Daniel Amos Message Board | Print: DA - The Making of Buechners (DVD)

Posted by Mountain Fan on 09-16-2005 at11:40:

quote:

Originally posted by audiori
We kind of figured that it might be boring for some.. and probably "too long" for many.

Our main goal was to try to balance it a bit.. we didn't want to cut too much fo the "boring" stuff because that is the "making of" an album. Most of it is sort of slow, and "boring" work. We tried to include enough sheepheaded stuff or performance footage to give the folks that weren't interested in that stuff something to see. We just didn't want to overload it with too much of one and none of the other.

We probably should have kept it around 60 min as some of the early edits were.. and then used the extra stuff as bonus material. Then again, it comes in much shorter than "Let It Be," "Rattle and Hum," "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart," "Fearless Freaks," and other music documetaries.

I wouldn't agonize over it. I think y'all had a great blend, all things and angles considered. Smile

Posted by bereal on 09-17-2005 at00:26:

quote:

Originally posted by Mountain Fan

quote:

Originally posted by audiori
We kind of figured that it might be boring for some.. and probably "too long" for many.

Our main goal was to try to balance it a bit.. we didn't want to cut too much fo the "boring" stuff because that is the "making of" an album. Most of it is sort of slow, and "boring" work. We tried to include enough sheepheaded stuff or performance footage to give the folks that weren't interested in that stuff something to see. We just didn't want to overload it with too much of one and none of the other.

We probably should have kept it around 60 min as some of the early edits were.. and then used the extra stuff as bonus material. Then again, it comes in much shorter than "Let It Be," "Rattle and Hum," "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart," "Fearless Freaks," and other music documetaries.

I wouldn't agonize over it. I think y'all had a great blend, all things and angles considered. Smile

Yup. I could've stood it to be a little longer and had more stuff in there, but then again, I'm strange that way. I love the whole studio experience. Some people, like joey, are bored by it so you have to have some balance there. Anyhoo, audi bros, you did a great job! Pleased

Posted by audiori on 10-09-2005 at22:31:

A strange review..

The main complaints seem to be the audio quality - which would be one of our complaints as well.. (but, unfortunately, there was no perfect quality, digital surround sound recording of the audio).. the reviewer also claims that theres "very little" footage that "details the 'making'" of the album, which I find curious...

http://www.tollbooth.org/2005/reviews/dadvd.html

Posted by bereal on 10-09-2005 at23:39:

quote:

Originally posted by audiori
A strange review..

The main complaints seem to be the audio quality - which would be one of our complaints as well.. (but, unfortunately, there was no perfect quality, digital surround sound recording of the audio).. the reviewer also claims that theres "very little" footage that "details the 'making'" of the album, which I find curious...

http://www.tollbooth.org/2005/reviews/dadvd.html

He was basically saying it was awful, with a lot of funny antics and a few good moments. I don't understand how he could say there is very little footage of the actual making of the MBD. What does he want? A 2 hour interview with each of the guys talking about how they made MBD and why they made it and what obstacles they had to overcome and what they had to put up with from Tim and ....wouldn't that just be a documentary, not to mention boring as can be. I think this is excellent and greatly enjoyed watching it. Of course, having children, I was a little distracted, so I've had to watch it a few times to see everything, but that's fine with me. Pleased

Posted by wes berlin on 10-10-2005 at00:11:

quote:

Originally posted by audiori
A strange review..

The main complaints seem to be the audio quality - which would be one of our complaints as well.. (but, unfortunately, there was no perfect quality, digital surround sound recording of the audio).. the reviewer also claims that theres "very little" footage that "details the 'making'" of the album, which I find curious...

http://www.tollbooth.org/2005/reviews/dadvd.html

yep. well....it happens.

i am grateful for the dvd......as i am sure d.a. fans are.

we could all say "i wish there was more of...or better this or that". but we should be grateful for what we have....and thankful for those who made this happen. Pleased

Posted by baxter on 10-10-2005 at00:26:

we are Pleased

Posted by audiori on 10-10-2005 at00:52:

I don't really mind getting a negative review.. Any review is better than none. I think they had a lot of weird criticisms for Via Chicago too... so, maybe it's a good thing.

It's a surprising focus of their criticisms though.. What is on film (minus some of the 'silly stuff) is pretty much exactly what the making of an album is... I'd argue that you're seeing more of the making of a record with this video than you are with most making of films.. almost every scene on this dvd is the recording of something that went on the album. That's rare in those sorts of films. I mean in Let It Be or I'm Trying to Break Your Heart, you're rarely seeing something from teh actual album.

The funny thing is.. he starts off saying that it doesn't show the "making of "the record, and then goes into how it shows random scenes of the band tracking various guitar parts, etc. in the studio. What does he think making a record is?

Oh well... at least they finally reviewed it...

Posted by Audiori J on 10-10-2005 at04:14:

My review of his review...

