Wednesday 16 September 2020

Depeche Mode - Les Bains Douches, Paris-France - 29.09.1981 + ICA, London, UK - 26.08.1981 (Flac)



Two very good FM broadcast from the 1981 tour. Thanks to the original uploaders on Dime.

Original Info Files:

Paris, FM reel recording, master

From the France Inter "Feedback" Bernard Lenoir show.

Certainly an upgrade for fans since i ripped this from the original reel, played on the Akai machine used to record the show.

42 mns at good speed without some DJ comments (removed when possible). Sounds exc to me.

Reel tape - Akai machine - Zoom H4 - SD card on PC - Audacity (volume adjustments, fades, tracks, FLAC export) - md5 with TLH

Setlist (found on the net after the Dimitroy / Darkdevoted upload) :

01 Any Second Now  
02 Photographic
03 Nodisco
04 New Life
05 Puppets
06 Ice Machine
07 Big Muff
08 I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead
09 Tora! Tora! Tora!
10 Just Can't Get Enough
11 Boys Say Go
12 What's Your Name
13 Television Set

shared on dime by letsgo, july 2020.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Depeche Mode
1981-08-26
Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, England, UK
1981 Tour

Complete FM broadcast recording, incomplete concert recording
Lineage: Capital Radio FM broadcast spanning August 25-30, 1981 -> unknown FM tuner -> Toshiba portable stereo radio / cassette recorder (unknown model) -> Memorex 90-minute normal bias cassette (master) -> Nakamichi MR-1 professional discrete head cassette deck (pitch and playback azimuth adjusted to match these tapes) -> Mogami 2534 XLR to TRS cables -> Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 3rd gen USB audio interface -> WAV (32/88.2) -> in Audacity: normalized to -0.1dB and any DC offset removed, track splits -> WAV (32/88.2) -> downsampled to FLAC level 8 (16/44) using foobar2000 v1.5.5, FLAC 1.3.3 64-bit, and foobar2000's Resampler (SoX) component v0.8.3 (best quality), dithering enabled
Taper: John Gates ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk706smM4aU )
Generation: master
Transfer: DMLiveWiki ( https://dmlive.wiki )
Cassette photos and auCDTectTaskManager log included

Notes: A very good quality FM broadcast recording of three tracks. Bass can be a little boomy and overpowering, and the high frequencies extend out to about 13khz, but as this was recorded on a portable radio, this is not unexpected.

2020 revision for the concert's 39th anniversary: transfer once more on a superior deck, yielding better sound quality and correct speed.

The original copy of this recording was a MiniDisc copy of this cassette that sounded considerably worse than this transfer from the original master cassette. This audio is significantly clearer overall, with the second and third tracks no longer having an unusual "pumping" effect nearly as audible as with the old transfer, and there are no fades or cuts that do not appear on the original tape. A million thanks to the original taper John for taking the time and effort to locate his master tape and ship it to me! The resulting upgrade in sound quality speaks for itself.

This FM broadcast provides another soundboard-quality source for the tracks "The Price Of Love" and "Dreaming Of Me". The only other current source for "The Price Of Love" in such quality is the soundboard recording from 1981-06-27 Crocs, Rayleigh, Essex, England, UK ( https://dmlive.wiki/wiki/1981-06-27_Crocs,_Rayleigh,_Essex,_England,_UK/Source_2 ). "Boys Say Go!" has several soundboard and FM sources available (see https://dmlive.wiki/wiki/Boys_Say_Go!#1981_Tour ). "Dreaming Of Me" has a somewhat different arrangement and sound, more closely resembling the single version compared to the version played at Crocs.

Note that this concert was reported by a local newspaper's review to have been video taped. DM Live has contacted the Institute of Contemporary Arts to inquire whether the supposed video recording or any sort of audio recording exists in their archives, but the response was that the material no longer exists. Read the newspaper review and ICA's response here: https://dmlive.wiki/wiki/1981-08-26_Institute_of_Contemporary_Arts,_London,_England,_UK

This source is considered Source 1 for this date:
https://dmlive.wiki/wiki/1981-08-26_Institute_of_Contemporary_Arts,_London,_England,_UK/Source_1

Track list:

01. [2:30] Boys Say Go!
02. [4:08] The Price Of Love
03. [3:31] Dreaming Of Me
Total time: 10:08



DMtwoFMbroadcasts1981

2 comments: