July 20, 2008: For some years I’ve had a fear of losing (in any number of ways) some or all of the original Akai MG614 (and Tascam 246) 4 track recordings of various Violence and the Sacred concerts, rehearsals, and studio work from 1987 to 1993.  Today I took a step towards preserving these by dumping about 10 of them to the computer.

The cassettes are in remarkably good condition: I maybe heard two dropouts all day.  Given that, I questioned whether the transfers are worthwhile, but these are the factors:

• the Akai won’t last forever.
• the tapes could be damaged or lost.
• dumping them to the computer is the first step toward perhaps (re)releasing some of the material.
• my IT job has taught me that you cannot have too many backups.

None of this answers the question of why I’m engaged in such a backward-looking, narcissistic activity, but that answer may come in a later post.  Or may not.

The process involves running the 4 direct track outputs of the Akai (which bypass its mixer and busses) into the RME A/D converter, then into separate tracks in Cubase Studio.  A/D conversion is 96KHz, 24 bit.

These are tapes of the so-called “improv group” which played about 15 concerts between 1987 and 1989.  Personnel were Graham (‘cello, synth, tapes), Scott (beatbox, synth, tapes), St. Deborah (voice), and Ted (guitar, vihuela, tapes).  When we played live we normally took a direct box line or miked amplifier signal for each performer for tracks 1-3 and placed a microphone somewhere near the audience for track 4.  Scott played the recordings of St. Deborah.  Fred Spek, Roscoe Johnson, Chris Gehman, and later Graham operated the 4 track.

Today I transferred:

• VATS concert with Jack Wright at the Purple Institution, March 18, 1988
• VATS concert opening for Bwana Dog, at the Rivoli, October 24, 1987
• Graham and Scott concert with Reg Schwager at Club Rhythm, October 29, 1897
• Three tapes of hard-nosed rehearsals, March 7-8, 1988

October 24, 1987:

Highly enjoyable concert opening for Hal McGee and Al Margolis.  We played behind a screen onto which was projected a John Dubiel’s video which became the inspiration for Suture Self.  An intense show was released as the No Be Many Maybe cassette on Myke Dyer’s John Doe Recordings label.

Poster:

The ugly No Be Many Maybe cover:

October 29, 1987

We had a number of good rehearsals with Reg Schwager and had high hopes for this concert but it felt disappointing and unorganized during performance and was poorly attended.  In listening to the recording there are quite a few good moments and could make a nice 20-25 minute edited piece.

March 18, 1988:

The very cool and inspiringly radical Jack Wright drive to Toronto from Philadelphia to play this show.  I vaguely remember a small blue car and slushy, cold evening.  The concert was good, if a bit wacky, but lead to some tension withing the band that lead to Scott and Ted sadly not playing together again.  While setting up (which took some time) we often played a tape which alternated between Esther Lamandier, Lawrence Welk, and Perez Prado.  I loved Perez Prado from when I first heard him at a friends house some years earlier.  Anyway, while Perez was mamboing away, an audience member, thrilled at what he was hearing came up to us and said: “Perez Prado makes my scrotum tingle”.  Something I will never forget.

This concert made extensive use of tapes, particularly sections of WR: Mysteries of the Organism. All this lead to the cassette Maria (featuring the beautiful face of Wilhelm Reich):

Conclusion:

I don’t where all this is leading.  I need to look forward, not back, with Rusty Pile going to the production house next week. I don’t seem to be able to help myself, however.

July 15, 2008: For your enjoyment, here are 2 tracks from the upcoming Viosac CD Rusty Pile:

Basaltic Dream … Kind of an introduction … a fitful sleep.

Short Piece in the “Electronic Style” … An attempt at an homage to the early days of electronic music … Berio, Stockhausen, Kagel.  We try, they did.

July 14, 2008: Last night I ran a final version of the Rusty Pile CD through Wavelab, making a few tiny adjustments in volume levels here and there, and changing the track spacing in places.

I decided to try and master this myself, using a minimum of digital tools and effects.  None really.  Many would say that this is a mistake, but I’ve always acted with an annoying combination of confidence in my abilities and extreme self-doubt.  Given that the music is highly experimental (for want of a better word), most of the rock/pop oriented mastering rules (I believe) might not apply.  The sound is the sound.  There is no compression anywhere.

My approach was to mix and master the music for large scale dynamics, working on the assumption that I recorded it the way I wanted it to sound.  The method was heavily influenced by reading Bob Katz’s book Mastering Audio (details here). Hopefully my results will not be proof of the adage “Jack of all trades, master of none”, but I feel confident in the sound.  Mostly the CD is not loud, but has very loud sections.  Listeners may have to turn up the volume from what they’re used to with commercial CDs these days.

The final version was written to a “Green Tune” mastering CD produced by RMG International, the same company that made the great sounding 1/2 and 1/4 inch tape (SM 900) that was used for the original 8-track recordings (on a Tascam 58) and 2 track mixes (on a Tascam 32).  Tape is a beautiful thing.

July 12, 2008: So, it turns out that Jim did not have an abscess, but the vet thinks a virus which has caused his tonsils to get inflamed, among other potential problems.  So Jim got antibiotics and other unknown injections.  I feel a bit nervous about it, but he seems OK.

The vet gave us a super-rich wet food which, supposedly, cats will eat whether they want to eat or not.  He said: “Mix it with water to make a slurry.”  I’ve very fond of the word slurry.  In any case Jim liked the slurry and I am getting back to Rusty Pile.

July 11, 2008: I was thrilled this week to see the final version of the Rusty Pile artwork.  John Whyte has done a wonderful job both translating my vague ideas into something real and inserting his own, better formed ideas:

Rusty Pile Cover

Today there were big plans to do a final burn of the CD and then some detailed listens in preparation to send the master and artwork to a production house (which one not yet finalized) next week, but Jim’s mouth got in the way.

Jim is a 12 year old black cat.  A very charming fellow, but a few days ago his normally healthy appitite has vanished.  Last night we noticed the he was favouring one side of his mouth and there seems to be some soreness/inflammation/pain going on: so bad that he is hardly eating.  So it’s off the the Vet this morning.  Rusty Pile can wait a few hours.