You may remember the call for submissions to what should be a remarkable Rock Town Hall experience of shame, laughter, self-awareness, and (yes) healing. Rock Town Hall’s My First Demo Talent(less) Search will provide Townspeople and Friends of the Hall an opportunity to reveal their one or two of their earliest demos or live recordings in an anonymous, streaming fashion. Townspeople will then be invited to comment on these early works, see if they can identify the young and innocent artists, and so forth. Prizes will be awarded, long-lost bandmates will be reconnected, we will all feel more deeply something about the music-making experience. At the appropriate time the artists can choose to reveal themselves and provide background on the making of their classic tracks.
In short, this should be a very meaningful activity, and it will only be more meaningful with your first demo in the mix! I know some of you have been digging through your archives for that elusive recording. I know some of you may be reading about this activity for the first time and are already thinking about what you might submit. I know some of you are chicken. [Mr. Mod makes juvenile, taunting chicken noise.] Don’t be chicken!
We’ve received 9 submissions to date. This will work best with a baker’s dozen (ie, 13 for our Townspeople on the metric system). The bravery of folks who have submitted to date will not go unrewarded, and those of you who submit a revealing, youthful recording by Monday, May 17, will also experience the spiritual rewards promised by this exercise.
If you’d like to submit an early demo or live recording for Rock Town Hall’s My First Demo Talent(less) Search, please write me at mrmoderator [at] rocktownhall [dot] com. Thanks!
If I had easy access to a method of digitizing my cassettes, I’d gladly send you some of the goofy stuff I’ve done myself (“Christmas in Hell” which I came up with BEFORE Spinal Tap did “Christmas w/the Devil”), with friends (the Drunken Irish Bastards take on “That’s the Way I Like It” is KILLER!), or with the “band” I was in that never made it out of the rehearsal space, The Glory Stompers. I’m sure you’d all get a laugh out of my/our ineptitude. It’s a shame, really. Some day.
Yes, digitizing cassettes — easier said than done… 🙁
If anyone wants to send me an old cassette demo (either first generation or a dub, if you’ve got that old technology), I can digitize. Write me offlist to set this up. Thanks!
As luck would have it, I’m finally getting the power source for my Tascam tonight. I’ll try to e-mail you my very first track ever recorded if I can because I feel certain that it could win “Most Embarrassing”.
Now, if I can only find them…..
…[rummaging in the basement noises]…
“Oh look, here is my old Fostex X-14 4-Track”
…[more rummaging in the basement noises]…
“and here is the power supply. Let me see. Where are those old Milkmen basement demos…”
…[more rummaging in the basement noises]…
To Be Continued…
(…that should be X-15)
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S7_wcGClhac/SWAVz5AFNZI/AAAAAAAAAJg/Ny0FwzWrgFc/s400/fostexx15.jpg
No excuse Cassette people! I had to get my demos transfered from DAT. Thankfully my old guitar player worked for a Nashville publishing company and could access a DAT machine (I bet I could get one on ebay for $20)
Plug a mic into your mic input on your computer, download Audacity (free) and record from your cassette player like you used to record off the car radio back in the old days. even better if you have an rca-to-1/8″ adaptor, then you can go cassette-to-digital with audacity.
Thanks for the tip, jungleland2! BTW, I’ve still got a DAT machine as well, if anyone needs assistance with transferring from that.
It’s about time this thing gets going.
Get going it will, nanker. In recent days we received a few KEY contributions to making this a Very Special Rock Town Hall Event. I’m hoping a few more Townspeople come through with tracks, but we’ve got some enough good stuff if not. Thanks to those of you who are playing along!
I finally got the power chord for my 4 track. Now, I need to just find the time to convert tape to digital. I have two band practices and a t-ball game this week so I can’t make any promises other than the song itself is quite embarrassing.