Topic: Do You LISTEN to Your Tapes?

[zowie]

How many of you actually go back and listen to your tapes after the first time or two when you first record/edit/acquire them?

Some people not only have big collections, but big collections from single artists playing similar sets over and over (of course some don't).

Do you listen to them, or just collect for the sake of collecting, or something else?

[caymanreview]

i sure do alot of listening to my whole collection

[Brian]

i listen to almost every show i tape. especially the ones that get seeded to the net. however most of the concerts i download off of the internet i don't listen to all the way through before i end up archiving them to CD or HD. i figured that there will be a point in my life when i can convert all these shns and flacs faster than i download them all and it will be then that i can start enjoying ALL this music i have aquired
Brian

[Tim]

I don't even own a stereo

okay seriously, yeah I listen as much as I possibly can. for now I still listen mostly to my DAT collection (~600 or so) because it is better organized and easier to just throw on and play than my shn/flac collection.

I've spent the better part of today organizing all of my shn/flac discs, perhaps now I'll be more likely to grab the data discs, burn off audio copies and give them a listen.

what I really need are some big ass harddrives, load em with my shns/flacs's, play from my soundcard digital in to my DAC and out to my stereo...

[jlykos]

No, I don't listen to any of them.  I just like the way the CDs look all piled up in neat columns after I transfer the tapes.  I spent thousands of dollars on my rig to create these nice columns of music that I will never listen to.  Its like a really expensive piece of conceptual art.

[jpschust]

for me, by the time i transfer from dat or look stuff ive been working on in the studio for 2-3 weeks (often times more) i like to just set it aside for a few months and then come back to it.  a lot of times its just a situation of overkill, but i love coming back to stuff i did and reflecting on how it all happened

[Chuck]

I've got a 35 minute commute each way to work, so I burn CD-R's and listen in my car. I rarely listen to DAT's directly. I listen to DAT's only when doing the transfers.

[Brian Skalinder]

Its like a really expensive piece of conceptual art.

  :rotflmao:

As I've upgraded my playback system, I've really enjoyed going back and listening to my recordings using different gear and identifying what I've learned about the different recording gear combos I've used, how my playback system impacts my listening, and of course, just plain enjoying some of the fine music.

I have stacks and stacks of downloaded/traded CDRs, all of which I've listened to at least once, but there are plenty which just plain aren't very special and I likely won't listen to again.  I keep them because I'm a pack-rat.  All of my own recordings are special in at least one way - because I recorded them and attended the concert - even if they're real stinkers!!  And even those I'll throw in on occasion to try to figure out why they were stinkers, what I could have done better, etc.

[heath]

No, I don't listen to any of them.  I just like the way the CDs look all piled up in neat columns after I transfer the tapes.  I spent thousands of dollars on my rig to create these nice columns of music that I will never listen to.  Its like a really expensive piece of conceptual art.

[deep belly laugh}  +T

[Arglebargle]

Someday when I'm an old man maybe I'll have time to actually sit down and really listen to music again, but for now the live experience will have to suffice.

[cpclark]

usually listen to the actual dat when i am transfering, because i dont have a home deck yet, but i do listen to them at least a couple of times on my HD before they get archived and deleted.  i actually try to keep every show on my laptop harddrive instead of the externals i have for at least two months before it hits the external HD and doesnt see much play, but every once in awhile, now the cd-r's get play all the time

[Swanny]

I listen to my stuff everyday... Life would sure suck without music. I don't listen to all of the stuff I trade for, but do usually make a mix CD of good shows (which always gets scatched up.) I'll have to pull out some of my old 98 phish shows just too hear what they are like on my new soundcard it has twice the AD of a P1. Big hard drives are a must...

[nickgregory]

I listen to everything I tape...many, many times over...except for that damn Addison Groove Project first set I taped...that will never get listened to again

[zhianosatch]

I don't even own a stereo

That's the sad truth for me, Tim. My whole collection sits unused.

[MattD]

I don't even own a stereo

That's the sad truth for me, Tim. My whole collection sits unused.

*nudge nudge*

It's growing on you ...  

[zhianosatch]

Yeah, it is. I want that receiver, but the dough is in limbo.
Imagine, Armen having a use for 24 bit recordings...

[sexymexi]

i listen to my tapes whenever i have time.  I should put some good ones on right now, my ulu stage tape is sick, its my current favorite tape i have.

[Ed.]

i usually listen to the shows i tape at least once or twice, granted i tape every single show my friends play and usually only listen to those once while i split them.  Taping them just about every weekend allows for lots of recordings, but when they have a really good set and i bet a nice recording i'll listen to it a lot more.  Most of the other shows i tape i listen to several times but after a month or so they usually go on the shelf cuz i'm bored with them, but i go back to them in time.

As for all the shows i download that i don't actually tape, well, i have to admit, i download more shows than i have time to listen to.  My friends tell me i'm just collecting mana points and that i'm a level 37 dungeon master.  i think thats a good thing.  either way, i think to myself, one day i might not have the opportunity to download shows so i should get them now so i have them in the future.

Plus think how cool it'll be to share these with your kids when they get older.  

ed

[John R]

since i archive a lot of festivals, i listen to the stuff i would have paid to go see.  the early thursday/friday stuff, band contest winners, really don't get much play from me unless theyreally make an impression, ie. railroad earth

jr

[Humbug]

I've only been taping a year and a half and I have about 30 masters. The better ones get listened to on a regular basis when I B&P them for people.

