January 11, 2017

Dark Star: A Tale of Four Mixes

On February 27, 1969, the Grateful Dead played a pretty good version of Dark Star. They liked it enough to release it on a live album later that year, and it immediately became a fan favorite. (1) To this day many consider it the quintessential Dark Star, the defining version most heard by newcomers to the Dead, and much loved by longtime collectors. What’s not often mentioned, though, is that this Dark Star is available in several different mixes, each with its own sound and character:

1) The original Live/Dead album was mixed by Bob Matthews and Betty Cantor in 1969, and released on a Warner Bros CD in 1988.

2) In 2001, the Dead’s Warner Brothers albums were remastered for release in the Golden Road box set and individual Rhino CD reissues. Secretly, without any publicity or mention in the album credits, Live/Dead was completely remixed and the new alternate version released.

3) In the early ‘90s, Dan Healy made rough mixes from the Fillmore West 16-tracks to be considered for the From the Vault series. The shows weren’t released then, but (thanks to Dick Latvala) copies of these mixes did slip out into circulation. All the copies on the Archive from this run come from Healy’s mixes.

4) Then in 2005, Jeffrey Norman mixed the Fillmore West run afresh from the 16-tracks for release in the Fillmore West 1969 box set.

These mixes are quite different from each other, each emphasizing different aspects of the performance. Surprisingly, there isn’t a single mix where you can hear all the players all the way through! What follows is a summary of the various mixes and the changes between them, what you can hear (and can’t hear) in each one.

1.
Bob Matthews original mix, 1969 (23:07)

This mix starts with Phil drifting in during the interlude after Mountains of the Moon. Garcia enters about 15 seconds later: Lesh is in the center, Garcia the center/right, and Weir on the right, quieter than the others. Kreutzmann’s drums are on the left; Constanten’s organ is almost inaudible at first, and wanders around the stereo picture after it emerges. After the Dark Star riff, Mickey’s guiro can be heard very faintly, almost unnoticeably, on the right. It’s usually easy to hear Kreutzmann in this mix; on the other hand, here Constanten has been mixed out to near invisibility much of the time. For instance, after the initial Dark Star riff appeared, Constanten played Pigpen’s old six-note organ riff; but that disappears here. The effect is to simplify the music with fewer instruments heard.
Instead, this mix was bathed in echo. This wasn’t on the original tape, but definitely added in the studio on a separate track – Garcia’s guitar echoes off to the right.
During the verse, Garcia sings on the far left, his voice echoing over on the right. Mickey’s gong can also be heard loudly on the far right. In performance, Garcia doubled his vocal lines by playing them on guitar, but his guitar was mixed out of the verses here (effectively replaced by the echo). The organ is also reduced to inaudibility, heard only during the two volume swells at the end of the verse.
The gong keeps ringing in the space after the verse. During the jams that follow, the organ continues to be mixed low, darting underneath the guitars so Constanten’s decorative playing is de-emphasized. The album isn’t quite as dynamic in volume as later mixes, but it’s a very active mix – along with the organ, Garcia’s guitar is sometimes panned around, and various instruments are raised or lowered in the mix. Constanten might disappear for a while and then quietly reenter in a different channel; or Weir will become quieter until coming back up in volume. The guitars aren’t always widely spaced in the mix, and sometimes they seem to get bunched up on the right of the stereo picture.
Mickey’s guiro comes back on the right in a quiet part of the jam, but he’s barely audible til he contributes a bit of percussion to the “sputnik” jam. Kreutzmann seems to sit out after the verse for a while except for a few taps, but becomes more involved after the “sputnik” jam, his drums placed on the left. Once he comes in, it’s easy to hear him playing through the jam, particularly the bass drum which is quite prominent here. (It’s loud enough to remind me of the 5/19/66 bass-drum mix.) For instance, when Garcia dramatically plays the Dark Star melody, you hear a drum-roll and bass-drum kicks, and the drumming is more active during the “bright star” climax than in the later mixes. (Hart, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to be playing anything in this part.)
The second verse is mixed much like the first: vocal echo; no Garcia guitar lines; the organ inaudible until one volume swell at the end; Mickey’s gong on the right. The final backing vocals by Lesh & Weir appear on the far right (Weir very distant).
In the outro, you can faintly hear Kreutzmann’s drumroll, but the gong is more prominent.
Overall, this is a swampy, spacy mix, with instruments swirling around in a sea of echoes. It’s the most drum-heavy mix; but it also has the least keyboard presence, with Constanten frequently diminished or mixed out. Weir, though present throughout, is also quieter than in the later mixes; in fact all the guitars sound more murky and distant. This version is very much a studio creation, altering the sound of what was played on stage.
(I didn’t check for any difference between the original vinyl and the CD.)

2.
Live/Dead remaster, 2001 (23:18)

The track starts some 15 seconds earlier than the original album, fading in with the last few notes of Garcia’s acoustic solo out of Mountains of the Moon. 
Initially, Lesh and Weir share the center, and Hart’s drums are briefly heard on the right. Suddenly Lesh’s level jumps up so that he’s way up-front, and Garcia re-enters 30 seconds in. The guitars find their balance in the center: Garcia a little to the left, Weir to the right, and Lesh loud in the middle. Some faint cymbal and percussion can be heard quietly on the far left. Once the Dark Star theme starts, Mickey’s guiro moves to the center, at higher volume.
Constanten can be heard very faintly in the back, playing Pigpen’s old riff; a minute later the organ moves over to the far left, and stays there, increasing in volume. The organ is louder here than in the other mixes – it can actually be heard throughout. The drums and guiro, on the other hand, are at first rather faint and mixed down more – they come out more in the quiet parts, and become louder and clearer in the lead-up to the verse. Lesh remains up-front (he and Weir are significantly louder than on the original album). The guitars are about level with each other in volume – there seems to be no added echo on Garcia’s guitar.
During the verse, Garcia’s vocal is in the center, a little distant in the first line (unique to this mix) but then brought up. His voice isn’t as echoed here, but there’s a bit of his guitar doubling the vocal line. Mickey’s gong is loud and clear on the far right, and the organ can be heard on the left playing through the verse, not just in the volume swells at the end.
The gong and organ stay up in the mix through the space that follows, before Garcia storms back in. Mickey’s guiro returns in the center during a quiet part of the jam – he switches to the drum set later on with some tapping on the right before the “sputnik” jam, then disappears. The organ playing is clear throughout, particularly in the “sputnik” – Constanten is brought out more here, and there’s a brief section where Garcia retreats and Constanten takes a little solo, a moment that’s most apparent in this mix. Lesh doesn’t stay in the center through the jams – sometimes he drifts right, sometimes left – but Weir is stable in the mix. Once Kreutzmann joins in after the “sputnik,” his drums can be heard quietly on the left and center, but pushed more to the background – for instance, you can’t hear the drum-roll when Garcia plays the Dark Star melody, and the bass-drum isn’t nearly as prominent. Kreutzmann kicks in more during the “bright star” section leading up to the verse; Hart doesn’t seem to be present until his guiro quietly re-enters on the right.
In the second verse, Garcia’s quiet guitar lines double a few lines of the vocal (his voice recedes sometimes). There’s very quiet organ through the verse, not just at the end; and the gong is clear. Lesh’s backing vocal is in the center (close to Garcia’s), and Weir’s on the far right.
In the outro, Kreutzmann’s quiet drumroll can be heard on the left, but Mickey’s gong is strangely absent!
Overall, this is a more balanced mix than the original album: the guitar levels are more even, with fewer shifts in volume. There’s a lot less echo; Lesh and Weir are more up-front; the organ is louder; Kreutzmann’s drums are pushed back more, but Hart has more of a presence here. I call it the “organ mix” since Constanten can be heard better here than in the other mixes. This is less of an “artistic” mix than the original, and more faithful to the stage performance.
(Though it would seem likely that Jeff Norman did this remix, he isn’t credited for it, nor could I find any interview where he mentions it, so this remains a mystery.)

