Done with United States Live

[stormdog]

I have finally finished digitizing all five records of United States Live. I have 10 individual FLAC files of the individual sides, and 77 separate MP3s as use copies. Honestly, there are a lot of tracks in there that I don't see myself listening to a lot. This is an audio recording of a live audio-visual presentation, and I know a lot must get lost in the media translation. Still, I'm glad to have gone through all of it and listened to some strange and interesting recordings. It also makes me happy to think that the tracks I do plan to put on my driving playlist will have been lifted from my own physical copies. Beside the eleven-minute version of O Superman and the spoken word pieces, I enjoy some of the experimental instrumental works. Her tape bow violin (a violin with a magnetic tape read head on the bridge and a bow made of recorded tape) has a unique sound. Now, I suppose, you can make a lot of noises like that much more easily via digital processing, but not so much in 1983.

I had to re-record one side when I realized that the speed slipped during play. The potentiometer badly needs to be cleaned, which I have no experience doing. I just have to keep an eye on things while they go. But I'm taking a break from vinyl for a little while now.