# Performance & recording notes — the archivist's log

Durable capture of **PLN's ear-feedback** on recordings, performances, samples,
transitions, mistakes and fixes. This is source material for better sampling,
effect choices, and auto-mastering heuristics — write down everything, even
small reactions. One section per take/performance; cite track + timecode.

> Convention (see project CLAUDE.md): every listening pass that yields a reaction
> gets logged here. Times are in the take's proxy/stem seconds unless noted.

---

## Take89 — Montreuil Algorave V3 "Mai Floral", 2026-05-22 (15 tracks)

> Gig metadata (venue **Les Nouveaux Sauvages, Montreuil**, org @a_f_alfl, visuals
> @shipow, poster, setlist) is canonical in `Work/Web/www/next/content/lives/2026/
> montreuil-algorave.md` + `/tracks.json` — **do not duplicate or invent here.**
> Mastering artifacts reference take-id + date only. (split_bandcamp.py's
> `ALBUM="…La Cour des Lézards"` is WRONG → fix in metadata quest.)

Boundaries (machine-readable, merged + conflict-resolved):
`tide-table/boundaries_take89_validated.json`. Calibration: proxy ≈ GT_master − 3.

### Listening pass 2026-06-05 — RESPLIT review, phone + Sony WH-1000XM5

> PLN auditioned ~half the Montreuil resplit masters on **mobile + WH-1000XM5**
> (phone playback = real mono/translation + small-driver test). Track numbers per
> canonical setlist (montreuil-algorave/tracks.json). Times = within-resplit-track.
> These drive #26 (resplit crossfade bleed), #31 (edge-detection), and a NEW
> cross-track-consistency concern (kick level, high-end harshness).

- **T2 Piment Brésilien** — *"stylé!"* BUT *"les aigus un peu trop perçants sur mobile
  quand il monte vraiment high le piment comme les keys, surtout quand les effets sont
  forts."* → **high-end harshness on mobile** when the lead/keys climb high + FX heavy.
  Fix candidate: dynamic high-shelf / de-ess tied to FX intensity; check 4–8kHz on a
  mobile-sim curve. (Tonal-balance instrument, mono/small-driver target.)
- **Boundary bleed (~T2→T3?)** — *"le début de la suivante mal cut genre 5s trop tôt?
  On entend le changement de basse AVANT le cut!"* → split point ~5s too early; the
  **next track's bass change is audible in the current track's tail**. Classic
  crossfade/boundary bleed (#26). Likely Piment→Take5Drops; confirm by ear.
- **T3 Take 5 Drops → T4 Super Sunny Side Up** — *"transition un peu abrupte: silence à
  la fin de la 3 puis 4 qui démarre direct?"* → **hard silence→onset**, no overlap.
  Needs a short crossfade or trim-to-groove rather than dead-silence butt-join.
- **T4 Super Sunny Side Up** — *"se terminerait à 0400, ou à 0409 sur un petit fade —
  moins laborieux la fin."* → **end is laborious**; trim to **4:00**, or **4:09 w/ a
  small fade**. (Outro edge-detection #31.)
- **T5 W.I.P. W.A.P.**:
  - *"commence sur 1s+ de break puis vocal? Commence direct au vocal voyons!"* →
    **trim the ~1s break intro, start on the vocal** (#31 intro-trim).
  - *"silence bizarre de 0329 à 0331 — investigate?"* → **~2s odd silence/dropout @
    3:29–3:31**; investigate source (gap in stems? mute glitch?).
  - *"ensuite c'est le bordel jusqu'à 0342 où on commence à crossfade 'Plosive."* →
    messy tail 3:31–3:42. **Proposal: crossfade directly ~3:26 → 3:45+ into 'Plosive.**
    PLN wants to **test fragments** of this transition. 😁
- **T6 'Plosive**:
  - *"au casque Sony WH5, le kick est trop fort comparé aux basses et même aux éléments
    mélodiques — ptet trop 'loud' comparé au mix du kick dans les autres pistes."* →
    **kick level inconsistent across the set** (Plosive kick hotter than others).
    Cross-track kick-gain matching needed (set-relative mastering, not per-track only).
  - *"2:59 'Plosive ends, next sound is Bogdan **Jeudrill** sample — bad cut."* → the
    resplit of 'Plosive (T6) **runs into T7 Jeudi Drill** (jeudrill.tidal, Bogdan
    sampled voice). Boundary ~5–10s late / includes next-track head (#26).