3.
Dan Healy rough mix, c.1991 (22:56)

The guitars are spread a bit wider than in the other mixes – Garcia’s on the center/left, Lesh in the center, Weir on the center/right. (Lesh and Weir are a bit more up-front relative to Garcia in this mix.) Kreutzmann’s drums are back in the center/left, somewhat recessed; Mickey’s guiro emerges clearly but briefly in the center after the Dark Star riff. The organ is very quiet behind Garcia, and can barely be heard (the Pigpen riff is almost subliminal here). As in the other mixes, the drums and organ seem to get louder (or more active) as the intro jam progresses.
During the verse, Garcia’s vocal is up front in the center – his vocal-doubling guitar lines are here (except for the last lines), and there’s no extra echo on the vocal or guitar. The organ remains very quiet in the verse, only getting louder in the two volume swells. Mickey’s gong is almost totally absent, only faintly heard in the distance after the verse – it sounds like Healy simply didn’t include the gong track, for whatever reason.
The space after the verse where Garcia forebodingly chimes while the other instruments hover sounds a bit flatter here, since the mix is so guitar-centered and lacking the gong. The organ’s present after the verse, but isn’t very loud; it’s thinner and quieter than the other mixes – sometimes Constanten becomes faint and just about vanishes, at other times he comes back up in a surge. The drums are generally quieter here too: a bit of guiro and cymbal-tapping can be heard in the quiet moments, but no percussion is apparent in the “sputnik” jam. Kreutzmann starts tapping again after the “sputnik,” and gradually the full drums can be heard coming in later, although the bass drum is still quieter than on the original album. (You can hear the drumroll when Garcia plays the Dark Star melody.) The drums and guiro are more prominent during the “bright star” re-entry into the verse.
In the second verse, there’s no echo on Garcia’s vocal, and his guitar lines are present. The organ can barely be heard til the end of the verse, with one swell; and the gong is all but absent. At the end, Lesh’s backing vocal is on the far left, and Weir’s on the far right, very quiet.
In the outro, Kreutzmann’s familiar drumroll is on the left, and Mickey’s gong is still missing.
Overall, this mix emphasizes the guitars, with the other instruments more in the background. Garcia seems less high in this mix, relative to the other guitars. The organ is pretty quiet throughout; there’s no gong, and less percussion in general. With no extra echo, it sounds flatter and less atmospheric than the other mixes. (It’s easy to hear Garcia’s natural stage echo in places, though.) Healy didn’t just set instrument levels at one spot, though, there are some volume variations throughout – for instance, Garcia or Constanten are sometimes bumped up for one phrase.
If the Dead had put out Fillmore West ’69 material in the vault releases of the ‘90s, perhaps the mix would have sounded like this. But it was held back; the tapes were leaked by Latvala and others instead; and an “official” Fillmore West set was released years later.

4.
Jeffrey Norman mix, 2005 (21:44)

The timing is shorter here by some 80 seconds since Mountains of the Moon had its own track, and the new track starts with the Dark Star riff.
Garcia and Lesh are in the center, Weir in the right/center – grouped closer together than in previous mixes, all at about the same level; and Lesh is very up-front as usual. As in all the remixes, Weir is louder than on the original album, but Garcia’s guitar seems to have more echo in this one. Constanten’s on the left – quietly at first, you can faintly hear the Pigpen riff, but the organ gets louder at times. Kreutzmann’s drumtaps and cymbal can be heard clearly on the left/center throughout the intro jam, more than in the other mixes. Mickey’s guiro is in the center, but farther back, not nearly as loud as on the remastered Live/Dead. The drums and organ remain clear on the lead-up to the verse.
Garcia’s vocal is upfront in the verse, with a little echo. You can hear his doubling guitar lines, and the organ playing through the verse. Mickey’s gong is loud on the right, and pans around during the verse. At the end of the verse, the organ swells loudly, and there’s a big dramatic gong pan.
Afterwards, organ and gong and Weir chords dominate as Garcia suspensefully hangs back for a bit, his chimes growing in volume before he pours back in. Kreutzmann can’t be heard for several minutes; Mickey’s guiro faintly re-enters in a quiet part, then he returns to drum-taps before the “sputnik;” Constanten comes in and out of the mix. (Garcia & Lesh take on a brief, strangely phased sound entering the “sputnik” jam.) Kreutzmann’s cymbal comes back after the “sputnik,” and he gradually brings in the rest of the drum set after a few minutes, though he’s in the background and not very loud. (You can hear his drumroll when Garcia plays the Dark Star melody; but in this mix his cymbals are much clearer than the more faint bass drum.) Meanwhile the organ volume grows in some parts, and recedes again. There’s some extra echo applied to Garcia at moments throughout the jam, to emphasize his peak notes. (For instance, note the stereo reverb on his high notes before and after the “bright star.”) You can hear Kreutzmann’s drumbeats in the “bright star” section, and (very faintly) Mickey’s guiro comes back on the right afterwards. (In all these mixes, this is the first we’ve heard from Hart since the “sputnik” started.)
Garcia’s voice is brought up again in the second verse; you can only hear a few of his guitar notes. The organ is very low through most of the verse, finally coming up in one line, and the final volume swell. Mickey’s gong rings loudly through the verse, panning back and forth. Lesh’s backing vocal at the end is in the center with Garcia’s, and Weir’s on the center/right (Weir’s voice is louder than in the other mixes, and not as separated).
In the outro, the gong is front and center, but Kreutzmann’s drumroll is missing.
Overall, this was a creative mix – Norman fell in love with the gong here! (The guiro, though, remains in the background.) There is some extra echo used for emphasis; and the organ and percussion often change volume throughout – sometimes loud and clear, sometimes faded out. (The organ’s about as loud as on the remastered Live/Dead, but not as consistently.) Kreutzmann’s cymbals are emphasized in this mix, while his bass-drum is barely there. The touches of echo and volume changes bring out the drama in this version, though there’s a rather unpleasant processed (almost double-tracked) effect on Garcia & Lesh’s guitars at times.
I haven’t said much about Lesh’s place in these mixes, since Lesh is always the center and the lead in each mix; and the music rotates around him. Garcia comes in and out of the jams, laying back at times then diving back in with a new idea, while Lesh sets the foundation and anticipates Garcia’s every move. It’s also notable that all of the remixes give Weir a more equal role than the original album did.

The other tracks on Live Dead are also available in multiple mixes. Without going into too much detail, here’s a brief comparison of their differences. (2) 

St Stephen 2/27/69
Original CD:
Guitars – Garcia left, Weir right, Lesh right – Constanten on left
Vocals – Garcia left, Weir right, Lesh right
Garcia’s guitar has a very processed sound in the intro, and added echo on the right. Loud vocal echo added on the right. The organ is quieter than in the remixes. Faint glockenspiel in the bridge, on the right. Garcia’s guitar seems to be mixed lower in the jam.
Remastered CD:
Guitars – Garcia left, Weir right, Lesh right – Constanten on left  (same as before)
Vocals – Garcia center, Weir right, Lesh center
Garcia’s guitar sounds more natural, with no added echo. No extra echo on the vocals either. Louder organ. In the bridge: Garcia’s vocal is more up-front; very faint glockenspiel; Lesh & Garcia’s guitars move to the center.
Healy Mix:
Guitars – Garcia center, Weir left/center, Lesh center – Constanten left/center
Vocals – all in center
No vocal separation. Glockenspiel in the bridge is barely audible.
Fillmore West Box:
Guitars – Garcia center, Weir right, Lesh center – Constanten on left
Vocals – Garcia center/left, Weir center/right, Lesh center/left 
The feedback burst in the intro is reduced a bit. Weir’s cry after the second verse is mixed down. (There might be some echo on the vocals?) Kreutzmann’s drums are moved to the center (the other mixes had drums on left & right, as usual on each song). Glockenspiel in the bridge is almost inaudible.

