Robert Plant Live in Seattle WA
September 19, 1990 Seattle Center Coliseum
Audioarchivist U-101 Original Analog Master Digital ReMaster
2CD set 50:37 + 64:01 = 114:38
Artwork and Sound ReCreated by Audioarchivist U-101
Robert Plant
Live in Seattle WA
September 19, 1990
Seattle Center Coliseum
Audioarchivist U-101 Original Analog Master Digital ReMaster
Lineage: live performances > Sony PC62 Stereo Mic > Sony WM D3 Professional Cassette Walkman (recording high bias Dolby B on) > Sony Metal SR-100 Tapes are my repaired original masters > Denon DRM500 Precision Audio Component (playback metal bias Dolby off azimuth adjusted) > SoundBlaster 16 Live! audiocard (grounded and tweaked) > Wavelab 5.01b (rerecording, tracking, level adjustment, stereo expansion, EQ mostly for bass, minor amount of multiband compression, final limiting -0.01dB) > Trader's Little Helper (FLAC8, md5/ffp, torrent creation) > YOU!
As a bonus to this complete concert straight from my masters before the show is an interview with Robert Plant. It was recorded while we were driving down to the show at (at least) 70 mPh. The car "stereo" was a piece of crap, and was hooked to a pair of small cruddy ghettoblaster speakers. I wedged my mic up to one tinny little speaker and buried it all under a blanket. It comes out quite loud and clear considering how awful it sounded on that car radio to us on the other speaker! It is recorded on my masters exactly this way, right before the show. I present the complete recording to you this way, my full masters completely unedited and basically raw. You can even hear the "print-through" before and after the tape starts and stops during the "silent' parts!.
2CD set 50:37 + 64:01 = 114:38
01. RP interview live at 70 mPh pt 1+2 pre-soundckeck announcer hype
02. RP interview live at 70 mPh pt 3 Robert cellphone radio conversation
03. pre-show crowd noise pt 1-3 atmosphere enhancement samples
04. intro music - we're rolling
05. Watching You
06. Nobody's Fault But Mine (...In The Intro...)
07. Little By Little
08. Tie Dye On The Highway
09. Plantations - The Manic Nirvana Inquisition
10. Anniversary Of Love's Decay
11. In The Mood
12. Liar's Dance
13. Going To California
14. The Way I Feel
15. Nirvana
16. Immigrant Song
17. Hurting Kind (I've Got My Eyes On You)
18. encore 1 break - Plantations - wild wild town
19. Ship Of Fools
20. Billy's Revenge
21. encore 2 break - Plantations - what's become of the old lemon
22. Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman)
23. Plantations - band intros
24. Tall Cool One
25. Plantations - be careful and be happy
26. aftershow tunes
This is almost a flat transfer of my master tapes. I've done my best to recreate the sound I heard that night, a version of which is encoded on my master tapes. I haven't done any digi-surgery to smooth out any possible drastic volume fluctuations or to alter any live recording level corrections. The tape was mostly printed good and hot, so that's what you get, all kinds of peaks and valleys included. A couple songs were louder live than others, a few are quieter than the rest on the tape. There are a few minor dropouts from the age of the recording and the repairs that have needed to be done to it, but it was a well recorded master, so nothhing's that bad at all. A very dynamic recording, all though a bit distant sounding, good balance of frequencies. The itty-bitty PC-62 microphone doesn't pick up much low bass, making a somewhat thin recording on the masters. I always played it back with bass turned up to offset this mic bass rolloff, or taped EQ'd copies mastered with extra bass.
For this release I've mostly boosted bass and done a couple small midline corrections all in the computer from a flat transfer of the master (UNRELEASED!). The playback deck azimuth was adjusted specifically by me to match this tape. Speed and / or pitch sound correct to my ears, and they should, since both the playback deck and the original recorder were originally serviced and calibrated by the same technician / taper friend of mine. The multiband compression I used to fix to de-"ess" some excessive brittle highs from the Dolby encoding on recording, saturating the tape with bright sibilant sounds to overcome tape noise. Playback with Dolby on is supposed to lower all highs by exactly how much it overamps the highs upon recording, but it muffles everything too much on playback. I recorded Dolby on to saturate the highs on tape to maximize my masters. I've done my best to decode this Dolby saturation without dulling the playback at all. The multiband compressor is also controlling the upper bass / lower midrange, preventing it from spiking too much. There's also some standard mastering stereo width enhancement added, giving just a little more depth. The actual stereo effects and panning you will hear were all performed live with room acoustics and my head.
I had already seen him before, but this was my first time tape-ing Robert Plant. We were in a big rush down the highway across the border to get to the show almost late, still missing most of The Black Crowes opening set completely by just getting rushed past security and into the building! I couldn't get the recording rig set up before they were finished their set. Our seats were not that bad but not the greatest and definitely not the closest. I wouldn't call them "cheezy" seats like some people did, but I wished I was closer to the front. I got up to the front in Vancouver and wished I was further back! You just can't win against Ticketbastard! The live sound wasn't half bad, considering the venue and our spot, but I wished they would turn the PA up louder, or that I was sitting where the soundman was. It was a pretty packed house, and as you will hear from the occasional screamers, people were pretty excited to be there!
