Marshall Crenshaw & The Bottle Rockets
Center for Arts
Natick, Massachusetts
USA
January 24, 2015 [2015-01-24]

Sometimes you have your gameplan all figured out, then you find out that the universe has ITS plans. And when the universe and I end up being at cross-purposes, the universe --- being bigger than me --- usually wins.

It did this time.

This = the audio from digital video (MiniDV) I recorded (Sony ECM 907 stereo microphone > Canon ZR960 videocamera). When I got around to transferring the audio to my HD for mixing, I discovered that one channel was empty, yielding a one-track (i.e., mono) recording. This is not what I had expected. BUT� I�ve had this sort of thing (loose mike connection) happen before, and sometimes the missing channel pops in and out as things cruise along (as the mike cord was being jiggled �in the heat of battle� as it were), such that some portions of the audio = on both tracks. If that were the case here, and if some 2-track portions were long enough, it might be possible to salvage stretches of the recording for stereo mixdown. I discovered that the only way to fully determine what was what (spot-checking was not proving very encouraging) was to transfer the whole recording to .wav and have a looksee. Without going into too much irrelevant detail, I will report that the first couple of minutes were recorded on both channels (and were in fact stereo), then almost all the rest of the recording was on the R channel only. The encores were recorded on both channels, so I thought brightly Maybe at least THEY'LL be stereo. But no: the L & R channels sounded identical*, so we were still in MonoLand. (Screenshot of wavefile in comments for those with strong stomachs.)

Well, mono isn�t the end of the world [is it Phil Spector?]**, so I decided that rather than chuck the whole soundfile into the wastebasket (metaphorically), I�d clone the extant channel into the empty one, making a 2-channel mono soundstream, and mix it from there.

Once I had finished, I wasn�t sure whether or not to upload this: besides being mono, it�s not the greatest-sounding recording (see MIXING/EDITING NOTES below for theories). But, even tho� it�s now been almost a year since this shindig went down, and tho' MC is still touring around, I�m not seeing any of his current shows uploaded onto DIME (or listed on etree.org). Maybe his audience is not what I like to characterize as 'the taping crowd.' Or maybe it�s not the DIME crowd. Two of my personal axioms (implausible as they may seem in these here parts) are that:

a) Not everything gets recorded, &
b) Not everything that gets recorded gets uploaded to bitTorrent.

So� based on the theory that a little something is still better than a lot of nothing, here goes:


* (although using a plugin tool to check the phase between the 2 channels did seem to reveal a slight difference, which --- while interesting on an intelletual level --- didn't offer any help in terms of creating a better-sounding mix).

** I guess he�s his own one-man End Of The World now.

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PERSONNEL
Marshall Crenshaw
Brian Henneman (guitar / backing vocals)
John Horton (guitar / steel guitar (on Valerie) / backing vocals)
Keith Voegele (bass / backing vocals)
Mark Ortmann (drums / percussion (shaker on Cynical Girl))

TRACKLISTING
01 - introduction / Calling Out For Love (At Crying Time)
02 - Driving And Dreaming
03 - Live And Learn
04 - Cynical Girl
05 - There She Goes Again
06 - Better Back Off
07 - Whenever You�re On My Mind
08 - Move Now
09 - Red Wine
10 - Valerie
11 - (You�re My) Favorite Waste Of Time
12 - Television Light
13 - I Don�t See You Laughing Now / band introductions
14 - Crying, Waiting, Hoping
encore:
15 - Someday, Someway
16 - Mary Anne
17 - Stranger And Stranger

total duration = 79m:44s (will fit on one CD [if you squeeeeze gently!!])

PERFORMANCE NOTES
The introduction heard here at the beginning actually took place before The Bottle Rockets' set. But their set was not captured on this recording, nor was the introduction to Marshall Crenshaw's set, so I just grafted the earlier intro onto the beginning of this mix/edit. (This explains why he's announcing The Bottle Rockets seemingly AFTER they would have played.)

After Cynical Girl, MC tells an anecdote about going with his son to see Steve Earle, and how SE�s response when told by fans that such-and-such a song must be about them is �No�they�re all about me.� Much of that story was lost in this recording, as videocamera was put on pause by mistake for a few seconds (possibly while switching seats). The surviving discourse is stitched together to smooth things out. This redaction makes it sound as if MC is making the ��they�re all about me� quip original with him, but he DID give credit where credit was due and attribute it to Steve Earle. (Actually, the syntax --- somewhat tortured in the story as told --- actually sounds more natural in the re-edit.) This revision also explains how it is that MC refers to "ANOTHER thing about Steve Earle" after the next song.