I'm planning a big give-away of CDRs I no longer have any wish to listen to, and my official CDs often end up on ebay, to try and raise more cash for show tickets.

[F.O.Bean]

im not gonna lie, alot of it goes untouched, but i mainly listen to the stuff ive recorded, to see what i can do better next time......but i have everything i have "just in case" i wanna hear that destiny, or that phat bathtub, or that really good band from the jamgrass......(which happens to be sam bush from 02)

[macdaddy]

I immediately listen to every Oade and Rolling Stones source I receive - and I listen to those sources repeadtedly. ditto for the Jerry AUD sources that my buddy Joe turns me pn to...

I try to listen to everything else...

I definitely scour my own recordings BEFORE I release them, looking for errors...

I cant find the time to listen to everyting I d/l, but I have 400+gigs of harddrives scatterred around my home network, so it is all stored, and I will get to it someday, but man, I have no idea if I will ever see some of this stuff again, so I pull as much as I can...

had a hd go on me the other week, and dont remember what was on it (except a bitchin X show from the early 80s that I have no idea of how to find now)...

anyone here know how to build a RAID..? that is definitely my next project...

[macdaddy]

oh yeah - I make it a point to listen to Noah's transfers of Grateful Dead AUDs, as well

[jpschust]

you know, a more interesting question would be "How do you listen to/evaluate your tapes"

[Ed.]

400gigs, wow, i'd hate to back that up to disc, even if it was all dvdr.

[macdaddy]

400gigs, wow, i'd hate to back that up to disc, even if it was all dvdr.

that is why I am looking to figure out how to build a RAID, and then hopefully I can transfer it all over the LAN...
_____

Oh as for the question about how do I listen...

soundcard > DIY cat5 interconnects > modded JoLida 302a tube amplifier (matched quad of eh EL34 and pair of eh 12ax7 and pair of 12AT7) >> monster cable (heaviest gauge) > Klipsch Heresy loudspeakers.

all controlled via learning remote (which learns from an airboard)

foobar2000 is the media player of choice.

[mattb]

400gigs, wow, i'd hate to back that up to disc, even if it was all dvdr.

that is why I am looking to figure out how to build a RAID, and then hopefully I can transfer it all over the LAN...
_____

Oh as for the question about how do I listen...

soundcard > DIY cat5 interconnects > modded JoLida 302a tube amplifier (matched quad of eh EL34 and pair of eh 12ax7 and pair of 12AT7) >> monster cable (heaviest gauge) > Klipsch Heresy loudspeakers.

all controlled via learning remote (which learns from an airboard)

foobar2000 is the media player of choice.

RAIDs are easy. You can go hardware or if you use Win2k server you can do it in the OS. Hardware is better if you can afford it.

So you have to reformat to do this, but basically for redundancy, you want to go RAID 5. That requires a minimum of 3 HDs of equal size and you subtract 1 HD's worth of space which gets used for overhead.

I've done it with SCSI RAID controllers, but there are also ATA and SATA RAID controllers that would be a lot more affordable.

In the BIOS of the raid controller you set up a logical volume, that is three or more (if using RAID level 5) drives. This logical volume is seen by the OS as one physical drive. With the right drivers and utilities from the controller mfgr you can manage it from Windows or Linux.

So you have these three (or more) drives, let's say 80 Gig for example. You get a logical volume at RAID 5 of 160 Gig and any one of the drives could fail and you lose nothing and the system stays up. If running a monitor utility it should let you know your RAID is degraded and what drive died. Then, when you can you swap the drive for a new one and tell the utility to sync up the new one and you're redundant again. Some conrtoller/drive combos allow hot-swapping, but that costs more. PM me if you want more specifics - I've done it a bunch.

[nic]

RAID 1 would be much more practical and cheaper.
only 2 drives in a mirrored config....has the fastest read performance of all RAID options(write is average)

RAID 5(or 3) is kind of overkill just for backups like what he is talking about...not to mention the slowest of all RAID's performance wise

[jpschust]

which is the fastest out of the raid series?  5?  i havent looked at this stuff in so long.  

[nic]

which is the fastest out of the raid series?  5?  i havent looked at this stuff in so long.  

for read or write?
for reading, RAID 1(mirroring)
for writing, RAID 0(striped)

[jpschust]

writing- im thinking about adding a RAID controller to my system to stack some more HD's in there.  im most worried about doing audio work on those

[nic]

the drawback with RAID 0 is if 1 drive goes down, you loose the data on the second drive.
the data is written in "stripes" across both drives simultaneously, faster than writing the same data to 1 drive...the same data is not written on both dives.

RAID 3/5 offers the writing speed of RAID 0 with a "parity" drive in case 1 drive fails - hopefully not the parity drive!

[jpschust]

let me get to my ultimate question- which raid controller card should i go with for doing 24 tracks of audio at once? :-)

[nic]

let me get to my ultimate question- which raid controller card should i go with for doing 24 tracks of audio at once? :-)

have no idea which is best.
I've only used Adaptec cards(varying over the years),
BUT those cards were already lying around the shop...

have had decent performance running NT4's built in software RAID;
Win2000 and XP Pro both have this built in as well

havent used Apples RAID solutions(hardware or software)

[jpschust]

cool, thanks for the help!

[chuckcage]

ProTools hates RAID...  Worth mentioning!

C

[jpschust]

yah i know, though i know it can be configured to deal with it