Hi all
The main bit of news is at the bottom of this email but I got sidetracked and thought you might enjoy reading this as much as I did…
Need a laugh?!
I was checking site referrals recently (ie where people find out about liveandloudshows.com from). As you know, I encourage anyone who likes what I do to spread the word of forums, groups etc. Well apparently sometimes people who DON’T like what I do ALSO spread the word… Which is nice! They even subscribe to this email apparently…
I traced some page hits back to a New Order forum. Where 1 of my subscribers (who I guess will be reading this - hello!) calls him or her self “GotBlueEyes”. They were kind enough to let people know I was about to finish restoring a New Order gig they might want to download… Which is great! Oh no, hang on…
“Not sure if anyone is aware of this guy Phil who runs a website called "Live & Loud" where he posts live shows from FM Radio/Soundboard bootlegs, with the claim that he has somehow restored them (from what I can work out he just does some basic EQ and normalisation and removes any major glitches.) It's all harmless enough, and free downloads until you see that he's constantly plugging his Ko-Fi page for donations towards his costs (he hosts his site on google blogger and his content on mediafire so I'm not sure what major costs he has) - and in fact his free downloads are one long continuous mp3 of the gig. If you want the files split into songs then you have to donate. If you want FLAC files then you have to donate.
Anyway - his latest email says that his next show will be a New Order Soundboard from 1985. Doesn't state which show - just says "Recently started working on it and it’s already starting to sound excellent and nice and clear."
I think we can be sure that it won't be anything we don't already have, and if it was a bootleg in need of restoration then I'm sure someone else on here will have already done it and made a better job it it
will post the link when he lays his egg”
Charming… Where to start… The description of my restoration process is soooo wide of the mark - but more on that later. And he/she was wrong - it wasn’t a gig they already had that someone else had done a better…blablabla…
BUT… On every page I say everyone can take the download for nothing. And most do, and that’s ok. That’s why the site was created. But SOME PEOPLE (and it’s far less than 1% of downloads) do like to support what I do - and so the separated stuff is there for those that do.
I guess his/her main beef is that he doesn’t want to donate and is pissed off he doesn’t get separated files for free like he/she gets from Dime-A-Dozen and similar sources. The majority when asked said they wanted an MP3. Boom, that’s it. Wait around long enough, pally - someone will take the free MP3, then split it, save it as flacs and torrent it somewhere. It happens.
So, as he or she isn’t sure why I have any “major costs”:
Not the website itself - that’s still on Blogger, which is free, as said.
File storage and domain costs I do pay for (and I have several web domains pointing to the site). I now have 2 sources of file storage since someone tried to get me taken down a few months back - both I pay for. I can’t afford to do that indefinitely and may ultimately move over to the 2nd provider - but that’s far more work than I can cope with right now, so at the moment I pay for both. Files are not on free providers that let you download 1 recording an hour… I pay for extra bandwidth and storage, so people can grab as many as they want without restriction. The new provider also allows streaming, which is cool. That isn’t free.
I mention the donation link so those that want to, can find it easily - that might be 1 donation of a couple of quid for every 4-500 downloads on most shows. Want to see my new yacht? There ain’t one… But fortunately, my costs have almost always been covered since 2017 - and if there’s been any extra in 1 particular year, that’s gone towards better software to do this stuff. Some people have donated just because they love what I do, and want nothing in return. Ultimately the donations I get keep the site running - until I had to give up working in 2017, I could easily pay any costs from my own pocket. That is no longer the case. And without the donations (which started before I ever asked for any), the site would be gone already.
My fan then came out with this little gem to anyone responding to his post:
“He comes across as very much an amateur and there doesn't seem to be anyone in his comments applying any kind of audio rigour to his work. He's catering for the casual listener essentially”
Do you want anyone to download it or not?! :-) Well, I actually say on the site that I’m an amateur so that’s not news but they got that last sentence right, at least - but plenty of bootleg collectors too have messaged to say they enjoyed what I have done to gigs they already had other copies of.
I did have 1 guy comment on 1 show who claimed he was a pro engineer and said how good a job I had done on that gig he downloaded - it’s there on the site somewhere. And some pay me to restore stuff for them - including Shed Seven, a “name” band that still fill arenas when they get together. So I guess I must be at least reasonably ok at this now. I don’t claim to be the best at what I do but I’ve heard plenty of shitty “remastered by” recordings (and put right a few of those too)…ultimately I leave it to others to judge.
So we move on - I finished the restoration and let you all know about it. He/she then posted this on the New Order board:
“The download page is here (content warning the free mp3 contains some excruciating local radio style intro and outro by the Live & Loud guy)
https://www.liveandlouds...der-live-in-oakland.html
His description of his "remastering" process is pretty much the same vagueness as he writes on all the blogs”
I can feel the love from here…truly… I keep the description of the restoration process deliberately vague as most people REALLY DO NOT CARE. But it does stay relevant to each gig. This year I started to keep notes as I went along as I’m getting more forgetful - anyone really wanting to know can always contact me and I will happily bore you to death with the detail now. But in short, most restorations involve hours/days using most or all of the following: Adobe Audition, Sonible Proximity EQ, Zynapse Unfilter, Izotope RX and Izotope Ozone. All restoration and audio software. But like I said, most really do not care.
If you don’t like the intros/outros… skip ‘em. They’re there for background info for those casual listeners that DL each show hundreds or thousands of times and if people want to skip it, go right ahead. Their existence also means a bit more work for those who like to put my restorations on their own channels and claim them as their own. Which when you spend days on each one and give them away for free is a bit galling. People can post them wherever they like but a simple “thanks to” and a link back to the site isn’t a lot to ask, is it?
I am really enjoying the fact I’ve been trolled by someone forcing him or her self to read my emails and visit the site! Anyway, I hope some of you got a laugh from this. No doubt he/she will now go away and post about how I wasted my time ranting about him/her, but I just thought some of you might enjoy this little glimpse of the kind of thing that pops up occasionally and have a laugh like I did. The internet - all life is here. God knows we all need a laugh sometimes! :-)
And now onto the main reason I was writing to you this time, which IS a bit more serious (and much shorter, honest)…
Breaktime
Those of you who have been following Live and Loud! Shows for a few years might remember that every so often I have to take a break due to chronic (ie long term) health stuff that sometimes takes over. Unfortunately that time has come along again. I’ve already been spending less time on screens than usual recently but it seems that’s not helping, so I plan on taking the rest of this month and August off.
I have a paid restoration to complete but after that - breaktime. Anyone donating in that time will still get whatever they request; that rarely takes more than a few minutes to sort out and I will be checking emails most days. But as I keep saying - you can also download anything on the site for free; the only thing I ask from you is that you enjoy the gig! :-)
Back soon. Be good. x
Sounds like another Vitriol snake out there trying to stir up malice again!
However, as we know they are in the minority & most people appreciate what you do & they do not have to donate if they do not wish to. Sadly these people have a small narrow mind with much unhappiness in their lives they wish to spread but we shan't let them.
Human kind- some people will always want to spread their poison to others with their nastiness -this will never sadly change. Moving on, You shall not let them win!
The internet is a large pond full of live. Not all of it Pleasant