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Post your old band recordings!

hieronymous

hieronymous

Nov 28, 2002
3,102
6,563
SF Bay Area
soundcloud.com
#1
One thing that has kept me from going nuts during the pandemic is recording, though for me most of that consists of working with stuff that I have that has already been recording, whether stuff close to completion or drum tracks that I can overdub stuff on.

But recently some interest came up regarding recordings of my old band, Jiggle the Handle. We recorded a couple of 4-song demos in the early '90s, at least one of which we sold as cassettes at shows. A fan posted a pic of their cassette - I had totally forgotten about it! Got me interested in tracking down the masters (analog or digital) and fortunately our old soundman had DAT masters, though it took a while to find a working DAT player and once we did it turned out a couple of tracks had been damaged. But what we do have sounds good to me and I'm going to start releasing them, hopefully by the end of the year. Here's the first one:



I was actually kind of nervous about listening to this stuff - had some negative memories - but was pleasantly surprised! I think the bass sounds good and I feel good about my performance. It's my Fender Japan '62 Jazz Bass reissue from the late '80s, not sure how it was processed in the studio - it was a long time ago. Oh yeah, I designed and hand-drew the logo - that might have been part of the embarrassing memories!

So whatcha got? Share away!
 
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#3
Jeff Scott said:
Sounds, great, really! :)

This is a recording of the very first song we wrote together. It's genesis came from jamming the evening I first met Bobbi and Victor in 1997.



This was my 1997 ZON fretless Sonus Special 5 through my old tc electronic Stereo Chorus Flanger into a TASCAM console to a Fostex 8 track open reel recorder.
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Nice! Is the band still together? I appreciate the backstory too - Jiggle definitely had an improvisational aspect but everything we recorded was songs written by the guitarist.

I guess this thread could have been called "analog recordings" or "pre-digital recordings" - those were the days, paying for tape! I don't think we have any of the multi-track masters anymore because the studios probably cut us a deal to let us use the tape for recording which they would then keep and reuse? I did have a big old 2-inch reel at my parents' house for years, but I think it was just stereo masters...
 
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#4
I just recently stumbled over the master tapes of a band I led in 1984. Decided to splurge and sent them to a mastering engineer to be restored & digitized for archival purposes. And for entertainment, of course. Hadn't listened to this stuff in over 30 years!

This is from a cassette dupe that's also 36 years old, so the new CDs should sound considerably better...
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
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#5
@hieronymous, my old band (The Colonel Mustard Trio, i was the front-man / guitarist) opened for Jiggle and yeP! at a show at the student union ballroom at umass Amherst in 1996 i think. Your band was awesome.

I have some old tascam 4 track recordings, but scared to even listen... oh and i dont have a tape deck anymore either! I remember for one demo i ran the bass and drums through a little boss line mixer and they were both awfully distorted... not to mention i probably sucked.
 
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#7
Bob_Ross said:
I just recently stumbled over the master tapes of a band I led in 1984. Decided to splurge and sent them to a mastering engineer to be restored & digitized for archival purposes. And for entertainment, of course. Hadn't listened to this stuff in over 30 years!

This is from a cassette dupe that's also 36 years old, so the new CDs should sound considerably better...
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Click to expand...

This sounds great! The bass jumps out on my computer speakers, will listen on "real" speakers later.

So this is just from a cassette? Will definitely be interesting to hear the version from the master tapes!

And I said:
@hieronymous, my old band (The Colonel Mustard Trio, i was the front-man / guitarist) opened for Jiggle and yeP! at a show at the student union ballroom at umass Amherst in 1996 i think. Your band was awesome.

I have some old tascam 4 track recordings, but scared to even listen... oh and i dont have a tape deck anymore either! I remember for one demo i ran the bass and drums through a little boss line mixer and they were both awfully distorted... not to mention i probably sucked.
Click to expand...

That's awesome! I left the band summer of 1995, so I wasn't at that show - I don't remember ever playing at U Mass, though I saw Phish there. I remember yeP!

Jeff Scott said:
Stereo masters wouldn't be on 2" tape; those are, more likely, the multitracks.
Click to expand...

You could be right - might have to get the guitarist to dig them out, my friend who transferred the DAT tracks to AIFF is interested in checking out the multitracks if they exist.
 
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#9
And I said:
Mastering to 1/2" tape was pretty common
Click to expand...

Yeah, I had the box with the tape in it at my parents' house for years - I was kind of afraid of it! Passed it off to the guitarist around 2002, so had it for 10 years but never opened it! Didn't want to damage it. At some point I hope we can find out how the tape is doing - if it's multitrack, we can turn down some of the keyboards when we remix it! lol
 
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#14
hieronymous said:
Nice! I'm going to have to listen to these when I can get to my good speakers, but sounds good on my computer speakers so far! Singer on the first one here sounds a little like Phil Mogg of UFO?
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He was good that guy, at that time he was not at his best and on good speakers you can hear that those copies are probably 100th generation and the mixing was bad bla bla bla, the engineer was drunk most of the time, haha! I did not play out of time on the last one, the engineer put some effect in that really screwed up the bass, no idea what he did but it was simultaneously a beat behind while on time of that makes sense, you can hear it in the last note and the dissonance on the climbs. That was done with an early Fender fretless P bass with Rotosounds that promptly ruined the neck.
 
