Paul Thorn
01/24/16
Fremont Theater
San Luis Obispo, CA
10th Row, Center Right Aisle: Neumann KM-140s (ORTF) >Canare Star Quads >Beyer MV-100 >Tascam DR-100mkII (24 bit / 48 khz)
Microphones On A Seven-Foot Stand.
WAV >Audacity (Amplify, Track Splits, Minor Edits, Down Sample / Dither To 16 bit /44.1khz) >FLAC (Level 8) + Tags Via xACT 2.53
(Recorded, Transferred, FLAC’d, & Tagged By OldNeumanntapr)
Disc I:
- Intro
- Something Out There
- Half The Folks I Love
- All About People
- What Kind Of Roof
- Pimps And Preachers
- Love Scar
- Way Beyond Midnight
- What Do You Take Me For
- Double Wide Paradise
- Rob You Of Your Joy
Disc II:
- Old Stray Dogs And Jesus
- Mediocrity Is King
- Snake Farm
- Band Intros
- Starting Line
- Long Way From Tupelo
- If I Can Get Over Her
- Rose City
- Everybody Needs Somebody
- Weeds In My Roses
- Everything’s Gonna Be Alright
Encore:
- Get You A Healin’
Paul Thorn – Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
Bill Hinds – Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals
Michael Graham ‘Dr. Love’ – Keyboards
Ralph Friedrichsen – Bass
Jeffrey Perkins – Drums/Percussion
Derek Senn Opened
The Historic Fremont (Movie) Theater Was Built In 1942
OldNeumanntapr Notes;
This was a great show. I had mentioned to Todd Newman, one of the former owners of SLO Brew and now strictly a concert Promoter, that I had received permission from Billy Maddox, Paul Thorn’s manager and sound technician, to record the show in San Luis Obispo. I used to mount the Neumanns to a little shelf that I built and hang it on the concrete front center ceiling post at SLO Brew. This made for an excellent ‘mic stand’, and got the microphones up off the floor about 10 feet. Now that SLO Brew is slated for demolition, Todd is booking shows at the old Fremont Theater, which is an old art-deco movie theater. I had planned on setting up the Neumanns onstage, but…
Well, you know what they say about the ‘Best laid plans’. When I arrived at the Fremont Theater just before sound check, I found out that yes, I could set up anywhere I chose to, including onstage, BUT…. The band’s instruments were all DI (no onstage amps), AND they were using in ear monitors, so the only sound they had on stage was some side fill wedges that were not full range. Ryan, the house soundman, suggested that I set up against the far back wall of the theater, near the board. I didn’t like that idea because it was too far from the stage. I asked Todd, the promoter, where he had chosen for me to sit and he said 10th row center, on the right aisle. Hey, that was looking pretty good, but I was a little concerned about setting up a stand. I asked him if I could set up my stand there and he said no problem. As it turned out, the theater, which holds just under 1,000 people, was only 1/3rd filled and there was only two other people in my row. I had brought two stands with me in the hopes of setting up near the stage and in front of the PA stacks, but I couldn’t have raised the stands up high enough, and there was no room on the sides up front. (Paul remarked during the show that the theater, with patches of open seats scattered throughout, looked to him like ‘mange on a dog.’)
I ran my stand about seven feet high, and my ‘worry-wort’ friend Dave was Certain that someone would complain about the microphones, but…no one did. Ryan walked by as I was setting up and asked if Todd had OK’d the stand and I said yes so he said, ‘Oh, Alright’. I wasn’t sure if the seat next to me had been sold, so I set up my preamp and recorder at the base of the stand in the aisle. Everything went fine. I had to answer a lot of questions from confused inquisitive patrons about the recording gear but I’m used to that. The crowd was fairly quiet and polite, and only applauded between songs.
Billy Maddox, as always, was really helpful to me and repeatedly asked if I needed anything and if I was OK. The band is very taping friendly but Billy would like tapers to go through him for permission and he requires you to send him an electronic copy before sharing so he can check it. I’m trying to convince him to allow Paul to be included on the Live Music Archive but he said that he is still thinking about it. The recording sounds pretty good, though I miss being able to hang my Neumanns from the concrete ceiling post at SLO Brew.
The Fremont, a historic movie theater built in 1942, has its own recording challenges because I now have to deal with the crowds. Maybe I will try running a stand near the back wall at a future date, especially if I can record a band that would be agreeable to a soundboard / audience matrix. It’s an interesting old building, with curved interior walls, an ornate ceiling, and has nice acoustics. They don’t build theaters like that anymore.
Do NOT Convert To MP3.
Enjoy! Share freely, don’t sell, play nice, don’t run with scissors, etc. 😉