The “William” Tell bridge is from 2/27; St. Stephen cuts to the Eleven from 1/26 after the vocals (at the track break on the CDs). They wouldn’t have wanted to use the St. Stephen from 1/26 since the playing’s less strong, it has some vocal goofs, and the jam is messed up when Garcia breaks a string:
I think they picked the Stephen from 2/27, despite a few flaws (the feedback at the start, Garcia stumbling at the end of the jam), since it had the fewest mistakes among the Fillmore West versions. (The others all have some sloppy moments; there wasn’t a “perfect” Stephen in the bunch.)

The Eleven 1/26/69
Original CD:
Guitars – Garcia left, Lesh center, Weir right (some reverb effect might be on Garcia’s guitar in places).
Organ in center/right, very quiet (almost inaudible sometimes), and stays quiet until the last 30 seconds.
Vocals – Garcia left, Lesh & Weir right (some reverb on Garcia’s vocal, and Lesh’s vocal mixed low).
Remastered CD:
Guitars – Garcia center, Lesh & Weir on right.
Organ on left, quiet at first but gets louder midway.
Vocals – Garcia & Lesh center, Weir on right.
Bear’s Mix:
Guitars – Weir left, Lesh & Garcia in the center.
Organ in the center (very quiet at first).
All vocals in the center. Drums on the sides, as in the other mixes.
The remastered Live/Dead sounds very similar to Bear’s mix. A couple volume changes are notable: when Garcia enters around 90 seconds in, his volume is down at first (especially on the original album mix), but he turns it up at 1:55. Constanten also gets louder when he starts playing chords at 3:30; then at the end (in all the mixes), at 8:40 the organ volume abruptly comes up.

It’s odd that they chose an Eleven with Garcia sitting out the first 90 seconds to change a string! (You can hear Garcia lose the string back in the St. Stephen jam.) But clearly the Dead were fond of the Eleven>Lovelight from 1/26, preferring it to any of the Fillmore West versions. (The Eleven on 2/27, at any rate, had a reel flip in it; and each of the Lovelights on the other Fillmore nights also had tape cuts.)

Turn On Your Lovelight 1/26/69
Original CD:
Guitars - Garcia center, Lesh center, Weir right (After a few minutes, Garcia moves to the left.)
Organ in the center, very quiet; stays low in the mix throughout.
Backing vocals on the right (a bit of Garcia on the left). Echo is added to all vocals.
At the start, you can hear the mix switch from the Eleven, as Garcia moves to the center; but oddly later on, he drifts back to the left again. There’s extra reverb on his guitar. Along with the organ, Weir’s guitar is also very low in the mix, so it’s hard to hear.
Remastered CD:
Guitars – Garcia center/left, Lesh center, Weir right
Organ on the left, louder in this mix.
Backing vocals – Garcia on left, Lesh center/left, Weir on right
Again, the mix changes from the Eleven at the start, as Lesh moves to the center. Weir’s guitar is much louder than on the original album. No extra echo on the vocals here – but strangely, when Lesh says “and leave it on” at the end, it has the same echo added as in the original mix. (You can hear the original sound on Bear’s tape.)
Bear’s Mix:
Guitars - Weir center/left, Garcia & Lesh center
Organ in the center, very loud in the mix.
All vocals in the center. Weir’s vocal is mixed up too high at the end (it’s comparatively low on both the Live/Dead mixes).
Drums on the sides, as in the other mixes. There’s a lot of audience shouting in this Lovelight, well-captured on Live/Dead but very audible even on Bear’s soundboard tape. 

Death Don’t Have No Mercy 3/2/69
Original CD:
Guitars – Garcia center, Weir & Lesh on right. Organ on right.
Remastered CD:
Guitars – Garcia center, Weir & Lesh on right. Organ on left
Healy Mix:
Guitars – Weir left, Garcia center, Phil right. Organ in center/right. (Vocal also moved over to center/right.)
Couldn’t check the Fillmore West box mix. But other than instruments shifting places, there aren’t significant differences between the various mixes. On the original Live/Dead, Garcia’s guitar isn’t as up-front (and the mix seems to change a bit midway through the solo); but Pigpen’s organ is well up in the mix as a lead instrument on all versions.

Feedback 3/2/69
Original CD:
Guitars – Lesh left, Garcia center, Weir right – Constanten center/right
Fades in. There’s a bit of drumming at the start for about 15 seconds, on the right. Gong on the right in the first few minutes, but seems to disappear in the last couple minutes. The organ is quieter than in the later mixes, but Garcia is louder and more up-front in this mix. (In all the remixes, he’s more recessed and farther back in the center.)
Remastered CD:
Guitars – Garcia center, Weir center/right, Lesh right - Constanten on left
(Later Lesh moves to left, Weir to right; then Lesh back to right.)
Comes out of applause. No drumming at the start. Gong on the right throughout, quieter in this mix, but can be heard in the last couple minutes. The organ is louder. It’s harder to distinguish who’s making what sounds, since Lesh & Weir often move around in the mix.
Healy Mix:
Guitars – Weir left, Garcia center, Lesh right – Constanten center/right
(Later Garcia moves to right, Lesh moves to left.)  
No drumming at the start. Gong on the left, very faint in this mix, and can’t be heard in the last couple minutes. The guitars are more widely separated (as on the original album), but Garcia & Lesh change places midway..
Fillmore West Box:
Guitars – Garcia center, Lesh center/right, Weir right – Constanten on left
The drumming at the start can be heard on the right. Gong on the right throughout, louder than the other mixes, including the last couple minutes. Very clear organ; the feedback might be the loudest in this mix.

We Bid You Goodnight 3/2/69
Original CD:
Vocals – Garcia center (more upfront), Lesh & Weir on right. Added vocal echo on left. The song cuts early since the reel ended right there.
Reissue CD:
Vocals – Garcia & Lesh center, Weir on right.
Healy Mix:
Vocals –Weir left, Lesh center, Garcia right for the first 20 seconds, then (on the Wise transfer) switches to centered vocals. The reel ran out shortly after the point where Live/Dead ends, so at 20 seconds a patch from Bear’s tape (with all-centered vocals) continues the song. To hear the original reel ending, check the Kaplan copy:
Fillmore West Box:
Vocals all in center; the whole song is taken from Bear’s tape. (There are some mic noises on the right.)

Despite having seven taped shows to cull from, the Dead’s selection process for Live/Dead seems to have been simple. They weren’t going to repeat songs from Anthem of the Sun, and they probably knew from the start which sequences they would use. In the end, a couple songs each from only three shows were picked – all included in full, and only a couple transition edits between songs were required:
1/26: Eleven>Lovelight
2/27: Dark Star>St. Stephen
3/2: Death Don’t Have No Mercy, Feedback>We Bid You Goodnight

A bit more background on the recording and mixing:

The band’s first attempt at recording live with the new Ampex MM-1000 16-track had been at the 12/31/68 Winterland show, which was not successful. Bob Matthews later said, “Unfortunately, we used some off-brand microphones that needed a bunch of batteries and constantly failed… We had so many problems that the tapes ended up not being usable.” (3)
David Lemieux says that only one reel with an all-star jam of Midnight Hour survives. Per one article: “"There was incredible amounts of distortion, missing tracks"… For the final set, the band called out the other musicians on the bill to jam, until there were three or four players per track. "It was one big blur of 16-track distortion by the end." Reels of the new 2-inch tape were so costly, the band erased the New Year's Eve recordings and recorded over them…at the Avalon Ballroom in January 1969…[and] when the band rolled into the Fillmore West six weeks later, eight rolls of tape from the Avalon had been erased, ready to use on the Fillmore recordings. Lemieux found Fillmore West reels with both "NYE" and "Avalon" scratched out on the label.” (4)
It’s unlikely that the January ’69 Avalon shows will ever be released – most of the multitrack reels were erased; and Bear’s two-track tapes have so many mixing problems they’ll probably never be considered for release. (The complete Dark Star from 1/26/69 may not exist in the Vault either, only Bear’s circulating two-track tape with the giant cut when he changed reels.)

