2007.01.31 - Melbourne, Australia @ Myer Music Bowl

Source A: Mini Disc ---- Sony ECM-DS70P > Sony MZ-N710 (LP2)
Transfer: SB line in>Soundforge 6.0>WAV
Taper: eatyourblud
Gen:    1st 

Notes - Taper:
Why did i have to get seats behind these drunkass kegger bogan assholes? Seriously, me and my wife were looking around us and everyone was so cool and laid back, enjoying the show and respecting the quieter parts, and we had these animal house fuckers ruining our shit left right and centre...wait until you hear it, you'll see, and you'll hear my responses to them All i did was converted it to 44,100 hz/26 bit stereo WAV in Soundforge and burnt it to two discs as two long WAVS...Not tradeable as anything but a listening cd, but good enough for you to enjoy and give it a write up on CU if you wish. You'll get to hear the bloody morons i was talking about, plus me cussing them out several times :-) apart from them and the static, it's pretty listenable. i upped the volums and fiddled with it equalizer wise a little.
Notes - Galen:
The taper sent me a MP3 sample prior to me actually listening to the recording (one track each CD) I did not think this was going to be all that good. To some individuals, this may not do anything for them, as far as sound goes. However, this has an audio quality kind of like an old Tool show from 1997 + 1998 from the Lollapalooza & Ozzfest tours - you collector's know what I'm talking about here. Where it is an outdoor festival type of venue, the sound sort of travels a little bit & the equipment is relatively simple. Nothing wrong with that &, I think, if you approach this recording from aforementioned paradigm you will find that this is wonderful to listen to. And for that, I recommend this source. There are moments where this recording truly shines. It should be noted that the taper of this source also filmed Tool in 1995 (click here) and considers himself a filmer, not a taper. I think he did a rather good job on this recording. There are, at least on my copy, a a few issues with microphone crackle but I believe this has been fixed for future releases. The drunk morons the taper mentions are audible & it is to the taper's credit he did not commit a homicide that night - ok that is quite an overstatement but even I wanted to throw beer on those guys. Amusingly, the taper does tell them to "shut the fuck up" - tops! Unfortunately, the world lost “eatyourblud” many years ago but, in this community, his achievements live on.

Maynardism: "Good evening Melbourne!"

CD 1
Time: 45:39

Stinkfist
(cut at beginning)
Forty Six & 2
Jambi
Schism
Lost Keys
Rosetta Stoned

CD 2
Time: 49:39

Wings For Marie
10,000 Days
Lateralus
Vicarious
Ænima

Source B: Hi-Mini Disc --- Sony ECM-MS907 > Sony MZ-NHF800
Taper: Phil M.
Gen: 1st from Master

Notes - Galen: It is amazing how different taping locations can make a great deal of difference from one venue to another. This source, compared with the 01/25/2007 source, has a much greater presence, attention to detail & overall clarity to it. Same equipment as well. Although there are occasional microphone movements (phasing) and the occasional shrieking female voice, all in all, it would be very difficult for anyone to pull off a better sounding recording with this particular source info combination. Tool appeared to be in a more energetic mood this night - which they should as this as a headline performance not associated with the BDO Festivals. Without delving too much into the intricacies of the recording it should be noted that the taper picked up a good deal of the soundscapes leading from one composition to another. The guitars are mostly sharp & MJK's vocals are surprisingly clear throughout the performance even on more difficult songs such as Rosetta Stoned (i.e.: songs where there usually are issues in the recording). The bass 'issue' (common in many a recording) is not actually an issue this evening as the levels seemed to be pretty decent throughout - although, like usual, MJK's vocals could have been turned up a couple levels. All in all, good capture of a solid performance.

CD 1
Time: 50:03

CD 2
Time: 49:36

Source C: Mini Disc --- Sony ECM-DS70P > Sony MZ-N710
Location: About 15 metres from front of GA section, almost exactly centred
Taper: Kingbean
Gen: 0

Notes - by Taper: Recorded from the GA lawn section. It was a cold and windy night... there's some wind noise on the recoding but only really between songs or quiet moments. Some minor clipping/distortion on loud crowd cheers, but music is fine. Huge crowd cheers during 10,000 Days as some dork climbed onto the roof of the tent thing. Occasional sniffling from my cold and runny nose
.Notes - Galen: This is a fairly clean recording of this particular performance. I believe an honest statement would be that if you did not know this was sourced from an ECM>MD (with ATRAC) then you would most likely not notice it. However, if you do notice those things then that sort of stands out to you. Unlike some recordings this technical issue is really not that big of a deal. There are some instances of audience participation but other than that it is fair to say that the taper got the most out of his rather basic recording platform & microphones. All in all, definitely worth a nice listen due to the surprising clarity throughout.

Time: 1:40:31