Grateful Dead

I did a little homework (Grateful Dead Miscellany) and Dick L had high praise for these shows: 10/18/72, 9/7/73, 9/8/73, 10/25/73. Of course there are many more but a lot of the others have been released already. These four shows I mentioned are ones that have not yet seen the light of day, but are ones Dick was very positive towards them. For 1977, Dick L also felt the Cornell was over rated, such that he had praise for just about any 77 show that wasn't Cornell. The standouts being ones that have not been released (at least in their entirety) included much of the October run. Of course 10/11 is in there but he referenced several others that were at least represented to some degree on the Road Trips Oct 1977 release.

Its fun to speculate what Daves #38 could be. However with #36 on its way along the AB bonus of 2/18/71 coming as well, I am going to be busy taking those in.

p.s. The Allman Brothers recently released two 2 shows: one from 7/19/05 in Erie PA and Duane's last show ever on 10/17/71 titled The Final Note. I got both - i have only listened to the Erie show once so far. The band themselves had high praise for it. Personally I think it is good. The 10/17/71 show is an audience tape. I am sure the jamming is great , but I do have reservations about the sound quality. I will find out soon enough.

Did your peppers come from a Guatemalan insane asylum?

Those night skiing scenes were awesome. I used to be able to ski terrain like that. I’m pretty out of shape now.....

No.. mine were sourced from a much scarier place. The hippie woman down the street.

I do fear it might be a tad too hot.. which was not my intent. Still hopeful though, this is just phase I in the process.

My cider seems to be coming along nicely. I am thinking of going for a DHBrewer hat trick and cranking out a big batch of beer. They have these new thingies called cryo hops. I had to check them out. So three fermented items and all I need for some kimchi is napa cabbage. Fermenting in the fall is fun.

....I love the spice.
Carolina Reapers are hotter than ghost peppers. I know.

Here's a new recipe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy2d07r7HpU

That's a spicy meatball.

I grew a bunch of Carolina Reapers last year. I got the seeds from the Pucker Butt Pepper company. Ed Currie is the man who invented the Carolina Reaper,,Smokin Ed. They are way to hot for me, I gave them all to a friend who owns a restaurant. I've grown Bhut Jolokias and Red Savinas before, also both way to hot for me. My favorite pepper is the Serrano, they are more than hot enough for me.

I really hope they don't make a habit of creating these matrix recordings. Very disappointed with this latest release. Could have been an amazing release.

Hartford is remastered from the Healy two track cassette masters.

For many (most) shows in these years the PA was used and an added audience mic patched in and added to the mix. He called them Ultramix masters. So for these years, this is the soundboard, it's the best we have. It's not a choice by Dave or Jeffrey Norman to create a Matrix.. You cannot remove the audience component from these boards, they are baked in for all eternity.

Sounds like Grateful Dead and my synapses.

I recently got a 3 liter crock and have my first batch of kimchi going.
Mmmmm.....

I'm using half gallon large mouth mason jars w/ fermentation lids. All my batches have turned out quite good.. Spicy.

Jimmy, I'll await my bottle of your Deadhead Rapids Run Hot Sauce upon bottling.

It will be COD delivery, so you'll be well compensated.
.....I'm waiting.

:D

Sixtus

Good to know. Thanks for that info, and that's what I was kind of thinking. But, since the audience track rises and falls throughout, it seemed like they had complete control over this track (including removing it).

Thank you, jiminmd, for your insight about the Ultramix masters from this era. Although I lean heavily to clean SBD recordings with just a touch of crowd noise, I'm really enjoying the energy on this release. Even if a cleaner source had been available, I wouldn't bedgrudge Dave one bit for putting out a Pick that probably accurately captures what he experienced at his first show. The guy works hard to identify and get some amazing shows into our hands, so I'm more than happy to let him indulge in a "vanity project" from time to time. Onward to DaP 2021!

When you say a "PA recording" does that mean Healy recorded the sound coming over-the-air just like any taper? It does sound that way. Why would he do that if he was at the soundboard and could have just recorded the mix directly and then patch in the audience levels to his liking?

A true matrix is using a soundboard recording and a mic recording and blending them to compensate for the inherent idiosyncrasies in both. If it’s done well it’s awesome, if not.....

....eta Monday.

I do a lot of audio recording and post-show mixing for a live band, and I'd like to respond to a few comments about the audio. One person said with certainty that unrelated audience noise was patched-in (like a laugh track - LOL), others not happy that the audience noise is so high.

I can tell you that it's not that easy to manipulate the audience noise itself. I haven't gotten the release so I haven't read the liner notes, but I'm guessing they "matrixed" this mix from the soundboard and a separate audience taper recording. "Matrix" means they sync up the two recordings so you get the best qualities of both recordings. Soundboards tend to have great vocals, keys and drums, but the recordings tend to be very bland, with keys and vocals much higher in the mix (since the guitars' stage amps are already blaring). But when you add in the audience recording to balance out the instruments (pulling the guitars forward in the mix and adding room ambience), you're necessarily adding audience noise as well... you can't suppress it.

