DocWu's Other Blog

I was feeling pretty good yesterday and decided to go out for the evening. There were a bunch of good pre-Christmas shows going on, so it was tough to choose.

I decided to go up to the Sportsmans' The Pocahotties were playing the early show. The Pocahotties are Rose Bond, Alison Pipitone, Pamela Ryder and Susan Rozler, all musicians of note on their own. This was an annual Christmas show.

Pam Ryder is now based out of Austin TX, so this was a semi rare appearance. I got there late, but caught the last three songs. The house was packed, I could just get in the door. I stood there watching them with John Gaeta, the sax player from Flyin' Blind.

So I stuck around for the Flyin' Blind show. This was their first appearance at the Sportsmans' and it was a good show. The crowd thinned out quite a bit, but there were a lot of enthusiastic fans there. I've got a feeling that the next time they play there, the word will be out and it will be packed.

Last night I went to the Flyin' Blind show in Lockport. They played at the American Legion which is great for me, it's close to home. Like walking distance.

I had just gotten in two new microphones and a couple of stands to go with them, so I dragged the podcast equipment along. I asked if they would be willing to take part in a podcast and got permission to record the show and a few interviews, which I did.

I've been to some of their shows before (photo album here) and have gotten to know the band. So it was the perfect chance to try out the equipment.

We did record the show and several interviews. I'm still editing the audio, so the podcast isn't up yet.

The new microphones are some large-diaphragm condenser mikes, and I'm afraid the sound level there was just too much for them, or I should say it, as I only recorded in mono with one mike. I thought at first it was just some distortion in the headphone amp, as I had to turn it up all the way to hear in the loud room. But the recordings are slightly distorted. Not that bad that they can't be used, but not as good as I would like.

The recorder, a Marantz PMD-660, doesn't have a lo-cut. I suspect that may have helped if there was one. But maybe not. Maybe the mike was just overloaded. I'll have to play around more with them to tell. I did use the -20db attenuator setting, which is why I suspect it was just too much for the mike.

[Update: I've since heard that the PMD-660 is noted for mike preamps that are easily overloaded. I've since done live recordings using a mixer between the mikes and the recorder and had much better results. Oade Electronics sells modified PMD-660s that have this problem fixed, but it's too late for mine, they don't do retrofits.]

Maybe a foam cover will help. Maybe not. I may need to just get some dynamic mikes for that sort of situation. Or maybe a preamp with a lo-cut filter.

I had the PMD-660 set to break the recording up into new files every 5 minutes. I don't know if that was such a good idea. I didn't remember setting it that way, but when I got home, there were nearly 50 files! It's not too hard to put them back together, but it's a pain. On the other hand, it made it easy to find certain parts of the show.

Anyway, it was a great show. The place filled up early and stayed crowded most of the night. Good thing I got there extra early and got a good spot. I met an old friend and a friend of his and sat with them the whole night. It was a real case of good music and good company.

Flyin' Blind was the winner of the recent WNY Blues Society Best New Album Award and their CD has been submitted for the national competition in Memphis. They were the winners of the Memphis Bound competition last year as well.

Their CD which has been out since this summer, Havin' Fun Feelin' Blue contains all original material and is one of the best Blues CDs I've heard in quite a while.

I'll put some photos up here to hold you over until the podcast, which will be at Buffalo Live! Music Podcast.

We got out to North Tonawanda to see Fossil Rock play. A friend told me about them and suggested i go to see them. At least one of them works at the same place I do.

So we went to "Turkey Night" at Gratwick Hose, the firehall they were playing at. The drinks were cheap and we might have won a turkey in a raffle, but luck wasn't with us. We got there early and the house was almost full. We barely got seats.

The band turned out to be a six piece - drummer, bassists, two guitarists, a keyboard player who also played guitar and a singer. They only played covers, but didn't take the easy way out. Many were songs you don't hear cover bands tackle often. But many were, too, so people were comfortable dancing and enjoying it. Musicianship wise, they were good, and most of the band pitched in on vocals and harmonies.

While not an original music band, they were enjoyable and would be a good time band for any function. If you see them playing someplace, drop in and check out Fossil Rock.