September 3, 2009

Labor Day Weekend marks the traditional end of the summer season and we’re sad to see one of the best summers ever go the way of the cassette tape. We’ve seen it all this summer from the return of Phish to the loss of Michael Jackson to the continued success of Bonnaroo and Glastonbury.

There was plenty to learn from the past three months. We went ahead and put together a list of ten things we learned this summer…

1. The Dead haven’t reunited for good – We thought The Dead would tour during the lucrative summer season after a successful spring tour but it wasn’t to be. The Dead’s headlining appearance at Rothbury was their only show this summer and there are no plans – that have been announced – for more shows anytime soon.

2. Phish can bust out any song at any time – Phish played 178 different songs during the 27 shows that made up the two legs of their summer tour including a number of rarities we never thought would see the light of day. The quartet clearly has a grasp on their history and anything they’ve ever played is fair game. Lushington here we come!

3. The second and third biggest jam acts can’t fill sheds – There were empty seats everywhere you looked at Jones Beach last week during the Panic/Allmans show. While it took Phish less than an hour to sell out three shows at the venue, the second and third biggest jam acts that tour regularly didn’t even come close to filling it up. We’ll see if it’s a different story in October when the killer co-bill hits the south.

READ ON for seven more things we learned this summer…

Widespread Panic performed all of Mom’s Kitchen in Chicago last night as part of the closing show of the first leg of their tour with the Allman Brothers Band. Jambands.com

For the third installment of Through The Years – the column in which we prepare a YouTube playlist featuring a video from each year of a band’s career – we’re focusing on the music of Sting and The Police.

We start with a video featuring the first Police single, Fallout, from 1977 and include a clip from each year right on up to 2009. Megastars Bruce Springsteen, Phil Collins and Eric Clapton all make cameos so grab yourself some popcorn and take a look…

READ ON for the Sting & The Police Through The Years tracklisting…

It was a big news day at Phish.com, where three new articles were posted about the band. First came word that a limited number of $80 tickets to Trey’s Carnegie Hall show on September 12 have just been released to the public through the venue’s website. Big Red will play Time Turns Elastic plus a number of Phish and TAB classics backed by the New York Philharmonic.

[Photo by Adam Kaufman]

Next, we got word that NPR’s Morning Edition will include a feature on Phish tomorrow including interviews with Trey and Page. You can stream the show through NPR.com or use their station locator to find your local station and to see what time Morning Edition airs in your neck of the woods.

Finally, the band shared with us the track listing for the DVD that’s included in the Joy Box. READ ON for the full list and be sure to answer question #1, #2 and/or #3 for three chances to win your own Joy Box…

Depending on how you look at it, being one of the world’s preeminent experts in the field of mastering could be considered either a) an under-appreciated role in the process of creating an album that doesn’t always get the respect it deserves, or b) the greatest job in the world.

A quick surf through Bob Ludwig’s credits at the All Music Guide illustrates that he not only very likely holds the world record for sheer number of album credits, but he has put the finishing touches on a who’s who of the greatest albums of all time including the Rolling Stones, Sam Cooke, Eric Clapton, The Band, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and the Who going back to the late 60s. To this day, Ludwig continues to lend his ear to a wide variety of music – big and small, commercial and not – as in 2009 alone he mastered Trey Anastasio’s Time Turns Elastic, Umphrey’s McGee’s Mantis, the Low Anthem’s Oh My God Charlie Darwin, the Pearl Jam Ten reissue and Wilco (the Album). In other words, it’s safe to say that the answer to our opening question would definitely lean towards (b).

Having graced so many great albums; applying the very finishing touches, tweaking the sound to make it just right , and undoubtedly running through some epic fire drills just days before the music heads out to the plant, Bob Ludwig has no doubt made a lasting mark on the music industry.

Hoping to rub off some of his wisdom, Hidden Track chatted with Bob Ludwig about his years of experience, the nuances of mastering, and of course the music. In speaking about these things, Ludwig likes to point to a quote by Floyd Tool of Harman International, ” The audio industry lives in a ‘circle of confusion.’ Loudspeakers are evaluated by using recordings which are made by using microphones which are evaluated by using loudspeakers which are evaluated by using recordings which are made by using microphones… etc. etc.”

Ryan Dembinsky: To begin, to the average music fan the difference between mixing and mastering might seem like one and the same, yet mastering is considered an art form in itself and rarely does the same set of ears handle both duties. Why is it that the mixer is not equipped to also master the tracks?

Bob Ludwig: Very few mixing engineers master their own work well and most mastering engineers would not want to be responsible for a professional quality mix.

It is hard to do both disciplines well but mixing is definitely the most difficult and the very best of the professional mixers really earn the points they make.

READ ON for the rest of Ryan’s chat with Bob…