Hear things you didn’t know existed
Dweezil Zappa discusses his mix of Machine Head and compares it to the original:
Thanks to BraveWords for the heads-up.
![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/mcbride3.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/mcbride4.jpg)
Dweezil Zappa discusses his mix of Machine Head and compares it to the original:
Thanks to BraveWords for the heads-up.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
It speaks to the quality of that album that every time it’s re-mixed there is a new gem to uncover or amplify. I loved Roger Glover’s remix from a couple decades ago, bringing up parts of Ritchie’s playing that weren’t on the original album and some of Gillan’s screams. Dweezil has managed to highlight some great stuff, as well.
March 21st, 2024 at 04:24I really love the approach of Frank’s kid here – right up my alley with the added detail and such!
I will consequently forgive him tearing up unceremoniously the wrapper decal when ungently unpacking the set – I always painstakingly remove those stickers and reapply them somewhere in the booklet or so!
March 21st, 2024 at 05:10I like Dweezil & I have always respected his playing & the homage he pays to his dad etc. I also was appalled at how his younger brother hassled him ‘legally’ years ago & over what?????? Corporate crap indeed. Anyway here we are & he has to market this & kudos to him for doing that. I wonder which ‘original’ mix he was using there as a comparison. I understand that aspect to it, but on that system he has there no doubt the Atmos sounds grand we would think or at least hope. Hard to tell all the way out here in Oz. MH is definitely worthy of a Grand Wazoo indeed & it looks a great set no matter what sound we aficionados prefer. To be able to sit in a room like that & have a genuine listen would be surreal in that aspect. I have often thought that in regards to Steve Wilson & the plethora of classic albums he has remixed etc. Just to hear them in their studio, what a buzz that would be. Although knowing me I wouldn’t be able to resist, ‘just drop that bass guitar down a little Dweezil, now bring the drums up a touch, thats better’ etc etc. I like his attitude to what he has tried to achieve, however he sort of seems a little worried. Maybe he has heard about certain people here at THS, he he he. Break a leg Dweezil. Cheers.
March 21st, 2024 at 06:26Does anyone have this new mix. Its sound is cleaner, but is their really much difference to purchase for the price point? Dr. Evil ?
March 21st, 2024 at 12:15@4…
There’s been plenty of posts, threads & reviews of the re-mix in here already, just scroll down…
As for your question, it’s your money, & respectfully, it’s up to you to decide on whether it was money well-spent or not.
I tend to think its all hype, but in a good way to celebrate the 50th birthday of the album, so that the effort made to repackage it again pays-off, as you’ll learn by reading through the other threads.
If DP weren’t around today still playing gig’s & making records, I doubt this would have happened, but it’s good that it did. The down-side is that I’m waiting for the NEW ALBUM, & the 3 x UNCOMPLETED releases from Ear Music, with the DP(overseas) Live series…
Hopefully the celebrations will be over soon, & we’ll get the new album sooner than later, but there’s lots of milk in the MH cow to bottle first it seems, you can bank-on-it !
Peace !
March 21st, 2024 at 22:25Íf they ever let the Tasmanian do a remix/remaster from the Purple Family, we’ll end up with Rainbow Rising II or Metallica’s And Justice For All (Except Jason!), the mind boggles at what he might do.
Timmi, the 50th package is not yet commercially out, but from what I’ve heard “cleaner” isn’t the appropriate description, in fact it is previous remixes und remasters that are crisper (“smiley face” -equalization and compressed to death), the Dweezil mix is more detailed, yet warmer + breathes more – my wife said “it sounds closer, more vibrant”. The difference in sound is very, very evident, even to untrained ears.
Of course, both the past remasters/remixes and what Dweezil has now done just mirror prevailing sound tastes of their times. “Bring up the highs and lows, give it compression for density” was once the order of the day, while the current fad is “give it warmth, fill in some mids, don’t brickwall, make it sound like vinyl”.
March 21st, 2024 at 23:13I m regularly hearing 1 ring(phone)when I m in bed.
Not sure in what stage.
On line I read its psychosis when you hear things that are not there?
During “COVID” I did not loose my smell but smelled something no one else did.
I m glad its gone but….
Should I worry?
March 22nd, 2024 at 00:17I like what I hear. But I should disclose that I’ve been listening almost exclusively to Glover’s 25th anniversary mix for the last 25 years.