When MC announced that the next song was gonna be his version of International Pricks by Blowfly, I assumed he meant he was going to do THAT song. I thought This is gonna be WILD! (sample lyric:
"He's the biggest prick you've ever seen
"And he goes by the name of Idi Amin
"'I'm a prick over here, I'm a prick over yonder
"'I'm the biggest prick in all Uganda'"
Yikes!!) MC has done some pretty astonishing covers over the years: Don't Fear The Reaper, The Beat Goes On, Journey To The Center Of The Mind, Honestly Sincere [from Bye Bye Birdie] &c, so a Blowfly cover would not be out of the question. But it turned out the song he was introducing was an MC original with similar moral outrage-theme: a lovesong (not!) to Bernie Madoff (or at least to someone who 'made off' with other people's money)*.

At the start of last song of main set, MC thanks audience for "braving the elements." Show took place at tail of brutal snowstorm [during introduction announcer assures crowd that streets are being plowed for the ride home]. I wasn't sure if there was even gonna be a show . . . I checked online day-of to see if maybe it was canceled or postponed. Surprisingly, almost everybody showed up - - - there weren't many empty seats, weather notwithstanding.

* sorry!!

RECORDING NOTES
source: audience

recording gear:
Sony ECM907 one-point stereo microphone > Canon ZR960 videocamera [but see AUDIO NOTES below for discussion re: which mike elements = active or inactive]

recording location: up against the back wall* of the room at start, with a couple of moves closer to the stage (as my eleemosynary Spider-sense discerned empty seats during the proceedings); by the end of the performance I was in c. the fifth row, facing L (MC�s) side of stage. Seat-hopping was done with video (better angle, fewer heads in the way, etc.) in mind, not audio. I don�t think the sound quality or sound balance changed appreciably as a result of my leapfrogging, although one relocation did distance me from a chatty couple who can be heard in a few spots c. halfway thru the recording.

recorded by: Isotope Feeney

* MoFo!!

AUDIO NOTES
imaging: mono

sound quality: fair (4 out of 10?)
(mp3 samples in comments)

flaws:
Well of course the main flaw is the one already discussed: one channel = M.I.A. But beyond that is the question of what the extant channel consists of. Sometimes when a 2-insulation (stereo) plug is misalgned when connected, signals from both sides sides of the insulation separating L & R channels end up bridged together (see fuller explanation in text acoompanying JPEG of soundfile in comments). This is by far the less desirable situation, 'cause its then that you get phase conflicts, resulting in a muddier, sometimes 'whoosh'-y sound. What happened with this I'm not sure. As noted below, at a certain point the recording flipped from both channels to the R channel; then towards the end of the proceedings, switched to the L channel(see picture of raw soundfile in comments). Sonic values did change when it switched from both channels to just R channel - - - just what that tells me I'm not sure.

TECHNICAL NOTES
generation: mixdown from MASTER recording

transfer lineage:
48 kHz / 16 bit stereo linear PCM files > HD >
Sound Forge v. 11.0 (EQ, dynamic range expansion, edits, volume adjustments) >
Audacity v. 2.0.6 (track splits) >
Traders Little Helper v. 2.7.0 (align SBEs, create FLAC (level 8) files) >
DIME >
The Discriminating Few (i.e., YOU)

format: 44.1 kHz / 16 bit [CD compliant]

file size: 280 MB

MIXING/EDITING NOTES
Some uploaders make a fuss out of the fact that no tweaking or alterations were done to the original soundfiles. Well, that approach was out the window once it became manifest that the L channel of this recording was (in the immortal snarls of The Sex Pistols) "pretty vacant." But it would have been out the window anyway. A long tome ago I became comfortable with the notion ("deep inside") that it ain't no sin to employ some of the tools available to improve audiofiles' sound (assuming such usage is done judiciously, with restraint). For reasons detailed in the next few paragraphs, I (ironically?) ended up doing less to this audiofile than I might have if I had had something better to work with. But: every commercial release --- even if produced in the most pristine controlled environment --- has been mixed after being recorded, to mold it into the desired [sound-]shape. All the more reason [IMO] for recordings made in less than optimal conditions to be kneaded into what's needed.

