Alan Parsons & Steven Wilson // HIGH END 2022

Alan Parsons and Steven Wilson talking about music, music production, new records and the HIGH END 2022 audio show in Munich.
More on the HIGH END 2022 audio show (19 - 22 May 2022):
www.highendsociety.de/high-en...
Tickets (available online only):
ticket.highendsociety.de/tick...
#HIGHEND2022 #HIGHEND #HIGHENDMUNICH #AUDIOSHOW #STEVENWILSON #ALANPARSONS

[@justalittlesersy5678]

As much as I love hearing Alan play his music, I love hearing and seeing interviews with him even more. Such a humble gentleman genius.

[@garyolshan4177]

@@yinoveryang4246 I find the greatest musicians I've heard in interviews tend to be humble, likeable and show humility, Parson loves vinyl likes yours truly.

[@javierjones]

Seeing and listening these two talking is absolutely incredible. ❤️

[@fenimore6299]

Alan Parsons hat sich als Toningenieur bei Pink Floyd’s „Dark Side of the Moon“ für die Ewigkeit Dank verdient.

[@ClearTheRubble7]

I had and loved "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" and "I, Robot," back in my high school days in the '70's, and I love the music of Porcupine Tree and Steven Wilson today, so this interview was a real treat.

[@SpiritualAtheist]

Turn of A Friendly Card is one of a handful of albums that I’ve listened to at least a thousand times.

[@DJAvalonArizona]

Just played my vinyl copy the night before last. Excellent hi-fi album. 😁

[@SC-xy7cn]

It is THE one album I’d take with me to an island and getting stranded …and a I’m a progressive metal fan

[@alannicolle3361]

I played it two nights ago. Porcupine Tree last night. Friendly Card is perfect...but them so is Pyramid...and Ammonia Avenue.

[@Prizzy999]

I didn't think Steven Wilson would show up barefoot even to interview a fellow musician. He truly is one of a kind :) Enjoyed the chat!

[@vivianagarza]

he's at his own home! of course he would be barefoot 😂😍

[@howardkleger]

Timestamp plz

[@grantjohnston7148]

Tales of mystery and imagination is in my favorite top 5 albums. So original and vibrant for its time.

[@ralex3697]

How about Dark Side Of The Moon ? Young engineer Alan in a small project.

[@nectarinedreams7208]

@@ralex3697 Is that the Transformers movie? Rings a bell.

[@Bricamy]

Tales of Mystery and Imagination in 5.1 is just an experience. - Nice to see Alan well and kicking!

[@stevemuzak8526]

Two legendary music producers. Old school way and modern way.

[@margix1172]

Two legends!!! I hope they will collaborate in a thousand of projects together!!!

[@Frip36]

The skinny guy is a legend? I've never heard of him. I thought he was just some interviewer.

[@margix1172]

@@Frip36It's your fault Ignorance is worst than crime

[@stevemuzak8526]

@@Frip36 And who you are? Nobody.

[@Frip36]

@@stevemuzak8526 I'm just a regular fella. And that's OK.

[@nuisanceguru]

just some interviewer who happens to have 4 5.1 nominations... did you even watch the first 5 minutes?

[@Nephilim-81]

I hope Steven and Alan keep doing what they’re doing for another many many more years. My wallet won’t care either. :) I love those Bluray 5.1 audio discs with killer stereo LPCM 24/96k recordings. :)

[@rodanone4895]

I spun eye in the sky on a 90s denon turntable through five very large headroom amps into six large speakers just last night. still on vinyl in two channel stereo... mind still blown over thirty years later... just as sirius starts... thump thump thump thump... my eyes close. hang on tight. great interview. thanks Alan! thanks Steve!

[@douglasalvaradocorrales]

What a pair of master minds ! Applause and respect !!

[@minaiacom]

All the Best at Munich High End

[@lorybari]

Steven....what a strange species we are !!!❤❤

[@FireMunki63]

What a lovely home Steven has :)

[@Shiver020]

AWESOME two of the best and biggest music engineers

[@hornsby5533]

danke für das Interwiev.

[@stevesmith3990]

Thanks for this.

[@LocaliLLocano]

Good interview. Thank you

[@sveneisenhauer1]

Ah, now I have new music to look forward to. Thanks!

