HW: Knights of Space audio mix

[Steve Swann]

But you see, that was deliberate hyperbole, like telling the waiter
that you want your steak still mooing and struggling to get away, when
you want it Rare.  (Apologies to any vegans on the list.)  Despite my
jokes, I don't *really* want any instrument to drown out everything
else, but I do think that Brock's guitar is the "core" of the Hawkwind
sound, and I want to hear it blazing through the mix.  The lead
guitar/violin/synth/flute/theremin/sax/axe/kazoo is the embellishment,
but if I can't hear Brock's guitar, then the Hawkwind sound is missing
for me.  There was a period when Dave was moving away from guitar to
doing mostly synths, and that was my least favorite Hawkwind period.
I saw them at one show during that period, and the sound was way too
light for me - the only point where I felt like I was really hearing
my favorite band was when he picked up his guitar for Hassan I Sabha
(which they then split down the middle by inserting an ambient piece
into it, argh!).  :)

I still think it's funny that Dave (based on what I've heard from
interviews and comments of his) apparently doesn't think of himself as
much of a guitar player, while l could listen to him play guitar *all
goddamn day* (and I have), and prefer him over any number of guitar
players who win Guitar Player Magazine readers awards, and have people
obsessively trying to copy their wanky "watch me play scales at jet
speed" style...  I know it's not quite the same thing, and that in
some ways it makes more sense to compare him to people like Malcolm
Young, but you guys know what I mean.  Dave's guitar playing is one of
the great musical treasures of the world, I wonder if he has any idea.

Steve

On Sat, Mar 21, 2009 at 9:22 AM, Jonathan Jarrett
<jjarrett at chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
> On Tue, Feb 24, 2009 at 06:44:35AM -0800, Steve Swann typed out:
>
>        <snip>
>
>> Now, I'm admittedly totally biased.  My instructions to the audio
>> engineer would have been: MAKE BROCKS GUITAR STOMP ALL OVER EVERYTHING
>> LIKE A 900 FOOT STEEL ROBOT
>
>        I've been to one gig where that was more or less how the mix was
> and it isn't necessarily what you'd want. For a start, it hurt to stand
> anywhere near his amp, and for a continuation, I couldn't hear Simon's
> violin. Actually, when one got as far left as one could, one found that
> Simon's violin was largely coming out as white noise but at least over
> there there was something like balance. This was Cambridge, and I was
> rather annoyed not to be able to enjoy it. Just saying, there can be too
> much Brock (and if my experience didn't show this, I'd just cite
> _Earthed to the Ground_...) Yours,
>                                   Jon
>
> --
> "When fortune wanes, of what assistance are quantities of elephants?"
>            (Juvaini, Afghan Muslim chronicler, c. 1206)
>  Jon Jarrett, Fitzwilliam Museum, jjarrett at chiark.greenend.org.uk
>