From Jeffrey Norman interview in 2007 Tell me about the differences between mixing, say, the 10-CD 1969 Fillmore West box, and mixing Europe ’72 material. Well, they each have their challenges. On the Europe ’72 recordings, the drums are a little dark and dull-sounding, and they needed some brightening. Cutler came up with a great idea when he did some mixing of Europe ’72 material [for Hundred Year Hall], which is to use an Aphex Aural Exciter [audio processor] on the drums. There’s something about the Aphex that really brings things out. I’d love to be able to mix some more from Europe ’72 and use this Plangent Processes [audio restoration tool] I used on the recent Cow Palace set [from 16-track recordings of New Year’s Eve 1976]. What this company — actually, this individual, Jamie Howarth — is able to do is to look in the digital domain at the bias frequency in analog tapes. [The Plangent tool] takes away the irregularities that are found in every analog tape, but keeps the character — the fullness, maybe the tape overdrive, or whatever; the good parts of the tape. It sounds great on cymbals and gives a clarity to the entire recording. I’d love to be able to use that mixing some Europe ’72. And I wish I’d known about it when I did the Fillmore West, because as much as I like that Fillmore West box set, it would’ve sounded even better. [For lots more on this technology, go to plangentprocesses.com] The ’69 tapes were pretty punchy. The way those were recorded by [Bob] Matthews — taking the microphone straight into the tape machine and bypassing [console] electronics and control, the end result is there are some things that sound fine and others that are clipping, and there’s distortion on some tracks because they’re just too loud. The first day, the 27th [3/27/69], was fine; the 28th I struggled a lot with distorted vocals. Mixing and Mastering the Dead’s Archives with Jeffrey Norman | Grateful Dead
From the versions I found on the Archive the intro is there on 7/2/71, absent on 8/26/71 but back again on 12/10/71. Not sure why it was missing on 8/26.
15 October 1976- Shrine Auditorium, LA. Dear FSM, Please return the missing reel to the Vault so Dave can pick this show. ~ rAmen
Listened to 10/3/76 Cobo Arena today. While I agree with the notion that it’s not one of the better shows in the 30 Trips box, I do think it has some nice moments. Could be that I was just in the mood for some ‘76 after the Daves’s announcement but I enjoyed it, particularly Scarlet Begonias, Playing, The Wheel, Comes A Time and NFA.
Ladies and Gentlemen....The Grateful Dead Great performances Great recording Great song selection Great album cover Pigpen
I listened to Bird Song again today from 10-18-72. The performance is outstanding but the mix isn't great, a little too much Weir relative to Garcia. I didn't notice that last night with headphones, but did today in the car. PiTB and Truckin'>TOO from 1972-12-31 is some exceptional music.
It doesn’t really work like that. When Weir is out of tune, it’s usually excruciatingly out of tune. Guitar ability or not, when it’s bad, it’s bad.
Well, I don't know what to listen for. People say that Pigpen sings out of tune/key. I can't say that I hear that either
I think he isn’t so bad in this department. Singing off beat is another thing. Hard To Handle from 4 February ‘70 comes to mind. Ouch.
That was the last show I attended. Jerry was great that night-they roared right out of the box with “Help on the Way”.
I pulled out the Sunshine Daydream DVD again the other night. It's so much funnier to watch the "Dew" vs "El Paso" pulling out of "Dark Star" on screen. Especially when Bobby gets all miffed about his monitor (I assume).
Currently 11/17/72 (DaP 11) and queued up after that is 3/28/73 (DaP 16) because it was mentioned recently.
Much non-Dead otherworldly improv over the weekend NP: Two from the Vault from August 68 I don’t listen to this often but it’s got a power sometimes even more visceral than the great early famous 1969 shows. Pig’s organ stands out as sounding maybe better than it ever did.
I'm listening to 10/15/94 MSG [the complete 1st set]on Today in Grateful Dead history on SiriusXM's Grateful Dead channel via the webstream.
