Hello everyone!

Well, after giving the issue much thought and after
considerable discussion, I have decided that after the
release of FAde 006 this summer, I will be resigning
as the coordinator for the FAde project. I do this
with a heavy heart and for many reasons, the primary
one being that my life has changed much since FAde’s
inception, and I’ve simply moved on to other
priorities and don’t have the time/will to continue.

Now, I believe that FAde is an historic milestone in
Genesis fandom and I would love to see it continue
post-me, so at this time I am soliciting for a
replacement. I have received numerous offers for
general limited assistance, which is wonderful and
appreciated and will be useful, however, the program
will also need someone willing/able to take on the
(dare I say) monumental task of administration and
coordination. A skilled person, however, could easily
cut his/her time/effort/financial commitment down
considerably from its current level by successfully
delegating responsibilities to appropriate parties.
The FAde review committee has been and will continue
to be a wonderful resource for advice, decisions,
sources, etc. If someone comes forward to lead this
effort soon, I will be able to offer some “on the job
training” through FAde 005 and 006. I will also be
available for advice post 006.

Before I forget – 005 will not be released on schedule
(just a week away), but will most likely be released
concurrently with 006 this summer. We have super
sources for 005 and 006 and some supplemental
materials too.

Anyway, here’s a brief rundown of what I currently do
with the FAde project. A replacement will need to
perform/delegate all of these tasks (and probably more
that I’ve forgotten).

I. Web page/Yahoo Group/e-mail
A. Space for the FAde page has been generously
provided by Mike on his Progscape server. You (my
replacement) will have to coordinate with Mike on any
changes in his service, etc.
B. Web design – The original design was expertly put
together by Nicolas, but I now maintain it, so a base
understanding of web design is necessary.
C. Maintaining the site – I update the website where
and when appropriate to try to keep it up-to-date with
our current and upcoming releases.
D. Mike has offered to help with the website, but
regardless, the replacement will need to keep in
contact with him about what needs to be done, etc.
E. Our Yahoo! group is administered by myself. I try
to check in at least once a week and answer any
questions that have fallen through the cracks. I also
remove un-FAde related posts and sometimes contact the
posters to try to keep things on-topic.
F. I check the FAde e-mail every couple of days and
answer or redirect questions as they come in and as
appropriate. I also (try to) follow up on offers of
source material, pictures, etc.



II. Source location/selection/preparation
A. I have been doing work in trying to find the best
sources for a given show on the release schedule. The
review committee (and others) have been, however,
essential in attaining these sources. I make general
calls to the FAde/Paperlate/progCDR, etc. looking for
the best copies
B. When copies are gathered, I listen to each and take
notes. If copies are significantly different I try to
make executive decisions on which is the best
sounding, and if any of the other sources contain
segments that are not represented in the best copy.
C. Editing…
1. An understanding of digital audio editing and the
computer/equipment necessary is required for this
part, however, extensive knowledge of “remastering”
techniques is not necessary. What I do is convert all
the tracks to WAV files, and then use Cool Edit Pro to
edit segments together. I do cross fading with the
multi track option to hide edits. My system is only a
PII 650 MHz machine so state of the art isn’t
necessary, though it would certainly make things
easier.
2. Editing consists of taking the best segments from
the available sources and mixing them together to
attain the most complete show possible. In general the
best source is used as the master and is supplemented
with other sources.
3. Radio broadcast announcements are removed and
replaced along with other supplemental material at the
end of the show.
4. Editing should include attempts to hide
inconsistencies, but I will never use a non-legitimate
source to “fill in gaps” or the like. All material
should come from the same show.

III. Arranging enhancement or “remastering”.
A. I do no “remastering” myself, but leave that to the
experts. Jeff Miller of Simon Apple has traditionally
taken my edited final products (or sometimes taken
earlier unedited versions) and using his super ear and
audio wizardry, enhanced the recordings by broadening
certain spectrums, and doing some hi-tech filtering
and the like. Andrew of Hogweeds and others have also
helped out in this regard.
B. Therefore, it is the administrator’s responsibility
only to arrange for enhancement engineering with Jeff
or someone else if he is not available.
C. A copy of the draft is then sent to the engineer
(as well as to the review committee (see IV) at this
time).

IV. Review processs
A. Copies of the edited draft (or the enhanced draft
depending on timing, etc.) are sent to all of the
members of the review committee. The committee
currently consists of Alan Hewitt, Mark Bataitis,
Volker Warncke, David Dunnington and Jeff Kaa. The
members may continue on or may step down or be
replaced as time passes, etc.
B. Each of the members of the review committee are
encouraged to give their opinion of the recording. If
any of them have heard a better recording, or think
there are problems that can be worked out they will
let me know, and a second draft will be prepared.
Generally enough work is done in preparation that it
is seldom that many drafts are necessary.
C. Once opinions are received I will rework the
original and send out new copies until a consensus has
been reached that our current copy is “the best any
member of the review committee has ever heard.”
D. At this point, the audio for the project is ready
to go.

