So...

I dropped this blog ages ago. The tape project, believe it or not, goes ever on.

And I'm about to start dropping the first 50 tapes onto youtube, so this blog will be used.

Posting to Youtube...and new equipment

The Youtube links

So, I needed to find a way to post all these tapes somewhere, so you could actually listen to them!
Somewhere legal, basically, I wasn't going to get into anything that would tread on anyone's toes and end up spending half my time with a disabled account.

I was tempted to post on www.bandplanet.co.uk - and still might, but this blog editing tool seems easy and I can edit from anywhere, so for now we'll stay where we are.

Youtube adds adverts to the front of videos with matched content, the record labels get a slice - whcih is fine by me and has there is a quick editing tool so I can removed matched content - singles I've saved off and so on.
It was never my intention to post commercially available content - you'll find that I'll be removing albums from videos being posted, so this seems to work.
For now, we'll try Youtube.

New Equipment

Initial recordings were done on one of these;
ION Tape Express;

The Ion Tape Express

But frankly, the whole battery ness of it and the flimsiness put me off.

So we moved to this;
Digitech Tape2USB

It worked ok. It was limited to 128Kbps, could only do one side of a tape at a time and was a bit bulky.
Trouble was, I converted a bucketload of tapes, then it corrupted the key.
Luckily I had backups, moved them to a new key...same thing.

So now we're on this;
TEAC ADRW900

TEAC ADRW900

Got this off ebay.
It's a nice unit - I needed a CD player anyway, but it's far from flawless.
Again, it's limited to 128Kbps for tape to USB direct, but frankly at this stage I just want to get started. Also, it auto flips the tape, which means I can do both sides in one mp3. Handy.
There's a volume control for the tape, which if I'm being honest I'm not using.
Downsides are - it seems to be power off about 15 minutes after you stop doing anything. I'm not sure if this is a fault or by design. Also, when the tape auto flips over to record the b-side, sometimes you get that particular muffled sound that tape decks sometimes display.
Cleaning the heads hasn't helped.
Neither are massive issues and we're going with it for now.

22 - Ash, Linoleum, Boo Radleys, Cure, Jocasta, Molly Half Head, Hooliganz - Radio Sessions

22 - Ash, Linoleum, Boo Radleys, Cure, Jocasta, Molly Half Head, Hooliganz - Radio Sessions

Seems to start with the B-side, as that's not 'does your mother know'.

Ash is from Evening Session, as I believe is the Linoleum Radio session.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuaMUnFnfYk

Whistler, Air, Badly Drawn Boy, Mercury Rev, Pelvis, Gene, Kay, Sebadoh

Whistler, Air, Badly Drawn Boy, Mercury Rev, Pelvis, Gene, Kay, Sebadoh

 

 

Whistler were an alright hip hop act, very English. This is an Evening Session.

Think the Air stuff is live, presumably so is the Gene stuff.

156 - Britpop Now - 19-09-95, U2, Mcalmont, Peepshow

156 - Britpop Now - 19-09-95, U2, Mcalmont, Peepshow

Ah, the audio from the BBC show of Britpop now, which featured some very dodgy performances (no pun intended).
From the BBC: "Damon Albarn introduces a 1995 compilation of live studio performances from the 90s generation of British guitar-pop bands, featuring the first TV performance of Blur's Country House, plus Pulp's Common People, Supergrass with Alright and Elastica's Line Up. With additional classics from Sleeper, Gene, Boo Radleys, P J Harvey, Menswear, Marion, Powder and Echobelly."

You see the issue there at the time was 1 - That some of these bands were bugger all to do with Britpop (which was quite the upbeat phenomena - Blur, Menswear, Sleeper, Elastica, Pulp are all fair enough), for example Mansun, PJ Harvey and the Boo Radleys were tenuous at best and 2 - That some of the performances here are pretty average or worse, a fact made obvious by the BBC production trait for music at the time of laying the vocals on thick and thinning everything out - guitars lose all power. No hiding.
So Powder, Echobelly and Sleeper and one or two others get mauled really. Not necessarily fairly in all cases.

Not as badly as the bands did for 'Band Explosion at the Marquee' though - that was punishing, the vocals were so up front...

https://soundcloud.com/edmund-hornsby/156-britpop-now-19-09-95-u2-mcalmont-peepshowmp3

124 - Chapterhouse, Weddoes, BBM, Neds, Faith Healers, Buttsteak, Freefall, PJ Harvey - Rid Of Me

124 - Chapterhouse, Weddoes, BBM, Neds, Faith Healers, Buttsteak, Freefall, PJ Harvey - Rid Of Me

Another tape of random tracks with an album backing it up.
Again, where I got Freefall or Buttsteak from is anyone's guess. Possibly radio tracks these.

111 - PWEI - The Looks Or The Lifestyle, Spiritalised, Auteurs, PWEI 12", Belltower, Wonderstuff, UDS

111 - PWEI - The Looks Or The Lifestyle, Spiritalised, Auteurs, PWEI 12", Belltower, Wonderstuff, UDS

PWEI's Looks or the lifestyle doesn't sound too clever these days.
Tracks like 'Eat me drink me love me kill me' kick in well, but all that drawn out 'heeeeeel, hell' stuff sounds clumsy now.
The major surprise here was the UDS tracks. Urban Dance Squad? Don't even remember them or where I got 3 Heights from, but that's fun stuff that doesn't sound too bad.
Some odd tracks on here, why did I record off just one Wonderstuff B-side?