Grateful Dead – Matricing Through the 80s (live mix)

here is the info file from Dime

Here’s something special to commemorate the August anniversaries of Jerry’s birthday (8/1/42) and passing (8/9/95)…

The Grateful Dead

Mtx’ing through the 80s – live “concert” all-matrix mix from 1980s highlights

The inspiration for this live mix came from the excellent Garcia Discs/Jerry Compilation seeded by icculus18 on etree. Specifically, one track – Morning Dew from 9.18.87 – opened my eyes to an entire decade that had been previously under-represented in my collection. It also reinforced my belief that there is nothing better than a good matrix, which captures both the music and spirit of a performance. So I naturally went overboard and downloaded every matrix from the 1980s (about 35 shows) and started listening. And I also naturally (because it is what I do when I get inspired by music) began to make notes for a live mix containing songs that I thought would sound exceptional alongside one another in a “concert” format (first set, second set, encore).

While I normally don’t comment on live mixes that I create, I’m going to make an exception because my role as window dresser (selection, mixing/smoothing transitions, volume normalization) pales in comparison to the effort of those who took the time to properly matrix the best available soundboard and audience recordings. I just listened to this live mix from start to finish for the first time since completing it a couple of weeks ago and was completely blown away. You can’t lose: worst case scenario this live mix is a sampler of matrices from 20 different concerts; best case scenario the whole is greater than the sum of its parts and it gets heavy rotation for a while. SPECIAL THANKS to all those (especially HS) that created these matrices (see info file for full reference info and shn id #).

On a side note, I created a matrix mix for one song (D3T1) and it took me nearly 2 hours for the one song! Some time was spent to patch a gap in the sbd with an aud recording, but it should give you some sense of how long it takes to create a matrix. Of course if there’s a magic button or great program out there please do tell. Until then I suppose it will be necessary to adjust the pitch of one source and then merge the two 30-60 seconds at a time in order to remain in synch.

All tracks were normalized and transitions mixed to flow like a concert. Transitions between songs are generally no more than 20 seconds in length.

I suggest not looking at the track listing before listening. Allow yourself to be surprised, as there are so few pleasant surprises in life: LET THIS BE ONE. You can email me later to thank me for the suggestion :-)

I created and included some basic artwork, which is intended as a placeholder until someone creates some proper artwork.

The etree entry is here: http://db.etree.org/myshows_detail.php?showid=8597049

Note to the moderators: To my knowledge, none of the tracks in this mix have been commercially released. As a resource, I used the “Grateful Dead releases by recording date,” which looks to be the most complete and accurate account of commercially released GD and can be found here: http://www.deaddisc.com/GDFD_Dead_By_Date.htm

Finally, the the resources “Dead to the Core” and The Deadhead’s Taping Compendium were a great help in narrowing some very tough selections.

Source: Various > EAC > Sound Forge 8.0 (normalized, mixed) > CDWave > 2flac/3cdr

ALS, August 2010

DISC ONE / “First Set”

1. Shakedown Street – 6/30/85, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD

2. Greatest Story Ever Told – 6/20/80, West High Auditorium, Anchorage, AK

3. Peggy-O – 3/30/80, The Capitol Theater, Passaic, NJ

4. Jack Straw 10/26/80, Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY

5. Dupree’s Diamond Blues – 9/17/82, Cumberland County Civic Center, Portland, ME

6. The Mighty Quinn (Quinn The Eskimo) – 3/3/87, Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, Oakland, CA

7. Music Never Stopped – 6/26/88, Pittsburgh Civic Arena, Pittsburgh, PA

8. Ramble On Rose 6/21/80, West High Auditorium, Anchorage, AK

9. Looks Like Rain – 7/3/88, Oxford Plains Speedway, Oxford, ME

10. Deal – 5/22/82, Greek Theatre, U. of California, Berkeley, CA

DISC TWO / “Second Set”

1. Scarlet Begonias -> Touch Of Grey -> Fire On The Mountain – 7/13/84, Greek Theatre, U. of CA, Berkeley, CA

2. Playing In The Band -> Eyes Of The World -> Drums – 4/18/82, Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, CT

3. Samson and Delilah – 6/24/85, River Bend Music Center, Cincinnati, OH

4. Terrapin Station – 3/3/87, Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, Oakland, CA

DISC THREE

“Third Set”

1. Feel Like A Stranger – 10/12/84, Augusta Civic Center, Augusta, ME

2. China Cat Sunflower -> I Know You Rider – 3/9/81, Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

3. Truckin’ – 8/6/82, St. Paul Civic Center, St. Paul, MN

4. Morning Dew – 9/18/87, Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

“Encore”

