uglyredhonda

SXSW announced their schedule today: March 19th: Austin, TX - Prague (21+) NXNE Showcase Lineup: Jully Black 8:00pm Lights 9:00pm Matthew Good 11:00pm The Trews 12:00am Shout Out Out Out 1:00am http://sxsw.com/music/shows/byvenue?a=day&s=2010-03-19 http://my.sxsw.com/events/eid/7194 So... probably not worth it if you're not already planning on going to SXSW.

Wow, where to start. When he says "it was probably recorded on four-track" - he's talking about the studio recording, with the implication being that it was recorded on standard four-track equipment and then mixed down to stereo. That's how albums are recorded - multi-track first, then mixed down to stereo. His implication is that most of the early demos were recorded on home-quality four-track machines, which aren't known for being great quality. So, even if you made a 32-bit, 192k recording of it, the sound quality wouldn't be any better - you wouldn't be gaining anything (other than file size). The "missing" frequencies simply wouldn't be there. But, actually, I believe 15 Hours was recorded at a local Vancouver recording school, so it's probably better than the average four-track recording. (If it was anything like the studios I used in those days, including the studio at American University in DC, it was probably either 8- or 16-track analog.) However, it was recorded so quickly (hence the title of the demo) that it's still not going to be much better. They weren't going for perfection; they were just trying to get it recorded. It's not on sale in the Store because Matt only produced a handful of tapes back in 1994 and abandoned it shortly thereafter. Every great once in a while, a copy pops up on eBay, but not often. But your points about audio recordings: For starters, if I had a copy of any of the early demos, I would never entrust a transfer to the sound card on a laptop. Even if it reaches 192k (it doesn't - the Macbook's soundcard maxes out at 24-bit 96k - your 192k files are almost certainly upconverted 96k recordings), it's going to introduce artifacts because it's not a professional grade card - it doesn't have a professional grade analog-to-digital converter. That's the key in getting a transfer that's worth anything. (I wouldn't trust any card that didn't have RCA input jacks, for starters.) Try recording complete silence for a few seconds and playing it back at a high volume - I can guarantee that you'll hear digital noise. (Disregard this if you're using an external pro sound card.) And that doesn't even touch the issue of using laptop hardware for high-end conversions. I would wager pretty heavily that if you listened to some of your 192k recordings very carefully, you'd hear some small skips from time to time. What I'm getting at: for preservation purposes, you'd really need to have better equipment. The Nakamichi deck is probably way above average (assuming it's been kept in good condition), but the digital side isn't strong enough. But that comment about cassettes having "more pleasant frequency response than compact discs" is absolutely insane. It's one thing to claim that about vinyl albums or reel-to-reel, but cassettes? If I had a 48k DAT recording and offered someone the option of getting a copy on CD (44.1k) or on cassette tape, no one would take the tapes. No one. Cassettes are too prone to dropouts - and, even if they might arguably have a wider frequency response, they introduce artificial compression, and, yes, tape noise. And don't get me started on what happens if the heads are out of alignment. Even if you could make the case for a cassette maybe having "more pleasant frequency response", we're talking about absolute perfect circumstances - perfect decks, perfect cables, perfect source, etc. You'd also have to guarantee that the recording was analog throughout - recorded analog, mixed analog, duplicated analog. And I can almost guarantee that 15 Hours wasn't - in those days, EVERYBODY (except major-label studios) mixed down to 16-bit, 44.1k or 48k DAT. It was much cheaper and easier than trying to mix down to another reel. That, by itself, would completely eliminate the need for a 32-bit, 192k transfer - the final copy couldn't possibly be better than 16-bit, 48k. And, even if it had been mixed analog, there's no way it was duplicated on the kind of equipment that would have to have been used to get the best results. That wasn't a high concern in those days. With my band's 1995 studio recording, we used a local duplication place (which still exists) that specialized in band recordings. I still have a few of those cassettes, and I wouldn't trade any of them for the CD I made from the original master tape a few years ago. The CD sounds substantially better. By the way - it's unfortunate that your tapes are dying, but keep this in mind - a CD produced in the last fifteen years would be light years better than a mass-manufactured cassette from the mid-1980s. The major labels weren't using top-quality duplicators until the late-80s and early-90s - and, even then, they didn't come close to the quality of a Nakamichi deck. If you're going through this process with your old cassettes, you are absolutely wasting your time. Borrow a CD copy of one of those cassettes and play them side-by-side - the difference is substantial. CDs may or may not have better frequency response than a cassette, but they capture sound with much greater accuracy, which is far more important. Even if the CD format goes away, 16-bit, 44.1k music will be the standard for a long time to come. 99.9% of people are happy with what they have now - most of them can't hear the difference between that and a 24-bit recording. Honestly, most people can't hear the difference between 128kbps mp3 and a CD. But the reality is this: you won't get any takers for this because nobody cares enough. Matt doesn't even care enough. No offense, but anyone with an actual copy of one of those tapes isn't going to send it to some random guy in Victoria. If you don't like the mp3, seek out somebody with a CD copy of the History Teacher bootleg that's the source of those mp3s - it'll at least be higher quality than the mp3.

