Q&A: Elliot Scheiner on Madeleine Peyroux’s Let’s Walk, remixing Steely Dan in 5.1 surround sound, and more! (IAA)

[sjcorne]

I've also done quite an extensive interview with the man covering not just this release, but also his past work with Steely Dan, The Eagles, Beck, etc. It's due to published sometime in the next few weeks. Very excited to share that with you all!

...and here it is: https://immersiveaudioalbum.com/qa-...ng-steely-dan-in-5-1-surround-sound-and-more/

This may well be my favorite of these interviews I've done since starting out at IAA in 2021. Mr. Scheiner was very generous with his time, and his recollection of events 20+ years ago seemed pretty clear. He's worked on so many projects over the years that it would have been impossible to cover everything, but I think I touched on the key ones.

 

[Dynamic Editor]

Bold is the interviewer (Jonathan Cornell), non-bold is Elliot Scheiner.

You’re right, and I wanted to ask about that too. You did 5.1’s of that record and Eric Clapton’s 461 Ocean Boulevard (1974). Some years before your mixes of those albums were released, the label put out completely different-sounding surround versions on SACD.

Yeah, they did. I remember when I did 461, Eric’s producer came to my studio to listen and he hated it. He said “why is there stuff in the back?” So they redid it with someone else, but my version came out a while after. They even gave me a producer credit.

I will never understand why people approach surround sound the way Clapton's producer does. It would be akin to listening to listening to a stereo mix and being baffled that there are elements panned to the left and right.

 

[sjcorne]

The Guzauski/Climie 5.1 mix of 461 isn't a bad listen and does have "stuff in the back", just not nearly as much as Scheiner's.

 

[fredblue]

Bold is the interviewer (Jonathan Cornell), non-bold is Elliot Scheiner.

I will never understand why people approach surround sound the way Clapton's producer does. It would be akin to listening to listening to a stereo mix and being baffled that there are elements panned to the left and right.

hmm.. to be fair, that's only one side of the story.

the "someone else" was Mick Guzauski, no less, not some no-name nobody but a truly great world-renowned engineer in his own right.

also, there's still "stuff in the back" in MG's 461 OB mix as well and i would suggest more effective use of the Centre channel than the rejected mix but i realise i'm in the minority having expressed the view already that in some ways i prefer Guzauski's mix and that going down like the proverbial lead balloon!

 

[fredblue]

The Guzauski/Climie 5.1 mix of 461 isn't a bad listen and does have "stuff in the back", just not nearly as much as Scheiner's.

Snap!!

edit: i think Guzauski may be one of the most underrated big name Surround engineers around, his more recent Atmos mix of Daft Punk's "Random Access Memories" for example is at times breathtaking.

 

[fredblue]

...and here it is: https://immersiveaudioalbum.com/qa-...ng-steely-dan-in-5-1-surround-sound-and-more/

This may well be my favorite of these interviews I've done since starting out at IAA in 2021. Mr. Scheiner was very generous with his time, and his recollection of events 20+ years ago seemed pretty clear. He's worked on so many projects over the years that it would have been impossible to cover everything, but I think I touched on the key ones.

hearty Congratulations!!

a truly fabulous interview!!

thank you for asking so many great questions of arguably Surround Music's all-time finest engineer and my personal favourite multichannel mixing man!!

some of his responses are quite enlightening!! ️

(some are a tad sobering however so i'll not dwell on those!! )

 

[steelydave]

hearty Congratulations!!

a truly fabulous interview!!

thank you for asking so many great questions of arguably Surround Music's all-time finest engineer and my personal favourite multichannel mixing man!!

some of his responses are quite enlightening!! ️
T
(some are a tad sobering however so i'll not dwell on those!! )

I can only echo this really, a fantastic job all-round - I was reading this thinking "this is exactly the stuff that Adam and I dreamed about asking him 10 years ago."

For the record, I think the one quad mix that Scheiner mentions doing at A&R is most likely Enoch Light and The Light Brigade's The Brass Menagerie 1973. I looked at the credits for all of the Project 3 LPs and it's the only one of all of them where he gets an engineering credit. Love to see D-V release this one along with the other three Brass Menagerie albums, the self-titled debut, Volume II and Tony Mottola and The Brass Menagerie.

Adam also raises a good point about Mick Guzauski as an underrated 'big name' surround mixer - love to see an interview with him because his (somewhat unclear) involvement with surround mixing goes as far back at at least 1973 to that Armand Schaubroeck album that was recently re-released on DVD.

