Alexander Q: I have been trying to direct attention to that mixing error for months. Also here. I even contacted Richard himself and he said he’ll pass the info on. Now it’s too late and all the mixing done. I guess we’ll have to live with the Lisbon and Madrid Speedway version in which Richard comes in pretty ok in the mix. The truth must be: Mark wants the outro to sound like the current mix. But I still say the overall sound of the downloads is lightyears better that 2015 and 2013.
Guy Fletcher A: No, the truth is the concerts were mixed by someone who never saw the show, a very difficult task for any engineer. I oversaw the early mixes and corrected and guided as best I could from afar, but they were never going to be perfect. They are after all, board mixes. They vary greatly.
My take: Super amateur stuff as usual
I wonder how much work it would be for Guy to take the tour "Best Of" or even the MSG show and mix it himself...
Surely we would then be able to obtain a better quality product and there would be a better representation of the actual show out there.
The recordings from this tour have been a lot better than the last two, and they are a great keepsake for the diehard fans, but, they are still miles away from the stuff the likes of Springsteen releases via Nugs for example.
Unfair comparison as Springsteen and his management oversee wonderful boxsets and employ the best to remaster (very) old shows while Mark and his (nowhere near as good)manager employ the cheapest guys to offer the minimal at the highest price.
It is really sad how MK and his yes men treat his back catalogue and live recordings with such disdain.
I suspect it's all about the sales.
Springsteen has a bigger, more mainstream audience. He's part of their cultural furniture. The sales of said concerts in the US alone would dwarf anything Mark would put out. I wouldn't mind betting that all the costs of recording\documenting those shows are paid for up front by BS's distributor/record company. Knowing that they're almost certainly going to be profitable.
I don't think MK mistreats his live performances. He's just not at the level of perfection he once was and to be fair he's on record from at least 30ish years ago stating his strong dislike of live albums, mainly because 90% of them are not live.
I Wonder how many after the fact overdubs (or 'fixes' as they're known in the trade) there are on the average Springsteen live release?
Good points!
I would be surprised if the shows are over dubbed and fixed. These guys are out on tour... surely the last thing they want to do between shows is correct last nights mistakes?
I know one or two of the MK shows from this year seem to have "corrections", but I'd bet that MK knew little to nothing about that. Wouldn't surprise me if the remote mixing guy was instructed to nab parts from past shows to cover up the greenies.
I wasn't talking about the 'immediate release' kind of shows really.
When GF says that those kind of quick turnarounds are a challenge for an engineer he's so right. Imagine editing/mixing/mastering 64 channels of uncompressed audio for a 2\2.5 hour show, trying to make sure every song sounds ok, and all in a short space of time. I've been there and just a single show is a challenge in itself, let alone a whole tour with a tight release schedule.
I was referring more to official live album\dvd territory. Fixes might not even be to correct mistakes, more to correct technical issues. Listen to the Local Hero intro on the original release of Alchemy, you can clearly hear a buzzy guitar channel. The majority of producers\artists would have 'fixed' it. Imo as soon as you do that it's no longer a live album, and there are some big names who are guilty of this. The Eagles live album for example, is a joke, as huge chunks of it were re-recorded after the fact. As their own producer admitted later, harmony and instrument fixes made "courtesy of Federal Express.". And they're not the only ones....