**Cross-cutting takeaways (feed the engines):**
1. **Boundaries are still bleeding both ways** — too-early (bass pre-echo) and too-late
   (next-track head). Per-orbit timbral novelty (#25) + ear-gate, not level alone.
2. **High-end harshness is mobile-specific** → need a **mobile/mono translation check**
   in the tonal instrument, not just LUFS/TP.
3. **Kick loudness must be matched ACROSS tracks** (set-relative), a new dimension on
   top of per-track −14.
4. PLN wants a **fragment-test loop** for transitions (esp. WAP→'Plosive crossfade).

### Sample / sound identity (measured + PLN)
- **PunkAChien**: core riff = **cpluck** (orbit-05, A♯/G♯) octave-dropped — the
  bass/riff spine, plays nearly throughout. **acid** = vec1_acid (orbit-04, D2),
  front-half + a build. **moog** (orbit-09) = the deep mononote **sub**, drop-only
  (enters ~242–281s of the single). `meth_bass` (orbit-06) **silent this take**
  (named like a wobble monster, plays zero seconds — verify by ear, not by name).
- **Piment brésilien**: has an **iconic g-funk "piment" sample** (entry ~6:00) —
  signature, recognisable. Outro carries a **d10 ambient** tail that lingers.
- **You My Sunshine**: built entirely on the **`no_sunshine`** sample ("Ain't No
  Sunshine" — the "I know I know" vocal on d5, guitar/chops on d7/d9/d11).
- **Take 5 Drops**: marimba/melodic riff is the recognisable entry.

### Transitions & live mistakes (per PLN, by ear)
- **→ Jeudi Drill (30:09→30:22)**: *bad live transition* — "I changed tracks badly
  this time": a weird silence then hesitant first seconds. Fix for release: start
  clean at the **marimba-riff entry 30:22**, drop 30:09–30:22.
- **→ Aria (34:21)**: clean.
- **→ PunkAChien (38:29)**: riff "suddenly steals Aria's stage" — cpluck carries
  across; kick+acid land ~38:50; perceived steal at 38:29 (= pattern re-trigger /
  break dip). Wants maybe a touch earlier — precise pin pending timbral detection.
- **→ You My Sunshine (~43:27)**: slight silence after PunkAChien; real sound at
  43:26–27 → trim the gap for the split.
- **→ Desire (~48:46)**: a few secs of silence between the last "I know I know"
  linger and Desire's synth loop — trim it.
- **Premier Septembre → Techno Orage (62:20→62:34)**: Sept1 chill pianos end ~62:20;
  **d9 at 62:31 is a MISTAKE → silence orbit-09 there, period**; start Orage at
  **62:34** on a nice fade-in of the orage drums+keys loops.
- **→ La Révolution (69:33)**: preceded by silence, claps, **encore** — trim all
  for the track release.

### Desired edits / fragment experiments
- **La Révolution — end on a BANG**: ring out the **last note of d10**; fade **d4
  OUT earlier** so it isn't lingering when d10 rings; try **larger reverb** (broader
  ring) + **a little delay**. → render a few **fragment** versions to choose.
- **Club master**: true −9 LUFS needs a limiter stage (current linear loudnorm caps
  at ~−11.5 to respect −1 dBTP).

## How ParVagues performs (perspective for the whole system)

> Why this matters for tooling: a recorded take is **one live performance**, not a
> canonical arrangement. The same track sounds structurally different take-to-take
> because the *entry* is improvised to fit the set's momentum. Our analysis must not
> assume a fixed intro/section layout — detect it per-take.

