So, I just got the Final ABB show in the mail from Hittin' the Note. Great show, but can I quibble.
I am not crazy for the sound mix. It sounds muddled to me. I feel like Butch's drums are way in the background and not sure I can hear Jaimoe's at all. The last purchase I made was the Fillmore
six cd set. The sound on that is FANTASTIC. Tom Dowd was truly a genius! Somehow I think that with all of the advancements in technology the sound recordings would be better than ever. Am I crazy?

You crazy! Good to see you around.

I have bought some shows and felt the same about mixes but then I guess when you are selling every show not as much time and money goes into each show.

Totally agree. I actually searched this forum last month to see if anybody thought this and was a bit surprised nobody mentioned it. I feel validated now!

i got the last shows as a Xmas gift, but try as i might to adjust them in my car to make them enjoyable, i really didn't like listening to them. i pulled out other shows to see if it was just a Munk Mix thing. (i prefer the Instant Lives)

Very muddy, no drums, too much bass, guitar levels going everywhere, vocals to loud imo, It doesn't have a cohesive sound to me.

Agree. I thought Gregg's voice sounded distant, but then on Good Morning Little School Girl Warren's voice sounded right there and crystal clear. It really is all over the place. Kind of disappointing after getting The Fillmore Shows and enjoying probably the best sounding live album ever. I would think that they would have taken special care to mix the very last show really well.
Oh well, it still is a historical piece.

Look around the vine section and get Joe Beacons audience recording....Fantastic

I got to add my .02 cents as well. I thought the mix could have been better too. I really think some of the songs sounds like they're slogging their way through them. I know the tempo of some songs have slowed down thru the years too. I really enjoy the original drum sound of Butch and Jaimoe best in the early seventies when you could really hear both kits. Now it has too much of a rock sound on the drums. Maybe Jaimoe should be mixed in a little more. What do I know? But that is just me! I love the Allman Brothers Band is any shape or form. I have been listening for 43 years and haven't got tired yet!!!

eap,
Steve

Look around the vine section and get Joe Beacons audience recording....Fantastic

^^^^^^^^^
This.

I agree it isn't the flawless, and it's unfair to compare these mixes to what Tom Dowd created and Bill Levenson tweeked - a lot more money has gone into perfecting those Fillmore recordings over the past 40 plus years than nearly any other recordings.

It's great in its quieter moments - the "Little Martha" and "Mountain Jam" sounds great with the crowd's energy pushing them (Instant Live sometimes had too much crowd noise, you can hear some girl whistling in your ear on the Fox Box). But when the 10.28.14 show gets loud and dirty, it can get muddy - for some reason Warren's guitar overpowers on a lot of the Munck mixes to my ear. Sometimes it sounds like the guitars are being played out of a shoe box, they don't resonate, which removes the energy from a show, that I can say first-hand, had in spades.

[Edited on 2/14/2015 by porkchopbob]

As a record, near immediate record of an historic musical event, I'm fine with it. It gets lots of air play around my house.

Would I buy an improved, re-mastered recording? Probably.

[Edited on 2/13/2015 by BillyBlastoff]

"Sometimes it sounds like the guitars are being played out of a shoe box, they don't resonate, which removes the energy from a show, that I can say first-hand, had in spades."

My thought s exactly Porkchopbob, the guitars sound very lean, no resonation.
I have no doubt this show had a ton of energy, how could it not. I am sure the crowd was just crazy.

It's hard to capture resonance of every instrument from the board of a live mix.
My grip about the shows recording was how the mix went from the live mix( the big area in the middle of the crowd )to the board mix. Although I can hear how panning it after every intro brought some of the crowd energy into the instant live. The guitars were up front. Being a guitar player I enjoy hearing Duane's guitars being recorded once again. And by capable players.
We could have waited five years for a better mix (40th dvd) but it wouldn't be INSTANT LIVE now would it?
I thought the show topped the Filmore because of what it was. And did I mention Duane's guitars being played again. Come on !!!!!! Duane's 59' LesPaul standards being used live!!!
That for me, a guitar geek is worth it.
And it sounds better that the 1st night at the peach 2014 instant live. Gregg's mic wasn't turned up until the end of the 1st verse AWTNM. That had the crowed noise mixed in ,just as sickening as being next to the drunk girl shouting "Free Bird".