Matthews and Bear have different memories of how many tracks were used., but according to Jeff Norman, the tracks were:
1. Pigpen vocal
2. Garcia vocal
3. Lesh vocal
4. Weir vocal
5. Kreutzmann kick & snare
6. Kreutzmann overhead
7. Hart kick & snare
8. Hart overhead
9. Hart gong
10. Constanten organ
11. Garcia guitar
12 + 13. Lesh bass
14. Weir guitar 
Two tracks were not used, and there was no audience track.

Matthews told David Gans, “The process by which we recorded was a simple one. Microphones that [were] used for the PA split were placed on the stage and [those] same microphones went directly to channels on the tape machine with no signal processing in between. No artistic decisions were made [with] the electronic signal.” When mixing, Matthews used “a fairly complex set of delays and reverbs to re-create that feeling of being in [the Fillmore].” The 16-track machine had 14-inch reels, “which at 15 ips allowed you to record continuously for an hour-and-a-half, and, of course, with the Grateful Dead, that was very important.” (5)

Matthews recalled that first the Dead tried to mix Live/Dead themselves “from their perspective onstage, which is their mindset. It didn’t work. It’s not that it was wrong, it was just different. It didn’t have any dimension to it. I always listened to the band from the hall, so when I got the chance to mix Live/Dead, that was the perspective I was looking to recreate, how it felt to be in the hall. We were the ‘audience’ in some respects.” His mixing technique: “You figure out the phase plans of all the input sensors – the microphones, where they were, and how they fit together. That’s the template. Then, adding to that, what is it that makes things sound locational when you’re in a room? … By utilizing time – such as delay and reverberation decay – in a very musically defined and tuned manner, you can add the dimensionality that makes it feel like it’s in a real space.” (6)

Jeff Norman had a few problems with the tapes when he mixed them in 2005:
“The ’69 tapes were pretty punchy. The way those were recorded by Matthews – taking the microphone straight into the tape machine and bypassing [console] electronics and control, the end result is there are some things that sound fine and others that are clipping, and there’s distortion on some tracks because they’re just too loud. The first day, the 27th, was fine; the 28th I struggled a lot with distorted vocals… It was a very bare-bones recording. There wasn’t too much you could do. There’s lots of bleed of instruments into the vocal mikes and there was limited tracks of drums to work with.” (7)
He showed Blair Jackson a couple examples of the instrument leakage: “[Pigpen’s] lead vocal on ‘Alligator,’ which revealed Garcia's guitar nearly as loud as the lead vocal. Both of bassist Phil Lesh's tracks have prominent drums, organ and rhythm guitar, in addition to Garcia's axe. ‘Jerry's guitar is in everything,’ Norman says.”
Norman was especially bothered by the limited drum tracks. “They put the kick and the snare on the same track…and there's distortion on a lot of it. Fortunately, each of them had another overhead track that was cleaner… Some of the vocals, particularly Jerry’s, are distorted, too. If you listen closely to Live/Dead, you hear it a little bit.” (8)

Norman said that “some delays and other little things I put in on the 2/28 “Dark Star”…were things that I thought would make it sound a little better, whether they were right or wrong. But for the actual Live/Dead material, I really tried not to do anything that was going to change it radically from what people already knew.” (9)
Norman is an active hands-on mixer, who can be creative with his improvements or sonic alterations. The original Live/Dead album was the radical departure, though; none of the subsequent mixes have tried to recapture that echo-bathed swirling sound. They’re usually closer to each other than to the original album, but each is a subjective interpretation that brings out (or leaves out) some different element on the tapes.

A fifth mix of 2/27/69 also exists – Bear’s two-track tapes of this run are in the Vault, and were used as patch sources in the circulating 16-track mixdowns, though otherwise they’re not available online. They probably wouldn’t offer a very different perspective of the music (and don’t have much of a stereo picture), but they’re likely to be a more accurate portrait of the stage sound than the more manipulated mixes we have.
Jeff Norman used pieces to patch little gaps on the 16-track tapes when mixing the Fillmore West box set: “Speaking of cassettes, there were five or six places where the multitrack ran out and the only tape to cover a gap was a Bear two-track. They were little pieces of Bear’s board mixes and some worked OK, but there’s one in a version of “Caution,” I believe, where there was only a cassette, and that’s pretty brutal... It’s not that great a cassette – there’s no high-end and there are drop-outs. But we had to use it.” (10)
(Lemieux said there might be “eight or nine points” on the box set where Bear’s tapes were patched in, which seems to be a more accurate count. "I think you could hear it if you were listening carefully with headphones.") (11)

It’s possible that a sixth mix of the Live/Dead material was also aired back in 1969. Garcia later told Sandy Troy, “We finished the mix of it before we finished Aoxomoxoa,” and the Dead previewed Live/Dead on KSAN as early as April ‘69:
I don’t know if this was an alternate mix, or the same mix later released on the album, since no tape circulates; but possibly it was the early Dead mix of the album that Matthews mentioned.
(Michael Parrish writes, “I taped a rough mix of it off the radio in roughly May, 1969, and it was broadcast again right after the Wanger GD special aired…in June, 1969. The album finally came out in November.” When Aoxomoxoa came out in June, Garcia said the live album would be released “in the next month or so,” but it was apparently pushed back by Warners.)

This Fillmore West run isn’t unique in having so many studio mixes available. Parts of many shows from the Europe ’72 tour also exist in at least three mixes, between Betty’s circulating tapes, the recent tour box set, and a few earlier official releases. The Dark Star from 4/8/72 boasts four different mixes, one done by the Dead themselves during the tour – but a mix analysis of that performance can be saved for another day!


NOTES

(1) Witness the screams when the Dead start playing it at the Fillmore East in February ’70. An excerpt from this Dark Star was also used in the film Zabriskie Point, just a few months after Live/Dead was released.
(2) Instrument placement can vary, as guitars sometimes move around in the mix, and there was a lot of instrument bleed between tracks. The bass often seems to be in two places at once – not just because Phil played that way, but I think also because the bass was recorded on two tracks, so it has more freedom of movement.
(3) Blair Jackson, Grateful Dead Gear, p.79
(6) Grateful Dead Gear, p.83

52 comments:

  1. Who-hoo! Welcome back after your long hiatus and a great article it is. Quite a piece of detective work! I had no idea that there were so many different mixes of this material. When Live/Dead was first released, I spent hours listening to it, following each instrument separately all the way through - firstly Garcia, then Phil, then Bobby, etc - so I thought I was very familiar with its structure. However, when the first soundboard of the 27th was released into the community, I remember realising that it was a very different mix (from Live/Dead) as I could hear Weir doing stuff that I'd previously missed. Time to get the various versions out again methinks!

    Good to have you back.

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  2. Looking at the sources that I have for the 27th, shnid 16498 has the following notes.....

    "LINEAGE: 16 track RTR (multiple decks) > MCS Master Mixdown D > SSSB;........I have to thank Phil for re-mixing this show down in 1991, in a very good and "uncluttered with stoners" studio environment. And rather than using the digital safety copies of the show to do the remix, he felt it would be better to utilize the original reels, just to give this show the highest quality sound. There was going to be a commercial release of many of the late 60's shows for a 3-disc box set, but that never was finished. This is NOT the "completed Phil re-mix", but the final track mixdown, with some "rough edits" which still needed to be eliminated."

