I have never attempted an album review before but here goes...
I got a brown paper wrapped parcel in the mail pretty quickly after having had a nice email discussion about recording with Donny Lang, whose project this seems to be. (partial comments from his emails at the end of this post)
Inside the paper inside bubble wrap was an Emtec (I think) blue 7" reel box with the same album artwork of the "stick figure" people mentioned above on the front in color ( the CD is black and white and yes I got that too to compare) and the song credits on the back.
Inside was again I think an Emtec reel partially full. The format is 4 track stereo, both sides @ 3.75 ips.
The project/album is called "magic hero vs. rock people" It is quite long at about one hour of music and 20 songs. It is also somewhat ambitious in it's production with instrumentation and layring varying from sparse guitar and vocal to multiple layers. In fact there are a couple of sound collages. In this sense as in many others it seems to have been transported through a time warp from about 1970.
I will get the nitpicking negatives out of the way so I can tell you how much I enjoyed this music.
First, it is anything but the sterile souless perfect digital production we have come to expect today. It is not even really that "HiFi" much less audiophile quality. It is a small independent production using 70s-80s project studio technology. There are a few mic. breath pops and "artsy" "sloppy" edits - remember all those "let the tape roll" studio albums with the rough starts and stops left in? This is much better than that. And the main vocalist is not going to overwhelm you with his voice. At times he sounds a bit like modern grunge, at others like early Cat Stevens. He is a singer songwriter doing quirky rhymes that seem to fit with the textures of the music which are the main pint it seems. The music itself is inventive and interesting. It has surf influences including one surf instrumental. It has layered acoustic and electric guitars and old sounding string and vocal synths a la Moody Blues. It has the occasional xylophone or sleigh bells or fiddle or mandolin for extra texture here and there. It has sound effects and the aforementioned collages. It is kind of over the top, but very melodic and accessible but just weird enough to hold my interest. For as long as it is, and as many songs, I will say there is not one I didn't like, and that is pretty rare for me. Some, to be sure, are sort of short "songlets" that are not as well developed as others. Another interesting trend from the past. The music is sort of psychedelic / folk as advertised. Done by someone too young to remember either genre in its 60s form (as well as the recording technology) from it's first time around. If all that sounds appealing I think you will love this musically. If it sounds appalling, you won't.
So, how's the sound? Well, good and not so good. I listened first to the CD on my CD walkman with headphones last night as I was going to sleep. I was transported. It is wonderful headphone stuff. I listend to the CD in my car again driving around. I can say that there the music held my attention more than the audio quality, but was still quite acceptable. I listened to the reel on my Akai deck (3 3/4 remember) on my home system. The sound there was best described as truly vintage. Well recorded, not too compressed, but not too open either. In my case, perhaps owing to the vagaries of 3 3/4 eq on my machine it sounded somewhat bass and treble exaggerated but didn't go too low or too high. I compared the CD on the same system. More neutral, but somehow less, engaging is the word I think I want to use. I listened to both in ambiance recovery surround mode too and the reel seemed more "stereo" with more surround information present, though mono parts still were rock solid in the phantom center. There was just the tinest bit of flutter too. I'm pretty sensitive to it and it wasn't bad like an 8 track at that speed. In all fairness it could be the Akai. To be determined. I will have to give it a better listen on another machine that plays that speed.
So, for now, with my machine, at home, I prefer the CD sound but it's not over yet. The tape, even with it's almost caricature of analog sound, has something to hold me. Perhaps the best compromise would be if he can make it available at additional charge at 7.5 ips.
I would say, musically, if you like this stuff, very much worth the investment, at least for the CD. As to the reel to reel aspect, see his comments below, but I think 7.5 would suit it better. Or I need a better 3.75 tape machine. It does sound fine playing good 7.5 stereo or quad (does that too) pre-recorded tapes.
It is truly art in the best sense because of the music and format and I think we here should support him just for trying something this ambitious.
Some email responses (used without permission) by the amazing person behind this:
"I would have to rearrange the sequence of tracks to make it fit on a reel at 7.5 ips, side one is a bit longer ... the album actually runs almost 62 minutes,
also, i know this may sound strange, but the album itself has a "lo fi / vintage hi fi" type of sound to it, i think that 3.75 ips actually suits the material better than 7.5 ips. i am used to hearing those old capitol beach boys reels at 3.75 ips and have come to have a certain fondness for the traditional format
another reason is the cost of tape (and shipping!) and time involved ... in order to keep it down, i chose 3.75 ips so that i don't have to charge more than $25
in all honesty, the purpose of this endeavor is not audiofile fidelity, but an appreciation for the experience of listening to music on a physical format ... people are familiar with cassettes, vinyl (and even 8 track), but many have never experienced the joy of owning and listening to R2R ... in my fantasy, i would hope that people would be able to get any standard little R2R at a thrift store or something (or eBay) and be able to buy new music tapes for it! so i think 3.75 works real well for this album project
the original master was recorded on 1/2" 8 track at 15 ips (Teac 80-8) and mixed at 15 ips 2-track (Teac 3300-2T), so it's not the ultimate "pro" equipment anyway."
"i have a fascination with 60s recording technology and i truly feel that less is more. i also have an idea to record a whole song (or even album) with just a 4 track and an SM57 with no EQ allowed ... because neccessity is the mother of invention and when you set limits on yourself, you become much more creative.
that's the analog experience too ... the limitations cause you to be more creative. for instance, if you have a perfect take except the drummer hit a rim, most people in the digital world would fly in a previously recorded snare hit. but in analog (at least my kind of analog), you think ... what to do, what to do, and you come up with an idea like an extra cymbal crash or the sound of lightning striking or a gong or something to cover it up ... then the song surprisingly becomes way cooler. people say, "that's so weird that they have that lightning strike at that spot!" ... another thing is recording over things ... sometimes happy accidents occur, where you leave in a small part from another track that wasn't supposed to be there, that just can't happen in a computer but i'm sure you already know that
in the 60s they have limited options but REAL HIGH QUALITY gear ... the rooms were important, you couldn't just flip a dial to get more mids, you had to change mic placement etc ... that's why those records sound so good i reckon!"
