Bayou Club
Source: WHFS FM Broadcast
Lineage:
FM -> cassette (2nd generation?) -> Sonic Solutions -> CDR Master -> EAC -> mkw audio compression toolkit -> SHN
Transfered by: tom
01. Friends of Mine
02. Girls On Film
03. Anyone Out There?
04. Late Bar
05. Fame
06. (Waiting For The) Nightboat
07. Planet Earth
08. My Own Way
09. Sound of Thunder
10. Careless Memories
11. Interview (with Nick, Simon & Andy)
Notes:
The fidelity of the show is as it was broadcast (actually a little better), although the mix is not that good. Let me explain. The signal that was broadcast was taken either from the mixing desk, straight into the transmitter, or the monitor feed that the band hears on stage was used. I couldn't tell which feed, but it was definitely mono which leads me to believe that it was the pre-amplifyed house feed that was used since most clubs had mono mixing desks back in 1981. I say the feed is mono, because it was fed through some sort of pseudo-Stereo equipment. All the highs and midrange are in the right channel, while all the lows and more midrange are in the left channel. Taken together, they approximate a stereo "feel". I tried a couple of different ways of mixing both channels, but they only sum to mono, and the sound ends up being rather muddy. I'm not certain if the radio station, WHFS, was even broadcasting in stereo back in 1981.
Anyway, getting back to the actual mix of the show. I think that whomever was running the board was (i) inexperienced, or more likely (ii) rather drunk. Simon's vocals are not very loud in places, while Andy Taylor's are quite evident (as you will notice). I did do some level matching, as each song was either louder or quieter than the one preceding it. The entire show was re-EQed to bring out the parts that were hard to hear, but without spending a LOT of money, this is the best result. I think this is a pretty historic show, since the only other shows from 1981 that were recorded (or broadcast) were incomplete
shows. Granted the 1981 Hammersmith BBC recording is a complete show, it was performed with the intention of future broadcast, and not many chances were taken on stage.
The last track is an on-air interview done with Simon, Andy and Nick prior the show.
Wiki: WHFS began broadcasting on November 11, 1961, on 102.3 FM in Bethesda, Maryland. It was the first station in the Washington, DC, area to broadcast in FM stereo, thus its call sign stood for Washington High Fidelity Stereo.
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