Get It On Tape
Several years ago, when digital recording technology was not yet within reach of the average shit-job-working consumer, I bought a Yamaha MT-50 four-track recorder.
At last, the mysteries of track-by-track recording would be revealed! I got to work right away learning how to use it. The first song I ever recorded was me doing a pop-punk version of the theme to Let's Go, a Canadian kids' show from the 70s that very few readers of this blog will have seen (I bet Gary remembers).
The main use of this machine at first was to demo songs I wanted my pop-garage band at the time to learn. I'd haul my shitty drum kit (the remains of which GS still uses today, minus a few parts) into my tiny bedroom, hook up the cheap mics I'd bought and let 'er rip. Once I got confident doing this, I started to offer my services to other bands. The timing was good because ger was talking about releasing a comp of local bands, none of which had the resources to go into studios. I worked for free and would drive anywhere to record. As far as Porter's Lake, even.
I ended up recording 7 or 8 bands for this comp, and was pretty proud of the results. Looking back, the recording quality was not stellar, but no one had high standards back then. Something was better than nothing. I like that attitude a lot!
Over the years I've tried doing some full-set live recordings. I did one of S-Party playing in Woodside... one of BL13 playing their final show ever in this province... there might have been another. I did some work on the Oh God demo (which remains unreleased pending long overdue [my fault] vocal redos), but other than that, the four-track has been largely dormant over the past few years. I've been timid about offering to record bands during this time because people's standards for sound are so much higher than they were ten years ago. It's fairly easy to get a very good sounding recording now, which it wasn't then. My technology has stayed the same (although I can and will record digitally now). I'd hate to really bust my ass to make a recording sound as good as I can, only to have it trashed by everybody. Hey, I'm a sensitive guy.
Then, I heard LA/LP/AR's band and I knew I had to bust the machine out of semi-retirement. This simply had to be documented. With vocals, casio and drums being the only sounds made, surely I could do them justice... if not in a studio setting, then live. Live recordings are expected to sound a little rougher, so my ass would be covered that way. Heh heh.
We chose their non-RF$$ debut for a time to record - basically their first gig ever. The only trouble was, my own band was playing at a different venue immediately before. I'd have no more than half an hour to tear down my own band's stuff, grab the mics and four-track, get to the other venue, set up, sound check and hit record. It was a tall order.
I enlisted the help of recording student prodigy AV (not to be confused with A/V). I untangled the mics, and she set them up. We did this very, very quickly. Despite the band not taking up much space, there was zero room on stage, and the comfort level was not high. I have to sit by the four-track when it records, because track one was rendered wonky in a freak cord-tripping accident during the making of the Juveniles' 1997 demo (which may be the best recording I've ever done...soooo good). The cord entering track one now has to be held to the left at all times or it will cut out.
Another thing about wonky track one... at the show I'd forgotten there is one cord I own which that input just doesn't like... so it didn't work at all and we ended up with a three-track recording. Still, it doesn't sound half bad. The band was pleased, and they posted songs from that show on the internet.
Reaction was mostly favorable, but one person criticized the sound quality. I'm not offended, but let me say this: when a band asks me to record I make my limitations clear to them. These are as follows: I own shitty mics, none of which is less than ten years old or cost more than $20; if the recording is live in front of an audience, I don't care about bleed; I don't know much about mic placement, and even if I did I don't know what difference it would make with such low quality equipment; and this is being done on a ten year old four track. So the band knew all this, and asked me anyway. To use another transportation metaphor: my recordings are like bicycles in the age of the SUV. You don't use one to haul heavy things or drive over huge piles of dirt (what else is an SUV good for?)... you use one to get across town without the hassles of paying for parking and gas. No, the bike cannot haul your yacht to the dock. Bands I record don't own yachts. Metaphorically.
I was happy with the ClamSeals session. It reinstilled my confidence about recording, especially live bands. As it happened, I was approached by another band to do a similar job soon after. This project would be a little more ambitious, involving two keyboards, a glockenspiel, and accordion, bass, drums and vocals. But we did it, and I think it sounds great.
At last, the mysteries of track-by-track recording would be revealed! I got to work right away learning how to use it. The first song I ever recorded was me doing a pop-punk version of the theme to Let's Go, a Canadian kids' show from the 70s that very few readers of this blog will have seen (I bet Gary remembers).
The main use of this machine at first was to demo songs I wanted my pop-garage band at the time to learn. I'd haul my shitty drum kit (the remains of which GS still uses today, minus a few parts) into my tiny bedroom, hook up the cheap mics I'd bought and let 'er rip. Once I got confident doing this, I started to offer my services to other bands. The timing was good because ger was talking about releasing a comp of local bands, none of which had the resources to go into studios. I worked for free and would drive anywhere to record. As far as Porter's Lake, even.