V. Artwork
A. I have been in charge of and the designer of all
the FAde artwork to date. This job could be farmed out
to volunteers fairly easily, but it does still require
oversight.
B. Artwork for FAde releases thus far have been a
marriage of live photos and cover art from the album
which the represented tour is promoting. Relevant
items such as reviews, posters, pins, ticket stubs,
clever slightly related items, are used to augment the
covers. This is what I prefer myself, but it will of
course be up to my replacement and any artistic team
s/he assembles to decide if they want to continue
along these lines or try something else.
C. I make a call for contributions to the various
Genesis related boards for photos, posters, etc.
Sometimes lots of stuff is volunteered, sometimes
there’s almost nothing, so one must be prepared to
make use of what is available. I prefer to use
unpublished photos.
D. Liner Notes
1. Jeff Kaa and Alan Hewitt have taken turns writing
the main liner notes for the releases to date.
2. I solicit a personal recollection for every
release- someone who hopefully attended the show or at
least one show on the tour who can write a short
memory of their experience.
3. A track listing is also included, obviously
E. FAde designations
1. On every FAde release, the logo should be placed as
well as the notice that FAde releases should never be
bought or sold
2. It has become our custom also to give credit to
contributors (both of time, effort, talent and
sources/cover art materials).
3. All FAde releases are designated simply by a number
in the series (e.g. 001, 002, 004, 011, etc.) and by
their date. We’re trying to get away from names like
“As Through the Emerald City”, etc.)
4. Uniformity should be used in the covers insofar as
they should remain consistent. The spine fonts should
be the same for every release (these also match the
spine format used by Hogweeds, our sister-program).
E. The final compilation is then JPEGed and uploaded
to the website as well as to the Yahoo group FILES
section. Simon Funnel has also hosted high resolution
copies on his The Movement site.

VI. Distribution
A. The FAde administrator must oversee the tree
structure for distribution of the show. Colin Naisbitt
has taken over the actual organization of the tree for
FAde 004 and will continue through 005 and 006.
Whether or not he continues after that will need to be
worked out by the new administrator and Colin.
1. Filling a tree consists of making a post to the
FAde and other Genesis boards stating that sign-ups
are now open. Interested people with then respond and
let the organizer know how they would like to be
situated in the structure. The organizer then compiles
a tree structure which is posted to the webpage.
B. The administrator is then responsible for
distributing SHN copies to all the top level branches
across the world. I have also been sending copies
directly to all contributors and review committee
members. This usually means about 15-20 copies of each
FAde is sent out. I originally included artwork with
all of these copies, but have since discontinued this
tradition, as it simply took way too much time.

And that’s pretty much it (whew!).

Now, of course the new FAde project (if it emerges)
may *not* necessarily work in the same way as the
current one does. That will be up to the new
administrator/team. I *do* however only want to see
the program continue *if* it continues in somewhat the
same vein as the current program. Primarily, it *MUST*
continue with the “Don’t buy/don’t sell” policy. It
should also continue with a vigorous quality
control/oversight procedure, lest it become just
another quick “out the door” remastering project
(which are great, but there’s no need for FAde to
continue unless it is distinct from these other more
efficient programs).

The bottom line here is that I/we *NEED* someone with
a lot of enthusiasm, time, talent, know-how and
resources to take over the project. I would *really*
(I sure use a lot of asterisks) prefer to pass on
this job in one chunk to one person who would be
willing to basically take over my position completely,
but if that is not possible, I will work to
restructure things to a group of people each doing
something – HOWEVER, it will still be necessary to
have one central figure to run the show, no matter how
many people are beneath him/her. Without a strong
leader, such a cumbersome program cannot continue.

That is the situation at the moment. If anyone is
interested please drop me a note at
fadegenesis@yahoo.com. Please, though, only respond if
you are really willing to take on a large chunk or all
of the task. In the event that many people are
interested I’ll try to set up a forum or the like
where we can discuss what exactly will happen. Again,
I am on through the 005/006 double release this
summer, so if there is someone interested, I can help
prepare you for my departure and we can work on these
next releases together.

Again, thanks to everyone who has helped with this
fantastic program over the years. I apologize for my
early departure, but I am happy with the work we’ve
done so far. 005 and 006 will be sure to please as
well!

david