    So, is the "Phil" it mentions Mr Lesh.......did he do yet another mix? Or is this the same as, or a variation on, the Healy/Latvala version?

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    1. Glad to be posting again!

      Those are Jay Serafin's notes...he means Phil Lesh, but he made it up. He's known for making up stuff in his show notes - don't trust anything Serafin says.
      Another example is his copy of 4/29/71, which is from the common 2-track Buddy Miller reels, but according to him actually came from "8 track RTR @ 15 i.p.s. (Vault Master) > 2 track RTR @ 15 i.p.s. (Phil Lesh 1987 mixdown Safety)."
      He often has bogus recording info in his lineage. Charlie Miller commented on his supposed "4-track" source of 8/27/72: "Jay Serafin is living in a fantasy world. There were no 4 track reels made at this show. He's just making stuff up."
      My favorite example of his inventions is 7/17/66, on which he claims: "for this show, a single Otari 4 track 1" wide tape running at 7.5 i.p.s. was used. Some of the songs from this Fillmore run were going to be used as promos, and possibly as a live album early on. The record companies were REALLY hot on the Dead, and they wanted the Boyz to also try new songs to see how they would be received by the audience, as well as how they would sound live. Hence, "one-offs" like In The Pines, Cardboard Cowboy, were played, and then evaluated by the record companies."
      http://db.etree.org/shn/4458

      Anyway, pardon the long digression! Healy did that mix, and all the digitally circulating sources of the 27th are the same mix. All the online copies of this Fillmore West run come from Healy's mixes.

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  3. Greyfold the four mixes.

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  4. Fantastic read... Been anxiously waiting for a new article! Thank you!

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  5. This is really a fun read. Thanks so much for posting. Different mixes can literally make or break a recording, as you (and your readers) likely know. In the case with this Darkstar, it is really quite fascinating to compare the subtle differences in dynamics based on (at least what we think) what the players are hearing and responding to. I didn't know that the reason Jerry is absent for the first part of The 11 was a broken string! I had always assumed he was mixed out for being out of tune or something..
    And speaking of different mixes, i've always been amazed at how different (and much better on the whole, in my opinion) the original mix of Aox is compared to what Jerry and Phil did with it later. Almost a different album altogether. Thank you again for your excellent work. Cheers-

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    1. True, Jerry's remix of Aoxomoxoa made the album very different, and (for me) made it less interesting. It's bizarre that the original mix is still not released on CD (it's been issued on vinyl, though)....maybe they're waiting to put it on the "deluxe edition."

      For those interested, Tony Sclafani's book The Grateful Dead FAQ has an entire chapter on the Aoxomoxoa remix, detailing the differences. (He says the remix was a big improvement, by the way.)

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  6. Wow. This is so impressive.

    Another funny thing about Jay Serafin - a friend and I were getting everything we possibly could from him back in the 90s. I subsequently hooked up with a very prominent trader from the midwest that I was shipping a lot of blanks to. I felt bad he wasn't getting anything in return so I suggested he pick some stuff off my Serafin list so I could gift him something. He replied "That guy is a kook and his mixes have ruined the tapes that dick gave him. I have all his stuff minus the so-called improvements." I didn't really get it at the time but it was an eye opening glimpse into the world of collectors that were far more established than I. Lol

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  7. Bob Matthews talked to David Gans about recording & mixing Live/Dead:
    "The 16-track enabled us to have one track for every input on the stage... It provided the solution to the live recording problem I had previously isolated with 8-track, where we had to make decisions in the back of the truck about mixing. Once you made that mix, it was locked in stone; there was nothing you could do to change it. With the 16-track, we didn't have to make those decisions."
    On reel flips: "We had it rehearsed. When a reel ran out, we had two people on the take-up reel - one to pick up the reel of recorded tape and slam down the empty, and another one over on the other side, taking off the empty and putting a full one on, running it through the heads, around the [hub], and hitting 'record' and 'play.' We got to the point where we could do it in about 35 seconds."
    On the mixing: "[The Dead] took time out from Aoxomoxoa, reviewed all the performances, selected the [album cuts], made a mix of those performances, and put 'em on the shelf. Bear said, 'You should go in and make a mix, because [their mix] doesn't represent the methodology of what you recorded.' So I went to the management of [Pacific High Recording] and called in a favor. I asked for time to work on this on off-hours. The band said okay, as long as it didn't cost anything. Upon completion of those mixes, I submitted it to the band; the next thing I knew, it had a release date: November 10, 1969, my 22nd birthday."
    (This Is All A Dream We Dreamed, p.124-25)

    Bear's comment is interesting - I wonder what the band's own mix sounded like, if neither Bear nor Matthews liked it!

    The album has an odd credit: "Mixed at Muggles Gramophone, San Francisco, CA."
    Of course there's no such place - although Frumious Bandersnatch had used the name on a 1968 EP. But it seems Live/Dead was mixed at Pacific High Recording, where the Dead were finishing Aoxomoxoa. I'm not sure whether "Muggles Gramophone" was an inside joke or an attempt to avoid studio credit? (The Frumious Bandersnatch EP had also been recorded at PHR.)
    The credits also say "Recorded live by Alembic Recording Studios, Novato, CA." At the time, there was no "Alembic Recording Studios!" Alembic was then a group of people with a workshop at the Dead's warehouse in Novato; they didn't have their own studio until 1970.

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    1. Fascinating. A great post. However, with respect to the idea that it was "recorded live by Alembic Recording Studios in Novato, CA" it surely was. Ron WIckersham, Susan Frates (Mrs Wickersham for the last several decades) and Owsley were based in Novato at the Dead's warehouse, and they made a location recording. So the attribution is correct.

      Later, Alembic actually bought PHR and changed the name to Alembic Studios in 1970 or so. Perversely, KSAN would call it Pacific High Recorders on the air as late as 1972.

      I think you are correct about "Muggles Gramophone," their must have been some obligation they were trying to avoid (like they snuck in at night).

      All in all, a great piece.

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  8. Amazing, just a few weeks ago I got a serious new DAC and so I spent some time listening to the various Dark Star release versions. For some reason it occurred to me they existed and I had them so I went for it. I wasn't doing a serious comparison in order to write about it so I didn't pay close attention to the details of the mixes. I listened for each ones overall listening experience. What you didn't mention and what was very noticeable to me was that the Box Set 2001 remaster suffers from loudness. That is, it's pumped up, more gain, hotter. It makes it harder to listen to because it is a bit harsh sounding. I had only a digital file of a vinyl rip for the original mix and it was very different from the 2001 remaster in the way it came across. The Healy mix was nicely done and I liked it almost as much as the 2005 Norman version. Aside from mix choices and those details, the 1969 FW box I found to be the nicest in um, overall sound quality and listenability.

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    1. I tended to focus more on details than on the overall listening experience - which version was louder, or more listenable, etc - and I tried not to evaluate which was "better," so there's plenty of room for other people to comment on their impressions too!

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  9. After reading Caleb's analysis above, I was inspired to check out the different mixes of the 3 source shows to see which ones I thought worked better together in terms of recreating the original sequence of the Live/Dead LP (ignoring the Matthews and Golden Road versions which were mixed as a continuous flow anyway). Was it Healey-Bear-Healy or Norman-Bear-Norman?

