MEMOIRS OF A (SKINT) HOME RECORDIST. ---------------------------------------- It must have been 1981 or thereabouts, when I began writing my own songs. I was playing drums at the time in a moderately succesful punk band (WILD YOUTH), and, although I had regularly contributed to the `lyrics` - " I`ll - -kick ya in the head and your gonna be dead AAAARGH!!!" etc etc, I hadn`t really come up with a full `song`. One night, while practising (boy did I need it!) my drums, and recording the racket on a cassette recorder, it occurred to me that, I could, by bringing my fathers cassette recorder into the fray, conjure up my very OWN recording studio! Of course, and Unbeknownst to me,many other musicians were doing the same thing at the time, but as far as I was concerned, I had found my own PERSONAL Valhalla! Basically, I was employing the legendary `sound on sound` method. For all you philistines unfamilier with S.O.S. here goes ... Firstly you record say, a drum track onto a cassette recorder, then, using that same recorder, play the tape back at max vol, playing say a bass, LIVE along with it. This you then record using another cassette recorder. Hey - Presto! Two tracks on one! Of course you could then repeat this process as many times you wanted, but, depending on the quality of the recorders, the sound would start to badly deteriorate after a couple of `bounces`. Still, in those dark and distant days LONG before a midi synth or even the first portastudio had appeared, S.O.S. was a lifeline for frustrated and skint, musicians. ala ME! Anyway, due to this `discovery` I started composing songs for the band by simply mastering the guitar barrchord (all the songs were C,F,G anyhow), and recording them with SOS. Fabulous! As well as getting me more respect within the band, my compositions also enabled me to take over the bass players job! (he was a `one string` merchant anyhow, you know the type.) The band got some ` proper` studio time and literally EVERY musician I knew had invested in a second cassette recorder! A couple of years went by and, although I had `perfected` my S.O.S. set up (static recorders, plumbed in wires, little TANDY mixer etc etc), I really felt that I needed something better. trouble was, NO cash. The band I was in at the time (still playing bass) was a post punk, scratchy guitar outfit named `AFTER DARK~. We were pretty famous locally, and could hold a local gig for say 500 people EVERY night of the week! Most of the material was mine, and, putting these realisations together I decided that there HAD to be a way of getting hold of some dosh. There WAS, and here`s how.... SELL YOUR MOTORBIKE! Yes, pretty drastic I know, but I was sure by this time that I was gonna be a pop star. NOTHING ELSE mattered. So, the bike went, and although by this time the very first portastudios` TEAC 144, were filtering onto the market, they were, to say the least, BLOODY EXPENSIVE. In fact the very first shipment of 144s was snapped up in its` entirety by the rock and pop elite of the time. (pompous bastards) SO, I had to look elsewhere. In a local rag, I noticed an ad for a `SONY reel to reel S.O.S. recorder`. Upon inspection, this turned out to be a TC377, 4 Track machine. Of course, in order to actually get 4 tracks, you had to have two on one side of the tape, and two on the other! very useful (NOT). Still, the idea of being able to record sound on sound within the one unit appealed to me and I bought it. (about 70 quid I think). It was a SUPERB investment. Although it lacked any noise reduction device, the results one could get were astounding.To be honest,it sounded so good to me mainly because I had gotten used to mega hiss, dogs barking etc,with the 2 cassette method! Regardless, with my reel to reel, I knocked up something like 40 or 50 songs! Some were good MOST were crap, but, I STILL have most of these `rough diamonds` on cassette somewhere! During this writing period with the SONY, I got hold of my first synth, it was a `KITTEN` by OCTAVE. Anyone remember it?, and learned the basics (where the notes are) of keyboard playing. It was a MONOPHONIC synth, so I managed to avoid, for the moment, learning chords. I must admit that I really loved the analogue sound of the synth, indeed, my alltime favourite keyboard is the ROLAND SH01, just a CLASSIC instrument. Anyhow, I was now so confident of my own talents and songs, that I had left the band and was concentrating on recording backing tracks for onstage use of my own.A year or so earlier I had seen a fledgeling O.M.D. doing the same thing at a local