Re: Dead Movie/Steal Your Face Question
- From: "effty" <gospameffty@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2006 21:19:47 GMT
"Gazzoo" <dirwuf@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:180220061427268284%dirwuf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
While reading McNally's book, I came across a passage explaining the
mixing of "Steal Your Face"...apparently the 16-track masters were so
poorly recorded (fluctuating levels, missing tracks) that Phil and Bear
couldn't do much with them.
So how was the original and dvd remix of the Dead Movie (along with the
multi-disk soundtrack) able to sound so much better? Were different
multitracks found?
BG
Same tapes with the miracles of computers applied.
I found this nice interview here.
http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/ISEO-rgbtcspd/reviews/20041207/grateful_dead_movie.html?print=1&page=all
First bit is Lindsay Planer & David Lemieux
Second bit is Lindsay Planer & Jeffrey Norman.
LP: In regards to the five-CD Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack box set, how
were you able to avoid the same production problems and poor audio that
[Grateful Dead bassist] Phil [Lesh] and Bear [aka legendary multi-media
alchemist Owsley Stanley] faced with Steal Your Face - which came from the
same concerts and presumably same tapes?
DL: Listen to Jeffrey's new stereo mix of "Sugaree" on the DVD, and then
[the] Steal Your Face mix. Jeffrey worked with the same tapes as the Steal
Your Face crew. Enough said.
LP: Indeed.
CrutchfieldAdvisor would once again like to thank Mr. Lemieux for his time
and responses.
While on the subject of the Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack, we contacted ol'
platinum ears himself, Jeffrey Norman, to get the skinny on what role he
played in the restoration. One first-generation Deadhead who attended each
and every one of the "retirement shows" referred to Norman's work on this
project as "perhaps his [Norman's] greatest achievement to date," and even
the most fastidious listener who has sampled either the DVDs or the CDs
would be hard pressed to disagree.
That said, there is one point of contention that, under other circumstances,
would have deemed the incomplete performances in question "unusable." Norman
was faced with some fairly blatant edits and, quite literally, missing
chunks of tape. On November 26, 2004 we went behind the music and beyond the
oxide directly to Club Front - the Grateful Dead's own studios - to find out
how Norman dealt with these issues.
Lindsay Planer: What were the state of the multi-tracks? I noticed there is
a piece missing from "Eyes Of The World." Are there any other places you had
to make-do with missing fragments of music?
Jeffrey Norman: Yes, "Eyes [of the World]" is missing a piece, as well as
"Casey Jones," and I know people are unhappy with that and felt that it was
advertised incorrectly. This was never meant to mislead anyone; more like
those who made up the marketing phases did so long before the engineering
department (me!) realized that we didn't have all the pieces.
Generally the 16-track tapes were in good shape. They were recorded at 30
inches per second (instead of the usual 15). The end result was a much
quieter tape, and except for very quiet songs, hiss was not an issue.
Cassettes are 1-7/8 inches per second, [so it's] no wonder they're so hissy.
Most things were fairly well recorded (except the bass drum, in my opinion),
although there were only three drum tracks (bass drum, over-head, and
snare/toms). The piano/electric piano track was generally problematic [due
to] lots of clicks and crackles. You'll notice that for quite a bit of the
[show on the 20th], it isn't even there. I tried to clean it up with a Sonic
No-Noise plug-in as much as possible.
LP: What was the most challenging thing for you regarding this project? Both
in regards to the soundtrack CD set and the actual soundtrack on the DVDs?
JN: Probably the most challenging aspect was the vocal sound. The
differential mic set-up was great for the Wall of Sound (it rejected all
other sound but the voice), but was terrible for recording. It's very thin
and has a very smeary sound ("muffin mouth" is one description). Because the
singers had to get right up on the mic, there were also a lot of pops - an
explosive low-end sound. As I did more mixing, I found better ways in
ProTools (where I had transferred all the analog 16-track tapes) to help
control the popping and the muffin mouth. Some songs were worse than others,
and the later mixes I did were better than the first ones.
Another consideration was that, for most of the songs in the movie, many of
the vocals are overdubbed. Unfortunately, the audience tracks were often
erased to accommodate these new vocals. The audience is a key element in a
live show, particularly for the Grateful Dead Movie. The visuals are so
energetic and so exciting, and I wanted the mix to reflect that (I'm sure
Jerry and Dan Healy did also in their mix), and to try to give an essence of
the Wall of Sound. This is a long-winded way of explaining that it was much
more difficult to do this without the audience tracks helping out. The
soundtrack songs all had audience tracks, but many had their audience on a
separate tape that had to be "spun in" to the master [and] that took awhile
because there was no time code to help synchronize with the master tape.
Once again, our thanks to Mr. Norman for his time and layperson-friendly
explanations. Even after three decades, the enormous care and effort that
Jerry Garcia and company put into presenting a realistic and heartfelt
portrayal of the Grateful Dead circa 1974 remains a true and authentic
testament to the power and spirit that had fuelled their long, strange trip
since 1965 - and would continue to do so for the remaining 21 years of the
band's existence. Although the monetary and personal expenditures of
creating The Grateful Dead Movie may have ultimately been prohibitive, the
immense foresight of Garcia and crew have made this modern memorial
possible, not only for us but every future generation of Deadhead.
:-) :-) :-)
~e.
.
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- From: Gazzoo
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