Time to Live it Up with Porch Songs….Downloadable 2 Track WP Soundboards from the vault!! Read on to find out the why, what and when…
Over the past 18 months, we’ve gotten off to a pretty good start on the Official Widespread Panic Archive Series by releasing 4 live shows…..Carbondale 2000, Valdosta 1989, Huntsville 1996 and Montreal 1997. All but one of these releases utilized the Multi-Track (MT) process that enables individual instruments and vocals to be separately mixed during a post show mixing process. These MT releases take a considerable amount of time and effort to create; hence, only four releases in 18 months. While the quality of the MT recordings are incredible and certainly worth the wait, I think it’s important to give certain shows that were not going to end up making the MT cut some recognition in their own right.
Just for fun, let’s say we have 2,000 shows to consider for the official archive MT releases. Over time, if we release 50 shows, that leaves 1,950 shows that stay on the shelf……if not for another way to get them out there. This Porch Songs project will capture some of those shows in a soundboard versus a MT format and, as a result, will deliver more music in a more timely fashion….while we continue to work on 3-4 MT releases each year.
These 2 track soundboard recordings that Porch Songs will utilize beg for a little explanation. For purposes of this discussion, let’s say there are 3 types of recordings…..audience, soundboard and MT. Audience tapes are made at the shows by fans and capture the sound that comes out of the speakers. The quality of an audience tape will depend on a variety of factors including the quality of the taping equipment, the taper’s skill, microphone location, room dynamics, etc. When the variables sync, an audience tape can come off sounding awesome. But if it doesn’t, there’s not a lot you can do about it. A MT tape is at the other end of the spectrum in that you can remix the sound of the individual instruments and vocals to the degree that the stage essentially doubled as a recording studio the night of the show. And it when it comes to manipulating those individual signals, there are endless possibilities with today’s technology.
Somewhere between those two recording options lies the world of soundboard recordings. The post-mix soundboard signal that travels from the mixing board to the PA gets captured by some type of recording equipment and then onto a storage medium before it hits the speakers. The type of recording equipment and storage is dependent on what year you’re talking about…..basically analogue cassette tapes from the 1980’s, dat tapes from the 1990’s and digital hard drives from the 2000’s forward. Regardless of the equipment used to make the recordings and the storage medium, the soundboard signal is different from both an audience recording and a MT tape because, unlike an audience recording, the signal doesn’t have the opportunity to be muddied up by the air inside the venue. From past explanations, you now know that the MT process captures every instrument and vocal separately….but, the soundboard feed is not separated….so, you lose the ability to dial each nuance up and down as the song or show progresses. As a result, soundboard recordings usually sound much cleaner and have a better dynamic range than audience tapes…..but will always come up short in quality when compared to the MT series.
When compared to audience tapes, a soundboard recording allows the instruments to sound a little more defined and separated and the vocals to be more clearly understood. Sometimes though, a soundboard recording is not an improvement on an audience tape due to the board signal needing so much manipulation to account for the room dimensions and environment. For example, if the room absorbs the drums to a negative degree, then the drum mix will be so high in the soundboard signal that the soundboard tape will sound lousy. However, the room dynamics might provide for a great audience tape that same evening. So, not all soundboard recordings sound the same….some are incredible, some are above-average, and some are not that great. Most of the time however, a soundboard tape provides a listener with an improved experience over what came through the audience tapes. Furthermore, today’s technology allows for these soundboard recordings to be touched up a degree so that some of the recording imperfections might be removed…or at least improved on….but it is certainly not a flawless process. One needs to exercise caution in developing expectations about consistent recording quality when it comes to soundboard recordings. Some will sound better than others…but rest assured, I’ll pick shows that are performance-worthy of making the Porch Songs cut. And I’ll be sure to leave some heat on the shelf for the MT side of things.
With that being an introduction on the why and the what, here’s a collection of random thoughts regarding Porch Songs and what to expect show-wise, quality-wise, and other-wise…
- I’ve spent time cross-referencing fan-based WP soundboard tape lists that will guide me to shows that have not previously been traded in a soundboard format. I know the late 1990’s and early 2000’s need some love. I plan on releasing shows that fill in some of those gaps, but also releasing some soundboards that are already “out there” to give fans without previous access the opportunity to download some of those shows.
- The quality of these shows will largely be “as is” due to a number of factors previously discussed. We will touch them up to a degree, but the goal is to get this music out there and not spend an inordinate amount of production time in doing so.
- Rather than so-called “digi noise” rendering a soundboard recording completely useless, I may from time to time decide to eliminate a track or two that might indeed be completely warped…..so we get to release the rest of the show rather than subscribing to one bad apple theory.
