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Operation Ivy- Chicago, Il 4/10/88 xfer from low gen audio tape, audio only

Late post today- the lookout zoomout took more free time than I had today, but it was totally worth it!
Here’s another one that Todd Pritchard pulled out from Jason Ross’ collection when he was here in December of 2019. I thought that we (me and Anonymous) had all of the Operation Ivy audio tapes that were recorded, but Jason has a bunch of uncirculated stuff out of the midwest. This one doesn’t sound great, it is a typical punk rock audience tape made on non-professional gear. I tried to remix it to make it a little more listenable.

Recorded by: ?
Transfer by: Shayne Stacy
Equipment used: Nakamichi Dragon and M-Audio Audiophile 2496 card

Audio Live Concert
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Operation Ivy- KSPC-FM Live in Studio, Claremont Ca. 3/17/88 2nd gen audiotape xfer remixed

Here’s another one from Anonymous’ collection. I am not 100% sure, but I suspect that this tape is the one that was traded out and resulted in endless bootlegs. If that is the case, this should be better quality than what was out there previously. It’s still super raw.
I did my best to bring the drums/guitar down a little and boost the vocals/bass in Izotope. The challenge is that the vocals are all over the place. Buried in places, way too loud in others. Sounds like they were all playing into one mic.

Recorded by: ?
Transfer by: Shayne Stacy
Equipment used: Nakamichi Dragon and M-Audio Audiophile 2496 Card
Rebalance in Izotope Rx7.

Audio Live Performance
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Operation Ivy- The Place, Davis Ca 1/8/88 transfer from master audio tape

Thanks to Todd Pritchard for asking for this one- he told me what to do and you can as well over on Patreon. This is another tape that was misplaced for years and the move resurfaced it.

Man, this sounds way worse than I remember. I thought that I used my stepdad’s Montgomery Ward boom box which had amazing mics, but The Place was never known for sounding great. I worked way too hard to EQ the distortion out and then rebuild it in izotope. Still meh. But hey! New Operation Ivy recording!

The Place was a tiny house converted into a teen center/music venue which was torn down to build this parking garage you see here. It had hard tile or linoleum floors and wood paneling walls. It was an acoustic nightmare.

I think Op Ivy played here 3 times- I taped this one and Ken Doose taped another of the 3.

Recorded by: Shayne Stacy
Equipment used: Tyler Mort’s awesome Montgomery Ward boom box
Transfer equipment: Nakamichi Dragon and M-Audio Audiophile 2496 card
EQ in Sony Sound forge 10 (drop low end distortion) and rebalance in Izotope Rx8: Vocals +8, Guitars +4.

Audio Live Concert
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Operation Ivy- Untitled Radley Hirsch Live Outtakes CD xfer f/Master Tapes-CDR OPIV Lookout Records

Here’s an interesting one from Radley Hirsch’s collection. This disc was just labeled “Operation Ivy” with no other info. 4 tracks on this CD- There were 2 short tracks on the CD to start, then a long 30 minute track that seems to be a combo of live tracks and studio outtakes. 4th track seems to be all outtakes. “Hangin’ Out” from the Floyd comp makes an appearance at the 36 minute mark, and that is the only one identified as an officially released track.

Please don’t release this on bootlegs, you freaks. Who the hell would want a ripped-off-youtube-pressed-on-vinyl monstrosity anyway? Thanks.

Recorded by: Radley Hirsch
Transfer by: Radley Hirsch
Equipment used: One of those tascam commercial tape deck/cd burner units

Audio Demo Live Concert
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Operation Ivy- LP Outtakes 1988 xfer from 1st gen cassette

So here is something that will either be incredibly rare and uncirculated or a boring retread. You tell me which- I don’t keep up with bootlegging activities.

Back in the 80s, Op Ivy were working on recording their album with Radley Hirsch, Gilman’s first sound engineer and architect of the sound system you all heard Op Ivy, Green Day, Rancid and Jawbreaker play through at 924 Gilman. It was in place until the mid 90s, and the mains are sitting here in my studio.
Radley would give us tapes with recent Gilman shows he thought we’d like, then tack on other cool stuff. This cool 10min clip was at the end of that Asexuals tape I posted yesterday. There are a bunch of other Op Ivy tapes that were traded out and I suspect were the source of some bootlegs..

