This was supposed to be a super simple one because busy weekend, but trying to get two acoustics and a bass to sound distinctly clear and separate from each was a lot more messing about than I expected and it still kinda sounds a bit mushy

So, around 15-ish years ago, I digitally dumped a bunch of my music idea cassettes I still had from the mid-late 90s, intending to sift through them to see if there was anything worth keeping. The original version of this track was among my first (probably even the first) 'faux 4-track' experiments using the ol' layer bounce method that I totally came up with myself and no one else ever thought of before me or since (twin cassette deck; record layer 1 on tape 1 with the built in mic, play back tape 1 and record layer 2 on tape 2, etc). Needless to say, I was young, had no idea what I was doing, the method and equipment were crude and sloppy, so the quality of the original recording is horrendous, but by jeebs, I WAS RECORDING MULTI-LAYER DEMOS AND THE WORLD WAS NOW MINE FOR THE TAKING!!! (turns out I completely lack the part that drives ideas and dreams into success... welp...)

The original composition was four layers of acoustic guitar; two rhythm and two lead. Some ideas worked, some not so much, it was rough, the two lead parts started out as friends but had fallen out by the end, yet there was always a little something about this piece that made me hang on to it.

This refined/reworked/re-version has an acoustic guitar and electric bass handling mildly tweaked versions of the two original rhythm parts and one lead acoustic combining the decent bits of the two lead parts into one and adding some new bits to replace the not-so-decent bits of the original. The parts now feel a little less competitive and bit more cooperative.

Instead of trying to make it sound pristine, I went with the better of a few takes even though there are a few flubs, because I wanted to retain a smidge of the untidy flavour of the original. I also ran it through a TASCAM plugin to give it some cassette character, and also because I always wanted a TASCAM 4-track way back then because I was absolutely confident it would have propelled me toward instant stardom if only I had the money to acquire one! /s

Anyhoo, it is very basic and easy listening, but it is one more old idea I can now cross off the 'maybe one day I might actually do something with this' list, which in the tiniest way lightens my brain a little.

*UPDATE*
So, while I was working on this, using the original recording as a reference, I had this niggling feeling there were elements in my memory banks that were not present in the original version... Well, that is because, after some more sifting, I found a second version that is a bit tidier and a bit longer with a build variation. I probably recorded it within the same week (maybe month) as the original, because my attention span likely would not have attempted a re-do any longer than that.

I was initially annoyed when I found this version because that meant I had built the 'final version' from 'v1 alpha' instead of 'v2 beta', but after having a listen to v2, it became evident that the changes weren't really working. I think teenage me probably thought it needed to be longer because 2 minutes 'isn't a real song' or something, but the new parts didn't add any value to the vibe, the increased length made it drag, and although the lead parts stayed friends throughout, you could tell they had run out of things to talk about by the end.

Moral of the story; newer doesn't mean better... or something... *shrug*

Tags: week 3 2026, View by:JaiClone