Focus - 2011-11-02 - The Brook, Southampton, UK (Aud)
Band Name: Focus
Venue: The Brook
Location: Portswood, Southampton, Hampshire, UK
Date: Wednesday 2nd November 2011
Source: Audience (~20 feet from centre stage, with 16 inch left/right mic separation)
Lineage: Stereo Omni Mics (Panasonic WM-61A elements) & battery box (9V) -> 12dB L-Pad ->
Zoom H2 (line-in; 24bit/48kHz) -> SDHC card -> HD -> Wavelab6 & HarBal -> *.wav (16bit/44.1kHz) ->
Foobar2000 (level 8) -> *.flac -> Dime
Recorded by: Cuztard Pi
Transferred & Mastered by: Cuztard Pi
Title: Nearly Ritual
Set-list (103mins total):
Disc 1 (56mins)
Intro
Focus
Anonymus
House Of The King
Aya-Yuppie-Hippie-Yee
Eruption - Orpheus
Eruption - Answer
Eruption - Orpheus
Eruption - Answer
Eruption - Pupilla
Eruption - Tommy
Eruption - Pupilla
Eruption - Answer
Eruption - The Bridge I
Eruption - The Bridge II
Eruption - Endless Road
Eruption - Orpheus
Sylvia (prelude)
Sylvia
Le Tango
Disc 2 (47mins)
Harem Scarem
Menno's Guitar Solo
Bobby's Bass Solo
Harem Scarem (reprise)
Thijs' Solo
Hocus Pocus
Pierre's Drum Solo
Hocus Pocus (reprise)
-- encore --
Focus 3
Answers Questions! Questions! Answers!
Artwork, flac tags, flac fingerprints & MD5 files are included.
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Notes:
Ticket Price: £16 (Adv)
http://www.the-brook.com/dates2011/11.2011.shtml
Focus are:
Thijs van Leer - Hammond-organ, flute and vocals
Menno Gootjes - guitar
Bobby Jacobs - bass
Pierre van der Linden - drums
Roughly one year since they last played at the Brook, unfortunately with a very similar & a bit shorter set-list compared to last time. Still, the playing is as top-notch as ever.
There was a packed crowd so there is plenty of 'atmosphere' on this one (& of course the obligatory chat in the quiet bits, clapping, shouting, singing ... & yodeling!!) .. but nothing too intrusive (apart from one guy behind me during Hocus Pocus who probably gave himself a hernia trying to sing the high scale!!! LOL).
Sound on the night was not quite as 'nice' as is has been on their previous visits, but still pretty good, displaying an intimate, up-front, small-club sound. My recording represents the sound in the room on the night very well. Hope you like it.
For those interested - basic details of the mastering applied to my original Zoom H2 recording (using Wavelab6 & HarBal) are as follows:
A: EQ / Compression / Limiting (-0.5dB max) / Dithering to 16bit
B: fade in/out
C: individual track separation (quantized to CD frame).
For those wanting to split the set over 2xCDs, I have proposed the break point for CD#2 where it fits best IMO. However I have not applied any fade in/out at this point so the full recording is seemless & hence you can make the break wherever you want to if you are so inclined.
A note for any finicky audiophiles out there:
Mastering has been done to polish the raw master recording with the aim of enhancing the listening experience. If you prefer virgin recordings, unspoiled by any such amateur 'dabbling' then do not join in on this one. Be warned now ... I don't want any whinging! ;-)
But for the rest of you Dime'ers I recommend that you GO FOR THIS ONE ... you won't be disappointed!
I score the sound quality as 9 out of 10 ( = A- ); but hey! ... don't flame me if you don't agree ... & at least keep it friendly ;-)
If you have any comments, whether positive, negative or otherwise, I would love to read them ... don't be a lurker!
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FREE TRADE ONLY - NOT FOR SALE!!!
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A CURSE ON ANYONE SELLING THIS RECORDING!!!!!
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Enjoy - Cuztard Pi - 9th November 2010