Freehand

dr wu23 wrote: TBH.....I have never bought any of the SW mixes...in the past I have bought digital or other remixes of various classic and prog rock because some of the early cd's did sound like crap. I can't say I have ever heard a SW remix played by any friends on their home systems.

Tbh, the Wilson remixes are a mixed bag. The remixes of both ItCotCK and Aqualung are phenomenal, as the original masterings themselves were abysmal and had all kinds of sonic problems that were corrected. So, it that regard, the Wilson remixes are essential for those albums. The rest, to me, are just alternate mixes that bring out different instruments that were not heard as clearly before, but don't really improve the overall sound or listening experience. And to be honest, only a recording engineer like myself can really distinguish the hundreds of subtle mixing and mastering (not done by Wilson, but he had some input) touches per song done by Wilson anyway. For the people who aren't technical geeks or have a tin ear, it's a lost exercise. They can got the gist of the overall sound, more treble, more dynamics, etc., but not much else. So, is it a money making enterprise? Of course. They are a commodity to be sold. It's that's simple.

Edited by SteveG - May 15 2021 at 08:12

Grumpyprogfan wrote: SteveG wrote: Tbh, the Wilson remixes are a mixed bag. The remixes of both ItCotCK and Aqualung are phenomenal, as the original masterings themselves were abysmal and had all kinds of sonic problems that were corrected. So, it that regard, the Wilson remixes are essential for those albums. The rest, to me, are just alternate mixes that bring out different instruments that were not heard as clearly before, but don't really improve the overall sound or listening experience. And to be honest, only a recording engineer like myself can really distinguish the hundreds of subtle mixing and mastering (not done by Wilson, but he had some input) touches per song done by Wilson anyway. For the people who aren't technical geeks or have a tin ear, it's a lost exercise. They can got the gist of the overall sound, more treble, more dynamics, etc., but not much else. So, is it a money making enterprise? Of course. They are a commodity to be sold. It's that's simple. Excuse me for my ignorance, but could you tell me some of the albums you have engineered? And, what do you think of Wilson's remix of Tull's A?

Sure, the bigger ones are American Beauty by the Grateful Dead, If I Could Only Remember My Name by David Crosby and CSNY: Live 1974. I like the "A" remix because it took off a lot of the sharp harsh edges, especially to Anderson's multi tracked chorus vocals, which was quite annoying to me as they were all recorded live and are slightly distorted and slightly out of synch with each other, as opposed to using a dubbing method called Automatic Double Tracking. ADT is where a single vocal is repeated electronically and dubbed onto the chorus with subtle millisecond tape delay, echo, pitch shifting and other studio tricks in order to give the chorus vocals a neater "pleated" sound. I believe the chorus vocals on "Songs From The Wood" are ADT dubbings. These vocals on "A" are much less distorted now and sound warmer and fuller. Pegg's bass was also recorded with little tone and is quite invisible in the original mix, and "muddy" sounding when it actually can be heard on a few songs. Mostly, you can feel it more than hear it. Wilson added a little more definition to the bass and a lot more presence so it can be better heard as well as better felt. A lot of the rest is little balance tricks like dropping the volume of a prominent synth tone when another prominent synth tone was entered into the song, so that they no longer sound congested as they did on the original sound mix. Barre's leads have slight adjustments to his flanging, reverb and echo as well as sound volume, as well as slight stereo altering, etc. There's many more alterations by Wilson but I would have to actually write them down as there's just to much to remember.

Edited by SteveG - May 15 2021 at 11:31

Intruder wrote: Have existed with my vinyl copy (actually, second copy - sold the first to buy another!) for 30+ years, can't see me squeezing any more out of it than I already have, regardless of Wilson's knobbing.  Then again, if you have one of those sooper-dooper hi-fi systems and invited me over for a listening session.....

I have a little hi-fi system that will do the trick. How far are you from NYC?

Edited by SteveG - May 15 2021 at 11:30

SteveG wrote: dr wu23 wrote: TBH.....I have never bought any of the SW mixes...in the past I have bought digital or other remixes of various classic and prog rock because some of the early cd's did sound like crap. I can't say I have ever heard a SW remix played by any friends on their home systems.  Tbh, the Wilson remixes are a mixed bag. The remixes of both ItCotCK and Aqualung are phenomenal, as the original masterings themselves were abysmal and had all kinds of sonic problems that were corrected. So, it that regard, the Wilson remixes are essential for those albums. The rest, to me, are just alternate mixes that bring out different instruments that were not heard as clearly before, but don't really improve the overall sound or listening experience. And to be honest, only a recording engineer like myself can really distinguish the hundreds of subtle mixing and mastering (not done by Wilson, but he had some input) touches per song done by Wilson anyway. For the people who aren't technical geeks or have a tin ear, it's a lost exercise. They can got the gist of the overall sound, more treble, more dynamics, etc., but not much else. So, is it a money making enterprise? Of course. They are a commodity to be sold. It's that's simple.

Edited by dr wu23 - May 15 2021 at 15:40

Thought this video was kinda cool.

I have the Alucard 2009 release which is very good. 

Edited by richardh - June 23 2021 at 00:10