achmmm mmmmm mmm m, so I shall say this.... board taps, like Chris said, do sometimes lack channels depending on the room and equipment I am limited to.  Each venue does sound different from the other and there is a limited amount of consistancy I can have on the road as far as room sound quality.  Because of these issues, and the fact that we do not have our own production console, the band and I have agreed to not allow board taps.  Until I can have the same console to work with every night that allows me the ability to give out quality board taps, I will encourage audience recordings only.
 Audience recordings have there ups and downs, however, they do capture the live experience we all enjoy at the show.  The "echo" effect is always in audience recordings; popular recordings such as any "phish bootleg" would proove this point.  Granted most recordings of their shows in the past years have been in stadiums, however, the same "stadium" effect applies everywhere...simple acoustics class would help...no offense
 If ever anyone would like to come to the sound area and talk about taping, I would love to enjoy a nice conversation of geek like sound talk with anyone willing to indulge.....  Love you all.....

cool.... webster does sound like poop, its an echo chamber... just out of curiosity, when did the shows start sounding like la Big Mack

cool.... webster does sound like poop, its an echo chamber... just out of curiosity, when did the shows start sounding like la Big Mack

im not trying to start fight here, but this kid has no idea what he is talking about.

In terms of recordings, a matrix recording is a direct soundboard feed (typically left,right) mixed with 2 audience microphones (left,right) to produce a 2 channel (left, right) mix.
     
A POST matrix is when the soundboard and audience mics are recording seperately (typically 4 channels; 2 left, 2 right) and then are mixed to 2 channels(left,right)  at a later time.  The advantage of this is the ratio of board vs. aud can be changed to produce the best sound (what sounds best to the engineer).  If the soundboard doesn\'t sound good more audience mics can be mixed in and vice versa.

Multitrack recordings are where individual vocal, guitar, drums, bass, and keyboard microphone/direct channels are recorded separately and then mixed at a later date creating a completely different mix and effects from the live board mix and in some cases avoiding clipping, distortion and too much reverb.

Multitrack matrix = multitrack + audience mics.  all mixed at a later date at the discretion of the recording engineer.  This method gives the most control over the mix and the desired sound in a production environment.  It does not necessarily reflect more natural sound or have the original intent of the musicians or the live engineer, but this "live" recording will have a better blend of all instruments and clarity all at the control of the mixing engineer.


From what I recall, for the following reasons soundboards are not released:
1.  The band does not like the way soundboard sounds as they don\'t alway represent the way the band sounded live.  
2.  Dobz may not have time to deal with a patcher.
3.  There was an idea that the band could sell multitrack, matrixes and soundboards, and a fear that nobody would buy a multirack, matrix, or soundboard if it were free on the internet. Audience recordings would always be free to tape and distribute according to the taping policy   The band never fully utilized the change in taping poicy to their advantage.  I still believe that there is a market for high-quality packaged recordings.

Geez Fitz because you must have the same ears as God Almighty....

check out stone church, puppet house, and moe down and if you dont think they are some of the best sounding recordings then i dont know what to tell you.

I\'m not going to comment on this thread anymore. I\'m just going to get myself  into trouble.  If some of you are interested in what these matrices/multitracks sound like check out my mix thread,,