http://www.jambase.com/headsup.asp?storyID=5914
OPENING THE DEAD'S VAULT: DAVID LEMIEUX
David Lemieux has one of the greatest jobs on earth. Not only does he get
paid to listen to Grateful Dead music that no one else has access to, but he
also helps decide what we actually do get to hear. As the Grateful Dead's
archivist, David holds the key to the much talked about Vault. Lucky for us,
David has decided to open the doors and talk about both the past and what may be
in store for the future. Welcome to The Vault.
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JamBase: What was your first Grateful Dead show?
Lemieux: March 26, 1987. The opener was "Midnight Hour" into "Cold Rain
and Snow," and even then, when I was 16, I thought "Man, that's how they would
have opened a show in 1967!"
JamBase: How long have you been working as the archivist for the Grateful
Dead? What were you doing before this and how did you come about this dream job?
Lemieux: I started working with GDP [Grateful Dead Productions] in early
1999, on contract, cataloguing the video collection. Throughout most of 1999 I
kept coming down here from Canada, working different contracts for the band,
cataloguing different parts of the video and film collection. Then around
early-September, 1999, I became the full-time tape archivist. Prior to that I
was the audiovisual curator at the British Columbia Archives in Victoria, taking
care of the province's film, video and audio collection, amongst other things.
JamBase: What percentage of the archive have you listened to?
Lemieux: Well, certain years of the collection, such as 1972-1974, about
100%. For others, such as 1984, probably closer to 50%. For instance, if a show
has absolutely no release potential due to the tape being poor quality, I
generally don't spend too much time critiquing it, unless I'm listening to it
for pleasure.
JB: It must be a challenge to figure out what shows to put out. What are
the
criteria for deciding what music to release on CD or DVD? How involved are the
band members in this process?
DL: Generally, we begin with a year. The recent Dick's Picks Volume 33 is
a
good example. We wanted to hit 1976 again, so we take a good overview of what we
have from that year in the vault. Then we narrow it down to the best five or six
shows, and then go through them very critically, taking input from a few good
ears. Then, we settle on a Pick after months of listening and comparison. In
terms of how that year is selected, we look at what has been released recently,
say, the last six Picks, and try to mix things up. With video, we have so little
that the selection process is really a matter of going through the 20-25
releasable concerts we have and determining what is the right release for the
time.
The band members are all very busy on current and future projects, so they
are not actively involved in production of the archival Grateful Dead releases.
However, whenever one of the band members calls the studio or vault, they are
always very curious and encouraging about what we're up to.
JB: When you were putting together the new box set, Beyond Description
(1973-1989), how did you choose the bonus songs that you included with it? What
do you do with the bonus songs that don't make the cut?
DL: With each album, we included music that was from its era. Our first
choice
is usually excellent rare studio outtakes, as those always make great additions
to an album (except a live album, of course). For Wake Of The Flood, though, we
knew early on that it was essential to include a live "Eyes Of The World," as it
was played so well in 1973. In the case of Blues For Allah, we found some
excellent studio outtakes, so although there are loads of excellent live
versions of the songs on that album, these rare studio jams were too good to
pass up. The two live albums in the boxed set, Reckoning and Dead Set, have been
expanded to two-CD sets, with live music from those Warfield and Radio City 1980
shows (with a couple of bonus songs from 1978). For those albums, we had
somewhat limited choices, as much of the multi-track tapes from those shows have
been erased for a number of reasons. However, much of the best stuff in the run
was mixed back in 1981, and those tapes were our sources for these albums' bonus
songs. We did manage to get more than seven hours of bonus songs onto the box,
and about 80 more minutes that did NOT make the cut was released as a bonus CD
for those who ordered the box set directly from GDP (including the stunning
3/23/75 "Blues For Allah" jam).
JB: What has been the most popular Grateful Dead release in your tenure? Is
it
your favorite?
DL: One of my favorites has been Dick's Picks Vol. 22, from Lake Tahoe in
1968, and it is NOT the most popular. I think the most popular release has been
Steppin' Out with the Grateful Dead. Ladies and Gentlemen... The Grateful Dead,
The Closing Of Winterland, and Dick's Picks 18 and Dick's Picks 29.
