Nero
September 22, 2001
Jambands.ca Fall Festival
Lancaster Tavern, Kitchener, Ontario

Recorded/Mixed by Eric Warren (tungstengruvsten@hotmail.com)

Recording information:
	Microphones:  Oktava MC012's* -> Marantz PMD650 (safety copy) ->AES/EBU out -> 			Dr. D format convertor -> SP/DIF in Delta 1010(16bit/44.1kHz)

	Soundboard:  stereo patch -> Delta 1010 (24 bit/96kHz)

*-10dB pad, cardioid capsules--hung XY from ceiling, 15' from stage

The two stereo pairs were recorded in Vegas 2.0

See mixing info below.

Set 1
1.Mikomard->Space->
2.Oregano Mice
3.WataBug
4.401 Theme
5.SpeedQueen
6.Chocolat Monkey Machine

Set 2
1.Space->
2.Tricky
3.Flurmy->Jam->unnamed new section->jam->
4.3rd Stone from the Sun->new thing reprise
5.Condor
6.Encore:First Tube

Notes:
All work was done from the hard drive copies, the MD Safety copies weren't needed.

All monitoring was done with Event 20/20bas Active monitors as well as AKG K240 headphones. Signal path was Delta 10/10 -> Mackie 1604VLZ -> Event 20/20bas.

The Soundboard was resampled to 16-bit/44.1k in Soundforge (Highest Quality) prior to mixing

With the 4 tracks being available to me, I chose to mix AND master the recordings for a few different reasons:
a. To correct any imperfections that would degrade the listening experience
2. To compensate for the lack of compression on the soundboard tracks
b. To elevate these performances from standard bootleg quality 
7. Cause I can and will!
d. all of the above

This is another matrix mix, with the timing correction noted in the Fat Cats section.

The only real section of note is the *2nd* track of set 2, where a wayward dancer kicked out the power supply on the Minidisc, cutting short the microphone feed and the safety... so much for planning ahead...  The track is faded to the soundboard version then back to both for the easiest-on-the-ears transition. Right after this fade there was some serious digital clipping?I probably freaked and turned the soundboard up too loud.  I pencil- corrected them as best I could but it sounds like somebody jamming with a cardboard box.
Digital Editing

Soundboard EQ
Low Shelf ?4.5dB@190Hz
1 Octave Parametric 1.6dB@1.4kHz
0.6 Octave Parametric -2.4dB@4.65kHz
Hi Shelf 1dB@8.8kHz

The Mic's have a Hi Shelf of 3.3dB@1.1kHz--this is a quick and dirty way to add some serious high's but it works...

The microphones and soundboard were mixed together at a ratio of 1:2.5, with the resulting mix normalized to 0.5 dB.  This was then Mastered in a couple of different ways:

Version 1: Magneto Tape Saturation Emulator
This basically emulates the way analog tape compresses signals that are too hot- a subtle blend of harmonic distortion and compression.  Similar to the principles behind overdriven tubes but with less distortion, this squashing adds some serious character to the sound. The final settings were 11.5dB of drive applied with 30ips emulation?resulting in +3dB to +7dB of overdriven signal on tape. ROCK N? ROLL!  

Version 2: Timeworks Mastering Compressor
This was done mainly to compare the Magneto version with something cleaner, to make sure I wasn?t applying too much tape compression and just basking in harmonics.   

After much comparison, I chose the Magneto version as it really rounded out the bass and brought a snarl to the midrange that was lacking in the Timeworks version.  Several others listened and agreed before I made this choice.




