Recently I bought a copy of this hybrid release and was most disconcerted to discover an obvious equalization/tonal difference between the surround layer and the tonally "brighter" other layers. I emailed Verve but have never received a reply. Subsequently I emailed Doug Sax, whose name is given as the mastering engineer. I felt I owed him the courtesy of enquiring/pointing out this problem as I have great admiration for his talents in this field. Much to my surprise, he promptly replied to my email, informing me that he was sure he mastered and mixed the surround version, but that one of his associates had worked on the other two 2-channel versions. Quite a surprise, but I feel a little communication and appropriate quality control protocols would have avoided this anomoly before the recordings went to the pressing plant. This raises several pertinent questions which I think the record companies, and Verve in particular, should address. I hope I am not "nit-picking", but I think that if my name was associated with such a high-profile production, I would be less than impressed with this release.
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