Rush - Scanning The Waves-Titanium Edition
June 27, 1992
East Troy, WI., Alpine Valley Music Theater
Source: 2 channel scanner recording
Source Lineage: 2 Radio Shack scanners(Geddy's IEM & Alex's Wireless Guitar)>Sony TCD-D3 DAT Recorder(32kHz sampling frequency, 4hr LP mode)>DAT Master Clone>Scanning The Waves-PE CDs>EAC(Secure Mode)>PC>FLAC 8

This has been an ongoing project for a long time now. It was first attempted in Feb. 08 but after constant frustration, it sat on the back burner for a few years while I picked away at it from time to time. Since I consider this a fairly unique recording, I just wanted to see how it would sound with a little bit of work. However, this became the most tedious project I've done and the further I got into it the more I wanted to finish it. But to just give you an idea of how long this took, it probably averaged one hour per minute of audio to repair. Which you can imagine takes quite a while.
So, this is a new and improved version of "Scanning The Waves-PE" which is was good but suffered from a major amount of static on one channel. Originally the source had Alex's wireless guitar on the left channel and Geddy's IEM feed on the right. The main problem was that Alex's guitar feed had some serious reception issues. In order to correct this, the reception problems had to be addressed first which is not an easy task and in some cases not always perfect. Since this is just the guitar feed, it did help in the repair and with careful patching techniques, you can replace identical notes to match the effected parts. This is quite time consuming to say the least and at times I wondered if it was even worth it.
Some repair attempts were useless and just could not be salvaged so the guitar feed was removed to avoid constant static. Most notably during the last minute and a half of Big Money. Much of it was fixed but the last 15 seconds of the guitar feed was not so I felt it better just to remove that small part from the song. I also did notice something unusual with the sound quality between the first disc and the second disc. The right channel(Geddys feed) on the first disc is not the same on the second disc at all. The sound on his feed is more muffled and less clear on the first disc. It seems very odd to me since it should be the same. His vocals are more "up front" and louder on the second disc which makes me wonder if the source is different or perhaps some processing was done. The levels were certainly higher when compared but the sound is still better on the second disc. I doubled check shared versions of this release and they have the same issue. So given this slight sound difference, I decided to keep the original split on these discs the same so the first disc without the sound check is only about 55 mins. and the second is around 77 mins. Once the left channel was corrected then both channels could be mixed together properly so you now get both scanners on each channel.
The original release came with the sound check as well but I decided not to include that here. To be honest it was in much worse shape to try and salvage compared to the actual show. It really wasn’t worth my time and if you still want the sound check material then I'm sure you can grab that elsewhere from the original release.
Overall, this still is not perfect in some places nor will it beat a good audience recording so keep that in mind. Although 99% of the static is gone,you will hear some in minor spots, plus some hiss from the feeds but I think you will really like how this came out. It is much more enjoyable to listen to now and I think it's a decent improvement overall. Of course, credit goes to the original producer (Digital Reproductions) and the taper (Admiral Nelson). I truly do appreciate what it took to get this out there for everyone to enjoy. So be sure to thank them where ever they are. This is just something else to enjoy which would not of been possible without their efforts in the first place!
Finally, basic artwork has been provided for this release. Please share freely but only in its lossless format unless for personal use and do not sell. Thank you.

April-2012


Rush - Scanning The Waves-Titanium Edition

Disc 1 - 55:44

01 - Intro   0:58
02 - Force Ten   4:43
03 - Limelight   4:20
04 - Freewill   4:03
05 - Distant Early Warning   4:26
06 - Time Stand Still   6:37
07 - Dreamline   4:58
08 - Bravado   6:55
09 - Roll The Bones   6:06
10 - Show Don’t Tell   6:19
11 - The Big Money   6:15

DISC 2 - 77:23

01 - Ghost Of A Chance   5:57
02 - Vital Signs   4:46
03 - The Analog Kid   5:46
04 - The Trees   4:49
05 - Where’s My Thing   5:46
06 - The Rhythm Method   8:08
07 - Closer To The Heart   4:45
08 - Xanadu   6:38
09 - Superconductor   5:37
10 - Tom Sawyer   6:24
11 - The Spirit Of Radio   4:52
12 - 2112 Overture   3:18
13 - Finding My Way   2:04
14 - La Villa Strangiato   3:13
15 - Anthem   1:43
16 - Red Barchetta   1:32
17 - The Spirit Of Radio (reprise)/Cygnus X-1  1:56



