Reading the 2000 thread about people complaining about the mixing on some of that tour's boots...

Has anyone noticed how awful the bootlegs from the Garden sound? They're so hollow-sounding and distant. It almost feels like they're a borderline audience recording. Check out the 5.24.06, 5.25.06 boots and the recent one from 5.17.10. I listen to that, then throw on the new Philly boots or any show from this tour and there's such a difference in quality it pisses me off.

Funny thing is I saw Metallica last year at the Garden, bought the bootleg and it sounded the same way. What's the deal.

The thing is the echo is the only real problem with the Boston boots. The Philly ones sound much worse to my ears because the low end of the sound frequency has been mixed out of the recordings so the guitars and vocals sound very shrill.

I'll agree with that Philly observation.

The echo kills the Boston Boots. In the new one at points where they're rocking you can barely make out Eddie's lyrics and those of us who were there his voice sounded fucking great that night. On the bootleg itself Bee Girl and and Just Breathe sound refreshing in terms of hearing the fullness of Eddie's voice because the full band isn't playing. What a shame.

I don't know, the echo bothered me some when I first heard it, but I've been listening to that boot a lot over the past week and it doesn't bother me at all anymore. It still sounds better than any bootleg since at least 2006.

I think the 2010 Boston boot sounds great in comparison to the last few years. My only small complaint is Mike could be turned up a little bit, but everything else sounds fine and I think it does a good job of capturing the show. Eddie sounded way better than I ever expected him to that night, and it comes across on the boot.

Mike's levels are actually pretty good. Listen to how loud he is on the Buffalo boot.

I kind of like Mike to be loud. I dont want it to be so much that it takes away from the other instruments, but personally I like his solos to boom on Alive and stuff like that. It isnt really low or something on the Boston boot, just for my preference it could be a little bit louder, that's all.

A side note on the Boston boot. I didnt remember(or notice) that Boom totally missed the organ part during the bridge(? I think it was the bridge) during LROM. I remembered that song being totally kick ass that night, and once I listened to the boot it was kind of average. I had the opposite effect with Push Me Pull Me as I mentioned in a previous thread, I thought it was sloppy when I was there but they totally nailed it after I heard the boot.

Mike needs to be a lot louder on the Boston boot. Agreed. And I love the Push Me, Pull Me from that night. They do a great job of making it into a punk rock song live.

I don't know, I could see Mike being a little louder but he's pretty close to where I want him to be.

I thought the guitars sounded too muddy and distant. When Stone or Mike is soloing, you can't hear them at all. That's my main complaint with these 2010 boots. The mixes are shit. And they're done after the fact in a studio so they shouldn't be! How hard is it to turn up Mike's level when he starts to solo?

Some times I wonder what they're thinking when they take these recordings into the studio to mix them. It has to have something to do with the venues in which they play. It seems like each bootleg has an issue with one of the band members sounding too distant.