[@CHHSFans]

I’ve been waiting for this for more than 10 years!!! Dream team !

[@kayserlein]

Lovely! So far the best Alan Parsons interview I've seen. Personal and sweet.

[@RobinCapper]

Fascinating, I just listen (don't play or record) but as an APP fan loved hearing this

[@FusionHowie]

Am I really watching and hearing this? Absolutely amazing!

[@perlapatriciafranco571]

Two monsters of Exquisite Music and Engineering together: Fantastic encounter!!!Wow!!!

[@protonprotonfix5749]

These together - the MEGA cherry on a damn good cake. What a great talk.

[@chrispicquet733]

I forgot to say that you guys are some of the most inovative artists that I respect greatly.

[@alvinburrell]

What a fantastic interview - two top-level pros sharing some superb production information... and I am an old fan of Alan Parsons and a recent one of Steven Wilson.

[@Nephilim-81]

Oh goodness me. 2 legends. :)

[@CSavageSr]

lovely interview

[@maknorman7250]

Excellent!

[@SRDhain]

A great conversation and i still make time to sit down and listen to music. I've got various albums in 5.1 and use a KEF system to listen to them in when time permits. It's interesting listening to how the mixes have changed over the years, from the ott swirling everything around the room ad hoc, to a more balanced mixes, making use of extra space to allow denser original stereo mixes to breathe (e.g. Depeche Mode's SOFAD, which sounds clearer in surround). Having mixed in surround in the past, it's all about feel. There are no set standards for surround mixes, other than the quality of the end result. These two gents, have made some superb mixes to date. Thank you for sharing🌅

[@DavidOakesMusic]

The fact that some bands seem incapable of going into a professional recording studio and coming out with an album that is sonically perfect in this day and age is staggering. I did a production course twenty years ago and it seems like bands are doing all the things we were told not to do.

[@kenfixes2908]

👍🏻.great inspiring human beings!!! I LOVE 5.1 !! Need more

[@jeremythornton433]

I still want my CDs or records to sound gorgeous. I rarely listen on earbuds. I listen in my car or my almost audiophile stereo in my living room. And my home recording studio. This is a great interview. Thank you for it!

[@FransKeylard]

This is SO awesome! 5.1 and surround FTW!

[@chrispicquet733]

Awesome conversation! I'm still an old school guy that has 80's Klipsch Belle's, with a 6wpc single ended class A Tube Amps,I have a great Dual CS 5000 turntable I love being an old dude that's seen and heard everything!!

[@musicman920]

Just like The Alan Parsons Project records you could listen to Alan talking for ever...

[@euskir]

Steven Wilson love and respect for Alan, simply wonderful, specially coming from someone like him, a fantastic and creative musician.

[@patbarr1351]

I have a small bookcase dedicated to surround discs of various kinds and they do call out to me-- like seeing a slice of pie in the kitchen! One of my favorites is Steven's remix of Porcupine Tree's "Lightbulb Sun," especially the voices calling from speaker to speaker in "How is Your Life Today?"

[@stevemuzak8526]

Surround is the only way I listen to music. It’s the closed thing to real life performance.

[@abstractaeon]

This interview sounds very very very good

[@kansascityonline]

what a great interview.. Alan Parsons.. the legend.. and Steven Wilson, the upcoming legend..!@@@... in my minds eye I see this as Dr Tarr (wilson) speaking with Professor Fether (parsons).. "Just what you need to make you feel better"

[@ralex3697]

Two geniuses in the same room.

[@riseofthethorax]

One of the best first CDs I listened on my brother portable CD player was the greatest hits album..

[@MykeLewisMusic]

Alan Parsons Project's Instrumental Works gets a spin in my house at least once a week, for the last 35 years.

[@porcupinetree3033]

2 of the most talented people I know

[@romanazbukin8687]

After the interview I went to the CD shelf to find "Freudiana" and "Vulture Culture" )

[@rubicon-oh9km]

You really should get Vulture on vinyl.

[@electricwhiterabbit]

Great interview. Would love to hear these guys talk shop for hours. How come this video didn’t get released until now?

[@kevcatnip7589]

Nice to step into that fscinating world

[@ralex3697]

Steven Wilson is in awe of Alan Parsons as he should be

[@ProgNosis_JD]

I think SW is a little too much so, at the outset, but the guys soon warm up when talking about their passion.