 

[sjcorne]

Adam also raises a good point about Mick Guzauski as an underrated 'big name' surround mixer - love to see an interview with him because his (somewhat unclear) involvement with surround mixing goes as far back at at least 1973 to that Armand Schaubroeck album that was recently re-released on DVD.

I tried to get in touch with him last year, when the Daft Punk Atmos mix came out, but nothing ever came of it. Good reminder to pull on that thread again.

 

[fredblue]

I tried to get in touch with him last year, when the Daft Punk Atmos mix came out, but nothing ever came of it. Good reminder to pull on that thread again.

oh yes, please!! please, whenever you can, you have to try to interview as many of these sterling chaps and chapesses as you can before they go to the great mixing desk in the sky like too many of Quad's unsung heroes like Larry Keyes, Don Young, etc., who popped their clogs before an intrepid Quad aficionado such as your wonderful self could interrogate, i mean cogitate, investigate and meditate (phew! ) on all things Surround with them!!!

ps. Thank You for making my day

 

[fredblue]

I can only echo this really, a fantastic job all-round - I was reading this thinking "this is exactly the stuff that Adam and I dreamed about asking him 10 years ago."

For the record, I think the one quad mix that Scheiner mentions doing at A&R is most likely Enoch Light and The Light Brigade's The Brass Menagerie 1973. I looked at the credits for all of the Project 3 LPs and it's the only one of all of them where he gets an engineering credit. Love to see D-V release this one along with the other three Brass Menagerie albums, the self-titled debut, Volume II and Tony Mottola and The Brass Menagerie.

Adam also raises a good point about Mick Guzauski as an underrated 'big name' surround mixer - love to see an interview with him because his (somewhat unclear) involvement with surround mixing goes as far back at at least 1973 to that Armand Schaubroeck album that was recently re-released on DVD.

ahh.. dreams.. can come true and today they have!!

(i wonder if he had any memories of mixing "Winelight" in Surround..? still one of if not the greatest 5.1 music mixes i've ever heard )

you know, i haven't picked up an SQ record in quite some time now but i am almost tempted to seek out a copy of that Brass Menagerie record to see if it really does decode all over the place like Mr. Scheiner says it did!!

maybe Mister J. Fredgar Pupster has a copy of the Brass Menagerie Quad, as he is our resident conversionista pupsta all-round hero of the hour maybe it's not such a long shot!

 

[J. PUPSTER]

ahh.. dreams.. can come true and today they have!!

(i wonder if he had any memories of mixing "Winelight" in Surround..? still one of if not the greatest 5.1 music mixes i've ever heard )

you know, i haven't picked up an SQ record in quite some time now but i am almost tempted to seek out a copy of that Brass Menagerie record to see if it really does decode all over the place like Mr. Scheiner says it did!!

maybe Mister J. Fredgar Pupster has a copy of the Brass Menagerie Quad, as he is our resident conversionista pupsta all-round hero of the hour maybe it's not such a long shot!

well now that you mention it , I was just checking out a CD-4 version of that title to purchase after seeing this wonderful thread's convos!

The problem appears to be that discogs has both the QD and CD-4 versions listed on the same page, so inquires are required in order to get the correct version IINM! Am I correct in that assumption Freddy baby?

 

[fredblue]

well now that you mention it , I was just checking out a CD-4 version of that title to purchase after seeing this wonderful thread's convos!

The problem appears to be that discogs has both the QD and CD-4 versions listed on the same page, so inquires are required in order to get the correct version IINM! Am I correct in that assumption Freddy baby?

QD would be a matrix flavour o'Quad, in this case SQ

bah, i'd say pick up an SQ and a CD-4 Vn. as well just for a good ol' hootenanny!

edit: as ever i'm heartwarmed to see our Quadraphonic telepatheticness knows no bounds!

 

[J. PUPSTER]

QD would be a matrix flavour o'Quad, in this case SQ

bah, i'd say pick up an SQ and a CD-4 Vn. as well just for a good ol' hootenanny!

edit: as ever i'm heartwarmed to see our Quadraphonic telepatheticness knows no bounds!

