Blackberry Blossom + | 1995-08-03 | Bela Fleck and the Flecktones

2:14:09

Rating:

10.00 / 1 rating

Taper:

Scott Bernstein

Transferrer:

Scott Bernstein

SHNID:

flecktones1995-08-03.akgc1000.flac16

Source:

FOB Audience

Lineage:

Original recording: AKG-C1000 (FOB, center of main dance floor) -> Realistic mixer -> Denon DTR-80p(@16/48 - m) Transfer: DAT master playback on Sony R500->.flac file recorded on Sound Devices 722 digital input Mastered: Soundforge Pro 10.0b - *All file manipulation in Soundforge done at 24 bits*. Minor clap removal, volume normalization, sample rate conversion 48khz to 44.1khz using iZotope 64-Bit SRC set higher than "Highest Quality" setting w/anti-alias filter, then dithered back to 16 bits using using iZotope MBIT+ with Ultra noise shaping, High dither settings. Tracked in CDWav.

Taper Notes:

View Notes* = w/reggae jam (No Woman No Cry, I Shot The Sheriff, Bad Boys, No More Trouble)
+ = w/Howard Levy on harmonica


The Flecktones at this show were:
Bela Fleck - banjo
Victor Wooten - bass, vocals, cello
Futureman - synthaxe drumitar, banjo
Sam Bush - fiddle, mandolin
Paul McCandless - horns

It sounds like there is a loose cable which pops up on a couple of occasions in the left channel in Track 18 and maybe a couple of songs before.

Recorded, Mastered, and Tracked by Scott Bernstein (4/28/2010).
Thanks To Boris "B Love" Lvovsky for lending me his AKG-C1000s for this show!


Taper notes:
For BARN30, which happened to basically correspond with my lovely wife Jen's 30th birthday, she asked if she could have a pick in the BARN series.  Despite the fact that she knew I had a LOT of master recordings I'm not quite sure that she grasped the depth of recordings and how hard it is to choose among them until she got her first look at my now unfortunately outdated DAT tape spreadsheet.  After being daunted by the amount of recordings (and, I think, realizing that only I really know the relative quality of different recordings), she asked for some bluegrass.  While this is not technically bluegrass, Bela Fleck certainly came to mind when I thought about Bluegrass.  And while I've seen & taped Bela and The Flecktones on the order of 15 or more times (including at Carnegie Hall the night before our wedding and a few Victor side projects in addition), this show stands out in my mind as being the best I've seen.

A little background -- the original Flecktones lineup -- Bela, Victor, Futureman, and Howard Levy only stayed together until late '92/early '93 when Howard Levy left the band.  They carried on for a little while as a trio in '93 and part of '94, but in '95 or so they started the idea of a "floating member" of the Flecktones that varied depending on the show/tour.  If my memory serves, the floating Flecktone varied among Branford Marsalis, Bruce Hornsby, Andy Statman, Sam Bush, and Paul McCandless.  Well at this show somehow we lucked out into getting BOTH Sam Bush and Paul McCandless as the "floating 4th member".  2 stellar extra musicians, a really tasty setlist (a double shot of reggae Flecktones w/both Lochs of Dread and More Luv, a great story to go along with Bigfoot, a true unplugged -- as bluegrassy as the Flecktones get segment, etc.) AND the bonus sit-in by the *original* 4th Flecktone all combine for a standout Flecktones show.  In fact, it was such a standout show that the Sinister Minister from this show was featured on a subsequent live album (albeit from a soundboard recording, NOT from my master)!

One note about this recording -- it was made before I owned my own mics (well, other than my Sony stereo mic) and I borrowed Boris' AKG-C1000s, not by any means the best mics ever made, but they happen to sound tremendous here, because I was RIGHT in the sweet spot in the middle of the floor at this show.  But, you may ask, why the Realistic Mixer in the signal path?  Well, just a few weeks before I did an experiment at a G Love show in Central Park.  Don't ask why I did this, but mid-show I unplugged my Sony mic from my deck and added the mixer as an experiment (which I'd brought with me in case I could get a soundboard feed to do a matrix) into the signal path, and a whole new world of sound opened up to me -- everything was crisper and fuller sounding.  This proved to me without a doubt that the preamp on the cheap (and ancient -- it still has analog needle level meters) Realistic mixer that I owned was far better sounding than the mic preamp on my Denon DAT.  This lead me to bring out the mixer as often as possible to shows when I was using the Denon recorder.  I think I sill own said mixer and will dig it up and attach a picture to this recording....

Enjoy!


A rundown of my previous BARN archival releases (all can be found on archive.org except as noted):
BARN1 - Col Bruce Hampton and the Code Talkers at Bret & Joyce's wedding 9/17/05
BARN2 - Col Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit (w/guest Warren Haynes for all of set 2) Wetlands 11/20/93
BARN3 - moe. Wetlands 7/8/95
BARN4 - Dan Bern Bottom Line 7/31/98 (late show)
BARN5 - moe. Birch Hill 10/31/96
BARN6 - moe. Maxwells 1/20/96
BARN7 - Dan Bern Central Park Summerstage 9/19/97
BARN8 - Dan Bern, Bottom Line 8/1/98
BARN9 - moe. Bayou 4/5/97
BARN10 - moe. Irving Plaza 4/4/97
BARN11 - moe. AKA 9/7/95
BARN12 - Yolk AKA 9/7/95
BARN13 - Robert Walter/Johnny Vidacovich/James Singleton/Donald Harrison Preservation Hall 4/30/08
BARN14 - Phish Las Vegas, NV 10/31/98 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN15 - Phish Great Went @ Loring AFB, Limestone, ME 8/16/97 (on bt.etree.org) - by request
BARN16 - Phish Great Went @ Loring AFB, Limestone, ME 8/17/97 (on bt.etree.org), includes orchestra set - by request
BARN17 - Phish Red Rocks Amphitheater, Morrison, CO, 8/4/96 (on bt.etree.org) - by request
BARN18 - Phish Red Rocks Amphitheater, Morrison, CO, 8/6/96 (on bt.etree.org) - by request
BARN19 - Phish Red Rocks Amphitheater, Morrison, CO, 8/7/96 (on bt.etree.org) - by request
BARN20 - Phish Red Rocks Amphitheater, Morrison, CO, 8/5/96 (on bt.etree.org) - by request
BARN21 - God Street Wine, Irving Plaza, NYC 6/24/93
BARN22 - Leftover Salmon, Wetlands, NYC 10/1/94
BARN23 - Anders Osborne, Manny's Carwash, NYC 11/5/1997
BARN24 - Anders Osborne, Manny's Carwash, NYC 11/6/1997
BARN25 - moe. Pool Party, Morganville, NJ 6/2/1996
BARN26 - Widespread Panic, Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ 11/7/1992 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN27 - Stew, The Turning Point, Piermont, NY 4/6/2003 (on bt.etree.org. dimeadozen.net)
BARN28 - Stew, Joe's Pub, New York, NY 5/22/2003 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN29 - Percy Hill, Lion's Den, NYC 3/16/1996
BARN30 - Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Irving Plaza, 8/3/1995