PART 3 TAPE TRADING INFORMATION AND ETIQUETTE Your List Your list should include: Band, Date, Venue, Source, Generation, Grade and Time(length). Source The source is how the master tape was made. A Soundboard (SBD) is a tape made from the direct outputs of the soundboard at a show. The sound is usually up front and very clear. Depending on how it is mixed there is usually little to no crowd/hall ambiance mixed in. These are generally the most desirable tapes. However, keep in mind that not all SBD master tapes are perfect and there are several examples of defects on them. Audience (AUD) tapes are made with microphones in the venue. With Dead shows most of these come from the taper's section which is behind the soundboard. Front of Board (FOB) tapes are recordings that are made from in front of the soundboard and are usually stealth. Most consider the front of the soundboard a better place to record from. Stealth recordings are recordings that are made at shows or in parts of a venue where taping is not allowed. AUD recordings are rarely as clean as SBDs but some people prefer them because they give a better sense of "being there." Recordings made off of the radio are usually designated FM. With a good tuner FM recordings can sound quite good. Due to the limitations of radio they do lack the highest frequencies, however. Some people make finer distinctions regarding sources but that is beyond the scope of this article. If you are not sure of the source of your tape you can try to make an educated guess. It is a good idea to put a question mark on your list if you are guessing. Example: SBD? Generation The number of the generation is every copy in series made after the master. DAT(Digital Audio Tape) generations are generally not counted since a DAT copy of a DAT is a virtual clone. Some people call the first analogue(cassette) copy in a series an "analogue master", but I strongly disagree with this. To me the master tape is the tape that was made at the source. Period. Subsequent DAT copies of a DAT should be called clones. DAT copies of the old tapes from the GD vault are usually not counted as a generation. Examples: DAT(SBD master)>DAT>cass 1> cass 2 Cass 2 would be a 2nd generation copy of the soundboard. Many would indicate it like this SBD/2 Analogue reel from the vault(SBD master)>DAT>DAT>cass 1>cass 2 Since people do not count the DAT generations this would also be considered a SBD/2. Some people will refer to DAT masters and DAT copies from the vault as DAT SBD, DSBD or DSB. If you make an audience tape at a show yourself or tape something off of the radio that would be considered a master tape. Some people indicate this as FM/0 but I prefer FM/M. If you do not know the generation do not guess. I will put the generation as "low" on my list if I am pretty certain it is less than about 6th or so but don't know the exact generation. I usually base this on who I got the tape from and the sound of the tape. The important thing with generations is to be consistent. The lower the generation of the tape the more desirable it is. Higher generation tapes will have progressively more hiss, and host of other problems that can include: lack of bass and high frequencies, dulled transients, congested or otherwise blurred and indistinct sound. The cassette decks can play a major factor as well. A fifth generation tape that has only been through Nakamichi decks will likely sound better than a third generation tape that has gone through cheap dubbers. Grading The main thing to remember is be honest. If you grade tapes high just to attract people, they won't ever trade with you again. Grading is very subjective and varies from person to person. It is a good idea to thoroughly explain your grading philosophy on your list. Most people use letter grades. Some try to grade all tapes on the same scale, some make allowances for older tapes and AUD tapes and grade them easier. I try to grade everything on the same scale. Either way, explain your approach on your list. To give you an idea, this is how I grade my tapes: A+ An exceptional tape, sound is on par with a commercial release of a live recording. Only low gen SBD or FM qualify. A A very good tape with no major problems. May have some hiss when the band is not loud. Generally only SBD or FM, but a rare few exceptional AUD tapes can make it. A- Some problems, but nothing that really distracts from the music. May have some hiss, weak bass, or muffled sound, but not too badly. Usually higher gen. SBDs and decent AUDs. I will usually include 60s tapes with very slight amounts of distortion as A- as well- this is the one place I do slide a little. B+ Beginning to distract from the music. May have more extreme of the above and/or some distortion or balance problems. Also boomy AUD tapes. B Getting harder to listen to, but some music is still coming through. Usually old or rare, where better versions are not available. B- Takes some effort to listen to. C Virtually unlistenable. Timing Basically how long the show is. Some picky tapers want exact timings. Most people are happy with the length of tape the show is on to the nearest side. For example if you have a show that fits on a 100 min. tape and on one side of a 90 you would say 145 for the timing. It is also a good idea to give some sort of Set indication. Most use roman numerals for the sets. Some will indicate acoustic sets with an a, encores with an e. There are various ways of indicating partial sets. I use a p as in Ip meaning a partial first set. Examples of a listing 70/02/13 Fillmore East DSB/2 A+ 180 all -or- I, a, II 85/06/16 Greek Theatre SBD/4 A??135 Ip, II? The first one should be obvious. The second one indicates a show that fits on one and a half 90 minute tapes and has part of the 1st set and all of the 2nd. It is sometimes a good idea to have a column for comments where you can mention guests, rare songs, first/last times, etc. I personally find this a little impractical with sending a large list through email but it can be worked out. General Tape Trading Etiquette Shipping Agree beforehand how the tapes are going to be sent. If you are sending one to three tapes first class mail is the standard way to go and costs around a dollar or so. For more tapes Priority Mail is generally the standard. Up to 2 lbs is $3 with Priority Mail and usually ships in 2-3 days. You can send about 8-10 cassettes with cases and 10-12 without cases at this rate. Various grade of tape way differently. If you want to save some money you can send tapes Special Fourth Class which is commonly referred to as Book Rate and ships in about 5-7 days. 6 or 8 tapes would work out to around $1.50. If you are sending a large number of tapes this can work out to save you quite a bit of money. Also UPS is a good alternative if you are sending a large number of tapes. UPS on heavier packages is much less than Priority, a little more than Special Fourth Class, and will ship in 2-5 days depending on the distance. I prefer to ship tapes without their plastic cases. With larger numbers of tapes this can save you some money on shipping. Also the plastic cases can break real easy in the mail. Pull the cassette and J-card out of the plastic case leaving the J-card to cover the exposed tape. Make sure the tape is all the way wound. Rubber band two cassettes inverted flat against each other. They should fit tightly together making a package not much larger than one cassette in its plastic case. The standard means of shipping is the padded envelope. It is best to use the smallest one possible so that the tapes fit in tightly and do not shift around too much. Pieces of cardboard, paper, bubble wrap, etc. can be useful in packing. Staple and then use packing tape on the open end of the envelope. Shake the envelope as a test. If the cassettes are banging around you need to pack it better. The post office can be fairly rough on packages. If you are sending a large number of tapes, you will need to use a box. Other things Don't label the J-card. Write the date, venue, (set) and songlist on the back of the sticker labels for the cassette. Also include source/generation, and any other pertinent information. If when dubbing a tape you realize that it does not sound as good as you thought it did make sure you tell the person you are trading with. Don't use Dolby, EQ, or in any other way alter the tape unless the person you are sending the tapes wants you to. If your copy of the tape has Dolby and you did not indicate it on your list you should tell your trading partner and see how he wants to deal with it. Unless other arrangements have been made, you should ship a typical trade of tapes(6-10) within 2 or 3 weeks. If there is a problem contact your trading partner, don't leave him/her in the dark and hanging. If you are sending blanks to be dubbed onto DO NOT send more than agreed to. (more on trading for blanks(groveling) below) The general rule with Maxpoints is whoever buys the tapes keeps the points. Don't post your whole list to the Internet (this is bad netiquette as well). Just have a simple post stating how many hours you have or a few juicy tidbits from your list or some sort of basic description of what you have. Reuse the padded envelopes to save money and space in the landfills. **************************************************************