The S&V Interview

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The S&V Interview
D.A. Pennebaker on 50 Years of Bob Dylan: Dont Look Back, Part I
Mike Mettler  |  Nov 25, 2015  |  0 comments
As iconic as it remains a full half-century later, when Bob Dylan: Dont Look Back (apostrophe very deliberately missing) was being shot by director D.A. Pennebaker during the Bard’s whirlwind tour of England in May 1965, there were literally no rules to follow. “It’s the idea of the home movie, the kind of movie that was always made by one person,” says Pennebaker, still as sharp as ever at age 90. “I had gotten the notion in my head not to make a pure music film. I decided to make it about him, right at the time he was he was trying to figure out who he was.” Here in Part I of our exclusive interview, D.A. and I discuss how he gained Dylan’s trust, the way he predicted the selfie culture, and why he had to get on his back to shoot certain live performances.
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The S&V Interview
D.A. Pennebaker on 50 Years of Bob Dylan: Dont Look Back, Part II
Mike Mettler  |  Nov 27, 2015  |  0 comments
When it came to the final edit of D.A. Pennebaker's groundbreaking 1967 documentary Bob Dylan: Dont Look Back, everything was destined to fit exactly how it fit. "It wanted to happen," says Pennebaker. "When you think about films, some of them want to happen, and some of them aren’t too sure." Dont Look Back is as sure as it gets, as the 90-year-old director and I discussed in Part I of our extensive interview. Here in Part II, Pennebaker shares his thoughts on surround sound when it comes to film soundtracks, that missing apostrophe, and the origin of the film’s legendary opening cue-card sequence.
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The S&V Interview
Danny Hutton and Three Dog Night Bring Sonic Joy to the World
Mike Mettler  |  Feb 24, 2016  |  0 comments
Three Dog Night is a band that brings together the best of many worlds. They have one of those storied catalogs that just won’t quit, so you might be forgiven for forgetting how many of their songs you automatically know. A sampling of TDN’s 21 Top 40 hits includes the No. 1 singles “Joy to the World,” “Black and White,” and “Mama Told Me (Not to Come),” along with other instant-sing-along favorites like “One,” “Liar,” and “An Old Fashioned Love Song.” (See? Toldja you knew ’em all.) I called TDN vocalist Danny Hutton while he was sitting outside his Laurel Canyon home enjoying a short touring break to discuss Three Dog Night’s unique approach to making albums, why singing harmony comes naturally to him, and his view of the band’s enduring legacy. No doubt it will all be joy to you and me.
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The S&V Interview
Dave Edmunds Serves Up All-Instrumental Pleasures on Rags & Classics
Mike Mettler  |  Jul 15, 2015  |  0 comments
Leave it to Dave Edmunds to always want to take things a little bit left of center. “I’ve never liked listening to albums, and I’ve never liked making them,” admits the Welsh-born guitarist and producer known for his modern rockabilly sensibilities (see Rockpile’s Seconds of Pleasure and solo hits like “Slipping Away” and “Girls Talk”). “I’m a singles guy; always have been.” That said, Edmunds agrees he found the right album-length formula for the 15 songs he compiled for 2013’s …Again (RPM), but he decided to shift gears for the just-released all-instrumental On Guitar… Dave Edmunds: Rags & Classics (RPM). “The album tracks are pretty similar to the originals, but you’re shocked when a guitar comes in instead of a vocal,” he explains. I called Edmunds, 71, across the Pond to Wales to discuss the one-man-band approach to Rags & Classics, delve further into his stark view on loving singles vs. LPs, and find out what he thinks the two best-sounding songs of the rock era are. Subtle as a flying mallet, indeed.
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The S&V Interview
Dave Kilminster: The Other Brick Atop The Wall
Mike Mettler  |  Dec 23, 2014  |  0 comments
“I don’t know why these songs all came out so long. I think we’re going to have to blame Steven Wilson,” laughs Dave Kilminster. The ace guitarist is discussing the impetus behind the extended track lengths on his self-described “prog-tastic” solo record, …and THE TRUTH will set you free… (Killer Guitar Records). Kilminster is known for his six-string pyrotechnics and prowess as an instructor, but you may also recognize him as being the featured lead guitarist in former Pink Floyd bassist/vocalist Roger Waters’ touring band for the past decade. For THE TRUTH, Kilminster believes getting a live feel is key: “It’s so cool to really get into the mood of a track,” he says. “There’s no sampling, there’s no Auto-Tune — just a couple of guys recording together in a room, the way it’s supposed to be.” Here, Kilminster, 53, and I discuss vintage sounds, live quad, and what it’s like to contend with immense pillows of wind while soloing atop a massive wall. That’ll keep you going through the show.
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Reference TracksThe S&V Interview
David Coverdale Adds a Special Aural Bite to 30th Anniversary Whitesnake Box Set
Mike Mettler  |  Jan 17, 2018  |  2 comments
Photo by Neil Zlozower

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of 1987’s mega-multimillion-selling Whitesnake — the album that spawned such massive FM hits as “Here I Go Again” “Is This Love,” and Still of the Night” — Rhino has uncoiled an exhaustive 4-CD/1-DVD box set featuring a disc of demos titled 87 Evolutions, properly mastered live bootlegs, and four of-era videos remastered in surround sound on DVD. Singer/frontman David Coverdale discusses a critical change in his vocals, how Tina Turner came thisclose to singing “Is This Love,” and why those core Whitesnake songs retain such universal appeal.