March 22nd, 2024 at 04:34@6 said…
qt.”Íf they ever let the Tasmanian do a remix/remaster from the Purple Family, we’ll end up with Rainbow Rising II or Metallica’s And Justice For All (Except Jason!), the mind boggles at what he might do”…
LOL ! Unless following instructions from an employer per-se, my mixes are generally lower in overall output compared to modern trends. I do this so that people can never say that a mix has been brick-walled, & there’s a certain quality that arises too, where a little-bit-of-oomph is sacrificed for an overall more balanced sound, that shines rather than thumps… But it is not easy or simple to explain either, so you just have to let your ears decide !
Thanks Leiber Uwe ! I certainly wouldn’t mess things up lol !
Anyhow, Dweezil knows what he’s doing behind a mixing-desk, & as an accomplished musician / guitarist like his father, he would only have the best result in mind.
Peace !
March 22nd, 2024 at 08:31@5
do you have a complete list , my own collection of the DP Overseas Live Series contains only 6 items:
Paris 1975
Copenhagen 1972
Stockholm 1970
Graz 1975
Long Beach 1971
Long Beach 1976
What is the 7th, I obviously missed? And what are the other three?
March 22nd, 2024 at 14:34Here’s your comparison, Doktor Robert!
25th:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y-zPDOOBRw
50th:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2FzZSBD5LE
I think we can all agree on that it is not so much a “better or worse”-competition, but two different vantage points of hearing the music. Variety is the spice of life and who but a Deep Purple fan could subscribe to that idea more?
March 22nd, 2024 at 14:41@ 6 – Perhaps I could do a remix of any recent Jefferson Airship (Starship) as according to what you recently said at another post, they do not have a bass guitarist plying live with them. Another band that has finally seen the Light perhaps, he he he. Unless their bass player is a frustrated guitarist perhaps? Greg Lake did very well in that scenario joining King Crimson in 1969. A guitarist joining as a vocalist & wondering where his guitar playing was going to fit in. Fripp simply said ‘it won’t’ & handed him a bass guitar. Cheers.
March 22nd, 2024 at 20:43Not sure where to place this news, the new Black Sabbath box set of the I.R.S label Tony Martin era is about to be released. I just wish Neil Murray had left his ‘poodle perm’ back where it belonged in Coverdale’s emporium. Not a good look for the dark side of the Sabbath. Cheers.
https://www.loudersound.com/news/black-sabbath-tony-martin-era-box-set
March 22nd, 2024 at 21:05How is Don?
March 22nd, 2024 at 23:03“Perhaps I could do a remix of any recent Jefferson Airship (Starship) as according to what you recently said at another post, they do not have a bass guitarist playing live with them.”
😂🤣😁
The amount of damage your grubby little drummer hands could do at the faders would certainly be contained!
Kinda weird they didn’t add The Eternal Idol to the boxed set, can’t believe that the licensing fee would be that costly in this day and age. I might get this. Tony Martin was a fine singer, but lacked charisma in fronting the band. He was neither Ozzy nor Ronnie or Ian. But I saw them once and his singing could not be faulted. Though Sabbath without Geezer is a hard one for me … Neil is a great bassist, likely better than Geezer, but Sabbath’s style very much limited what he could do. Geezer sounds like molten lava oozing from the speakers to me, he’s a pinnacle of the Sabbath sound.
March 23rd, 2024 at 00:04@5…
Hi Thomas, technically you’re correct with only 6 x CD’s being released so-far, but the Cal-Jam was released as a DVD under the same logo / title…And I have a capable Boss Digital recorder that allows me to make my own quality version when necessary, which is what I did, & count it incorrectly as a CD.
A communication via many e-mails over the years with Martin Pullen of Eden Sound, revealed that the whole project & much more was completed now over a decade ago…That said, what has been released, has changed from the original titles found on the bindings of the original blurb. This is likely why so-much MK-III material was unnecessarily released, & promises broken with the full-Graz-show, plus adjustments made to include 2 x Mk-IV releases, of which only one has surfaced. The real surprise & bonus is the Lonbeach 1971 that was unearthed.
Here’s a link to the original press release, & fingers crossed they complete the series, as the product is sitting on-the-shelf collecting dust, when it should be being played.
https://img.discogs.com/d6m0KtLc01vr5hDnUhhzSQ1xYAs=/fit-in/300×300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/L-552625-1374997812-7875.jpeg.jpg
Peace !
