rockinrob

Just heard a little skip on IATTBYH, has to be "factory", only second time that one has been played and it looks flawless. Is that possible, audiophiles, anyone, Bueller, Bueller?

You probably should increase your tracking weight a little bit.

Some people have their systems set up with the tracking weight too low, and that will make things skip.

Some records can have slight obstructions that can cause skips, but increased tracking weight can break through those. This is not something that should happen or be done often if you have your system set up properly, it is just a fix for some types of manufacturing flaws.

Too little tracking weight is worse for your records than too much because it is not good for the needle to be bouncing around everywhere.

They packaged a record on an angle in a box for me using those air bubbles above and beneath it. Then they must have had to force the box shut to get it taped. Yeah, I wasn't happy when I opened the box...

Thats how mine was too. warped the record nicely!

Ive had the same problems with new amazon vinyl.

It really irks me because it is so easier to ship vinyl in record mailers, and the records arrive perfectly when you do.

They dont arrive perfectly when they are put in a box at an angle!

I am thinking 2011 for the box set.

Molina did play with him recently, but he was replaced pretty quickly.

I would like to be able say ive seen neil solo acoustic and with crazy horse. I have tickets for the solo acoustic gig, so now I am waiting on the horse.

I believe they are all not on good terms though.

He was getting up in the years where this stuff happens, but this guy was an audio legend.

I think the wonderfully deep and haunting tones on AGIB say it all. Sear's approach to the studio is quickly becoming extinct, and it is a shame. This guy was an electrical engineer that could design all of his own gear, and built a wonderful studio the old fashioned way.

As a vinyl fan and a guy that really appreciates old school analog recording techniques, this is quite a bummer.

I will spin my vinyl copy of AGIB very loudly on my headphones now.

The role of a producer is somewhat like that of an editor or an opionated person. Throughout neil's career, he has used David Briggs (Tonight's The Night, Everybody knows this is nowhere, after the goldrush, etc.) and Elliot Mazer (Harvest, Harvest Moon, etc). Briggs died in 95 and I dont know what has been up with Mazor, but I think for the last 15 years, most of the records suffered from not having that strong opinion around. Neil needs someone to tell him that even though the muse struck and he wrote a chorus and four verses, the song isnt complete. A producer says that part is amazing, that part sucks, you should add some pedal steel here, things like that. They keep an eye on the whole project, so the artist can focus on making material, and in working with the producer hopefully a great record can come from it.

Neil has been through a lot of changes in his life lately. His near brush with death and having to deal with so many close friends dieing over the last few years has to be really rough on him. I think having a new guy around is a good thing for the music, and I think we are about to have a Neil masterpiece. If history shows us anything, Neil is about to blow our collective minds!

and I cant freakin wait! I am so unbelievably excited to get to see him for the first time. He has not played anywhere at all logistically close enough that I could afford to see him in the 7 years I have been an obsessed fan. I have somewhere to crash in Atlanta, and it is a weekend during the summer so it wont affect school or work. I cant wait!!!!

I am so on the fence. I have everything Wilco's released both on CD and vinyl, but $70 is mighty high, especially for an unemployed arse like myself. Is it really, really, really good? If so, I'm off to Amoeba.

It sounds great. if you love wilco, love wilco live, and love vinyl, you will love it. ya know?

If you arent a huge fan, and dont have a good vinyl setup, and arent as big into them live, you wont think it was worth the money.

I didnt realize vitalogy and VS had gotten so expensive. I just put my copies up for sale!

Ive started avoiding downloading shows when they start playing the new stuff. Works pretty well. There is something magical about getting a highly anticipated new record, putting it on the turntable, putting on my headphones, dropping the needle and sitting down in my comfy chair for awhile...

I got my copy. No sticker or CD, but since the only reason I bought this was for those 4 thick slabs of vinyl, I am happy.

I got a phone call as I was checking out that a good friend of mine (the drummer in my high school band) died yesterday. Im not too excited about the box set anymore

would be very awesome

this is so cool! I hope this turns into a yearly thing. I cant afford it this year, but it will be awesome for those that can

It would be cool if Loose Fur played!

I am patiently waiting for my preorder vinyl to get here so I can crank it up and bask in analog glory to hear these songs for the first time.

It is hard!!!!

I just saw record store day updated their page and it says that this is now coming with a CD too! So that probably means those extra tracks will be on that right?

I think it is the in thing to do, but I think enough people have become hooked on it that it will continue to be a viable market. I am 23, and have gotten several of my friends to start buying LPs. I even got my dad back into it. He is collecting all of the wilco releases and bought a turntable for the living room at my parent's place.

I think there are a decent sized group of people out there that was never happy with being forced to abandon vinyl. Vinyl provides a tangible way to consume music, and I think that there is a big enough group of music fans that can appreciate that. I think before much longer we will see things split basically between LPs, MP3s, and a Lossless download forma such as FLAC. Not pressing CDs would be more economical for bands. The people that care about getting the cover art can buy the vinyl with a download card, and the people that dont can just download it.

it would be a cool idea. The more like the moon ep, extra songs from YHF, AGIB, and SBS plus stuff we dont even know about.