The exception to the "soundboards usually don't sound great" is, of course, Betty's mixes from the 70's, but that's because she was NOT mixing the room sound/PA. Her husband was doing that. Betty ran a parallel board and mixed to the headphones only, balancing the instruments perfectly and then adding reverb to make it sound like a big hall (listen to Cornell where she admits she was a little generous with the reverb - think Jerry's vocals on Scarlet>Fire).

The 80's recordings didn't have the benefit of Betty's parallel board, which is why 80's sbd's by themselves generally sound, um.... "not as good as the 70's Betty shows". (Spacebro may disagree, which is fine - respect)

So basically the point is that the audience is likely that loud because they were focused on balancing the sources to get the music (regardless of the audience bleed thru) sounding as presentable as possible. I agree that made the audience a little louder then I'd like - kinda distracting. This is why we should all say a little thank you to Betty Cantor Jackson every night before we go to bed.

EDIT - I just re-read JimInMD's comment. He said Healy would use an audience mic and add that to the room mix DURING the show... I may be wrong Jim but my understanding is that the matrix (or "ultramix") recordings were created after the show so they didn't sound like sh__ on playback. I'd be shocked if they were feeding the audience mics back into the PA - that would invite feedback, echo, and time-blur headaches. But I could be wrong.

I had a chance to listen to the first show through my stereo system last night. Usually I listen through headphones, so it was harder to gauge the sound quality, but i still got a good handle on the show overall.

Midnight Hour - Great surprise to open the show and the crowd loved it. According to Deadbase they played this about 30 times, with half from 66-71 and the other half scattered about from -'82-'93, but 7 times in '85. Bobby gets the vocal chords stretched out early.

Cold Rain - The crowd is clearly pumped to see and hear Jerry and he gets a big cheer for his first tune and his first and second solos. This is one of my favorites and its well played.

CC Rider - In the standard position. I can hear Phil's bass well and Brent has a nice solo about halfway in. The energy level is still up until

Row Jimmy - kid of plods. I was never a huge fan of this tune, but its pretty well played.

Esau/Push Comes to Shove - gets the crowd back into it. Two newer tunes both played well and the energy level rebounds. Jerry has to nail the lyrics on PCtS for a good version, and he does it pretty well here. Not as good a version as 7-12-87, which is the best i've heard them play the tune. Always great to hear Esau.

Desolation Row - Well played and sung and it moves by pretty fast given how many words are in it. For my money, no version will ever touch the Dylan studio cut, with Bloomfield's fills and Dylan's delivery, but Bobby does the tune justice.

Bird Song - Nice jamming here. Solid non-72 Bird Song.

Promised Land - Promised Land is Promised Land.

I got a beer and took a wiz during set break. No lines was nice. The dog was in my seat but I asked him nicely and he moved.

China/Rider - Always welcome. I prefer '73-'74 but this was nice and smooth.

LLR - I really like this tune and this version stood out to me. The pace was a little faster than usual and the song was very well played. Good solos. Good bobby vocal embellishments.

He's Gone - Crowd was into this one. Nice placement and playing.

Drums -> Space - Drums was pretty uneventful for the first half. I can get into a good drums but this one didn't really do it for me, at least until the second half. Space was perfunctory.

Miracle - Well played. Short and to the point.

Black Peter - Crowd was into this one, along with He's Gone the crowd was feeling this, given Jerry's comeback. Always nice to hear this tune in place of Warf Rat or Stella.

Around/Good Lovin - Double dose of Bobby to close out the second set. Good energy and playing.

Quinn - Great encore.

I think the crowd noise really added to the good vibe of the show. The more I hear '87 the more i like it. I'm happy to have this show. Ill revisit along with the Giant's stadium show and the Sept 18 MSG 30 trips show.

Show packaging is nice. The 4th disk has a proper home. They didn't try to jam the disc in the usual format Dave's picks - they redesigned it for 4 discs. One might expect this, but given some of the customer service snags we've seen over the years, it wasn't a guarantee. Solid late 80s Hartford hippy pics and a Lemieux narrative rounds out the accotrements. And I suppose i'd be remiss to not mention the pic of the 3-26 setlist at the end of the booklet, which I hope was scribbled by an offspring of the band or crew, but fear could be the handiwork of one of the band members themselves.

On to 3-27!

So this is an audience recording made at the mixing board instead of the taper’s section?

Rapids Run Hot Sauce>Rapid Runs Hot Sauce

....you make an excellent point; I see what you did there.

We'll need to get Jimmy's word on this once he has consumed the sauce and reports back.

