Conference napalm::commusic_v1

    I am certainly hoping for the start of COMMUSIC III.  I really liked
    listening to COMMUSIC II.  It gave me the much cherished opportunity
    to hear what other people were doing.  It was educational as well.
    Unfortunately, I'll probably have to wait for COMMUSIC IV before
    I myself can submit any material.

    I'd be happy to do the work of collecting and copying the material
    but I don't know if my equipment is up to the standards of you guys.

    I have a slightly above average tape deck (a Yamaha that costs me
    about $350 5 years ago) with Dolby B, a Yamaha MT1X (a 4-track
    porta-studio type thing) with dbx, and a Sony Beta Hifi, and an
    Emerson VHS Hi-Fi.

    My inclination would be to use the Yamaha and make a master on
    a really hi-grade Beta Hi-Fi tape, and then use that master to make
    copies on either the Yamaha (for folks want dolby B or no NR) or
    the MT1X (for folks that want dbx NR).  I could also make VHS or
    Beta Hi-Fi copies for those who would prefer those formats.

    Anyway, I thought I'd make the offer.  Don't want to see this stifled
    for lack of volunteers.

    	db 

    
    That sounds as "High Tech" as anything we've used so far. When do
    you start ?
    
    					Paul.

Re -.1 and -.2

	Yeah, sounds great.  Let's do it.

	Dan

    
    NO! NOT YET!!
    
    I want fame and glory and I dont have all my equipment
    yet! Drum machine! Sequencer! Midi switcher! Sampler! 8-track! Mixer!
    
    Not to mention tunes...
    
    Hey, its not fair unless you wait for all of us to be ready.
    
    so there.
    
    ron 	; (
    

    Well, let me propose the following:
    
    You folks start sending your contributions to me now.  I'll collect
    them, and when I have enough material amassed to make a legitimate
    COMMUSIC III tape, I'll announce it here and take requests for copies.
    
    In fact, I'm sorta willing to do this on a perpetual basis (i.e.
    constantly amass material until there's enough for a new tape then
    "release" a new tape.)
    
    How does that sound?
    
    	db

    > How does that sound?
    
    Truly spoken like someone who has yet to compile a COMMUSIC tape....:^)
    
    Edd

    Well Edd, lend us your wisdom and experience.

    What are the various hassle's I should expect?
    
    	db

    "It's dbx"
    "It's not"
    "Yes, it isn't"             ???????????????????
    
    Seriously, there are two phases in the compilation of a tape,
    compilation and distribution. Neither of them is particularly
    *hard*, but there are hassles...
    
    I opted to do NO re-mastering. They only thing I did to the
    individual submissions was match levels. The mix on each cut
    was as much a part of the piece as the music, to my mind.
    Some submissions were rife with hiss that I could have eq'd out,
    but opted not to. What you hear is what I got. 
    
    I only had 1 dbx deck. This meant bouncing some submissions around
    in order to make the proper decoding possible. (And I botched it
    once for Dave Bottom.)
    
    Setting up the sequence takes some planning. Since the tape was
    a 'sampler' of sorts, I opted to try to mix the different styles
    up a bit. Karl Moeller turned me on to using little bits of paper
    to make 'trial fits'.
    
    First, you gotta listen to all the music and time the pieces. Then
    you take all *artists* and try to fit them up so that they fit
    in a 45 minute slot with a minimum of loss at the end.
    
    All in all, I put about 15 hours into setting the master up.
    
    Distribution is simply time-consuming. I shot for a turn around
    time of under 1 week. All tapes were in the mail by the following
    Saturday. If I arrived home at 7:00 and *immediately* started
    dubbing I might get 3 tapes done that night, IF I didn't need
    one of the tape machines for something else.  Many nights, I set
    the whole system up on a timer and let it dupe while I was sleeping.
    
    There's a small amount of book-keeping involved. Who sent a request?
    Did they send cash or a tape? Where's the address? Oh no, the cat
    pissed on someone's check...
    
    Nothing big, really, but certainly a bit more than duping tapes.
    I didn't/don't mind doing it for T2, but an open ended offer
    should be made after doing at least one.
    
    Enjoy!
    
    Edd
    

    welll.. tape III already... great !
    
    although in the midst of deciphering new gear, I'll see if anything
    worthwhile and startling comes out.. if not, then Tape IV !
    
    uh.. the obvious.. an offer is nice, but a complete home address
    really puts it on the line !
    
    kmsquared

    Oh boy.  Motivation...
    

