Larry Fast Chat With Larry Fast part 1

[timbre4]

I sent a friend request as soon as I saw Larry pop up on Facebook, probably 2012 or so, but it would take a chance FB Messenger posting in 2017 to really start the ball rolling on our conversation. Larry has given me his blessing to share this technical chat we've been having off and on over the past 17 months in regards to his music and the various surround formats. I believe breaking this into several sections would better serve to promote his work here on QQ, so here's part 1.

Larry Fast / SYNERGY Webpage
Larry's Wikipedia page
Larry's Facebook page

Aug 07th, 2017

TIM: "Evening Larry, I've been listening to a 'quad' version of Cords that I made a DVD-A disc from. Was this an unmarked QS true quad or just a lucky upmix? It is just wonderful! Any thoughts of licensing the quad mixes for discs or downloads? Sincere naive inquiry! Thanks, Tim"

LARRY: "I’m glad you’re enjoying some sort of surround decoding, but there was never a quad mix done for Cords. All that exists is a solid stereo 2 track master made from the 24 track recording. It’s possible that the many echoes and phasing devices used as outboard equipment have set up various cues that the analog quad decoding equipment is trying to interpret, but that’s an unintended side-effect of the stereo mix.

I am seriously looking at doing some legit 5.1 new mixes of some of the albums and have had the 24 track reels digitized as 24/96 multi-track digital masters for most of the albums already. Cords is on the list of possibles whenever I get to it.
Thanks for the questions. -Larry"

 

[Clint Eastwood]

Maybe you should give some background on Larry...we have some new people and it might be helpful....he played synth for Peter Gabriel and also for Kate Bush and worked on Gabriel's production team...and then his own releases under the Synergy banner...Cords and Sequencer both charted on Billboards Top 200...

 

[user 1679]

Cords would be great for 5.1, It's always been one of my fave Synergy albums.

All the synth work Larry did on Nektar's "Recycled" album brought that record to life, gave them something new to offer I thought. Larry also did some nice production for Canadian "prog" band FM on their album "City of Fear"

 

[Fourplay]

Thanks Tim & Larry. Looking forward to the next installment!

 

[timbre4]

Maybe you should give some background on Larry...we have some new people and it might be helpful....he played synth for Peter Gabriel and also for Kate Bush and worked on Gabriel's production team...and then his own releases under the Synergy banner...Cords and Sequencer both charted on Billboards Top 200...

Good suggestion - here is Larry's Wikipedia page, Larry Fast / SYNERGY Webpage and Larry's Facebook page added up top too.

 

[ssully]

Maybe you should give some background on Larry...we have some new people and it might be helpful....he played synth for Peter Gabriel and also for Kate Bush and worked on Gabriel's production team...and then his own releases under the Synergy banner...Cords and Sequencer both charted on Billboards Top 200...

Fast also designed Moog modules for Rick Wakeman in the 'Topographic' era.

 

[ssully]

I wonder how much input/pull Larry Fast has with Nektar? Their 1975 album Recycled, featuring stunning work by Fast , begs for a surround remix.

 

[timbre4]

I wonder how much input/pull Larry Fast has with Nektar? Their 1975 album Recycled, featuring stunning work by Fast , begs for a surround remix.

Yeah, posting his Wikipedia page reminded me of all the work he did with Nektar. Not sure where it's at these days, I'll see what we can get going for a discussion on that!

 

[fizzywiggs41]

I wonder how much input/pull Larry Fast has with Nektar? Their 1975 album Recycled, featuring stunning work by Fast , begs for a surround remix.

FWIW :
It was rumoured some years ago that Recycled was an unmarked SQ encode .

That rumour was first lept to during the quad era and then much later resurfaced on QQ some time back.

 

[timbre4]

FWIW :
It was rumoured some years ago that Recycled was an unmarked SQ encode .
That rumour was first lept to during the quad era and then much later resurfaced on QQ some time back.

