I haven't been on here in years and have been in hiding on Tatooine. But I felt a disturbance in the force...
Everything you just said is WRONG.
(1) Your knowledge of stage recording is wrong and (2) your ears can't tell the difference. So now here I am. I have played music for over 30 years including live shows on stages, have set up multitrack recording for a couple of live shows in a live setting, can play music by ear, and have been listening to TSRTS since 1986 (all before you were born). That likely makes me more qualified than you on both topics.
Let's start with your interpretation of what a soundboard recording is. It's a two track recording, either mono or stereo, left and right channels from the front of house board (what the audience hears) or from a stage monitor board (what the band hears on stage; today they use in-ear monitors). It is NOT the same as a multitrack recording which was used to make TSRTS. To record TSRTS, they had to hire a mobile recording truck (maybe that is what confused you? You thought it was just a truck in Mobile?!😀) with a balance engineer, tape operator and maybe a supervisor. Eddie Kramer was hired to man the mobile (NOT in Mobile - following me so far?) truck parked in New York at MSG for the three shows in July. They ADDED overhead condenser microphones above the drum kit. The only time you will EVER see that is when the show is being recorded to multitrack for a live album, concert film or maybe radio/TV broadcast. So take a look at the TSRTS film or photos of the New York shows. She the two overhead mics IN ADDITION to the standard overhead mics (similar to what Plant holds) that are ALWAYS over the drums? There are 4 microphones. Two for recording, two for the F.O.H. SOUNDBOARD. There are also extra mics all over the kit, and on extra in front of the bass drum. Same thing in the Los Angeles and Long Beach 1972 shows or Tokyo and Osaka 1971 shows which were all recorded to multitrack. None of those extra microphones were there in Mobile. So visually I just debunked your theory of it being recorded to multitrack. But you think you're smart, and very stubborn, and you still "know what you hear."
Moving on. An unbalanced, unmixed two track soundboard tape cannot be truly blended with a multitrack tape. If that was possible, we would have gotten Ten Years Gone from Knebworth on the 2003 DVD. Jimmy wanted to use it so badly. But the guitar was not recorded to multitrack. Only present on the board tape (in the video you probably have as well which is not the multitrack audio). Jimmy had the multitracks. This would be far EASIER than simply blending the Mobile board tape (as you claim they did) with TSRTS audio because Mobile would stand out like a sore thumb, But no - he PASSED on using the soundboard tape of Ten Years Gone because the audio would not match the rest of the performance.
With a multitrack you can mix all of the mic'd tracks as you like. Guitar up high, bring the bass drum down a bit, tweak the ride cymbal, put JPJ bass in the left channel, etc. You can't do any of that with a soundboard tape. It's all mixed down on the fly during the show. They are mixing live as the show goes based on what they are hearing at the mixing desk in the audience. The only reason there is a tape is if a tape deck or reel was plugged in to record from it. There are usually no audience microphones either for a board tape.
As far as the audio comparison goes. Let me tell you a story.
Around 1990 (before you were born), I first saw a chunk of the Royal Albert Hall 1970 film. It was dark, grainy, edited and amazing to finally see. We're Gonna Groove and I Can't Quit You Baby were the first two songs on this video and are the first two songs they played that night as you know. Backtrack to Coda. There is a studio version of We're Gonna Groove (from June 25, 1969) and a SOUND REHEARSAL version of I Can't Quit You Baby (from January 9, 1970) that is edited (though it doesn't say edited on Coda) from that same night at the Albert Hall. The moment I heard We're Gonna Groove I instantly recognized Plant's vocal. It sounded exactly the same. I played Coda and the video side by side at the same time and it WAS a 100% match. Hmm... Apparently there was some fancy editing done to make a "faked" studio recording for Coda. Jimmy used a "sub octivider" on it. That didn't exist in 1969. So now I speculated that We're Gonna Groove was actually live and from the Albert Hall show. But I Can't Quit You Baby was 100% from the show. They chopped off the intro, and cut to the final chorus after the solo because Robert says "Jimmy Page guitar" and the crowd applauds. That certainly would blow their story of it being from a rehearsal. Well the video and audio of ICQYB lined up perfectly of course and I spread the word to fans I knew who were unaware. There was one guy who refused to believe me. He insisted that the version on Coda was a rehearsal and that the band simply did it IDENTICALLY that night! To this day it's one of the most unbelievably naive comments I've heard in Zep circles. Sure enough when the 10 CD box came out and people knew the truth, the credits on Coda changed to both songs being recorded live at the Albert Hall concert. Now here you are trying to usurp that guy as #1. Are you sure you want to do that? All your credibility will be gone (well it's already gone among the big collectors). Just do us a favor. Play the Mobile version AT THE SAME TIME as TSRTS version you are saying is the same. The answer will become obvious. But don't forget which TSRTS versions are edited from other nights in New York per Eddie Edwards. The Celebration Day solo is NOT the same on the original TSRTS and the 2007 expanded version as you claim (and is 100% not the solo from Mobile!) Just play the two TSRTS soundtracks at the same time (and then Mobile compared to either of them) to clearly hear that!
Here's a tip: "When you find yourself in a hole. Stop digging." - Will Rogers
Same old VibesAreReal. Wants to be a big boy Jedi but is not ready...