Id buy it!

remastered for vinyl means they went back to the original master tape "the mixdown" and redid the mastering process from that point. This is another clue pointing to a high quality vinyl pressing. CD masters usually have alot of compression to make them sound louder, resulting in a loss of dynamics and causing ear fatigue. Vinyl doesnt have the ability to take this much signal very well, and this compression really kills the sound quality of a lot of recordings. Seeing that this was remastered for vinyl means that it will probably be very dynamic, and it will also be eq'ed to better suit the playback medium. The new tracks would also have to be mastered, but I bet they were mastered during the digital mastering sessions anyways and are being remastered just like the older tracks

Mastering is the post mix process of going through the tracks and eq'ing them to make them sound more similar to each other, and to smooth them out. Compression is a process that averages the sound, making the quiet portions louder and closer to the loud parts. Limiting helps achieve maximum volume without distortion. The combination of heavy compression (instead of sound waves with peaks and troughs, an essentially straight wave) and limiting (pushing that straight wave up as loud as possible without it distorting) gives us the modern "loud" cd. As you can see by this description, this doesnt sound like it would sound very good.

The old school way of mastering uses the same processes, but typically much more subtly, and with the final goal of improved sound rather than more perceived volume. This process can make a final mix breathe more, and gives the instruments an added clarity. A wide dynamic range is still intact, but reigned in somewhat to allow for adequate volume. Ear fatigue is rarely a result of listening to these types of recordings. This is partly why you feel tired after listening to an hour of mp3s but can literally listen to vinyl for 12 hours and still feel great

So in summary, for those of you that dont know, it goes like this:

Different instruments are recorded on separate tracks. These tracks are mixed together so that they all fit nicely, and this is recorded in stereo (2-track). The two track "master tape" is then further processed and recorded to another stereo tape. This final mastered recording is then used to make the copies of the albums you buy.

I cant wait for this. I think it is going to sound killer

mine is the h2.

and to everyone, this is by no means a definitive recording or any thing. Most are way better, but this is here for now till the better ones show up.

I think the music industry is really faultering. Before it took a label to be in a band. Period. Now, like how radiohead released in rainbows originally, it is possible to have success on a big level without the label. It definitely will be interesting to see what happens with this.

Wilco has become a touring institution (like the dead was) with a large devoted fan base. They can play shows worldwide and draw audiences simply by announcing the show online. They dont need a big label marketing budget to be successful. I will see them every time they are within driving distance, and I know a bunch more people that feel the same way.

Last night in Clearwater was like a reunion for me. I saw people from all kinds of local bands, all the sound guys at the local venues, the bartenders, people that come out to see my band, musicians I used to play with. It was crazy! And everyone I talked to after the show was in a stunned state of awesomeness. The descriptions were all one words like "wow". But it is like that in every city they play in. That kind of a devoted fanbase is an extremely valuable thing when you are playing music. They are literally a good enough band to render people speechless. You don't have to market that.

I recorded the show on my little zoom recorder and I thought I would share. This recording isnt great, but it is listenable. It will suffice until a better one comes out.

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=038096e84e6371c58d78a0e555291609c308786edb5e6193a9a26c4ed87536eb

Enjoy!

This one also has the added bonus of my commentary. I have a few song predictions and a little bit of background on some of the rare tunes that were played. You can also hear me singing a few times (I am a singer, so dont worry it is in tune!) and various other little bits of fun.

what I meant by my post is that wilco is at a point where a major label could invest a bunch of money in marketing and make them bigger. But a label takes a lot to all of the money from a band's record sales. And they have strong demands in terms of both artistic, production, and implementation. They aren't currently and have never seen a lot of hardcore marketing, but they have continuously built a fan base by their own hard touring work.

Not having a label will allow them to make more money from their releases, and will let them have the control they want. The marketing will continue because everyone in the music industry is interested in the band. Writers write about wilco because they like them, and they will be in music magazines. They would have to set up a side distribution deal to get their records out to the walmart in the middle of Alaska, etc (you get my drift) but the terms would be much more favorable. The label just has to use their contacts to deliver cds, so it is cheap for them.

The major major labels, warner group and sony, have the big distribution. Other labels basically rent this from them. Wilco is currently on Nonesuch, an arm of warners, but they are paying Nonesuch for all the services a record label provides. They could form their own label and ink a distribution only deal instead.

being independent would work well for them.

I dont really think wilco's recent success has much to do with the label. It is them consistently playing killer shows and winning over fans one at a time on the road, who come back and bring more fans.

The standard contract with a record label is a 90%/10% split in favor of the label. All expenses must be paid out of the band's ten (recording costs, etc.) before the band makes any of the 10%. I dont know if Wilco's is like this, but the vast majority of contracts are. The main benefit of having a label is for physical distribution, marketing and as something like a bank. Since wilco to me seems like they have never been really marketed too much (I dont know how they get songs in movies and commercials, but I believe it has to do more with the fact that it seems like every real music fan is a wilco fan and the music directors for movies and commercials are probably music fans so they like wilco) they only really benefit from a label's distribution. They could start releasing their own records for the band and all of their projects themselves. This would mean they wouldnt be able to get any money to make a record or pay their bills, but since they own their own studio and it seems like they arent probably borrowing against future revenues to fund things, they probably dont need it. If they released their own stuff, they would get a MUCH larger cut, and they could work out a distribution only deal with a larger label like most indie record labels have and their records could make it to stores.

If I was a betting man, I would bet that is what they are going to do. I think it would be a good thing. They have developed a rabid fan base through decades of hard work. Music magazines and reviewers pay attention to every move they make, so they dont need a team of people to get the word out about their new records, WE do that for them. A record label really doesnt offer any of services that wilco needs and could net get elswhere.

- (2) Sony/MCI JH-24 24 track recorders, 15/30 IPS, with

14 inch reel capacity

That is listed as available on request for their big mobile studio.