Plus: what�s wrong with trying to make something sound better??

sound design by Isotope Feeney:
As detailed in numerous places throughout this description, only one channel of audio was recorded at a time throughout the bulk of this capture. First step in creating a mixdown therefore was to paste whatever audio was extant at a particular position into the empty channel to create a 2 track mono master. [As frustrating as having to do this was, I know it could have been worse. With a loose mike connection, I'm lucky to have sound at all. I've had a few instances over the years when the mike became disconected (and as there are no VU meters on consumer videocameras, there�s no way to know) & I've ended up w. gorgeous video but NO audio whatsoever . . . and famous people, too: Springsteen, Costello! That REALLY chews! Those recordings are WAAAY on the back burner - - - to be somehow revivified by my great-grandchildren (or their contemporaries).] The first couple of minutes of this capture were in fact stereo, but it seemed pointless (and prob. just disorienting) to have 2 minutes of stereo followed by 70+ minutes of mono, so one channel of that stereo portion was used in assembling the master soundfile.

Piece of Calling Out For Love (missing when camera audio switched from both channels to R channel)reconstructed by inserting edit piece composed of R ch of H2N MS capture (w. EQ + compression factor of X3).

FX applied to point in soundfile (c. halfway thru Calling Out For Love) where sonic values change due to camera audiorecording switching from both channels to R channel (from one element of one-point stereo mike to the other?. To attempt to reach sonic equilibrium between the 2 disparately recorded sectors:
- slight amount of digitalfishphones Floorfish applied to 2nd sector to expand dynamic range
- Izotope Nectar Elements applied 2nd sector to bring vox up
- Kjaerhus Classic EQ applied to 2nd sector to bring vox, bass guitar up
- Sony Paragraphic EQ applied to 2nd sector to bring bass guitar up
- volume of 1st sector reduced c. -3 db.

Some applause between songs truncated to remove mike rustling sounds, crowd �chitchat� and sound of Taper breathing into microphone (audible because mike was in a shirt pocket, pointed straight up towards nose).

Applause between songs levels reduced c. -2 db.

Numerous digital artifacts (clicking noises) removed from spots where levels = clpping.

At beginning of Live And Learn, conversation from audiencemember who thought he recognized Yr. Humble Chronicler excised (and when addressing me, he used my real name - - - so it HAD to go!).

Missing piece of Cynical Girl (lost when camera accidentally on pause) repaired by cloning similar passage from earlier in song and inserting it into jumpcut. Stitch = pretty invisible - - - I forgot exactly where it is, and now I can't detect it listening back.

Beginning of I Don�t See You Laughing Now (lost because of tape swop) reconstructed by cross-fading edit piece composed of R channel of H2N MS capture (w. compression factor of X3).

Sound effects added for comic effect.

Applause between end of main set and encore = truncated. Much of this = in-camera edit, as videocamera put on pause until band returned to stage. The actual stretch was in fact pretty long: MC makes comment "that took forever."

A few handclaps --- during songs and independent of any general applause --- removed during encore.

Usual fades: up @ beginning and down @ end.

Jeroen Breebaart Red Phatt Pro dynamic processor applied on the fly to counteract audio limiter of videocamera.

Steinberg StudioEQ applied.

Kjaerhus Classic EQ applied to bring bass guitar up.

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Sharp-eyed readers will have noticed that in a couple of spots I referenced a separate recording of this show (from which the repair pieces were fashioned to insert into empty spots of this). At the same time that I was manning the camera, a Zoom H2N was running (in a different location). The original plan was to upload the mixdown of that capture: it IS after all successfully in stereo, and prob. a better sounding recording overall. So before tackling this project, I did a mixdown of the H2N material; but once I was finished and listened back to the result a few times . . . I didn�t like it. It sounds �rough�: like it has little microscopic pinholes in the soundstream - - - not dropouts per se, but barely perceptible, infinitesimal breaks. I think the culprit may have been a plugin I used to reduce reverb. Even though the recording device was pretty close to the PA, the results sounded �distance-y� to me, and I thought taking out some reverb would make things sound more �up-front.� The VST I enlisted sounded fine when I spotchecked it here and there, but may ultimately have had too harsh an effect in some places once applied to the entire wavefile. In any event, I came to the reluctant conclusion that the right thing to do was to go back to square one and do a brandnew mixdown of the H2N material. I say �reluctant� at lest in part because I remember that one of the onerous tasks of the original project was taking out numerous individual handclaps - - - a painstaking chore that I don�t relish re-doing*, but in this game you play the cards you are dealt.

So - - - since I don�t wanna upload anything that I don�t believe is as good as I could make it (don�t want to waste people�s time or ratio), and I think that with a little more tweaking I can cook up a more worthy mix of the H2N stuff (like the good days, when mom wouldn't take the casserole out of the oven and put it on the table �til it was ready)- - - I decided to put that project on the back burner, & tackle it when I�m in the right frame of mind to give it my full, unresentful attention. In the meantime I started fooling around with this (camera audio) dub, & there seemed no reason not to upload it. For all its shortcomings, it's mixed down as good as I can get it, no amount of delay is going to yield anything better from it. It�s as ready as it�s ever gonna be - - - so let it happen, cap�n. Like everything else in the universe: It Is What It Is.

