Digitizing Dimensions to Dull the Depression: The Joys that Come with Digitally Converting those Old Cassette Tapes.
A familiar site in many a parents’ home. The storage tub full of cassette tapes with recordings of radio shows, records and music from their now adults children’s youth.
So I found myself with some time off and nothing to do. This was further compounded by the fact that I was in the middle of a battle royal, no holds barred, cage match with depression. A tag team match actually, considering I was up against both Seasonal (Winter) and Diagnosed (Severe) brethren snapping and snarling at me from the other side of the corner. Pinned to my mattress and the referee about to concluded his count to 3, The only way I knew how to best combat them would be with medication, caffeine and creativity. The first two we’re procured either by being prescribed or peculated. The last I’d have to figure out something worthwhile in which the fruits of my labor would be something more that binging “Shtisel” in two days or racking up kills on Destiny 2. No, this time it’d have to be something that I could share with those that I knew would or could appreciate it. I’d take on the monumental task of digitizing the cassette tape collection from my youth that contained both mine and my brother’s recordings of radio shows.
Motivation would kick in. Yes, by God that is what I am to do. If I’m going to be able to successfully administer the Camel Clutch to the Depression Duo, this was my best chance.
regulated to RW/FF duties
Sorry ol’ pal, this calls for some heavier artillery.
How to start? In the past I would have hooked up my MacBook Pro to my old boombox and utilized some audio recording software and managed it that way. That would require Mad Scientist gymnastics to orchestrate all the knobs, dials, tubes and wires to get the volume levels set just so. Not to mention I’d have to hover over the Mac to make sure I “stop recording” when the tape stops. I don’t have time for all that jazz considering the miles of magnetically coated polyester-type plastic film I had to travel through. I’d need the Autobahn of digitizers, not the Ohio Turnpike. This is going to require newer technology that made the process painless, simple, and hopefully with the quality that could replicate the “3 way 6 speakers” of my Hitachi Trk 6700H boombox that filled my room at my parent’s house with The Human League Orchestra (instrumentals) circa 1984. Sorry ol’ boy. You’ll still be part of the process, but this time only in preparing each tape for digitizing which includes previewing, rewinding and fast forwarding to get to the start of the “A” side of the tape.
A visit to Amazon.com and a few key strokes later, I had sniffed out the best reviews with the best price and settled on the Boytone BT-17DJB-C 6-in 1 and hit the “purchase now” button. Two days later I had her (him? since its a boy?) hooked up and consummated the relationship by sliding in the first of what would be many joyous unions to come. Mazel Tov! Like most honeymoon nights, there was the awkward navigation around the instruments that come when you don’t read the instruction manual. It all seemed to come together instinctively and after I realized that the blinking “rec” in the LED screen ensured that the device was indeed recording and was ready to welcome in the tape, we were digitizing sweet music together.
THERE’S A NEW BOY..TONE IN TOWN
The little digitizer that could. Whos’s a good boytone!
I scanned the tub full of cassettes quickly and looked for one that I believed would produce pay dirt. Pay dirt being one of the many “Dimensions Programs” from WDET with Martin Bandyke and Ralph Valdez. (I’ll get more into the impact the Dimensions show had on me at a later date. But whenever some asks me how I learned so much about underground music, I always refer back to this show). The best chance of hearing the familiar voices of Ralph and Martin would best turn up as TDK gold in my pan. The beautiful SA90 that I would sometimes get from Santa in packs of 10. That’s what I was soul mining for. Eureka! Mind you when it comes to cassette tapes, It isn’t gold one is digging for, but silver… the silver sticker to be exact. There it was reflecting my dilated pupils back at me lying perfectly centered on the hard black plastic shell that housed the yards of sweet sounds.
I hooked up Boytone to my stereo system as I planned to do house chores an repairs while the tapes were digitized. After that was complete, I plugged in the my 16gb red thumbdrive, pushed the record button, waited for the flashing “record” signal and pushed the tape in. Buzz, whirl, pop, static… audio ecstasy achieved! Instantly the familiar notes from theme song of the Dimensions program which is a mix of “Very Very Hungry” (a David Byrne Brian Eno joint) and Cabaret Voltaire’s “Yashar” hit my ears along with the vocal chords of Martin and Ralph summing up what will be showcased for the night. Although it was 2019, I wouldn’t have known it as I found myself time warped back to my room some Sunday night in either the late 80s or early 90s shortly after 9 pm, eagerly anticipating what would become the soundtrack and after school retreat from the halls Trenton High School.
