ANNOUNCE: 1981.02.28 - Buenos Aires NEW full mono source from AM radio

Queen
1981.02.28 - Buenos Aires Estadio 'José Amalfitani' de Vélez Sarsfield (Argentina)

Lineage:

- Analog source:
Radio Rivadavia AM mono broadcast -> Ken Brown C8125 audio system -> Dual mono cassette tape x2: two sides of a BASF chromdioxid SM cassette 60 and one side of a Ken Brown Hi-E C-90
Taped by Horacio Gandolfo from the live broadcast on 1981.02.28

- A/D transfer:
Dual mono cassette tape x2 -> Onkyo TA-RW 404 tape deck -> Sony STR-DE 825 receiver -> Sony Sound Forge Pro v11.0 @ 192 KHz/32-bit (float)
Cassette tape restoration and digital transfer by Gabriel Justo (Ledzep80) on 2019.03.31

- Digital share:
3 dual mono FLAC files @ 48 KHz/24-bit (one per tape side), total timing 1:37:39
8 JPEG image files
1 info text file
Posted in QueenZone by Wilki Amieva on 2019.04.02

Tracklist:

A - BASF chromdioxid SM cassette 60 side A: 30:57
01. We Will Rock You (fast) - cut in the beginning
02. Let Me Entertain You
03. Play The Game
04. Mustapha
05. Death On Two Legs
06. Killer Queen
07. I'm In Love With My Car
08. Get Down, Make Love *
09. Need Your Loving Tonight
10. Rock It (Prime Jive) - cut

B - BASF chromdioxid SM cassette 60 side B: 30:55
10. Rock It (Prime Jive) - cut
11. Save Me
12. Now I'm Here
13. Dragon Attack **
14. Now I'm Here - reprise *
15. Love Of My Life
16. Keep Yourself Alive
17. Drum Solo
18. Guitar Solo - cut

C - Ken Brown Hi-E C-90 side A: 35:47
18. Guitar Solo - cut
19. Flash
20. The Hero
21. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
22. Bohemian Rhapsody
23. Tie Your Mother Down
24. Another One Bites The Dust
25. Sheer Heart Attack
26. Commentary (by Silvio Soldán, Mónica Gutiérrez and Fernando Bravo)/Radio ads (by Eduardo Marino)
27. We Will Rock You (slow)
28. We Are The Champions **
29. God Save The Queen *

* Missing in most of the previous sources
** Faded out in most common source

Links:
http://mega.nz/#F!TE0UFQAK!bVYejHTJjam8b2pALTpIuw
http://www.facebook.com/groups/124206838200046 (Facebook group source)

Technical notes:

This is a NEW mono source for the famous Queen debut concert in Argentina. This one is taken from the Radio Rivadavia AM radio broadcast, so it contains some commentary (by Fernando Bravo, Carlos Barulich and others). Fortunately, it doesn't affect the actual songs and, apart from the tape flips and some very minor cuts, the show is complete! AFAIK, this is the first time the (almost) full AM radio broadcast from the first Buenos Aires date surfaces.

Other than standard DC offset removal, phase correction, L/R level adjusting, normalization @ -1dB and sampling rate/bit depth conversion (pre/post filtering and dithering with noise shaping) made in Adobe Audition CC 2018 b11.1.1.3, this is offered as a raw recording. No pitch/time correction, no NR, no Eq has been performed whatsoever. I'm sharing this in 48 KHz/24-bit as per limitations of the original AM mono source. AM transmissions have a bandwidth of 20 KHz, so a low-pass filter is applied before broadcast, cutting off everything above the said frequency. L/R channels have been kept just in case both are needed for repairs. Feel free to tamper with this recording to suit your hearing taste and/or to convert it to your favourite format! Please try to keep it lossless for sharing purposes.

Kudos to Horacio and Gabriel!!!

- Wilki

Source notes:

First of all, I want to thank Horacio Gandolfo for his generosity in sharing this wonderful concert with all of us and give me the needed time in order to restore the cassette tapes to the best possible conditions and to digitize them. My gratitude goes to Wilki Amieva for advices and good vibes.