I'd be amiss if I didn't also mention what an absolutely fantastic job Jonathan did on this interview; with one of our premier surround mixers
May they both continue on the righteous surround path of glory! Tambu in surround, HELL YES please!

actually I believe the QD designation is for QS, but I just figure, get the discrete CD-4 if it's available for Quadiness sake, and I'll have that hit of Sake while I'm at it also

 

[fredblue]

if i may just be somewhat indulged for just a brief moment-ette?

my "ScheinerSurround" (*TM) Top 10 Surround Music mixes that i implore, nay beseech, nay urge, all good internet surfers of this divine QQ thread to sample, if they haven't already done so;

1.) Grover Washington Jr., "Winelight" (DVD-A, SACD)
2.) Steely Dan "Gaucho" (DTS CD, DVD-A, SACD),
3.) America "Homecoming" (DVD-A, SACD),
4.) Donald Fagen "The Nightfly" (DVD-A, DualDisc DVD-A, MVI DVD-V boxset),
5.) The Doobie Brothers "The Captain & Me" (DVD-A, SACD),
6.) Beck "Sea Change" (DVD-A, SACD, HFPA BD),
7.) Lynyrd Skynyrd "Southern Surroundings" (DVD-A, HFPA BD),
8.) Toto "IV" (2003 SACD, 2011 7" Sony Japan SACD),
9.) Boz Scaggs "Dig" (CD+DVD-A),
10.) Eagles "Hotel California" (DVD-A, SACD, BD-A in Deluxe boxset).

 

[fredblue]

I'd be amiss if I didn't also mention what an absolutely fantastic job Jonathan did on this interview; with one of our premier surround mixers
May they both continue on the righteous surround path of glory! Tambu in surround, HELL YES please!

actually I believe the QD designation is for QS, but I just figure, get the discrete CD-4 if it's available for Quadiness sake, and I'll have that hit of Sake while I'm at it also

oh never be amiss, it causes amess!

yes indeed-y, more power to both their elbows, all 4 of 'em, say i..!!

there's an SQ variant of that one for sure (apparently i have a copy of it.. altho' fak-nose where it is!?

 

[steelydave]

you know, i haven't picked up an SQ record in quite some time now but i am almost tempted to seek out a copy of that Brass Menagerie record to see if it really does decode all over the place like Mr. Scheiner says it did!!

Don't forget that in 1972 they were still 4+ years out from the Tate, so he was probably hearing it back on one of Sony's earliest SQ decoders, like an SQD-2010 or 2020, so the 'everything everywhere all at once' sound (especially compared to how hyper-directional the Enoch Light quad mixes were in discrete form) totally fits the bill to me, especially from a guy like Scheiner who's particular, to say the least, about how his mixes sound.

 

[Lord British]

if i may just be somewhat indulged for just a brief moment-ette?

my "ScheinerSurround" (*TM) Top 10 Surround Music mixes that i implore, nay beseech, nay urge, all good internet surfers of this divine QQ thread to sample, if they haven't already done so;

1.) Grover Washington Jr., "Winelight" (DVD-A, SACD)
2.) Steely Dan "Gaucho" (DTS CD, DVD-A, SACD),
3.) America "Homecoming" (DVD-A, SACD),
4.) Donald Fagen "The Nightfly" (DVD-A, DualDisc DVD-A, MVI DVD-V boxset),
5.) The Doobie Brothers "The Captain & Me" (DVD-A, SACD),
6.) Beck "Sea Change" (DVD-A, SACD, HFPA BD),
7.) Lynyrd Skynyrd "Southern Surroundings" (DVD-A, HFPA BD),
8.) Toto "IV" (2003 SACD, 2011 7" Sony Japan SACD),
9.) Boz Scaggs "Dig" (CD+DVD-A),
10.) Eagles "Hotel California" (DVD-A, SACD, BD-A in Deluxe boxset).

Was able to snag a copy of Winelight off of Amazon just now for 30$. Thanks for the rec, Fred!

 

[sjcorne]

there's an SQ variant of that one for sure (apparently i have a copy of it.

You inspired me to pull my copy out and it's great fun, like most Project 3 quads. Some great four-corner action at the beginning of track #2:

 

[fredblue]

You inspired me to pull my copy out and it's great fun, like most Project 3 quads. Some great four-corner action at the beginning of track #2:

View attachment 107447

View attachment 107448

knocking it out of the park since 1972

 

[JonUrban]

Holy Crap Jonathan, that was one impressive interview. You asked damn near every question any QQ member would want to ask without coming off like a drooling fan boy (like most of us are). So professional and right to the topic. You must have impressed him with your knowledge of his work and his history. I bet he's never had an interview like that before. You even got him to verify that the new Acura's don't do 5.1! Incredible stuff there.

You've done a great job with your site and your surround business, and everyone here at QQ should be damn proud of you and what you have accomplished. "Bravo" sir, "Bravo!"