Channel separation

[Rude]

Listening to this 6-18-74 with billy coming out the right speaker along with Jerry and Donnas Vocals and Keith’s keys then Jerry’s lead out the left I was curious if this was just Betty’s creation or if the dead ever separated channels like this live. I can’t recall it happening after 74 in the recordings. Also why I think this freedom hall show is so special is that there seems to be no level limit. It seems to be infinite. If Jerry wants to blast it out he can go as loud as he wants.  Every input can crank it out when they choose to.  You can hear in BTW that Betty keeps switching bobby back and forth from left to right speaker as she’s trying to get the board how she wants it. Bobbys vocals and guitar seem to be more balanced than any other input. Everything else seems to be to a designated channel. I know there are several older shows 70/71 that do this where bobby and Jerry’s guitar are on separate channels but did the dead ever do this live??  Also if you have any recordings with similar channel separation that you love I’d like recommendations. 

[John A]

Well, in '74 the Wall of Sound did the separating of the musician by its very nature.

 

The recording would presumably be a separate reel to reel feed, be it Betty, or in this era perhaps Kidd or someone else.  There was a discreet mix to the recording through the late 70s.

 

As for Louisville, yes, what a marvel.  And a Morning Dew encore!!

[Rude]

If you want to learn how to play GD music, this recording lets you hear everything as good as any recording I’ve heard. You can learn 1 drummer style on this better than any show I can remember. I love the drummers being huge in the mix. I’ve seen several Dso shows with drummers leading the mix and those are always fun. I’m curious how cotter does the levels for different eras because I’ve seen 69 Dso shows where the drummers were definitely the loudest and I’ve seen shows I wish the drummers were louder. 

 

Thks 6-18 is Betty isn’t it?  I was almost for sure. But then again Betty usually had the mix correct somewhere in the 1st song and this took mid 3rd to get it fixed. 

[John A]

6-18-74 recorded by Kidd Candelario.

[Michael Doc Watson]

I love these technical discussions. I'll have to listen to this 6/18/74.

[acududeman]

I think the Wall of Sound reference is the most likely explanation.

 

I recently began rereading Kreutzman's book, and he specifically mentioned how each musician got put through a specific section of the Wall. Billy also mentioned that he didn't care for the WOS much, as it made it difficult for him to hear everything clearly (there were no monitors either).

[izaacb]

I know there's a bunch of stuff from 1970 with Jerry in one channel and Bobby in the other...very cool to listen to

[robeatondso]

I can answer the separation question. I’m 73-74 and 76 the console used to record the tapes was an old tube Ampex mixer that went into a Nagra Reel to Reel. This old mixer only had 3 positions for panning, Hard Left, Hard Right and dead center. This limitation created the great separation on the recordings along with having very few microphones..

[acududeman]

19 minutes ago, robeatondso said:

I can answer the separation question. I’m 73-74 and 76 the console used to record the tapes was an old tube Ampex mixer that went into a Nagra Reel to Reel. This old mixer only had 3 positions for panning, Hard Left, Hard Right and dead center. This limitation created the great separation on the recordings along with having very few microphones..

 

Well there you go.

Thanks Rob!

[Mango]

I like the separation, makes it easier to pick out each instrument individually. I haven't listened to this show in a while- it's next in the que

[John A]

When Jerry is coming out of one channel only, it makes that loudspeaker sound like it's his guitar stack.  And that's a good thing.

[Rude]

I actually made my dad the 6-18-74 show on cd for his car.  He went to Louisville law school starting in 74 and was actually in Louisville at the time but not at the show so figured it was an appropriate show for him to have. He told me he listened to the 1st couple songs but the sound quality was so bad he stopped lol. I’m like it’s all fixed by end of song 3. 

 

Diring BTW you can really hear what Eaton was talking about. Bobby’s vocals start hard right then You hear a little switching to the middle early in the song with almost no output then back to the right and then around 3:00 hard left and by the chorus finishes in the middle. After the description of the mixer it becomes very clear that there are only 3 options. That’s one of my favorite BTW’s regardless of how long it took to get it right. Maybe the fact that it finishes so strong makes the earlier sound issues in essence the build up. Bobby rocked it with emotions and those can be mutually exclusive but not here. Jerry owning the left channel is also so powerful.