I have posed this question for a future installment.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

I have posed this question for a future installment.

Thank you , Tim.

 

[Larry Fast]

FWIW :
It was rumoured some years ago that Recycled was an unmarked SQ encode .

That rumour was first lept to during the quad era and then much later resurfaced on QQ some time back.

The original Recycled mixes in 1975 were only done in 2 track stereo. I was there for the first set of mixes with the late Geoff Emerick engineerng at AIR Studios in London. There was a second pass done a few weeks later without Geoff at AIR, but again, stereo-only. The Neve mixing desk did not have even quad mixing capabilities. Around 2002 Cherry Red records in the UK put out SACD reissues re-mixed in 5.1 which were only on the market for a relatively short time. I don't know what became of those masters. But, there was no unmarked SQ encode for that album. Passport Records, Nektar's American label was a QS licensee at that time and that album was not put out under that encoding license.

 

[ssully]

Around 2002 Cherry Red records in the UK put out SACD reissues re-mixed in 5.1 which were only on the market for a relatively short time. I don't know what became of those masters.

?! The only multichannel Nektar SACDs I've ever heard of were released in 2004 by Dream Nebula/Eclectic -- Journey to the Center of the Eye, Live in New York, and Remember the Future. I'm not seeing any google info for a 5.1 Recycled released on Cherry Red, but would be fantastic news if it can be tracked down.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

The original Recycled mixes in 1975 were only done in 2 track stereo. I was there for the first set of mixes with the late Geoff Emerick engineerng at AIR Studios in London. There was a second pass done a few weeks later without Geoff at AIR, but again, stereo-only. The Neve mixing desk did not have even quad mixing capabilities. Around 2002 Cherry Red records in the UK put out SACD reissues re-mixed in 5.1 which were only on the market for a relatively short time. I don't know what became of those masters. But, there was no unmarked SQ encode for that album. Passport Records, Nektar's American label was a QS licensee at that time and that album was not put out under that encoding license.

Thanks for the clarification , Larry.


I knew about Passport being a Sansui licensee , which is a whole QS world of it's own .


I noticed " Media N. Y . Studios " having involvement with some Passport and Sire projects , and wondered if they utilized the Sansui encoder for some releases . (eg. Gloria Gaynor , and your first album )
At least I assume the Encoding occurred there , could be wrong.

 

[Larry Fast]

?! The only multichannel Nektar SACDs I've ever heard of were released in 2004 by Dream Nebula/Eclectic -- Journey to the Center of the Eye, Live in New York, and Remember the Future. I'm not seeing any google info for a 5.1 Recycled released on Cherry Red, but would be fantastic news if it can be tracked down.

I'm trying to track down the correct information. I wasn't involved at all in those reissues. I knew there were 5.1 SACDs being done of the Nektar catalog so I assumed that ALL of them were being done in 5.1. But I might have been mistaken in my assumption. I believe that the the reissue label was Eclectic which itself was a part of, or distributed by, Cherry Red. The reissue had both the Geoff Emerick and the original release mix. I'll post when I know more.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

Also planned for release by Nektar and Eclectic were the quad release of Down To Earth and (at the time , 2004 ?) , their current album in 5.1.

Just thought I'd mention it . S/B an article regarding this somewhere on QQ I think.
At the time Nektar and Eclectic had bold plans regarding surround.

 

[ssully]

I have the Recycled CD reissue (the one that includes the alternate Emerick mix of side one as a bonus) . It's unfortunately tainted by some rather bad mastering for the released mix -- the dynamic range is over-compressed, and the EQ is shrill. A missed opportunity there. But the Emerick mix bonus track has full dynamic range and is less harsh to the ears.

 

[timbre4]

If you are watching this thread for updates, I elected to post this conversation in separate parts, allowing members to comment on each portion. i saw the low page views and thought I should mention this and add links to newer parts:

Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9

Gets more technical as we go and the news improves.