11.19.97 Assembly Hall, Champaign, IL

If Hampton Coliseum is the mothership, then Assembly Hall is a UFO in its own right...





Phish.net show page

Set 1: Julius, Bathtub Gin -> Llama, Dirt, Limb By Limb, Funky Bitch, Theme From the Bottom, Ginseng Sullivan, Fee[1] -> Run Like an Antelope

Set 2: Also Sprach Zarathustra > Wolfman's Brother[2] -> Makisupa Policeman > Taste

Encore: Possum

[1] The segue from Fee into Antelope included Meatstick quotes.
[2] Crosseyed and Painless teases.

Notes: The segue from Fee into Antelope included Meatstick quotes. Wolfman’s Brother contained teases of Crosseyed and Painless.

FLAC pt 1 - 543 MB
FLAC pt 2 - 495 MB

mp3 - 297 MB

AAC - 182 MB

Coming from arguably the hottest week in Phishtory, I won't bother saying much about this show. It has been a highly requested remaster, so here it is.

I would like to mention a few things about the source and other technical what have you. For my remaster, I decided to use the Audio Technica 815 source that was recently added to the etree database (May 26, 2009). For a long time the Nuemann u87 source was considered the reference (or at least most common) source for the show, and it is that version which is used on The Spreadsheet and Phishows.com. My rationale for this decision was that I felt the Nuemann source sounded a bit distant and echo-y, and there was a fair amount of distracting chatter near the taper.

The at815 source sounds like it was taped in an entirely different location, but since the source info does not indicate FOB vs. OTS I would assume it's an OTS and the unique sound quality has to do with the fact that these mics are the "shotgun" style. This is a highly directional type of mic, which focuses on a narrow sound field to which it is pointing and avoids most of the noise coming from all other directions. This might give the recording a less ambient, AUD-like sound (which I usually like), but the music comes through so loud and clear in this puppy that I just had to use this source.

Aside from some EQ adjustments, the only glaring issue was that in the original source the music was biased pretty far to the left channel (even after the taper made post-production channel adjustments for that same reason), while the crowd noise and overall acoustic ambiance of the room was more naturally centered. I felt it would be a better listen if the music was brought closer to center. The downside to this is that the crowd noise/ambiance is now far to the right channel. Some listeners may be a bit put off by this, which I admit is weird at the times where there is a break in the music...but once they start playing I like the sound better since the music itself if pretty much dead center, if a tad mono-sounding. Different strokes, for sure. This may be a polarizing remaster but I hope y'all dig it.

WARNING - there are some points in the recording where distortion/clipping is pretty bad - examples: end of the Antelope jam, and the latter part of the Theme jam to a lesser degree. I tried running these sections through the de-crackler feature in my software (which has helped on occasion) but it didn't help here. In fact, I almost decided to abandon the remaster for this reason. However, after analyzing those same passages on the Nuemann source, it also has the same distortion. It's not quite as noticeable in that source, but it is still there. I'm wondering if the PA system was overloaded, or the tapers' levels...not sure. At any rate, if you can get past a couple rough moments in the recording, you will be rewarded otherwise. The funkier, more sparse segments sound so clean and with such little crowd chatter than at times it almost sounds closer to a SBD than an AUD.

Enjoy.
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