Trey Anastasio Band 2-25-11 Stage AE, Pittsburgh, PA

Trey tour starts its westward push with a Friday night show in Pittsburgh.  For the first time all tour, the acoustic set has been complemented with several full electric pieces to end the first set.  Once again, we have several sources to choose from.  My hearty thanks go out to all the tapers who not only record the shows, but share them with the community at large so quickly.

Source 1 (hereafter MK22 source)
Source: Schoeps MK22 (DIN) > KCY > VMS5U > Oade Ambient Mod R4 Pro
Location: FOB
Transfer: R4 Pro Harddrive > Audition 1.0 > CDWav > WAV > FLAC

16 bit source
24 bit source

Source 2 (hereafter MBHO Hypers source)
Source: MBHO KA500HN[DINa] >>> Hi Ho Silver Actives >>> Naiant LittleBox[Output Transformer] >>> Darktrain Silver Interconnects >>> Sound Devices 722[24-Bit/96kHz]
Location: DFC/FOB
Transfer: CF Card > WaveLab 6[Gain Added/96kHz>44.1kHz/Apogee UV22HR Dither] > CD Wave 1.98 > CKRename > Traders Little Helper[Encode To FLAC/Level 6/Align On Sector Boundaries]

16 bit source
24 bit source

Source 3 (hereafter ADK source)
Source: ADK A-51TLs (hypercardioids DINa) > Gepco multi-pair XLRs > Edirol UA-5 (Oade Warm Mod) > iRiver H120 (@16bit/44.1kHz)
Location: FOB @FOH, ~10' ROC, ~10'high
Transfer: iRiver H120 > USB 2.0 > Cakewalk Sonar 4.0 > CD Wave Editor (exported as FLAC)

16 bit source

Source 4 (hereafter MBHO 603a source)
Source: MBHO603a/KA200N > Fostex FR2-LE

16 bit source

First off, all four of these sources are excellent.  The differences between them are minute and really it came down to a matter of levels, and for the first time, had more to do with subtle differences in the acoustic portions than in the electric set.

The MK22 source comes out the best, but only by a smidge.  The levels during the acoustic portion are quite nice, and you can really hear some subtleties on the acoustic, the ring of the strings, that is missing on the two MBHO sources.  The high-end isn't as nice on the MK22 source as on the MBHO sources, however, the richness of the source edges out this difference.  Crowd noise is evident throughout the acoustic set, but no more so than in the other sources.

The MBHO KA500 source has very nice high-end on the acoustic portions, but misses some of the small things you hear on the MK22 source.  The bass is quite nice during the full electric portions, though it could certainly be a bit more in front to my taste.  All of the sources suffer from a general lack of bass during the acoustic full band sections, and I presume this is just a matter of the mix, rather than the mics.

The ADK source has a nice presence on the acoustic, but there is a hollowness to the sound in the mids on the electric portions.  There is also a slight ringing at the very highest frequencies, it sounds like a PA on the verge of feeding back, but not quite there.  I don't know what causes that on a mic recording, but its there.

The MBHO 603a source has low levels during the acoustic portion, which causes the acoustic to sound more distant than in other MBHO or MK22 source.  However, during the electric portion, the levels are excellent.  The bass is rich and full and well balanced with the entire band.

Like I said in the introduction, the electric portions of the 2 MBHO sources and the MK22 source are frankly, very, very similar.  However, the acoustic portion of the MK22 source is just ever so slightly better, and that is the recording I have chosen for my personal collection.

Happy Listening!