Cassette Tapes from 1999-2002

Began putting tapes to wav on 22nd of October 2010


I turned the digits to unlock the padlock on the cupboard door and entered. I was putting my Manic Street Preachers cds back because I had just burned them all onto my computer again after losing it all to the virus.

As I was putting them back I was considering what to do today. Maybe record something? But for some reason, I just wasn't in the mood for that. So, what then? As I put the cds back, I noticed all my old tape cassettes, haphazardly lying on top of one another. I had always wanted to get them converted into mp3 or cd format. So I thought I could set up my mic and begin recording the tapes onto the computer.

After collecting the tapes from the cupboard and stumbling through with them, I set up a hifi system I have (that my wife bought me a few years back so I could listen to the tapes) and then set up my pedal and mic. I began with a tape with only three songs on it. I think it was the last cassette recordings I made before I moved into the digital age, using Making Waves.

I balanced the mic head upwards on one of my cat's small toys, next to the speaker and began recording. I recorded the three songs: 'Trip to Mars', 'After the Rush Hour's Gone' and 'Dying Rose of January'. 'Trip to Mars' includes the bass player at the time, Marc Carruthers, and all songs were recorded sometime between 2001-2002.

I then moved onto an older tape and recorded the whole thing, which was excellent. It probably pissed the neighbours off, but ah well. It felt good to record them. These recordings were done early on, maybe 1999-2000 time. The first songs was 'Induna', and I recorded them, taking me hours in total. I even managed to hoover the flat, put a washing on and hang it up, make a call to my friend Scott, and have some cereal. Some of the songs eventually put into wav format were:

Induna
Dream today of tomorrows dreams
Living on the Edge
Grow old with me; the Best is yet to be
Zikomo Kwambie
Newspaper Threat
Sleep
Dreams are in the Skies

The song 'Sleep' is a very interesting one. Stuart Carroll and I recorded this, and we just kept jamming continuously, improvising as we did it. The end of the song is my mother screaming my name, because we had been constantly playing it. The song lasts 19 minutes. A beast.

Been so good to get some of them on wav. I will make a 'cassette tapes from 1999-2002' profile for these old songs. I will also try and put more onto my computer over time.

Watch this space,
Wullae

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