Great performance, with a much different set list than what I had heard about from some other shows. I was over the moon about not missing a second of this show on tape. I thought it was cool that Robert took a guitar solo in "Anniversary". They all looked like they were having fun as a band. There were some funny "Plantations" comments throughout the show. Nice little acoustic set in the concert, as well! I was very happy I had made the journey, and was elated about being able to go home and then see the show a second time from close up on the floor in two nights! A new perspective on the same concert? We'll see...
We drove down fron Vancouver to see this show as well as the show back home in two nights. We pretty much just came in for the show and ran straight back for the border after the show. We were pretty much just waved through the checkpoint to go home, but we all needed to stop to use the bathroom, so we pulled in to the outbuilding anyway to find a can. It was around 3 a.m., and there was a tourbus parked ahead in the search area being picked apart by overzealous guards. We all got out to stretch our legs and go do our business, and there in the john were all of The Black Crowes. I remember a chair or a bench in this big washroom with Chris Robinson sitting there with his head in his hands just kinda staring at the floor shaking his head... "Border crossings are a bitch, arent they guys?" ... "Yeah..." "Uh huh!" "Mmmm yup."
Its hard to pee in front of busted rock stars.
Unfortunately I never recorded The Black Crowes opening either of these shows. I wouldn't see them again until 2001, again in two cities, but that's another story.
I made some artworx for this release, maybe too much artworx. I started scanning the tickets with tape covers and master tapes with artifact backgrounds. Then I scanned a Musician magazine article and photoshopped it together neatly. Then I found my tourbook and cropped out a few coverworthy images to add titles to. I'll give you all the stuff I made into finished CD book pages. There's enough for two books probably, but some of it is probably too small to read. Call it a digi-book you can zoom into to read the full article. I'll probably make art for you to have choices in option A : two single CD covers or option B : a double-disc 2-in-1 jewel case, with more pages than you'll want to print! Some bonus optional hi-res scans included for extra-extra pages you can crop to size, you can use them under discs or as disc label artworx. Have fun with your origami bookart masterpiece!
If you make some cool photoshop-ey artworx, please share them, and please email me a copy of them as well. I love cool art covers for my tapes. I think I outdid myself on the artworx on this one.
The technical mumbo-jumbo that follows is from Trader's Little Helper. Enjoy.
audioarchivist@hotmail.com
No need for fixing SBEs (all wav files are already sector-aligned).
01 RP interview live at 70 mPh pt 1+2 pre-soundckeck announcer hype.wav: successfully encoded to '01 RP interview live at 70 mPh pt 1+2 pre-soundckeck announcer hype.flac'
02 RP interview live at 70 mPH pt 3 Robert cellphone radio conversation.wav: successfully encoded to '02 RP interview live at 70 mPH pt 3 Robert cellphone radio conversation.flac'
03 pre-show crowd noise pt 1-3 atmosphere enhancement samples.wav: successfully encoded to '03 pre-show crowd noise pt 1-3 atmosphere enhancement samples.flac'
04 intro music - we're rolling.wav: successfully encoded to '04 intro music - we're rolling.flac'
05 Watching You.wav: successfully encoded to '05 Watching You.flac'
06 Nobody's Fault But Mine (...In The Intro...).wav: successfully encoded to '06 Nobody's Fault But Mine (...In The Intro...).flac'
07 Little By Little.wav: successfully encoded to '07 Little By Little.flac'
08 Tie Dye On The Highway.wav: successfully encoded to '08 Tie Dye On The Highway.flac'
09 Plantations - The Manic Nirvana Inquisition.wav: successfully encoded to '09 Plantations - The Manic Nirvana Inquisition.flac'
10 Anniversary Of Love's Decay.wav: successfully encoded to '10 Anniversary Of Love's Decay.flac'
11 In The Mood.wav: successfully encoded to '11 In The Mood.flac'
12 Liar's Dance.wav: successfully encoded to '12 Liar's Dance.flac'
13 Going To California.wav: successfully encoded to '13 Going To California.flac'
14 The Way I Feel.wav: successfully encoded to '14 The Way I Feel.flac'
15 Nirvana.wav: successfully encoded to '15 Nirvana.flac'
16 Immigrant Song.wav: successfully encoded to '16 Immigrant Song.flac'
17 Hurting Kind (I've Got My Eyes On You).wav: successfully encoded to '17 Hurting Kind (I've Got My Eyes On You).flac'
18 encore 1 break - Plantations - wild wild town.wav: successfully encoded to '18 encore 1 break - Plantations - wild wild town.flac'
19 Ship Of Fools.wav: successfully encoded to '19 Ship Of Fools.flac'
20 Billy's Revenge.wav: successfully encoded to '20 Billy's Revenge.flac'
21 encore 2 break - Plantations - what's become of the old lemon.wav: successfully encoded to '21 encore 2 break - Plantations - what's become of the old lemon.flac'
22 Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman).wav: successfully encoded to '22 Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman).flac'
23 Plantations - band intros.wav: successfully encoded to '23 Plantations - band intros.flac'
24 Tall Cool One.wav: successfully encoded to '24 Tall Cool One.flac'
25 Plantations - be careful and be happy.wav: successfully encoded to '25 Plantations - be careful and be happy.flac'
26 aftershow tunes.wav: successfully encoded to '26 aftershow tunes.flac'
No errors occured.
