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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

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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

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Fifteen- Emo’s, Austin Tx. 11/16/93 xfer from unknown gen VHS tape Live east bay punk

It looks like I have 3 more shows to post from the stuff I digitized for the Turn it Around doc. I sent a lot more, but I think the rest are probably on youtube already. There are still hundreds more audio & video shows to be digitized, so stay tuned…
It looks like the first 4 songs of the show are already posted to YT, this one is 6min longer. Shaky camerawork, grab the dramamine.

Recorded by: ?
Transfer by: Shayne Stacy
Equipment used: JVC HRS9911U and Canopus ADVC300

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The Muffs- Emo’s, Austin Tx 5/22/93 xfer from ? gen audio cassette Kim Shattuck punk

This one did not sound good at all when I digitized it. In fact, I could not make out the songs due to all of the distortion. Once I found a song I could understand, I did my best to EQ it in Sony Suondforge, then rebalance it in izotope. It still sucks, but you can at least make out what’s happening.

Since I had to push the rebalance on the vocals to hear them at all, you will get super loud crowd between songs. It’s a wonderful feature- Izotope doesn’t differentiate between the vocal you want (Kim) vs. what you don’t want (crowd).

From Scott Hamilton’s collection. Not bagging on Scott btw, his tapes were much appreciated.

Recorded by: ?
Transfer by: Shayne Stacy
EQ in Sony Sound Forge (boost bass, drop highs), then rebalance in Izotope Rx8- Vocal +11, Bass +4

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Monks of Doom- Emo’s, Austin Tx 12/12/92 xfer from 1st gen soundboard cassette Counting Crows Camper

FINALLY, here is today’s On This Date in history. When I was checking the spreadsheet for stuff to post and I saw this one there. I knew it came from Craig Hilmer and I have his master here so I went digging through the tapes… nope… this one isn’t in there. Maybe we’ll get a master transfer when Craig comes for Hardly Strictly Bluegrass again. Haha.

The mix was pretty uneven and it changes often, but it was super low on guitar throughout so I went ahead and rebalanced it. More guitar and more vocals. There are portions of the show that are pretty badly out of balance, but it sounds good for the majority of the set.

I love the contract and setlist J-Card cover that Craig made. I think we are still adhering to its terms by putting it up here. They are getting paid, they basically gave consent through the archive.org “approved band” status. I’m sure I’ll hear about it if not. lol

Recorded by: Craig Hilmer
Transfer by: Shayne Stacy
Equipment used: Nakamichi Dragon and M-Audio Audiophile 2496 card
Rebalance in Izotope Rx8: Vocal +4, Guitar +10!

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F.S.K.- Emo’s, Austin Tx. 3/14/92 xfer from 1st gen cassette D6 Pro Walkman David Lowery Cracker

Here’s something of interest to Cracker/Camper ven Beethoven fans- a tape recorded by my friend Craig at SXSW in 1992. David Lowery joined forces with German alternative new wave polka band FSK at the time and an early version of the song “Dr. Bernice” is on a FSK CD. Anyway, here is FSK with Lowery.
Craig also recorded FSK/Lowery on Mountain Stage radio show and it doesn’t appear to be on YT yet. If this isn’t enough FSK, let me know.

Recorded by: Craig Hilmer
Equipment used: Sony WMD6C and Sony Mic
Transfer by: Shayne Stacy
Equipment used: Nakamichi Dragon and M-Audio Audiophile 2496 card

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