Old Dogs, New Tricks and Eight Track Recorders

Once upon a time, before the advent of the personal computer and digital recording, I was a country songwriter. Demos were done on analog four to sixteen track cassette recorders and pitched to publishers without the assistance of agents, managers and lawyers. Since leaving Nashville in the mid-nineties, I have heard reports that Music Row has evolved into giant corporate conglomerates where sharks now wear suits and unsuspecting young talent with stars in their eyes find it harder than ever to get a lucky break.

The Nashville music scene of my younger days was more of a good ole boy network operated on a handshake and round of cold beers. Talent was sought out in the local honkey tonks and a great songwriter was snatched up like a fish out of water by the most prestigious publishers in town. This is not to say that it was easy to get songs recorded and there was definitely more hopefuls than artists, but there was hope.

After eighteen years, this one song wonder, headed back north and tried not to look back (tried being the operative word here). 'They' say, what goes around comes around, and I guess I have come full circle more times than I care to admit. After the sting of failure wears off and creativity can no longer find any other means of escape, the music will have its way.

Fourteen years ago, I vowed never to write another song. I was done, finished, outta here with songwriting. Over the years, I have taken up photography, beading, poetry, blogging and journalism to no avail. Like a dormant volcano coming back to life, the music began to seep out of my deepest mental crevices until one day songs began to spew out of my psyche. I cracked open the case of my old faithful B-25 Gibson guitar, and voila, my first song in nearly fifteen years was born.

What followed this magical and monumental event was nothing less than a miracle. Within two weeks a second song child was born and then a third. I was on a roll. Then the reality of what had occurred began to revive all those old feelings of insecurity and fear of failure, or success for that matter. After all, who would want to hear songs from the perspective of a fifty something year old shoulda, woulda, coulda been?

With just enough ego left in me to want to try, I decided I should make a demo and share my babies with some friends, musicians or anyone else who might have a ear for boomer blues, country, rock and roll. Here comes the part about old dogs, new tricks and eight track digital recorders.

As I mentioned, it's been fourteen years since I had a go at songwriting and technology hasn't marched on, it's skyrocketed. With no recording equipment and no musician friends this side of the Mason Dixon line, I knew I would need to purchase a little four or eight track recorder. Fortunately, I have a little computer knowledge and was confident that I would be able to locate something suitable to record with, so I began to research the latest recorders on line.

The more I researched the more confused I became. There are still some four track cassette players out there, but why would I want to invest in something as old school and outdated as that? There are eight track digital CD recorders that seem simple enough to use. They even have the old fashion EQ knobs, with 40GB memory and a built in CD burner. Cool! The more I read, however, I began to realize I was out of my league when the language turned to XLR technology that records two channels at a time into a solid state, and features like S/PDIF Digital Output to Full Timecode Capability Inc. 30df and Jam Sync. Huh? What happened to plug and play or mixing and mastering?

I know it all still exists in the middle of all the technological jargon, but does one have to have a degree in computer science to record a demo these days? I hope not! All I want to do is put a couple of rhythm tracks together with some clean vocals.

As weeks turned into months and my search for that right and perfect, not so hi-tech recorder continued, I made several visits to the local music store trying to elicit some advice from their electronics expert. A little embarrassed by my lack of recording equipment savvy, and not knowing what questions to ask to further my education, I left the store on more than one occasion with no more knowledge than I had already gained from my online research.

It was on one such visit, however, that I made an impulse purchase of a Yamaha PSR 403 synthesizer, only to return it the following week. This one little spur-of-the-moment investment turned out to change the whole course of my songwriting / recording experience, forever. Having been more than forty five years since I attempted to teach myself to tickle the ivories on the worn out family upright piano, I was thrilled when I realized, I had a natural talent to pick out chords, melodies and arpeggios.

After one week, I was in love. There was just one little problem. I wanted a better model so that I would be able to lay down more tracks and have more arranging features than my current model offered. So, I returned the PSR 403 and upgraded to the PSR 500. This little jewel is a meditation of sound that fills the ethers with heavenly music and sends me into the realm of angels. In just a matter of weeks, I have learned more than I could have ever imagined and am already writing and arranging new songs.

With 8 tracks recording capabilities, 32 polophony, 128 voices ranging from piano, strings, e-piano, organ, drums, choir, brass, trumpet, sax, flute, drums, guitar, accordian, synthesizer and pad, there is no telling what style of musical pursuit one will begin venturing into. I am fascinated with the sounds the harp creates and some of the synthesizer tones are awesome.

The PSR 500 has an arranger display that helps when recording original tracks. It also has a styles feature that plays a plethera of rythyms and if you need help playing a song, there is a music datbase that you can play along with by picking a song and pressing the ACMP button. There are more features I have yet to explore, and I am totally immursed in the creative process whenever I am not at work or hacking on this old computer keyboard. I fully enjoy the learning process and creative experience with this model, and I highly recommend the Yamaha PSR 500 to all budding songwriters and novice or seasoned keyboard players.

As for my search for the perfect demo recorder, I have pretty much decided to purchase the Tascam DP02, digital eight-track recorder with CD-RW burner. It combines the old style EQ knobs with hi-tech 8 track uncompressed CD quality recording and 2-track simultaneous recording, multi-effects processing, a 40 GB hard drive, two phantom powered XLR microphone inputs for high quality condensed recording, and effects send and stereo return. It also includes RCA line output for monitor, amplifiers and speakers, SPDIF digital optical output for mixing to CD or MD, headphone output with level control, MIDI output to synchronize to your drum machine or MIDI sequencer and USB 2.0 port to export your tracks or mixed song.

With all these bells and whistles, a girl can't go wrong when it comes to making a 4 track demo or record my own CD. If only I could tear myself away from my keyboard long enough to find a great deal.