Kansas
Oklahoma State Fair
Oklahoma City, OK
September 12, 2014.
"2.OK"
Originally Recorded & Transferred using...
...Tascam DR-05 > Audacity > WAV > Trader's Little Helper > FLAC
This show is historic as it was the first show after Steve Walsh's retirement.
Replacing him are two new members:
David Manion on keyboards and Ronnie Platt on lead vocals/keyboards.
Billy Greer refers at one point to the lineup (perhaps in jest) as "Kansas 2.0", hence the title I've given it!
I can't find the original torrent on here so...
THANKS TO THE ORIGINAL TAPER, WITHOUT WHOM WE'D HAVE NONE OF THIS IN THE FIRST PLACE!
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**CONTRAST CLAUSE**
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Delighted to see this appear on Dime when it did, but like most folks who grabbed it I was a wee bit disappointed
with how it came out for the taper - lots of muffling, volume 'leaps' [and 'dips'!] unclear between-song chat, etc.
Given the historic nature of the show, not to mention the [at long last] altered set-list, I wanted to try cleaning it up somewhat.
God, what a task it was!!
It's not perfect but to me it's an improvement and it can now bear repeated listens [I'm nothing if not dogged!]
So... using Goldwave 5.7 I did this stuff...
I merged all the files into one and re-tracked it & shortened some of the applause stuff to get a single cd fit.
Where there's chat from [mostly] Billy, I boosted the treble severely and cut most of the bass - One thing I love about these
ROIO's is the live-ness inherent in the stage chatter, so I like to hear what they're saying!!
01-Intro applause
02-People of the South Wind
[Split this into 2 tracks; not a whole lot I could do about the crazy distortion at the start of POTSW, so I just tried to lower the volume there;
From about the start of Rich's guitar solo the volume drops off so I boosted it to match the 'correct' volume segments of POKR [the next song!]
Overall, I reduced slightly the bass, boosted the mids and treble]
03-Point of Know Return
[Very muffled volume again in sections so I boosted it; As above, I reduced the bass slightly, boosted the mids and treble]
04-Play the Game Tonight
[Same as POKR]
05-David Mannion-keys intro to The Wall
06-The Wall
[Split this into 2 tracks and so corrected the tracking; muffled volume once again in certain parts so I boosted it there;
As before, I reduced the bass slightly, boosted the mids and treble]
07-Reason to Be
08-Dust in the Wind
[Muffled volume in sections of both so, same as 04-PTGT]
09-Opus Insert
[One of the better recordings here [and one of the songs I used as a volume 'measure'] but still, from around 4:30 it goes muffled again so...
I boosted it and, again, reduced the bass slightly, boosted the mids and treble]
10-Closet Chronicles
11-Hold On
[A pain to do 'cos the volume was up and down all over the songs, especially 'Closet..', from about 2:30 onwards;
so the [by now] usual treatments!]
12-What's On My Mind
[Low volume to around 3:20, so boosted that section; also some 'phasing' towards the end - tried to balance that]
13-Belexes / Lightning's Hand
[Same as 'Closet..', all over the feckin' place volume-wise! so, once again, the usual treatments!]
14-Portrait
[Muffled volume to 0:30 and from there low volume, so boosting and balancing, and bass/mid/treble reduction/boosting]
15-Sparks of the Tempest
[Mufled volume again to about 2:10, then very muffled during guitar solo to about 4:05 and then a kinda gradual fade towards the end.
Lots of volume balancing to be done here, and then the bass/mid/treble reduction/boosting to follow]
16-Encore applause
[Removed a chunk of this to fit the cd and 'cleaned up' the stage chat]
17-Fight Fire With Fire / Under the Knife
[Slight muffling so volume boosting and bass/mid/treble reduction/boosting]
18-Carry On Wayward Son
[All muffled, low volume in parts too and more 'phasing' to the end.
volume balancing required, and then the bass/mid/treble reduction/boosting to follow that]
When I had all this done I used Goldwave's MaxMatch setting to balance all the tracks together but that didn't sound a whole lot better than
the original, so what we have here is version 1 of the 'fix'.
I've listened to this on a car cd player and also thru my own Panasonic system - It IS a lot better on the house system [obviously we each have
our own Eq prefefrences, so maybe that's why it sounded much better to me!]
Setlist:
01-Intro applause
02-People of the South Wind
03-Point of Know Return
04-Play the Game Tonight
05-David Mannion-keys intro to The Wall
06-The Wall
07-Reason to Be
08-Dust in the Wind
09-Opus Insert
10-Closet Chronicles
11-Hold On
12-What's On My Mind
13-Belexes / Lightning's Hand
14-Portrait
15-Sparks of the Tempest
16-Encore applause
17-Fight Fire With Fire / Under the Knife
18-Carry On Wayward Son
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Anyhow - hope this is an improvement over what it was; Enjoy!
And as always...
Don't mp3 this or sell it [anywhere!] If you do, I'll send an army of [teeny] ants round to your place one night
to sh*t in your ear when you're sleeping!
Support KANSAS - buy their stuff and tell everyone else to do that too!
Peace, folks ! ;-)