* one which, to do properly, one has to be able to get into what I like to think of as the Zen Zone: to be able to unhurriedly consider each instance as a double koan (�what is the sound of TWO hands clapping�?).

ARTWORK
in comments

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Despite there not being any full recordings of current MC concerts out there (at lest that I can find), there are some YouTube clips including a few from this very performance:

https://youtu.be/jCvYMGusvks
https://youtu.be/ggAVrwBXwFQ
https://youtu.be/wuUDJQ92IGU
https://youtu.be/V8nePMtHFFo

FULL DISCLOSURE DEPT.: I used screengrabs from a couple of these clips to create the artwork (found in comments). Thank you for the raw material, fellow chroniclers!!

ALTERNATE CERTIFIED PRO VERSION ?
Aside from any audience-generated YouTube clips that have surfaced (or may yet), and apart from anything I did, there (presumably) exists a pro-shot version of this concert. In his membership spiel & introduction of The Bottle Rockets (not heard in its entirety in this mix/edit) the club manager announces �We are broadcasting our show on Concert Window tonight.� I�ve been to other things where there was official documentation going on alongside whatever I was doin�. And as good as I�d like to think the results of my home-brew efforts might be, if there�s an FM broadcast or an official CD or video out there of a show I went to, of course I�m gonna want that too. So when that announcement was made, I thought When I get home I�ll have to check things out, see how I can download that also.

Well� so far I have not been able to figure out a way. Concert Window does not archive its broadcasts, so there�s no ex post facto viewing. According to their FAQ page, they provide copies to the artists in question, so that they can make clips available. So I went to Marshall Crenshaw�s official site in hopes that there was a link there, but I didn�t see anything like that; I looked for the Concert Window capture on YouTube, but all I could find were the fanshot (cameraphone) clips linked above.

Exactly what Concert Window broadcasts look (and sound) like I dunno. I�ve never seen one. I signed up for membership, and receive weekly bulletins about upcoming webasts, but I hafta admit: most of the people listed are people I�ve never heard of, and it seems the only way to see a Concert Window stream is in real time (i.e., LIVE live: as it�s happening). So even if I were motivated to check out such-and-such a performer in my spare time, that�s not an option.

I assume the CW capture of this = just one camera above the audience (I looked around for additional hardware but didn�t see any). But even a single camera wideshot can be pretty good if it�s done right. Whatever it is I�d like to have it (especially having been there), and I'd love to be able to upload it here as an adjunct (or alternative) to my amateur endeavours. But you can�t be AT a show and at home capturing the live webstream at the same time - - - so it seems the only way to snag the pro-shot (presumably more polished) version of a performance is to skip attendance and stay home (which would rather seem to defeat the agendas of participants in the CW model).

It�s hard for me to believe in this age of technocracy that a pro-shot capture would just evaporate. Ostensibly MC has a copy (and there are a handful of previous MC concerts --- at least one of which I was also at --- listed on the Concert Window website as having been webcast also, so I guess they exist, too). I assume that someone watching would have captured the broadcasts �on the fly,� but maybe now that we�re in the age of technocracy referenced above,& all seemingly drowning in a sea of ones and zeros, it doesn�t seem worth it to anyone to record that which they�re watching? [And if I�m reading the CW stats correctly, only 1 person watched the webcast of this, and they contributed (�tipped�) $2. That CAN�T be right, but that�s what it looks like.]

I�d be very interested in any insights as to how a Concert Window broadcast (not just this one, but in general) can be retrieved. Anyone?

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PROHIBITIONS
Don't run with scissors.
Don't run w. the wrong crowd.
But especially, don't SCISSOR with the wrong crowd!

But seriously, folks: in the PROHIBITIONS sections of past torrents I made a lot of noise about not wanting people to upload anything of mine to other bT sites; I'm happy to report that, as far as I can tell, no-one ever has.* So . . . either I owe a big 'thank you' to those of you who were droolng to exploit my labours but restrained yourselves, or else I was over-reacting to something that hadn't even happened yet. (What's that called? paranoia? but let's not go THERE!)

So in this torrent I will just MILDLY remind any interested parties that I will do my own uploading "when I get to it" (to paraphrase KRW CO's ubiquitous admonition).

* Altho' at least one show I uploaded to DIME has been 'sugar-fied.' [You know what I'm talkin' 'bout!] Oh well, whaddaya gonna do? I'm sure there's polaroids of The Mona Lisa out there somewhere . . .



Yr. Humble Chronicler
- IF -