01 RP interview live at 70 mPh pt 1+2 pre-soundckeck announcer hype.flac: tested ok (file will decode properly)
02 RP interview live at 70 mPH pt 3 Robert cellphone radio conversation.flac: tested ok (file will decode properly)
03 pre-show crowd noise pt 1-3 atmosphere enhancement samples.flac: tested ok (file will decode properly)
04 intro music - we're rolling.flac: tested ok (file will decode properly)
05 Watching You.flac: tested ok (file will decode properly)
06 Nobody's Fault But Mine (...In The Intro...).flac: tested ok (file will decode properly)
07 Little By Little.flac: tested ok (file will decode properly)
08 Tie Dye On The Highway.flac: tested ok (file will decode properly)
09 Plantations - The Manic Nirvana Inquisition.flac: tested ok (file will decode properly)
10 Anniversary Of Love's Decay.flac: tested ok (file will decode properly)
11 In The Mood.flac: tested ok (file will decode properly)
12 Liar's Dance.flac: tested ok (file will decode properly)
13 Going To California.flac: tested ok (file will decode properly)
14 The Way I Feel.flac: tested ok (file will decode properly)
15 Nirvana.flac: tested ok (file will decode properly)
16 Immigrant Song.flac: tested ok (file will decode properly)
17 Hurting Kind (I've Got My Eyes On You).flac: tested ok (file will decode properly)
18 encore 1 break - Plantations - wild wild town.flac: tested ok (file will decode properly)
19 Ship Of Fools.flac: tested ok (file will decode properly)
20 Billy's Revenge.flac: tested ok (file will decode properly)
21 encore 2 break - Plantations - what's become of the old lemon.flac: tested ok (file will decode properly)
22 Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman).flac: tested ok (file will decode properly)
23 Plantations - band intros.flac: tested ok (file will decode properly)
24 Tall Cool One.flac: tested ok (file will decode properly)
25 Plantations - be careful and be happy.flac: tested ok (file will decode properly)
26 aftershow tunes.flac: tested ok (file will decode properly)
No errors occured.
01 RP interview live at 70 mPh pt 1+2 pre-soundckeck announcer hype.flac:a041f744f3d18da2421fd98dfdf5570e
02 RP interview live at 70 mPH pt 3 Robert cellphone radio conversation.flac:3ff4c2d3c2d1681d24afcfa32a9c0b58
03 pre-show crowd noise pt 1-3 atmosphere enhancement samples.flac:2ebf2ea1b6cf22c38fcaefcabc4f53e9
04 intro music - we're rolling.flac:e2d9c1f41cbbd0a9a66eb9e57daf23ec
05 Watching You.flac:6e0df9816f48551e4fcc187ca56bc69d
06 Nobody's Fault But Mine (...In The Intro...).flac:be8bd8d54a787e39278f4c12fb051e56
07 Little By Little.flac:cea1b3f4f5b81b1d4db1e54cfd56a92a
08 Tie Dye On The Highway.flac:d222b010570d814fc5bab5b58f1fd54f
09 Plantations - The Manic Nirvana Inquisition.flac:5f26fd652868cb165b4b275c4d3c200c
10 Anniversary Of Love's Decay.flac:4837fbad8a04477c446012a7061d9980
11 In The Mood.flac:b4f532cb7508ff2590059a1d8dfde183
12 Liar's Dance.flac:4ad8931cee1d47dfee06e4f995c2dcc4
13 Going To California.flac:b127178c75a9169e7fba4699380839df
14 The Way I Feel.flac:617455ffd95113cad24f4d10000029d6
15 Nirvana.flac:b92317ff80cecc90da29ef35299214d8
16 Immigrant Song.flac:f801354a9f1bd460e791c3c988dbb4d2
17 Hurting Kind (I've Got My Eyes On You).flac:e3561bf8abcbba500efdc2478a703427
18 encore 1 break - Plantations - wild wild town.flac:a34a06e9130e4b3e0e321fa55d0c96c0
19 Ship Of Fools.flac:d2c4be27a4840701c2edc154db898569
20 Billy's Revenge.flac:ab7b86b4efc893b75cf6add0abc67282
21 encore 2 break - Plantations - what's become of the old lemon.flac:0cf3b986d32c71613904740ec5622995
22 Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman).flac:eab161dad0513b977798883ab06b85dc
23 Plantations - band intros.flac:32e9023efbd4ddf092138c31179f3f8f
24 Tall Cool One.flac:14b1e3ae06d435eafaee2549817f70c4
25 Plantations - be careful and be happy.flac:14fd9f51b0373e28ee07d3490ddd76f6
26 aftershow tunes.flac:7128cd1ffdaf9335cce6aeaeb4c9fd3d
No errors occured.
Checksum file saved to disk.
Source files deleted.