Post Paul Languedoc live sound

Phish Live Shows
#1

Note: I’m not minimizing the GREATNESS that just happened! :wink:

As far as I can tell from audience sources and the sound board recordings, Fish’s bass drum and Mikes lower frequencies sounded looser and not as tight. Not their playing, their sound.
I noticed that Fish’s bass drum and Mike’s rig have those microphones in those Yamaha drums… Not too familiar with this new technology, but Jeff Sipe had it on his bass drum when he toured w/ Trey in 06.

Any bass techy guys that know about this and did that affect the tight low end sound?

Any thoughts about the very bottom end of Phish’s sound?

Was Paul doing sound or is he gone? My guess would be no…

#2

Paul is gone. The TAB sound guy is now at the helm.

#3

My guess is that the new sound guy can and will tighten up the bass sound. Those mics are perfectly nice equipment, he just needs to get his levels evened out. I still very much enjoyed the shows, I just had to turn the bass down a bit on my stereo.

#4

^ Agreed. Both Mike and Fish just need a little more ‘punch’ in their attack for the low end. Beyond that, everything sounds great!

#5

I definitely agree with what you’re saying. The mix was lacking in these shows. But I think as the summer tour goes on, he’ll figure out the whole Phish thing.

#6

Those drum-mics were developed after taking a speaker from Yamaha NS-10 Monitor and reverse-wiring it to make it into a giant microphone diaphragm became a trend in studios. Larger diaphragms are better at reproducing low frequencies, and these are particularly good with sub-bass frequencies, the stuff you feel, not so much hear. The argument could be easily made that this change might “muddy” things up, especially in a big stadium.

I have never heard AUDs from Hampton before this run, and I’ve heard a few different sources, and I think they ultimately sound more aggressive and exiting than the soundboards. This is a testament to the acoustics of the place.

I was prepared for this new guy to be noticeably not-as-good as Paul, and I have to say that I was totally wrong. I think he did a great job, and I think Page and particularly Mike sound really good in all the recordings I’ve heard, including SBDs. If anything the bass guitar on the SBD’s sound like the mid-range is more defined than normal, which I think makes sense. Bass waves are very long and tend to bounce around big rooms, so I can imagine that if you were mixing something for a stadium, you would want to hype the mid range so it didn’t get lost. I think Mike’s playing gets lost a lot, and in these recordings he is very present.

#7

I think the 3rd night sounds the best for the bottom end… I think their new sound guy will get a handle on this soon.

#8

they all sound a bit heavy on the bass. good for some tunes but not all of them

#9

somebody just throw paul on the tour bus and chain him up

how many guitars is he making, get back on the bus paul

#10

Keep in mind these players, especially Trey and Mike, are constantly tweaking their sound. Paul isn’t the only thing that changed. Take any 5 years in Trey’s career and his tone changed pretty noticeably, Mike’s less so but definitely still changing. I don’t know how much of this that you’re hearing is from the individual musicians independently updating their sound, or if it’s the sound guy. To be true, Fish started using deeper cymbals & especially high hat post hiatus, which I don’t like, yet persists, he sounds the same at Hampton to me. Trey’s tone is leaps and bounds better than the post-hiatus years, even apparently using the Ross during portions of Fluffhead and other older tunes (I’ve owned a Ross for 4 years and I can damn near 5-star lock that one down, that it is indeed present in Fluffhead & elsewhere). Not taking anything away from Paul, he definitely knows how to present and record that band better than anyone. Just not sure how much of what you’re hearing is Paul & how much is the band changing their settings and gear.

#11

^ Totally agree! It’s all new and they will be dialed in soon. I’m a big fan of change, especially with Phish!

Oh yeah, it sounds like Fishman has gone back to his Zildjian new beat sounding hats… Pre Hiatus hi-hats. I noticed the change in hi-hats post hiatus INSTANTLY too!

#12

in general, I thought Mike could have been turned up a bit

but me no are no sound expert guy

#13

i loved the mix in the room. page was WAY more up front than usual. gave alot of that music a whole new feel and focus to my ears.

#14

I think the new guy did a pretty good job, with Paul he did a great job making some of the rooms they play sound great in general, but Trey was always way up in the mix, imo. Page really shined @ Hampton and I am really glad Trey went back to the compressor that he didn’t have post-hiatus, he sounded way too clean during their last run.

#15

for sure!!

#16

i like how it’s “the new guy” versus “Paul” haha
will the new sound man ever be accepted as a member of the band as much as paul was?

#17

to me sounds as if page and mike were turned up a bit equal with trey been waiting for page to be turned up for years still need to get the low end mike up a bit though

#18

Yeah this is what, imho, made that Moma Dance the best version ever.