Roy Orbison- Black&White Night 30. Wow!

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Roy Orbison- Black&White Night 30. Wow!

Postby Sunbeam » Mon Feb 18, 2019 4:55 am

I bought the original DVD of Black & White Night 20 years ago.
I have watched/listened to it more times than I care to count.
I've always loved it, but certain things about the audio mix always troubled me.

My Prime Directive for mixing front-of-house sound, is that if you can see an artist playing or singing something, you should, no, you *must* be able to hear it. Placed properly in the mix.

The thing that troubled me about the original DVD stereo mix, was that the backup vocals were buried in the mix. I couldn't hear everything I could see happening.

Not so much any more.

I just put on the 30th Anniversary remaster DVD (CD+DVD set). Now they got it right. I can hear Jackson Brown, T Bone Burnett, kd lang, Bonnie Raitt, J.D. Souther, Jennifer Warnes and the others a bit better, as it should be. There's a lot of new bonus material which was cut from the original, too. This is the full uncut concert, not the "edited for TV" version. I haven't done a direct comparison, but I'd swear even the in-song video editing has been improved. The drums are punchier. James Burton's guitar... Roy's voice... Everything sounds and looks better. It's a new experience of a classic, with the veil removed. My only complaint so far is that Elvis Costello's keyboard solo in Down The Line is still too low in the mix, but you can hear it :)

I'm tapping my foot and grinning a mile wide :)

I haven't put on the CD yet, I'm hoping they got that right, too.

Zero regrets about purchasing something I thought I already owned.
Highly recommended for any fan of Roy.
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Sunbeam
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