March 23rd, 2024 at 00:47Thomas @10, it’s complicated! This is what they announced at one point
https://darkerthanblue.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/dp-os-live-series_480.jpg
but they obviously made changes as they released them one by one, eg by including the unannounced Live In Graz.
And you are right, only six have been released so far (unless you count the California Jam DVD-only release as well), Gregster must have been experimenting with indigenous hallucinogens again, Koala saliva or whatever. It is best to not even ignore him when he is in such a state, feverish nightmare cries of the restless native: “Blackmore can’t even improvise!” then pierce the Aussie dead of night …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtIkaUYxMAE
… yet he always settles down after a while.
March 23rd, 2024 at 01:13Yes I know what you mean regarding Neil Murray & the bass ‘requirements’ needed for that dark brooding feel & sound etc. Regarding the original cd’s I have been fortunate in being able to buy them at each of their initial release on compact disc. Apparently after a while they were not available anymore, from what I have read. This ‘new’ set is a fine collection & Martin as you said is a fine singer, he just didn’t know how to present himself on stage. I have to admit his vocal on Forbidden is very strained & not as good there. A few good songs on that but it is a weak album overall unfortunately. Interesting that Iommi has remixed that one as I remember reading at that time that Cozy was livid about his drum sound & left the band because of it. Obviously he couldn’t get near the mixing desk, those damn rappers were in control??????????! Drummers eh, a finicky mob if ever there was one. Cheers.
March 23rd, 2024 at 02:16Yo,
@10, it seems that the link to the image doesn’t work, but as far as Mk-II goes, the Aachen 1970, & Montreaux 1969 shows are the ones that I salivate over, & were part of the original deal…This is what makes Longbeach 1971 such an unexpected surprise, as no-one-saw-it-coming, or new of its existence…( It even made the #68 position in the German charts when released in 2016/17 ).
It is important to also remember that this series was likely released as a token gesture & celebration, in the wake of Jon Lord’s passing-away, & that these intended releases were originally available at different times previously, & in different formats, with the most recent prior releases via DPAS & Simon Robinson, on ( I think ) the Zoom label. You can still get these, but the asking prices are crazy via Discogs. IMO, your best bet is to purchase a Digital Recorder, & simply record them off You-Tube. You then replay the recording into your computer via a free program, say Audacity, where you can re-master the recording, & it will be equal to, or better than original, depending on your skill-set.
You can grab a TEAC 8-track Digital Recorder for around $150:00 brand new, & all your recording / CD worries are gone, as long as you can source them on You-Tube, & don’t mind not having plastic or liner-notes, though these can be made-up too, along with burning a new CD. For private use ONLY…
Peace !
March 23rd, 2024 at 11:18@ 17- ha ha ha ha, the Island of Lost Souls, sheeesh Uwe are we really that bad down here in Tasmania. Or do I have to get out a little bit more? Actually the behaviour of that mob, both the civilised & the ferals sort of reminds me of DP aficionados. Look out if they don’t get their way. Cheers.
March 23rd, 2024 at 11:45I wish understand if
March 24th, 2024 at 19:40Dweezil remixes the original Macjine Head otherwise Roger Glover Machine Head remix.
I think that RG did a excellent job and I wouldn’t like to lose what He did for this new release.
My understanding is that Dweezil had full access to the original source masters. His SOTW remix certainly does not feature the alternative solo (that grated so much on Ritchie’s psyche) Roger was talked into by the record company in using for his remix.
March 25th, 2024 at 15:38A remix is by definition done from the multitrack source. In the video above, when they start talking about Space Truckin’, DZ talks about what was on each track of that song’s recording.
The other versions aren’t going away, as far as I know anyway. If someone prefer their original 1972 vinyl or the RG remix, fine, keep listening to them.
March 25th, 2024 at 16:45Most of this past stuff has its merits. If you like to hear Paicey in full drum clinic glory, then Simon Robinson’s (first publicly loved, then later on derided) mix of the Japanese 1972 gigs will continue to make you happy forever. So it’s good to have.
And if this Machine Head release does well, then perhaps Dweezil can lay a hand on other Mk II source material as well? It’s about time. In Rock could really use a warm organic remix so it no longer sounds like an Iggy Pop & The Stooges demo in places. The current remasters and remixes make it almost sound like a Punk record. 😂
March 25th, 2024 at 17:03@24
March 25th, 2024 at 20:01Yes, Me too, I think that IN ROCK needs a remastering for getting justice at all.