- This project will allow us to release some multi-night runs right off the bat and not take the time of 2 or 3 MT releases to do so. Obviously, some sound quality will be sacrificed, but like I said earlier….there are 1,950 shows that need a little room to fly….and some multi-night runs will certainly show up on the MT series. All good things in all good time, right?
- I can work together with fans over time, via email and blogs, to focus on certain tours, years, venue runs, etc.
- One interesting avenue of this project is that it allows the MT side of things to focus on the years where MT recordings actually exist….which began in late 1994. So, in addition to releasing a lot of the soundboards from the late 90’s and early 2000’s that never made it into circulation and won’t end up making it to a full blown MT release, Porch Songs allows us to go back to the 80’s and early 90’s and focus on some of that great music as well.
- A basis of comparison for the Porch Songs project would be the recordings that are available from today’s shows on www.livewidespreadpanic.com. Each show played since 2005 is categorized under the appropriate year and tour and is essentially a modern-day 2 track soundboard recording that is available for download versus being able to buy it at a store in a hard copy cd format. Porch Songs will just work backwards from 2005 in a sense…but in a random manner.
- These Porch Songs releases will be sold for a reasonable price out on www.livewidespreadpanic.com, and given the current set up of the site, they will show up at the top of the page underneath the Archive Recording heading.
- I’ve started with a couple of shows that I think fit pretty well into this new venture. It’s a 2 night run from the late 90’s with guest artists and some great playing. Given all the other 2 night runs available to put out on MT, this one probably wouldn’t have made it, but now it gets a new life in a different format. The recording is not what I would call top shelf, but represents what I think is about an 8 or so on a potential subjective quality scale. The goal here was to start somewhere…so I did.
- Enlightened? Confused? Comments? Questions? Send me an email….. archives@widespreadpanic.com.
Finally, the when part. For the most part, we are pretty much good to go. So, real soon. As within a week or so…….Horace
UPDATE: PORCH SONGS Release #1: Mud Island ’97 Run – Download Here
Brilliant move, sir. There’s so much music, when this band was literally the best band ever, and so much of it only available in poor quality; the Archives are sick, but volume is really the only answer.
So what’s the first pick? Aspen ’99? Oak Mtn. ’98? Ween 98?! American Theatre ’99?!?! Momentous options all, and just in time for the holidays.
Thanks! This is 8+ years of thanks!
You are a gentleman and a scholar! This is a great idea and an awesome project to undertake. I have been following WSP since ’91 (over 200 shows) and have probably 1500 shows in my collection from aud to sbd to some of the official releases. This project will fill in the gaps and allow us to find some of those gems we’ve been missing. I thank you so much for going back to the Mikey days to find some of these shows lost to us. The WSP community has been very diligent in trying to find all the shows out there but I’m sure we’ve missed some here and there. I appreciate what you are going to do and I wait (not so patiently) for these releases to come out. Thank you very much from an extremely excited fan! “An honest tune with a lingering lead…”
Much gratitude,
peace
Mark Misemer
IPanic2@hotmail.com
This is the best news I have heard since the introduction of the Archive series. Great solution and game plan. It gets more soundboards and WSP music into the hands of the fans faster AND we will still get the tasty MT recordings we always would have. Thanks again for your commitement to the fans and keeping the memories of all those great Panic shows we saw alive! I always said “release it… and they will buy it”!
Thank you very much Mr Horace – this is not an easy task and one that will take a great amount of your time… that being said – Any chance this might include the Australia shows?? Those are very difficult to find.
:cheers and thank for making this available
Horace this is amazing! Can’t tell you how much myself, and all the fans appreciate this and how long we have been waiting. Thank you so much!!
Looking forward to grabbing some Summer Tour 99, All Red Rocks runs & Fall Tour 2000 + Keystone
STILL WANT MORE after all these years!
Cheers!
Cory
jimmy melts my face but mikey takes my soul on a ride………pick ur poison
Awesome! Looking forward to some C. Brown’s, Wondering, and Pleas from 94-97, where Mikey is using the volume pedal nicely! (as always). Bellarmine College 4/18/96 was a fine show!
Horace-
Is there any hope at all that we will see future archive releases on vinyl? I would love to see this happen!
Horace-
Are there any plans to reissue the WP studio albums on vinyl?
Wow, thanks Horace; you are doing so much for us all through Porch Songs! Your efforts are greatly appreciated, I’ve been hoping for this day since the 2005 shows started getting posted shortly after the event itself; what a wonderful way to take care of us – the betting has begun on the first “2 night run” from the late ’90s…can’t wait!
All I can say is thanx Horace! This is a great way to get the music out there. A couple years ago my father passed away and I had to drive from Atlanta out to Oklahoma City for the funeral. We arrived after midnight and went straight to bed. When I woke the following morning to go to the funeral I found out that someone had broken into my car and almost my entire collection of panic shows had been stolen, 8 years of collecting & trading gone. I have since acquired new shows, but not to the extent of what I had. So, to put it mildly, Thank You so very much for coming up with this idea! It means an awful lot to me!! Keep the tunes coming brother!
