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Post your old band recordings!

#41
Between election stress and a 4-hour trip to the dentist, I haven't had a chance to listen through to the stuff that's been posted.

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?!!
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I did want to report though that I have received a VHS copy of this outdoor '95 show! I was able to watch some of it, and it sounds great! The sound in the video I originally posted was so trebly because of that recording, not because of the original source material. I am so happy! Here's a clip EQ'd the opposite: "iPhone video of VHS tape projected on screen through surroundsound system in boomy hall"



I was able to hook up a camcorder that I have been able to use to transfer footage to mp4 or whatever, now I have to see if I can simultaneously play it into my computer. Unfortunately, though, that computer's memory is maxed out, so I need to see if the old version of iMovie will let me save it to hard drive which is getting pretty full too - would love to just transfer the whole thing but may have to be selective for now...
 
#43
I have to say I really enjoy listening to the stuff people are posting. I was playing actively during college and then after I graduated, from 1992-1995. I enjoyed playing in "the studio" - didn't get that many chances, three times with my band, an occasional session here and there as a bassist for other people's stuff. Then left music for 6-7 years! Got back into it around 2002 and started recording at a friend's studio and on my own with ProTools on a laptop. So besides being a bass player, I also enjoy various aspects of recording.

So I really enjoy listening to these various recordings, both as a bassist and as a recordist. I like being aware of the various things you can do in the recording process, and listening with that awareness opens up vistas of imagination.

grimjim said:

Band I was in, early 2000's.
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This is cool. Was the band signed? What was the recording process like? The drummer sounds good - it's got a thick vibe. Did you guys tour?

The Owl said:
And from early 1988, a band in L.A. I played guitar in, Insect Affect (I'm the one in the green sportcoat with the white Ibanez strat). Recorded at our last ever gig at the long defunct Anti-Club

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This is cool - I like live recordings too! It's a whole 'nother ballgame, with some of the same concepts but different issues.

I dig the music - "An island where you don't have to worry about anything you have said or done..."

It brings to mind stuff - how's this U.K. meets Talking Heads. Or Talking Heads with Bill Bruford on drums? I don't want to limit it to that - how's this - New Wave meets Progressive Rock. Whatever it is, I like it! You guys really go for it in the solo part! Wow, this was your last gig?!! "It's a place I call - Upstairs!"

BradE said:
It doesn't seem like this was 20 years ago. I was the original bassist with these guys. I told people our music was the same way I like my women: loud, slow and heavy.
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20 years goes quick, huh? Nice and heavy. How was recording? What bass(es) did you use?

OK, maybe I should make some rules - nothing like "it has to have been recorded in New England" - more like, you have to tell us something about the session! C'mon! This is TalkBass right?!! Details details people!
 
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#45
hieronymous said:
I have to say I really enjoy listening to the stuff people are posting. I was playing actively during college and then after I graduated, from 1992-1995. I enjoyed playing in "the studio" - didn't get that many chances, three times with my band, an occasional session here and there as a bassist for other people's stuff. Then left music for 6-7 years! Got back into it around 2002 and started recording at a friend's studio and on my own with ProTools on a laptop. So besides being a bass player, I also enjoy various aspects of recording.

So I really enjoy listening to these various recordings, both as a bassist and as a recordist. I like being aware of the various things you can do in the recording process, and listening with that awareness opens up vistas of imagination.



This is cool. Was the band signed? What was the recording process like? The drummer sounds good - it's got a thick vibe. Did you guys tour?



This is cool - I like live recordings too! It's a whole 'nother ballgame, with some of the same concepts but different issues.

I dig the music - "An island where you don't have to worry about anything you have said or done..."

It brings to mind stuff - how's this U.K. meets Talking Heads. Or Talking Heads with Bill Bruford on drums? I don't want to limit it to that - how's this - New Wave meets Progressive Rock. Whatever it is, I like it! You guys really go for it in the solo part! Wow, this was your last gig?!! "It's a place I call - Upstairs!"



20 years goes quick, huh? Nice and heavy. How was recording? What bass(es) did you use?

OK, maybe I should make some rules - nothing like "it has to have been recorded in New England" - more like, you have to tell us something about the session! C'mon! This is TalkBass right?!! Details details people!
Click to expand...

Wow! UK meets Talking Heads, now THERE'S a concept! :D
 
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#47
This is cool. Was the band signed? What was the recording process like? The drummer sounds good - it's got a thick vibe. Did you guys tour?

Thanks, no we were never signed, unbeknownst to us, the singer was a functioning addict and started doing what addicts do.

Long story, we were contacted by someone familiar with our band that wanted to use one of our songs for an intro to a show he was pitching to comedy central, then fly us out to play live at the premier. So we started shopping studios and ended up at groovemaster in Chicago. Gold records on the wall, emmy nominated engineer, arguably one of the best drum rooms in the country...... We recorded four songs. The owner didn't usually touch anything under $10,000 a song so we got one of his assistants, along with all the high end gear, who was really good.

I tracked a Gibson Thunderbird, A Guild B-301 and my '79 P-bass. Hands down the engineer liked the Fender. The owner came by when I was recording and even tried to get me to sell it to him, tried. Well, they never got the green light to film the pilot so nothing came of that. But we did get a really good demo to shop around but then it started falling apart.

We made it from Chicago as far as Rockford, not really touring but played with a lot of national acts. One, which shall go unnamed, even told the club owner "Get these guys off the stage or we're leaving".

