mrledhed Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 It's commonly known that almost every show after 1971 was recorded by the band for personal use. I would guess that only Jimmy had the masters and dubbed copies for the others to listen to. Unfortunely, the band doesn't want to release these, even though their best performances would be found on these types of recordings. Do you think they transferred them for preservation? It's a shame if Jimmy let these rot without properly transferring them to high resolution digital. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magerogue Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 If it is how you say, then alot of them are burnt by now. But don't worry, I'm pretty sure that the owner wouldn't let such thing happen to that, especially if it can be used commercially later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chef free Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 A lot of the reel to reel tape made in the 70's fail when the oxide coating (which holds the musical information) comes off the Mylar tape. The Grateful Dead developed a process to fix this problem, it involves baking the tapes at a low temp for a long time. I would guess Jimmy knows about this; he is a very meticulous and well-informed preserver of all things Zep! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walter's walker Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 Right, Chef Free! I'm sure Jimmy, and every other professional musician who ever put a set down on reel-to-reel knows the "baked tape" method by now. I wouldn't worry too much about the post '71 soundboard tapes dying. I'm sure Jimmy's already had them transferred to a digital media for posterity's sake. Ya dig? In 50 years, I expect we'll see Musicologistss pouring over all this material, just like they do the existing tapes and recordings of Bix Beiderbecke, Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong, three other 20th Century Artists and Composers who I feel sure (along with Zappa, Lennon and McCartney) will be studied in the future history of music as the Old Masters of the 20th Century. It's just a question of how far back the Music Companies can push the Public Domain laws-- at some point, all copyrights will expire, and all of this material will be available for free or substantially reduced prices (like the 75-CD Duke Ellington Box Set I saw recently for under $100). Led Zeppelin 1 is 40 years old and made in 1969... Robert Johnson's 78's weren't *that* old when Eric Clapton started covering them. A 40 year old record in 1969 was something like "Potato Head Blues" or Jolson's Mammy songs... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strider Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 A lot of the reel to reel tape made in the 70's fail when the oxide coating (which holds the musical information) comes off the Mylar tape. The Grateful Dead developed a process to fix this problem, it involves baking the tapes at a low temp for a long time. I would guess Jimmy knows about this; he is a very meticulous and well-informed preserver of all things Zep! Considering that they baked the tapes used for the 2003 DVD set, I'd say it's fair to assume Jimmy knows all about baking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrledhed Posted January 21, 2012 Author Share Posted January 21, 2012 (edited) The problem is that the masters were stolen from Jimmy in the 1980s for many shows. Whoever is holding those might not have taken such good care of them. Although I've wondered if JP made 1st gen copies of all those tapes before they were stolen. Edited January 21, 2012 by mrledhed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bamf4k Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 God I hope so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northstar Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 It would be so great if the powers that be (Page) would set up a "collector company" similar to what Janie Hendrix has done with Dagger records to supply collector's/fans with many of Jimi Hendrix's recordings that would have never become a legitimate release. Especially before any of the tapes do start to disintegrate, there is most definitely a market for something like this. Northstar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melcórë Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 It would be so great if the powers that be (Page) would set up a "collector company" similar to what Janie Hendrix has done with Dagger records to supply collector's/fans with many of Jimi Hendrix's recordings that would have never become a legitimate release. Especially before any of the tapes do start to disintegrate, there is most definitely a market for something like this. Northstar. This has been an oft repeated wish among the fan community. I'm losing hope we'll see such an endeavour before the lads are gone. (Perhaps a better model - at least in terms of how the audio is preserved and presented - would maybe be The Doors' Bright Midnight Archive series.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookieshoes Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 The soundboard tapes should be just fine, since most of them were likely done on cassette. Despite what gets printed so much on the net, cassette tapes do not deteriorate as dramatically as some brands of reel to reel tape do. In fact, there are many who believe that cassette tape baking is completely unnecessary, as it runs the risk of doing way more damage than good, and cassettes very rarely if ever shed. Again, reel tapes are different. Listening to the 75 soundboards, one can hear some surprisingly good recording quality for tapes so old. And, obviously, none of these tapes were left in a box in someone's car, or in someone's garage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glyn Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 (edited) 73 boards were recorded reel-reel (w/a terrible azimuth problem) and wow-flutter 75-reel-reel (flawless) 77-cassette 80-either put through DBX then played back without (pulsy muted shitful sound.some of the more recent ones are