Personally, I've been hoping for something like this... In late 2018 I discovered the 'QUEEN COLECCIONISMO ARGENTINA: Exhibición, Compra, Venta y Canje' Facebook group, in which pictures, audio/video, experiences, information, etc. are shared on a daily basis and I decided to join. On March 21st 2019, Horacio made a publication in the said group claiming he had these two cassettes and asked how much they would worth. As soon as I've read his comments, I contacted him and over the course of many chats, he decided it would be a good idea to digitize them and share the audio in the Facebook group. He also agreed to make it available in QueenZone, as the main source of unofficial material in the web. This is our tiny retribution to all the people that shared material in this site. Because I maintain a low profile in QueenZone and this is my first share, I've asked Wilki to share it in this site, as the knowledge, patience (I guess) and English skills he shows in his posts make him a good choice to answer any queries.

Considering the age of the tapes, IMHO the recording is better than good. I've dismantled and cleaned each cassette, replaced the pressure pads and put it back together, and then aligned the tape before each transfer. The SNR is acceptable. Also the tuning was quite clear. In certain parts in between songs there are little pauses. I guess Horacio was saving tape, or perhaps the broadcast had some mishaps.

After some wondering, I decided to share the audio in its raw form - all virtues and shortcomings evident. This would be as close as possible to the cassette masters, not 'remastered' and not even tracked. So you can work on it as you please. I might share my own 'remaster' in the future.

Thanks to every contributor to Yeeshkul!, QueenZone, Argentium, RuTracker, The Trader's Den and all such websites that let users share unofficial material - non-profit. This is the first time I have the opportunity to do so. If you have uncirculated material, please share. It's the only way the material you're waiting for will eventually come to light.

- Gabriel

Thanks for the share! I can only see A and not B,C though :)

A and B should be there. C is going up!

Thanks, but it only contains tape side A.

Fantastic! Thanks for the share to everyone involved! :)

-Chin

Thanks!

muchas gracias por tu aporte :D

Congratulations for a work done with love for the music and care for the technical aspects.

Thank you very much!

MERCI BEAUCOUP

Wiki, antes que nada gracias por compartir esto.
Te pregunto desde el total desconocimiento técnico, así que perdona la pregunta si no procede: ¿no tiene mejor calidad de sonido la versión del cassette de Safigueroa que es stereo? O sea, ¿que es lo que aporta este nueva versión en AM?. Por cierto, ¿sabes si el concierto de Mar del Plata solo se emitió en AM?
Un saludo

Google english translate :)
I ask you from the total technical ignorance, so forgive the question if it does not apply: does not the Safigueroa cassette version that is stereo have better sound quality? That is, what is it that brings this new version in AM ?

Hello, Gambri!

Gogo Safigueroa's cassette was a first generation stereo copy from the 1/4" open reel master tape. Sadly, it omitted three tracks: Get Down, Make Love, Now I'm Here - reprise and God Save The Queen, and had extense fade outs in Dragon Attack and We Are The Champions, and some other bits missing. Several copies of this cassette tape were made in the '80s, and then one of these copies was transferred to CD in the mid-'90s and found its way to the bootleggers (like Gypsy Eye's First Major Rock). I found one of this second generation cassettes in the collection of M.S. and transferred it again in the early '00s - using this new transfer and some excerpts from a mono source I was able to patch the First Major Rock CDs to produce an improved version. This was also bootleged as the 'Gogo Safigueroa' tape - but THIS IS INCORRECT.

Now we have that mono source almost complete, and with better lineage. It could be used to patch the stereo source to get the full concert.

Huge thanks to all involved.

Thank you very much!

wilki, este es el q estaba en face el otro dia?? en save me freddie presenta a Brian al piano, Fernando pregunta q dijo, y su ayudante, tal vez sea silvio, dijo, esta presentando a los musicos, acaba de presentar a JOHN DEACON jajajaj, mortal