AT ! FEATURE IN DEEP WITH A CLASSIC Martin Pullan balances where only the brave dare, and remixes the three concerts Deep Purple’s classic live album Made in Japan were culled from. Story: Mark Davie AT "# The original mix [of Made In Japan] sounds bloody awesome… it’s actually quite hard to get as good as it, let alone better It’s the car crash syndrome. You know you before, was in 1993 — at Abbey Road by Darren Pullan. “!e drum mix is really good, but because shouldn’t look, but you just can’t help Godwin, assisted by Simon Robinson, the researcher it’s on two tracks, it means I can’t separate things yourself. And in the music world, bad press is too on the project. It was a package called Live In Japan. too much.” hard to ignore: papers, blogs, forums — bad “!e general opinion is that, compared to the One alteration Pullan did make, based on his reviews are everywhere — just one look away from original, those mixes aren’t very good,” said Pullan. knowledge of the band, was to %ip the original ruining your mood. It takes an iron will to look “My aim was to improve on that.” stereo panning choices. !e original has guitarist away, because we all want everyone else to validate So far, the reactions have been encouragingly Ritchie Blackmore on the le& hand side, and what we do. positive. On one entrenched Deep Purple fan site, Jon Lord, the keyboard player, on the right — a Rarely though do you see mixes evaluated. the #rst review reads: ’Are Martin Pullan’s mixes con#guration they never appeared in on stage. !ere are the widely scorned, like the mastering better than the 1972 ones? I dare to say, ’no’, but One of the many releases in this new batch of Metallica’s Death Magnetic which became they come very close.’ Which is about as glowing as is Kevin Shirley’s original 1972 album remix the poster child for everything wrong with the you can expect. plus Pullan’s new encores, which is a bit weird, Loudness Wars. It was an easy target; the crushed because it %ips between the two panning choices. dynamic range and excessive clipping made it DEEP CONNECTIONS “I took it upon myself to change it around, not simple to pinpoint the culprit. But for the most !ough he wouldn’t say it, Pullan is somewhat of really thinking about this permutation. My part, it’s too di"cult to judge each contributor’s a Deep Purple a#cionado. He’s one of a handful of decision may have been a foolish one,” concedes input. Was that blazing, clipped guitar a bad mixers over the years who’s been deeply embedded Pullan. “Some people have mentioned it, and they balance decision or a producer’s intent? in the Deep Purple camp. His credits also include think it’s a mistake.” !ere is, however, one area where there’s a mastering for their Total Abandon Australia live baseline for comparison. And consequently, an DVD, he’s mixed and mastered a number of other RECALLING !"#$ army of forum trolls poised with their opinions. Deep Purple concerts including from California, As well as the number of tracks, a big di$erence I’m talking about remixing a classic album, and Paris, Stockholm, and projects for former members between today and 1972 is the choice of whether speci#cally, one of the all-time greats — Deep of the band including Blackmore’s Knight’s A to mix in-the-box or on a console. Pullan makes Purple’s live album Made In Japan. Knight in York (5.1 and stereo) and Jon Lord’s no bones about it, he’d rather be in a DAW. “I think It’s the de#nitive record of Deep Purple’s live Concerto for Group & Orchestra (5.1 and stereo). you can get it better,” he said. “I come from big old prowess, with the original album’s track list cherry But even though Pullan has invested so much analogue consoles, started on a big old Neve and picked from three concerts across Osaka and Tokyo time in the Deep Purple catalogue, he doesn’t worked on all of them. But I much prefer mixing in 1972. Deep Purple fans really dig this album. bother himself with researching the minutiae of in-the-box because of the amount of control. And they know it inside out. how the songs were recorded, what gear was used, Besides, if you mix in-the-box and tell someone it Martin Pullan of Edensound Mastering not only or what the halls were like. Everything he needs to was done on an analogue