kramdenfan

I know this may be an old subject, but I was watching the Rush in RIo DVD the other day and decided to give the CD another listen during my work commute.

My original thoughts on the CD haven't changed: What a horrible mix! Geddy's vocals are barely heard over the music!! I have concert bootlegs that sound a helluva lot better than this. NOrmally Rush's live CDs are very high quality.

I give it a 6.

What does everyone else think?

Jason

I don't understand why the mix is so bad on this CD. Hell, the instantlive CDs from the last KISS tour sound a lot better than Rush in Rio, and they're basically straight off the soundboard recordings.

I always thought the remastered Exit...Stage Left CD sounded pretty bad too.

Giantrobo

I agree Geddy is barely audible. This is another reason why "LIVE" albums are generally on my shit list.

KnightLerxst

From what I read they basically recorded this cd on the fly...that is the reason why the vocals are so muted...

I am pretty sure they did overdubs for the dvd audio...Geddy's vocals just sound like they came out of a studio at some points...

cdollaz

Yes, it sounds like crap.

Giantrobo

In the extras section they talk about ,IIRC, how the sound truck was the only one in brazil and how it was somewhat antiquated or some nonsense like that.

My thoughts when hearing this were if it's worth doing then it's worth doing RIGHT. RUSH fans tend to be technoolgy nerds and anal about sound quality. Although RUSH would rather rip their eyes out instead of getting to know their fans, they should've realized this little fact.

kramdenfan

My thoughts exactly- why put out a less than quality project, especially one that they've been teasing fans for years now. If the equipment in Rio wasn't able to produce a decent sounding product, don't record there!

Also, if they were able to remast Geddy's vocals for the DVD, why the hell couldn't they do it for the CD?

KnightLerxst

The problem is that all this stuff was very last minute...they were supposed to record the show at a venue in North America but had to abort that idea.

Alex and Geddy are nice guys...they do meet at greets all the time...Neil is just Neil...he doesn't hate the fans, he is just very uncomfortable with fame.

Rypro 525

i remeber the excuse for the non anamorphic transfer is because not all of the cameras were hd, and it woudln't have looked right or something like that.

KnightLerxst

Yup...that whole set was put together last minute.

Everyone always complains about how Rush never does anything spontanious...well they did...and still people complain.

I am just glad they are still making music.

cdollaz

The complaints are about being spontaneous in concert, not spontaneous in releasing a subpar quality cd.

KnightLerxst

Eh...I think I am just getting touchy from all the complaints on Counterparts.

The Rush In Rio cd mix is awful...no doubt...the vocals are hardly there.

I just don't think that subpar cd means they don't care about their fans.

Jason

Right. It was because the mini-cameras they use around the drum kit (big cameras distract Neil) were only capable of shooting in 4x3 ratio. The right cameras exist, just not in Brazil. The whole South American tour was sort of spontaneous, as it was tacked on the the end of the Vapor Trails tour, so they didn't have the equipment to do it right.

I wonder if they made an effort to record this one because they thought at the time that it could be their very last show? Everytime they announce something anymore, I'm afraid it will be their retirement.

The Infidel

I've listened to every version of E:SL, from vinyl to cassette to the original release CD to the remastered CD. To me, it always sounded like crap, which goes to prove one of my old sayings:

You can take a turd and gold-plate it and spray perfume on it all you want...all you end up with is a shiny, aromatic turd.

Giantrobo

but at least E:SL was what 20 something + years ago. I can forgive shitting sounding live albums from "back in the day"

Giantrobo

Dude that is so true. Everytime they announce something I get same feeling.