    Thanks Edd,
    
    I certainly don't plan to do re-mastering.  I have neither the
    equipment nor the know-how (not to mention inclination) to do this.
    In fact, I'm not sure I'd want MY submission "re-mastered" if I
    was to send something in.
    
>    I only had 1 dbx deck. This meant bouncing some submissions around
>    in order to make the proper decoding possible. 
    
    I'll state up-front that I'm very new at putting signals onto tape,
    thus I will admit that I don't know what you're talking about.
    Does that rule me out?
    
    If anyone has technical advice on how to do this kind of operation,
    I'd appreciate hearing.  All I'm planning to do is copy the stuff
    onto a Beta Hi-Fi master and then make copies from that.
    
    Regarding coming up with an ordering for the songs.  The only goals
    I can foresee are keeping each submitters stuff contiguous, and
    then fitting everything onto C-90.  I don't plan to spend any time
    thinking about stylistic clashes, etc.  I consider the primary goal
    to be to provide the means for folks to hear what other folks are
    doing.  I'm not planning to produce an album maximized for start-to-end
    listening.  Are there objections to this mode of thought?
    
>    All in all, I put about 15 hours into setting the master up.
    
    I'll state up front that I don't expect to do as good a job as you.
    I'm basically volunteering to compile the stuff onto a master and
    then dupe it.
    
>    Distribution is simply time-consuming. I shot for a turn around
>    time of under 1 week. All tapes were in the mail by the following
>    Saturday.
    
    Yeah, I fully expect duping to be the most time-consuming.  I think
    what I'm most likely to try and do is make several copies at once.
    I have one deck for the master (probably Beta Hi-Fi) and 2 decks
    for slaves (MT1X with dbx and Yamaha with Dolby B).  If I get
    innundated with orders, there's a few decks I know I can borrow
    from friends.
    
>    There's a small amount of book-keeping involved. Who sent a request?
>    Did they send cash or a tape? Where's the address? 
    
    I've got experience in this end of things.

>    I didn't/don't mind doing it for T2, but an open ended offer
>    should be made after doing at least one.
    
    Good advice.  Let's see how COMMUSIC III goes.  Basically the reason
    I'm semi gung-ho about doing it is that I don't plan on doing anything
    more than absolutely need be done.  Folks should know this up front.
    If what I do isn't satisfactory and someone else is capable and
    willing of putting more effort into it we can pass it onto them.
 
	db    

    OK, for now let's just say that the "compilation" process is started
    and I'm doing it.  It may well turn out that someone else will do
    the "mastering" process and yet another person may do the "duplicating"
    process, but even if that's so, it still makes sense to start
    collecting the stuff.
    
    So, send me your submissions.  I can handle any of the following
    
    Video
    -----
    	1. VHS Hi-Fi
    	2. Beta Hi-Fi (avoid if possible)
    
    Audio Cassette
    --------------
    	1. No NR (regular, chrome or metal)
    	2. Dolby B (regular, chrome or metal)
    	3. dbx (anyone know what Yamaha MT1X prefers???)
    
    If you want your tape back, please include return postage and a
    return address.  (I'm willing to spend time, not necessarily money).
    
    It would be nice if you could either post or EMAIL me a complete
    description of what your submissions are (for the "liner notes")
    and what noise reduction was used.
    
    	Dave Blickstein
    	96 Robinson Road
    	Hudson, NH 03051
    
    	Home phone: (603) 880-8268
    	Work phone (DTN): 381-2081
    	      (non-DTN) : (603) 881-2081
    
    Now I don't know what was done regarding using inter-office mail
    for the last tape submission since that's probably a minor infraction
    of corporate rules, so I'll just say that should you ever be at
    the Nashua, New Hampshire Spit Brook Road facility and want to stop
    by and say hello, look for a blue mailbox stop that says "ZKO2-3/N30".

    	db
    

    why "beta hifi (avoid if possible)"
    
    I thought beta had 'superior' hifi specs....
    
    ron
    

    Re: .13
    
    Probably, because the beta deck is going to be used for the master
    compilation.  If some one sends a beta tape it will have to be copied
    from the beta deck to another deck first, and then back to the master
    beta tape. (I think?)
    
    DD 
          

    re: .13
    
    See .13. 
    
    Would that I could afford to Beta VCRs....
    
    	db

I volunteered in the COMMUSIC II review notes to handle Tape III, but that was 
before my house changed ownership and I got booted out.  I'm moving next week, 
but by the time Dave has finished the compilation process I may be available 
to do the mastering.  I promise to only balance levels and not EQ unless asked 
to do otherwise by specific people.

