PHISH has always been known amongst its fans as not only a band that has given the world some of the most inventive song writing and improvising of the last three decades, but has always established the trend and standard by which an entire scene; consisting of hundreds of bands, and hundreds of thousands of fans, have followed. That standard has included treating its fans with the utmost respect as listeners to their craft. As listeners, fans care deeply about the overall quality of the live mix, and the mix that is released for sale-download at www.livephish.com. For this very reason tapers let fans know what mics they've used, what software or conversion they've done in transferring the shows' recording, and for decades, long time Front of House Engineer Paul Languedoc was revered by fans not only for the impeccable sound he brought the fans every night, but also for his Sound Board mixes, and his openness to hear what fans were saying about the mixes.

With Phish reunited, and with a new FOH engineer, much of the past attention to the sound seems to have been lost. It is without question that Phish is playing at the highest level, and anyone paying attention should be filled with joy over the overall quality of their return. Unfortunately, the live mix and sound board releases are way below the standard Phish has always set. Live: Channels seems to be distorting every few shows, the overall level of the full mix shifts throughout a set from unbearably loud, to uneven, to instruments being lost in the overall sound. Trey's guitar is often loud to the point of losing a sense of everyone else. Livephish releases are even worse: Drums barely audible on some recordings, vocal mixes terribly uneven, Trey's guitar so loud you can't appreciate how Mike, Page, and Jon are all playing off of each other, audience/ambient levels constantly shifting. Of course all of this can be fixed, and as fans dedicated to the overall quality of the experience Phish provides we should kindly provide the new FOH engineer, Gary Brown, our two cents.
This petition addresses the following concerns I have heard from countless fans over the past year:
1. As fans and customers of the band, we have a duty to let the distributors (livephish.com) know we'd like to see some simple and small changes. If Phish wants us to continue acting on the "instant gratification" desire to buy downloads within hours of a show ending, the band should ensure that the mix is reviewed and tweaked to guarantee that the best possible mix is being released for purchase. If it is not possible to do this within a few hours of a show ending (which seems crazy anyway), we are all happy to wait a few days, but it is unacceptable to release such poorly mixed recordings for sale, and if this continues there should a be return policy.
2. With the band playing at such an amazing level, it is difficult to watch the FOH engineer struggle with achieving the right live mix for the band. It could be assumed that as the band continues to tour Gary Brown will develop his own Languedoc sense of what the proper live mix is, but until then as fans we ask that maximum effort, rehearsal, and review is taken now to ensure that upcoming tours do not suffer from the poor live mix that current shows have suffered from.
With the deepest gratitude and excitment for the future to Phish and their crew,

Thank you,
The Fans

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