- **The intro is a live transition decision.** Where each element spawns depends on
  what came before and the floor energy. Examples of opening moves PLN uses:
  - **spawn the bass early** when transitioning *onto a hot dancefloor* from a
    previous track (skip the slow build — keep the body moving);
  - **start ambient/atmos first** (e.g. lead with `d9`) for a slow, breathing open;
  - **start on a drums transition** — e.g. HPF the incoming `jungle_breaks` and do a
    `d8`-into-`d8` file switcharoo so the groove crossfades from the prior track.
- Consequence: "where does the track really start?" and section boundaries are
  **performance-dependent**; the same single mastered from two takes will have
  different lead-ins, builds, and drop placement. This is *why* the A/B players are
  two **independent** transports (not a shared playhead) — and why intro/outro
  edge-detection (#31) must be content-driven per take, never inferred from the score.

### Instrument / controller ergonomics (affects fingerprinting!)
- **`d6` (meth_bass) is sporadic, NOT track-specific.** PLN uses meth_bass *sometimes,
  not always* — and its absence is partly a **controller-ergonomics artifact**: `d6` is
  awkward to reach/trigger on the LaunchControl XL right now. So **orbit-06 silence is
  not a discriminative fingerprint feature** — don't use it to identify a track; many
  takes drop d6 for reasons that have nothing to do with the score. (Caught me
  over-weighting "orbit-06 silent" as a PunkAChien tell, 2026-06-05.)
- **Long-run idea:** fix d6 ergonomics on the Tidal/MIDI side (remap so meth_bass is
  reachable mid-flow) so its use reflects musical intent, not reach.

### Mastering reactions (PunkAChien)
- Montreuil reads **bass-forward** (centroid ~639 Hz, dom=sub) — confirm punchy not
  boomy by ear. Montreuil is the **dynamic** take (LRA 7.4, has breakdown+drop).
- **38C3 take found = Take35** (2026-06-05): 2024-12-25, "Pitbul Punk", 4:35 standalone
  track take. Fingerprint matches on *track-specific* signals: cpluck riff (orbit-05) +
  acid (04) + percs + 4:35 length. **Pending PLN ear-verify** before `verified`.
- ⚠️ The old "Hamburg/Take87" PunkAChien was a **misidentification** (actually La Fin
  de l'Insouciance → Liquid Finale @ 39C3). Do NOT A/B against it; real second take =
  Take35 (38C3), plus Take36 (the 61:46 Toilet set) for an in-set version.

---

## Take35 — "Septième Armée" (Seven Nation Army cover), 2024-12-25

**Blind-test identification (2026-06-05).** Hunting the 38C3 PunkAChien, the take the
date-join labeled "Pitbul Punk/38C3 (±3d)" turned out — on PLN's ears, blind — to be
**Septième Armée** (`live/collab/raph/septieme_armee.tidal`), a Seven Nation Army-riff
cover at 90 BPM. Objective corroboration: the take's active orbits (1,2,3,4,5,8,9;
6/7/10/11/12 silent) match the `.tidal` orbit→sound map exactly, incl. **d4 `bassWarsaw`**
= the SNA bass riff (Take35 orbit-04 was 89% sub — the bass), d5 `FMRhodes1`, d9 `moogBass`.

Lessons:
- **Date-joins lie; the ear is the oracle** (3rd metadata miss caught by ear — see
  [[feedback_locate_matrix_method]]). Take35 ≠ PunkAChien; take_gig_map corrected.
- **Fingerprint must include SYNTHS, not just samples** — `bassWarsaw`/`moogBass`/
  `FMRhodes1` are the identity here and TF-IDF (Dirt-Samples-only) was blind to them.
  Fixed: sample_tfidf now indexes all sound-context tokens (samples ∪ synths).
- **PLN reaction:** "great one — good single, or at least a SoundCloud ébauche to push."
  ⚠️ It's a **cover** (White Stripes / Jack White) → needs a mechanical/cover license for
  paid/DSP release; SoundCloud ébauche is lower-risk. Treat like the other covers bucket.

