Introducing my Lost Songs!
Posted on June 1, 2010 with 0 comments
Hi, AC Watchers!
I have a strange habit of writing songs and then abandoning them. I don't have much inclination to perform what I write, lacking the opportunity, the freedom, and/or the ambition. I also don't have much money or time to create brilliant studio creations. And since I have many more song ideas than I have time to really flesh them out I try to get a listenable version down, and then leave it behind so I can get to other things. So my "finished" recordings rarely sound finished.
A number of years ago I was ready with a new batch of songs, but I was stuck. My trusty Tascam 4-track cassette recorder had died long ago, and my friend Ben Coker who had helped me record more recent stuff in his home studio had joined the Navy and moved away. That left me with not many options.
The songs were burning a hole in my brain, so I got out a cassette recorder, a mixing deck and some microphones and set up a very poor studio. Then I turned on the tape and got as many of these songs down as quickly as I could, recording vocals and piano at the same time. I called it Demo Listen.
I really liked the songs and thought that some of them were among the best I'd ever written. But when I listened to the recordings I realized that the sound quality was just too poor to share them. There was an unacceptable amount of hiss from the cassette tape and the whole thing sounded very amateurish. I was disappointed because I thought some of the performances were quite enjoyable. I tried to get someone to master them, but his response led me to believe it wasn't worth it.
Other projects came along and I left Demo Listen behind. Years later I've gotten familiar with Garage Band, which has a few nice features like compression and effects-processing. It occurred to me that I might be able to soup-up those old recordings, especially now that cassette tapes are experiencing a resurgence (!), and that folks might enjoy them.
Not all the songs are good. Some are definitely bad. I may not share all of them. Then again, I might just let you have a laugh or two. But they've all been compressed and boosted, and in some cases I've added some fun effects, something I haven't done with my songs since I was 20. I'm calling the revised version "Demo Listen Up."
I'd love your comments on the songs, and I'll be sure to warn you about elements of them that might embarrass or irritate you.
Love,
Adam
I have a strange habit of writing songs and then abandoning them. I don't have much inclination to perform what I write, lacking the opportunity, the freedom, and/or the ambition. I also don't have much money or time to create brilliant studio creations. And since I have many more song ideas than I have time to really flesh them out I try to get a listenable version down, and then leave it behind so I can get to other things. So my "finished" recordings rarely sound finished.
A number of years ago I was ready with a new batch of songs, but I was stuck. My trusty Tascam 4-track cassette recorder had died long ago, and my friend Ben Coker who had helped me record more recent stuff in his home studio had joined the Navy and moved away. That left me with not many options.
The songs were burning a hole in my brain, so I got out a cassette recorder, a mixing deck and some microphones and set up a very poor studio. Then I turned on the tape and got as many of these songs down as quickly as I could, recording vocals and piano at the same time. I called it Demo Listen.
I really liked the songs and thought that some of them were among the best I'd ever written. But when I listened to the recordings I realized that the sound quality was just too poor to share them. There was an unacceptable amount of hiss from the cassette tape and the whole thing sounded very amateurish. I was disappointed because I thought some of the performances were quite enjoyable. I tried to get someone to master them, but his response led me to believe it wasn't worth it.
Other projects came along and I left Demo Listen behind. Years later I've gotten familiar with Garage Band, which has a few nice features like compression and effects-processing. It occurred to me that I might be able to soup-up those old recordings, especially now that cassette tapes are experiencing a resurgence (!), and that folks might enjoy them.
Not all the songs are good. Some are definitely bad. I may not share all of them. Then again, I might just let you have a laugh or two. But they've all been compressed and boosted, and in some cases I've added some fun effects, something I haven't done with my songs since I was 20. I'm calling the revised version "Demo Listen Up."
I'd love your comments on the songs, and I'll be sure to warn you about elements of them that might embarrass or irritate you.
Love,
Adam