ORIGINAL NOTES:

Rush - Scanning The Waves PE
Media: 2 CDR
Time: 80:39, 77:27
Catalog: Digital Reproductions: DR-62792-9
Source: Scanner (DAT Master Clone)
Date: June 27, 1992
Location: Alpine Valley Music Theater, East Troy, Wisconsin, USA
Bookmark: http://www.digitalrushexperience.com/database/review.php?RecordingID=1337

Now thanks to the taper, we have the full scanner source of this show.  Best yet, this is mastered from the original DAT master.  Since this is a scanner source, there are some receptions problems, but it seems to be a problem only on the guitar channel and not on the soundboard channel.  It isn't anything bad, but it is there from time to time.  Alex can be heard on the left channel as an electric guitar with no effects. Since Alex uses a wireless guitar system, some people were able to pick it up on a scanner and record it. This is one such case. Alex comes through very clearly with the rest of the band on the monitor channel on the right channel.

While this is probably not a recording I would listen to a lot, it does have its merits. A recording like this provides a very unique perspective and insight into how the songs are deconstructed because you can follow one instrument almost exclusively. If you are a guitar player and are trying to learn Alex's style, this recording is very useful. Special thanks to Admiral Nelson for lending us his source to use for this production.

Taper's Notes:

This show was my first successful scanner recording. After varying degrees of success in previous attempts, I was finally able to perfect the art of wireless recording. Unfortunately, the soundboard channel I locked on to this particular night was less than optimal from an instrument/sound mix standpoint. Overall, this show is very enjoyable to listen to since it is so unique. the DAT master source sounds superior to the analog sourced versions that have floated around over the years.

The performance itself is excellent since this is the 2nd to last show of the RTB tour. If you are a musician (or a recreational musician like myself) then you have to love this recording. Geddy's bass is prominent in the soundboard mix and Alex's guitar is completely raw and isolated on the other channel. What more could you ask for if you are trying to learn Rush's music?

I recorded this show with two high end Radio Shack scanners direct to DAT (32kHz sampling frequency, 4hr LP mode). I used a Sony TCD-D3 DAT recorder and Maxell DM120 DAT tape. At that time, the only affordable DAT portable was the old 1st generation Sony TCD-D3. The D3 sucked battery power like there was no tomorrow so I had to use about three (3) battery packs to do this show. At the time, the rechargeable battery packs were proprietary to Sony and cost about $75 each. I got around this problem by building my own alkaline batter packs (out of miscellaneous Radio Shack parts) for about $10 each. Thanks to models like the D7, D8, and M1 those days are over!


DISC 1:

01 - Roll the Bones (sound check)   5:17
02 - The Analog Kid (sound check)   3:13
03 - Force Ten (sound check)   3:10
04 - Addicted to That Rush (Mr. Big opening act)   3:57
05 - Rush Stage Setup   9:13
06 - Intro   0:58
07 - Force Ten   4:33
08 - Limelight   4:20
09 - Freewill   4:03
10 - Distant Early Warning   4:28
11 - Time Stand Still   6:28
12 - Dreamline   5:03
13 - Bravado   6:58
14 - Roll The Bones   6:04
15 - Show Don’t Tell   6:19
16 - The Big Money   6:17

DISC 2:

01 - Ghost Of A Chance   5:57
02 - Vital Signs   4:46
03 - The Analog Kid   5:29
04 - The Trees   5:07
05 - Where’s My Thing   5:39
06 - The Rhythm Method   8:15
07 - Closer To The Heart   4:46
08 - Xanadu   6:37
09 - Superconductor   5:04
10 - Tom Sawyer   6:58
11 - The Spirit Of Radio   4:54
12 - 2112 Overture   3:17
13 - Finding My Way   2:05
14 - La Villa Strangiato   3:13
15 - Anthem   1:43
16 - Red Barchetta   1:33
17 - The Spirit Of Radio   0:53
18 - Cygnus X-1   1:02