50th Anniversary live double CD up for pre-order on Amazon

[Iron Horse-Apples]

No, nuke-em,

Thanks for acknowledging my "tough guy" status. Folk, I'd be greatful if you all address me by my new name. 

[Andrew G. Doe]

Come a little late to the party, and disinclined to read 28-odd pages, but to my ears, the audience, patter and actual music tracks just don't gell - they could almost have all been recorded at separate gigs then flown in/cobbled together (and this being The Beach Boys, I for one wouldn't bet against that).

[Mr. Cohen]

The Beach Boys are the best robots in the business.

[LostArt]

Come a little late to the party, and disinclined to read 28-odd pages, but to my ears, the audience, patter and actual music tracks just don't gell - they could almost have all been recorded at separate gigs then flown in/cobbled together (and this being The Beach Boys, I for one wouldn't bet against that).

Are you listening on your home stereo, Andrew, or a more portable device?  I bought the set and when played on my good system through my big-ol'-speakers, it sounds great.  Yeah, I can hear pitch correction (it's much more noticeable when I play it through my computer speakers...won't do that again), but through my big system it doesn't bother me much at all.  It sounds live, big, punchy, not overly bright.  I have no problems with the mix, except for the random audience moments here and there (and those could be attributed to reaction to something on the video screens or on stage).  The first time I played it I listened to both discs back to back, and (again, for the most part) I had a great time.  I also played parts of it to some other folks who don't have a music background, and they didn't notice any vocal processing, even after I pointed it out.  So, while there are some folks who are disappointed in this set, for all of the reasons that are mentioned in this thread, there are also some folks like myself who can hear, but are not bothered by, the same things.  And my guess is that the average Joe Fan who wants a momento from the great tour that they saw last summer will be very happy with this release.

[Iron Horse-Apples]

Are you listening on your home stereo, Andrew, or a more portable device?  I bought the set and when played on my good system through my big-ol'-speakers, it sounds great.  Yeah, I can hear pitch correction (it's much more noticeable when I play it through my computer speakers...won't do that again),

A good mix should sound good on any system.

[Dr. Tim]

That doesn't make AGD wrong in his assessment.  Over the years many audiophiles/musicians develop a malady I call "studio ears", where you can actally pick out mix moves, tape edits, pitch corrections, and live-performance melds.  Much as I marvel at studio miracles like GV, now that Mr. Desper and others have explained how it was assembled, I can hear every tape splice and every duplicated module.  It is incurable, you will always hear these things, and frankly the better the sound system the worse it can get.  A good sensitive mix makes thse things harder to spot on a first listen but with repeated listenings you can begin to spot the pigeons.  I know I suffer from this malady, and I wouldn't be surprised if AGD has it too.

It;s no secret that some artists made their living this way:  Frank Zappa would happily graft a basic track from Milan, cut it into a Berlin performance, then overdub a solo from an entirely different live track from Berlin.  I think he called it xenocronicity or something.  But the "fixing" of so-called live performances in the manner AGD describes goes back to the beginning of the multi-track era.  A favorite example of mine from the 1960's is the Ventures' live album: the Japanese cheering from the concert in "Tokyo" is clearly a tape loop being repeated over and over, and the performances sound clean enough to have been studio "live" recordings with audience dubbed in.  

[LostArt]

Are you listening on your home stereo, Andrew, or a more portable device?  I bought the set and when played on my good system through my big-ol'-speakers, it sounds great.  Yeah, I can hear pitch correction (it's much more noticeable when I play it through my computer speakers...won't do that again),

A good mix should sound good on any system.

Yeah, you are 100% correct.  I'm just saying that the difference in the sound of this CD between my PC and my home stereo is remarkable, whether it should be or not.  When I played it for the first time, I could not figure out what all the negativity was about.  Then I played it on my PC and I understood.     

[drbeachboy]

Are you listening on your home stereo, Andrew, or a more portable device?  I bought the set and when played on my good system through my big-ol'-speakers, it sounds great.  Yeah, I can hear pitch correction (it's much more noticeable when I play it through my computer speakers...won't do that again),

A good mix should sound good on any system.

A good mix is whether you hear everything clearly, or don't hear instruments or vocals correctly. How well you hear that mix depends on amplification and especially, speakers. Why do you think Brian always played back songs on small transistor-radio type speakers. In essence, you mix according to how people will be listening.

[Iron Horse-Apples]

Are you listening on your home stereo, Andrew, or a more portable device?  I bought the set and when played on my good system through my big-ol'-speakers, it sounds great.  Yeah, I can hear pitch correction (it's much more noticeable when I play it through my computer speakers...won't do that again),

A good mix should sound good on any system.

A good mix is whether you hear everything clearly, or don't hear instruments or vocals correctly. How well you hear that mix depends on amplification and especially, speakers. Why do you think Brian always played back songs on small transistor-radio type speakers. In essence, you mix according to how people will be listening.

Yes, this is sort of what I meant. You should mix for your worst medium, or at least be mindful of it. The reason modern pop music has that tinny quality is that it is mixed for i-phone speakers.

Spector is a good example. Even to this day, his stuff sounds pretty much the same whatever you play it on. That's the sign of a successful mix to me.

[SMiLE Brian]

I had a really crappy LP player with built-in speakers, and spector's material was still roaring loud.

[Pretty Funky]

Just listening for the first time now. As an album playing in another room (as is the case now) it sounds pretty damn good. I'll put it on the ipod for sure but more for travel with a set of small speakers I use rather than a close-in listening experience. You only need to glance through these 28 pages to know why.

My wife, who attended the show at the Bowl last year, of course loves it! She is more the target demographic as has been stated. The C50 concert goer who wants a momento.

So I think this album should be a ok seller perhaps for the Greatest Hits buyer over time. Nothing wrong with that. For me its going to be played as general music through the house system, not to be analysed or critiqued, along with the Chiba concert. For a bit of down and dirty close-in ipod experience it will be the Maidment Theatre show.