Grateful Dead - 9-26-81 War Memorial Auditorium Buffalo, NY Sick Bits Vol. 10 Source: Matrix (SBD/AUD mix): SBD: (SHN ID # 18110) - via Charlie Miller SBD>Cm>Cass>Dat>CD AUD: (SHN ID # 12554) - via popi n. feeldz Set 1: Nak 100's w/cardioid capsules>Uher CR-240>DAT>CDR Set 2: AKG 414's>Revox cassette deck (Cass. Master)>DAT>CDR (Recorded by Dan Healy at the sbd) cdr>eac(secure mode)>shn Transfer/Editing: Both sources were SHN files downloaded from LMA and converted to WAV > Sony Vegas 5 > WAV > CD Wave > FLAC 16 (level 8) Matrixed by Chris Chappell, 7-17-05 scarfire@liquidcity.com ________________________________________________________________________ Set I: d1t01 - Shakedown Street d1t02 - C.C. Rider d1t03 - They Love Each Other d1t04 - Cassidy d1t05 - Jack A Roe d1t06 - On The Road Again d1t07 - Ramble On Rose d1t08 - Looks Like Rain d1t09 - Brown Eyed Women d1t10 - Let It Grow d1t11 - Don't Ease Me In Set II: d2t01 - Tuning d2t02 - Playin' In The Band > d2t03 - Bertha > d2t04 - Estimated Prophet > d2t05 - Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad > d2t06 - Drumz/ d2t07 - /DrumSpace > d2t08 - Not Fade Away > d2t09 - Morning Dew > d2t10 - Playin' Reprise > d2t11 - One More Saturday Night Encore: d2t12 - Johnny B. Goode Total Times: Disc 1 [79:03] Disc 2 [73:53] - for track times see shntool output length expanded size cdr WAVE problems filename 13:20.43 141221180 --- -- ---xx gd81-09-26d1t01.flac 8:04.52 85499948 --- -- ---xx gd81-09-26d1t02.flac 6:56.42 73481228 --- -- ---xx gd81-09-26d1t03.flac 5:29.21 58085036 --- -- ---xx gd81-09-26d1t04.flac 4:25.68 46905980 --- -- ---xx gd81-09-26d1t05.flac 3:20.49 35395292 --- -- ---xx gd81-09-26d1t06.flac 6:32.40 69242924 --- -- ---xx gd81-09-26d1t07.flac 10:04.57 106679708 --- -- ---xx gd81-09-26d1t08.flac 5:50.21 61789436 --- -- ---xx gd81-09-26d1t09.flac 11:16.27 119309948 --- -- ---xx gd81-09-26d1t10.flac 3:41.33 39062060 --- -- ---xx gd81-09-26d1t11.flac 0:56.51 9998396 --- -- ---xx gd81-09-26d2t01.flac 10:07.56 107206556 --- -- ---xx gd81-09-26d2t02.flac 6:49.10 72171164 --- -- ---xx gd81-09-26d2t03.flac 10:12.05 107968604 --- -- ---xx gd81-09-26d2t04.flac 7:05.00 74970044 --- -- ---xx gd81-09-26d2t05.flac 8:02.23 85078940 --- -- ---xx gd81-09-26d2t06.flac 2:31.32 26711708 --- -- ---xx gd81-09-26d2t07.flac 5:56.05 62810204 --- -- ---xx gd81-09-26d2t08.flac 10:09.45 107533484 --- -- ---xx gd81-09-26d2t09.flac 2:47.40 29552924 --- -- ---xx gd81-09-26d2t10.flac 4:51.16 51370076 --- -- ---xx gd81-09-26d2t11.flac 4:25.09 46767212 --- -- ---xx gd81-09-26d2t12.flac 152:56.70 1618812052 B (totals for 23 files, 0.6303 overall compression ratio) _______________________________________________________________________ General Notes: By popular vote, this show got the nod for Sick Bits Vol. 10 for obvious reasons. First and foremost, this show absolutely rocks, with Jerry often employing a telecaster style twang on the likes of Ramble On Rose, Bertha, GDTRFB, Johnny B Goode and epitomized in Playin' - that country twang thang (uptempo, the way I like it - especially in the Reprise). Morning Dew is impressive, but the spirit of the aforementioned tunes is where the sickness is, especially the Goin' Down The Road, the highlight of an amazing second set. Of note is the second electric On The Road Again since 1966 (3 in that year), and it is one of 4 played in '81 (one of those being acoustic - Melk Weg) with there only being 12 electric versions post 1980 when it was a staple in their acoustic set. Three sources from the LMA provided coverage for this matrix: a okay SBD, and different, but nice sounding AUDs for each set. The result in my mind is a very worthy matrix, because each source on its own do not do this show justice. There are some mix issues from Healy's end on the SBD (covered in the editing notes), and it should be known that the first two tunes (Shakedown and CC Rider) and Drums do not circulate in SBD, so there is no resulting matrix. This show was not easy to matrix, but in the end it was well worth it. I definately ended up rediscovering this gem, mainly because the power that is conveyed in the recording is palpable; and that same energy, albeit raging, was more diffuse in the AUD I've enjoyed for years. So here's the best of both worlds - this one is a definate candidate for most improved sound, even though the final result is not nearly as crisp as the '81 Chicago Uptowns (SB Vols. 2). -------Reviews from the LLama: "The Dead came on stage about an hour or more late