U2, le 1981-10-08 à Sheffield (Lyceum Ballroom), England
EX AUD
ANA-M > FLAC
Built-In Mics > Sony Walkman // Mike Day
U2
Lyceum
Sheffield, U.K.
October 8, 1981

"Master transfer"

Taper: Mike Day

Tape transfer: JEMSHQ (JEMS 2019 Transfer)
Post production & mastering: BIGGIRL

SOURCE: SONY Walkman (hand held, mono recording)

LINEAGE: [analogue master] > Nakamichi CR-7A azimuth-adjusted playback
> Sound Devices USBPre2 > Audacity 2.0 capture to 24/96 > iZotope RX6 > .wav
[post production] > iZotope RX 05 ("Resample", "Pitch Contour"^,"Gain"
& Mbit+ dither)* > .wav (16/44.1) > Adobe Audition CC (edit & track split)
> Frontend FLAC (7) > .flac

^Pitch correction reference = "October" (A=440)
*24/48 pitch corrected .wav preserved

TRACK LISTING:

01-Another Time Another Place
02-Rejoice
03-An Cat Dubh/Into The Heart
04-I Threw A Brick Through A Window
05-Cry-The Electric Co.
06-I Fall Down
07-October
08-Stories For Boys
09-I Will Follow
10-Twilight
11-Out Of Control
[encore fades (tape flip)]
12-Fire
13-11 O'Clock Tick Tock/The Ocean

NB: "Gloria" is missing and "ATAP" is joined in progres

BIGGIRL NOTES:
Taper Mike Day contacted me on U2Start with his hitherto unknown recording of Sheffield '81. The initial transfer was done quite rudimentary but already sounding very good. Especially compared to the only known source for this show, which is barely listenable...if listenable at all…!

So safe to say that this an upgrade, but I think that this recording also stands out amongst other early UK October shows. And what makes it even more great that this Sheffield gig was really nice. The band seemed relaxed and self confident. Or perhaps they just felt safe and at home with the Sheffield crowd. And it did great for the music and the songs.

As taper and master tape are residing in California, USA, we were very pleased that JEMSHQ was willing to make a tape transfer on their legendary Nakamichi CR-7A tape machine. This tape probably has never sounded this good, and we’re
all very happy to make it available for the first time to the community. Unfortunately "Gloria" is missing, but for the rest all other notes were captured!

My “post-production” didn’t involve any EQ or other dynamic processing. Just the bear necessities like pitch adjustment (with “Spectral Pitch Analysis” > A=440), re-sampling, dither, some simple fades and the track split.

BIG thanks to Erik of JEMSHQ for making the best tape transfer possible (and giving me the opportunity to “work” in cooperation with the legendary JEMS!). BIG thanks to Seneca as well for being more than just the “man in the middle…”

LAST but not least, the BIGGEST thanks to Mike for contacting me and making this recording available for everyone…!!!

Cheers,
Joyce - BIGGIRL
April, 2019