After about 20 years of snide comments and sneering dismissal, I dragged the wifey to see the remains of the Dead last Sunday (last week, in Santa Clara, CA). As they were tuning up, she asked me if it had started. I replied that it was about to, and it would be rather unambiguous. They kicked in about 20 minutes behind schedule with "Feel Like a Stranger" and about 79,999 of the approximately 80,000 in attendance of the 50th anniversary of the band that never had a hit were instantly on their feet and moving in phase coherence to the music. She gave in a few minutes later, deciding to suspend disbelief and cynicism for the duration (after all, 4.5 hours of sitting and stewing would require more effort). She actually seemed to enjoy it. Well, for a sarcastic Brit. (I like my women like my coffee: luke-warm, pale, bitter and freeze-dried.) Like me, she especially appreciated the Drums. The concert, BTW, was better than I could have hoped for. Those who wanted a drop-in replacement for the dead head Dead Head would be disappointed, but Bruce Hornsby and Trey Anastasio did quite well (even with Alabama Getaway -- I had to explain the joke to her.)

So we get home, and a couple days later I decided I would play some excerpts of what I personally regard as the higher quality live recordings (one of these is the recently-released high-res "Wake Up To Find Out: Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY 3-29-1990", which in my opinion has a particularly good Drums/Space that highlights Mickey Hart's talents).

She listens politely (a first), and then says "well, it is just not nearly as involving as the concert." "It doesn't sound realistic."

I couldn't blame the drugs. There weren't any (unless you could blame it on second-hand smoke).

I also tried with the flash-based audio stream of the concert (which I also captured with Quicktime and Soundflower), and got the same response.

Then she goes on to say "this is why I don't like listening to classical piano music on your stereo either."

It's almost like one of you guys paid her to say this. Right out of the audiophile playbook.

She always seems to get a kick out of kicking a guy when he is down.

So, any suggestions for making the percussion sound better?