BTTR DVD THOUGHTS

[sue d.]

Ah.... deception abounds in every avenue you drive down.

Just a random thought: What does "Made in America" even mean any more? Half the parts are imported, then assembled in the U.S. Was that car/produce REALLY made here, or just assembled here?

[petheadeast123]

I can see both sides of this.. and Brent's right - this type of thing has been going on for a long time and there are very few bands these days that don't use some type of canned tracks.. some people will use just a little bit of percussion - some will have background vocals and whatnot..

I do have to admit though.. I was at the taping in Nashville with three friends I brought along and (just being honest...) we debated walking out after the first few songs because it was soooo obvious to us that a large majority of the lead (and all background) vocals were not being sung live. We are all big Schlitt fans and was bummed he wouldnt be there, but in recent years I've grown to really enjoy the Volz era songs and Greg's voice a lot - I told the guys not to worry - that it would be a great show because I knew Greg was as good a live singer as John.

When the show first started I remember thinking this.. "WOW they sound GREATTT, but gosh they could sure turn up a few notches" I felt like I couldnt really clap and get into it cause I feared I would drown out the band - I don't even think the drums were being pumped through the P.A. - honestly. Then somewhere during "Clean" there was a few times where I noticed Greg's vocals sustained longer than the mic was up to his mouth.. Now don't get me wrong - some of the vocals were live - Greg would signal a guy side stage (by looking over and touching the tip of the mic with his index finger) and the mic would become live... but you could hear a quality change in the vocals .

We did not walk out - we stayed for the whole thing, but left very disappointed.. We're all musicians and love watching a live band really workout on stage.. This felt more like being at a music video shoot - not a concert taping and we did feel a little mislead.. But then again we thought "hey its ok it was free --- but its not really free when you drive from North Missouri and stay in a hotel." Also, at the time we were not really aware of the practices of TV tapings and how perfect they wanted it and all that - we figured it would be kinda like the J&H performance from 2003 on TBN.. just with Classic Petra.

So that was my feeling on it... I am VERY glad to see the recent stuff on youtube.. the most recent full concert uploaded there sounds great - and everything is being done live for REAL. I hope to make it out to a Classic Petra show soon - cause to be honest I have gotten more entertainment out of watching those youtube videos than I did from being at the TBN taping.. Truthfully!!

Sorry for writing so much and if I have offended anyone - I'm not trying to knock Classic Petra in any way.. Back to the Rock is actually currently in my car's cd player - along with Farewell, Head East Live!, and Elvis #1's!

[executioner]

I don't have a problem that CP canned the show, they told us from the get go that it would be this way. The problem I have is the DVD has been pushed to the consumer as a "live" concert and frankly its plain and simple a lie.
Do we think this honors God?

[rexreed]

Does it honor God? Hmmmm. Well it was shot at Trinity Music City- does that count for anything?

[executioner]

Does it honor God? Hmmmm. Well it was shot at Trinity Music City- does that count for anything?

Good point!

[Timbo]

Is it safe to assume that volume two will sound really really good since they have been playing together for a while now?

[executioner]

They can sound the best they've ever sounded, but its up to the producer and editing mixer to capture that.

[Mountain Man]

Few bands play 100% live and unassisted. Even Elvis, David Coverdale, and countless others used singers backstage to hit their high notes.

There's a difference between a little assistance and full on canned tracks with gobs of post-production magic to polish things up. One is a live album, and the other is a studio album that just happened to be recorded in front of an audience.

[Timbo]

Speaking of that, Am I crazy or does the audio on the DVD sound better than the Classic petra live mp3 downloads that are available?

[Mountain Man]

As I understand it, the MP3 downloads from ClassicPetra.com are poorly compressed leading to noticeably lower quality than an uncompressed source like DVD or CD, which is baffling because it's trivial to make a good sounding MP3 from an uncompressed source. It's as easy as running lame -q 2 input.wav output.mp3.

[brent]

Not all of the mp3 sites treat mp3s the same way or get those mp3s from the same source. Some of them actually have less resolution than others even though they might say 128kbps. I am a fan of making crappy and or different MP3s so that people are more or less steered to a CD purchase. There is no good reason to buy an mp3, other than convenience. There is absolutely no sonic benefit. In fact, the best MP3 codec creates 50% distortion, collapses the stereo image, discards data, etc. MP3s have killed music.

[sue d.]

Call me old, but I've NEVER bought an mp3 in my life.

I'll still buy CDs over a download any day.

[executioner]

Me too CD's all the way.

[LivingRock]

Me too CD's all the way.

Same here! I have peple asking me why I don't get an ipod or mp3 player for convenience...my answer is, I love the sound of CD's on a really GOOD stereo system, even a good car stereo (my Toyota has a good one ) And I DON'T love the sound of "canned music"...Despite the "inconvenience" of lugging around fifty pounds of CDs everywhere

[St_Augustines_Pears]

Call me old, but I've NEVER bought an mp3 in my life.

I'll still buy CDs over a download any day.

Same here.

A bit off on a tangent but still funny...I was talking to my 9-year-old daughter the other day when I found out former Warrant vocalist Jani Lane had died. Here's how the conversation went...

Me: "Oh wow...Jani Lane died!"
Emily: "Who's Jani Lane?"
Me: "He was the singer in an '80s hard rock band called Warrant."
Emily: "Did you have any of their CDs?"
Me: "I had their first album, Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich, on cassette."
Emily: "What's a cassette?"
Me: *sigh*