gig, and, I thought, "whatever that talentless bunch of scouse layabouts can do, I can do better!" ( How SADLY wrong I was!!!) I finished off the backing tracks using no more than my Sony, a Tandy 4 chan mixer and a WEM copycat tape echo and, due to the care and attention I had taken, they were, to be truthful, SHITE! Why? well, the actual songs were fine. Corny, octaving bass type stuff yes, but, pretty all the same. No, the problem was the prementioned lack of noise reduction. Sure,they sounded great played back on my SONY in my bedroom while I pranced about mirror bashing, The trouble started when I stuck the damn thing through a 1k rig. Talk about white noise! It went like this.... 1,2,1234 HURRICANE CHARLIE WHOOOOOSH! Cue switched (pulled) off tape, and hasty mega embarrassed exit. Due to this fiasco, I decided to hold the gigging until I could afford to sound remotely professional. A year or so of writing more songs, and finally learning keyboard chords,went by until my next acquisition. The Sony finally went to that recording studio in the sky after a particularly gruelling all night recording session was ruined due to the TC377`s sudden `hunger` for my reel of tape. Yep, the bastard thing chewed up a whole nights work, and, as sods law goes, it waited until I`d stuck it on rewind and gone for a brew before `tucking in`. AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!! Now I`d been tolerating the old boys` idiosyncracies for quite some time by now, mainly due to having bugger all else to record onto, but this time I decided to think things out. It dawned on me that for as long as I could keep patching up the Sony,then I would NEVER be in such a desperate position to pull out all the stops for something better. (believe it or not, I gained a physcology 0 level!!!) So, there was just one thing for it, I picked up my dads` lump hammer, stared for a moment at my regurgitated nights work, and then landed a rock solid smash to the Sony`s fizzog. Instant death, bits of circuit board everywhere, and a strange feeling of regret, joy, and relief came over me. What, and How, is next ? The answer lay in my motorbike once again. Sure, I needed this new machine for work, and sure, I`d only just caught up with the HP payments, but, I was DESPERATE for something to put my songs onto. Guess what I did ? yes, I SOLD yet another motorbike! This time, as the bike was new, I picked up a rather tidy sum for it (about 900 quid) and was now in a position to afford a brand spanking new portastudio, plus a few extras to boot. YYEESSSS!!!!! Of course I was aware that I`d probably be paying off the HP on the bike for the rest of my life, but, I couldn`t hit the music shop fast enough!, in fact, I actually got a TAXI to it! Talk about `burning a hole in my pocket`! After playtesting a few portos, I decided on the FOSTEX 250. This was a bit more user friendly than the Tascam, and also there was a big bunch of accessories with it, mikes,leads,tapes,phones etc. BARGAIN buy! For the next Year or so, I was locked in a room with my gear, lost, all my mates, my girlfriend and nearly my job! ( YOU try getting up for work at 4am after recording until 3am!) Still, at the time it seemed worth it. the freedom that the portastudio gave me for composing was fantastic. I complemented my set up with a few BOSS pedals, chorus,flange,phaser etc, a JHS mini echo (digital reverb in those days began and ended with the ridiculously priced LEXICON unit) and a brand new ...wait for it...... SONY TC377! This time though, I used the Sony simply for dumping the final mixes onto. For this purpose, the Sony could not be bettered! I had 3 keyboards at my `disposal` ( 2 weren`t mine you see) they were.. a ROLAND SH101, a SEQUENTIONAL CIRCUITS PRO 1, and for the chords, a LOGAN STRING machine. ALL rather classic instruments really, and, to tell you the truth, I wish I still had my ROLAND SH101 today. FM? CRAP. I must have written and recorded, and I`ve still got `em all on cassette, about 100 odd songs on the Fostex. I sent a few off to mags, record companies etc, and got quite good feedback. Unfortunately, Everyone wanted to see and hear the material performed `live` and, to tell you the truth A).my voice wasn`t up to it, and B).I had dug myself into a `bedroom band` rut. I was more interested in knocking up new songs, than actually performing them ! I did make a few contacts with the songs though and, after perfecting a set of 15 tracks, recording the backing on the Fostex, and dragging a keyboard playing mate into the fray, I set off for a tour of Swedish universities. That was an adventure in itself, but I`ll leave that subject for now until I see how THIS waffle is recieved. You may all think i`m a boring old tosser, (for the record I`m 28) who knows ? I also made friends with a Norwegian M.O.R. songwriter, who has had a few albums out, and who I`ve written some stuff for,( Vlad, where`s my money you viking B@%T!