Sixtus

Giving the release a first, casual listen. Using When Push Comes to Shove to get me mentally settled in for a date tonight.... been quite a few years since I've done this!

So a closer listen will have to wait until the weekend (but I did catch a perfectly placed Phil bomb in Row Jimmy).

one slight relocation of a letter, and you have a completely different meaning.

united states
untied states

wait, is this the Jeopardy board?

Are you now, or have you ever been a robot?

Listening to this as I’m writing, and I’m currently listening to CC Rider. So far, this has been incredible. I love the matrix recording, it is so full. I love how the audience is singing CR&S with Jerry. You can hear the audience, but the music comes through perfectly. This is gonna be a long strange trip...

Kitchen garden farm in Massachusetts makes a great ghost pepper sriracha. Once you get used to the heat it tastes great. They also have regular, and other pepper kinds for everyone. Check them out online. No plug. I just love hot sauce. They also make them in cute 8 oz sizes too. P.S.- my Dap-36 is coming and cant wait to hear the different reviews by you guys and gals. This is so fun to do especially if you have edibles to enhance the music. You have to love a state where you can shop for anything , like edibles, tinctures, hash oil, shatter and pre-rolls. I never in my life thought this could ever be possible but here it is. Grab a shopping cart and make the impossible possible.

Right on carlo13; I have this conversation with Iggy all the time; "Remember on that show Weeds, where they fast forwarded like 7 years in time in the last episode and weed was legal?" I was like, "man, that would be amazing. Too bad it will never happen."

BOOM!

Four years ago it got voted in and today there's a shop a mile from my house, where I reside on a mountain top in the middle of the woods.
Whodathunkit.

Sixtus

P.S. also good to hear the positive takes on the aud mix in this one. I've never shied away from any of that; it puts me "there".

Sweet. I guess we are both very grateful.

PROUDFOOT

It might be good if the opposing factions could have United Tastes.

The burning ring of fire. 🔥🌶️

Here’s the description given by Rob Eaton on

http://www.dsoforums.net/forum/topic/20483-sound-board-quality-post-70s/

Posted May 9, 2018
Let me clarify a point on the Ultra Mattix Tapes which started in late 86. There was a pair of AKG 414 mounted in the front of the board on a rail that allowed it to move left or right depending on the center position. These mics we aligned in an M/S pattern. M/S stands for “middle/side”. What this means is one microphone was in a firgue 8 pattern. It is places to each side of the capsule faces left and right. This was plugged into the ultra box which was designed for M/S Recording. The other mic was in a standard cardiod pattern which sat directly above and on top of the other mic in figure 8. After these mics were plugged into the ultra box it would shift phase on one side of the figure 8 and create a 3D audience image. The SBD or Healy’s mix also ran into the ultra box. There was a delay control for the SHD feed to time align it with the M/S mic. Each room was different but at 200-200 feet the time difference is measurable. There was also a control that controlled the blend between the 2 sources. The early ultra mixes were 50/50. The eventually ended up with more of a 70/30 ratio..
hipe that helps. On my phone so if I’ve misspelled or have bad grammar sorry😱

If you use archive or get torrents, the shows that have UM.#####.name are Ultramatrix recordings.

The Internet Archive currently has a donor who will match donations 2:1. I know some of you are contributors and this might be a great way for your donations to go "FURTHER".

Also, if you are in the market for some fine headphones, HiFiMan has a great clearance sale going on. Check it out if interested...https://store.hifiman.com/2020-clearance-sale. I've been enjoying their products for quite some time.

Still listening to Dave's 35. It really grew on me. Looking forward to 36 and beyond...
Go to Nassau and the PNW 3cd set have been in heavy rotation

Pulling out Dick's Picks #2 for my annual Halloween listen - been doing it for years.

Last 5/6
Miles Davis - The Lost Septet
Miles Davis - The Lost Quintet
Band of Heathens - Stranger
Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit - Reunions
Little Feat - Waiting for Columbus
Eric Burden & The Animals - Retrospective

Take care!

I could be quite wrong, but my understanding is that Dan had an aud mic and the soundboard master was essentially a real time matrix.

I could be wrong, but I have my reasons for stating this. That is how it was explained to me. The audience component (if I am right) is baked into the master via an extra feed from an audience mic.

I would be so happy to be wrong, and would love some better data. I know there are lots of folks that know more than I do.

through this world of trouble.. we've got to love one another.

One add. I don't think Dan added an audience component back into the venue sound, that (I think) just went into the soundboard recording.

No disagreement for the most part. There are some board recordings from later years that stand up to Betty's mixes, particularly when John Cutler recorded. Healy had some nice ones, but yes Betty had a good ear.

Of course Bears and Kidds mixes had their nuances. Have had a lot of time this year to really dig in and appreciate that any of this has continued to come out.