This thread was nine miles of awesome. It was great how open he was about his days in the band, plus his general awesomeness. I hate to even imagine what "his demons getting the best of him" means. Actually, I don't think I want to know. ;) Rest in peace, Geoff.

If history's any indication, he'll probably do another tour starting at the end of May or June. But that's just speculation at this point.

The Mother Mother prank one? That was me. ;)

Ack, apologies for the speculation. I kinda wish I'd been able to stay, but it was so jammed in there that I could no longer find a spot to just stand somewhere out of the way and I was tired of getting bumped into. There was even a line of people outside waiting (maybe hoping) to get in when I left. I'm surprised that the Tuesday set was that long (and looks amazing). It was billed as a "sound check party", which I figured meant that everybody would hang out and have a few drinks while the band ran through four or five numbers. Dale's definitely done that place up right. The sound in there was amazing. Maybe because I was , but everything sounded great. (It could have sounded differently in the back - the place is much larger than a regular venue of its capacity, given all of the bars and what not.) The SE always has it tough with bands - they have to really commit to it all to justify getting through the relative nothing between Dallas and Atlanta. I went to college in NC, and I can't tell you the number of times I had to drive to DC to see a band. And Atlanta's one of the ten biggest markets in the US, yet it's amazing how many bands pass over it completely. (Usually, it seems to get scheduled during the 2nd leg of the tour, if at all.) In Matt's case, there just aren't enough days. They've got two nights between Dallas and Chicago, and even getting to Atlanta would make for a seriously long haul in that short amount of time. Memphis or Nashville were really the only options, and it's a shame that the Nashville show didn't come together. (Though, DC would still be the closest show from Charlotte.) While a great music town, Memphis is in a bit of a dead zone - there's not much city-wise within a 200 mile radius.

You can see that one being shot on the one I got. ;) More from Whisky River, Charlotte - Giant (shot with a digicam) Born Losers (with Mike Smith on guitar) (HD) Load Me Up / Love Will Tear Us Apart (HD) Weapon (HD) Apparitions (with comments from Dale, Jr) (HD) Some folks must have "Dale Earnhardt Jr" saved as a keyword on YouTube, 'cause "Apparitions" already has like 150 plays and it's only been up a few hours. A few moderately unimpressive photos from the night: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cb2vi3/sets/72157623117042316/