    It was a bit 'discontinuous' to keep jumping from one source to another (especially as the track boundaries and volume levels differed) so I cut out all the stuff that didn't relate to the songs on Live/Dead, and adjusted the track boundaries and volume levels on what was left. That gave me a set of sources from which I could play the original Live/Dead sequence. What I have is:-

    1. end of Mountains > Dark Star > St Stephen (27/2)
    Healy mix (shn 6315)
    Healy mix (shn 16248)
    Healy mix (shn 132573)
    Norman mix (Fillmore Box set)

    2. The Eleven > Turn On Your Lovelight (26/1)
    Bear/Miller mix (shn 109642)

    3. Death Don't, Feedback > Bid You Goodnight (02/03)
    Healy mix (shn 132581)
    Norman mix (Fillmore Box set)

    I didn't do any adjustments to any of the the music other than try to equalise the volume levels and to smooth the transitions from St Stephen(s) into The Eleven, so that all combinations of 1-2-3 played through as smoothly as possible. I think this gives me the best options to listen to any combination up and down (1-2-3) of the Live/Dead sequence or to sideways compare the different mixes of each song (including the Matthews and Golden Road versions elsewhere).

    Don't shoot me down because I did this just for my own amusement and it's not an exact science. I'm still not sure yet which combination I prefer, but it crossed my mind that there could be others who might possibly be interested in hearing the same thing. If anyone wants, I could post a single download link to the versions that I created in 1, 2 and 3 above.

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  10. the 'dark star' on the 'live/dead' lp is a prime example of 'less is more'.

    I-) ihor

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  11. For those of your rapt readers who have NFI :-) what is meant by 'sputnik jam' or 'bright star section' or 'insect fear' or whatever, would it be possible to identify those sections like, maybe once, by a time tag, like 'the "sputnik" jam (between mm:ss and mm:ss), or, 'the "sputnik" jam, which starts at approx. mm:ss' so we can also know WTH is meant by those and what they sound like, and that we can revel in and experience the joy and splendor of those? Because some of your readers usually refer to certain sections of this particular 'Dark Star' as 'that is where Bobby goes crazy fast so he can catch up' or 'Jerry is smiling now' and 'sputnik' or 'bright star' have no meaning to them.

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    1. True, those aren't very common terms! I just found it helpful to use labels to identify some of the more significant points in the Dark Star jam.

      The "sputnik jam" is basically Garcia doing a weird high-pitched twanging arpeggio while the band builds to a swirling crescendo - it starts after 11:30 in this Dark Star (using the remastered Rhino CD for reference), and it continues til about 13:15. Almost every Dark Star in late '68 & early '69 has this section.

      The so-called "bright star" theme always ends the main jam and leads into the second verse; it's Garcia playing the Dark Star riff with a few notes rearranged so it sounds happy and upbeat. In this Dark Star, Garcia starts hinting at it around 19:40; it emerges at 20:25 and continues for 25 seconds, and as usual Garcia ends it with some high falling notes, signaling the return to the regular Dark Star melody. This theme was common in Dark Stars from early '68 through 1970.

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    2. Thank you for the times! I am looking forward to a re-listen and to enjoy this new perspective!

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    3. I know there's an essay somewhere on the 'net which talks about different parts of Dark Star -- could you provide a link to it?

      One part that's always fascinated me starts at about the 13:11 mark (Live/Dead version) with Garcia playing an extremely harsh melody; it eventually simplifies, bogs down, gets some sort of drone-like effect in it (Bobby?), and then just falls apart -- as if they've forgotten how to play anything at all (at about 14:40). It's fascinating to listen to. Anybody know what I'm talking about, and where those sorts of musical ideas come from?

      One other fascinating part has the Dead experimenting with minimalism, or with playing every other beat, or something like that (17:19 to 18:00 or so). Can anybody with a better knowledge of music/music theory help me figure out what the Dead are doing here?

      Finally, I've always been struck by the difference between the first and second verses of each stanza -- how radically different the music behind 'Reason tatters...' and 'Glass hand...' is compared to what came before. Is the music of the second verse in a different key than music of the first verse? The third verse seems to be an attempt to bridge the gap, as it were.

      And the coda -- that strange, adagio trip up the scale -- where could that have possibly come from?


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    4. Hmm, I'm not sure which essay you're thinking of....
      This essay has a brief analysis of the Live/Dead Dark Star:
      http://artsites.ucsc.edu/GDead/agdl/ds.html (Steven Skaggs, "Dark Star as an Example of Transcendental Aesthetics")
      Graeme Boone wrote a much lengthier musicological analysis of this performance:
      http://www.lipscomb.umn.edu/rock/docs/Boone1997_GratefulDead.pdf ("Tonal and Expressive Ambiguity in Dark Star")
      There's also an essay analyzing the 4/8/72 Dark Star:
      http://jdarks.com/files/Darkstar.pdf (Bill Giles, "A Musical Odd-Essay")
      The Grayfolded booklet also has a good history of Dark Star with lengthy comments from Garcia & Lesh on the song.
      And you should seek out David Malvinni's book Grateful Dead & the Art of Rock Improvisation, which has two chapters on Dark Star.

      Where the Dead's musical ideas came from and what they're doing musically - perhaps the bandmembers could tell you, but I usually have no clue! Not knowing music theory, I don't have a way to label or describe the sections you mentioned.
      But the chords do shift during the verses - the tab linked above has the first line ("Dark star crashes") in A - G; then the second line ("Reason tatters") dives into minor, Em - A7. (Other sources differ on the chords.)

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    5. Thank you so much for pointing me to these interesting essays. It's possible that the essay talking about the different parts of Dark Star that I referred to, was an essay about the Grayfolded project itself, with me taking the Grayfolded track listing as different parts of Dark Star. Eh, not quite: and there's no Sputnik jam in the track listing either. I've never heard Grayfolded, I gotta get it.

      Steven Skagg's essay doesn't mention a Sputnik jam either, but he does talk about "a narrow three-step arpeggio which after an overkill forty seconds moves to the same figure an octave higher for thirty more!" -- that sounds like what I've always thought was the Sputnik jam. Graeme Boone's essay is a real treat, complete with transcriptions of some passages from Live/Dead's Dark Star -- gonna take me a while to grok that.

      And as for "where the music is coming from", I'm sure if I were to ask Lesh where it all came from he'd tell me Coltrane, or Miles Davis -- the usual suspects. Kind of silly to ask in the first place. Creativity itself is beyond words (as are most other things...).

      Thank you so much for this website!

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    6. LIA - is there an essay on your site that delineates the various 69 Dark Star sections? (sputnik, bright star, etc.)

      I was quite certain I read one like that and it must have been here, but on subsequent attempts to find it, I haven't been able to.

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    7. I think that would be the Dark Star 1968 essay:
      http://deadessays.blogspot.com/2009/08/dark-star-1968.html

      It doesn't specifically delineate sections, but it does mention the first appearances of those motifs (the "bright star" theme on 2/23/68, "Sputnik" on 9/2/68).
      I think those are the only two Dark Star motifs that have been given names to identify them, a bit silly I know, but it makes it easier to map out the Dark Stars in a non-technical way. For that matter, I can think of some Other One motifs that need names too....

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  12. i believe that flac files of the 'live/dead' vinyl are still here:

    LP-1 http://www.mediafire.com/download/t111zpaw6n2i7yj
    LP-2 http://www.mediafire.com/download/7j41e1hd7ww4rbi

    I-) ihor

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    1. Still there! Sampling the Dark Star, I didn't notice much difference between the vinyl and the WB CD, though other listeners may be able to hear more subtle sonic changes.

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  13. LIA, thank you so much for the astute analysis. I just love this kind of stuff. I wonder why the Golden Road mix was not credited. I seem to remember some statement to the effect of "it's already perfect, so we left it alone." Not only was this untrue, it got messed with again (in a good way) just a few years later for the big FW69 box. The mysteries abound. But you untangled a bunch of them.

