Van Halen – 2004-09-17- Phillips Arena – Atlanta, GA – ALD

No, this isn’t an ALD or a Soundboard. It is actually Eddie’s IEM feed.

MrGrayson: No, this isn’t an ALD or a Soundboard. It is actually Eddie’s IEM feed.

This may be the question of a fool (me), but why would Ed have his guitar in his own feed?

ron: This may be the question of a fool (me), but why would Ed have his guitar in his own feed?

So he can hear how poorly he was playing.

Bootleggers use device for deaf to record live shows illegally

Monday, July 31, 2000

By LARRY McSHANE
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — A system designed to help the hearing-impaired at concerts has provided bootleggers with a new tool to make illegal live recordings of exceptional quality, according to the record industry.

This latest wrinkle in the multimillion-dollar bootlegging industry takes advantage of a federal law requiring arenas to offer patrons use of an assistive listening device.

“We know through criminal investigations and informants that this is a common practice,” said Frank Creighton, senior vice president of anti-piracy at the Recording Industry Association of America.

Bootleggers can request an ALD headset, which provides a high-quality feed of a live show using a low-level FM frequency broadcast inside a facility.

The music pirates then steal the headset feed, giving them concert performances devoid of the usual bootleg problems such as random crowd noise or distortion, Creighton said.

“The quality is much higher than a typical bootleg,” Creighton continued. “No question about it.”

Bootleggers are using the devices provided for the hearing-impaired to record near-pristine versions of concerts by veterans like Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan plus a plethora of new acts.

“Every major act that’s in the Billboard top 100 is getting bootlegged in some manner,” Creighton says.

Advocates for the hearing-impaired were appalled by the new pirating technique.

“Oh my goodness! What concerns me is if this becomes so prevalent that the service is dropped,” said Mercy Coogan of Gallaudet University, the Washington, D.C.-based college for deaf and hard of hearing students.

“That could prohibit a whole lot of hard-of-hearing people from this very important mode of access.”

Arenas are required to provide the ALDs under the federal Americans with Disability Act, which marked its 10th anniversary Wednesday.

Typical of the ALD bootlegs is a Springsteen concert last Aug. 22 at Boston’s Fleet Center — one of the most popular illegal recordings of the Boss’ E Street Band reunion tour, according to Internet sites.

The three-CD collection is advertised as “soundboard quality,” with various mentions that it was done through an ALD.

The ALD rip-offs were news to officials at several major concert venues from coast to coast, including the new Staples Center in Los Angeles and the First Union Center in Philadelphia.

“We have the devices, but I haven’t heard of this,” said Ike Williams of the First United Center in Philadelphia.

Creighton says that arena policing is generally left up to bands and their road crews; many groups, from the Allman Brothers to the Dave Matthews Band, have encouraged their fans to tape and trade live performances.

The Recording Industry Association of America only becomes involved once the illegal material is manufactured and distributed, according to Creighton.

The association says hundreds of millions of dollars are lost annually through the various forms of bootlegging, and this new technique should add to that total.

guitard: There are a lot of things that can go wrong.But if everything goes exactly as planned, then yes, you can record a near soundboard recording.

The people who have the most success with these usually use their own equipment (receiver) and figure out where the sweet spot is in a venue for recording the ALD feed (which is basically a weak AM radio signal).

There was a guy in Florida who recorded several really nice ALD recordings from Ruth Eckard Hall in Clearwater while sitting in his car in the venue parking lot.So he didn’t even have to buy a ticket.That’s kind of an extreme case though, because at most places, the signal never makes it that far.

Pretty cool. Surprised this doesn’t happen more often. Any idea if the shows mentioned will ever surface? I assume they are VH?

I believe that Alex’s IEM feed has a click track, I don’t think Eddie uses a click track. I believe that the main purpose for an IEM is to hear yourself playing. Ed’s guitar & vocals are really high up in the mix. The bass on this recording is virtually non-existent except for Mike’s bass solo, an ALD should have a little bit more bass. Keep in mind that Eddie doesn’t like Mike, so I can see Ed having Mike’s bass turned down in his IEM. The drums are a little quieter than they would be in a ALD, Sammy’s vocals are hotter then they would be in a ALD. Keep in mind that this recording is from 2004 and advances in technology have made made since then. Also this recording sounds mono to my ears, both ALD and single IEM feeds are usually mono. But maybe they mix ALDs differently in Atlanta? Personally, I call BS on an audience recording being synched up to this.

Randy this sounds AWESOME…..

I’m working on a DVD/blu-ray of the Greensboro 4-21-12 show that will have a matrix of two IEMs and an audience recording.

ron: Bootleggers use device for deaf to record live shows illegallyMonday, July 31, 2000By LARRY McSHANETHE ASSOCIATED PRESSThe Recording Industry Association of America only becomes involved once the illegal material is manufactured and distributed, according to Creighton.The association says hundreds of millions of dollars are lost annually through the various forms of bootlegging, and this new technique should add to that total.

I would like to see the supporting data for the last statement.

Bands could curb this whole thing by taking the Pearl Jam route or the Metallica route or the Blues Traveler route or any number of other ways to deal with recordings