console, they’d believe remastered Martin Birch’s original 1972 mix, but know can be heard on the eight tracks in front of you. !ere’s no way you can do all those fader rides has remixed and mastered the entire three concerts him. Pullan: “Drums are a stereo pair; bass on one with an analogue console, particularly in the days — six hours of material — and now he can’t help track — nice and distorted; guitar on one track — before automation. Plus, you don’t have to #nish but check in occassionally to see how the fans are nice and out of tune — Ritchie would forever be the mix at three in the morning when everyone is taking it. tuning up his guitar mid song, those cuts never tired. You can come back to it exactly as you le& featured on Made In Japan; organ on one track; it and re#ne it. !ere is a danger of over-re#ning, REMIXING A REMIX vocal on another; and then the luxury of two people will just pick at things until they bleed — so By all accounts, the usability of the recordings tracks for the audience. you’ve got to be careful.” was a surprise to everyone at the time. !e band “!e original mix of Made In Japan sounds Pullan was supplied with 24-bit/96k transfers had set aside $3000 for the recording, but didn’t bloody awesome. !e energy’s there, and it’s actually from when Made In Japan was remastered. He have high hopes for the outcome. Martin Birch, quite hard to get as good as it, let alone better. still uses ProTools 9, because he keeps his TC the engineer, was similarly skeptical when he “I try to bring a new approach. I’m not trying to Powercore card around when he has to master saw the equipment the budget a$orded — a be true to how they were mixed in the #rst place, 96k #les. Typically he would master through an skinny eight-track and no balance controls. we’ve got new technology now. We can jazz them analogue chain, but his hardware TC Electronic But the whole thing went down live to eight- up a bit and make them sound more exciting.” Finalizer only runs at 24-bit/48k. !e Powercore track tape, and became one of their biggest hits. !ese days, the number of tracks in a live card gives him access to TC’s MD3 stereo !e band have suggested part of the reason recording would typically be upwards of 40. mastering tools from the System 6000 for those the performances are so good is because their Regardless of the technology at his disposal, high de#nition Blu-Ray releases. Pullan walked expectations of the recording were so low they Pullan’s mix was still limited by Martin Birch’s through each of the eight tracks and o$ered insight were only focused on the show. initial decisions. “!ey only had eight tracks, and into how he applied 21st century tools to a ’70s !e only time all three concerts have been mixed they had to make decisions and lock them in,” said rock recording. AT "$ VOCALS Ian Gillan might not be the most famous of the Deep rides on the Tokyo gig, and overall the vocal is prob- Purple quartet, but as the only moving source on ably a li&le lower because of the spill. The whole mix stage, the spill into his mic became a critical factor is really different for the Tokyo show.” in Pullan’s balance. “If he’s singing in front of Ritchie’s For reverbs, Pullan favours the Lexicon PCM Native amp and you get more guitar, there’s not a lot you bundle. And rather than trying to match the space, can do about it,” explained Pullan. “THE EFFECT IS, THE it’s a purely subjective exercise for him. “I’m not GUITAR GETS A LOT TINNIER AND TOPPIER. SO PULLING THE going to make it sound like the Taj Mahal if it was a GUITAR CHANNEL DOWN MAKES THAT WORSE. YOU JUST small room,” said Pullan. “But I’m not analysing what HAVE TO LIVE WITH IT. AND YOU CAN’T EQ IT OUT OF THE was there. What’s on the audience mics is nice, a few VOCAL, IT WILL JUST AFFECT IT TOO BADLY. individuals, but mostly a good crowd sound and a “On the vocal I’ve got some Waves L3 multi-band, large sounding space. I’ve got three reverbs: a drum it’s not my favourite thing, but subtly tightens it. I’ve reverb, a short reverb and a long one. I’ve got a delay also rolled off the bo&om end and made notches as well. The drum reverb is set at 1.1s, and is a li&le at 670Hz, where the room was ringing, and 200Hz, longer than the short tail.” where the room was boomy.