How are they made? Where do they come from?

I hope that's not a stupid question to ask, especially after all this time of being a Prince fan, but I'm curious. I know there's been much talk of studio bootlegs that have surfaced and how they got out, but concerts seem harder to "capture" sonically.

What really sparked this question for me is the Hotel Gansevoort shows from last October. I have seen (but not heard) these concerts available out there, and I have no idea what the quality is like. But since I was at the aftershow and I know how small the room was, and I know how tight the security was, I'm wondering how anybody managed to record it. Seriously, when Dave Chapelle jumped onstage during the break and started talking about Obama, a guy in the audience pulled out his cell phone to show a picture of Obama. Security was all over the guy in seconds.

Even in bigger concerts, I'm curious how the bootleggers do it. Is the equipment needed to record small enough that nobody would notice it being used?

I've often wondered this myself, although I'm sure it's much easier now that everything is digital. You can definately hear the difference in sound from a modern digitally recorded boot to any of the older audience recorded stuff some of them could almost pass for soundboard..

I'm still curious as to what sort of recording equipment they use though..

i think this thread might get closed soon

Hotel Gansevoort sounds pretty good btw..

some of the best concert bootlegs come from soundboard recordings, which leads me to believe that some of these boots are the work of unscrupulous sound people. also, doesn't prince record all his shows? his own recordings might even be the source material for some of these boots.

japanrocks said:

we can talk about the whys and the hows of bootleggery. we just can't talk about where to get them or make any offers to trade, sell, buy, etc.

Anxiety said:

Another stupid question...What's a soundboard?

my mate dave from the pub says that prince puts a tiny tape recorder in his pocket and records them himself and then gives them to a bloke who works at the car boot sales who makes copies of them and sells them at the markets and stuff

a soundbored is when you've heard the same songs a million times before, which is what dye hard fans get when they have been following him around on tour. purple rain is a soundbored for example, and so is covers of the same sly and the family stone songs all the time

That's a great question. I was also at the same show with Efan and the hotel was a very, very tight fit for folks and to know that they were able to get a boot out of that show is very bizarre to me. I really didn't think that there would be a boot out from any of the shows that night cause security wasn't playing around at all that night.

purplecam said:

security are always tight. they wouldn't lend me $4 to get a bottle of water

Security at the Indigo was pretty lax during the 21 nights it's not surprising that all shows ended up circulating.

And to answer your question dannyd5050 a soundboard means a recording taken directly from the mixing desk at the gig these recordings are usually of better quality than an audience recording.