What you should know about trading with us...
First of all, Emily and I make a point of trading with fellow digital tapers. Many of the shows on our list have come directly from other DAT and Mini-Disc tapers. This is particularly, though not exclusively, true with recordings of the artists we enjoy the most: B&S, Smiths/Moz, The Aislers Set, the Elephant 6-related stuff and My Morning Jacket. While we are always interested in trading for something we don't have, our preference is to trade with those who understand the effort and expense involved with digitally recording their own shows.
Master Recordings
Our master audience recordings (from April 2002 onward) are done on a Sony PCM-M1 portable DAT deck with a Core-Sound Binaural microphone set at 48kHz...as are the soundboard recordings (when I am given access). They are transferred optically to our computer's hard drive through a Creative 4800 digital in/out soundcard; edited, tracked and downsampled to 44.1kHz using Cool Edit Pro...and finally burned to CD using Adeptec's Easy CD Creator. Our master MD recordings (from May 2001 to March 2002) were done on a Sony MZR-55 portable deck with the CSB mics. Before that we used the Sony MZR-55 with a Sony ECM-909A handheld microphone. We copy all of our CD-Rs using Exact Audio Copy. This allows for completely glitch-free cloning from disc to disc.
Available Formats
Our preference is to send and receive shows in the traditional audio CD-R format, though we can send .shn files on CD-R if it is required. We cannot clone from DAT to DAT, as we only have one player/recorder, but we can make perfect clones of our DAT recordings on CDr. We no longer accept analogue cassettes (unless you are offering something that we MUST have) and we are no longer sending out any shows in that format. We do not and will not sell our CDs. We also cannot do any 2/1 or B&P trades. While we still like videos and do accept video trades, I'm afraid we cannot copy any videos ourselves (unless you don't mind them being recorded in SLP speed). We are the process of converting our recordings to CD-R so feel free to request any show on CD-R even if it is not currently on that format (though it might add a little time to the length of our trade). Lastly, a note about CD-Rs...since the time limit of a disc is 80 minutes, any shows over that will obviously take more than one disc.
Our Grading System
As we've moved to digital recording and trading, we've gotten a bit fussier with what can be called a decent bootleg. Having said that, we have yet to figure out the exact science to grading shows. We've begun moving into a numerical grading system that will hopefully give a more accurate description of a show's sound quality (for example, a 9.8 to 10.0 would be of the A+, FM broadcast, soundboard/mixing desk variety) but it will take some time to get all the tables updated. While we try to be as accurate as possible, the grading of any recording is highly subjective and can get a little fuzzy from show to show. Our A might be your A-, our A- your B+. On the other hand, we might send you an A- show that you think is an A...
Furthermore, it could go all pear-shaped with older shows that have been transferred from cassette. We have a tendency to grade older, pre-digital recordings on a bit of a curve. A Velvet Underground show from 1968 or a Smiths show from 1983 isn't going to be scrutinized as much as a show that was recorded last week on a DAT deck with quality microphones. I realize this is confusing, but just know that we are a quite a bit more strict with the digital recordings, so you can be confident that any CD-R graded A-/9.0 or higher is a worthwhile recording. Always feel free to ask any questions you might have.
Lastly, here are some basic trading guidelines we both agree to follow...
1. It is a MUST that all CD-Rs be recorded using the "disc at once" option on our burning programs.
2. We will both use "higher end" CD-Rs (Imation, Fuji, Verbatim, Maxell, Sony, TDK etc...basically nothing that you can directly see thru if you hold it up to the light!). We aren't brand snobs, but we don't want something that we have a hard time using with our own equipment. We generally have Imation, Fuji and Verbatim on hand here so you can probably expect your shows to arrive on one of these brands. Please alert us if this is a problem and we can try to work something out.
3. If we agree to trade with each other, we agree to send the discs out at roughly the same time. If you are in the USA, we both agree to send the discs First Class. If you are outside the USA, we both agree to send Airmail (the 5-7 day kind!) unless we've traded before and know each others' predilections. Let's also keep in good contact as to when discs are done and posted.
4. Given that 80min discs are the norm these days, this probably isn't so much of an issue, but we will use the appropriate length disc for a show (ie. we won't split a 75min show over two 74min discs).
5. We will package the discs in a manner that prevents them from getting damaged in the mail. Some combination of bubble wrap, cardboard, padded mailers, paper slipcases and sandwich baggies usually does the trick. If a disc we send arrives damaged, we agree to cheerfully replace the damaged disc for the other person.
6. Sometimes, very rarely, a disc will arrive that is misburned. This can generally be avoided by burning no faster than 2x (or if your machine can handle it, 4x), but if it does happen, we agree to send a replacement disc to the other person.
7. Emily and I aren't generally interested in sleeve artwork and we don't expect that you will be either. Setlists are nice though, and we can send those by email when it is necessary. We have setlists available for many of the shows on our list, and those can be found by clicking on the date of a particular show.
8. We DO NOT and WILL NOT make any of our recordings available through bit torrents or on any other mass file sharing programs. We expect that our recordings will remain in the format they are sent out. If you trade with us, especially for one of our master recordings, you will agree to never alter (make mp3s) our recording in any way, or upload it to a SHN, FLAC or bit torrent site. I know this is very 2001 of us, but it's they way we prefer to do things and we hope this will be respected.
Okay, with all that out of the way, please feel free to go on to the list