs for everything up to and including Signify. Better dynamic range than the 2 disc remasters. He has expressed interest in doing Blu-rays of Deadwing and In Absentia (which have the worst mastering in the PT catalog) but the record company shot the idea down.

 

That explains it then. SW had talked about releasing a deluxe edition of In Absentia a couple years ago, with new mastering, a new 5.1 mix, and bonus tracks, but then it never materialized. I assumed Atlantic still owns the rights to those recordings and perhaps they had stopped it.

I've heard some of the outtakes/demos from the In Absentia sessions, and I hope they get an official release one day.

 

Dangit - these are the exact 2 discs I was referring to. DR4 on a song or two, really? I have NEVER found a DR4 song I enjoyed listening to - not even in the car.

 

However Alan never mixed it, Steven mixed it all.

 

Well, I've always thought that 'mastering' as it is known today is a pointless and not needed procedure. Mastering really is and should be the final QC of the album, incuding track sequencing, gaps between tracks, volume adjustment so that each song is a similar level and that's about it really. All stuff that a competent engineer/mixer should be able to do these days. Any EQ adjustments and messing about with compression is just not needed.

Back in the day I can understand it was needed but in the digital age, it's not.

At the end of the day, mastering can't save a poor recording or mix.

 

No DR issues with the vinyl, although I've never checked numbers. Deadwing is far too pricey right now, but you can grab Absentia and Fear for reasonable prices. High quality pressings, dead quiet, great soundscapes.

 

Ah okay. Aqualung sounded great, though TAAB I remember as being a bit to trebly for my tastes.

 

You wouldn't say that if you heard some of the mixes I get... some coming from professional mixing studios.

Actually nowadays with digital recording and mixing being within any aspirant musician's reach, mastering is even more needed than it has ever been.

 

I can see where mastering can possibly make a poor recording/mix sound tolerable but you can't put back what wasn't there to begin with.

 

Of course but the vast majority of mixes is in the middle: not the 1% that are beyond repair, and not the 1% that don't really need mastering.

 

I asked Alan Parsons, personally, if he was involved with the new album. He said he wasn't, but was asked. Their schedules didn't correlate. That would indicate to me that Steven Wilson was pleased with AP's contributions to the sound.

 

As far as I have understood after seeing lots of opinions - recording well is key. Denoiser, compressor are not evil tools of doom if used the right way. Anyway, the solution is to record as well as humanely possible.

Wilson says that he attempts to show in his mixes that everything is glued together. Which is weird. i don't get that from his mixes of CTTE and a Relayer at all.


He makes perfect sense when saying that there's no excuse for recording at a lower sample rate. Even though it's not radically better. Very balanced point of view.

 

24/96, or GREATER!

 

Alan Parsons was needed for Raven because the album was recorded primarily live-in-the-studio. Steven can't play an instrument AND be the recording engineer at the same time. So another pair of hands was required. Once it came to mixing Steven took over.

 

The only recent mix by mr Wilson that I have questioned was the 5.1 version of close to the edge. I felt that the vocals were a bit overdone.

I am very happy with most of his mixes and especially happy with the rebirth of aqualung, the new detail in Red, and the very interesting 5.1 mix of the yes album. He does some very creative things in the yes album surround mix.

 

Recently 'discovered' PT - and really am into DW and IA.

While sounding 'clean' on CD, if SW does a release of these two with more DR, I would be all over those.

 

Am I allowed to say 'thankfully'? None of the CDs I bought which have him in the credits sounded right to me.

Three errors. The Raven That Refused to Sing had nothing to do with Edgar Allan (not Allen!) Poe.

 

The Steven Wilson remix of Thick As A Brick on LP was simply unlistenable. The treble is unbearable.

The reason is Peter Mew's mastering. There is no way the Steven Wilson Mix would have sounded as bad as that when he submitted it. Perhaps this is why he is now resolute about not allowing others to master his mixes. With TAAB he may as well have mot bothered. It is such a shame.

 

I believe TAAB was the last straw for him, after that release he wouldn't let anyone else touch his final mix down.

 

With digital media being a highly controllable medium I would not let any one touch my final mix down. With vinyl mastering was important. The needle could jump out of the groove if things got too hot.