Analog [Part 1]

I’m going to quote Dave Grohl, because I can. It’s my note. I do what I want.

“People are so into digital recording now they forgot how easy analog recording can be.” –D. Grohl

This has no deeper meaning, but it’s from Dave- so it is law. 

I walked for four or five miles last night; no real planned destination- just walked. When a man walks I don’t think much thought goes into it. One foot in front of the other, right? It’s interesting when you’re 'soul-searching' and analyzing yourself how many little things jump out at you. I, for one, tend to scuff my shoes on the sidewalk when I’m meandering, when I have no real purpose. The soles slide roughly across the cracked pavement and this creates a rather therapeutic sound to me.

This constant pace… this subtle nuance that I don’t tend to notice usually. Most of my friends would tell you I walk too fast usually. “Purpose-driven” or “in a hurry,” they would remark. I always got that when I worked at an electronics retailer. Customers would exclaim I was going to run someone over. (As if 130~lb me would be capable of that, maybe a small child; maybe one of those in the stuffed animal leashes parents put on them these days.)

See, I spent a chunk of the day getting books for this college thing I’m attempting ($$$) and splicing together and analog mix tape. A cassette?! Who the hell does that anymore?

Let me explain. Even growing up in the digital age and knowing my way around the binary switches of a monolithic operation system—I believe that the analog medium is something truly magic. The old and beat-up Sony radio my dad used to take on camping trips; listening to scratchy songs from my mom’s 45 record collection (I’m looking at you ‘A Horse With No Name’), cutting together the best songs from Weird Al’s first CDs into a Brett’s Greatest Most Awesome Weirdest Mixiest Mix… these are examples of analog wizardry at its finest. If you can tell me that you can’t hear something more pure when you compare an old Creamaudio cassette to an .mp3 from today, well, you’re doing it wrong and probably a terrible person.  

I digress. I spent a few hours figuring out how to use my old man’s top-of-the-line state-of-the-art Sony TC-FX6C stereo cassette deck. (You know:http://www.thevintageknob.org/sony-TC-FX6.html) I finally figured out how to start recording a tape. Tapes, by the way, are difficulty to find nowadays.  I piped audio from my computer to the deck, then back out to my speakers. Listen carefully to the mix. You can’t easily skip around here ladies and gents. The Song ends and doesn’t sound right, or doesn’t adequately lead into the next song properly… REDO.

Almost taking up the entire 90 minutes allotted, I felt pretty accomplished. I added a little something after the end if anyone decides to listen all the way through. I was feeling pretty good about this mix tape. The smudges on the back of the hastily written track list irritated my inner anal-retentive self, but it adds character I think. I slide the mix into my jeans to possibly hand it off to the person it’s intended for later this evening. If you’ve been following my story- you can probably guess who.

Back to the reason I was walking. I decided it would be good to get out of the house for a while, and headed down to Rapid City Summer Nights with the rents. Figured I might get a free drink or see some cute girls, that kind of thing.

When I got to Independent Ale House, well, I wasn’t feeling it. I needed to move, I needed to pound the pavement. Not for a job, not for a specific reason, not for any real purpose. I just felt like I needed to. The gut feeling I often refer to, this caused me to meander west.

Continued in next note…

[Part 2: http://bwtbd.blogspot.com/2013/08/analog-part-2.html ]