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    1. The Dead's early Warners albums have a tradition of being remixed, actually - Anthem & Aoxomoxoa in 1971, then the debut & Live/Dead in 2001; and Workingman's Dead & American Beauty were also remixed by Mickey Hart in 2001:
      http://www.dead.net/features/blairs-golden-road-blog/blair-s-golden-road-blog-new-twists-three-classic-albums
      Possibly one reason the live albums from '71 & '72 haven't been remixed is because all the studio overdubs make them hard to recreate differently, though it's certainly possible to assemble mostly "undubbed" albums from the various original shows.
      It'll be interesting to see whether the 50th-anniversary deluxe editions always go back to the original mix.

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  14. I brought my Golden Road box to my brother's place in Oakland for the Santa Clara shows of FTW. We were back porched and he put Dark Star on real loud on his mind blowing stereo. Afterward I commented how it sounded so good it seemed brand new, now I know the whole story. Brilliant work, Thanks

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  15. Your blog continues to blow me away. I've just started digging into it over the last year or so. My first show was in 78, and last in 91. After Jerry died I quit listening to the Dead until last year preferring to obsess over my favorite indie rock bands. Around the time of the 50 shows I thought I'd give 2-27-69 a fresh listen. Now I've fallen down the hole and have no desire to get out. Thank you for your blog and the continuing education it provides. With everything being digitized and the glory of bit torrent I haven't felt the need to unpack the thousands for hours of cassettes in the basement! Please keep writing!

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    1. Will do!
      The Dead shows on torrents & the Archive these days generally sound far better than most of the tapes people collected in the '70s-'90s. One side benefit of the internet was giving everyone an instant collection of pristine-sounding Dead....

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  16. There is yet another mix - a joe gastwirt mix on the Warner brothers 'trilogy' long box set of various artists 3 classic albums , the dead,s being American beauty, workin mans and live/ dead. It's a fantastic mix too!

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    1. I'm not so sure... I don't have that Warner Bros set (released in 2005), but per discogs.com, the Live/Dead CD credit in the box reads:
      "Compact disc mastering approved by The Grateful Dead. Digital re-mastering for compact disc by Joe Gastwirt at Ocean View Digital using the Sonic Solution NoNoise System. Assisted by Dave Collins."
      Which is the exact same credit as on the original Warners CD - the song timings are the same too. Which makes me think that it's identical to the old CD.

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    2. i don't know i think its a rogue mix by someone(presumable gastwirt, I've heard his hendrix mixes and they are radically different , and is according to the nice listening guide you've assembled completely different from any of the 4 mixes you've mentioned.
      here it is (in AAC i can repost in mp3 if need be)
      http://www87.zippyshare.com/v/nJlfx8bn/file.html
      I know the american beauty and workingmans mixes on the box set were different from any I've heard before but not sure if they were the same as other released mixes, there are so many.

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    3. Thanks for the link. It sounds identical to the old Warners Live/Dead CD, which was remastered by Joe Gastwirt, so I believe it's the exact same mix.

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  17. Wait...
    Who did the 2001 remix for Golden Road then?

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    1. We don't know. As the article says, though it seems likely that Jeff Norman did this mix, he isn’t credited for it, nor could I find an interview where this remix is mentioned, and it's quite different from his 2005 Fillmore West mix...so this remains a mystery.

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    2. Must have been Norman. Odd that he took it upon himself and took the time. Something must have bugged him about the mix and he had the master reels so... There's mostly a mastering difference [EQ/reverb/channels] but here and there some track volume differences and what not (as you listed). Not surprised the 2005 mix is different since you can get up the next day and make different choices. I did an A/B in headphones using your description. Again, great resource.

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  18. Stories from Herbie Greene, the photographer who documented the Summer of Love of 1967 in San Francisco like no other photographer at the time, with the exception of his friend and fellow shooter Jim Marshall. Herbie had a studio where all likes of street people and more importantly the upper echelon of musicians in San Francisco would stop by to have Herbie take their portraits and in many cases their album covers.

    Follow this link to the video interview produced by Peter Blachley, co-founder, Morrison Hotel Gallery re-released now to celebrate 1967, the year Herbie shot these photos and the year the Dead released their debut album. Some pretty cool photos and stories. Thanks for bringing this video out:
    https://www.morrisonhotelgallery.com/blog/YYbOzg/Take-a-Look-at-This-Vol-4

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  21. I asked Joe Gastwirt who kindly shared this info about the live dead mixes
    "I can only speak of versions 1 & 2 as I had nothing to do with 3 & 4.
    The first release in the early days of digital audio was taken from the the exact same master as the second version. There was no mysterious new mix slipped in on the box set like the first studio album. One of the many differences were that the original release employed a noise reduction system and on the box set I decided there was no need to use it. There were a lot of factors that went into this decision but mostly felt it was stealing music and energy. The second release (box set) was mastered at my personal studio with lots of custom equipment and the first version was mastered at a rented facility.
    The box set was mastered in hi resolution digital audio which didn't exist when the first version was mastered.
    I did the fade's differently, on the first I was trying to hide hiss, on the second I wanted to be at full volume for Jerry's first note.
    I consider the second a much better mastering and am still very proud of it.
    Missing Jerry very much on this anniversary of his passing.
    Best,
    Joe
    P.S.
    Oh, I didn't make the masters for the 2005 Trilogy but I am pretty sure they used the box set masters to create at the Warner Bros Studio.

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    1. Thanks for getting in touch with Joe Gastwirt! Valuable comments, though I find it impossible to believe that the Rhino box-set Live/Dead used the same mix & master as the first Warners CD. Given all the differences throughout the album in track levels and placement, I had to conclude that the remaster used a different mix from the original multitrack tapes. (I'm no audio engineer, though.)

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  22. Excellent information , but I a, still confused as to where I might get all the mix versions of Live Dead Dark Star.

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  23. A good time to revisit this post on the 50th anniversary, my favorite thing about February. I can never pick a mix, though these days I generally go with the full run box set.

    Has anyone ever discussed the unique arrangement of the 2/27 Dark Star, that is how right off the jump Kreutzmann is on the trap kit? I can't think of any other Star from the 68-70 era where he does this.

    Excellent post, btw. I have been enjoying them all over the years, but I especially like when someone takes the time to point out specifics of the various source recordings (mix, how cuts were covered, etc. Especially the information about the Europe box set). Thank you.

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  24. I wrote: "It’s unlikely that the January ’69 Avalon shows will ever be released – most of the multitrack reels were erased; and Bear’s two-track tapes have so many mixing problems they’ll probably never be considered for release."

    As it happens, the issue was sidestepped on the Aoxomoxoa 50th release, when a selection from the shows (without significant mix/cut problems) was included as the bonus CD.
    The mixes on the CD are identical to the circulating tapes, so it's evident that the Avalon multitracks don't survive, just the 2-tracks which can't be remixed. But was it actually Bear who recorded them?
    I'd thought, since we know Bear made 2-track cassettes at the Fillmore West run a month later, that he was taping at the Avalon as well. But the CD credits Bob & Betty with the recording, and comparing them to Bear's other near-mono tapes of early '69, the Avalon tapes seem to be mixed differently, with a wider more spacious stereo sound.
    So my references to "Bear's mix" in this post might actually be to a Bob Matthews board mix...

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  25. I've been juggling a lot of 1968-1970 shows out of order to fit appropriate shows for appropriate listening times and got to the "Live/Dead Run" early this year. For some reason I'm just not enjoying the box set mixes as much, I particularly don't like the way the drums are mixed. At times Billy is just buried. On headphones things sound better but in the car it's a wall of Garcia guitar and Phil bass, though my car is also a bit blown out from too many Caution's and other noisy meltdowns (Billy Idol didn't help either). I had 2/28 on earlier and really noticed Norman's tinkering with the Dark Star, he put in some little echoes and reverb that are subtle and alright I guess but it was a strange liberty to take. Perhaps I'd get better results with an optimized playback system but I think I may insert some of the Healy mixes for the rest of the run, for old time's sake. It just feels like there's a better drum mix on them.

