Deep Listening Band

Deep Listening Band January 2011 residency and concert at Town Hall Seattle produced enough material for both a CD and an LP on Important Records, and a double LP on Taiga Records. The subsequent summer consisted of well over 100 hours of listening on my part along side DXArts technical wizard Michael McCrea who himself has between 150 and 200 hours of listening and editing in this multifaceted project. In the process of both performing and recording as a member of DLB I found myself exclaiming, I am hearing spherically. DXArts' elegant Meyer Sound Surround System was phenomenal with its eight loudspeakers and four subwoofers surrounding the Band and audience. I was hearing the sound ambisonically as it came from above and below me as well as all around me. Capturing the ambisonic effect on stereo would seem to be impossible, but there are hints of this in these recordings depending on both how the recordings are edited and the playback system. During my listening I was astonished at McCrea's ability to not only incorporate a small measure of ambisonic sound in stereo but also how he would deconstruct the recordings in order to improve instrument balances and sonic spectrum uniformity.'