Yeah kinda odd... it is a film of them "making" Mr buchners Dream, they were making the album as the cameras were rolling... not sure what else to show instead of the films of them making the album to show them making the album. Making the album is what it is.

The audio quality is bad in places from the video camera, but a lot of audio is taken from the masters as well...so? This I agree with in part but not totally.

He also says a lot of it is haphazardly put together, which to me is incorrect. The tapes we were given were a very random conglomeration of bits of film, we maticulously pieced them together to make sense out of it. A lot of the multicamera scenes had to be found and pieced together from various points on the tapes.

I guess for this reviewer, maybe there needed to be text on the bottom of the screen explaining to him what he was watching. "Here is the band writing and practicing the songs.", "Here is the band recording the actual drum tracks for this song.", "Here is Terry recording his actual album vocal." "Here is the band mixing a track."

Lastly he criticizes the audio mix of the concert shot, which is not great but most festivals are not mixed well. I mean that is audio taken from their mixing board at the festival, again it is as it was. Thats the way the concert was mixed at the time of the show. Nothing we can do about that, unless they did like most bands and went in a recorded new mix over the film.

This footage is raw, its them in the studio as they were making the album, its them on stage... we didn't fancy it up and make it non-representative of what actually happened.

This is one kinda pet peeve of mine when a reviewer doesn't take into consideration what it is they are watching. All the criticisms he made could of been made of "Let It Be". Seemingly random shots, weird edits, grainy look, poor audio, poor mix.... its a documentary of a band working, not a music video or a commercial.

It would be like reviewing the Beatles anthology CD series and making criticisms like ... the audio quality is less than studio at times, there is too many songs of poor quality and the quality jumps to varying degrees every few songs, there doesn't seem to be any theme to the album, and at times the band even makes mistakes and leaves them in....um, yeah...

Because of Scott Lake's unenlightened and poorly thought out review most people will gain little insight into this release.

I give him, 3 out of 5 little alarm clocks.

Posted by peawinkel on 10-10-2005 at10:35:

I chimed in on this earlier, doing my review in that imbd thing or whatever.
Let me reiterate. I enjoy this DVD very much because it caters exactly to what I like. I think if the goal was to produce something for the fans & fans of MBD in particular, you guys blasted it out of the park. This reviewer doesn't realize what target this DVD was marketed to. Besides he was probably soiling his diapers when I was digging Darn Floor Big Bite.

Posted by Audiori J on 10-10-2005 at14:39:

Yeah. That was what we really were trying to do, capture the best moments of the guys working together. Kinda show the process in the sense of how songs start out as demos and warp into full studio recordings. Show how these guys do it, show that even they are surprised by what the songs become. Show the creative experimentation the guys are good at. And the comraderie they share. Its weird to see how rough some songs start out and how elaborate they end up.

And as Tim points out in he DVD, its weird to them to watch the process go by... he talks about sometimes Terry will be singing something off the top of his head and it turns into something. Being "in tune" to that spirit is part of the "magic".

It doesn't matter if the reviewer realizes it or not, the film shows the process of the band "making" Mr Buchners Dream. There is nothing more to show except more of the same. Not sure what he was expecting unless it was an instructional video or something. Which its not meant to be, its meant as a documentary. I just find his criticisms to reflect more on his preconcieved expectations of what the film would be, than on the film.

Posted by jeffrey k. on 10-20-2005 at17:25:

quote:

Originally posted by audiori
I don't really mind getting a negative review.. Any review is better than none. I think they had a lot of weird criticisms for Via Chicago too... so, maybe it's a good thing.

Yeah...we got a weird review too. My favorite line from the review is this:

"While all the shots are in focus and well framed, the performance segments are presented in hard-edged, digital black and white with none of the softness or depth film emulsion film provided classic recordings."

I have no idea what "depth film emulsion film provided classic recordings" even means. I think it was just bad writing.

I doesn't matter though. We got a weird review with a high "clock" rating, so go figure.

For what it's worth, I think you guys did a great job with your project.

jeffrey k.

Posted by Audiori J on 10-21-2005 at03:18:

Thanks. Yeah, I think when it comes to these artists reviewers generally don't know what it is their fans want. Spittle and Phleghm I am sure would get horrible reviews...but for an Eddies fan its funny.

They can review Via Chicago looking at it from some odd ball perspective, but for Dogs fans its what they want to see. It captures what the fan wants in a way that fits the guys style. And that sentence makes no sense whatsoever.

"with none of the softness or depth film emulsion film provided classic recordings."

Emulsion is just a film process, the double use of the word film is strange, and I am not sure what classic recordings he is refering to or why he thinks they have a deeper or softer look. Maybe they have a softer look because the classic films are older....and the technology was less sharp? Very early films were very soft..almost blurry.

A sign of intelligence is saying complex things in an easy to understand way. Not saying unintelligable things complexly.

