Stage Fright was engineered by an up-and-coming
Todd Rundgren and produced by the group themselves for the first time, though their previous producer,
John Simon, features as trombonist for one track. Its cover featured a semi-abstract sunset designed by
Bob Cato wrapped in a poster of a photograph by
Norman Seeff, in his first major gig. Initially, Robertson says that he intended to do a less serious "goof" or "good-time" record in contrast to
The Band. In a 2010 interview, Robertson described the recording atmosphere as tense, with the group contending with a tricky sound situation in the playhouse, an unfamiliar presence in Rundgren, and "distraction and a lot of drug experimenting." In ''This Wheel's on Fire'', Helm concurred, describing a "dark mood that settled upon us" during the sessions. Helm also believed the record could have benefited from more time, saying, "for the first time we hadn't cut it to our standard... The days when we would
live with the music were over." However, there is considerable disagreement about this. In an interview with
Relix magazine, Rundgren said he had to engineer a
third set of mixes with the band in New York after some members expressed dissatisfaction with his Trident mixes and Johns's Island mixes. However, Rundgren conceded that he had no idea which mixes were finally used for any of the album's releases. In his memoir,
Sound Man, Johns seems to confirm Rundgren's memory, noting that each did their own set of mixes independently, without the band present, and that he never really knew whose mixes were used or in what quantity either. Further confusion has been caused by inaccurate documentation that mistakenly lists Johns as the engineer for both mixes with no indication of Rundgren doing any work at either studio. Both Rundgren and Trident engineer
Ken Scott have independently stated that Rundgren mixed the album at Trident, and Johns himself has confirmed Rundgren's presence in London mixing at a different studio than his. When Robertson produced a new reissue for the album's 50th anniversary, he supervised a brand new mix with
Bob Clearmountain, just as he had done with previous deluxe sets commemorating the 50th anniversaries of
Music from Big Pink and
The Band. While the previous anniversary mixes were intended as experiments with new formats such as 5.1 surround sound and high-resolution digital playback, the new mix for
Stage Fright addressed Robertson's own dissatisfaction with the original LP mix, just as the 2013 reissue of the 1971 Academy shows addressed his dissatisfaction with the original mix of the
Rock of Ages live album. Furthermore, Robertson resequenced
Stage Fright, claiming that the original LP sequence had been compromised by internal politics. ==Reception==