John Altschiller/Phish SBDs

ThetaAlpha970 · audio school Joined: 14 Apr 2010 Posts: 2

The SBDs do NOT sound like the shows I went to...the recordings are much better.

The FOH experience is pretty bad. There are discussions of this around the fan forums, but I wanted to know more from an engineering standpoint:
With all the tension/release Phish is known for, WHERE ARE THE DYNAMICS? The sound of a Phish show these days is sooooooo compressed. No depth, separation between instruments, etc.

Garry Brown?...Ditch the digital? Your thoughts?
Phish could have any setup they wanted.
All due respect, I just know what I hear.

markjazzbassist · Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 8:05 pm Post subject: Re: John Altschiller/Phish SBDs

interesting, i've never been to a Phish show but have gotten many of the free show recordings and have bought a couple as well. they do sound great and the article was exceptional, bravo tape op.
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AlexHerd · Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 4:00 pm Post subject: Re: John Altschiller/Phish SBDs

I'm a long time Phish fan, and I agree 100%. Garry doesn't do it for me, at all. When they first got back together in 2009 it was almost unbearable IMO. Screaming guitar, buried keys, no definition in the bass, and drums were all kick & snare. The mix has definitely improved over the last few years, but still this summer I thought it was harsh and loud and squashed at hell. I'm not digging the digital console and line-array... On Halloween last year I was sitting on the right and the keys were panned left and I felt like I barely heard Page all night... I was pretty disappointed about that one.

I think that the beauty of (former Phish FOH) Paul Languedoc's mixes was that he played to the band's strengths. They are masters of controlling their inter-band dynamics and dynamics as a unit, and Paul understood that. If you ever watched him mix he almost never touched the board after the first few minutes of the show, it was awesome. I wished that Garry would have carried over some of Paul's micing choices too, I'm just used to the sound of the 414s on Trey's amp and as overheads daminit! haha!

I think its telling though that when they go back and do an archival release that even if they have multitracks they usually use Paul's two track mix, and now they have to have someone do a separate recording mix every single show... Sorry for the long ramble, this one hits close to home Razz

Winstontaneous · Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 3:10 pm Post subject: Re: John Altschiller/Phish SBDs

PBMBAB?
(Problem between mixing board and band)?

I haven't seen Phish since the Paul Languedoc days. They always sounded great with him at the board, from clubs to theaters to arenas & outdoor festivals.
He was such an integral part of the sound (building Trey's guitars/cabs and some of Mike's basses).

ThetaAlpha970 · audio school Joined: 14 Apr 2010 Posts: 2

Quick update...Oak Mountain was noticeably better...and dare I say quieter!? Best sound I'd heard FOH for Phish in quite a while.
Also, It wasn't just my opinion, the guy next to me brought it up as well.

**Scodiddly** · Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 9:20 am Post subject: Re: John Altschiller/Phish SBDs

Line array and digital console are just tools - plenty of FOH guys get it right all the time.

AlexHerd · Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2012 1:14 pm Post subject: Re: John Altschiller/Phish SBDs

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