Recorded by: Radley Hirsch
Equipment used: His Studio
Transfer by: Shayne Stacy
Equipment used: Nakamichi Dragon and M-Audio Audiophile 2496 card
From anonymous’ collection

Audio Demo
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Operation Ivy- 924 Gilman, Berkeley Ca 12/31/87 xfer from master/low gen audio cassette

Along with 100-plus videotapes that Chris Eng left with me to digitize, he also gave me over 200 cassettes. Keeping with the theme of getting everyone’s collections done, here is the first post from his collection.
There has been a video of this set out on youtube for years, which has soundboard audio. There isn’t much guitar in the mix on that tape, so we all finally get to hear the guitar loud and clear-ish here. Love the slow version of officer on here.
I also had another motive for posting this today- 924 Gilman is working toward becoming a historical landmark, and they could use your help/input/stories to make it happen. The more that they can prove that the place meant a lot to a lot of people, the more likely that they will get the designation… and historical landmarks are harder to shut down (hint hint). Please see the link in comments and send your feedback.

Recorded by: Chris Eng? Maybe Anonymous 1. Kinda sounds like one of his aiwa tapes
Transfer by: Shayne Stacy
Equipment used: Nakamichi Dragon and M-Audio Audiophile 2496 card
EQ in Sony Sound Forge 10

Audio Live Concert
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Operation Ivy- 924 Gilman Berkeley Ca 12/31/87 xfer f/low gen VHS tape Soundboard Audio Complete Set

I am pretty surprised that this one hasn’t been posted by anyone yet. I posted a short clip of this set that was at the end of Wayne Vanderkuil’s VHS tape a couple years back, but this one is definitely the complete show. From Chris Eng’s collection, originally filmed by Steve Von Till. We will get better copies of these someday.

This is the show, along with the RKL 1/16/88 gilman show that finally got me to save money for 5 months to buy a camcorder. So glad I did.

Recorded by: Steve Von Till
Transfer by: Shayne Stacy
Equipment used: Panasonic AG-1980 — Datavideo TBC1000 – ATI TV Wonder 600 USB Adapter — Virtualdub

Live Concert Video
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Operation Ivy- 924 Gilman, Berkeley Ca 12/31/87 xfer f/ low gen VHS tape Enhanced w/Soundboard Audio

Remember those VHS tapes that Wayne Vanderkuil sent me a few weeks back? This snippet of this Operation Ivy show was at the end. There are 2 angles of this video in circulation- one with better light sensitivity and terrible audio (my friend Rodney from Bay Area Punk Shows has that version over on his channel), and this one. A darker/muddier video with soundboard audio. I think I have the full show of this angle on a lesser quality VHS tape that I received in the 80s, but this one looks a bit better. Cuts off at 9 minutes. Thanks Wayne!
btw, this was the show where I realized i HAD to buy a video camera. Took me 4 months of saving to finally get one.

Recorded by: ? (we have some ideas but not sure)
Transfer by: Shayne Stacy
Equipment used: Panasonic AG-1980 — Datavideo TBC1000 – Tevion USB Adapter — Virtualdub
Enhanced in Adobe Premiere Elements/Neat Video (Brightness/Contrat/Exposure/denoise)

Live Concert Video
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Operation Ivy- 924 Gilman, Berkeley Ca. 8/16/87 xfer from master soundboard tape rebalanced

And now, a very special presentation from the Sac Music Archive.
This one has been on my hard drive for a few months- I think this was the very first cassette I digitized from Wayne Vanderkuil’s collection. The mix moves all over the place, so I was planning to rebalance each song but no time for that. So I did a straight rebalance of guitar and snare and called it good. As usual, I mixed it for the majority of the show, so certain parts (such as the beginning) may not sound as good. Forward it a bit- it gets better.
Wow, and what a set this is. There is at least one song that I have never heard them do before. Let’s keep this one off the bootlegs, kids.

Recorded by: Wayne Vanderkuil and Radley Hirsch
Transfer by: Shayne Stacy
Equipment used: Nakamichi Dragon and M-Audio Audiophile 2496 Card
Rebalance in Izotope Rx8 (Drums +4, Guitar +3)

Audio Live Concert
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Operation Ivy- 924 Gilman,Berkeley Ca 6/14/87 xfer f/master VHS tape Enhanced Rancid Battle of Bands

It’s finally time for another one from Chris Eng’s collection of VHS tapes, and it’s a good one! This one cleaned up nicely- I hope I didn’t overdo the denoise. It’s a fine balance to remove the grain while keeping the detail without getting that “iphone beauty selfie” look.
This is the second to last band that I have on tap from this date. Once we find the best versions of the soundboard tapes, it will be time to digitze those and synch them up.

Recorded by: Chris Eng
Transfer by: Shayne Stacy
Equipment used: Panasonic AG-1980 — Datavideo TBC1000 – Tevion USB Adapter — Virtualdub
Enhanced in Adobe Premiere Elements/Neat Video

Live Concert Video