The analog process was fun and the whole reason for this exercise. The warm sound and big cables were fun to mess around with. I could’ve achieved the same result w/ my audio editing program on my mac and my computer mic, but I wanted to see how the analog process was different from what I’m used to.

It’s important to mention the difference between sampling and constant drag. Digital sampling is how I, and most of the world, enjoy music these days. It’s kind of works like frames in an animation. Small bursts of sound are emitted with silence in-between. This creates a perceived constant sound, like an animation is actually a set of stills that is perceived as motion (maybe not a totally accurate analogy, but it will work for now).Analog sound on the other hand (like a cassettee or vinyl record) is created by the constant drag of a needle over surface. If you slow down a record, your music might start to sound like satan, but you may also notice that the signal is still nice and thick. If you tried to slow down a digital track, the spaces in between the sound would become more apparent the perceived constant sound starts to break down quickly.

I read recently that music is actually recorded specifically for the ipodders of the world. Music today sounds much more tinny, high-pitched and thin than the stuff our parents grew up listening to. From The Daily Cardinal;

Apparently music … is now often being recorded, mixed and mastered to sound ideal specifically on earbuds as opposed to being aimed at more conventional sound systems. In a twisted way, innovation seems to be actually reaching for the lowest common denominator these days.

Eventually I had to bastardize my ….ahem….. vision and digitize this file for you to listen to over the internet.

Now some damage control for any audiophiles that come across this post; I don’t claim to be an audio expert, and I may not be correctly describing a lot of the technical details of analog vs. digital. This experiment was just an exercise for a guy who lives, eats, breathes, digital media.

Cate’s grandma (stick w/ me here) dropped by yesterday to see the baby. She is always peddling some kind of garage sale find that we usually turn down or accept b/c we don’t want to hurt her feelings. Finally a payoff!!! As I walked to the back of her caddy, to inspect her latest find I was thrilled to find a analog 4 track recorder. My buddy Alex introduced me to one of these and he has made some sweet sweet music w/ it.

Right now, I posses a guitar, piano and keyboard. Some other things I may need to pickup before fiddling w/ this thing;

• some kind of percussive instrument, bongo, tambo, etc.
• A metal or glass slide for slide guitar
• harmonica
• mic and possibly a punch-in pedal.

should be interesting.