A fair few cassettes from the 1970s are all I have of the past recordings of songs written and played back then. They are fragile to say the least. What needs to happen is to get one of those cassette to MP3 converters and get them onto the new Apple set up.
I have already either chewed up songs whilst they are playing. Not good! Or…a tape has broken at the very start of loading to play. Not so bad. And so a repair kit has got to be sought too. It got me thinking of future storage of songs, media visual recordings, etc.
Will CDs suffer the same fate of contamination further down the line too. I read once, when on the Flickr photography site, about a ‘fungus type’ that eats into CDs. I have none of our old songs on CD at all. But it has made me think of all artefacts and their need for preservation. Books bought in old antique or charity/thrift shops can have an aroma of damp and brown spotting. But still be readable. Not the same with recordings though is it.
I captured a really poor sounding version of a song we (Gray Summers/Dave Pepper) wrote back in 1978 when in the XCerts. It is called ‘She Said’ (audio below). With the new Apple recording/desktop technology coming today and the monitor tomorrow (Yay!) can an enhancement be made on it? Or any of the old songs? We are intending to re-record songs anyways. Albeit different band personnel. I’m the only original XCert. My brother is joining on guitar now. And my old drummer buddy from our Team 23 band days is in for the new journey too.
Usually I would just consider, if possible, a simple cassette upload exchange to the new system. Somewhere to store those old songs for safety.
But the thing that really hit my senses the other day, is that my younger brother Kev (Zero Summers) was the drummer on these old songs on cassette. He died when 21 years old. So..I would love to get a really improved recording of those songs in memory of his hard work, individuality and skilled contributions to the XCerts’ sound. We were a three piece band. His drumming cemented the whole sound.
On Facebook recently I saw adverts for conversion tools for those old ripped, faded and stain spoiled photographs. They can manipulate photographed faces, etc to provide a clear image of a person from decades upon decades ago. Maybe there is an audio equivalent possibility too.
Okay. I wasn’t going to, but I will include the She Said song. Even if it is a poor sounding copy. I know a better version exists on one of the cassettes. But not chancing finding it yet! It kind of holistically cements this blog together.
SHE SAID:
Dave on guitar and vocals…
Found this link below about fungus and CDs…..
https://heritagesciencejournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40494-021-00609-x
And maybe this system Logic Pro, which is an intentional purchase once the Apple has been set up, can enhance and brighten up the past recordings for prosperity. Fingers crossed. Link below.
Gray Summers 