Sorry for the lengthy delay in getting to the really depressing part of The Awakening plot! I'll get to it, I promise. I think I need a few more margaritas to set the mood!
In the meantime, my friend Joe recently purchased an un-opened vinyl copy of our Sanctified album off of E-Bay. On his 80's blog (see the link below), he has posted a download for the album. He took the original vinyl and did his own re-mastering job of it. I'm really excited to hear what he did. He said that he will also send me the un-altered version so that I can have a stab at re-mastering it myself.
The only digital version I've ever had of this album was one done by Andy back at least 10 years ago, where he did much the same thing - he ran the virgin vinyl through some outboard gear (now we would just use VST plugins for the computer) to beef up the sound.
I can't wait to hear Joe's remastering job.
If this sounds interesting to you, and would like to hear what Joe has done, check out his 80's blog at the link below and download the album for yourself.
That's right folks... here I am in the new age, urging you to go steal our album!!
I can't get angry about such a thing. If you only knew how many audio files I have on my computer that came from similar sources! (I have 83 CD's of audio from the original film stock that was taken during The Beatles' Let It Be sessions. Yes folks... 83 CD's of them learning songs on the fly and talking and arguing and not being very good. You can't buy stuff like this... you just find it online and download it!!)
So that said... I have no reservations about encouraging Awakening fans to download this album free of charge. I'm quite sure that if we ever were able to put out some kind of a box set or collector's release, you would all gladly cough up some coin to buy it. Studies show that people who regularly download music off the internet are more likely to purchase music than those who don't. I'm living proof of this. I would never have discovered The Kinks if it hadn't been for illegal downloading, and thus, when I was in Scotland (at the world's greatest record shop - FOP), I bought a truck load of Kinks CD's!!
Here is the link: Enjoy the album. I plan on it too!
Ian - July 10/09
Thanks for the link to the blog...
ReplyDeleteI accidentally erased the un-remastered tracks and will run them through the usb turntable again for you probably late tonight...
Of course, it will be now on 'second pass' vinyl instead 'virgin'. Is there a term for only doing it ONE time??? Like "virgin once removed"?
No probs Joe. If you do the transfer again, any chance you can just send them as Wave files. I know it will be huge, but Mp3s are so degraded in quality, and it would be nice to hear them sounding their absolute best. I usually just get my folder of Wave files and then zip them down to smaller size and then upload them. No big deal if it's not doable. Just a suggestion.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I CAN think of a term of a virgin performance being done a second time, but it's really nasty and not appropriate for this blog!!
Ian
This is so cool.
ReplyDeleteThe Awakening was one of my favorite bands back in the late 80s. My tapes (!) unfortunately, are essentially unusable due to the bazillions of times I've listened to them.
This is wonderful! I'm really excited to be able to hear your music again.
HI there Mr. Position!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the wonderful words and for reading my less-than-wonderful words on The Awakening.
I'm in the midst of planning a wedding, so all things related to this particular topic are totally on hold for the moment.
When the smoke clears, I DO plan to get together with the old mates and make some decisions about making our recordings available to people, even if it's not through some legit source like iTunes. Will be in touch.
Cheers
Ian