Tag: audio

The Loudness War in Modern Audio Mastering

A note by Thinman:

And if you are interested where recent CDs from our beloved composer’s work suffer from [the Loudness War], just listen to Buffalo or Trance-Fusion. I suffer physically when listening to productions of that kind.

See the rest of his entry for details and illustrations – and what Joe Travers had answered:

Well critics, here’s the deal. In the case of “Trance-Fusion”- we sent the album master to Bob Ludwig to do final tweeks, but the level on that title was already maxed out by Spence Chrislu. FZ was alive & authorized a final CD ref (I listened to it with him during his last days). So, in other words, FZ knew about it.
In the case of “Buffalo”, Frank Filipetti sent us a finished mix already mastered that way. That is how he works & so there was no additional mastering after the fact. If you don’t like how that sounds, blame it on him.

Jimmy’s Last Tour — Jimmy Carl Black & The Muffin Men

After stumbling across this 1993 promo video of Frank Zappa’s “Willie the Pimp” featuring Jimmy Carl Black and The Muffin Men (live with studio footage), I found the following Podcast on The Muffin Men homepage. The band reminisces about Jimmy’s last tour (gigs he had to cancel due to increasing ill health), his friends attempts to help (including old friend Arthur Brown), and the benefit gigs. The podcast also includes an extended live version of Jimmy Carl Black‘s “Great White Buffalo”.

Click here to listen to horn and guitar solos from “Great White Buffalo” recorded in Aschaffenburg entitled, “Aschbuff”.

The Avalon All-Stars


The Avalon All-Stars is a loose-knit house band of the Avalon Ballroom located in San Francisco, CA, and featuring – depending on the night and availability – former members of the Jerry Garcia Band, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, and others. In the first of the two clips from their December 28th, 2003, performance the set opens with some improvisational scratching around that bloomed into a Johnny “Guitar” Watson number, “You Can Stay But the Noise Must Go.” The second clip is a cover of The Jerry Garcia Band’s “Get Out My Life Woman”.

Continue reading “The Avalon All-Stars”

Hawksley Workman — Live in France & Elsewhere



Hawksley Workman (born Ryan Corrigan on March 4, 1975) is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter who has garnered critical acclaim for his quirky yet accessible blend of cabaret pop and glam rock. Workman has released ten full length albums throughout his career. A multi-instrumentalist, he plays guitar, drums, bass, keyboards and sings on his records and often switches between those instruments when playing live.

A prolific artist, usually writing, recording, mastering and releasing entire albums in the span of only a few weeks. He explains:

“A lot of artists I know they get a year and a half away from a record they’ve just made it’s like… ‘Oh… it’s terrible I hate that thing,’ ya know? When I record [a] record, I never take more than a day per song… so by the time the record is mixed, finished, complete, done… I’m still in a honeymoon with the record…”

In the first clip, Workman performs “Smoke Baby” live in Lille, France, 2003. It appears on the album Lover/Fighter (Universal Music Canada, 2003). Warning/Guarantee: some tasteful partial male nudity (something Dr. Sharl would appreciate, I’m sure).

The second clip is a video of “The City Is A Drag” shot in a Hamburg, Germany, parking lot on May 7, 2008, during the European Los Manlicious Tour. Directed by Sean Michael Turrell. It appears on the album Los Manlicious (Universal Music Canada, 2008.) There is something very appealing about this bare-bones approach to music video making: one need not be glamorous or flashy to be good.

The third clip has Hawksley Workman on the Canadian CBC program, The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos, discussing his album, Between The Beautifuls (Universal Music Canada, 2008).

Click on the following to listen to other Hawksley Workman audio interviews:

We’d Like You To Meet Hawksley

Hawksley At Lowlands, 2003

Hawksley Workman is:

•Ryan Corrigan (“Hawksley Workman”) – vocals, guitar
•Todd Lumley (“Mr. Lonely”) – piano, organ, keyboards
•Derrick Brady – bass guitar
•Jesse Zubot – guitar & violin
•Brad Kilpatrick – drums

The Tubes — Poland Whole/Madam I’m Adam

In this video, The Tubes are captured performing one of their classic songs from their Young and Rich album in December, 2005, in their home base: San Francisco (While the audio quality is just above average, the energy of the band and the song still come through loud and clear). As an additional treat for Tubes fans, the following is an excerpt from their April 21st, 1977 show at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco:

[audio:http://www.killuglyradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/2-11-pimp1.mp3]

Warren Zevon Field Recordings — Internet Archive

On April 7, 2005, the Internet Archive website received permission from Jordan Zevon for live Warren Zevon shows to be hosted at the Live Music Archive, allowing the free exchange of unreleased live Warren Zevon material from their website.

Jordan also wrote at warrenzevon.com:

To any and all at archive.org. Please allow our members to trade thier live recordings on your site….

As long as there is no charge for exchanging these files, we support trading unreleased live material.

Sincerely,
Jordan Zevon

Available on these live concerts are many excellent blues covers, covers of other notable California singer-songwriters songs, jazz standards, unreleased original material, as well as unique versions of other well known Warren Zevon songs from his turbulent career.

from Hammersmith Odeon, London, UK, 25 January 1988, “Sentimental Hygiene”:

[audio:http://www.killuglyradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/08-sentimental-hygiene.mp3]

from The Shadow, Kansas City, MO, 20 November 1990, “Stop Breaking Down” and “One Woman Man”:

[audio:http://www.killuglyradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/03-stop-breaking-down.mp3] [audio:http://www.killuglyradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/05-one-woman-man.mp3]

from Raul’s Roadside Attraction, Portland, ME, 30 November 1988, “Travelin’ Riverside Blues” and “Trouble”:

[audio:http://www.killuglyradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/14-travelin-riverside-blues.mp3] [audio:http://www.killuglyradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/19-trouble.mp3]

from The Warehouse, Rochester, NY, 26 November 1988, “Drop Down Mama”:

[audio:http://www.killuglyradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/01-drop-down-mama.mp3]

from Unknown Venue, Atlanta, Georgia, 15 Jun 1993, “Renegade”:

[audio:http://www.killuglyradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/12-renegade.mp3]

At present, there are 74 live Warren Zevon shows in the archive from which to choose, ranging from radio broadcasts, from which rare bootlegs such as ‘The Offender Meets the Pretender’ (with Jackson Browne) first originated, audience tapes, and soundboard tapes. The Live Music Archive currently has 53,712 concert recordings from 3,113 independent artists, as well as more established artists and musical ensembles with permissive rules about recording their concerts such as the Grateful Dead, The Smashing Pumpkins, and Ween.

Dim Lights Thick Smoke Promotions interviews Mike Keneally

In this two part audio interview, DLTSP chats with Mike Keneally about his early influences, his love of progressive music, learning to play the entire Gentle Giant catalogue, Drop Control, joining Frank Zappa’s band, the realities of being in Frank Zappa’s band, DethKlok, the power of performing live, his current release “Wine and Pickles”, Radio Keneally and more.

Part 1, Part 2.