Welcome - About Live and Loud!

Live and Loud! began as a fortnightly internet radio show in 2012 taking old unreleased live concert recordings I could find and working to repair and improve them - fixing tape hiss, noise, tape drop out, clicks, speed variations, defects - before improving the sound quality by EQing the sound to bring out the instruments as clearly as possible. These are now made directly available to download for free to reach as many fans of the music as possible.

Depending on the quality of the original recording, these can often be made to sound almost like commercial recordings - but of course I can't guarantee that for every show. What I can guarantee is it will sound far better than the original files available which have been floating around the internet and on bootleg recordings for many years.

Almost all are either "soundboard" recordings (taken directly from the mixing desk used at the gig on the night) or old FM radio recordings. A few gigs, if they are of special historical importance, make an appearance even if they were recorded from the audience - these can also be made to sound better than ever.

Do your ears a favour and listen on headphones or good speakers to get most benefit - laptop speakers will always sound pretty poor by comparison.

All shows still available are listed, including a link to download the remastered show for free. If you want to support the site with a small donation, you can receive the shows as either separate MP3s or FLACs (your choice) - head over to the Rewards for Donations page and see how you can get a lot for very little!

If you want to email me, an email link is in my profile in a link in the side panel.

And finally... These are great fun to listen to but DO NOT replace original releases - support these artists and buy their music. There is nothing you can go and buy in a regular record store here. If a gig is made available as a regular release, then it will be removed (as a couple have been already).

Rewards For Donations




 

 

I've updated the payments facility to allow donations via Ko-fi. This STILL allows you to use Paypal if you wish but also allows you to use bank cards or Apple Pay (both are handled securely by Stripe, via Ko-fi)

Those wishing to donate in return for separated MP3s, FLACs or shows on CDRs, please click the button, select the right payment amount and send me a note of the show or shows you want in the message box, WITH YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS please, and you’ll have them within 48 hours (usually far quicker).

If you wish to just donate because you appreciate the site, and don't want anything else in return (as some have), that's fine too of course and gratefully received; thank you.

I DO respond to everyone who donates within 24 hours, either with files or to acknowledge receipt. If you do want files please remember to send your email address in the message box - preferably with an alternate one if you have it. A few people are not getting my emails - usually googlemail and yahoo users - so it helps to have an alternative.


All these shows are free to download from the site and will always remain so. However, I have had people offering to donate money to my costs - site costs, file hosting (these shows do not disappear after a few weeks or months, like so many on the internet - and it does cost extra to facilitate that), internet bill, and other subscriptions for downloading the original recordings I remaster. Donations have been gratefully received in the past - but I wanted people to have something back, in return for their generosity.

SO... for anyone donating, you can request copies of shows as separated and tagged 320 kbps MP3s or FLAC files; or even shows on CD if you really want them. The tags will all refer to the artist and the show, etc, not "Live and Loud! Shows 2020" or whatever as the free files do.

Options are all priced in UK Pounds (UKP) and are probably the only thing that hasn't increased in price in the world, in the last 6 years:

1. A show of your choice as separate, tagged 320 kbps MP3s in return for a donation of £2.

2. A show as separate, tagged lossless FLAC format files in return for a donation of £5.

3. CDs - The WAV burned to CDR, separated with individual track titles etc. Cost for these would be £7 for a show on 1 CD, or £10 for longer shows where 2 CDs are needed.This includes UK postage. Overseas listeners please contact me and I'll try and make delivery as cheap as possible for you. Please note, these will come in a plain sleeve but no printed cover and case is included, I just don't have the facilities (or the artistic skill...).

Any combination of the above is possible, of course. I do offer discounts for multiple shows in FLAC format - 5 shows for the price of 4, 10 for the price of 8, and so on. Email me if you're unsure.


Ironically, given it was first suggested to me by a listener that I should ask for donations, I do get grief from some quarters for this, so let me be clear. There is absolutely NO OBLIGATION to donate but to those who do - thank you; it does help keep the site going (I can't work for health reasons and don't claim any financial help other than my small work pension, so every donation does help cover domain and storage costs).

If you do wish to, please click on the Ko-fi link above, or on the right hand side of this page. Please remember to add a note with which show(s) and format you want and I'll be in touch asap. If the files are already available as tagged files (and over half of the shows now are), I can usually get links to you the same day. However, do please allow up to 48 hours to receive your files - some shows still have to be prepared manually from the master file containing the repairs and remastering; this is not an automated service. Most are still sent the next day but if I can't send them within 48 hours (eg if I'm away from the studio for a day or 2) I'll let you know.

I like to think I've got a bit better at this over the years - so if asking for any of the older shows, these might be tweaked again before being sent to you if I think it necessary (over 60 have been so far). So don't be put off asking for 1 of the older shows too.

Please note I work on my shows after converting everything to lossless WAVs. Final show files in .mp3 and .flac formats are produced from my remastered .wav master show file. However, some Live and Loud! shows were originally created from MP3 source files - mostly earlier shows. Where possible, I prefer lossless files as original sources to work on but this isn't always possible. In any case, the final result will always sound far far better than the original source.



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