Had a lot of fun playing in Dropmouth, the music was simple but we were super tight. Had a lot of fans, got to sign a couple of boobs, you know, rock star stuff. Lol
 
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#48
From 1985. Having fun in my friend's studio one night we threw this together.
My friend Jay, who owned the studio, played drums and mixed & produced it and the rest is me with a Strat and Ric 4001.
If I remember correctly, we did this on a Tascam 16 track deck. No autotune back then! lol... could have used it. He sent this to me a couple of years ago...I'd forgotten all about it.

 
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#49
grimjim said:
This is cool. Was the band signed? What was the recording process like? The drummer sounds good - it's got a thick vibe. Did you guys tour?

Thanks, no we were never signed, unbeknownst to us, the singer was a functioning addict and started doing what addicts do.

Long story, we were contacted by someone familiar with our band that wanted to use one of our songs for an intro to a show he was pitching to comedy central, then fly us out to play live at the premier. So we started shopping studios and ended up at groovemaster in Chicago. Gold records on the wall, emmy nominated engineer, arguably one of the best drum rooms in the country...... We recorded four songs. The owner didn't usually touch anything under $10,000 a song so we got one of his assistants, along with all the high end gear, who was really good.

I tracked a Gibson Thunderbird, A Guild B-301 and my '79 P-bass. Hands down the engineer liked the Fender. The owner came by when I was recording and even tried to get me to sell it to him, tried. Well, they never got the green light to film the pilot so nothing came of that. But we did get a really good demo to shop around but then it started falling apart.

We made it from Chicago as far as Rockford, not really touring but played with a lot of national acts. One, which shall go unnamed, even told the club owner "Get these guys off the stage or we're leaving".

Had a lot of fun playing in Dropmouth, the music was simple but we were super tight. Had a lot of fans, got to sign a couple of boobs, you know, rock star stuff. Lol
Click to expand...

Awesome memories!
 
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#50
Biggbass said:
From 1985. Having fun in my friend's studio one night we threw this together.
My friend Jay, who owned the studio, played drums and mixed & produced it and the rest is me with a Strat and Ric 4001.
If I remember correctly, we did this on a Tascam 16 track deck. No autotune back then! lol... could have used it. He sent this to me a couple of years ago...I'd forgotten all about it.

Click to expand...


Wow! That's pretty impressive, especially for thrown together! Sounds good too, the drummer kept a high quality copy all these years, huh?
 
#51
Finally managed to digitize part of one of the VHS tapes I was gifted last week. Recorded onto an old Sony camcorder that uses Mini-DV tapes, then went from that into my old laptop and iMovie. The audio wasn't great on the original, plus lots of dropouts, but the mix is pretty good. I have very little memory of this specific show, but there were two opening bands so the keyboardist is having issues (whether keyboard or monitor I'm not sure) and I feel like I vaguely remember that. It's kind of like Grateful Dead meets Rush, the drummer was into both Mickey Hart & Neil Peart lol



It's also like the Dead in that we jammed from one song into the next, so it's three songs but 35 minutes! Playing my Fender Japan '62 Jazz Bass reissue with Badass II bridge, through a Boss ME-6B multi-effects unit for the synth sounds in the last song, Boss RCL-10 half-rack compressor, Ace tone head, and Carvin 1X15 and 2X10 cabs from the late-80s.
 
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#54
hieronymous said:
20 years goes quick, huh? Nice and heavy. How was recording? What bass(es) did you use?

OK, maybe I should make some rules - nothing like "it has to have been recorded in New England" - more like, you have to tell us something about the session! C'mon! This is TalkBass right?!! Details details people!
Click to expand...

You're gonna love this: recording was done live in a garage except the vocals. The guitar was a Gibson SG into a rackmount Line6 POD and my setup was an old, cheap Ibanez P bass copy through a ZOOM 506 II. We had headphones on so there'd be no bleedthrough and heard the drummer just by his sheer brutality when he played. I wish I still had that bass, it wasn't anything special but it was cool.
 
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#55
BradE said:
You're gonna love this: recording was done live in a garage except the vocals. The guitar was a Gibson SG into a rackmount Line6 POD and my setup was an old, cheap Ibanez P bass copy through a ZOOM 506 II. We had headphones on so there'd be no bleedthrough and heard the drummer just by his sheer brutality when he played. I wish I still had that bass, it wasn't anything special but it was cool.
Click to expand...

That's awesome! So you all had headphones with guitar and bass in them, with the drums just "acoustic"? Sounds good to me!
 
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#59
hieronymous said:
Wow! That's pretty impressive, especially for thrown together! Sounds good too, the drummer kept a high quality copy all these years, huh?
Click to expand...

He's kept a pro studio in operation since those days and when Harpo studios in Chicago closed, after Oprah went off the air, he purchased the Neve console from Harpo, had it shipped to him, then hired the guys from Neve in Wimberley, Tx to come in and give it a complete refit, diagnostic, and install in his studio.

Once he had everything up and running, in his spare time, he started digitizing tapes from the various media that had all the old sessions. He eventually got to the tapes that had our sessions and when he had those digitized he sent the old mix to me as an MP3. I was surprised he still had all that old stuff. I still have all of my old tapes but have never gotten around to digitizing them.
 
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#60
I'm behind listening to stuff, trying to go through in order when I get a chance.

TerribleTim68 said:
This was right around 1989-1990, my very first band -


That is just about the only recorded history of my band days that exists.
Click to expand...


The guitarists sound good - my immediate thought was Randy Rhoads's chordal & rhythm sound. The recording sounds good to me - recorded in a proper studio? What happened to the band? I'm kind of impressed that both songs have pretty long mellow "intro" sections (I guess it's really 1st verse or something?) before the heavy stuff comes in.
 
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