Friday 7 February 2014

The Chameleons Vox - Gigant, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands - 24.04.2013 (Flac)



Thanks to ianmacd for sharing his recording on Dime.

RECORDING:

Type: Audience master, recorded centre stage, 10 metres back from the
      suspended PA.

Source: Factory-matched pair of Schoeps CCM 41V microphones (DINa mounted) ->
    Marantz PMD661 recorder with Oade Concert Mod
    (-18 dB gain/44.1 kHz/24 bit WAV)

Lineage: Audacity 2.0.3
       * Normalised to 0 dB.
       * Applied variable amplification across recording for consistent
         listening experience.
       * Manually balanced channels.
       * Added fades.
       * Split tracks.
       * Converted to 16 bit.
     -> FLAC (compression level 8) [libFLAC 1.2.1 20070917]

Taper: ianmacd


SET LIST:

01. [06:39] Swamp Thing
02. [00:16] [banter]
03. [05:24] A Person Isn't Safe Anywhere These Days
04. [05:25] Looking Inwardly
05. [04:16] Paper Tigers
06. [05:27] Monkeyland
07. [07:20] One Flesh
08. [00:13] [banter]
09. [04:56] In Answer
10. [02:43] I'll Remember
11. [09:27] Soul In Isolation
12. [05:19] Singing Rule Britannia (While The Walls Close In)
13. [08:10] Caution
14. [08:15] Second Skin
15. [01:35] [encore break]
16. [00:35] [banter]
17. [04:58] Don't Fall

Total running time: 81:00



NOTES:

It's my second of two consecutive nights seeing The Chameleons Vox.

Last night, I was in Utrecht. Tonight, the action is an hour's drive away in
Apeldoorn. Apeldoorn? Who the hell plays in Apeldoorn? I suppose some people
must, and this band is evidently one of them.

Once again, Sophya are supporting. There's almost no-one in the room when they
start to play, but the numbers slowly swell during their set.

The audience tonight is more typical than yesterday's, making at least some
noise between songs. Yesterday's was so quiet that both bands felt the need to
remark on it.

At 35 minutes, it's a shorter set for Sophya than in Utrecht. They go down
well with the crowd, but I'm just biding my time, waiting for The Chameleons.

The Gigant's PA is mounted so high that it looks like a couple of helium-
filled balloons trying to escape via the ceiling. It's a small venue, so I go
back ten metres to obtain a decent line to the speakers. I'm prevented from
going any further by a couple of steps and the presence of the mixer desk.

I prefer to have my nose in the stacks, but given that I don't know how to
levitate, this is going to have to do. I've formed an equilateral triangle
with the left and right speakers, so the results should be pretty good if the
PA is up to the job.

The band come out and very soon we're listening to the opening riff of 'Swamp
Thing'. I just can't get enough of that guitar sound.

'Up The Down Escalator' goes out in favour of 'Paper Tigers', which is nice to
hear performed live.

Set-wise, it's basically a repeat of the previous night, the only other
difference being that there's time this evening for only one song in the
encore, 'In Shreds' thereby failing to make the cut.

It feels a little short at 81 minutes, but what we miss in quantity, the band
more than make up for in quality.

I had hoped to better the recording that I made in Utrecht, but sadly it
wasn't to be. Whilst this is a good recording, it's not up to my usual
standard. The sound is a little muddy, reflecting the quality of the PA and my
distance from it.

That said, my centre stage location has given this recording a rather nice
stereo image, the individual instruments more clearly separated than when one
records with one's head in the speaker cone.

Samples are provided to eliminate taper subjectivity and help you determine
whether this is one for you.



ChaVo130425ape

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