The True Enemy of The Taper

[BonoBeats]

I submit this guy for the "non-classical" category.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXvibz1l131/

[tim in jersey]

Funny you should mention The Bad Plus. I have 2 recordings I made in Princeton, NJ with one of the best behaved audiences ever.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9ppo8yk9la7kipa/AACTlt4QIoD8XKFEE9tyap8Za?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/uj9zkm2ydlblmx2/AABrso_20vlXetlDf9kO-abqa?dl=0

[...]
Interested in critiques, comments, etc.

Thanks Tim!
Just pulled up 2013-12-13 and it's sounding very nice here.

Love the audience chuckles during Reid's banter, their enthusiasm between numbers and their occasional brief emphatic reactions in the sweetest parts of the performance, while otherwise staying out of the way of the performance- all the stuff that totally hinges on having a good audience around you, and the stuff that really makes a true audience-perspective recording something special in my way of thinking.  I suppose beyond it's translation through the recording, it is a critical element of what makes the live experience itself so magical.  That, in combination with the good balance between direct-clarity and reverberant room sound from your well-chosen location has me feeling transported to your seat in McCarter Theater, on that evening in mid December, with my attention drawn more strongly to the performance and all the details of the environment than to any specific technical details of the recording - which is the true formula for a recording win as far as I'm concerned.  Congratulations.  Looking forward to giving these a full listen with a friend over weekend.

You breathing in the quietest bits at the start or the guy to your right?  Not a complaint and not overly objectionable, I cease to notice it at all after the first couple..

Thanks for taking the time to listen and comment.

The breathing is me. At the time I had a deviated septum and didn't realize it. I have since had a septoplasty to correct it.

Besides breathing a bajillion times better, I also had the added benefits of food tasting better and a slight but noticeable improvement in my hearing after the inflammation went down. I guess with the ol' sniffer working the way it is supposed to (eustacian tubes draining properly, etc.) that might could be the reason why.

[Gutbucket]

I've made plenty of recordings myself where a biathlon-like skill of hustling in, getting situated and rolling, then quickly switching to fully quieting oneself (rapidly slowing breath and all movement) just as the performance begins becomes an important but little discussed stealth taper skill.

Depending on the situation, when in, set, and seated early, sometimes I'll go into semi-obvious-meditation mode, which besides being a good centering quiet-prep and an interesting performance hall listening experience in itself, serves to keep folks who stroll in late and sit adjacent from striking up a conversation that inevitably rolls over the starting announcements and musician tuning, and also seems to encourage a more serious listening mindset in them much of the time. "Hmmm this guy sitting next to me seems to be rather seriously preparing to listen to this program".  Yet another Jedi-stealth influence angle.   

[tim in jersey]

I've made plenty of recordings myself where a biathlon-like skill of hustling in, getting situated and rolling, then quickly switching to fully quieting oneself (rapidly slowing breath and all movement) just as the performance begins becomes an important but little discussed stealth taper skill.

Depending on the situation, when in, set, and seated early, sometimes I'll go into semi-obvious-meditation mode, which besides being a good centering quiet-prep and an interesting performance hall listening experience in itself, serves to keep folks who stroll in late and sit adjacent from striking up a conversation that inevitably rolls over the starting announcements and musician tuning, and also seems to encourage a more serious listening mindset in them much of the time. "Hmmm this guy sitting next to me seems to be rather seriously preparing to listen to this program".  Yet another Jedi-stealth influence angle.   

If you mean taking a quick snooze after fighting traffic in a mad rush to get back home on both the PA and NJ Turnpike, after a shitty 2+ hour commute and scrambling to get parking, in the venue before tunes start, and set up in time then yeah, I relate.

Fortunately, I've learned to deploy both my 2 channel rig and my open rig in reserved seating shows in about a minute. But the taper anxiety is still real when trying to to juggle work/play schedules for shows during the work week, especially when non-tapers want to try to ride along with me.

I can usually get my 4 chan. rig hooked up in to SBD (plus my Henry PatchBox for other tapers that just want the SBD) and AUD mics in about 5 minutes or less @ venues where I know the FOH/promoters etc. Most gigs I do anymore the FOH already has XLR tails ready for me. 20+ years of taping and building relationships w/ venues pays off...

[heathen]

The lacrosse stick bag I use to carry my Manfrotto 1004 stand is about 4 inches too short to fit my old 870 Wingmaster.

[guitard]

I think the worst is people who have a shutter noise sound effect on their camera phone. PLEASE flip the switch to sound off.

Side note:  You can't shut off the shutter for smart phones sold in Korea (where I've lived for many years).  Among other reasons, it's too make it harder for pervs to do up-skirt pics on the subway.

https://eoto.tech/camera-shutter-sound/

in Korea, the government itself set a recommendation in 2004 to have phones always make a sound louder than 65 decibels when a photo is taken. This was also done to curb spy shots and boost privacy.

Fortunately for me, yesterday I swapped out the iPhone 7 Plus that I bought in Korea five years ago with an iPhone 12 Pro Max -- so now there's no more shutter sound.

[jerryfreak]

i think the true enemy of the taper is too many options

always some sexy new product you simply have to have despite your old stuff being perfectly adequate