With the airwaves of WDET Dimensions Program now once again playing on my stereo system and fulling up my office of MY house, I began to hang on to every word the hosts were saying. Did they just mention that the show would be dedicated to Rob Tyner the lead singer of the MC5 who just passed away?! One, it seems fitting that the first show I immortalize, at least digitally, would be dedicated to a Michigan iconic rock band. Sad it had to be due to these conditions, but now I could now do some sleuthing and figure out the date of when this show was broadcast. The internet was in it’s infancy when this show was recorded so jumping online at that time was a pipe-dream. But if I pop my head back into 2019 I can get on the world wide web and find out when Mr. Tyner passed away. Beep boop bloop, I had my answer. He departed his mortal coil September 18th, 1991 which was a Wednesday, that must mean that this show in particular debuted September 22nd. The Project Manager in me was elated as now I had a method behind naming each file. Awesome.
Rob tyner
December 12, 1944 – September 18, 1991
Naming Convention = Radio Station _ Radio Show Name_ Date_ Tape Side.
Our first born file would be christened, “WDET_Dimension_Sept21_1991_A”.
It’s twin sister would be aptly named WDET_Dimension_Sept21_1991 B.
(I’d later ditch the tape side as I realized it made more sense to keep the entire show/tape on one file).
Appropriately the show started with a one of the MC5 greatest hits “Sister Anne”. The nostalgia of the song and the intro rushed over me like a refreshing breeze. This was how I was introduced to the MC5. Sitting in my room at my parents house listening to the show as it was being taped either on my Hitachi boombox or Sanyo Stereo system. If it was in fact September 22nd, 1991, I’d be turning 18 two days later. I’d be a Senior in High School and one of only a handfull that would be able to legally drink alcohol on our Senior Cruise later that following Spring. Queue dizzy spell and wave of emotions now in 2019. Or in other-words Joy Dimension #1.
The songs that followed caught me off guard as I had forgotten them. I mean completely. But my love for them was rekindled fully upon hearing them once again. Sure I was introduced to techno and Brit Pop a few years later that would send me down a whole different musical journey, but the appreciation I had for the bands that would be contained within the miles of tape to follow would become the Litmus Test and Quality Bar that would let me filter what was and wasn’t meant for my future CD collection and ipod playlists.
“Holy Sh*t, I forgot about Single Gun Theory’s song “From a Million Miles”! How could this be? I was mesmerized by this track when I heard it. It’d be the song that I could introduce to my alternative High School clique. Oh I couldn’t WAIT to get to school the next day and share it with Melanie, Amanda, Carol, Jennie and Jason while they were held captive in my 84 Mustang as we drove to Taco Bell for Chilli Cheese Burritos at lunch.
Is that Fazier Chorus? I really can’t remember the last time those four syllables rolled off my tongue. Fray-Zure-Chore-Rus”. Wow, and its their cover of The Sex Pistol’s - “Anarchy in the UK”. This weeks amazing set list would also include Televisions - “Little Johnny Jewel”, Fred Giannelli’s - “Mr. Denny”, Miranda Sex Garden’s - “Gush Forth My Tears”, and Blur - “Inertia”… JUST to name a few.
I call out these bands and their songs to give you a taste of the quality of music this program provided to me. It was a call to arms as I realized that along with these treasures, what ELSE had I forgotten about? What other ear worms from my past needed to be identified? At least for this period of my life, I HAD FOUND MY RAISON D’ETRE. The Depression duo was multiple tapes away from crying “uncle”, but I had successfully positioned myself to begin to pull back on their chin as I sat on their back to begin applying the Iron Sheik’s signature Camel Clutch to keep them out of reach of their partner’s “tag”. My mission had become clear and was further taking shape.
Along with digitizing these joyous dimensions from my past, it’d also reintroduce me to the many sirens and muses (some of them Throwing) that spawned said ear worms and set the standard that I would use to later pooh-pooh what was played on popular radio in search of the elusive, harder to find, complex poetry, elaborate and genuine arrangements of the bands that would make up my future playlists on both my College Radio show or far off future Spotify playlists.