[@gregoryhausinger9072]

What a great chat session. Steve Wilsons renewals of the Tull, Yes and Tears for Fears are absolutely beautiful. I've liked Alan Parsons since I 1st found a copy of I robot in my dad's record collection back in 1980ish and played it on his monster Realistic system. The only 2 things I Need (not want) are the Small Box Jethro Tull-Aqualung 40th to be reissued and Alan Parsons Project - Turn of a friendly Card in some Super deluxe variation.

[@skipperrussell2025]

I have all the yes 5.1 and really love them.

[@josephgallagher945]

Steven also remixed some ELP👍

[@georgiostemirsidis1966]

Two geniuses!

[@frankn2912]

I definitely listen music in 5.1 if available. It’s incredible to explore all the old stereo songs in a new universe of sound

[@ahatoro2001]

STEVE WISON almost completely changed, for the best the listening experience of TEARS FOR FEARS the seeds of love. KUDOS !!!

[@jackwezesa1081]

@Randy A Just bought Tipping point . Very good album , nice.

[@jeremybarnes7873]

"which the Pro Audio community doesn't....prescribe to". Wonderfully put.

[@soundingrooves]

Sehr interessantes Gespräch! Grüße ✌🏼

[@highendsocietyOfficial]

Danke und liebe Grüße zurück! ;-)

[@mzmz9355]

Such an interesting thing about this interview is that Alan Parson, as an engineer with focus on scientific aspect, is an ambassador to the show focusing more on hobby/shiny aspect of audio gear where more expensive doesn't mean better.

[@drury2d8]

This is the peak of musical ability, in one image. Obviously, they know each other well, Alan mixed the last Blackfield record.

[@jeremybarnes7873]

My mother was incredibly selective past her Beatles phase. Alan Parsons, Mamas & Papas (People Like Us) and not much else made the grade. My father brought me to visit Cat Stevens while he made himself scarce, so that was definitely another early factor which led to a life in sound engineering.

[@safebelayer]

Great exchange by two very accomplished artists. The Future Bites, well, it bites. Too bad

[@Spock105]

Not really what I expected , since I thought this was be going something about hi-end gear and who playes with what . But , but . I learned something . Namely I saw a Lee Hazelwood boxset in the collection. And since I dig the vinyl I bought from LHI so far for being very dynamic & high in quality , I ordered that boxset . So thank you Steve . And I must say .... you have good taste in furniture also. Though I would have liked some info on hi-fi gear you use for normal listening. For that matter ; I still play often tape on a Revox B77mkII and A77mkIV. For some reason when I make a compilation and copy from cd /sacd or vinyl onto Maxell tape , I get a more satisfied sound....don't know why.

[@scottscottsdale7868]

I do. I listen to music. HT 5.1 got me into 2 channel and now I am into 2 channel for everything. Sound is all!

[@dougdougw]

Alan is huge!

[@09876username]

Tidal has the Eye In the Sky album with MQA. It is one of my reference albums for high end headphones. Psychobabble and Mammagamma have a lot of layers in the recording and a good set of Stax SR-X9000 and LTA Z10e lets you into a musical sound gardern. I would have loved to be in the studio when Alan was putting his magic together on those tracks.

[@odmusicman]

As I suspected with these guys, it's the concept, the music, then the gear in that order. A proper order I would say.

[@stormypoor975]

Alan Parsons kept his physionomy quite well during the past three years from then in 2019.

[@ReferenceFidelityComponents]

Great interview and nice hearing Alan and Steven’s views and enthusiasm. One thing I don’t agree with is that any budget 5.1 system sounds better than a good stereo system. I’ve tried it and it just isn’t true unless the same quality speakers are used and digital manipulation of phase for the listening position is employed. I think it never caught on with passive systems whilst it can sound good on active systems with dsp correction in the time domain. Cd at Redbook done well is audibly indistinguishable to me from hi res which doesn’t convince me. “Warmth” is just distortion. It’s a total myth, a repeated lie that vinyl has more so called warmth if mastered well. That might have more to do with playback variables such as the cart and phonostage used. One thing I do note is that digital rarely provides the same soundstage which with a good cart and phonostage can be almost holographic so perhaps we’re measuring the wrong things for comparisons? Great interview, thank you for sharing.

