12-31-10 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY Source Review

And our adventure continues to New Years Eve.  One of the most sacred nights in the Phish pantheon, right there with Halloween, and at one of the great indoor arenas in America.  You just knew this would be great.  And, thankfully, there were at least 4 tapers there to document it.  I want to thank them for doing the work on this night.  I know, from personal experience, that it is WAY more fun to party down on a night like this than it is to tape the show, but these guys not only did it, but they kept it up through most of tour.  Thanks again.

Source 1 (hereafter Neuman source)
Source: Neumann TLM-170 (hypercards) -> Sound Devices 722 (@24/96);
Location: Official tapers section. one seat to the right of the center aisle, 3 rows back
Transfer: FLAC File processing in SoundForge Audio Studio 10.0c (L/R channel time sync; volume normalization; resample to 44.1 with iZotope 64-Bit SRC set higher than "Highest Quality" setting w/anti-alias filter; 24->16 bit dither using iZotope MBIT+ Dither with Ultra noise shaping, High dither settings;) Tracked in CDWav.

16 bit source

Source 2 (hereafter MK41>CMC6 source)
Source: Schoeps MK41>KC5>CMC6>Sonosax SX-M2>Apogee Mini-me(aes out 24bit/96khz)>COAX>Edirol R-44
Location: DIN Right of center from Taper's section
Transfer: SDHC Card>usb>Macbook Pro>Wave Editor(tracking,fades,resample(isotope)/dither(mbit+) to 16bit/44.1k)>XAct(FLAC 8,ffp,fix sbe)

16 bit source
24 bit source

Source 3 (hereafter MK41V source)
Source: Schoeps mk41v's(DIN)>kc5>m222>nt222>744t
Location: OTS/Section 10, Row D
Transfer: 744t>CD Wave>Wavelab 5>Flac

16 bit source

Source 4 (hereafter MK41 source)
Source: Schoeps mk41> KC5> M222> NT222> EAA PSP-2> SD 744t (@24bit/96kHz)
Location: Section 10, Row D, Seat 8, 9' Stand, NOS
Transfer: SD 744t> Samplitude SE 9.1.1(dither/resample)> CDWave> flac(16/44.1)

16 bit source
24 bit source

For this evening, all 4 sources are excellent.  The differences between them are subtle, and it was quite difficult to choose one that was clearly the best.

The Neuman source has the best bass response, but, unlike the previous night, it tends to boominess, and the mids are not as well defined as in any of the Schoeps sources. 

The MK41>CMC6 source, like the previous night, just doesn't have enough bass response.  The sub just doesn't get to kicking, and it is probably the worst of the 4 sources.  That said, it is still an excellent sounding source.

The MK41V source gets the nod for best source of the night again.  It is much brighter than the Neuman source, and it has excellent bass response, without being as boomy as the Neumans.  The bass response is ever so slightly better than the MK41 source.  For a listening comparison, listen to the first big bass note at the beginning of Free.  Mike is just more defined, with nice tone.

The MK41 source is excellent, with great highs and mids.  It has just slightly less punch than the MK41V source and also has a bit more crowd noise.  However, crowd noise is evident on all of the sources.  The crowd was clearly pumped up, you can even hear them counting off the beginning of PYITE with Trey. 

Happy Listening!