Steven Wilson What involvement do the artists themselves have in your surround projects?

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colsky

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I believe that Robert Fripp comes in towards the end of the process to give his approval. ELP on the other hand didn't get involved/weren't interested, depending upon what you read. With albums by my favourite band of all time, Yes, now being worked on by yourself, I would be interested to know if any of the band members took an active interest in this. Or is it a case of "whatever Steven does with each album is cool by us"?

If you were ever approached to perform your magic on an old classic album, and it then became clear that the artist themselves wanted to be actively involved in the project, to the extent of actually sitting with you throughout the process, and offering their opinions or instructions throughout, would that put you off accepting the assignment, or would that add extra interest as far as you were concerned?

ps Yes may be my favourite band of all time, but the most exciting band to see live at the moment is Steven Wilson's current band, what a group!
 
Good question I was wondering the same about band YES and whether anyone got involved more in the process the way Robert Fripp and Andy Partridge seem to be involved with Steven on their recordings.
Guess we find out stuff from Robert's notes that he sends out from time to time on his website and Andy has used twitter to send out a bit of information on the surround projects but from YES camp haven't heard anything.
 
I believe that Robert Fripp comes in towards the end of the process to give his approval. ELP on the other hand didn't get involved/weren't interested, depending upon what you read. With albums by my favourite band of all time, Yes, now being worked on by yourself, I would be interested to know if any of the band members took an active interest in this. Or is it a case of "whatever Steven does with each album is cool by us"?

If you were ever approached to perform your magic on an old classic album, and it then became clear that the artist themselves wanted to be actively involved in the project, to the extent of actually sitting with you throughout the process, and offering their opinions or instructions throughout, would that put you off accepting the assignment, or would that add extra interest as far as you were concerned?

ps Yes may be my favourite band of all time, but the most exciting band to see live at the moment is Steven Wilson's current band, what a group!


Hello,

Yes, Steve Howe is taking quite an active interest in the process of remixing. The most hands on person is definitely Andy Partridge of XTC, who gives me very specific feedback at every stage. Then there are artists like Ian Anderson and Robert Fripp who come in at the last stage, listen to my mixes, and make a few final suggestions. Projects with no active involvement from the artist at all are rare, but Hawkwind and ELP didn't have any input into the remixes. As to which way I prefer it of course depends on the artist we are talking about!
 
thanks for answer. i guess less artist been involved - better for final result. surround formats gives opportunity to revisit the work
and particularly in the case with old, very familiar albums, offer new/fresh interpretation. sadly artist not always open to new concept
[Rush vs. Dream Theater where 5.1 done by the same person?]
you have very good feeling about music and placement of it in space at same time preserving an overal harmony, at least i got lot of
enjoyment from both ELP soundwise and surround albeit they weren't my favorite band.
here is my wild guess - Aviv had heavy hand in decision making on 5.1 "Blackfield IV"?
surround mix sounds absolutely nothing like anything else by SW i know.
 
Many thanks for taking the time to give an answer. I know that you are on one of your few days off between gigs at the moment. I think its good to have some artist involvement. Obviously some fresh ears and technological know how from someone such as yourself is I would say essential. But i guess from a romantic point of view its nice for us fans to know that the artist is still interested in productions of their own work. It doesn't surprise me that its Steve Howe from Yes thats actively interested.

I'm looking forward to hearing the recording on your next album of your new long song with many titles! It was awesome at the Albert Hall.
 
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