Peace & Panic….
Horace Im so proud of you and the work you are doing. This is gonna be great for people like me who are very unorganized and have a sh*tload of tapes that sound really crappy, but happen to be great shows. Cheers my friend, Cheers!
WOW… Just in time for Christmas… the gift that keeps on giving. Thanks Horace for all your hard work and putting Panic’s music out to us… the fans. We love you and we wish you Happy Holidays.
[...] the Porch Songs name at a quicker pace than the MT releases. WSP archivist Horace Moore explains further on the Archives blog and shares the news that the first Porch Songs release should be announced next week. addthis_url [...]
Horace,
I LOVE YOU
Holy Santa Clause s@$t!!! This is what I’ve been waitin for!!!
Thank you sir.
Thanks Horace!
Just out of curiosity, how often are you going to be putting these out?
Thanks Again!!!
Jamming to 7/19/97 right now. Many thanks, please keep it coming. This is great! Jam on America!
VINYL PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!
Mikey Houser melts my face and pilots my ufo to other worlds!
Wanna go for a ride?
Horace for President!!!
How about 12/30/97 at The Fox in ATL, one of the best second sets ever dropped. Great guests, and amazing playing by Panic & Co. Actually the whole 97 New Year’s Run is great.
As often as possible….
Can someone tell me if and when medd island will be availiable on CD for purchase???
thanks!!
Scott
Horace…Bless you my brother for working so hard on bringing these much wished for releases to reality. Like so many of us Panic fans, I am always so thankful for any music the band and you guys want to bust out of the vault. I have a couple of off the wall suggestions that I know you won’t read or reply to due to how busy you are but I just have to get them out there because they are shows that are very special to my wife and I…
October 23, 1999 Chicago…UIC Pavillion with the DDBB 2nd set. Our first Panic Show…and what a show it was, the silky, soothing sounds that were weaved in and out of the first set in particular are just amazing, the sounds Mikey was getting that night. There is no really good copy of this show in any format that I have ever found.
November 17, 2000 Madison Wisconsin…..Alliance Energy Center….A big empty convnetion hall room, a late start to the show….but this show is incredible imho. The first set just sugues through and the band was just on fire. The second set is just as nice in particular the Schools / Sunny / Todd Jam there is mind blowing…
10-28-00 NOLA—-All I can say is if nothing else, release the Use Me sandwich with that unbelievable Jam with Karl Denson….That would be a crown jewel of a show to release.
New Years 1996…..wow….now that is a pair of shows, soundboards are out for those in circ though….
Again, thanks for sharing! I know you are busy, but I felt these shows were worth taking the chance to share in the hopes you may give them a listen…..one can only hope!
Peace My Brother and THANK YOU!
Big John
outstanding news best i,ve heard in a while,keep it coming.cause you can hear it coming like a freight train out of control!!!!!! PEACE to all an,SLEEP TIGHT EVERYBODY
Do it!
Out of dozens and dozens of shows that I hvave seen in my life by many great artists, this show was the most life changing. I strongly suggest this show for release.
07/04/01 Harmony Park Music Garden, Geneva, MN
1: Henry Parsons Died, Who Do You Belong To?, Jack, The Waker > C. Brown > Tie Your Shoes > Good Morning Little Schoolgirl > 1 x 1 > Conrad
2: Happy > Dyin’ Man, Airplane > Holden Oversoul > Better Off > One Kind Favor > Drums > Four Cornered Room > Heathen > Four Cornered Room, This Part Of Town, Fishwater
E: Old Joe, Red Beans
['America The Beautiful' jam by JoJo after 'Drums'; Last 'Heathen' - 04/07/88, 1685 shows]
Sit n Ski Tour from 96. Please. Thanks for all you do Horace.
This is the greatest idea, and makes so much sense from so many perspectives. To this day, still the best music around for me. Huge thanks for this project!
And since there are suggestions…
7-9-99 Whitefish, MT Amazing!
I second Steve’s suggestion of Harmony Park 2001.
But i might say this one is so special as to be deserving of a MT release. There are some killer FOB tapes of this show (thanks to John Hubert for mine), but they are littered with little girls squealing in the microphone.
The Four Cornered > Heathen > Four Cornered is one of those moments that can not be recreated and begs to be released.
On either a MT or Porch Songs release, I offer the following 2 multi night runs both from 2001, which is one of my personal favorite years.
3 nights Greek Theater – Berkeley, CA. The Fishwater > Sharon > Fishwater from Saturday, and Sunday with Santana need the light of day.
2 nights Mid South Coliseum. DDBB. House of the Rising Sun on friday. Sharon, Xmas Katie, Arleen Swamp from Saturday. Unreal.
