It's Saturday, the last day of SXSW. And for me, it begins with three tech-oriented panels and ends with one more musical blast. (Shown above: Perfect Pants.)
Panel No. 1: "The Archival Restoration Preservation Society." From that title, I'm thinking that the Society actually exists — especially since two of the panelists are producers George Massenburg and Sandy Pearlman, longtime champions of good sound. But no, there's no such formal organization; the guys are just having fun with a certain Kinks album title. That said, they're dead serious about archival preservation, particularly for original analog recordings — which will require new forms of analog storage. As for sound quality itself? Says Massenburg: "No resolution is high enough." Which brings us to . . .
Panel No. 2: "Neil Young Archives." Volume 1 is finally coming, on June 2. (For details, see my previous Bitstream post.) "It's not a boxed set," says manager Elliot Roberts. "It's a biography. It's actually a life." Roberts is so enthusiastic about sharing a preview with the audience that when his cellphone rings — and it's Neil himself — he doesn't take the call! But, referencing the project's incarnation on Blu-ray Disc, Roberts does share with us Neil's motto: "Quality, whether you want it or not."
Panel No. 3: "Wax Attacks!" Vinyl resurgence? Only 15 people (including yours truly, Ken Richardson) attend this panel, which is moderated by John Kunz, owner and operator of Austin's landmark shop Waterloo Records. There's lots of talk about value-added bonuses (artwork, liner notes, posters), the social element of playing LPs, and even their "sex appeal." But the "superior sound quality of vinyl," as one panelist put it, is mentioned only once. I hope to post a rebuttal to that supposed superiority at some point soon.
And I also hope to give you more details on all of those panels in a future issue of the print magazine. In the meantime, however, there's one more night of SXSW music to be heard . . .
Continue reading "SXSW 2009, Day 4: plum panels, Perfect Pants" »






