8-Track

Getting an eight-track recorder these days is no big deal, but in 1996 cheap digital gear wasn't plentiful. When I found a used analog cassette 8-track I was overjoyed.

The Yamaha MT8X didn't yield studio-quality sound, but it let me create a lot of the things I'd been hearing in my head for a long time yet was unable to realize with only four tracks. In particular, the MT8X let me record drums in stereo, stack lots of harmonies and widen the stereo spectrum in my mixes by recording guitars in stereo. The most involved project I did with this machine was with Klayton and the K-Band.

These songs below sound pretty full because some of them have lots and lots of tracks (well, eight anyway) and you'll notice a drum machine in some of them and real drums in one (Blossom Beautiful).

• Blossom Beautiful has great drumming and keys a la Devon Collins. This is a smooth tune that almost reminds me of Steely Dan.
• Reincarnated is a big tune. Heavy and full. It's a breaking-up tune. Notice the dogs barking in the background and the guitar sound inspired by Led Zep's "Tangerine."
• Doggystyle - Written by Dan D. and I back at Ohio University, this one's really weird. I recorded this while living in Miami -- check out the strange sound effects, drum machine, piano by Mitch and backing vocals by my sister, Shayna.
• Leaving Appalachia is a tune I wrote for my buddy, Ben Johnson. It's kind of sad, but it's a good tune. Very mellow. Like him.
• Oogy Boogy is one messy drummy yummy scrummy ejaculation of sounds, words and dwarves. This tune features one of the best guitar solos I've ever squirted out and Klayton K on vocals.
• Missakiss - this version has a cool bass line.
• My Baby Works at McDonalds is one of the first things I recorded on the 8-track, consequently the quality isn't that great. But the song, written for my ex-girlfriend, Rachel Klein, is pretty funny.
• Santa Claus has a lot of words, backwards guitars, my lame keybaord-playing and mmmmm drum machine!
• Skating Music -- an instrumental that envisioned would land in a John Waters film or something.
• This Layered Guitar Jam is only about 50 seconds. There's lots of effects on it. I was trying to make my guitar sound like a keyboard.
• This version of the Brooklyn Museum Song has a bass line but mostly sucks. (Hear a better version here recorded digitally)
• This version of the Brooklyn Museum Song is better than the one with bass above, though there's a second of silence in it where the original analog tape was damaged. It features Mitch Hinds, on keys (the strings sound).