Los Lobos
10th May 2007
Shepherd's Bush Empire
London, England

ADK-SC-1 mics > AT8202 attenuators > Denecke PS2 > Dencecke -AD20 > Edirol R4 > PC (via USB) > Soundforge v6 (Volume and Normalise) > CDwave Editor
Recorded and transferred by Leslie Green

Total time 102:58
625 MB

Disc One (58:48)
01. Saint Behind The Glass  3:47
02. La Pistola Y El Corazon  3:54
03. Pajuro Cu  4:29
04. Porro De Pedrito  4:29
05. Teresa  8:15
06. Chuco's Cumbia  6:03
07. The Valley  5:45
08. Luz De Mi Vida  4:47
09. High Places  5:30
10. Don't Worry Baby  3:07
11. Kiko And The Lavender Moon  4:01
12. Let's Say Goodbye  4:35

Disc Two (44:10)
01. Anselma  3:53
02. Los Ojos De Pancha  2:39
03. Will The Wolf Survive  4:18
04. Maria Christina  3:38
05. Mas Y Mas  11:35
Encores
06. Dear Mr. Fantasy * ->  6:10
07. Rattlesnake Shake * ->  4:49
08. One Way Out *  7:04

* With J.J. Grey and George Sluppick of Mofro.

There's a story. There always is or should be!
I got invited to the soundcheck on the afternoon of the show to set up.
My friend Iain and I flew down from Aberdeen in the morning - coffee and a double conac at theairport
before boarding - who needs work this is the life.
Checked into the hotel in London and headed into town, stopping at the pub on the corner for a pint of London Pride.
In town I got item one for the wife at home, then another pint to shelter from the now pouring rain
and to get directions to and excellent Punjabi restaurant - the curry was fantastic. Then present 2 for wife and back to
the hotel for my rig, via the pub on the corner and another London Pride.
Got to the venue at the specified time , meeting David Hidalgo in the street. Access no problem. Set up in front of the
sound-desk. Recorded the soundcheck - nice!
Then the venue manager said I could not set up where I was and suggests I would be better inside the sound-desk area
with my rig between the sound and lighting boards - even gave me a box to stand on to get up on the desk and
allowed me to plug into the venue's power for my Edirol R4. Bliss!! I got the mics up about 14-16 feet above the crowd,
each pointing staight at a speaker stack and resting just under the balcony - a tapers dream?
After the soundcheck Iain and I went on stage to speak with the band and get some cds signed. I then got 2 back-stage
passes for me and Iain so we could get back in before the doors opened.
Showtime - the opening act JJ Grey and Mofro were great(check them out) and they recorded O.K./well.
Los Lobos came on and I set the recorder going and the levels looked fine during the opening song so I headed to the
front to get some pics. I went back at the end of the second song and lo and behold( polite for fucking shit!!!) the recording
levels were hardly registering. I stared in disbelief and pondered what to do. After the 4th song I flicked the attenuators to their
lowest setting and turned the pre-amp gain up full. Sound was now registering again. A few songs later I saw it - the red battery low
warning light on the phantom power pack for the mics, but how could it be I bought new 9v batteries the day before, especially for
the trip. Simple answer is faulty battery - the one in the pre-amp from the same pack was going strong.
I let it run for the show and by the end of the set and the encores the levels were showing strongly. It's possible that without the battery
 failing the end of the show might have over recorded - we'll never know.
Anyway at the end of the night I had something on the hard drive, but I couldn't bring myself to check it for 3 weeks (I was working on another
show to be fair). I started on this one last weekend and on the pc I could see the levels were gradually fading during songs throughout the
show. However through the miracle of technology(thanks Soundforgre!) and a lot of hard work and patience over the week I reckon I've built it
back up to the stage I can now put it up for downloading.
A lot of people seem to take it for granted that shows will just be put up for them to "grab", maybe this tale will let them see that there can be
more to it than pointing a mic and switching on a recorder and in my experince there is usually more. So in this instance I'd appreciate some
feedback from anyone who downloads the show. I'd like someone else's opinion on it.
I hope you enjoy it - in many ways it's been a labour of love.
Lesterc.