Since Dave has video recorders, if he does direct dubbing it might still turn 
out better.  But anything more sophisticated might turn out better on my 
system, as far as audio casettes are concerned.  I have access to a Yamaha 
K960 dbx deck which is on permanent loan to my sister, own a Nak BX300 with 
dolby B/C, and have high-end separate electronics (Bryston, whose gear is used 
in most of the major recording studios although in customized form).

I leave the decision up to Dave.  If he feels too bogged down with the other 
aspects of compiling the tape, or would rather have someone more experienced 
doing the masters and dubbing, I am more than willing to make time in my 
schedule to help out.

    
    When is the 'drop dead' date (I love it) for submissions?
    
    Are you playing it by ear?
    
    Have a project plan and functional spec?
    
    or what?
    

    Being that I haven't received any submissions yet, any talk of a
    'drop dead' date is meaningless.

    As I've said, my intention is to issue a tape when I have enough
    material collected.   I guess you could say that's "playing it be
    ear".

    I truly hope to be able to contribute SOMETHING on the tape, even
    if it's nothing more than a "MIDI jam" (something like me noodling
    around over a 12 bar blues progression).

    	db
    

	I've got one piece ready to submit and I've just layed the basic track
of another.  So I hope to send a tape within a couple of weeks.

	Dan

    Umm.. if contributions are slow in coming, whaddya think of advertising
    the tape's existence in MUSIC notes, and soliciting contributors
    there ? Just thinking out loud. karl

    Hmmm, I'd love to see more contributors, but I'm not actively seeking
    more requests for copies (especially if I'm going to be doing the
    duplication and not charging for that).
    
    One thing I'm planning to do to limit the number of copies I have
    to make is to ask people who aren't necessarily bent on having
    their very own, first generation copy is to instead request a "rental
    copy" of COMMUSIC III.   The general idea is that I would make a
    limited number of copies that would be circulated to those requesting
    a "rental copy".
    
    	db

    
    I'm sure there will be ample contributions from within this notesfile.
    It's bound to take a while for people to select/record/finish their
    contributions and then get it onto a suitable tape. I will not have
    finished my own ditty until after this weekend. I also have a track
    I did with Richard Machin that needs remixing. 
    
    Its going to take a while for UK contributions to wind its way over 
    the pond so be patient...

    Andrew
    
        
    
    

    regarding circulating 'rental' dubs of Tape III : Dave, you weren't
    involved at the time of Tape I, mid '86, but our circulated master
    got lost in the mail !!
    
    Plus you talk breezily of 'circulating' THEM.. it was confusing
   with one distribution list for one tape.. which was later lost in
    the mail... like I said.
      
    Not the best idea.
    
    karl

    
    Is this thing still happening or what....?
    
    
    Andrew

    Yeah, by now even *I* have something to contribute...
    
    Steve

    Sorry,  it's been long enough that I should have posted a status
    note.
    
    The status is that I received countless promises of contributions
    but so far only two people have actually given me a tape.
    
    My plans have not changed.  I will release Commusic III when I get
    enough material to approximately fill a C-90.
    
    If you've got something to contribute, please send it to me.  I'm
    working entirely on a first-come, first-served basis.  That is,
    if you get your tape to me before space on Commusic III is filled
    up, barring extenuating circumstances, it will be on Commusic III.
    Otherwise it will be on Commusic IV (if there is one).
    
    Obviously there's plenty of room left on Commusic III so send me
    your tapes (and don't forget the liner notes).

	db

    Since my last posting, I received many more promises of contributions,
    but no tapes.
    
    I figure I've got about 45 minutes of stuff right now.  I figure
    if I can get that up to about 70 minutes, that'll be enough.
    
    So if you're planning to send me something... do it soon.
    
    I have now been asked by three people if they could mix down directly
    to the master.  The master is a Beta Hi-Fi tape (very high quality
    recording medium - much higher than cassette).
    
