China Cat Sunflower -> | 1987-12-28 | Grateful Dead

2:26:37

Taper:

OldNeumanntapr

Transferrer:

OldNeumanntapr

SHNID:

gd1987-12-28.168488.ec7.ont.flac1644

Source:

OTS; Superscope EC-7 Cardioid Condensers (Near Coincident) >Sony TC-153SD [XLIIS]

Lineage:

Cass Masters Transferred Via Denon DR-M12HR Cassette Deck >Tascam DR100mkII (24bit/48kHz) WAV >Audacity (Amplify By 4.2db, Index Tracks, Down Sample To 16bit/44.1kHz, Minor Edits [Tape Flips], & Fades) Fix SBEs >FLAC (Level 8) + Tags Via xACT 2.53

Taper Notes:

View NotesOldNeumanntapr Notes;
This, and the previous night, was the second time that I had recorded the Dead at the Oakland Coliseum Arena, the first time being December 17 1986. The first time I was at the Coliseum was another near disaster, similar to my Ventura Fairgrounds 1986 excursion. I had mechanical problems with my '67 VW bus, and I forgot and left the new pack of double A batteries back in the bus and had to buy a pair from another taper. My Superscope EC7s ran on AA batteries.

In 1986 the tapers section was on risers between the soundboard area and the front of the balcony. When people stomped their feet the risers shook and the sea of microphone stands swayed back and forth. For this series of Coliseum shows the tapers section was in the actual balcony and we were farther from the stage and closer to the rafters. I think that Bill Graham wanted that space where the risers had been to stage his pre-show volleyball games.

These particular masters of mine have never been digitized and I had to borrow a Denon cassette deck from a friend because my decks have all quit working. Tracking the show out in Audacity I am realizing that I had a bad habit of pausing the tape between some songs. I don't remember what my reasoning was for this but I ended up clipping the beginning of some songs and leaving a really disjointed-sounding recording in the process. I guess I was trying to avoid 'dead air' between songs but it didn't work out really well in the long run. The continuity is a little unsettling at times because of the pauses between some songs, but overall I think the sound quality is decent. The vocals sound really upfront and open, as compared to the Nakamichi CM 300 shotgun source. Not bad for a 22 year old who had only been recording live shows for a year and a half.

I used the Superscope EC7 cardioid microphones from late 1986 to early 1989 when a friend started letting me borrow his Nakamichi CM 300s. The Superscope's, which were made by Marantz,  had a more open sound, especially on the vocals, but they tended to be a bit boomy on the low end, especially at indoor venues. I never tried them in an x/y pattern. Maybe that would have been an improvement. I think the EC7s had similar sound to Sony ECM-22P's, but (I've heard) that the Sonys were a bit better. I think I liked the Kaiser Convention Center better for recording because it was a bit smaller than the Oakland Coliseum and didn't sound as reverberant.