December 31, 2009: Charlotte, NC - Whisky River Giant Hello Time Bomb Great Whales of the Sea Born Losers (w/ Mike Smith) I'm a Window Silent Army in the Trees Vancouver National Anthem Load Me Up / Love Will Tear Us Apart Weapon Apparitions About 9:05pm, Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys (Mike Smith) came on and sang "Liquor and Whores". It didn't seem like too many people knew who he was or what he was doing (there wasn't much reaction). About 9:15pm, Matt came on. Matt and the band sounded great. I'd have to listen to it again, but Matt's verses during HTB seemed to sound more like 90s Matt than I've ever heard him on that song. Mike Smith (in regular form) came out during "Born Losers" and played guitar. (Matt introduced him as "since he used to play in a band".) They brought back the Joy Division nod during "Load Me Up" after nixing it after Massey 1, I assume as something special for the folks there. VERY little banter during the overall set, most of it coming at the very end. Dale Jr came out before "Apparitions" and thanked Matt (and us) for coming, which was cool to see. It seemed like there were quite a few people in the crowd (especially up front) who were real Matt Good fans - many were singing along to Silent Army and VNA. The venue itself probably held about 500 - it was probably two-thirds full when Matt started, with probably a little over half of those in the area in front of the stage. As you can tell, it was a short set - Matt was finished by 10:15pm. (Hour-long set - no encore.) That was probably the one disappointment about the night - the advertisement for the night didn't really explain what was going to happen. If Matt's set was the "pre-show", there wasn't a show. Once Matt finished, they started breaking down his equipment - instruments, stage lighting, everything - all of it was gone after about an hour. It seemed like a lot of people were looking to see what was going to be set up next, but the answer was nothing - at that point (11:15pm), they let people go up on stage and dance. Pretty much, after Matt's set, it just became "generic dance night". I finally bailed about 11:25pm, once it was totally obvious that nothing else was going to happen, save for the champagne toast at midnight. (The place was PACKED not long after Matt finished. I'm not much for crowds or bars, and figured I'd enjoy watching the Times Square stuff back at the hotel more. It might have actually saved me from getting stuck in a sobriety checkpoint on the interstate out of downtown.) All told - $25 for an hour of Matt and some surprisingly decent food was a good bargain. But, for me, it paled against the two Massey shows (although I imagine I was probably the only person there who caught any of the Canadian tour). Plus, I never do anything for New Year's, so I figured this would be a cool way to do something special, and, in the grand scheme of things, it kinda wasn't. Not that I didn't enjoy it, but I think if I'd known exactly what I was getting into beforehand, I probably wouldn't have gone. (If I'd had to cancel my Toronto trip - and I almost did - I think this would have made a fantastic consolation.) I ended up doing basically what I would have done for New Year's anyway. I met a couple from Charlotte who had apparently been fans for close to ten years, and they told me that this was their first chance to see Matt play. I almost felt badly that they only got an hour. Matt mentioned at the end of the set that he knew that people had flown in for the show, and I definitely felt bad for those folks. (I used some reward points on the hotel room, so I was only out the the ticket and gas money - I think I'd have been disappointed if I'd flown in for that.) I would bet that the original intention was for this just to be a low key semi-announced set, but once people put together Matt Good plus NYE, it made it sound like something bigger. My best guess is that the "private show" that Matt mentioned in the post on NF was probably the "real" NYE show, and at Dale's compound. I'm assuming now that this was probably more or less a favor to Dale and/or the chance for Dale to lend Matt a little public support. I'm assuming that Matt, Dale, and the guys bailed after the set and went to Dale's compound. If that was the case, it completely made sense that Matt would only play for an hour - I couldn't imagine him playing two full sets back to back. But if I'd had the chance to massage the schedule a little, I think I'd have moved things around to give Matt another 15 minutes. For a show at a club that size, I think 75 minutes feels about right - an hour long main set plus two or three encores. I know it was a little bit of an awkward situation in general - you had a club full of people who don't really know who he is, plus a handful of people that were real fans. Having said all of that - the upside of the evening was that the venue didn't give a rat's ass about recording. I took a few (lousy) photos and shot "Giant" on my digital camera, then grabbed four songs with my HD vidcam (I believe "Born Losers" and the last three). I had my old tape recorder in my jacket pocket - more or less as an afterthought - so I may transfer it at some point if it turned out at all. I'll try and upload the video footage tonight.

Okay, ticket bought, hotel booked... hopefully, there'll be something interesting to report.

Can't... decide... if I want... to drive... to Charlotte... for New Year's...

