1976-06-17 ~ Yes ~ Roosevelt Stadium Again
"MisterJDF" wrote: So, is this the
"good" or the "bad" Roosevelt show <g>? After all the hubbub a few weeks ago, we
never really heard the resolution....
DISCLAIMER: I didn't originate the poll, but I'm going to give you the results.
Yesterday I received the "Rayzilla" version of 6/17/76, Roosevelt Stadium, aka
"The Story of Relayer." I had received the "Syd Weed" version a week ago. I
ripped both to my hard drive, opened the WAV files with Sound Forge, and used my
trusty spectrum analyzer to determine which was which. Since Syd has left us
hanging this long, I will now reveal the identities of the two samples:
Sample A - the Syd weed
Sample B - the Rayzilla version.
The "Sample B" version shows a dramatic high-frequency dropoff, while the "Sample A" version has a nice curve extending out to 22kHz. Also, "B" appears more compressed than "A," which gives it a muddier sound. I've observed the same kind of high-frequency dropoff on MP3 files, which makes me wonder if "B" wasn't an MP3 at some point.
Everyone who participated in the poll chose "A."
But "A" isn't perfect. One of the weird things about it is the phase reversal between the left and right channels on the first four tracks. This results in big low-frequency loss. There are also numerous sudden volume changes and drop-outs on one channel or the other throughout the recording. Remember, too, that this tape is raw directly from the soundboard, before it went through the FM audio processing chains at WMMR and WNEW. People listening to the broadcast heard a somewhat different sounding concert than what we hear on "A."
So, being the obsessive-compulsive perfectionist I've always been, I am REMASTERING VERSION "A." So far, I've completed disk 1. Here's what I've done:
dynamics processing - "fatten" up the mix and reduce dramatic volume changes
equalization
phase correction - restoring the bottom end
hand-editing the WAV files to fix drop-outs and sudden volume changes
light editing to smooth out transitions between songs
I spent about 5 hours last night on this, and have a few more hours to go today before it's done. Now the big question:
WHAT DO I DO WITH THE REMASTERED DISKS???
I'm setting up a poll so you can vote on what to do with them. I know some people wanted a tree, there's a weed already going, etc. If you have any ideas I don't include in the poll, post them to the group.
By the way, the remaster sounds GREAT! Chris really rocks.
SMT (2002-02-26)
Yes Maniacs and everyone else:
The poll is closed and the results are in: more than two-thirds of you want a new tree of my 6/17/76 Roosevelt Stadium remaster. So, being one to cave in to pressure, I am announcing the new tree!
The title of the recording was the subject of a few postings on Yesswap. I agree that it should have a different name from "Story of Relayer" to set it apart from the previous umpteen versions. I don't want to include "ultimate" or "last ever" in the name as that guarantees it will be superceded someday. So, I listened to the show again, and none other than Jon Anderson delivered the title to me:
"ROOSEVELT STADIUM AGAIN"
Seems appropriate, somehow.
SMT (2002-03-03)