The performances kicked off Suede's winter tour and were part of the promotion for the band's latest single, attitude, and greatest hits album, singles, released on 20 October 2003. Due to the unrepeatable nature of the event, Gardner decided to augment her usual portable, 32-channel direct-to-disk system. "It's accepted professional practice to double up on formats when you're recording one-offs to any computer-based system - plus it's just common sense. There are no second chances with this sort of event and I felt that the tape-based Tascam DA98 and 78s provided the best option."
Gardner continued: "We ran completely discrete analogue feeds off stage into the Tascams, knowing that if anything happened to my converters or Powerbook, I would still be left with a safe recording. From experience, I know that Tascam A to D has a well-deserved reputation, meaning that nothing would be lost in audio quality either."
Formerly an engineer at both Olympic and Townhouse Studios, Julie Gardner now operates her own location recording company, Jam DVD, based at a West London studio catering for recording, mixing and writing and now set-up for 5.1 surround mixing. She has recorded and/ or mixed live sessions for The Pretenders, Joe Jackson, Mel C, Kings of Leon and Sinead O'Connor among others.
(Lee Baldock)