[@apollomemories7399]

Calm down. Think about it - there's nothing wrong with having some form of budget 5.1 system if one is only a casual level consumer - which let's face it, most people are. I exclude myself as neither casual and nor really much of a fan of 5.1, despite owning what must be several thousand discs featuring such. I can't agree with you on vinyl "warmth" being just distortion and a myth. I reckon it's the opposite of distortion actually, because if I turn up the volume on vinyl I get nothing like the sharp, almost painful reverb as received from the majority of CD's which don't seem to have been mastered at all well for playback at reasonably high levels. However, I absolutely agree with you on the seemingly excellent inherent qualities of the soundstage capabilities achieved with a good cart and phonostage. Of course, I'm referring to original 1st press UK vinyl from decades ago as opposed to the stuff made these days using masters from digital files.

[@ReferenceFidelityComponents]

@@apollomemories7399 peace…I am calm. Read what I wrote again. Fyi I happen to be an audio engineer so do have some knowledge and many years of experience enough to grow tired of all the old hairy chestnuts being rolled out on circular hifi debates which, ultimately, have less to do with facts and are 99% subjective opinion. Subjective disagreement posing as debate is fine as debate is the start of the journey towards truth. Opinion is fine. Everyone has one. Subjective opinion with speculative claims passing as facts are not because they have no part in factual debate, and hifi has for some strange reason, become riddled with it. Some modern vinyl remastered is actually pretty good so it’s another urban myth that only old recordings have it. I learned a lot from a client who was involved in such recordings from the hey day of EMI. There’s a few mastering companies directly linked with pressing plants who specialise on producing some of the very best modern pressings. Air Studios in London is one of them. Check out their 4 seasons pressing and their Big Band Spectacular recordings (producer Mike Valentine) done on Newmann mics and valve cutting lathes… arguably the best subjective and best mastered recordings you’re ever likely to hear😁

[@apollomemories7399]

@@ReferenceFidelityComponents If I had a pound or a dollar for every wannabe major dude that makes claim to be an audio engineer with many years of experience. I too have years of experience buying hi-fi and have attended high-end shows for many years in several cities around the world. And I dislike hi-fi snobbery. Given all these years of experience you make claim to, how comes then that you believe debate is the start of the journey towards truth? It's usually anything but, and in fact, usually promotes compromise and results in give and take. I don't interest myself with hi-fi "opinions". I've heard some great cheap setups and some rather dull expensive ones. Nobody really wants a digitally mastered vinyl record if truth be told. And no, I don't think they all do sound as good as I've bought a few that were disappointing. Obviously any opinion is subjective. Countless numbers of artists used Newmann mics. I reckon 99% of all my vinyl was cut using valve cutting lathes. Are you suggesting I listen to big band music? Seriously? I mean I liked Benny Goodman and all these guys having heard enough of it growing up, but do I want to listen to modern stuff pretending to be Benny Goodman, no matter how well recorded? I guess the descriptive "Spectacular" is the subtle sales pitch. Fine, each to his own.

[@ReferenceFidelityComponents]

@@apollomemories7399 give me strength! I am what I claim to be and am less inclined to give a jot what you think since reading your last penny lecture. You seem to have made your mind up without reason so go argue with your shadow.

[@apollomemories7399]

@@ReferenceFidelityComponents This is one of the downsides of the internet as there's so many "loudest voice" types like you unable to convey an opinion without going full-on teenage-brat-not-getting-its-own-way about it. YOU'RE the one that came on here giving it large - with quite a lot of dare I say, total bull with your "warmth is a myth" nonsense. There's Alan Parsons and Steven Wilson clearly saying the opposite of you, and I don't agree with you either, yet you don't regard what you have to say as a "penny lecture"? Clearly, perhaps you've obviously actually haven't listened to enough vinyl records or at least nearly enough variable genres - as highlighted by your apparent experience with soulless hi-res which says it all - as so many CDs do sound brittle and that's a fact. Get over yourself.

[@craigwillms61]

Saw Alan in concert a few years ago and was less than impressed with the lead singer in his (excellent) band. Then toward the end of the show Alan sang "Don't Let it Show" and it was absolutely marvelous. Made me wonder why he only sang one song??