I recieved mine yesterday but haven't dug into it yet. Saving it for Halloween. Seems like a good time to make a party of it.

Regarding matrix mixes I believe that both mentioned techniques are used....live board/live audience mixes and these days people like Charlie Miller sync up good room recordings with pre-recorded board mixes. I believe Dave's Picks Vol. 8 used the latter technique.

Some live recordings had mic mutes recorded live where the crowds cuts in and out of probably bleed through the vocal mics. Some also at times sound "gated". A filter to block ambient bleed through. I'm sure others here could describe this better than I.

Looking forward to my first listen. Perhaps the American Beauty 50th will arrive before Saturday. Could make for a lot of listening.

I'm getting a headache reading about this. Just enjoy the music, and get ready for 30 DoD.

The Rob Eaton overview of Ultra Matrix that IceCream linked, and Jim's "baked-in, real-time matrix" description both are corroborated in Healy's Wikipedia entry: [Healy] also helped perfect the ultra-matrix soundboard setup which was used by the Dead from 1986 through 1990. Some fans and collectors of the band's live recordings deem this setup to be the band's best-sounding, and most practical. [Some don't ;-) ]

Normal matrixes as we all know are woven together from separate soundboard and audience recordings after the fact, which means a lot more mixing and balancing options are possible. I've always loved the matrixed ambiance on Dave's 8, and the great matrices on the Archive.

My take from our headache-inducing chatter is that for Ultra Matrixes the soundboard and audience feeds were "baked" together as they were first recorded live by Healy. That means that latter day geniuses like Jeffrey Norman are limited when they sit down to remaster an UltraMatrix recording since the aud is now inseparable from the soundboard.

We've probably overkilled this, and as RASTA5ZIGGY says, "Just enjoy the music!"

....American Beauty also scheduled for tomorrow. Happy Halloween indeed!
Watched Pan's Labyrinth last night. Features one of the most evil bad guys in any movie I've seen. By the end, you just want him to get his just desserts.

36 years ago today , I was at the BCT for another great show, what a great run of shows.

BTK, my favorite from the run is 10/28. Good stuff, though I'm partial to the earlier run of October shows from '84: Really like 10/6 (esp. set two), 10/11, of course 10/12, 10/15 (!), and 10/18. Hmm, come to think of it, that's all the shows with PITB. At any rate, Sunday 30-days surprise... is this happening??

I am also a big fan of Dave's Picks 8.

That one sounds great. ..and many thanks to Dr. Bob Wagner, where ever he is.. he brought us a lot of great recordings.

37 years ago today I was at the Marin Veterans Auditorium for a rocking Sunday night with the Dead. We all dosed, and had a blast. We ran into a guy dressed like Ben Franklin, he was funnier then hell, he had us laughing until we were in tears. Big fun, great times!

Don't sweat it
Get it back to you
Overkill!
Overkill!
Overkill!

- Motorhead

Its not often I can make such a post, so I might as well grab the opportunity....30 years ago today, I too saw The Dead. Very exciting it was, too. I had started listening to them in 1975, and saw them twice in 1981, but as they were never covered in the press, I had assumed they split up sometime around 1983. Then in 1987, I can across the Spiral Light fanzine. Through them, I discovered the tapes, so by 1990, I was good to go.

I went to all three nights in London 1990, but tonight's show, playing as I type, was the one I enjoyed most. I was near the front of the stage, and it was barely believable that there, within shouting distance, was Jerry Garcia. I had listened to him and read so much about him over the previous three years that it was hard to believe actually existed-but there he was. Strangely, Row Jimmy Row was a highlight-as was Foolish Heart and to cap it all, Black Peter. I was also thrilled when they played Lovelight - different times-I am not now so keen on Bob led Lovelights, but being there was something else. 30 years ago - wow!

I have heard 10/31/83, and enjoyed it a lot.

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back, I was visting Lysergia. I listened to side two of set two cassette.

Drums into Space into St. Stephen

that was fun :)))

It’s nice to see these coming quickly and/or early. Got mine yesterday, and was very surprised. Especially since they are notorious for things being shipped out slow and arriving late. Happy listening!

Also, not a great movie for psychedelics. Very intense. But such a great movie.

Looks like Election Day arrival for my Dave's, so American Beauty 50th and Port Chester will be on deck once I set my computer back up to be ready for reliving Hampton Hulaween 10/30/10 on the Friday Night Cheese on Saturday.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BbnAr6RWFtY. Happy Halloween

I can tell through your words that you can still feel “it” after all these years!

Caution : Spoilers:

Anyone else getting a massive Bird Song vibe on that jam coming out of He's Gone? Almost like they were so into Bird Song in the first set that they blew past this familiar portion; it then explodes from the remnants of the He's Gone chant.
Interesting stuff.

Sixtus

P.S. I love a surprise Saturday morning Dave's Picks arrival