Dated 22 August 2010. I think I was having a really rough day.

1. Popular “experimental”/”lo-fi” music is utter bullshit. The low production quality covers up the complete lack of talent.
2. People will buy anything if they think there is a movement behind it.
3. People don’t buy original music, or music that doesn’t sound like anything they’re familiar with, hence the rise of “Chillwave”, which sounds like every awful 1970s and 1980s smooth pop hit rolled into one painfully self-conscious mess.
4. Don’t pay attention to music media. Its nature is to highlight rising trends and cash in on zeitgeist. Trends in music are created by the lowest common denominator, who want music that doesn’t encourage them to think for themselves.
5. Everyone else is an asshole academic.

Maybe I should take up yoga?

Hello readers,

I’ve been very busy lately! I wish I had more time for this blog but I’ve been distracted with other things.

First, I’m composing approximately 20 minutes of new material for a split LP that I’m putting out with my friend Alex.

Second, I recently received some artwork from Paul that I will scan and arrange into a new layout for this blog.

Third, I haven’t been repairing or restoring any equipment lately. Although, I will be restoring some items to sell later to offset the cost of my upcoming release. Stay tuned.

Fourth, I’ve been spending whatever remaining spare time writing in journals and catching up on reading. I’m about to finish John Clellon Holmes’ Go. After that I’m going to dive in to Ginsberg’s writings to catch up on what I’ve been missing.

More content will come soon.

It’s been difficult to think of single, individual post ideas for 15ips this week because there is so much that I want to do, and so much that I want to say. The sheer volume of it has, ironically, prevented me from sitting down to write about anything at all. Maybe it’s best, then, to just dump it all out into one long post.

1. The studio and the now less-encumbered creative process

I’m at a point where most of my essential music-making/recording gear is working. Last week, I did a lot of planning for future projects and occasionally made new music. I started on a new, large, complicated piece today with lots of layering and overdubbing. I’m glad I’m finally able to do this sort of big, ambitious project; a few months ago, I simply didn’t have the means or equipment to make it work. It’s why I originally set out to build a more robust music studio, and to see the cumulation of so many months of work makes me feel very proud. It’s great being able to focus on the art itself instead of the machinery beneath it. I just couldn’t do my best work when I was constantly distracted by failing gear and signal routing issues. There’s still tons of improvements still to be made, but I am freer to make bold decisions in the creative process without having to worry too much about whether I had the technical ability (personally and in terms of assets/equipment) to make them work.

2. Equipment improvements

I have a couple projects underway to streamline the workflow of the recording process as it is in my studio. One major improvement is a patchbay that I am building from scratch, to eliminate a couple of poorly laid-out patchbays that I am currently using. It should drastically reduce clutter and make it easier to route signals during production and mixdown. I’ll post an article on this when it’s closer to completion.

I also want, to get the Otari half-track machine running so I can do better mixdowns and bounces, which should provide an overall improvement in sound quality.

3. Making a record

At the beginning of the year, I decided I would spend six months putting together a complete album, and release it on my own record label. I realized that giving myself less time to do this would make me work harder, and it would force me to make tough decisions during the recording / creative process. So, I decided that I would do it in two months instead.

I am a big fan of my friend Alex Cruse‘s music. I really admire her intellectual approach to making music and I appreciate that she has done a lot of her own research on the kind of music that we make. We’ve talked about releasing some of her work, and so it seemed natural to me to ask her to contribute to my first venture into record-making. We agreed to do a split LP, with her work on one side and mine on the other, and we’ve set a deadline of early April for completed work. There will be design considerations to be made after that, and of course mastering and record-pressing, so I’m not sure when the finished product will be for sale. Hopefully, it will be for sale by the beginning of Summer.

I’m very excited about this. It will be a major accomplishment for me, and it will take me into a new phase of development as an experimental artist.

4. Blog and streaming audio

I have big plans for this blog. I’ll be writing lengthier, more in-depth articles once my equipment situation stabilizes. A brand-new design is in the works, with my friend Paul Solis providing original artwork. Jonah Strauss, another friend of mine and owner of Shipwreck Studio in Oakland, California, will write articles on Ampex MM-1200 maintenance and other studio equipment-related topics. Eventually, I will have a good balance of content between the history of modern experimental music, analog audio technology, and current electroacoustic / acousmatic / experimental works and artists.

Also, I am putting up an Internet radio station, to stream audio from this site. The focus is on 1980s and 1990s experimental artists, from out of print, limited-edition cassette releases. There is a wealth of this kind of music on the Web between several different blogs (Mutant Sounds and No Longer Forgotten Music being two of the most notable), and I will rotate a set of 10 or 12 albums for streaming every ten days. This is something that I want to have for myself, and I think that many other people will enjoy it as well. I would like to build a database of information on the albums being streamed, so listeners can learn more about the music they are listening to and perhaps find other releases that are in print and for sale.

And, of course, I hope that it will revive popular interest in this genre of music, but that’s my altruistic side speaking.

5. Record label

Finally, I am starting a record label. It’s the best way to promote my music and the music of artists whose music I deem to be important. I’ve wanted to start a record label since as long as I can remember but I haven’t had the time, money, resources, and social infrastructure in place until now. Now is the best time imaginable to present this music to the public and promote the crap out of it; I see a tremendous need for new music that defies convention and categorization and I want to do my part to make it happen. There’s too much music that is either too “out there”, too academic, or too traditional; experimental and electronic music shouldn’t be as alienating as it is to most people, and I want to bring a new form of it to a wider audience.