The mission I had just started to embark would once again confirm the gift of life and “purpose of being” and help me to kick the sheets off the bed in the morning (although under the sheets my dog Maggie would stay put till she was ready to get out of bed). I realized that along with digitizing these shows, I could also Catalogue via Google Sheets what was being played so I could easily find them in terms of:
Song / Artist / Time Marker on File / Tape Side / Google Drive Link / File Name
Thank God, and I mean this with every ounce of my being, Martin and Ralph would “Back List” what they had just played in a previous set. Since these showed aired, a wonderful amazing technology called “Shazam” has made it effortless to find out what a tune on the radio is. But sometimes Shazam fails me and when it does, I just have to wait for them to tell me what was played. However Shazam has played a huge part with making the Song ID process a pleasure as what would have taken hours, will now take minutes to scribe the playlists of each of my offspring.
Hence spawned the necessary task of documenting what I was listening to via Google Sheets in more detail so if I wanted to call up and listen to Renegade Soundwave’s - “The Phantom”, I could do. Via a simple search via the Google Sheet I could now locate and dial in the song on the file it resided by executing on the time marker as identified and once again bask in that song’s glory.
As an added bonus and thanks to the nature of the show(s) to talk about current events of that time I could also include notes as to what was going on such as:
News:
Gulf War
Shows (some I went to some I didn’t):
Nine Inch Nails opening for Peter Murphy at Alvins
"Everything but the girl" and "The Church" at ROMT - 6/17
New Releases:
Nivana’s Nevermind
Tim Buckley - Dream Letter which was May 15th, 1990
Pixies new release "Letter to Memphis". Which came out Sept 23, 1991
Movies:
Ralph and Martin either talked about films that were playing or recapped their trips to Film Festivals.
It was so nice to once again be informed that the Smashing Pumpkins had to cancel their “upcoming” tour because they decided to open up for the Red Hot Chili Peppers on their tour. Not that I’d be able to go back in time to see the show, but theres some kind of serendipity that comes with knowing that it happened. The top 10 shows were cool as Martin and Ralph would go over their respective top 10 lists for the previous year that would include albums and films. They’d also open it up to the audience. For the record, everyone loved “Pulp Fiction” but not-so-much “Natural Born Killers” that year. Sorry Mr. Harrelson.
Digital files
Digitized Versions of each show
Alas, the sapling of what will hopefully one day will be every cassette tape I own catalogued was taking shape. I could now summons a song, a memory or a reflection. It was finally obtainable, albeit digitally, without the need of setting up my boombox. Gone too was the “luck of the draw” to choose a “Good Show” as the files were now searchable. I could for the first time in 30 years truly grasp, appreciate and share the audio time capsules with those that I knew would or could appreciate them:
House the files so I could share them
My Drive > Digitized Tapes
Show Details:
Tape Catalogue
On Google Sheets
As I began to digitize, document and store each of the shows, I realize that my notes section was providing some efficient channels to the wonderful memories I had either forgotten or haven’t thought of in years. There were stories and memories, strong ones, that I needed to get down on paper.
I could create a page on Facebook to share my musings with each tape…. but Wait! I’ve been looking for content for my site, “Content With The Content” and this could help me get started! What an amazing and rewarding avenue to give me that reason to get out of bed and satiate the creative drive that permeates the family tree. This might be the biggest “Joy Dimension” to come from this exercise. The site has been sitting in a state of “Coming Soon” for the past two years and this was the answer of one of the ways to populate it. Motivation. It’s good to see you again!
So my plan is to start a blog that details each of the digitized tapes and call out the many interesting tidbits that are encapuslated within each of them respectively. Whether it be about this new band from Seattle named Nirvana that sounds like they are heavily influenced by the Pixies or the latest album from Elvis Costello even though it’s from the 90s.
I invite you to join me as I recall memories that rush over me with each tape. You might find me reaching out to YOU for help every once in a while when either Shazam or Ralph/Martin are unable to provide me with what the song was that was just played.
Along with the Dimensions program I came across some very old tapes from the mid-80s in which we can hear station identifications from stations that no longer exist. (WDFX, The Fox).
I’m also not to proud to share my radio show from WUMD. The fore mentioned “Sounds Unsensed Program” in all its awkwardness, abrupt starts and two songs playing at once. It’s the thought that counts.
I’m really looking forward to beginning this journey with you as we put the Boytone into Drive and start down the many miles of cassette tape.
Feel free to comment on any of my future posts with your memories thoughts as they come to you with each installation!
Amazing what a sense of purpose can do for one’s motivation. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this exercise and I invite you to do the same. Heck come on' over and we’ll digitize your tapes together. I’d love to hear what you got!
Uncle!
This blog entry is dedicated to the memory of my Hitachi Trk 6700H boombox. Rest in Pieces.