June 4th – 2025.  

It’s rainy season in Florida.  A storm put me out of work for a few hours, so I retreated into a nearby swank Mexican restaurant called Casa Blanca.  Soaked, I tried to dry off a bit in the bathroom, before sitting down to order tacos.  I figured this would be a good time to do the write-up for Tony Holiday & The Velvetones.   

I picked this project back up with the sole focus of fixing the troubled audio.  I had it in my mind that the visuals were fine.  Upon review I was dismayed at myself.  How the hell could I gloss over the problems, back then, that I saw now?  My heart sank a bit, realizing this would be a much more difficult restoration than I’d anticipated.  

I had three other videographers, besides myself, roaming the stage. The most I’d ever had.  We used different cameras that took in light and color in varying degrees.  I guess I was a bit of a purest in those days.  I liked discrepancies and conflicting formats.  But that technique didn’t work for this concert at all.  I made hundreds of edits, and each shot needed specific color correction.  

After I finally finished that, and upscaled the resolution,I focused on this concerts essential problem: the audio mix.

Whoever ran the mixing board got clean sound, but the levels were off at times, making the guitar too loud.  It got worse for two songs in particular, and there wasn’t anything I could do about it, so I cut those from the show.  The other tracks were fixable, however. The guitar was still boosted on the left channel, but the right sounded pretty damn great.  So I erased the left, and took the mono right and made it stereo.  Then I experimented with 5.1 surround for each song, gradually shifting the audio a bit.  When only a trio of performers had the stage, I moved the sound closer, and pulled it back when the stage filled with guest musicians.  

I’m proud of the end result.  Hope y’all dig it.  

Especially you, Mr. Holiday.