Other than the initial release with Alex and I, the rest is still being planned. More work will be done on this as the album gets close to completion.

- – -

I’ll be writing more this week, mostly on these topics.

OK, so I haven’t shown any pictures of my equipment and my setup/studio/whatever. There’s a lot of ground to cover here, and many articles will be written about the restoration, repair and upgrade of my equipment. So to start, here is a list, followed by a whole gaggle of pictures.

It’s a total mess right now, because a lot of stuff is being repaired.

Read the rest of this entry »

Reel motor from Tascam 34b

Demo Clip Demo Clip Demo Clip:

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It’s been nearly two weeks since I last wrote. I’m a bit bogged down in projects right now and I haven’t had much opportunity to make music.

A few technical issues have sprung up and I’m taking care of them as best I can. I was really hoping that I’d be out of the woods by now, equipment-wise, but it looks like I’m not there yet.

After eliminating most of the hums and buzzes from my studio, I hooked up my Tascam 48 eight track machine to the console and started recording. On playback, however, I noticed that four of the eight channels were producing weak signals. The needles on the VU meters looked right, and it wasn’t an issue with the mixing console. Something is happening in the amplification stage in the tape deck.

I opened up the machine and removed the amp cards to clean and inspect them. After putting them back in, the problem was still there and it appeared to follow the cards. That means that there’s something wrong with those individual amp cards. Maybe. I’m waiting to pick up a calibration tape, and I’ll start from the top and work to the bottom to find the problem and (hopefully) its solution.

Also, with my secondary Tascam 34b quarter-inch four track machine, I noticed problems with the reel motors on playback, fast forward, and rewind. When a tape is loaded, the motors will run at normal speed and then grind to a halt. So, I opened the deck, removed the motors, and gave them a full cleaning. I will also replace the bearings once I find a bearing puller to remove the old ones. I also replaced the belt, which I was going to do anyway.

Guts from Tascam 34b reel motor

This doesn’t touch on the issues that I’ve had with other equipment, but I should fix these two things before I move on to other projects. The eight-track is my primary multitrack, and the four-track machine will be very important for editing loops and for doing echo and delay. I kind of need them to work. You know.

- – -

I had a loop sitting on the bench, which I left there after I discovered that my eight track was broken. I put it on the working four-track deck and recorded it into Audacity. The original sound is a guitar chord, and I cut off the attack and made a loop from the remainder. This is one of my favorite techniques because the sounds that it produces are very glassy, and often sound like chimes. This was recorded in my bedroom, and I purposely EQed it to bring out the room sounds: my dehumidifier, street traffic, and general environmental white noise. It’s great as a demo, and I will eventually do it again in a proper studio for a more polished result.

- – -

I have a couple of building and design projects on my plate, too. I’m designing a loft bed for my bedroom. Underneath the bed will be a workspace, which means that I can get all of my broken tape decks off of the dining room table and into my personal space. I am also designing a shelf to go over the meter bridge of my mixer, which will hold a couple of lamps and my monitors. Finally, I’m designing a normaling RCA patchbay to handle the accessory send/receive jacks on my console. I will be writing a few posts about that later. Let me just say that it’s going to make this thing a LOT less messy:

Messy Patchbay

Anyway. Enjoy the clip. I’ve got some stuff to do.

I started this blog in October and sat on it before making it viewable to the public. I was working on a bunch of projects and I didn’t have the time to dedicate to blogging. The studio is now mostly complete, and I have more spare time to dedicate to other projects, i.e. this blog. Thus, the blog lives.

Expect more posts soon!
Jeff

Hello readers,

Thank you for visiting my blog, 15ips.com. I started this website to document my progress as I acquire, restore, and maintain analog audio recording equipment for use in my project studio.

I’ve learned a lot by reading others’ blogs, and especially from reading online bulletin boards such as the Analog Only forum at homerecording.com. There are a number of talented, generous people out there who are providing useful information, and I would like to contribute to that body of information.

I’m not a professional. I’m just a musician, making music at home. I also have a certain technical aptitude. I don’t have a big budget for equipment, and this dictates what equipment I buy, and the state of that equipment. Most of the items I encounter are around 20-25 years old, and they typically need of a good deal of restoration and maintenance before being used. So, it was out of necessity that I started doing my own work. I like doing it, and I especially enjoy being somewhat self-sufficient.

I’m starting this blog by writing about the repair work that I’m doing as I’m building my project studio. Most of my equipment is TASCAM gear from the 1980s, which seems to be enjoying some kind of comeback among analog recording enthusiasts. It’s not the best, but I don’t think anyone other than a gear snob can really tell the difference. The great thing about 1980s TASCAM gear is that it’s still affordable, many of the original parts are still available from the manufacturer, and the sound quality is incredible if the equipment is maintained and used properly. It’s perfect for someone who wants to get the most for his budget.

I’ll start with a few articles. I will be grateful if you have a comment for me, or if you have suggestions or other information as I go forward. Please feel free to drop a line!

~ Jeff