When demo tapes get destroyed. Goddammit...

[metallicarocks]

I'm at practice with the drummer, and I show this riff that I'd made a while ago and he loves it. It turns out the riff was just something that I made at like 2:00 in the morning (aren't all great riffs?) and it sounded awesome. I busted out the four track and layed down a guitar track, keyboard, and a drum track. I got it to sound okay, then I put it on a mixdown and threw it in the closet. Later on, just for shits giggles, I pull out the old riff box and plug in a few tapes. Most were just standard riffs that all sounded the same, but this one was truly awesome, even for a sloppy 2:00 inspiration. I immediately began working on it again, but found out that I'd done something with the rhythm line of the guitar that I can't do now for whatever reason. I can nail the rhythm perfectly in my head, but when I pick up the guitar it sounds like ass. To make matters worse, I cannot find the tape. When I moved out with friends, my little brother used my room and evidently **** up all of my goddamn tapes. I can't find it, and I can't see how the fu(k I did what I did! It was the coolest riff, but I can't get it to work out with the drums. It's such a stupid little mishap. I don't remember anything being so hard when I recorded it, I just sat down and played it. Now I can't do it! Fu(k!

Sorry, had to vent. Any similair stories from you guys?

[Newc]

Re: When demo tapes get destroyed. Goddammit...

Yeah. We had a song that just "came out of thin air" called 'Goodbye' and it had one of my best solos as well as one of the singer's best performances ever. The sound quality was crap as it was a standard home stereo cassette deck with a lead from the mixer and a couple of room mics, but you could at least pick out the lyrics and the solo.
I lent the tape to the singer, and then neither of us saw it again [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

We've also had "magical moments" at rehearsal where we wrote some of our best stuff just in a 20 minute jam, or we were all being musically psychic and it just sprang out perfect, then at the end of it realised that the tape ran out maybe 2 minutes into it, or was not even on (still in 'Record/Pause') [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]

The one that got us the most was the "PFL" (Pre-Fade Listen) - which we pronounced "poofle" (the "oo" sounds like "look", not "poon" [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]) - we'd be jamming away, then go to check the playback and say "oh NO! Somebody forgot to push the poofle!" [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

I've still got a lot of the old 4-track tapes we did and need to dump them off to the computer before they totally degenerate.

Newc

[JacksonConcept]

Re: When demo tapes get destroyed. Goddammit...

That sucks. I used to record my band's practice sessions on a dual cassette Emerson Jambox sitting across from us and got some killer recordings from it! [img]/images/graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] I still have those cassette tapes from about 1989 and they sound like they were 4-tracked and mixed. That was the best jambox. I still have alot of Riff tapes I need to go back and listen to.

[Shotgun]

Re: When demo tapes get destroyed. Goddammit...

[ QUOTE ]
That sucks. I used to record my band's practice sessions on a dual cassette Emerson Jambox sitting across from us and got some killer recordings from it! [img]/images/graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] I still have those cassette tapes from about 1989 and they sound like they were 4-tracked and mixed. That was the best jambox. I still have alot of Riff tapes I need to go back and listen to.

[/ QUOTE ]

We did that, too - at exactly the same time (1989). Just ran the tape outs on the board into a jambox.

In fact, I think I'm gonna post a couple under the mp3 section, just for shits and giggles.

Who knows, maybe one night at 2am when you're not thinking about it, the riff will come back?

Keith

[lerxstcat]

Re: When demo tapes get destroyed. Goddammit...

Yeah, it's the subtle phrasings that make most cool riffs stand out. I hope it comes back to you, but the moral is, make all efforts to hang on to idea tapes where friends or family
can't lose 'em or tape over 'em.

[Outlander]

Re: When demo tapes get destroyed. Goddammit...

Hey guys ...when all my old cass. recorders refused to work anymore a month or so ago I grabbed my HandiCam slapped it on the tripod and let it run during rehearsal.I knew it was a digital cam so I set it for 16 bit sound (the highest).It recorded great.It has auto leveling and never crapped out even though it was only 10 feet at most from the drums and bass amp.13 piece gretsch concert double bass set!Besides the good sound quality we can actually see what we are doing which helps a lot [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
To save on tapes I'll dump em down on VHS and reuse the tapes.Try it I think you'll be surprised.

[metallicarocks]

Re: When demo tapes get destroyed. Goddammit...

That's a good idea with the camera. We were going to try it with my camera, but it was a big piece of sh!t that required a VCR so that you could record! I got it for $5 at a garage sale. It worked, but it was bulky as hell! It is very nice to not only hear a riff, but also see how you're doing it.

Anyway, I used a similair rhythm for the riff and it works. It's not the same rhythm, but it's close enough anyway.