Pink Floyd/The Division Bell - Ask Andy Jackson about the Mastering and the Mix

[Andy Jackson]

Can you comment on the "loudness wars?" What is your philosophy on mastering and compression? Are you involved in those decisions, or is it downstream of your work?


Well in someways there is nothing to add to the self-evident & oft quoted pointlessness of the loudness war. Oddly streaming services like Spotify might mean this becomes totally redundant, as it has a default of a 'level match' in the algorithm. Hyper compressed stuff comes out if anything marginally quieter sounding. As for my involvement, with PF James & I have prevailed & we simply don't do it. None of it has any limiting on it (which is what is used for level maximisation).

 

[peterzach]

Andy, is there any chance that David Gilmour's first 2 albums get remixed in surround and as I see you are involved in his 4th album hoping that sees a surround done as well.

peter

 

[Andy Jackson]

Andy, is there any chance that David Gilmour's first 2 albums get remixed in surround and as I see you are involved in his 4th album hoping that sees a surround done as well.


I'm sure anything from now on will be, it is a relatively straight forward thing to do when new mixing is being done anyway. Going back & doing older stuff is a much more labourious process, so would I suspect rather depend on the powers that be seeing it as being financially viable. The DG solo albums obviously don't sell as well as the PF ones.

 

[peterzach]

Andy, is there any chance that David Gilmour's first 2 albums get remixed in surround and as I see you are involved in his 4th album hoping that sees a surround done as well.


I'm sure anything from now on will be, it is a relatively straight forward thing to do when new mixing is being done anyway. Going back & doing older stuff is a much more labourious process, so would I suspect rather depend on the powers that be seeing it as being financially viable. The DG solo albums obviously don't sell as well as the PF ones.

Fair enough, here's hoping that DG and Mgmt have an appetite to do it as even though DG's solo stuff is not as big a seller as PF there are enough fan's like myself that would rebuy the album if it was done in surround.
The only reason I bought the Live in Gdansk was because of being able to hear OAI done in surround, I am sure many others did same thing as myself.
There have been releases put out in surround of artists with less album sales that DG and seems there was still a little money to be made, maybe HIGH HOPES but one can dream of more surround treasures to come.

peter

 

[geoffpiano]

Andy, I've been listening to both Surround mixest of TDB for the First Time today and on my system, at least, the DTS is IMMENSELY more enjoyable... Richer, clearer and incredibly 'present'. I suppose a person's preference depends on their ears and in their gear... But your DTS mix is one of the most satisfying I've ever heard of anything... You've done a truly superb job.
One other query which you may or may not be able to shed light on, and that is, the possibility anytime soon of a 5.1 disc of The Wall. James did say a few years ago that it'd definitely happen, but since then nothing more has been said about it, as far as I know... Any ideas?

 

[Andy Jackson]

One other query which you may or may not be able to shed light on, and that is, the possibility anytime soon of a 5.1 disc of The Wall. James did say a few years ago that it'd definitely happen, but since then nothing more has been said about it, as far as I know... Any ideas?

No none I'm afraid. One issue with that album is that the tapes are in terrible shape. Ampex (the tape manufacturer) had to change their formulation in the late 70s as they used whale oil (!!) as part of the glue that stuck the magnetic oxide to the backing. The new glue has proved to be very unstable and leeches through. "cooking" the tapes dries them out and makes them playable briefly, but only briefly. James may have already made a transfer, I don't know. I know he's been busy on another project, which is finishing up now. Don't know what is next for him.

 

[geoffpiano]

Thanks Andy... That really is a shame about The Wall masters... I heard similar stories about other late seventies masters - Supertramp's "Paris" album, for one - having to be 'baked'... It sounds like a truly scary process! We can only hope that PF's Animals fared a bit better, with a view to an eventual 5.1 release. I do seem to recall that Animals was out in Quad originally, but I may be wrong about that...

 

[geoffpiano]

It's appalling really that some record companies/powers that be have allowed master tapes of classic albums to deteriorate so badly. There's an argument right there for the reintroduction of capital punishment...

 

[Andy Jackson]

Not really the record company's fault (although plenty of things are). In fact, I'm pretty sure that these tapes have been in one of the band vaults.

Animals will be early enough that it is still the old glue, made out of whales, in a curiously fitting way (could 'Whales' be a bonus track on animals???)

