Pink Floyd: Chicago 1972 (Ex Aud Remaster) Pre-Studio DSOTM!

Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL
1972-04-28
A 'Hogweeds' remaster
Many thanks to Doinker for uploading this marvellous 'Dark Side' performance. It is a huge sonic improvement on the original Harvested release (RevA includes the entire concert).
In listening I thought there were a few things in the recording I wanted to adjust for myself, including:
i) A stereo image consistently off to the left, which I found distracting, especially on headphones.
It probably reflects the positioning of the taper within the hall. I reckon he was seated to the left side, close to the stage. Thus he would naturally have swivelled slightly right to face the stage. When he did, he'd have the audience around him and in front, but more weighted to the right. He'd also have the closest main speaker stacks above his left side, and the Floyd's surround-sound stacks behind and to the right. I think he aimed his stereo mic towards the visual focus, the stage, and thus captured the left-dominant stereo field we hear on this recording.
Changing this is an aesthetic matter. The taper's positioning was not ideal, and no adjustment will make it so. However by simply shifting the phase alignment of the channels, I have duplicated what this recording would have sounded like if the taper had pointed his mic at the acoustic focus, the primary speaker stacks, and captured the music stereo centre. It does shift the audience a bit off to the right, and some of the multi-channel speakers too, but for me, this actually brings out the 'surround' feel of the tape effects a little better. You can certainly discern the tape effects from what comes from the musicians play on stage (eg: Speak to Me)
Note also at the end of 'Money', when (I'm guessing) it sounds as though the front PA dies, leaving audio coming from the stage itself and the surround stacks.
ii) Balancing the equalisation to lift the lower frequencies, adding 'body' to the sound and a bit more punch in the bass.
iii) Repairing numerous small dropouts, and some larger glitches. No critique of Doinker, who may have corrected even worse problems (and said 'hopefully all done'), but there were quite a few in 'Breathe' and from 'Brain Damage' on, including some bad clunks in 'Eclipse'.
Superb DSOTM from Low-Gen Reel to Reel 16 bit
This is perhaps the nicest early performance this guy has ever had the pleasure to hear. As I think this tops both the Hollywood Bowl and Rainbow concerts from the same year, why do I say that? This show is so good it makes you float. The boys are relaxed and into it - I mean *really* into it, and it shows from beginning to end. The recording is also almost as good as it gets for an audience tape.

Dark Side Of The Moon (47:37)
Speak To Me
Breathe
On The Run
Time
The Great Gig In The Sky
Money
Us And Them
Any Colour You Like
Brain Damage
Eclipse

Lineage: BASF reel ->Sound Forge ->(-)16.7 cents speed correction ->gap repairs (hopefully all done) ->track splitup ->Flac via Flac Frontend, level 6, sectors aligned and verified

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Comments welcome.