Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here Surround Sound SACD

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kstuart

Active Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2002
Messages
53
Location
Northern California
Hello,

James Guthrie is currently remixing Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" for a multi-channel SACD to be released by the end of 2005.
 
BananaSlug said:
aawwh, I want it now!
Not to sound too pesimistic, but if history has taught us anything, you probably won't even get it then.
 
For DSOTM I hadn't heard the original quad version first, so I don't have a problem with the SACD. This time, though, I have a conversion of WYWH from quad and like it alot. Don't these boozos realize that if they release the original mix and the new mix they can sell more copies? I would buy both - even though I like the original quad mix I am very interested to hear a new mix as well.
 
Having read interviews with both Engineers (old and new) and others, I think that the essence of the matter is that - being human beings with egos (surprise) - the band members are uncomfortable with the widespread perception that Alan Parsons was at least as important in the creation of Dark Side of the Moon as the band members and perhaps more. Hence their desire to exclude him from what may be perceived as "definitive high-tech versions" of DSotM and Wish You Were Here.

A very similar case occurred with Iggy And The Stooges and their classic and highly influential punk/metal album "Raw Power" (released around the same time as DSotM, actually). The Stooges were obscure and largely unsuccessful until David Bowie produced an unusual and evocative mix on the original LP release (that IMHO was a crucial factor in its popularity - he produced a dark and mysterious sound for the tracks). A few years, Iggy took the multi-tracks and remixed the album as a straight-forward and much more boring hard rock album, which is now the official CD that you find in the stores. My reading is that he wanted to remove the perception that Bowie was an important and perhaps crucial part of the album.

And, in fact, IMHO in both cases, their fears are warranted, and the original engineers and mixers were crucial to the success of the albums.
 
kstuart said:
Having read interviews with both Engineers (old and new) and others, I think that the essence of the matter is that - being human beings with egos (surprise) - the band members are uncomfortable with the widespread perception that Alan Parsons was at least as important in the creation of Dark Side of the Moon as the band members and perhaps more. Hence their desire to exclude him from what may be perceived as "definitive high-tech versions" of DSotM and Wish You Were Here.



.
Well, Parsons had nothing to do with the original WYWH, so there's no reason to have him do a 5.1
 
And least we forget, Parsons also didn't do the original DSotM stereo mix - that was done by Chris Thomas. In fact, if I recall correctly, I think the group was actually unhappy with Parson's original mix and handed the job to Thomas since he'd had nothing to do with the original recordings, and therefore could be a bit more impartial in handling the mix. (That's actually not an uncommon practice these days.)

That mentality might actually explain why Guthrie was chosen to do the surround mix instead of Parsons, as well. For all its perceived faults, I think Guthrie's mix tends to preserve the "feel" of the original stereo mix much more than Parson's Quad mix - and the stereo mix was the one that the band labored over much more intensively back when the album first came out.
 
Thomas acted as a referee, cuz Roger and Dave were ready to kill each other. Dave wanted a big, wet swampy sound and Roger wanted it very dry.
 
daved64 said:
Dave wanted a big, wet swampy sound and Roger wanted it very dry.
So the AP Quad mix was in this respect much as Dave would have liked it (at the time). I suppose that Roger would not approve to have it sound like that now.
dprokopy said:
I think Guthrie's mix tends to preserve the "feel" of the original stereo mix much more than Parson's Quad mix
That might be exactly what makes the Guthrie mix not as exiting as the old one. The Parsons Quad mix wasn't perfect (too wet and swampy, missing guitar part in Any Colour You Like, interview sound bytes often too loud) but still great in how the parts were separated in the 4 channels.

Unfortunately I like the music on Wish You Were Here a lot less, almost boring in comparison.
 
dprokopy said:
And least we forget, Parsons also didn't do the original DSotM stereo mix - that was done by Chris Thomas. In fact, if I recall correctly, I think the group was actually unhappy with Parson's original mix and handed the job to Thomas since he'd had nothing to do with the original recordings, and therefore could be a bit more impartial in handling the mix. (That's actually not an uncommon practice these days.)

That mentality might actually explain why Guthrie was chosen to do the surround mix instead of Parsons, as well. For all its perceived faults, I think Guthrie's mix tends to preserve the "feel" of the original stereo mix much more than Parson's Quad mix - and the stereo mix was the one that the band labored over much more intensively back when the album first came out.

Yep, Chris Thomas is the "additional engineer".
 
Anyone heard an update on this? All I can find on www.brain-damage.co.uk is an old article that says it may be released by year end 2005 and another small blip that says "third quarter 2006?"

Seems to be as elusive as the Pulse DVD. :(
 
While the story behind the original Quadraphonic "Dark Side of the Moon" is well documented, the story of the Quadraphonic "Wish You Were Here" doesn't seem to have as many details easily available.

Even looking at my copy of the UK SQ LP, I couldn't find any notes about the quadraphonic production. In fact, if it weren't for the SQ Logo on the jacket (and record label), one might think this were a Stereo release.

So I'm wondering if the band didn't have any input on the quadraphonic version of "Wish You Were Here" (like with "Dark Side of the Moon"). Otherwise, why would they want to remix it? If the band was behind the original surround mix, one would think they would want to use it (perhaps fixing a few mistakes, and creating a center channel of some sort.)

Does anyone know who was behind the Quad "Wish You Were Here?"
 
Dylan Berichon said:
Does anyone know who was behind the Quad "Wish You Were Here?"

I was searching google and their newsgroup archives just a couple of days ago and couldn't find anything on the Quad mix. Strange that as well documented as PF are there is no information floating around the net on this.
 
Dylan Berichon said:
So I'm wondering if the band didn't have any input on the quadraphonic version of "Wish You Were Here" (like with "Dark Side of the Moon"). Otherwise, why would they want to remix it? If the band was behind the original surround mix, one would think they would want to use it (perhaps fixing a few mistakes, and creating a center channel of some sort.)

Unless they just wanted to release the original four channel mix as is, there is no acceptable way of getting around re-mixing it. They would have to remix in order to fix any perceived mistakes or to add a center channel. That is, unless they had automation in their mixing console back then in which case they could run the multitracks and keep the same general instrument positionings and pull whatever elements they desired into the center and sub channels. Of course, I'm pretty sure that automation wasn't quite available back then. Anything short of a remix to create true 5.1 would be disastrous.
 
Doing a little googleing myself I found that the engineers of the WYWH album were Brian Humphries and Peter James,and it was recorded at Abby Road studios,Just for fun I sent them an e-mail and asked them if they had any old timers who might know who did the quad version.
 
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