JB: Have you ever considered putting out a whole tour or is that
impractical
because of the varying quality of the shows?
DL: About the closest we have got is the six-CD Dick's Picks, Volume 29.
That
is two complete shows on a great tour. I don't think the impediment to doing a
whole-tour release is varying show quality, but rather putting out a 20-CD box
set. Fall Tour 1972 and Fall Tour 1973 are worthy candidates for whole-tour
consideration, certainly.
JB: What show has been the most requested (by the fans) for you to release?
DL: Hmmm, many of the most-requested shows have been released: 5/2/70, 2/13
and 2/14/70, 12/31/78, 10/16/89. Of course, 8/27/72 (a very good possibility
some day, with great multi-track master tapes to mix from) and 5/8/77 (not in
the vault) are the other top-of-the-listers.
JB: How long were you working on producing The Grateful Dead Movie DVD?
What
kinds of changes did you make from the original? Was it one of your biggest
projects since taking over as the archivist?
DL: The production took about a year, with preliminary work being done
on-and-off for a couple of years before 2004. Not a single frame of the original
movie was altered. We even included the original theatrical 5.1 Surround Sound
audio mix, in addition to a new 5.1 mix and a new stereo mix. However, we added
A LOT of bonus material on Disc 2, including almost 100 minutes of
never-before-seen footage from the original 16mm negative, mixed in 5.1 sound;
three new documentaries about the movie and the DVD; and several other cool
items. Oh, we also had a great commentary track with the original film editors
who worked on the movie with Jerry. This was by far the biggest project I've
worked on since coming here. The quantity of material to go through, as well as
all of the technical issues 16mm film raises, was quite a challenge, but Jeffrey
Norman did a great job making sure the audio was perfect, and we had quite an
extensive technical team involved in the overall production. It's a really
satisfying project.
JB: Do you have any other big projects that you'd like to tackle?
DL: A couple come to mind, the biggest of which would be another two-DVD
set
of the other outtakes from The Grateful Dead Movie. There is still plenty of
material, both live musical performances and backstage and interview footage to
include.
JB: What percentage of shows have video as well? Was there a point when the
band decided to record video for every show?
DL: There are about 100 shows on video in the vault, of which maybe 20-25
are
releasable based on performance, video and audio quality. The bulk of these
concerts are the screen-feeds that people would have seen at stadiums or at
Shoreline. That's about it. So, no, a decision was never made to tape every
show. Luckily, the live directors of these screen feeds (Len Dell-Amico and Bob
Hartnett) hit record on a professional-quality video recorder to make these
masters.
JB: In the late '80s when Dan Healy was doing his ultra-matrix, are there
pure
soundboard versions or just his mix?
DL: Not really. When the ultra-matrix is what was recorded for any given
tour,
that's all there is. The tapes from 1987-1990 are particularly hit-or-miss in
this regard. When the matrix (audience mics and soundboard blend) was dialed in
perfectly, these tapes sound outstanding.
JB: Which of the Grateful Dead's sound engineer's produced the best mix?
DL: I say this not only because I work with him, but I really do think
Jeffrey
Norman's mixes are outstanding. Very sensitive, democratic and dynamic. In
saying that, though, I also think Bob and Betty, Dan Healy and John Cutler were
excellent studio mixers, and perfect for this band. They shared an understanding
of this music and what it required in the mix.
JB: Are there any shows for which soundboards don't exist because of
recording
problems or any other reason?
DL: Plenty. Some shows simply weren't recorded, some have gone missing over
the years, and some (some of October, 1972, for example) were recorded as
audience tapes only.
JB: Would you ever digitize the archive to make it available for download?
DL: Yes, and this is something that we've been looking into for a number of
years. It seems the technology is just about there, which means it's time we
start looking at it seriously. I'd love to see it happen.
JB: What era do you feel has the best sounding recordings?
DL: I'm quite partial to Betty's tapes, 1976-1977 in particular, but Bear's
1969 recordings and Kidd's 1973-1974 recordings have a special clarity.
JB: What does 2005 hold in store for the music of the Grateful Dead?
DL: Stay tuned. Likely several great releases in many forms: DVD, vault
release, Dick's Picks. Currently, though we're just finalizing what to do for
2005, so nothing is definite.
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