#15
bobyoung53 said:
He was good that guy, at that time he was not at his best and on good speakers you can hear that those copies are probably 100th generation and the mixing was bad bla bla bla, the engineer was drunk most of the time, haha! I did not play out of time on the last one, the engineer put some effect in that really screwed up the bass, no idea what he did but it was simultaneously a beat behind while on time of that makes sense, you can hear it in the last note and the dissonance on the climbs. That was done with an early Fender fretless P bass with Rotosounds that promptly ruined the neck.
Click to expand...

I'm really digging these '77 recordings! I just turned up the treble up a little bit, it's rock so added noise doesn't matter to me! Lol, the blank section at the beginning of Milk Shake for example. I actually love the aesthetic - I was born in 1970 so my teen years were drenched in digital synths and reverb - yuck! I always gravitated to the music of the '60s & '70s. Plus I grew up with cassette tapes so that sound doesn't bother me.

Re: "the last one" - do you mean Milk Shake? I did hear that weird repeat at the end - weird! I didn't notice so much during the song.

I am so glad that I got to experience recording in studios with analog tape - I didn't get to do it that much with Jiggle the Handle, only twice, but I'm grateful, and especially to still have the recordings! I'm happy with digital recording now though.

One more thing - so far, I believe all the recordings posted have been from New England! Mine was recorded in Allston, or Allston Rock City as it was affectionately referred to.
 
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#16
hieronymous said:
I'm really digging these '77 recordings! I just turned up the treble up a little bit, it's rock so added noise doesn't matter to me! Lol, the blank section at the beginning of Milk Shake for example. I actually love the aesthetic - I was born in 1970 so my teen years were drenched in digital synths and reverb - yuck! I always gravitated to the music of the '60s & '70s. Plus I grew up with cassette tapes so that sound doesn't bother me.

Re: "the last one" - do you mean Milk Shake? I did hear that weird repeat at the end - weird! I didn't notice so much during the song.

I am so glad that I got to experience recording in studios with analog tape - I didn't get to do it that much with Jiggle the Handle, only twice, but I'm grateful, and especially to still have the recordings! I'm happy with digital recording now though.

One more thing - so far, I believe all the recordings posted have been from New England! Mine was recorded in Allston, or Allston Rock City as it was affectionately referred to.
Click to expand...


I remember that band, I never saw you guys but you're pretty well known.

New England Rocks!

Good band, nice solo.

 
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#17
bobyoung53 said:
I remember that band, I never saw you guys but you were pretty well known, did you play The Lucky Dog on Worcester? New England Rocks!

Good band

Click to expand...


That's after my time - I left in '95, they kept playing until around 2002, at which time I happened to be back in Mass. and sat in for a few gigs where they needed to pay back their manager for money he fronted them!

This is the only footage I'm aware of from when I was with them:



Wish there was some low-end on the recording! Was my bass really that clanky?!!
 
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#18
hieronymous said:
That's after my time - I left in '95, they kept playing until around 2002, at which time I happened to be back in Mass. and sat in for a few gigs where they needed to pay back their manager for money he fronted them!

This is the only footage I'm aware of from when I was with them:



Wish there was some low-end on the recording! Was my bass really that clanky?!!
Click to expand...



I think if you were playing with a clanky tone it would have been unbearable with that recording, sounds good actually except for absolutely no low end:laugh:. And yeah it's the recording itself.
 
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#19
bobyoung53 said:
I think if you were playing with a clanky tone it would have been unbearable with that recording, sounds good actually except for absolutely no low end:laugh:. And yeah it's the recording itself.
Click to expand...

Lol - yeah, that would have ripped my head off! I didn't think I could get that sound out of my crappy Carvin cab.

I keep meaning to ask - is that bass in the pics from the '77 YouTube vids the fretless? What color is that? Do you still have it?
 
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#20
hieronymous said:
Lol - yeah, that would have ripped my head off! I didn't think I could get that sound out of my crappy Carvin cab.

I keep meaning to ask - is that bass in the pics from the '77 YouTube vids the fretless? What color is that? Do you still have it?
Click to expand...


CAR, Yes, that was my main bass from about 1977 to 1995, in that video it still had the rosewood fretless neck on it and in those recording from 1977. I traded a humbucker Tele bass for it in 1977. The guy I got it from said he bought it new and traded the stock neck for a rosewood fretless neck. The body was nitro, had the full size metal piece under the pickguard, had a vintage bridge stock. He said it was about ten years old but fretless necks weren't offered until late in 1969 so unless it was a leftover bass he had to have had it for at least a few years before he traded it but that wouldn't make sense either so I never really knew the year. I would guess '67 or '68 unless CAR was sprayed nitro later than other CBS basses and they used the big metal ground pickguard plates later too. I got really sick in 1995 and sold that and two nice Rics I had. I really wish I had attempted to have it dated when I owned it though. I traded the fretless neck for a '66 J neck a few years after I got it since I had sanded almost all the rosewood off:laugh: but it was a good sounding bass, all that stuff I posted above was with that bass, the live Southpaw stuff with a 70's maple fretless neck and Big Guns with the J neck, it had lollipop tuners and blocks.
 
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