*D ?) so, all in all, buying that Fostex turned out to be quite a good move! Everything went fine with this set up for about 2 years, until, due to excessive use, my Fostex started to die. This came at a time when I had gotten WELL behind with my mortgage, and also those motorbike creditors were after my last few coppers.What could I do? Yes,that`s right I SOLD THE HOUSE. Now this was nowhere near the lolly raising exercise that it sounds,in fact after selling the house,paying off a few debts, and shelling out some daft amount for a deposit on a flat rental, I was left with quite literally a couple of quid. SAD,SAD,SAD, after a few years of dedicating myself to achieving world wide fame, all I had was a load of dodgy ageing gear and a long list of STILL not satisfied creditors. There was nothing else for it. I had to now face facts and realise that there was more to life than writing and recording songs that hardly anyone would ever hear. So, I decided to flog off ALL my gear and find a new direction in life. Most of the gear was bought by a `mate` of mine who couldn`t string two chords together, and who managed to finally finish off the Fostex by spilling a FULL PINT of Fosters into it!!! he subsequently swapped the rest of `my` gear for a set of GOLF CLUBS! OUCH! Now, about this `new direction` ... There wasn`t one. After a couple of months` in my `bedsit from hell` I became quite used to actually socialising again. Y`know, a gig here and there, a few nights in the pub, Saturday at the match,etc etc. (I`m a MAN UTD fan for the record) absolutely NO composing at all. NO gear, NO ideas, NO interest. Until ..I was made redundant from my job. All of a sudden, NO money, NO gigs, NO pubs, NO footy. Suicide beckoned, well, it didn`t really, but if I hadn`t been knocking off a particularly well endowed sex bomb at the time, then, no doubt it would have done. HONEST!!! This `sex bomb`, her name was Susan, and, since I`d met her I`d had a little catchy refrain bouncing around my head. But, NO gear, NO interest etc WRONG! I now had all the time in the world to compose and somehow record a `lovesong that I felt would impress her and keep me in her affections forever. The only instrument I had was a real cheapo Casio minikeyboard. I dusted it down and wrote the whole song in about half an hour. Now I had to record it. I considered my options, there was ONE! "SUSAN, CAN I BORROW YOUR CASSETTE RECORDER ?" Yep, sound on sound was back in my life. This time though, due to the far superior quality of the recorders, the results were relatively ok! I continued with this method until I acquired a mate who had a Tascam porta one. This I took on permanent loan and, while being nowhere near as prolific as a couple of years earlier, I knocked out a fair few ditties. Incidentally, although the finished version of `SUSAN~ is one of my favourite tunes, it held no sway at all with its` subject. She chucked me after a month calling me a `Bone idol,good for nothing,talentless, scruffy picklehead`. This I took GREAT exception to, I WASN`T SCRUFFY! Nowadays, I write EVERYTHING on my Amiga using Octamed. I don`t have ANY midi gear at all, and the only keyboard I have is one of those tiny Casio jobbies which I merely use for tuning samples. I still have the prementioned Tascam porta one though,and the mate who `lent` it to me has been promising to claim it back now for some 3 years! ( tough shit John, it`s MINE now!) I really only started writing `mods` as an extension of my songwriting time, that is why you will find that the majority of my tunes are structured in song form - verse,chorus,middle 8 etc. In fact nearly all of them have vocals added via the Tascam, and are then dumped onto cassette! Obviously It is not possible to make a `mod` out of every song I write, I`m WELL aware that sometimes just replacing the vocal line with an instrument does not a good piece of med music make! But I have to admit that I could not sit down and write a `MOD`. No, they ALWAYS start off as song ideas. You see, when it comes down to it, I still wanna be a POP STAR! THANKS FOR READING. THE RAVEN. Chris Wright) JUN `93. +++++++++++++++++++++++ Now, does anyone wanna buy a motorbike ?