because they were catching a Rolling Stones concert in Pennsylvania or somewhere. So they owed us a bit when they finally arrived." "This is a very active, high pitched show where nearly every song is in dance mode. Especially good were the GDTRFB and Morning Dew in the 2nd set." "This was a strange little 3 show mini-tour, and very hot. The band was smoking right out of the gate. Shakedown very explosive. The highlight is the killer Playin-Bertha-Estimated-GDTRFB. Morning Dew came as the final sermon, delivered by Jerry to the faithful. I am really starting to believe the 1981 May - Sept. tours were amoung the best. Brent by now, had really started to find his tone." ------- Thanks to Charlie Miller for the SBD; and Dan Healy for recording the set 2 AUD source. Thanks to John Tallmadge for the AUD source discs; and popi n. feeldz for the eac>shn transfer of the AUDs. Enjoy! Chappy Attached: Shntool output Editing Notes FLAC Fingerprint SBD & AUD source Notes ________________________________________________________________________ Timeline/Tracking Notes: Each set fits on a disc nicely, however there is a small portion of Drums missing from the second set. Also, Shakedown, CC Rider and about 8 minutes of Drums are AUD only. Editing Notes: - Pitch Each of the three sources were pitched differently, the set 2 AUD being the closest to A=440Hz. For the first set, I used the SBD as my pitch reference and pitched the AUD down on average about -.20 (20 cents), the result is very close to A=440Hz, leading me to think there is different lineage for the SBD set to set. For the second set I used the AUD as my pitch reference and pitch corrected each track of the SBD to it. The SBD on average had to be ptched up on average about .20 (20 cents) to achieve pitch correction for the first part of set 2 (through Estimated). At that point the SBD source changes and is more full and vibrant requiring a pitch correction up on average of only about .04 (4 cents) - 1.00 being 100 cents which is a semitone. The result is very close to A=440Hz, however there is some fluctuation throughout the show due to the age of the recordings. - Synch Even after pitch correcting the AUD and the SBD, because of the speed fluctuation within a given source, multiple edits were performed to keep the sources synched (too many edits to list). - Sonic Quality/Matrix ratio/Source mixes No EQ was applied to any of the sources, but the SBD did receive a little Waves L2 (limiter) to give it a little more punch and presence. Conceptually, all I was trying to do here is to add some dimension to the SBD, which is pretty dry, by using the ambience of the AUD. The result is a lively but clear recording, hopefully close to how it sounded at the show. If I had to guess the SBD/AUD ratio would be somewhere between 3:1 and 4:1, leaning more towards the 3:1 end of things. The SBD is peak shaven at points mostly during loud chorus sections. Healy finally dials in the left channel of the SBD during Bertha and the mix is balanced from then on out; before that however, the left channel is a little lower than the right for the whole first set. There seems to be a source change in the SBD after the cut in the intro to GDTRFB. Things get fuller, and Phil is more present. Minor distortion appears at peaks, but it is not that noticeable even at it's worse during Drums. The AUDs are both great, providing enough "hash" to liven up the SBD. - Edits The following are places where the SBD had holes or incomplete coverage in reference to the final matrix timeline. SBD: d1t01 all - missing d1t02 all - missing d1t10 (0:01 - 0:08) - missing d1t05 (0:16 - 0:27) - missing (source change) d2t06 all - missing d2t11 (3:16 - 3:18) - right channel only AUD: d1t08 (8:34 - 9:53) - missing (crowd) d2t01 (0:00 - 0:57) - missing (crowd) d2t07 (0:00 - 0:12) - missing - Recap Almost full coverage was achieved by combining both sources, with the exception of an unknown amount of Drums missing. This was a tricky matrix due to what would seem to be multiple SBD sources and two AUD sources, all of which were pitched differently. The hard part was matching the SBD/AUD ratio (and resulting blend) source change to source, so what I did was to minimize the difference within reason. The most noticeable is the change during the intro to GDTRFB; thus everything before that has more AUD than after, which is pretty board heavy especially because they rock every tune till the end. 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