MiniDisc Wiki - Secret Santa 2022 - The Bootleg Tapes
From Adventuer_By_Trade
I got into MiniDisc in 2001 as a way to record live concerts on a portable digital medium. DAT was out of my budget, but I could afford a Sharp MD-SR60. For this disc, I've selected a few of my favorite concert tapes mixed with some field recordings that I've made around the world. Not all of these tapes were recorded on MiniDisc originally, but MD is where I got my start, and I enjoy sharing the live taping experience - especially on MiniDisc!
Tracklist:
01. Bonnaroo Tent Zip (Binaural)
02. Gomez - Nothing is Wrong
03. Gomez - Here Comes the Breeze
04. John Mayer - Your Body is a Wonderland
05. John Mayer - Why Georgia
06. John Mayer - Somethings Missing
07. Xavier Rudd - Come Let Go
08. Xavier Rudd - Better People
09. Guster - Ruby Falls
10. Guster - C'mon
11. Guster - Airport Song
12. Barenaked Ladies - One Week
13. Barenaked Ladies - New Years Resolutions
14. Barenaked Ladies - Auld Lang Syne
About the shows:
Bonnaroo Tent Zip (Binaural)
12 June 2004
Bonnaroo Music Festival, Manchester, TN
Source: SP-CMC-4 (in hat) > SP-SB-2 > Sharp MD-SR60 (SP)
This was my first festival, and I wanted to capture the experience of attending a 100,000+ event, so I tucked my microphones into my hat and stepped out into the night. This recording captures the festival sounds of portable toilets, fireworks, tent zippers, and hippies.
Gomez
12 June, 2004
What Stage, Bonaroo Music Festival
Source: SP-CMC-4 > SP-SB-2 > Sony PCM-M1 (16/44.1)
Note: One thing I really enjoy about music festivals is discovering new music. A friend of mine suggested that I check out Gomez, and I brought along my recording gear. I'm so glad I did! This show was one of the highlights of my festival that year.
John Mayer
27 July, 2002
A. Finkl & Sons, Chicago, IL
Source: SP-CMC-4 > SP-SPSB-2 > Sharp MD-SR60 (SP)
Notes: This was one of the earlier outdoor concerts I had recorded with my MiniDisc deck. These three songs represent John Mayer's career, with Your Body is a Wonderland representing the early pop songs that made John Mayer an international star. Why Georgia is another radio friendly tune, but less pop, more rock. And finally, Something's Missing highlights Mayer's legendary capabilities as a blues guitarist.
Xavier Rudd
16 June, 2007
Bonnaroo Music Festival, Manchester, TN
Source: SR77 > PS2 > Edirol R09 (24bit / 44.1Khz)
Notes: Another artist that I first heard at Bonnaroo. This time, I was carrying some more expensive recording gear. These two songs highlight the easy breezy acoustic sounds that Rudd combines with his socially aware lyrics. This tape is among the best I've personally captured.
Guster
28 July, 2006
Charter One Pavilion at Northerly Island, Chicago, IL
Source: SR77 > Lunatec V2 > Edirol R09 (24/48)
Notes: This is probably my personal best as far as concert field recordings. These songs truly surpirsed me in a live setting! The band managed to capture an energy fueld, no doubt, by the experience of playing their largest sold out headling concert to that point in the band's history. These versions surpass their studio versions in every way!
Barenaked Ladies
31 December, 2001
Allstate Arena, Chicago, IL
Source: SP-CMC-4 > Sharp MD-SR60 (SP)
Notes: In fitting with the theme of “Secret Santa,” I've included selections from another one of my earliest live concert recordings. The microphones were hidden under my hat, and I managed to score seats in the first ten rows, capturing a very good “bootleg” tape of Barenaked Ladies at arguably the best point in their career. Ring in the New Year with BNL counting down to midnight over 20 years ago!
MiniDisc Authoring Process:
I'd taken my master FLAC recordings and imported them into Adobe Premiere Pro to line up all the tracks, set appropriate levels, and fade my various field recordings between the concert segments. Field recordings included a binaural walk from the Bonnaroo Music Festival, crickets from outside a Dave Matthews Band concert in the early '00s, Maasai tribesmen from Kenya, and Macaws from Honduras. Once I had a full disc worth of audio lined up the way I liked it, I exported everything as a single 16bit 44.1khz wav file and burned the single track to my MZ-N505 at SP via platinum-md. I then loaded the MD into my Pioneer MJ-D707 and manually broke the tracks between songs to ensure gapless playback. Once the TOC was rewritten with breaks, I brought the disc back into platinum-md to title the tracks and finalize the disc, setting the copy protect tab and sending the disc, along with a copy of this document, to my Secret Santa. Part of the early days of concert taping and trading involved sending media through the mail in padded envelopes with printed .txt files, just like this. It brought back a lot of happy memories, and I hope the disc brings some joy to my Secret Santa as well! Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and best wishes for a wonderful New Year!