Double post, since it's been talked about in this thread: "Fake Empire" from Massey 2 The piece I caught of "Fake Empire" from Massey 1 is in the Videos thread. The ushers were definitely active. The night 1 video of "Fake Empire" is lousy, largely because I had my hands over the viewscreen to avoid the light being seen. (And because I accidentally overzoomed - I hadn't shot video on my digital camera at any point recently, and used it like I would my HD vidcam.) Any other venue, and I might have considered smuggling my HD videocam in. (It would have been trivial to get it in.) But I got smacked in the arm by an usher at Massey in 2007 while recording a song with this camera, and didn't want to get busted again. (He didn't take my camera or anything, but I was kind of embarrassed by it.)

"Fake Empire" from Massey 1 (partial recording / not recorded well): The end of Mother Mother's "prank" during "Weapon" at Massey 2: "Fake Empire" from Massey 2 (complete):

Milos has a little bit more George Stroumboulopoulos in him. (Take that as you will.) And that's the second Dr. Teeth reference I've seen in the last hour. I think he's due for a major comeback. Seriously - the guy hasn't aged a day. Yeah, it seemed like our area was a little bit less of a drunken peanut gallery. Though I think that girl that Computer mentioned was back for night two. If I recall correctly, she loves Matthew Good. (BTW - what's up with people screaming "Matthew Good" at a Matthew Good show? It's one thing if it's a band name, like "Woo! Pearl Jam!" - but are you yelling to support Matthew Good, the "band"? If you're just yelling at Matt, isn't screaming his full name a bit like a taunt? Almost like getting in trouble and hearing it from your mom - "MATTHEW GOOD, GET IN THIS ROOM RIGHT NOW.")

He played it again tonight - slightly more of it this time. I caught that song both nights on my digital camera - I'll try and upload one or both after I get home. Tonight was solid, though I think last night's setlist was better (maybe just my personal taste). The encores were Champions > Odette > Empty's, which, honestly, is an amazing trio, but a bit tough back-to-back-to-back. To his credit, he mixed up the setlists a bit between both nights (again, I'll let someone else post the real thing). But tonight felt both a bit more of a greatest hits set and a more of a slow/mid-tempo set. Nothing particularly special set-wise to mark the end of the tour (ie, no extra songs) - though it was fun to see Mother Mother come out and prank the band with sweepers and towels during "Weapon". (I got there late tonight, right as Matt came out during Mother Mother's set - I think they pranked Mother Mother and/or Stu during their set, but I'm not sure. If that's confusing - Stu played one song with Mother Mother.) For the slowness, though - I think it created my favorite moment of both nights. About 2/3rds of the way through Champions, everyone went silent and was just standing there watching Matt. I turned around and just watched the faces. Such a great moment. Agh, are you guys serious? I wish I'd seen this earlier - I was literally sitting behind you all - 6th row, seat 44. (Which, oddly enough, was Computer's seat last night.) I hope I wasn't singing too loudly. :angry: Computer - it was great meeting you and your girlfriend last night. I think if you had to pick one show or the other, last night was the one. And it's cool to see that some of the folks around here are actual people and not just MG-topic-posting automatons. (I can't yet vouch for all of them. ;))

Tonight (Massey 1) was great. I'll let someone else supply the setlist (I could probably figure it out, but I'm sure somebody wrote it down) - he finished with a taste (acoustic) of The National's "Fake Empire". Amazing that the few times he coughed was when he was talking, not when he was singing. (Look out - a jaguar!)

Wow, this is impressively lame. I'd pick a spot myself, but I'm not a local, and there has to be a better choice than the Arby's at Eaton Centre. (There was an informal meetup at a bar near Massey for the 2007 show, but I didn't think it was that great a place and didn't stick around.) I thought I might check out the Christmas nonsense (not really sure what it is) at Nathan Phillips Square before the show, but maybe tonight instead (and that would probably be a lousy place to meet).

