Recording in the 1990s - First Project

One of the interesting things about the 90s scene was trying to record.  

There was a very active North Carolina band scene in the 1990s coming out of an active scene in the 1970s and 80s. This led to a push to put out (primarily) cassettes. There were three basic purposes for this.

• The gin up interest among college aged people
• To send out to clubs to try and book gigs
• To send to the college radio stations

Booking studio time was a possibility, but the expense often limited the use of these facilities to just a few tracks. Often, the expense ruled out even recording one track to satisfaction (overdubs, etc.). Looking back, just having one well-produced track would have been useful for radio station promotion, but hindsight is 20/20.

The push (and desire) was to put out anywhere from a five to 10 song cassette. The most common route to this was the use of a 4-track cassette recorder. If you can find copies of final 4-track demo cassettes, what you will hear are greatly varying levels of production. The 4-track recorders were great, if you really knew how to use them.

The "cheap" way to go was to go direct from the mixing board. You could hook up just about any stereo cassette recorder to the main board, mix from there as you would for any live show, and record direct. You kinda had to play around to get all the levels right. Of course, with no overdubs, and everyone playing simultaneously, recording an individual song didn't take as long.

(The really cheap way was to just put a portable cassette player in the corner of the room and hit record. This was an easy way to capture live sets, but you can imagine the deficient quality.)

In our illustrious career, Nothing But Sky put out essentially four and a half releases. Let's start with the half release. We originally tried the direct from board method. We were a trio at that point and we just played five songs straight through. We ran more effects in those days as we were formed out of the remnants of a more prog band. To be honest, we may have still be calling ourselves "Arctic Circle" at that point. 

We basically just had the songs on a cassette. We made a few handmade inserts and passed around a few copies. It wasn't much of a "release." I lost my copy along the way somewhere. Personally, it's kind of a bummer. That thing had the only attempt to record the song on which I had a writing credit.

When I joined (primarily because I owned a bass), Branon asked me if I had any songs. I had been messing around with a song, but I really didn't know how to write a song. Branon was a prolific songwriter and a talented guitarist and together we fleshed out my song, Why Did I Fight in a dorm room at UNCG (The University of North Carolina at Greensboro).

Why Did I Fight was my attempt at writing a Sting song. You'd never know by listening to it, but it was partly inspired by the song Fortress Around Your Heart. Sting, being a bassist, convinced me I could write like him. So it's his fault! 

Why Did I Fight survives today only because I lifted a practice session recording from a videocassette a friend made for us. My memory is probably not as reliable as I think, but I think I wish I still had that first direct demo cassette.

As I recall, these are the tracks:

• Confusion
• Pieces
• Won't You Come Back to Me
• Why Did I Fight
• Killing Nazi Skinheads
• (Bass/Drum Jam)

These songs would all drift out as better material was written. The bass/drum jam happened when I hooked up to Branon's gear and played through his heavily flanged echo (plus) setup. I was playing my Hondo Flying V with flatwounds. 

The flatwounds gave me a dull sound, which was modified because I played with a pick. How I got to playing with a pick is another story for another time. I played with flatwound strings because I had been teaching my self how to play the bass since the summer before and my fingers were a painful mess. It was suggested to me by Keven at The Music Loft to try flatwounds (they're much easier on the finger tips!).  

When I plugged into that surreal setup, it was too cool. Then Scott started drumming along. It was an ugly mess, but just weird enough for me to stick it on the cassette. 

I was quite excited to hear the tracks in their raw form as it was really the first time I heard myself as part of a band. 

WHY DID I FIGHT

Scotto/Edwards 1988

There's dirt on my face

I slowly walk on home

My crawling heart sighs

Once again I am alone

My blood-spattered uniform

Is better than my tears

For the colors are visible

The red shows that I cared

Why did I fight this strife?

Listen comrade in arms

You are not worth my life

I'm out of ammunition

The battle is long past

You've won the war

And I'm scared the pain will last

I drop to my knees

As a pain cripples my soul

I know the end is near

Memory takes its toll

Why did I fight this strife?

Listen comrade in arms

You are not worth my life

I hope you don't mind

If I die alone out here

As I fall into my grave

I faintly hear you cheer

Why did I fight this strife?

Listen comrade in arms

You are not worth my life

Wherever you are

I hope you're in pain