[@JayRudko]

This is a fascinating conversation. I was intrigued on Steven's comments about high end enthusiasts being overly concerned with the reproduction of the music, than the music itself. Having worked in a high-end audio salon, my impression was the owners of these systems were too busy listening to the system, to actually hear the music. I'm also a fan of 5.1, and I have all of Alan's surround discs, unfortunately only about 5 or 6 of Steven's. I'm working on that, though. Alan's mix of DSOTM, in quad, is still the better mix. I appreciate the work both of you do, and will support it all the way.

[@crimsonfab]

Wilsons surround mixes are amongst the best out there, so you're in for a treat. I can't recommend his work for the XTC back catalogue highly enough - 'Skylarking' and the Dukes of Stratostphear remixes are amazing, as is his remix of 'Seeds of Love' by Tears for Fears.

[@babylemonade2868]

Agree with the Parsons Dark side mix is the best. When I was a kid I didn’t know there was a stereo mix and when I first heard it,wasn’t as good.

[@riseofthethorax]

Another example is 16 million colors is 8 bits per primary , so if you use a 4K tv, if you lineup the pixels on the diagonal, you will have about 3000/256 repeated colors, so you will se banding.. So to eliminate potential banding is to use say 4k per primary, so 36 bit..

[@ReverendNaveed]

The conversation about compressed music 3:00 and actually sitting down and playing a record, the record collection behind us screaming "Oh God he doesn't play us, we're just for show".

[@leonardofernandez6488]

I think that he was joking when he said that.

[@ReverendNaveed]

Hope so!

[@leperlord7078]

Stevens ATMOS mix of Crimsons ITCOTCK deserves a grammy and whatever other rewards it can get

[@jeffshadow2407]

I still have tickets for the cancelled Ojai show from last August. Any update on rescheduling?

[@whatevahz531]

@4:50 "Eye In The Sky won the immersive Grammy THIS YEAR." That 5.1 album won the immersive Grammy in 2019.

[@Tsilderikov]

..and that interview actually is from Dec 2019, predating SW's The Future Bites. I guess everything was put on ice due to covid and they released it now.

[@HawkOfGP]

@@Tsilderikov Yeah that's a crazy delay, but I think you're right and that's exactly what happened. The release of this was delayed by two full years!

[@riseofthethorax]

I'm always amazed how Alan is able to say so young looking..

[@nunomuacho446]

A Porcupine Tree engineered by Alan a la DSOM would be amazing

[@jonnykhatru]

I mean he did exactly that for Steven's album The Raven That Refused to Sing

[@nunomuacho446]

@@jonnykhatru did not know that! thanks

[@mankepoot9440]

I only have one record to utilize my stereo, i just found out i must have two. It is stereo after all, i get it. Wich Diana Krall album do you recommend, as i already own a Dire straits album.

[@ianbates5540]

Will he ever tour the UK?, One concert before I depart this world at least!

[@bikdav]

My question is where are this 5.1 music? Are there disc? Or, is it download and/or stream only?

[@bergennorway]

There are 5.1 music online and physical discs! If you have a SACD-player you will have a lot of albums to listen to in all kinds of genre, but mostly in classical recordings.

[@dr.emilschaffhausen4683]

Fact that this video doesn't have a million views by now shows us that the world is in decline.

[@grahamgibson4669]

I would have like some discussion on the use of speakers and headphones in the studio for mixing and what they use for deciding what sound reproduction is right before laying down the final track. Loved the talk on 5.1 and hope to see that expanded but isn't that going against Alan's "please to see the revival of vinyl". Also would have like some discussion on microphoned music, as with the jazz bands of the past, for example. Some recordings are still awesome from the 1950's.......no compression there! Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck have incredible sound quality and sound stage presence. Also would have liked comments on Dolby Atmos recordings and processing. Great youtube but please tell the camera man to stop flitting from one of you to the other, it's not tennis!

[@bondgabebond4907]

Revival of the CD is right around the corner. Nice. I love CDs. Records are ok, expensive and easily damaged. And those occasional pops. I see there are some great CD players that will bring out the best a CD has to offer. We still get something to hold onto, a case with some information and the ability to store far more in the same place where LPs will be stored. After 50 yeas of LPs, I have to admit I prefer CDs. A number of my LPs have suffered some damage, some in good shape and a few that are just excellent. It's a mixed bag.