We tried to do what we could with the footage we had for Making of Buechners, and tried to balance it out and make it enjoyable and interesting without being too boring. Keeping the average DA fan in mind, and "average DA fan" is almost a contradiction. DA fans are anything but average, the band is anything but average. And what the band does and what the fans want is going to be anything but what the average film watcher will want.

Its like giving an average CCM magazine reviewer Darn Floor or Outdoor Elvis and having them say ..what the heck is this?

Posted by uvulapie on 11-04-2005 at10:34:

Convinced

I was going to not review the Making of MBD DVD because, well, it's tricky for me to slip a DVD review into the CD/music review pages for the paper for which I write but not I've got to have something to counteract the Tollbooth review. Look for it before the end of the year or my name isn't Blaze Carbuncle!

Posted by peawinkel on 12-23-2005 at15:17:

Colbert's flippers

I'm curious as to what the deal was with Chris Colbert's hands(all bandaged up). It appeared he may have hurt his leg, too. Did he have a motorcycle accident or something? Does anyone know? Does anyone care?

Posted by Audiori J on 12-24-2005 at01:15:

Tim may do a better explination than we can. I know he did hurt his leg durring the time Buechners was being recorded and mixed. And the 'tape bandages' flippers on his hands may have grown out of that? Thats what I always assumed but there maybe more to the joke that wasn't on the tapes we had.

Posted by Jevon the Tall on 01-07-2006 at19:33:

banophernalia review

still to be posted, but considering the reviews of the reviews I figured I may as well take my lumps ...

The Making of Mr. Buechner’s Dream (©2005 Stunt) ****

This DVD schlockumentary takes the viewer on an unprecedented all access pass behind the scenes while the band rehearsed, goofed around, and wrote Mr. Buechner’s Dream. The footage is intimate, and features a lot of personal home movies provided by members of the band. Which is part of the charm, but like with most home movies, the awkward cuts are somewhat irritating after a while. It would have been nice to have more complete songs represented, but hey – this is Daniel Amos after all, and they never do anything by the book.

The DVD has two chapters. The first is the home movies of the rehearsals at Ed’s house, where the guys are loafing around fleshing (oh, man I should have used my Greg Flesch pun, crap, well it’s too late now) out ideas. The second is the studio work at the Green Room. We get to watch the little pieces come together and witness how they layered the textures that made up Buechner’s Dream. There are a number interviews with various band members, and some pretty funny bits where the guy’s ride on Ed. Man that Ed, if he ever got locked in a tower he could provide his rescuer a way in. The whole thing runs about an hour and fifteen minutes – which more or less makes this a feature length thingamajiger. The bonus features include a live segment where the boys less Tim all look purdy in suits – the mix isn’t great, but it was taken from the board so it’s like being there. Finally available is the track “Nowhere is Someplace” one of the best songs to never grace a Daniel Amos album.

The DVD itself, has a few little foibles, such as an occasionally out of synch dub, which is funny at times, especially on the Tim Chandler bits, it actually works in an odd sort of way. The sound quality is okay, considering a lot of the footage is homemade, and there is the usual hiss.

Now I have to mention this is not a DVD for the uninitiated. I played it for some friends who didn’t know DA from the Tuxedo Clad Megastar, and they lasted about six minutes before asking me if there was anything on the shopping channel, preferably with Tony Little.

However, for those of us who like the band, and have more than a passing fancy for the old farts, this is pretty interesting stuff, and deserves to be in your collection. True, it’s not something you’ll play everyday, but it is a great companion piece to the album, and in fact my opinion of the album is greater now for having watched this than it was before. Whoever said familiarity breeds contempt was full of crap.

Reviewed January 7, 2006

Posted by Ron E on 01-07-2006 at21:22:

I thought the mis dubbed parts were intentional, doesn't he say something about a Japanese movie or something?

Posted by audiori on 01-08-2006 at00:36:

Looks like a fair review to me.

The messed up audio on the Tim Segment was not intentional.. for some reason, it was a problem that just kept popping up over and over again. We'd fix it, then it'd be back. We thought it was gone on our master, but when we got the finished discs - it was there again. No idea what was causing it.

Posted by Mountain Fan on 01-09-2006 at12:55:

quote:

Originally posted by audiori
Looks like a fair review to me.

The messed up audio on the Tim Segment was not intentional.. for some reason, it was a problem that just kept popping up over and over again. We'd fix it, then it'd be back. We thought it was gone on our master, but when we got the finished discs - it was there again. No idea what was causing it.

I thought it was intentional too. Big Grin

Posted by tchandler on 01-10-2006 at19:55:

quote:

Now I have to mention this is not a DVD for the uninitiated. I played it for some friends who didn’t know DA from the Tuxedo Clad Megastar, and they lasted about six minutes

but they were Canadian, right?

just a joke, people. don't everybody get riled up. i love the Canadians.