In the beginning...

I remember the big reel to reel tape unit my dad had in the living room stereo cabinet. Beneath it was a relatively new addition, a cassette player and recorder with Dolby Noise Reduction.  I would don a pair of big white closed ear headphones and happily listen to "Germs, Germs, My Invisible Dog!"

Once I learned about hooking up a microphone, my interest increased greatly. I loved watching those analog meters swing from side to side, bouncing briefly into the red. First I'd record off FM broadcasts and then moved on to playing with the mic. This led to a fascination with recording stories and 'movies' to cassette tape.

I'm not sure what led me to my first keyboard, but it was a Casio SK5. This was a small keyboard with a sampler, that I remember buying for 50 dollars at Sears. I think it was on clearance and I thought it was grand that it could record sounds and play them on the pads or on any key. One of my friends and I would make silly sounds and make up rap beats, or sample in guitar chords off what I remember to be an INXS album. I don't think these creations ever made it to tape.

As I got older I got a double cassette deck and started making mix tapes like everyone else, but I kept going back to wanting a microphone input. At some point in high school I bought a silver JVC double cassete deck, with both auto-reverse (ooh! aah!) and microphone inputs. The microphone inputs were intially used when DJing school dances, but one evening I started putting it all together. I hit record and started playing my electric guitar, for several minutes. Then moved that tape from the record deck to the play deck, and added in another guitar track while the first one played...I was hooked! I digitized these recordings and still have them. Noone will likely hear them again!

My sister gave me piano lessons for a few weeks but I didn't maintain interest. The piano itself was interesting, I just wasn't a great student. However, my parents recognized my interest in music, and introduced me to a Yamaha keyboard, a PSR500, which I still look back on as a catalyst to some of my happiest musical times. The Yamaha had a decent piano sound, and a built in sequencer that was very intuitive for creating patterns and building songs. There is a whole lot of PSR500 on my first album "New Tensions Rising".

Which brings me back to recording: 'Hours worked detasseling corn and stocking shelves at the local grocery store went towards music gear. My first multi-track tape deck was a Tascam 424 or 464, I don't remember which.  This was a time when I had all the pieces I needed for hours of musical fun: a decent mic, a guitar, and the Yamaha synthesizer. I was amazed at how one could record 4 strips of music on tape and split them up!

At some point I also picked up a BBE Sonic Maximizer. I clearly remember picking it up at the music store. Both because I thought I was nuts for spending a couple hundred dollars on something to 'sweeten' the sound, but also because I talked a girl from my high school into accompanying me. She must have thought I was really nuts!

I think right before I finished "New Tensions Rising" I picked up a Sony cassette deck with Dolby S. I remember noise reduction being an obsession: splitting tracks across a normal cassete tape for the mutltitrack might have been related, but I remember listening over and over again, trying to tweak out a little more hiss. The old recordings still have the this, but Dolby S seemed great at that time. I think I digitized them with Dolby S turned off because it dropped the high end too much.

In college I sold the Yamaha and moved up to an Alesis Quadrasynth which I continue to play on. I like it! Similarly I sold the Tascam 4 track and moved up to a Yamaha MT8x, an 8 track that I recorded "Love Will Carry You" on.

Then the technology took over a bit too much. I upgraded my 386 computer to a 486 and purchased a version of Cakewalk that could do Audio. Prior to that I recall recording midi tracks using some Voyetra software, I don't remember exactly what it was called, but it was a sequencer. This was about the time I had one last burst of creativity and did my first digital recording: 'I'm Having a Bad Day' which I still like bringing out as a favorite. After this, college, relationship, and military stress compounded and my creative lights faded out.

Fast Forward to the Present:
I'm coming back into music two decades later and the technology has made amazing advances. I've uncovered resources right under my nose to jumpstart my musical processes. I can't wait to tell you about it!