[@andykelsall403]

Love the fact that Steven has the complete set of Led Zeppelin super deluxe reissues sat behind him AND he's got them IN CHRONO order - Love it - He's so OCD - Brilliant!!!!!

[@dhollsynthmusic]

Any chance of converting the signal from 70's quad (4.0) records into a coherent 5.1? I've got Atom Heart Mother & Bitches Brew in quad, but getting hold of a vintage quad listening system is difficult.

[@pentachronic]

When Steven is talking about tape hiss and noise I wonder if the attraction is like "dithering" where it makes the listener add information that wasn't really there originally and enriches the sound experience ? Kind of like an Exciter but in the time domain!

[@dhollsynthmusic]

just a general heads-up: this interview was from the tail-end of 2019.

[@porcupinetree3033]

This is the first time I saw a video inside Steven Wilson home I always knew that he would have had thousands of records 🤣

[@Sphinx7410]

This discussion was done before the release of Alan's The secret and Steven's The Future bites so id say this was carried out in 2019 not 2022 as it states.

[@garanceadrosehn9691]

This is a little weird. I checked, and Alan *is* the ambassador for High End 2022, but this interview is from 2019!

[@ScottSo2112]

There was likely no High End 2020 or 2021. The editor in me thinks they should have cut out where they discussed future (now past) projects, and also the beginning where Steven says the albums are just for show (don't think he was kidding). Actually felt bad for Steven missing out on being able to do his show in the O2. THE FUTURE BITES, indeed!

[@badrogue66]

Nice house , Steven

[@darrenquilliam2908]

Anyone know what kind of sound system Steven has at home?

[@leperlord7078]

How many and which of Parsons has he released in surround?

[@riseofthethorax]

The reason that the music industry is not like it was in the seventies was that LPs were the only real consumer replay-able medium.. When Cassettes came out, it made it possible for other sources..

[@lore88824]

Two heroes of mine, incredible talk...video and audio production could be better and isn't really "HIGHEND"...

[@LawnD4rt]

I have 2 7.1 setups. Do more!

[@truckerkevthepaidtourist]

Stevie couldn't even put on a pair of shoes for the interview 🤣🤣🤣

[@dougwhite7584]

I've been a fan of the project and Alan Parsons for many years. If I might be so bold to say..I have long wished Alan would have a different approach to recording drum fideility. I often wish the projects drums had greater attention given to dynamic range. Light touch drums have a resonant quality that always sings louder without consistent crushing of the peaks. Less becomes more and way more present. Check out Rick Beato's interview with Gregg Bissonette's drumming. Just the right touch, resonant, more dynamic, incredibly powerful, Less attack equals more dynamic range.

[@drstkova]

8:00 Audio anomaly! What happened with the doubling audio?!

[@JosipMiller]

There is something about professional equipment and this is differential path of the signal, e.g. balanced signal path. Signal travels along pair of wires and everything that is induced on them due to outside influence is cancelled out. Also ground loops are avoided since there is no amplification of signal relative to the ground like it is done with unbalanced signal path, like for instance RCA connectors. There is only difference of the potential between to signal wires that counts in balanced signal path. This way most of noise from the outside of cable is cancelled out. Grounded shield is only used to stop outside interference. It does not have relation to the audio signal except picking up outside noise. Some of home audio manufacturers also use balanced concept, for instance Jeff Rowland and Balanced Audio Technology. I think I saw XLR connectors on some good equipment from TEAC and rarely from other mass produced audio. Having ground loops actually makes sound of every single home audio system different and that is why cabling always sounds different. Using RCA cables and connectors opens infinite combination of possibility because every preamp or amp has it's own grounding philosophy just as the cables are made differently and if you have ground loops, signals can degrade because you do not have only ground at potential zero, you have signal traveling over ground wire and that is not good.

[@rainerbuechse6923]

I went back from VERY expensive 5.1 to VEEERY expensive 2.0. Much better!

[@apollomemories7399]

It's amazing what a hundred bucks can do, isn't it.

[@dharlow5810]

@@apollomemories7399 or 10K