Learn: Home » Creating The Closing of Winterland
CA: Who, if anyone, from the band was involved in the creation of this package?
JN: Mickey Hart (drums/percussion) was the most hands on. He and his engineer, the legendary Tom Flye, came in and mixed the "Rhythm Devils" section and worked with me on the drum mix. He likes to be in the studio and he had done a few Grateful Dead-related surround sound mixes on the DVD-Audio releases of both Workingman's Dead (1970) and American Beauty (1970). He came in with Tom and basically set up a soundscape for the drums. Sort of the way he thought it should sound.
 Mickey Hart (left) and Bill Kreutzman (right) behind the drums. |
CA: Did either you or Mickey do anything special, such as use audio outboard processing, to create the 5.1 surround mix? You briefly referred to a few processes in the "Making Of The DVD" mini-documentary.
JN: Yes, actually we did some rather unconventional things. One primary thing we did was to Keith [Godchaux]'s keyboard. It was recorded with very poor acoustics in the mid to lower ranges. When he is playing with his right hand on the top registers, it sounds fine, but everything else is thick sounding and not very clear or discernable. So, I was trying to place this sound within the context of the 5.1 and Mick said, "Nah, it should be front and center," and he was 100% right.
On a related note, one day when Tom Flye and I were working together, we decided that we needed to do some re-amplification. So, we tried a couple of different things to make the lead guitar and keyboards sound more prominent. What I settled on was a process of isolating the instrument track and then sending that sound through one of Garcia's vintage amplifiers and re-recording that sound. So, now we have two guitar tracks. I did the same for Weir and Keith as well.
CA: How is the timbre of the instrument altered by doing that?
JN: Well, it took a while to get the correct amplifiers. I ended up with a few of Garcia's vintage Fender amplifiers and thought the tones were tremendously complementary. If you just listen to the right front and right rear speakers, you can hear a real wide stereo spread. So, I guess what I am driving at is that the sound didn't change in a tonal way, it is just more pronounced and richly present in the 5.1 mix. These amplifiers create a real unique character and sound that is pretty cool and more definitive.
CA: That sounds pretty radical, is that standard operating procedure for engineers working in 5.1 surround?
JN: I . . . hmmm, I dunno? Maybe they do, but I have never heard of this specific technique being incorporated. I got the idea from hearing a 5.1 mix that featured a similar sound of a really wide guitar spread. I have no idea if they used a synthetic delay or another amplifier. It occurred to me that this re-amplification process would be the way to get as authentic a sound as possible.
CA: Where did you get one of Garcia's vintage amplifiers?
JN: Long time Grateful Dead roadie Steve Parrish has kept tabs on all of the old road gear. So, I borrowed something from him. I then played Garcia's solo guitar track through that amplifier, made a few very minor tone alterations so that the sound would be as close as possible to what was on the tapes. Then, as it was being played back, I recorded the new audio on a separate track of Pro Tools. So, now I had a pair of tracks to work from.
CA: So, sort of like an extra hue in your sonic paintbox?
JN: Ha, you said it (laughs)!
CA: That really is one of the things that separates you from most standard engineers, at least to my ears. You work with subtleties with a great deal of interest and precision.
JN: Well, I try to enhance, not rewrite history and not clobber you over the head with something just for the sake of being different. I mean, newer isn't always better, and I gotta cop to not being all that impressed with surround projects that "put you in the best seat in the house." It is kind of boring and doesn't seem to work all that well. I would go for having the listener up on stage and, as the song goes, have them "Playing In The Band." Admittedly, that is not completely realistic, since we weren't there originally. So, it bends reality, but by the same token it is infinitely more interesting and listenable. You feel Garcia surrounding and enveloping you on the right and Weir does the same on the other side. It is a great feeling as well as a great sound and is above all tremendously realistic — which was my ultimate goal. I was really happy with the results, especially compared to the other 5.1 stuff that I have heard.
