When I was visiting my brother @guatecoop last weekend, I wanted to do some live jams onto analog cassette mutitrack... Unfortunately, the last time I used my Tascam 488mkII 8-track recorder was last FAWM and I had forgotten a few things. That said we were able to record some drums and get an awesome hybrid track out of it.

So when I got back home, my goal was to record enough music onto my 8-track so that I not only figured out how to use it again but also set it in my brain, so I could have more fun with it. Modern DAWs are awesome, don't get me wrong. I love 48 track songs as much as the next guy (ahem @sapient), but there's something fun about limiting yourself on an old school cassette. That's part of the reason I run the 4-track challenge - you end up with completely different things.

So, last night I investigated the 8-track and figured out what I had done wrong over the weekend. Today, when I got home from work, I came up with a plan - Record five songs on my drum kit onto the 8-track and make songs with them, using only instruments recorded onto the cassette. Of course recording onto cassette means you have to play the entire song in one go. Yeah, sure, technically you can punch in, but not realistically, when you are the only one there. (kind of hard to hit the punch in button and be playing drums)

The story ended well and this is one of those songs. The guitar parts came very quickly and it turned out to be a very fun song. The 'path' is my plan to record five songs onto cassette only, and cassettes are analog ('and a log'). 😉

This will get a new mix, but I wanted to get it out there in one night. I had a button pushed incorrectly when i recorded the drums, so the kick drum channel has one of the overhead mics in it. The drums are kind of wonky, but it works for now. FAWM on!!

I played:
1973 Ludwig Holly wood drum kit
Danelectro DC59
Agile Harm 3 electric 12 string
Tacoma DM912 acoustic 12 string
Fender Jazz bass
1973 Traynor YGL-3 amp

VV: zecoop sent me this track a couple of weeks ago (formerly known as 'A Path and a Log': fawm.org/songs/104322/) and I've been making illness-related excuses ever since. My voice is mostly back to normal now though and I'm pleased I was able to figure out some words and get this finished off before the end of the month! I actually wrote parts of this lyric in the first week of February but hadn't figured out how to finish it, after reworking it to fit the rhythm of this song the rest of it flowed out fairly naturally. Phew! I also added a guitar solo and some organ stabs, I feel like I'm way out of my comfort zone here vocally / genre-wise but that's what FAWM is all about, right?

ZC:
So glad the health came back and some inspiration hit late. I love writing songs with VV because his lyrics and vocals are always so top notch and unexpected. So many words and just so perfect. The song kind of had a nervous energy already and he really just amplified that and made it even better. What an awesome last day of FAWM this has already turned out to be!! Thanks!!!!!