better) - source: royal-orleans Regarding the soundboards recorded on cassette, the 1977 boards were recorded on a Nakamichi cassette deck, one of the best cassette decks available at the time. As far as what the condition of the tapes now, they can be salvaged with minimal oxide loss as long as they are taken care of before playback. I agree that they were probably transferred in 2003. Edited November 13, 2012 by publicenemy3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallas Knebs Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 after considering your question for several days I decided to seek out some expertise from a local guru from the reel to reel era. For anyone familiar with Showco or Crown Audio in Dallas you know who I am talking about. He said they often transfer r2r analog to digital source on a regular basis with zero issues. The only time they run into a triage case is when the curator of the original source has been stupid & careless with archiving. It would be difficult for studio guys like JPJ and Page to depart from convention and treat their sources/gen1s/dub1s with anything but care. Out of curiosity I took my soundboard from The Firm OKC '86 with me and he stated that it is in "as new" condition with no indication of degradation. Based of what I heard today, if the tapes were archived correctly there should not be an impediement to transferring them to digital. If the source is a celluloid however- its a crapshoot at best and likely triage or failure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glyn Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 (edited) Certain tape formulations made by Ampex (and others) have a back coating that turns to goo with age. If they are stored in damp conditions, say England for example, and they are not in a temp/humidity controlled room, there is a good chance that they will develop sticky shed syndrome. The oxide on certain types of consumer grade tape starts to flake off purely because of age. I am confident that Page used the best available tape, but there are bound to be a few of them that have issues of one kind or another. Kevin Shirley said that they had to bake the tapes, however I don't know if this was just precautionary, and the Eagles Hotel California had to be baked as well due to sss. Edited November 15, 2012 by publicenemy3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLastSpartan Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 after considering your question for several days I decided to seek out some expertise from a local guru from the reel to reel era. For anyone familiar with Showco or Crown Audio in Dallas you know who I am talking about. He said they often transfer r2r analog to digital source on a regular basis with zero issues. The only time they run into a triage case is when the curator of the original source has been stupid & careless with archiving. It would be difficult for studio guys like JPJ and Page to depart from convention and treat their sources/gen1s/dub1s with anything but care. Out of curiosity I took my soundboard from The Firm OKC '86 with me and he stated that it is in "as new" condition with no indication of degradation. Based of what I heard today, if the tapes were archived correctly there should not be an impediement to transferring them to digital. If the source is a celluloid however- its a crapshoot at best and likely triage or failure. On a separate note, I'd like to hear that Firm OKC Show, as being from Oklahoma anything that comes from Oklahoma related to the bands I like interests me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallas Knebs Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 On a separate note, I'd like to hear that Firm OKC Show, as being from Oklahoma anything that comes from Oklahoma related to the bands I like interests me... PM me your info... were you at the Myriad that night when the power went out? Huge storm blew the power a few times. Near the end of the show Paul Rogers ad libbed "boom..boom.. out go the lights" crowd loved it and sang along. Also... on the sss, Page had and has stuff scattered in various residences and facilities not just in England. And I am not so sure Page used the best tape, he didn't even use the best guitar cables or mic cables. Also, Kevin Shirley is a cave man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magerogue Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 Why did they even make soundboard tapes anyway? It's kind of a waste of tape... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glyn Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 I assume Page just wanted to archive Zeppelin's shows, he didn't record them with any intent to release them one day. I was a professional musician I would probably want the opportunity to go back and listen to the show we played yesterday, or two months ago, or whatever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock Action Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 (edited) Why did they even make soundboard tapes anyway? It's kind of a waste of tape... Tell that to all us collectors who get to relive the music over and over again in top quality. Edited November 16, 2012 by Rock Action Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallas Knebs Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 at least half of the reason to tape a show is to check up on the sound booth and make sure they are not butchering the sound or inserting themselves into the show as a soundboard musician. Set it and leave the thing alone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magerogue Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 Tell that to all us collectors who get to relive the music over and over again in top quality. Yes I know that, that's not what I meant! I love it that we have so many of them disposed to us and we get to listen to Zeppelin with a better quality than audience bootlegs, but i just wanted to know,because if they wanted to record a show well with multi tracking, they would have done it well with a good quality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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