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The S&V Interview
David Crosby, The Tenor of Our Times
Mike Mettler  |  Jan 27, 2023  |  1 comments

David Crosby spoke extensively with music editor Mike Mettler just a few months before he sadly passed away at age 81 on January 18. The voice of a generation, Croz discusses his knack for recognizing the chemistry he had with certain musicians, how the song “Compass” helped recalibrate his songwriting acumen, what album of his he’d like most to be listened to a half-century into the future, and much more.

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The S&V InterviewCustom Installation How-ToHome Movie Theaters
Days of Hamlin
Krissy Rushing  |  Nov 12, 2008  |  1 comments

A kid who went from racing go-karts at age 7, to becoming the first Rookie of the Year to take home the Shootout victory at the 70-lap Budweiser Shootout, to scoring the highest-points finish ever for a NASCAR rookie in 2006, Denny Hamlin, age 27, is loving life. And with that success has come the means to enjoy his home in a way that suits his ultra-fast-paced lifestyle. For Hamlin, that means technology.

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The S&V Interview
Days of SQ Surpassed: Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues
Mike Mettler  |  Mar 12, 2014  |  0 comments
“I didn’t have the courage to go back to any of the masters and try to recreate those beautiful, real echoes,” says Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues about the surround-sound mixes he supervised for six of The Moodies’ “Classic Seven” albums: Days of Future Passed, On the Threshold of a Dream, To Our Children’s Children’s Children, A Question of Balance, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, and Seventh Sojourn. (In case you were wondering, there weren’t any multitrack masters available for In Search of the Lost Chord.) All six of those 5.1 mixes — done by Paschal Byrne and Mark Powell and built on the original quad mixes supervised by producer Tony Clarke and constructed by engineer Derek Varnals — appear in Timeless Flight (Threshold/UMC), the band’s mighty, 50-year-career-spanning 17-disc box set. Yes, there is a more economical 4-disc version available, but the mondo box is the only way to fly in 5.1 — if you can find one, that is. “I think Universal needs to press a few more copies,” chuckles Hayward.
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The S&V Interview
Deep Purple Drummer Ian Paice Celebrates the Legacy of Late DP Keyboardist Jon Lord
Mike Mettler  |  Oct 08, 2014  |  0 comments
Photo by Neil Lupin
“Souls, having touched, are forever entwined.” It’s a lyric penned by vocalist Ian Gillan in honor of his dear friend and late bandmate Jon Lord, the original keyboardist for Deep Purple who pioneered merging rock music with classical themes. Jon Lord, Deep Purple & Friends: Celebrating Jon Lord (earMusic/Eagle Rock), recorded at The Royal Albert Hall this past April 4, showcases the breadth of Lord as both composer (“All Those Years Ago,” “Pictured Within”) and rock legend (“Soldier of Fortune,” “Perfect Strangers,” “Hush”). Here, Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice, 66, and I discuss the challenges of getting great sound in such a storied venue, how he adapts to working with different bass players, and what the future might hold for Deep Purple. After listening to and watching all that went into Celebrating Jon Lord, there’s one word in the Purple canon that one absolutely cannot use to describe Paice’s energy and tireless work ethic: “Lazy.”
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The S&V Interview
Deep Space Truckin' With Deep Purple's Roger Glover
Mike Mettler  |  Aug 14, 2020  |  1 comments
Bands that are chock-full of virtuosic performers often need that one key anchor player who literally holds down the fort while the superstars show off their chops. In the case of veteran British rock stalwarts Deep Purple, that anchor is bassist Roger Glover.
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The S&V InterviewAudio Video News
Defining the Internet of Things
Bob Ankosko  |  May 31, 2018  |  First Published: May 30, 2018  |  1 comments
15 Minutes with Futurist Dave Evans

You can’t see the Internet of Things but, trust me, it’s there — and growing rapidly as every imaginable kind of “thing” becomes (or at least tries to become) net savvy. But what exactly does IoT mean? And if we move beyond the quaint Jetson-esque vision of the future, what are IoT’s real-world implications? To get a handle on where our increasingly interconnected world is heading, we tracked down Dave Evans, former chief futurist for Cisco and co-founder of the Silicon Valley IoT startup, Stringify. Strap on your seat belt and prepare for an exciting ride into the future.

S&V: Let’s start with the basics. We’ve been hearing a lot about IoT — the Internet of Things — over the past couple of years. It so all-encompassing. How do you define it?

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The S&V Interview
Designing for Technology
Nancy Klosek  |  Aug 28, 2007  |  1 comments

<I>How designers work hand in hand with integrators for the ultimate home.</I>

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The S&V InterviewCustom Installation How-To
Designing Your Home Theater
Kim Wilson  |  Dec 01, 2009  |  2 comments
Creating a home theater, be it a dedicated room or part of an existing living space, requires more than a general knowledge of AV technology. In actuality, that is only a small part of the equation. To maximize the performance of your AV gear, the overall design of the room is crucial.
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The S&V Interview
Dido: A Vocal Ingenue Who’s Still on Our Minds
Mike Mettler  |  Mar 13, 2019  |  0 comments
Celebrated British chanteuse Dido called us to discuss her new album Still on My Mind and how her best song mixes are meant to draw you in as a listener, when and when not to use reverb, and why sequencing remains critical to the arc of an album.
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