Best Live Phish CDs

dewinkle,

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All you need is a high speed internet conection.

slipknot, i agree totally about the schoeps recordings. why is that? sure, some sound great, but i've heard great recordings done with just about every combination of gear! i have also heard horrible recordings done with every combination of gear! there are just too many variables to say that this piece of gear will always produce great tapes.

Best Phish Show -11/17/97 McNIchols Arena, Denver. Ghost is incredible and flawless Reba.

Ketchup,
I think the same rules apply for live recordings as applies to high-end audio. I have heard some megabuck setups that sound so-so, and very modest setups that are very involving. People see a particular brand name and assume it sounds great without knowing all the variables involved. Schoeps mics are superb to be sure, but in some hands and in some setups.... maybe not as good as can be. When I was taping on a regular basis, I could have used just about whatever mic setup I wished. I happened to prefer the AKGs and Earthworks mics, mated to Audio Magic Presto II cables as the source for my rig. I will say that I have heard lots of Schoeps and Neumann tapes that were gorgeous. My point being, to many end listeners see FOB and Schoeps listed as the source and think this is the be all and end all of live concert event reproduction. I always advised people to try to get a couple of copies of a show, sourced with different mics at different locations within the venue before dismissing those tapes that weren't made with (insert mic brand here) mics. Couple that with the fact that toward the end of the '90s into the early '00s, the taper's section of Phish shows was filling up with rich trustafarian Schoeps snobs. Just one ancient taper's opinion. Hell, I've made tapes on my old Sony D5M cassette deck with a pair of Nak mics that were as emotionally involving as some of my later high-end rig tapes.

getting many different sources is definitely the way to go. its bittersweet, though. after the hiatus i was dedicated to getting damn near every source of every show that was available. i was hooking up to the torrents, setting up snail mail trades, ftp trades, etc. in a sick effort to seek out the best recordings of every show.

then, after i had 3 or 4 different sources, i would do the listening tests. it was often very difficult to pick out the best one. its easy to throw out the obvious worst one but after that its another story. some very different sources would sound almost identical. what a pain in the @$$!

It was almost like another full time job. I do not miss that ritual at all, and for that i'm grateful that they're done!

Hey did any of you guys go to Coventry? I went and though some fun was had it was one of the roughest experiences of my life! Ah well, it's what we do for bands we love right?