Marillion
Schlufwegzentrum Kloten,
Zurich, Switzerland
November 21, 1984

Title: Hypnotise the Lens - NTSC
Catalog: Duley Digital - DD-M841121-D
Media: 1 DVD - 54 minutes
Video Source: 2 unknown gen videos
Audio Source: Same

01. He Knows You Know
02. Band Interview
03. Assassing
04. Punch and Judy
05. Jigsaw
06. Cinderella Search
07. Incubus
08. Garden Party
09. Market Square Heroes

Production Notes:

Recently, I have been concentrating my efforts on only converting confirmed master or 1st gen recordings. I figure that if you are going to go through all the trouble of creating artwork, menues, editing the video and remastering the audio, you might as well make sure that all your hard work is not going to be obsolete as soon as someone comes up with a better source, which is usually what happens when you use high gen, or unknown gen sources. I broke my own rule in this case. There had been several requests for a copy of this video, regardless of quality. I agreed to put out a version, simply to get it out there. My initial plan was just a quick release without fancy menues or art. However, once I started work on it, I got caught up in the project, doing more to it than the sources really deserved, and gave it pretty much the full treatment.

That's not to say the video quality is bad. On the contrary, its actually fairly good. I would guess that the source is probably 3rd gen, perhaps 2nd at best. Sound is in stereo, and sounds decent.

For those of you interested in all the production details, there was a lot more work that went into this than meets the eye. I actually had two sources for this show. I would say each source was the same gen, but different lineage. Source 1 was incomplete. It started at Cinderella Search. Also, for some reason, all talking was cut out, and when the recorder was started again, the next song was already underway for each track. Source 2 was complete. However, there was a problem with the tape in that there were green lines that would shoot across the screen occassionally, say once every minute or two, and last for a couple seconds. These lines were noticeable and somewhat distracting. These lines occurred more frequently as the show proceeds, so that it is fairly frequent by the end. For an example of the lines, you can see them at the very first of "He Knows You Know". Rather than just convert and release Source 2,I decided to combine the two sources. As Source 1 didn't contain any of the first 5 tracks, this part of the DVD is all taken from Source 2. However, several seconds into Cinderella Search, I switch to Source 1 for the video, in order to avoid the green lines that were occassionally disturbing Source 2. I have to switch back to Source 2 as each track ends, using it for the in between song banter, and the first several seconds (or in the case of Garden Party, the first minute or so) of each track, to fill in the missing portions of SOurce 1. This all takes place smoothly, and I'd be surprised if most people could tell where the video switches take place.

The audio is all taken from SOurce 2, with the exception of a second or two during Assassing when there was a problem, and I switched to a 3rd audio source I had for this show for these couple seconds.

The audio was a touch flat and lifeless, so I applied some modest EQ to give the audio a bit more punch.

If I knew that there was a lower gen source out there (and I'm sure there is) that would be released soon, I never would have spent as much time as I did on this. However, I figured that if I was going to do something with what I have, why not do the best I could. So until such time as a better source is found, this one will have to do.

Its well worth getting, IMO. The video is quite watchable, the audio is clear and punchy, and the band puts on a great performance. Fish is especially animated.

Duley May 2005