    Apparently the tracks are a mess of bleedthrough and hot levels but I still wish for a day where all the tracks are available individually in raw or slightly processed form in a way listeners can toggle their own mix. I'm really surprised this sort of technology doesn't exist for consumer audio in this day and age. It would probably come in the form of a current band releasing an album through an app where you could toggle between a handful of premixes for each song. Though it seems like the sort of thing Metallica would do honestly, a way to put an end to the "Justice for Jason" argument. And it's a relevant discussion today with Roger Waters wanting to remix Dark Side of the Moon. I imagine if the technology existed in the 70s every Floyd album would have come with the Waters Mix and the Gilmour Mix.

    At any rate I've also noticed I don't care as much for 2 track Avalon tape of the Live/Dead Eleven, it's lacking something. That one and the Dark Star will just always be served up best on the original 69 mix. Maybe it's sentimental but while all the mixes are worth enjoying there's just something about that original sound. I have a high res vinyl rip I haven't listened to in ages, I think it was from an original copy, but it makes me wonder, didn't they reissue Live/Dead on vinyl? Was there any tinkering around in that process, or was it an exact copy of the original mix?



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    1. I don't know what I was thinking, the box sounds great, I just prefer the original Live/Dead mix for Dark Star. Despite having heard these shows dozens of times, this year I really noticed something about the version on 2/28. They find themselves coming to all the same signposts of other Stars of the era ("Sputnik" and "Bright Star," etc.), and you hear them almost start to repeat what they did the night before, but Garcia consciously stops it (and for a while drops out entirely while Weir pleasantly slashes about, broken string?). I've read others say this about the 2/13/70 and 2/14/70 Dark Stars. I wonder how much of that was just the nature of the Dead and their inherent inability to play the same thing the same way twice and how much was conscious effort. Especially considering they were recording for an album (perhaps the only time they would attempt to recreate something on purpose?). Did they feel they'd played THE Dark Star for the ages on 2/27? Did they listen back to it before performing on 2/28? You never really read much about their feelings on the choices for the album, I think Scully's questionably accurate book talked about how they felt they got "The One" after the 1/25/69 early show but the recording was unusable. I don't know if I buy that, it's a pretty standard set, I think that was more Scully hyping up "the one that got away." They obviously chose wisely at any rate. Though had I been in the band I'd have probably stubbornly argued against the inclusion of Feedback and Death Don't in favor of one of the Other One suites or an Alligator. I think they wanted to do that but couldn't due to the limitations of vinyl? I feel like I read that somewhere. It would explain why the last side feels a bit disjointed in an otherwise smooth performance with direct segues.

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    2. The one time the Dead did offer individual tracks for listeners to do their own mix, it was for a few songs from Veneta '72 on their site:
      https://www.dead.net/playingintheband (I don't know if the page still works, my computer chokes on it)

      I can't verify vinyl mixes, but I've read that the 2020 vinyl reissue of Live/Dead was the original mix, but the 2003 Rhino reissue and (surprisingly) the 2011 MFSL reissue were the remixed version. Someone else would have to confirm that.

      It was Phil's book that said the Dead were enthused about the 1/25/69 Dark Star...if so, it's a good thing the 16-track recording messed up and they tried again a month later! The TC-heavy mix we have for 1/25 is unfortunate, but even so, from that Avalon run 1/24 was the peak Dark Star.
      My guess about the Fillmore Dark Stars is, yes, the Dead probably decided after 2/27 that this was "the one." At any rate I don't think the rest of the Dark Stars from that run measure up, they're less focused & dramatic. Yeah, Garcia had a thing about not repeating even successful improvisational parts in Dark Star (even if the others sometimes tried to push him to it) - though in contrast, you have the structured signposts that he'd deliver repeatedly, albeit in endless variations.

      I would think mostly-live versions of Alligator & the Other One on Anthem of the Sun ruled out their inclusion on Live/Dead. However, the Dead were happy to include a Feedback, even though Anthem closed with one too!

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    3. I was just thumbing through the booklet that came with the box set, McNally suggests (or perhaps theorizes) the idea of including an Other One suite in his comments about how Dark Star and Other One were their first original compositions that led to the specific Live/Dead suite they were looking to capture and ultimately formed the Grateful Dead sound and approach in general:

      "Dark Star into the collective "Other One" was one major version of the suite. But there was another major new tune, and in the end the Dead chose to use a variation of it for Live/Dead. Because of the technical limits of the so-called "long playing" album - 22 minutes at most on a side - and their financial limits at the time, they only had four sides to work with, and no room for "The Other One."

      I find his use of "suite" a bit confusing, he doesn't really say it but he seems to be talking about St Stephen as the major new tune. I mean the suite they were after IS Dark Star>St Stephen>Eleven, he's implying it was originally Dark Star>TOO. At any rate it sounds like it was considered anyway. I guess the Death Don't and feedback segments were just things they really wanted on the album (plus of course Anthem already handled The Other One, it was old news). It does provide a proper ending, despite feedback unceremoniously fading in without the usual context, though I think the album could have worked just as well if it opened with the 3/1 Other One followed by "The Suite" and ending with Lovelight. Maybe toss Bid or Cosmic Charlie on at the end? I just can't imagine them listening to the tape of 3/1 and not realizing they captured one of the best Other Ones. Maybe that's just the Deadhead in me.

      It would have also meant more songwriting credits for Garcia, Weir, and Kreutzmann, but you never hear about them ever caring about that. The one I'm most curious about is why they listed the Other One on Hundred Year Hall as "Cryptical," credited to Garcia. For a spell in the 90s I had a theory it was some last minute gift to the Garcia estate, or perhaps a tense compromise, but the most likely explanation is the GD organization is just weird and does random stuff for no reason. Especially if it's the opposite of what one would expect.

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    4. If McNally was suggesting that Dark Star>Other One was a regular suite, I disagree: even in 1969 they weren't paired that often. Sometimes Dark Star came first, sometimes (as on 2/28) the Other One suite.
      Anthem of the Sun had only come out the year before; I really doubt the Other One would have been considered for the new album no matter how much better it was played. But you bring up an interesting hypothetical: the full Dark Star -> Lovelight sequence took up three sides of the record, so what other choices might they have made for side 4?

      I never really thought about the credit on Hundred Year Hall before; I assumed naming the Other One "Cryptical Envelopment" was just Dead perversity (they'd called it "the Other One" just fine on the '71 live album, and on Dick's Picks). But crediting it to Garcia alone is quite the sleight of hand, considering only Weir's part of the song was played! (It also removes Kreutzmann's credit.) This was the first multitrack release after Garcia's death, so maybe that prompted the change; later releases reverted to the normal credits.

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    5. Also worth noting is how drums was included in the Truckin track on Hundred Year Hall. Maybe somebody was just really mad at Billy that week. I believe that Truckin is also the one senseless edit on the E72 box set, I think they cut out a bit near the vocal reprise that is on HYH. But this isn't the place to start discussing Europe 72. Plus I usually use non-box set sources when I put on 4/26/72 anyway.

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  26. Me again...was just going through posts about FM broadcasts and someone mentioned a "rough mix" played on SF radio months before Live/Dead was released. Is this possibly yet another mix? I wonder if anyone kept listenable tapes of that, and what became of the tape given to the station?

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    1. Yeah, Live/Dead was played on the radio in spring '69, and it may well have been an early mix different from the later release. But we'll never know unless a tape surfaces, which seems unlikely at this point.

      http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2015/07/1969-livedead-reviews.html

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