Thank you thank you thank you! What a relief! After all those years … And I always wondered if it was only me. Having hearing issues since I was a kid I thought it must be my fault that albums erverybody would rave about didn’t sound too good to my ears. In Rock and Rising spring to mind. The music was great of course but the sound? I thought it was rather thin. Even Burn could have been better sounding in my book, Stormbringer proves that. Just like Holy Diver sounded so much better to me than Rising. All in all it always puzzles me while “Ella & Louis” or almost any other jazz record sound so much better than most (hard) rock records do even though those gems were recorded decades prior to the rock records. And no, it’s not only the piano trio ones – it goes for big band sound as well, which could easily sound thin and … well, the German word is schepperig.
March 26th, 2024 at 14:24Rainbow Rising was a rush job, a young line-up, too little time to write and record, an end mix and mastering (or two) that was rushed as well because of the pressing release date. I believe Blackmore and/or Polydor wanted something to hit the shelves right in time with DP’s demise because Blackmore with his many historic ties to the DP organisation cannot have been unaware that Mk IV would not survive/were in their death throes even while still recording Rising. Legend has it (or at least Tony Carey claims it) that Blackmore even went to see Mk IV live in America, taking the Rainbow Rising line-up with him to perhaps learn something.
In theory, Rainbow Rising should have sounded great, it had such a short running time that even on vinyl the bass frequencies should have been mighty (the less music per side of a vinyl record, the better the bass sound, with albums longer than 20 minutes or so per side you invariably lose bass) – well, it sounded tinny and like raw monitor mixes, which in essence it was. The orchestra in Stargazer sounds like the messenger boy from the studio mixed it into the track. Not one of Martin Birch’s proudest moments, he obviously needed sufficient time to put his care and attention to work to full effect – but then who doesn’t?
Old jazz recordings have such an enduring sound quality because the albums are actually very little “produced”, they are simply well-recorded with no aim to make things sound different via effects or production tricks. And the musicians playing the music were very often of much better quality and experience than rock/pop musicians.
March 26th, 2024 at 16:22Regarding the ‘noise’ factor in so many hard rock recordings being compared to the older, cleaner & more natural sounding. That distorted guitar again & hard hitting drums are the reason, well the main culprits. No studio or live recording with those instruments to the fore will sound ‘nice’ compared to a cleaner & more natural recording. We could throw certain lead vocals in there as well. Yes I do enjoy older recordings big time, we hear them in movies also, the soundtrack can be wonderful. Rock or hard rock or metal doesn’t do wonders to the ears, or playing the drums in their natural environment. Rainbow Rising suffered from that as well as the attitude that went with it. Certain records do sound nicer in the rock environment. Then crank it up for the live performances. The recording of a band in the studio to mimic the ‘live’ setting could be an issue also. There are many studio albums from heavy rock bands that actually sound light in comparison to their concerts. Some of DP’s for example, Stormbringer & Machine Head etc. Black Sabbath also with Heaven & Hell the album. Hang on a minute, Martin Birch was there for those recordings. Everything louder than everything else. Hmmmmmmmm, perhaps not in many cases. It is what it is. Cheers.
March 26th, 2024 at 20:59Martin Birch has been pigeon-holed as the Deep Purple and (later) Iron Maiden producer, but he was never a heavy-handed engineer or producer who would enhance a bands music too much or sacrifice quality. He saw it as his job to get the band down as it sounded without too many frills added. That worked fine with DP and is part of their success recipe that they sound live as good as they do on record … IF NOT BETTER !!!
But listen to this track from BÖC to hear how Martin would record Jazz, start at 00:43 or 01:43, you’ll be in for a surprise! 😁
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhmaqCH7BX8
And sometimes there would even be small cameos of his previous work (at 02:31) … 🌪🚿 🔥🟦 🚒👩🚒👨🚒
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQqfegOZ_X0
Among many great production and engineering jobs he’s done, there are a few duff ones too: the Rainbow debut (not really crisp, I don’t know why), Rising (no bass, ditto) and Love Hunter (no balls, again I don’t know why) come to mind. In Rock’s flaws have nothing to do with his capabilities (he dusted the dandruff from Derek Lawrence’s production off Mk II and made them sound modern or at least contemporary!), but with a constrained budget, different studios (none of them great) and a band finding yet its feet with limited technology at their disposal.
March 26th, 2024 at 23:22