Band: Mammatus
Venue: Moe's Alley
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
Date: 2023-11-09 (Thursday)
Taper: teetering
Type: AUD
Recording: Sound Professionals MS-BMC-3 binaural mics > SP-SPSB-10-13005 12v battery box (at ~9.5v > Sound Professionals SP-ATEN-6 (~ -15dB) > Andrea Electronics USB-SB-MA (stereo mic input) > phone > USB Audio Recorder Pro > FLAC
Processing: FLAC > Audacity [high pass filter -48db @ 15hz, boost/cut: l: -0db h: +0db, renormalized, soft limit -2.0db, track splits] > FLAC 8 > acxi (tagging, image embed, checksums)
Tech Notes:
* This club has an incredible sound system, so rather than try to EQ what is essentially perfect sound to sound ok at lower playback volume, I suggest you crank it. 85-90db or so should do the trick.
* The audience was VERY present, particularly in the quieter parts, but this club is so small that there was not much point in trying to get away from them, so I decided to enjoy Mammatus, who played beautifully. The way the club is laid out, there's a bar against the left side (facing stage) of the room, and a pillar, so it's hard to get away from people. Stereo center is very close to the bar unfortunately. But aside from that, Moe's Alley has a stellar Meyer Sound System, best in class, so the talkers are whatever.
FLAC: 16/48.0 (2 channels)
Quality: 3/4 (24khz, very clear, but a lot of audience)
Time: 35:44.86
Size: 221.2 MiB
Average kb/s: 865
Tracks: 5
Setlist:
01. intro >
02. Expanding Majesty
03. Nick, audience >
04. Beams of Light
05. audience
Band:
Nicholas Emmert - guitar, vocals
Chris Freels - bass
Aaron Emmert - drums
Notes:
* One of those all rare nights out, where the opener, support, and headliner were all very good. Acid Mother's Temple headlined, Dead Leaf Echo (from NYC) support, and Mammatus opened on their home territory. You'll recall that Mammatus supported AMT way back in 2008-04-08 at SF's Bottom of the Hill, captured and shared by Michaelz here. That 2008 AMT is on archive.org.
* About Mammatus:
* Website: https://headymental.com/
""Mammatus has been conjuring up a heavy blend of riff laden, space trippin, proggy, hazy far out rock and roll for ten years now. Since forming in the shadows of the Santa Cruz Mountains of California in 2005, they've delighted the ears and minds of adventurous listeners around the world. Their wizard and dragon themed self titled debut LP became a cult classic among the stoner rock crowd, drawing rave reviews from music lovers who were mesmerized by the psychedelic jam sandwich of Sabbathy riffage, swirling kraut grooves, and thundering space drones. In 2007 Mammatus released The Coast Explodes, and continued their ascent into heaviness while introducing more prog into the mix and creating a blissful yet intense spiritual rock experience. They traversed North America, garbing themselves in bizarre floral wizard robes and waving redwood staffs foraged from Corralitos Creek, turning people on to their sound and leaving many a sore neck behind them.
* Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mammatusband
* Bandcamp: https://mammatus.bandcamp.com/
* Nice interview with band: https://www.goodtimes.sc/prog-psych-stoner-trio/
"“I think our emphasis is that life is amazing,” explains guitar player, Nicholas “Nicky” Emmert. “It’s sacred to be a living, breathing thing experiencing and interacting with the universe.”
He takes a pause, then laughs with his band mates–brother and drummer Aaron Emmert and bassist Chris Freels–before adding, “That’s pretty much the theme of every one of our songs. There’s lightness and darkness and we want to be bearers of light in the darkness.”
* Includes show posters, photos.
* About Moe's Alley (1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz, CA)
* Website: https://moesalley.com
"14’ deep x 20’ wide stage
Meyer sound house speakers and Monitors [Meyer is some of the best audio gear in the world]
6 monitor wedges and 6 monitor mixes
32-channel Midas M32 board with removable iPad for remote mixing"
* Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/moesalley/
* https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2021/02/01/passing-the-torch-moes-alley-under-new-ownership/
"[February 1, 2021] The popular Santa Cruz music venue, Moe’s Alley, has changed hands as the former owner has passed the torch to two close friends who he hopes can continue to foster a great music scene across the Monterey Bay.
Bill Welch, the owner of Moe’s Alley for nearly 30 years, passed the torch to Lisa Norelli and Brian Ziel. Norelli worked as a general manager at Moe’s under Welch for 15 years and Ziel has been a close friend of his and Norelli’s for roughly the same time span."
* This is a very cool club, it's basically a converted 1 story ranch house with most of the interior walls removed, with one bar along one wall, another in the back outdoor area, which has many picnic tables, along with the food stand from Taqueria Agave. Very relaxed. And the sound system is great! But nobody buys Meyer Sound gear by accident, so if you see that, you can be pretty much assured the sound will be good.
It appears everything that was planned in that 2021 article has been done, the outdoor area is big, and relaxed, with the food served by Taqueria Agave (which is just down Soquel from the club, 1856 Soquel Ave, I recommend going there too! it's good old style Mexican food, perfect to stop in before the show).
* As one article noted, every show at Moe's Alley is literally a house party, because it's a house! Or was.
* Size and vibe wise, this club reminds me a bit of the Cactus Club in Milwaukee, it's very small, though a totally different layout and style, but similarly relaxed and pleasant. Get your tickets in advance to be on the safe side for sure.
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No distribution in lossy formats!!
No selling!!
No bootlegging!!
Yes sharing. Definitely share.
Support the artists when or if they play, and buy their records/merchandise.
Please correct any errors or oversights in this information in the comments section so the information can be as accurate as possible.
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Dan Healy (Grateful Dead sound engineer), on audience recordings:
"I learn a lot from hearing those tapes... The axiom that 'microphones don't lie' is a true one. If you put a microphone up in the audience and pull a tape and it doesn't sound good, you can't say, 'It was the microphone,' or 'It was the audience.' You've got to accept the fact that it didn't sound good. When you stick a mic up in the audience and the tape sounds cool, it's probably because the sound was cool. So it's significant to pay attention to the tapes."
[assuming decent quality powered mics, of course...]
source: https://www.prosoundweb.com/the-grateful-dead-a-continual-development-of-concert-sound-circa-1983/
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