— Leave a Comment

Grand Champeen- Parish, Austin Tx 10/4/03 DAT Soundboard to CDR The One That Brought You CD Release

The On This Day in History project has helped me rediscover and enjoy a bunch of stuff in my own collection. This one is a good example- I don’t think I ever realized that this was the CD Release party for my favorite album of theirs. Fun, loose (in a good way) show.

I don’t know who taped this one. I’m willing to bet it was either Lance Davis or Marcus Winfree. So grateful to both of them for capturing so many amazing bands during this era.
Mix gets better about 15-20min in.

Recorded by: ?
CD Rip and rebalance by: Shayne Stacy
Rebalance in Izotope Rx8: Vocal +2, Drums +1, Guitar +5

Audio Live Concert
— Leave a Comment

Centro-Matic: Mercury, Austin Tx 10/3/02 DAT-CDR Soundboard clone w/ Jay Bennett on Encore Wilco

Wow, I pulled this one for On This Date in History and did not recall that Jay Bennett played “California Stars” with them on the encore. What an unexpected treat! The Bennet/Burch/Will Johnson tour in 2002 was so great as well. I think Jim Mclain might have audio of that one from Old Ironsides on his channel.

I rated this “EX-“so I was fully expecting to do a rebalance but it sounds fine. Mix moves around a bit but everything is there. Good enough.

Recorded by: Marcus Winfree I think, but I don’t recall trading CD’s with him. It was DAT only. Hm.
Extract and prep for upload: Shayne Stacy

Audio Live Concert
— Leave a Comment

Grand Champeen- KUT-FM Live in Studio, Austin Tx 2/20/02 On This Day in History

Anyone who has listened to me blather on about bands over the past few years knows that Grand Champeen is one of my all time favorites. In fact, I have flown to Texas THREE TIMES over the past 6 years to see them since they do not tour anymore and shows are rare. The latest one was in October and we were treated to one of the legendary cover-heavy sets. That multicam is coming, as soon as audio is ready.
I can’t remember where I got this one. It is from unknown origin then converted to mp3, then burned to cdr. Despite all of that lineage abuse, it still sounds good. 2 mellow songs in studio, including “Step into My Heart” from their classic “The One That Brought You” album- you should check that one out if you haven’t heard it.

Recorded by: ?
Transfer by: Also ?
Extract from CDR and prep: Shayne

Audio Live Performance
— Leave a Comment

South San Gabriel- Emo’s, Austin Tx 6/25/01 Minidisc master-CDR. Centro-Matic Will Johnson Project

I was in L.A. the past few days- got back late last night. I discovered that you can make it from San Fernando (north of Burbank, south of Magic Mountain) in 5 and 1/2 hours if you take hwy 99 and speed like hell and take no breaks. The prius was telling me to take a break. Like “sir, are you ok”?
On the bright side, thanks to Mark at FET electronics, ALL of the digitizing gear has been repaired… except for the beta machines. Bane of my existence, I tell ya. So Lizz Fisher, that means that I can finally make clean audio and video transfers of your umatics…
Anyway, here is one that was not only quick and easy to prep, but a really nice recording. I am also pretty sure I figured out who taped these Austin minidisc shows- George Savage (Lowdog)! The man with the minidisc.

Recorded by: George (Lowdog) Savage
Extract from CDR and prep for upload: Shayne Stacy

Audio Live Concert
— Leave a Comment

Centro-Matic: Emo’s, Austin Tx. 1/27/01 Minidisc Audience Master Full Show Will Johnson

For today’s “On This Day in History”, I pulled out a CDR that I received in trade over 20 years ago. I wish I could remember who recorded this. It probably wasn’t Marcus Winfree, who was the main guy in Austin at the time.. he had a DAT.

Anyway, Centro-Matic are one of my all time favorite bands. I have been a fan since the late 90s. I helped bring them to Sacramento (thanks to Charles Twilling for doing all of the actual work) in 2002, and I flew to Dallas a couple years back to video and entire weekend of shows of theirs at Dan’s Silverleaf.

They still play an occasional show- I think they recently played Jason Isbell’s destination festival in Mexico or the Caribbean. Makes me happy to see that the songs are still being performed.

Anyway, the mix on this one was not good. It was all drums. I did my best to rebalance in Izotope. The mix moves around a bit as well, so this one sounds decent early on and then gets worse later. If you have never heard them, I encourage you to check them out- great stuff.

Recorded by: ?
CD extract by Shayne Stacy
Rebalance in Izotope Rx8: Vocal +3, Bass +8, Guitar +5, Drums -3.5

Audio Live Concert
— Leave a Comment

Slobberbone- SXSW, Club Deville, Austin Tx. 3/16/00 xfer from DAT Soundboard Master Clone

I got this from the person who taped it, but once again I can’t remember who that was. It might have been Marcus Winfree, Maybe Mike Shiner, or any of my friends who would bring their DAT to sxsw every year.
I was about 15 minutes into this one and it sounded like a standard set so I stopped the DAT transfer, but about 20min in it gets really good. Scott Danbom gets up there and plays violin on some songs. Say Zuzu appearance as well.

