King Biscuit Flower Hour original airdate Aug 31, 1980
Live from The Capitol Theatre, Passaic, New Jersey
Sourced from original broadcast vinyl, second edition of program
Recording date unknown
Lineage: ZZ Top live onstage > soundboard > multitrack recording > DIR broadcasting mixdown engineers > DIR broadcasting mastering engineers > records delivered to radio stations > the mysterious vinyl liberation front > me
Vinyl cleaned with Nagaoka roller record cleaner. Played back on Technics SL-1200 turntable with Stanton 681EEE cartridge through an Akai preamp into a SoundBlaster Live! 16 bit soundcard that has been grounded.
Wavelab 4.0 used for Digital ReMastering. Although I did use some compression techniques and De-Crackling plug-ins, in no way do they detract from the raw dynamism of the performance on stage.
Recording levels boosted and balanced, initial De-Clicker to remove most pops, stereo expansion 33%, multiband compression to re-enforce lows and air-out the highs, dynamics processing for smoothing, another De-Crackler to take out most ticks and picks, final mix compression and limiting.
Trader's Little Helper turned the wav files to FLAC level 8 files.
Notes from original uploader: I originally first recorded this show in the early eighties from radio in Vancouver, B.C. This was still before all the videos and fur covered spinning guitars with television sets built into them, and even before their trademark beards were quite so bushy.
It made me a fan for life. Imagine my surprise a few years later to acquire the actual records the radio had played! What an upgrade! Wow. Working in a collector's record store had it's priviledges!
Through the years, I've taped these slabs o' vinyl for many many people. About a year ago I finally got around to transferring them to my computer to put them on CD. I wasn't happy with how flat and dull they sounded.
I spent several months (off and on again) doing listening tests and messing around with several mastering techniques. I tried EQ, several different filter-y thingies, harsh radio compression, etc... Lots of crazy tricks...
I finally settled on the settings I described earlier. I tend to go for 'less is more' and subtlety of processing is the key to success. I've heard some 'ReMasters' that really sound ReMastered! That is, you can hear how processed the sound has become.
The main criteria of my listening tests was that if I could 'hear the ReMaster' job, it was processed too much, and should be scrapped. I found settings that improved it but still let it sound analog.
This version is an improvement over my raw vinyl transfer, by far. The original's really OK, but had some surface noise due to repeated heavy-handed radio play. It also sounded thin, and the transfer was done at a slightly lower volume.
My ReMaster bumps the levels up to slightly less than average levels of today's CD releases. They sure do master modern discs too loud these days! I also killed probably 90% of the vinyl groove imperfection sounds, but left a reminder that the source was a record. Not over-processed...
I recently found out there is a bootleg of this 'out there', but I don't think it is from a pre-FM source like this is.
I included everything relevant on the records : commercials, test tone and all! I re-ordered the promo spots, and cut the silence bands between commercials and program, but everything else is there. Honest.
Tracklist:
01 ZZ TOP KBFH show promo announcer.flac
02 ZZ TOP KBFH show promo blank.flac
03 KBFH ZZ TOP test tone.flac
04 ZZ TOP KBFH show beginning.flac
05 honda commercial.flac
06 I Thank You.flac
07 Waitin' For The Bus.flac
08 Jesus Just Left Chicago.flac
09 I'm Bad I'm Nationwide.flac
10 Low Down In The Street.flac
11 A Fool For Your Stockings.flac
12 Cheap Sunglasses.flac
13 Arrested For Driving While Blind.flac
14 budweiser commercial.flac
15 She Loves My Automobile.flac
16 Hi Fi Mama.flac
17 Dust My Broom.flac
18 Jailhouse Rock.flac
19 Tush.flac
20 honda commercial 2.flac
21 ZZ TOP KBFH show wrapup.flac
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