Page 25 - 2022-08-01 Sound & Vision

Time Flies options, and C/C serves up just about
Before we delve deeper into the making
of Wilson’s amazing C/C Atmos mix,
some facts do need to be laid down as
to how Porcupine Tree came back from
a state of limbo most people, myself
included, thought was le behind a fully
closed door. A er the band’s exhaus-
tive 2010 world tour in support of their
sonically challenging September 2009
concept album The Incident, Porcupine
Tree essentially called it quits. The four
core bandmembers—guitarist/vocalist
Wilson, drummer Gavin Harrison,
keyboardist Richard Barbieri, and
bassist Colin Edwin—began doing their
own respective things in the interim,
some of them working together on each
other’s solo projects and/or other occa-
sional intersecting collaborations.
Though the band never said they
were 100 percent kaput outright, as
time went on, it was assumed Porcupine
Tree was officially in the rearview mirror.
However, Wilson and Harrison had
already begun collaborating together
on potential Porcupine Tree music as Left to right, page 24:
early as 2011, albeit in a fashion very Porcupine Tree, Mach
much under the radar. “The drums are 2022— Barbieri,
always the most complicated thing, so Wilson, and Harrison
traditional band jams, writing sessions, collectively look to
and some rehearsals over the years the future. Below:
took place at my studio,” Harrison notes. Wilson, recording
“Steven would come around since we guitar parts for
live near each other, and I had a lot of C/C at AIR Studios
downtime to work on my performances. in London.
We had no deadline. We knew when the
songs were ready.”
Eventually, Wilson and Harrison
reached out to Barbieri so he could join
in and add his own signature keyboard
sauce to what they were laying down
together. “When I come in, I’m not there
to jam—I concentrate more on adding
the atmospheric and textural side of
things,” Barbieri affirms. It should be
noted that Edwin did not participate in
this band revival, so Wilson plays all the
bass parts on C/C himself, technically
turning Porcupine Tree into a power-
prog trio of sorts. (That said, the band
will be enhanced by guitarist Randy
McStine and bassist Nate Navarro
during the fall 2022 tour in support of the
new album.)
The Creator Has a Master Tape
Wilson and his PTree cohorts are no
Photo: Adam Taylor what they want when it comes to
strangers to giving their fans exactly
offering a myriad of collectible (and
mostly quite playable!) physical release
You had a choice—if you’ve got a stereo
any format you could imagine. To wit: sound, are you gonna put it in the front
C/C is available via a standard seven- speakers, or are you gonna put it in the
song CD; 2LP 180-gram vinyl (in black, back speakers? That was pre y much
white, gold, and silver); 3LP deluxe the decision you had—or somewhere
45rpm vinyl; 1CD/1BD deluxe edition between. And now, that ‘somewhere
with the Atmos mix on Blu-ray plus between’ means you can put something
instrumental versions and three bonus very discretely in these side speakers.”
tracks on CD only (the jamtastic “Popu- Wilson gives an example from
lation Three” is the best of the lot that’s another Atmos mix he recently
not in Atmos); and, yes, there’s even a completed—one that must remain
casse e. Full disclosure—I did indeed nameless for the time being, however.
buy the casse e purely for collection/ “I’ve been pu ing a lot of the piano in
completion purposes, but I’ll never play the sides,” he details. “You tend to have
it. (If, however, C/C ever comes out on the drums, bass, and the rhythm guitars
reel-to-reel tape, then I’ll fire up the Akai kind of front-centric, and then the piano
machine and report back accordingly.) just feels like it’s a li le bit more out into
the space in the room. That works really
Of the New Atmos Day well—but there are no hard and fast
One of Wilson’s personal mixing revela- rules. It’s whatever sounds good.”
tions as he was working on C/C and That said, “whatever sounds good”
other recent projects in Atmos was how is certainly a huge understatement
he was able to take full advantage of when it comes to the abject power
both the height and side channels for a inherent in the Atmos mix of C/C’s
full 7.1.4 setup. As a result, he feels it’s opening 8-minute opus, “Harridan,”
a marked improvement upon what he which features dramatic volume swells,
was doing for years in “just” 5.1. “I’m a hard-hi ing proto-metal sequences,
big fan of the side speakers,” Wilson strategic false o, and a free-form, slow-
confirms. “If you don’t have them in your burn noodling section. In essence,
system, you’ll be hearing a phantom “Harridan” encapsulates the full
thing going on there, but I’m making promise of what Porcupine Tree fans
a lot of use of those side speakers. have come to expect over the years—
Obviously, 5.1 seems almost simple and beyond. “What you hear in that
now—the decision-making process song particularly is something probably
that went on in 5.1, I mean—though it true of almost everything I’ve done,”
seemed quite complicated at the time. Wilson assesses. “I don’t think I’ve ever
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