1992-07-19 | Phish

View NotesPhish
Garden State Arts Center
Holmdel, NJ
7/19/1992


Original master recording:  Sony ECM-959 stereo mic (in hat) -> Sony Walkman WMD3 -> Maxell XLII-S Cassette Master (Dolby B)

Cassette playback: Master Cassette -> Nakamichi Dragon (120us bias / Dolby B decode) -> Sound Devices 722 input (@24/96)

Mastered: Soundforge Pro 10.0e - *All file manipulation in Soundforge done at 24 bits*. Volume normalization, Sample rate conversion 48khz to 44.1khz using iZotope 64-Bit SRC set higher than "Highest Quality" setting w/anti-alias filter, dithering to 16 bits using using iZotope MBIT+ with Ultra noise shaping, with high dither settings; scrubbed 2 spots of feedback in T2 (@1:03, 1:31). Tracked in CDWav. IDv3 Tags added using Tag & Rename 3.7

1.  Poor Heart (cuts in)
2.  Maze
3.  Runaway Jim
4.  David Bowie *
5.  Sweet Adeline +

Total time: 27:45
BARN152

^ = cassette tape was slightly mangled at 1:24 into this song
* = ? jam + Simpsons signal in intro
+ = a capella

This was a set opening for Santana.  Trey Anastasio sat in with Santana later this evening.

Taper notes:
Sneaking in a couple of new entries in the BARN series, BARN152 leads the charge of pre-1993 masters of mine.  This is the first recording I've put out that predates my entry into the DAT world.  So yes, this is the first of my cassette masters that I've released (and yes, there are hundreds of them).

Specifically I now have the ability to release cassette masters from my collection "The right way" (or at least in the way I've been imagining releasing them for the past few years) -- playing them back with the best cassette deck ever made (the legendary Nakamichi Dragon, last made in 1985, and the only cassette deck ever made which automatically adjusts the azimuth of tape playback to match the recording deck's head azimuth -- which in layman's terms means "best possible playback of a tape"), and capturing the playback with my awesome Sound Devices 722 recorder that I use to record concerts with at 24 bit/96 khz.  This was not an easy hurdle to get over as Nak Dragons have the double curse of still being quite highly desired (nay, "legendary"!) and very difficult (and expensive) to keep in a functional state.  So, after paying an arm and a leg for it and spending a lot of time getting it properly repaired, I can finally dip into my cassette stash.

While I've still got THOUSANDS of DAT masters, I am opening the floodgates a little bit on the cassettes to provide a few very highly requested shows at this time.

This particular Phish set fits that bill.  A year or so ago, in a random conversation with my freind and fellow taper Justin Marinoff, he pointed out to me that there are no circulating recordings of this show.  How he knew that off the top of his head I cannot say, but now that I have the ability to do cassette transfers, I've done my best to get this out for you Phish completists out there.

Is there anything special about this less-than-half-hour set opening for Santana?  No!  Is the set all that interesting?  Not particularly.  But the playing is strong and the band is playing well (if not remarkably).  You'll hear some sort of song tease that I haven't identified yet (but I know someone out there will get...) and a Simpsons secret language signal before Bowie.  The Maze and Jim are both strong as well.

How did I wind up being the only taper at this show?  Well, after having seen them for the first time ever at the same location and being BLOWN AWAY by their HORDE performance just 8 days before on 7/11, I made the spontaneous call that I really needed to see them again ASAP and bought a ticket to this show on the spot.  This was a set opening for Santana (whose career was actually at one of its low points here in the early 90s) and great seats were still very easy to come by at that late date.  So as I said, I had been blown away by Phish's GSAC HORDE set, but this set was quite underwhelming.  I had collected a number of live shows (from old time taper buddy Brendan O'Neill) by this point so knew most of the repertoire, but this set, being just under 30 minutes (not even long enough for the band to get warmed up!) was nothing to write home about.

Also, the venue was patently anti-taping (even hassling me to no end at the HORDE show) so I came prepared to stealth record -- at the time I had a pretty nice Sony ECM-959 stereo mic and a Sony D6 recorder (which, for some reason, was out for repair on this day, so I borrowed a friend's Sony D3 cassette recorder which was very similar, though not quite as good).  I was in a very good seating location in the pavillion, and it sounds very good (if not amazing).  There was apparently some small amount of damage to the tape (noted above) which prevented a completely clean playback.

I will also put out the Santana set at some point.  The Sanatana set was truly excellent and notably contained the first Phish sit-in (at this point just Trey, on guitar) of the tour.

I hope you all enjoy, and appreciate all of the love and effort I've put into this!

As far as I can tell, I was the only taper at this show, and this is the first time this set has ever seen the light of day.

Enjoy!