Recorded by: One of my old DAT taping friends who went to SXSW
Transfer by: Shayne Stacy
Equipment used: Sony PCM-R500 and M-Audio Audiophile 2496 card
Rebalance in Izotope Rx8: Drums +2, Guitar +2 (I think, I did not save the settings)
Photo by Anne Warth (pic is from the 12/31/02 show I posted the other day)

Audio Live Concert
— Leave a Comment

Old 97s- SXSW, Stubb’s BBQ, Austin Tx. March 1997 xfer from 2nd gen VHS enhanced live EXENE CERVENKA

I still have a lot of old 97s master videos to post, but I am waiting on audio from KN. It’s probably better to wait since I am working on an AI upscaling system- hopefully those old videos will work in 4k. Speaking of that, trying to find the right motherboard and memory to buy when you have an older (new in box) core i7 CPU is enough to make you crazy. I spent hours just now, trying to ensure everything is compatible and powerful enough to do the job. It shouldn’t be that hard.
While we wait, here is a great apparently uncirculated video of the band playing sxsw in early 1997. Ken botches the start of The Other Shoe, which causes Rhett to screw up the vocals. They recover pretty well, but it is funny to watch.
Oh, and Exene comes out and sings Four Leaf Clover to close the set!

Recorded by: ?
Transfer by: Shayne Stacy
Equipment used: JVC HRS9800 w/tbc and Canopus ADVC300
Enhanced (brightness/contrast) in Adobe Premiere, Denoise via Neat Video

Live Concert Video
— Leave a Comment

The Jayhawks- Stubb’s, Austin Tx 3/15/97 xfer from hi8 Master w/ DAT Soundboard audio americana

I posted this video from Neil Werries’ collection of master tapes a little over a year ago, back when he sent me his tapes to digitize and post. At the time, I put out a request to the universe- did any of my old taper friends/tape traders have a soundboard tape of the set? Erik Flannigan (mastermind behind the National’s “Juicy Sonic Magic” release) PM’d me last month and told me that he had a DAT clone of the show through the board! See? I knew if I put it out there and waited long enough, we would all be rewarded. Thanks Erik! Also a huge thanks to Derek Purtell, who synched the audio and video since pluraleyes barfed all over it.

Video recorded by: Neil Werries
Video transfer by: Shayne Stacy
Equipment used: Sony EV-S2000- Datavideo TBC1000 – Tevion USB Adapter — Virtualdub
Enhanced (degrain) in Adobe Premiere Elements and Neat Video
Audio recorded by: ? (could be Mike Shiner or Bob Whitfield)
DAT transfer by Erik.
Audio/Video synch by Derek Purtell

Live Concert Video
— Leave a Comment

The Jayhawks- Stubbs, Austin Tx. 3/15/97 SXSW xfe Hi8 Master tape enhanced Jody Stephens Golden Smog

Here’s another great show, courtesy of Neil Werries. I really appreciate Neil hoofing it to SXSW and filming a bunch of killer stuff back during the GOOD times… and I had babies at home so it wasn’t happening for me.
I was transferring this one and I looked up, and there was Jody Stephens on drums! He came on for the encore, Golden Smog’s “Until You Came Along”. Wow! Jessy Greene on violin too. Filmed with permission on tripod.
This sounds pretty damned good for an audience video, but if anyone has the soundboard of this set (talking to you old alt.country traders), let me know.

Recorded by: Neil Werries
Transfer by: Shayne Stacy
Equipment used: Sony EV-S2000- Datavideo TBC1000 – Tevion USB Adapter — Virtualdub
Enhanced (degrain) in Adobe Premiere Elements and Neat Video

Live Concert Video
— Leave a Comment

Old 97’s- Stubbs BBQ, Austin Tx 3/14/97 xfer from Hi8 Master Tape sxsw w/Exene Cervenka Old 97s

Today is Mediocre Monday, but no mediocre stuff happening today– I get to see the Old 97s for the first time in over 10 years! I used to follow these guys around California all the time back in the 90s. They are playing a LOT in our area over the next couple weeks. I am hitting 2 of the shows- Chico tonight, Roseville on Wednesday. It should be a good time.

Here is a show recorded by Neil Werries back in 1997. Features Exene Cervenka on 2 songs toward the end. It is a little dark- I probably should have brightened it a bit before denoising. Might be ripe for a re-do.

Recorded by: Neil Werries
Transfer by: Shayne Stacy
Equipment used: Sony EV-S2000- Datavideo TBC1000 – Tevion USB Adapter — Virtualdub
Enhanced (brightness/degrain) in Adobe Premiere Elements and Neat Video

Live Concert Video