**Open:** the real 38C3 PunkAChien ("Pitbul Punk") is still unfound — Take35 eliminated.
Candidates left: Take36 / the 61:41 "House of Tea" set, Take37/38 (Chaos Music Club),
or it was never recorded as a standalone. Hunt deferred behind the bleed-detector build.

**Foundry kit audition — superfreak/hammer (2026-07-11, PLN on-disk verify).** Ear-report
on the forged kits: (1) "lots don't loop well or are not audible — bass_deep is not
audible"; (2) "other_skank is good but seems not starting right — loops feel 'timed ok'
but cut BCDA or DABC, not at a good start"; (3) "vox superfreak/kinkygirl are very
high-pass filtered? some bass split? is this demucs?"

Measured confirmation (all three are real, none is a duration bug):
- **bass_deep inaudible** = pure-sub sample: RMS −12.8 dBFS (loud!) but 99% of energy
  <150 Hz (75% in 60–150), centroid 478 Hz. Physically invisible on small monitors —
  equal-loudness, not level. It's a sub LAYER (two-layer bass idiom), not a standalone.
- **BCDA/DABC rotation confirmed**: strongest onset beat-slot inside each loop —
  drums_dub slot 1/16, bass_deep slot 4/16, other_skank slot 2/8; other_skank's first
  30 ms is −23 dB below its loudest 30 ms (starts mid-phrase). Root cause: the PLP beat
  grid has no downbeat anchor, candidates start on ANY beat. The loops are bar-exact
  (tempo-locked) but musically rotated.
- **vox high-pass = demucs htdemucs**, not our cuts: the vocals STEMS have ~0 energy
  <150 Hz (superfreak 0.1% in 60–150, hammer 0.9%) — vocal chest/low end is routed into
  the bass/other stems by the model. superfreak bass stem holds 70% of its energy at
  60–150. Lyric cuts inherit the thinness.

Fix directions (foundry): rotate-to-downbeat export post-pass (a clean-seam bar-exact
loop can be rotated freely — the new seam is an interior continuity point → zero risk,
pick rotation with strongest attack at 0); vocals via engine2 BS-Roformer (keeps low
end far better than htdemucs) then re-cut the same phrase bounds; bass_deep → optional
harmonic-saturation "audible" variant, or accept as sub layer + in-session shape.

**Hammer kit re-listen (2026-07-19, PLN).** Ear-report on the v1 `hammer` kit:
(1) "some cases it's not even just the voices" (vox cuts carry instrumental);
(2) "06_vox_breakitdown doesn't loop well"; (3) overall "we didn't do honor to
hammer". superfreak folder judged good on re-listen.

All three measured + fixed (v2 rebuild, see catch `report.md` + `review_v2_bleed_metric.py`):
- Vox bleed confirmed: v1 cuts (demucs stem) held riff energy at only −2.4 dB
  (03) / −6.5 dB (06) below cut RMS during vocal-silence frames. v2 re-cut from
  the BS-Roformer vocals → bleed −27..−62 dB below signal.
- **New lesson beyond the 07-11 note: the CUT BOUNDS were bleed-biased too.** The
  energy-corrected bounds fitted on the bleedy demucs stem started 06 a full
  second before the word ("break" is at 202.81, cut at 201.70) and 04 450 ms
  early. "Re-cut the same phrase bounds" (07-11 fix direction) was insufficient —
  bounds must be re-anchored on the cleanest vocal render's true onsets.
- 06 "doesn't loop": it was an 8.30-beat one-shot; v2 adds 09_vox_breakitdown_loop
  (2.000 bars exact, x4 join 0.00x) and keeps 06 as a full-tail one-shot (4.95 s).
- Rotation finally promoted to the shipped kit (v1 drums/bass opened −65/−52 dB
  below peak); instruments re-cut from a roformer-instrumental→demucs CASCADE
  (no rap ghosts: source windows carried vocals at −23 dB).
