[John Casler]

As some of you have no doubt seen Dave Housteau is the proud owner of the Ultimate VMPS system of the RM v60's paired with Stereo VLA subs.

Dave and I have corresponded a bit and shared some CD's that we both like on the VMPS speakers.

During this correspondence, Dave sent me a copy of some recordings made some time ago LIVE of a Friend of his. 

These are not commercially available and I think Dave recorded these himself "way back when".

Well I tore down and rebuilt my system yesterday because I needed to move my Son of Ampzilla to power my new RM40jr's in my HT set up.

In re-tuning/tweaking my 2 channel system, I selected the CD Dave had sent, and I just have to say "THANKS DAVE"!!!, this is truly one of the best LIVE CD's I have ever heard when it comes to realism.

Dave's friend and his Acoustic Guitar are "just there" playing right in front of me, as If I am in the front row.

It doesn't hurt that most every song is a cover of my favorites.  I just couldn't shut it down, and had to listen to each of at least 14 cuts, each gems of recording clarity and detail.

The remarkable thing is that these are (excuse me if I am wrong) amateur recordings that beat the pants off of almost every other LIVE CD I have ever heard.

When I get my new Media Server in a few weeks, I will definitely have a couple of these cuts in the REFERENCE FILE.

 

[Housteau]

You are welcome John.  I am glad that you like these recordings.  I had made them back in 1983, or so.  Even back then this music was well dated, and that is what drew me to it.  It just wasn't common place to hear this kind of music being played live.  I became friends with the performer and started to do some live recording at some small clubs he would routinely play at.  Like many musicians, he didn't own the best microphones, cables, mixing board, or other gear.  And as a college student I sure didn't own the best recording equipment either.  But, for some strange reason it all worked together and I was able to capture those events.  Then, there they sat in my closet forgotten until earlier last year.

Considering the final product, the real shocker is in technically how the recordings were originally made, forgotten and then recaptured in the digital realm.  The original recorder used was the older, even for back then, Kenwood KX-1030 cassette deck with an outboard DBX unit.  The signal came directly from the microphone feed into the mixing board.

Earlier last year I was cleaning out my closet and ran across a couple of old cassette tapes.  The only cassette deck I had here was part of an old rack system I had bought my wife before we had gotten married.  It didn't even use RCA cables but instead was hardwired to the receiver through a ribbon cable.  I cut that cable and through hit and miss found out the proper pin-out.  Using 4 sets of aligator clip lead jumper cables I connected the output from that deck to the input of my DBX unit (surprizingly I still had it), then to my computer that I had just recently set-up for trying to record LPs.  It has a Creative soundcard with the front panel plate having easy access to all the inputs and outputs.  I used Audacity to do the recording and did very little digital manipulation other that correcting some balance issues and boosting the highs, which are typically lost in older tapes.

What amazed me the most John is the lack of drop-outs, and these are 25 year old cassette tapes.  Which ones are your favorites?   

[John Casler]

What amazed me the most John is the lack of drop-outs, and these are 25 year old cassette tapes.  Which ones are your favorites?   

Hard to pick a favorite.

His Tull (Ian Anderson) is good, the Harry Chapin cover is great, but this guy does CSNY, Beatles, (Rocky Raccoon) America, James Taylor, ELP, (From the Beginning) all with ease.

I guess there are 20 some cuts, and while I know he is a "Lounge Singer", that is the exact reality of the CD, and while it might be more mono than stereo, It has him planted directly between my BCSE RM40s like very few highly engineered CD's I have heard.

His Guitar is clear but not "overmiked" and tonally very correct.  Of course all the "calouses" over the frets and wound strings, but it sounds more proportional than some that overdo that element.

He adds his own stuff, without "reshaping" what you liked in the original.

He seems exceptionally good with Anderson, and seems to have at least 2-3 of his works sprinkled in.

You should put it "online" and let people download it for a couple bucks, and send the guy 50%.  A lot of us "Dinosaur Rock" types out there, and as I said the cool thing about this guy is he was just performing a Lounge Act with his guitar, and that is exactly what it sounds like.

I had a lot of friends growing up who resembled that mold.  One of them was Jesus Christ in the original touring company of JC Superstar.  He and I used to be in a band "back in the day".  To bad I don't have tapes of that   Video would even be better (Playing a big Fender Bass behind my head )