I ended up recording 7 or 8 bands for this comp, and was pretty proud of the results. Looking back, the recording quality was not stellar, but no one had high standards back then. Something was better than nothing. I like that attitude a lot!
Over the years I've tried doing some full-set live recordings. I did one of S-Party playing in Woodside... one of BL13 playing their final show ever in this province... there might have been another. I did some work on the Oh God demo (which remains unreleased pending long overdue [my fault] vocal redos), but other than that, the four-track has been largely dormant over the past few years. I've been timid about offering to record bands during this time because people's standards for sound are so much higher than they were ten years ago. It's fairly easy to get a very good sounding recording now, which it wasn't then. My technology has stayed the same (although I can and will record digitally now). I'd hate to really bust my ass to make a recording sound as good as I can, only to have it trashed by everybody. Hey, I'm a sensitive guy.
Then, I heard LA/LP/AR's band and I knew I had to bust the machine out of semi-retirement. This simply had to be documented. With vocals, casio and drums being the only sounds made, surely I could do them justice... if not in a studio setting, then live. Live recordings are expected to sound a little rougher, so my ass would be covered that way. Heh heh.
We chose their non-RF$$ debut for a time to record - basically their first gig ever. The only trouble was, my own band was playing at a different venue immediately before. I'd have no more than half an hour to tear down my own band's stuff, grab the mics and four-track, get to the other venue, set up, sound check and hit record. It was a tall order.
I enlisted the help of recording student prodigy AV (not to be confused with A/V). I untangled the mics, and she set them up. We did this very, very quickly. Despite the band not taking up much space, there was zero room on stage, and the comfort level was not high. I have to sit by the four-track when it records, because track one was rendered wonky in a freak cord-tripping accident during the making of the Juveniles' 1997 demo (which may be the best recording I've ever done...soooo good). The cord entering track one now has to be held to the left at all times or it will cut out.
Another thing about wonky track one... at the show I'd forgotten there is one cord I own which that input just doesn't like... so it didn't work at all and we ended up with a three-track recording. Still, it doesn't sound half bad. The band was pleased, and they posted songs from that show on the internet.
Reaction was mostly favorable, but one person criticized the sound quality. I'm not offended, but let me say this: when a band asks me to record I make my limitations clear to them. These are as follows: I own shitty mics, none of which is less than ten years old or cost more than $20; if the recording is live in front of an audience, I don't care about bleed; I don't know much about mic placement, and even if I did I don't know what difference it would make with such low quality equipment; and this is being done on a ten year old four track. So the band knew all this, and asked me anyway. To use another transportation metaphor: my recordings are like bicycles in the age of the SUV. You don't use one to haul heavy things or drive over huge piles of dirt (what else is an SUV good for?)... you use one to get across town without the hassles of paying for parking and gas. No, the bike cannot haul your yacht to the dock. Bands I record don't own yachts. Metaphorically.
I was happy with the ClamSeals session. It reinstilled my confidence about recording, especially live bands. As it happened, I was approached by another band to do a similar job soon after. This project would be a little more ambitious, involving two keyboards, a glockenspiel, and accordion, bass, drums and vocals. But we did it, and I think it sounds great.
posted by the baron ash von foolishness at 11:36 AM
1 Comments:
I still have a great deal of affection for my Fostex X18. I got it in 1994 and I was still using it as recently as 2004, when I got my hands on a digital 8 track (the Fostex MR8). There's just something ritualistic about four tracks...almost like a musical rite of passage...it seems every band cut their teeth on them in the early days. I was always (and still am) very intrigued by the idea of artists huddled in a tiny bedroom or a basement somewhere, recording opuses on a cheap little four track. Actually, I've heard some pretty amazing stuff that was recorded on four track. Believe it or not, I actually find that the stereo separation on my old four track (when I do mixdown) is more clearly defined with my old four track than it is with the MR8!
Anyway, I'll always have a warm spot in my heart for the old X18. I must have recorded hundreds and hundreds of songs on that thing. Every so often I like to dig out old tapes of stuff I did on four track years ago, and it's usually really fun to listen to.
My four track got quite wonky too. Especially in the later years. I think the head may have gotten damaged because track four is always very muffled and quiet, regardless of how much I clean the head or how good the tapes are, or how hot the incoming signal is. I also had to send my deck to Montreal a few years ago to get new belts installed. Tapes were dragging really bad. It worked much better after the new belts were installed, but I've noticed that anything that was recorded "pre-new belts" is sped up quite noticeably when I play it now, and I have to slow it down with the pitch control wheel.
There's also a "tape synch" function on my four track (!) which allows synchronization of stuff on tape with an external MIDI device, yet this always kind of intimidated me and I never got around to actually using it.
Anyway, I still love four tracks.
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