And Finally.
Mikey’s last Red Rocks 2002. That first night especially. The Boris the Spider tease to open the 2nd set?? And no one will ever convince me that there was a better Rebirtha as they had to play the extended opening while waiting for JB to finally make his way to the stage. SO GOOD!!!!
Thanks for Letting Me Ramble.
Very Therapeutic.
Finally catching up on the whole archive series…ordered the 4 multitrack package, and am downloading the first Porch Songs release!
QUESTION: Is there artwork for the Porch Songs? I don’t see any CD tray insert links or anything on the download page. I hope these have artwork!
Great sound! I attended these two shows and have the audience recordings, but this sweetens the deal considerably:) I wouldn’t know where to start suggesting shows to release. My first show was in the fall of ’89 at the uptown lounge in Athens. All I remember was being blown away by “Proving Ground” For some reason those words, “Find out just how tall I am, by jumping in the middle of the river” got stuck in my head. Then the room erupted into the sickest jam… Of course, the walls were also melting if you catch my drift. Great times and I was hooked from then on… Look forward to more of your releases. Jo Jo’s first shows were really nice also at the Georgia Theatre also, 3-13 and 3-14 1992… I consider myself one of the lucky panic fans, got to see it all!
Still wondering about the artwork…..seems a shame to have cd covers for each “run of the mill” (no offense!) current show, but nothing for these hand-picked classic shows!
I have really been enjoying the first Porch Songs release, and look forward to cracking open the archive four-pack on Christmas morning!
Halloween 1998 UNO Lakefront Arena………Swamp>Red Hot Mama>Supersition> Red Hot Mama………Would be a nice one to add
I would say some of the 2001 gems should definitely be released, NOLA 2001, OAK MTN 2001, Delaware 7-22-01, just to name a few. The Delaware show is definitely worthy of MT, it was one of my favorite shows I’ve been to, Kahunaville, a big arcade with a tiki bar and stage out back and one of the sickest Panic setlists they played IMHO, there were about 800-1000 peeps there, that’s my 2 cents!!
11.1.1996! Please. Pretty please.
[...] headed back to 1996 for the 4th volume of Porch Songs. One word sort of sums up this show: WOW! And that was just what Dave had to say as [...]
[...] the different formats used for recording, from wax, through analouge tape to digital hard disk.PORCH SONGS Widespread Panic ArchivesArchive Releases Now Available @ Digital ThinkIndie Time to Live it … tapes from the 1990's and [...]
Horace,
I would appreciate it if you would consider releasing 10-27-01 nola. This was a great show probably one of the all time favorites. Plus, all the available copies in circulation are of a poor quality.
Thanks
Michael Simon
[...] we’re sticking around 1996 for the 5th volume of Porch Songs. In fact, we’re only going to head back in time a day from the last Porch release from [...]
[...] we’re sticking around 1996 for the 5th volume of Porch Songs. In fact, we’re only going to head back in time a day from the last Porch release from [...]
LOVING THIS!!!! 2 shows that I’ve been searching for soundboards since attending, Halloween 96 & Mud Island 97 SOUND GREAT!!! The acoustics at the Aragon have always been terrible and this recording is really amazing. I’m also able to hear the intricacies of the playing at Mud Island which were always a little washed out in the audience tapes.
Any chance you could post those great Red Rocks shows from 1998? THANKS!~
[...] 6th volume of Porch Songs, we take the trip to Widespread Panic’s second home…Colorado…for the band’s [...]
Nice explanation of the differences between audience, sound board, and multi-track recordings and of the purpose of the Porch Songs initiative compared with the Official Widespread Panic Archive Series. Thank you, Horace!
Thankyou so much for doing this. There are shows i’ve missed, for some reason or another, and this allows me to hear the stuff that’s past. I started seeing the band in ’87 and have whitnesed MANY mind blowing shows back in “the good ole days”. May I make a request PLEASE?? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE…..Let the Halloween show of ’89 at the “Theatre” out; this was a mind boggling show and an excellent venue to here the boys play. Had a “board” recording on tape and made the mistake of lending it to someone. Needless to say I haven’t heard that show since ’90. I’m going into DT’s man…..HELP PLEASE!!! Thankyou THE PIKESTER
[...] 7th volume of Porch Songs, we celebrate the 15th anniversary of the 1996 Sit-n-Ski Tour. During January and February, [...]
7-4-00 should be released. If its really about the music then this show should be released to the people
Best jamming I’ve ever heard in person. Please consider it for a release!
http://everydaycompanion.com/setlists/20011102a.asp
[...] 14th volume of Porch Songs, we kiss the mountain air we breathe at a three night Red Rocks performance. Still considered by [...]
[...] 15th volume of Porch Songs, we head to the deep South and pay an overdue visit to Mississippi…and to 1995. In the [...]