Concert dvd recommendations - Page 283

I agree and again when mastering loudness is not a substitute for getting it right

What happened to the drummer?

That looks good, I'm not too familiar with them though.

Yeah, except 'where's the drummer'.

He got lost in the mix.......

Check this one out.....

Here is one of the better NIN videos on the Youtube.  Video quality is pretty decent and audio sounds not too bad on my PC set up.  In the basement the video still holds up will but the audio is just so, so.  

 

I was impressed how well the video handled all of the strobing (say around 1:35) but the dark scenes/blacks have a lot of compression.

 

 

I'd say this is on par or slightly better than some of what vision-master has posted and to me doesn't cut it for a good quality concert.  But yes the price is right!

Lol, yeah I guess they did forget him. I'm watching these on my phone but he either plays his bass very lightly or I can't hear it at all.
Edited by comfynumb - Today at 8:21 am

Pretty good audio from a PC standpoint, but they messed up the aspect ratio and the video is stretched, one of my pet peeves and makes it unwatchable.  

There seems to be a lot of variables at play including the actual venue the show was originally mixed in going off all the board bootlegs I have listened to over the years (Dead, Panic, Phish, Floyd, Metallica, etc.....) and all these variables have to come together to get it right. Assuming they get a quality recording to begin with which is not always a given, the mix comes next. With the mix, all bets are off as it could be going more for trying to recreate being in the back of the auditorium in the crowd (nasty venue reverb and all) on something like Snakes and Arrows (sorry I keep using this example, but its the ultimate "lets try and recreate being in the audience/venue mix), or it could be focused on presenting the music as cleanly and clearly as possible (Stop Making Sense Studio Track is again a perfect example to my ears and I wished they all sounded this good!!!) without attempting to try and recreate actually being at the show which usually does not work since it is so hard to get right IMO.

As far as the mix goes, what sounds "good" depends on the listener as these concert mixes are way more subjective than movie mixes IMO. Rush Snakes and Arrows is probably the worst concert mix I have heard on blu ray........I cant stand it, but I have talked with other posters on the boards who feel just the opposite and feel it is one of the best as they prefer the goal of trying to recreate being at the show. It is so subjective as far as what a good mix actually is so its no wonder these concert mixes are all over the place depending on a number of variables, but a big one being what was the goal of the mixing team and what do they consider good?

Throw in all the variables from one HT setup to another as far as equipment, room acoustics, whether or not any type of EQ has been performed in any part or parts of the audio spectrum (a flat subwoofer response can make ALL the difference on some of these concerts from my experience), etc........and there are so many variables at play it is no wonder things are all over the map, or can be at least, from one concert to the next sometimes even with the same band! It is always amazing to me listening to some of the Dead shows I have and even though they all have the soundboard factor in common, are all the same year, and so on, they can vary wildly from one show to the next with some subjectively sounding incredible while some others sound distractingly off.

There is also the variable of how aggressive the surround mix was done and how it was handled in general since we are now veering off from the original stereo mix which is really the way these shows are meant to be heard since this is how they were originally recorded and mixed. Whether the surround mix is "good" to some degree or not is so subjective which is why I have found myself more and more over time just sticking with the stereo mix which is the safest approach. There are certainly quite a few exceptions for me where I actually prefer the surround mix like the NIN BYIT, Stop Making Sense, Peter Gabriel Secret World, and of course a bunch of SACDs where I strongly prefer the surround mix, but in general I seem to be favoring the stereo more these days with live music.

One thing I have noticed though is that the BEST recordings/mixes sound great no matter where I play them. These recent Phish shows for example where the recording and mix are both excellent (IMO) sound great no matter if I am playing them on my crappy little boom box on the back porch, on the crappy computer speakers upstairs, the car, the speakers on my TV upstairs or in the calibrated, somewhat treated (bass traps and first reflection panels) nice HT downstairs. A good recording/mix will shine anywhere it seems while a lesser mix/recording might sound fine on my cheap boom box or car, but will sound like $hit once all the detail is revealed in the HT downstairs where I am front and center, perfect stereo separation and so on and so forth.

All this is why EVERY single concert I buy (or listen to in some form) feels like I am rolling the dice as you just never know exactly what you are going to get. When you find recordings/mixes that really sound good to you like I have recently with these youtube Phish shows, you feel like you have discovered some sort of treasure.

Sorry for the long ramble, but I enjoy talking about this topic and I would love to hear what you guys think as well since I enjoy reading other perspectives/opinions.
Edited by Toe - Today at 10:13 am

Everyone likes Larry Carlton right?

I agree and that would explain why the show I've been to or the band I saw a lot of times sounds nothing live like the recordings suggest. Like Metallica, the FLAC download off their site of the Orion festival last year were horrendous and even though the vocals might not be right on the music was near perfection, the download suggests they ought to find a new line of work IMO.

I Love Scorpions on dvd and it has dts a brill concert