Dire Straits (MK) Interview - SoundsTV, Sydney. 1983

[Brunno Nunes- (Universo Dire Straits)]

Could someone tell me the part in which the interviewer secondhand about David? I noticed that Mark answered something about what he was doing at that time, something related that was playing piano or keyboard, it seems to me that the interviewer asked if there was a possibility of David playing the keyboard on the DS ... Is that right?

At 3:47 min

I am grateful to anyone who can talk about this and other points of this interview!
Thank you!

[Ingo]

if there was a possibility of David playing the keyboard on the DS ... I

I think David even played some keyboards, e.g. on Portobelle Belle, like on The Barbarella's gig from July.

We do not know who plays the little keyboards parts on two tracks on album one, on the Communique album (PB, WDYTYG) it was rather Barry Becket.

[the visitor]

Could someone tell me the part in which the interviewer secondhand about David? I noticed that Mark answered something about what he was doing at that time, something related that was playing piano or keyboard, it seems to me that the interviewer asked if there was a possibility of David playing the keyboard on the DS ... Is that right?

At 3:47 min

I am grateful to anyone who can talk about this and other points of this interview!
Thank you!

Yes, the interviewer asks about David at two point in the interview. Firstly he asks Mark what David is now doing and he says he does not play the guitar any more but is trying to play the piano and that ,David is moaning that he should have learned to play when he was younger. He also says David is not playing in a professional capacity.

When the interviewer asks if there is any possibility of David playing in the band Mark says he doesn't know if he would be up to standard and that he struggled playing the guitar parts in Making Movies.

Up front eh

[Brunno Nunes- (Universo Dire Straits)]

We do not know who plays the little keyboards parts on two tracks on album one, on the Communique album (PB, WDYTYG) it was rather Barry Becket.
 

In the album Communique, there are three songs with piano or keyboard presence, PB, WDYTYG and Communique and without a doubt, it was Barry Becket who performed. In the first album is a mystery, Southbound Again and Wild West End, we do not know until today who it is that executes the parts of piano and keyboard.


Now Mark declares that David is not playing in a professional capacity ... What could you say about that, Igon, in view of David's performances live on the songs from the first two albums? In my opinion it's a strange statement, I do not think David was incapacitated to play the second guitar in the songs of the MM album. Anyway ...

[Ingo]

In the album Communique, there are three songs with piano or keyboard presence, PB, WDYTYG and Communique and without a doubt, it was Barry Becket who performed. In the first album is a mystery, Southbound Again and Wild West End, we do not know until today who it is that executes the parts of piano and keyboard.

Now Mark declares that David is not playing in a professional capacity ... What could you say about that, Igon, in view of David's performances live on the songs from the first two albums? In my opinion it's a strange statement, I do not think David was incapacitated to play the second guitar in the songs of the MM album. Anyway ...

Oops, I forgot Communique, the most obvious one 
On album one, there are keyboards on In the Gallery (organ on that 'he couldn't be' chorus) and Wild West End (Rhodes-like E piano).  No keyboards on Southbound!

I guess David would have got problems making a living as a studio session musician but he released several solo albums and did a fine job on keyboards or guitars on these. So it is a question of how you define 'professional'.

In Dire Straits he did a great job on the rhythm guitar (IMHO), everything he played still sounds groovy and relaxed to me, both in the studio or on stage. But he was mainly into rhythm strumming, in the Bruce Welch (Shadows) tradition, no fancy riffs, licks, sols and such.

After adding keyboards there were more arrangement options so Mark probably had this also in mind (riffs, licks, more complex stuff), and David struggled to play what Mark was thinking of.

[TheTimeWasWrong]

Oops, I forgot Communique, the most obvious one 
On album one, there are keyboards on In the Gallery (organ on that 'he couldn't be' chorus) and Wild West End (Rhodes-like E piano).  No keyboards on Southbound!

After 9 or 10 seconds some synth sound comes in, here's Southbound 'out of phase': https://we.tl/58bsGLpDOh

Amazing guitar work by MK by the way.

[Masiakasaurus]

Now Mark declares that David is not playing in a professional capacity ... What could you say about that, Igon, in view of David's performances live on the songs from the first two albums? In my opinion it's a strange statement, I do not think David was incapacitated to play the second guitar in the songs of the MM album. Anyway ...

Doesn't that just mean that he currently isn't making money playing the guitar? There are plenty of great musicians who aren't professional, since they make money in other ways. Now, I personally think David is an "ok" guitarist, not great. He is capable to play guitar to his songs though, so I guess he is pleased with his abilities 

[Brunno Nunes- (Universo Dire Straits)]

After 9 or 10 seconds some synth sound comes in, here's Southbound 'out of phase': https://we.tl/58bsGLpDOh

That's exactly what I wanted to tell Ingo, I always realized the presence of this instrument throughout the song Southbound Again. Perfect, thank you so much for flagging. (The interesting thing is that whenever I talked about this instrument in Southbound Again, most people did not notice.)

 By the way, how can you do that, lower the sound of the voice and highlight the instruments in this way?

[Brunno Nunes- (Universo Dire Straits)]

In Dire Straits he did a great job on the rhythm guitar (IMHO), everything he played still sounds groovy and relaxed to me, both in the studio or on stage. But he was mainly into rhythm strumming, in the Bruce Welch (Shadows) tradition, no fancy riffs, licks, sols and such.

After adding keyboards there were more arrangement options so Mark probably had this also in mind (riffs, licks, more complex stuff), and David struggled to play what Mark was thinking of.

I totally agree with you, Ingo!

[Ingo]

 

After 9 or 10 seconds some synth sound comes in, here's Southbound 'out of phase': https://we.tl/58bsGLpDOh

That's exactly what I wanted to tell Ingo, I always realized the presence of this instrument throughout the song Southbound Again. Perfect, thank you so much for flagging. (The interesting thing is that whenever I talked about this instrument in Southbound Again, most people did not notice.)

 By the way, how can you do that, lower the sound of the voice and highlight the instruments in this way?

Sorry to say, this is not a synth but David's rhythm guitar!!    (seems to be a 7th fret position A7 chord)
(the other three guitars - riff, lead, and the one playing the two chords on 'Roll across the rolling...' -  are by Mark)
100 % sure !!!

About the sample: Is it from my site?? I did exactly this some years ago, I think I blog'ed about it but can't find it now ... (too many blog posts ?  )
Anyway, it is simply the right channel out of phase with the left channel of the stereo recording. You need to re-solder a few wires on e.g. a headphones cable, or you simply invert the phase of one of the two channels in an audio editor software, then mix both channels into a mono file.

What happens is this: everything that is equally on both channels of the stereo mix - in other words, all that seems to come from the stereo center, like vocals, lead, bass drum,... - is cancelled due to the out-of-phase. Everything that is rather on the left or right side of the stereo remains, and is rather highlighted, the more it is to the outside the louder it will be.

I love to hear In the Gallery and Skateaway in this mode as it highlights that great fancy rhythm guitar by Mark