Not sure that this counts as a show, but there's apparently a "sound check party" 12/29 in a lead-up to the 12/31 show: http://www.whiskyrivercharlotte.com/show_event2.php?id=183 I think the 9:30 Club is just too big. It holds over 1000, and most of the venues on this tour are sub-500. Hopefully, these shows will do well and they'll be able to book bigger venues the next time around. Anybody ever catch a show at the old 9:30 Club when it was over on F Street? Man, that place was sketchy.

December 31 - Charlotte, NC - Whisky River (21+) http://www.whiskyrivercharlotte.com/show_e...;y=2009&w=1 Tix: http://fullhouseconcerts.musictoday.com/Fu...74&outlet=9 My only hesitation on going is the designation "pre-show" (not sure how long that would be). Still sounds like it might be a fun way to bring in the new year.

It looks like they go on sale Wednesday 12/9 at 10am via TicketsWest. Btw - if you want to go to both shows, they're offering a combo ticket for $50. (It's $30 for each show separately.) I think so, but I say that only because it looks like AmEx has deals with specific venues. So it's not out of the question that one of the other venues might have a similar deal, but, at the moment, it looks like the Bowery Ballroom is the only venue on MG's tour that has that arrangement.

Scouting around, it looks like the Bowery Ballroom presale is an American Express thing, and the passwords are: INGOLD, AMEX or 8003272177. One thing I'm not sure about is whether you have to have an American Express to use it - probably worth trying it (if you don't) and see what happens.

Seattle and Portland: http://ticketswest.rdln.com/Artist.aspx?evt=72625 (Oddly, they're offering a combo ticket for the two Seattle shows - I've never seen that before. Do a search for "matthew good" and it'll pop up.) Memphis is 18+ (via their calendar page, info link for the show). (I should probably just PM you this stuff.)

If a public Charlotte NYE show happens, that would be spectacular. I would have to seriously consider making the drive for that. I'm hoping that the Nashville show comes together - seems that would be a much better draw than Memphis. But, alas, the Memphis venue added the show to their website today: http://www.hitonememphis.com/calendar.php?...&currY=2010 (Strange name for a venue - my brain keeps trying to interpret the url as "Hit One Memphis".)

I was guessing that. Charlotte sounded like an otherwise unlikely place for Matt to play a concert on December 31. (That would easily be the closest show for me, but I'm too old and not brazen enough to try and crash it. ;)).

I found pieces here and there (TM, LN), plus a couple of those crappy "tour date" sites (all of which had the Cleveland show incorrectly entered as Jan 26th). Eventually ended up at Pollstar: http://www.pollstar.com/resultsArtist.aspx?ID=35582 Pollstar's usually only about 60% reliable, though. Milos has them on his MySpace, as well. (Plus a Dec 31 US date that I'd gamble is a private concert.) Seattle: http://www.thetripledoor.net/Calendar.aspx?date=2010-03-01 Seattle and Portland are on Ticketswest. If you wanted to be safe, you could make them all unconfirmed save for Seattle, Portland, Detroit, and Millvale.

These are full-band shows. Looks like they're with a band called Automatic Loveletter. Two of these are already on sale (*). March 8 - Seattle, WA - Triple Door March 9 - Seattle, WA - Triple Door March 10 - Portland, OR - Berbati's Pan March 12 - San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall March 13 - Hollywood, CA - The Troubadour March 15 - San Diego, CA - Casbah March 16 - Phoenix, AZ - Rhythm Room March 21 - Dallas, TX - Granada Theater March 22 - Memphis, TN - Hi Tone Cafe March 24 - Chicago, IL - Double Door March 25 - Detroit, MI - Shelter at Saint Andrews Hall (*) March 26 - Cleveland, OH - Cambridge Room at House of Blues March 27 - Buffalo, NY - The Town Ballroom March 29 - Millvale, PA - Mr. Smalls Theatre (*) March 30 - Arlington, VA - Iota Club & Cafe March 31 - Philadelphia, PA - World Cafe Live April 2 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom April 3 - Cambridge, MA - Middle East (Downstairs) April 4 - Rochester, NY - The Club at Water Street