We played "Marooned' once on the Pulse tour, in Norway, accompanied by film of whales, as a political statement (Norway being a whaling country). Ever since then, we've always referred to it as "Harpooned", started by Jon Carin I think.

 

[himey]

Not really the record company's fault (although plenty of things are). In fact, I'm pretty sure that these tapes have been in one of the band vaults.

Animals will be early enough that it is still the old glue, made out of whales, in a curiously fitting way (could 'Whales' be a bonus track on animals???)

We played "Marooned' once on the Pulse tour, in Norway, accompanied by film of whales, as a political statement (Norway being a whaling country). Ever since then, we've always referred to it as "Harpooned", started by Jon Carin I think.

New all time favorite post ever!

 

[César]

Hello again, Andy. You said you're working on your first record, can you give us any hints about how it will sound like? I'm really curious about it! Any chances of listening to any snippets on soundcloud or similar?

 

[geoffpiano]

Hahaha!!! I laughed out loud at that one... That's pretty amazing info, re- the whale glue... I play most of my gigs in Norway, so now I have yet another reason to raise the anti-whaling flag!
One thing that surprises me in listening to TDB and knowing that it was recorded to analogue, is just how much fatter, richer and clearer it sounds than many full digital recordings I've listened to over the years. Do you think there's a chance of a swing back to tape from digital, even given how much easier digital is to work with?

 

[Andy Jackson]

Hello again, Andy. You said you're working on your first record, can you give us any hints about how it will sound like? I'm really curious about it! Any chances of listening to any snippets on soundcloud or similar?

In fact finished, just need to do a mastering pass on it. Looks like I'll put it out through the Burning Shed online shop. Just sorting out details. Probably going to hold it back to coincide with Endless River, or thereabouts, as I can use the opportunity for promo. Genre? non-widdly-prog?? I'll put some stuff on youtube/ facebook or something in a bit

 

[Andy Jackson]

Do you think there's a chance of a swing back to tape from digital, even given how much easier digital is to work with?

No, a/ genie's out of the bottle in terms of being able to be non-linear b/ no one makes it any more

 

[César]

Hello again, Andy. You said you're working on your first record, can you give us any hints about how it will sound like? I'm really curious about it! Any chances of listening to any snippets on soundcloud or similar?

In fact finished, just need to do a mastering pass on it. Looks like I'll put it out through the Burning Shed online shop. Just sorting out details. Probably going to hold it back to coincide with Endless River, or thereabouts, as I can use the opportunity for promo. Genre? non-widdly-prog?? I'll put some stuff on youtube/ facebook or something in a bit

Oh, Burningshed, that's a favorite shop for many of us
Looking forward to hearing it, please tell us here when you post any samples, this forum can also serve to generate some sales!

 

[geoffpiano]

Andy, on the subject of surround mixing in general... There was a time where stereo mixing was daunting to anyone recording their own material who didn't really know their way around programs like Cubase Audio, Logic, etc. etc. I was doing some mixes of my own stuff a little while back on Logic Pro X, which claims to have the ability for one to mix in multichannel. I realise that the industry standard is ProTools, which is a bit out of the average muso's price range - but do you think it'd be a massive learning curve to create one's own multichannel mixes on something less high-end such as Logic Pro X? I realise you've been in the game a long time with serious runs on the board and that this is a bit of a child's play question, but thought I'd ask anyway....

 

[Ranasakawa]

G'day Andy

Will there be any more Floyd albums mixed in 5.1 such as Obscured By Clouds (a favourite of mine) or Meddle ?
Thank you for your incredible open replies and respect for our forum.

 

[drphibes]

Thanks for the fine mix, and offering to answer our questions. I've really enjoyed your work! I hope "the management" offers you more mixing projects on Floyd and Floyd-related releases.

Are you interested in doing more surround mixes, and do you have a "Bucket List" of albums or projects you'd like to tackle?

 

[rontoon]

Oh, Burningshed, that's a favorite shop for many of us

Agreed a great choice. Please let us know when you post clips on YouTube. I'll definitely one to support your work when it's released, which btw seems like a good strategy regarding the time frame!

 

[rtbluray]

Thanks for answering all of these questions Andy!

Another question I have for you concerns "A Momentary Lapse of Reason" (I would love a 5.1 mix of this album, especially "Sorrow"!)

A while back you had mentioned a project of essentially "taking the 80s" out of AMLOR by recording new drums, keyboards, etc
Can you comment on the status of this project?
Thanks!