5. Casey Jones – 5/23/82, Greek Theatre, U. of California, Berkeley, CA

6. Sugar Magnolia – 6/21/85, Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, WI

7. US Blues – 3/30/80, The Capitol Theater, Passaic, NJ

8. Good Love – 6/30/87, Kingswood Music Theater, Maple, Ontario, Canada

9. Brokedown Palace – 3/3/87, Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, Oakland, CA

“First Set”

1. Shakedown Street – 6/30/85, Merriweather Post Pavilion

, Columbia, MD

Matrix by Hunter Seamons

http://db.etree.org/shn/94642

2. Greatest Story Ever Told – 6/20/80,

West High Auditorium, Anchorage, AK

Matrix by Hunter Seamons

http://db.etree.org/shn/92783

3. Peggy-O – 3/30/80, The Capitol Theater, Passaic, NJ

http://db.etree.org/shn/96455

4. Jack Straw 10/26/80, Radio City Music Hall,

New York, NY

Matrix by Hunter Seamons

http://db.etree.org/shn/101967

5. Dupree’s Diamond Blues – 9/17/82, Cumberland County Civic Center,Portland, ME

Mixed by dan@am-dig.com

http://db.etree.org/shn/82208

6. The Mighty Quinn (Quinn The Eskimo) – 3/3/87, Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, Oakland, CA

All Transfers and Mastering By Charlie Miller

http://db.etree.org/shn/82725

7. Music Never Stopped – 6/26/88, Pittsburgh Civic Arena, Pittsburgh, PA

Range extracted/seeded by Doug Nawrocki

http://db.etree.org/shninfo_detail.php?shnid=5608

8. Ramble On Rose 6/21/80, West High Auditorium, Anchorage, AK

Mixed by dan@am-dig.com

http://db.etree.org/shninfo_detail.php?shnid=28470

9. Looks Like Rain – 7/3/88, Oxford Plains Speedway, Oxford, ME

Mixed by dan@am-dig.com

http://db.etree.org/shninfo_detail.php?shnid=92585

10 Deal – 5/22/82, Greek Theatre, U. of California, Berkeley, CA

Matrix by Hunter Seamons

http://db.etree.org/shninfo_detail.php?shnid=101450

“Second Set”

1. Scarlet Begonias -> Touch Of Grey -> Fire On The Mountain – 7/13/84, Greek Theatre, U. of California,

Berkeley, CA

Matrix by Hunter Seamons

http://db.etree.org/shninfo_detail.php?shnid=105570

2. Playing In The Band -> Eyes Of The World -> Drums – 4/18/82, Hartford Civic Center

, Hartford, CT

Matrix by Hunter Seamons

http://db.etree.org/shninfo_detail.php?shnid=107090

3. Samson and Delilah – 6/24/85,

River Bend Music Center,

Cincinnati, OH

Matrix by Hunter Seamons

http://db.etree.org/shninfo_detail.php?shnid=94663

4. Terrapin Station – 3/3/87, Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, Oakland, CA

All Transfers and Mastering By Charlie Miller

http://db.etree.org/shn/82725

“Third Set”

1. Feel Like A Stranger – 10/12/84, Augusta Civic Center, Augusta, ME

Matrix by als (this song only)

Aud source: http://db.etree.org/shninfo_detail.php?shnid=99198

Sbd source: http://db.etree.org/shninfo_detail.php?shnid=5585

Missing sbd section patched with aud source above as well

2. China Cat Sunflower -> I Know You Rider – 3/9/81,

Madison Square Garden

, New York, NY

Matrix by Hunter Seamons

http://db.etree.org/shninfo_detail.php?shnid=101159

3. Truckin’ – 8/6/82, St. Paul Civic Center,

St. Paul, MN

Matrix by Hunter Seamons

http://db.etree.org/shninfo_detail.php?shnid=101618

4. Morning Dew – 9/18/87, Madison Square Garden, New York, NY2. China/Rider – 3/9/81

Matrix by hansokolow

http://db.etree.org/shninfo_detail.php?shnid=96139

“Encore”

5. Casey Jones – 5/23/82, Greek Theatre, U. of California,

Berkeley, CA

Matrix by Hunter Seamons

http://db.etree.org/shninfo_detail.php?shnid=102124

6. Sugar Magnolia – 6/21/85, Alpine Valley Music Theatre,

East Troy, WI

Matrix by Hunter Seamons

http://db.etree.org/shninfo_detail.php?shnid=108266

7. US Blues – 3/30/80, , The Capitol Theater, Passaic, NJ

http://db.etree.org/shn/96455

8. Good Love – 6/30/87, Kingswood Music Theater, Maple, Ontario, Canada

Bill Tetzeli

http://db.etree.org/shninfo_detail.php?shnid=34404

9. Brokedown Palace – 3/3/87, Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, Oakland, CA

All Transfers and Mastering By Charlie Miller

http://db.etree.org/shn/82725