    I'm afraid the answer is "sorry, but no."
    
    	o This would be too time-consuming for me
    	o I don't wish to move the Beta deck around a lot (last time
    	  I did this I managed to break the thing and it was a costly
    	  repair.)
    	o I need to reserve the ability to reorder stuff on the master
    	  (to make everything fit, etc.).
	o If I did it for one person, I'd feel obligated to do it for
    	  anyone else that asked.
    	o Some might view this as "unfair".  For that reason, I probably
    	  won't mix down to the master for MY contributions (if any)!
    	o I don't want to complicate this process
    
    As I said in the note where I volunteered, I have limited capabilities,
    limited knowledge, and limited equipment.  I do not promise excellent
    audio quality.  I only promise to provide a medium whereby we can
    hear what other folks are doing.  I really think that top notch
    audio quality is not essential to the real purpose.
    
    	db

    

I agree.  I cannot think of any contributions to COMMUSIC II where audio 
QUALITY (other than operator errors, which are a different category) affected 
my perception of what the pieces were about.  Most of the masters were of such 
high quality that they could have been put through Ollie North's shredder and 
still sound professional!


				Mark

    RE.27 Dave, does this mean that you are putting a 70 minute limit
    on the tape before starting the duping process?
    
    Mike D

    How much time is left on the tape?
    
    Should I hustle or wait for Commusic IV?
    
    Edd

    re: .29
    
    I'm not putting any time limit on the tape.
    
    re: .30
    
    I haven't done any timings yet.  I estimate that I've got about
    60-70 minutes of material so far.  I would tell you to hustle but
    it might well be that it's already too late so I wouldn't want you
    to rush and then get mad at me if it doesn't get on (it's entirely
    first come/first served - that will probably be the order in which
    things appear on the tape as well).
    
    re: .all
    
    I expect to start the mastering process next week.  I'll time things
    and post the results.  I've gone to the trouble of getting a Sony
    ESX-HiFi tape to use as the master.  This is the highest quality
    grade of tape I've been able to find (Beta isn't as easily available
    as VHS).
    
    Will post more information next week (I'm technically on vacation
    right now.)
    
    	db
    
    

    I have started the mastering process.  Side I is complete.  I may
    need to tweak the balance between songs here and there, but otherwise
    I'm pretty happy with it.
    
    I have about 19:30 worth of material for side II.   That leaves
    about 20-25 minutes.  Is anyone else planning on sending me something
    in the next week?
    
    	db

    Now, that you mention it, how about hanging on for another little
    ditty?  I'll have it in the (DEC) mail (I have scruples, but, hey, I put 
    in PLENTY of overtime) by Friday.  Thanks!
    
    Steve_who_wishes_he_had_his_MVII_for_the_first_ditty_he_submitted

	Hey, Dave, how's it goin'?

>   Hey, Dave, how's it goin'?

    Fine thanks, and yourself?
    
    	db

    Sorry, couldn't resist.
    
    I'm waiting for one more tape (I'm promised it's "in the mail").
    
    Once I get that, we're all set to go.  With a little luck it will
    be within the next two weeks (but you've heard that before...)
    
    Sorry for the delays,
    
    	db

    Before anybody throws flames, it ain't *my* tape what Dave's waitin'
    on!
    
    Steve_who_is_also_looking_forward_to_the_tape_(thanks db!)

    Great Dave!!  Can't wait to give it a listen!
    
    Steve_who's_still_satisfied_even_though_he_has_no_sampler

    Here's the list of songs as they appear on the tape:
    
    	Side 1
    
   	   Peter Laquerre
    		o Oh and It Seems Like a Long Time
    		o My Name's Matthew
    		o Antenna Man
    		o Everything Would Be All Right
    
    	   Steve Sherman
    		o Night Shade
    
    	   Richard Machin
    		o Untitled
    
    	   Andrew Norton
    		o Infatuation
    
    	   Dan Eaton
    		o Is it Love?
    		o Out in the Desert
    
    	   Karl Moeller
    		o Agua Calient�
    
    	   Dave Bottom
    		o Pay Day
    		o Tried So Hard
    
    Side 2
    
    	   Rik Sawyer
    		o Comfortable Slaves
    		o Spags
    		o Periwinkle
    
    	   Steve Sherman
    		o Tantara

    
    	   Tom Benson
    		o Bad Dog
    		o Boingers
    
    	   Synergy (Daryl Gleason/Dave Blickstein)
    		o I'll Love You Forever
    
    	   Anonymous
    		o ???
    
    	   Tom Janzen
    		o Interpretation III: LvB 2nd
    
    	   Event Horizon
    		o Last Moonlight
    
    This is approximately the order that I received the submissions
    in.  Only changes were to make things fit, so no bitching about
    where your stuff showed up.  This is a sampler, not an album.
    
    The above list is the preliminary liner notes.  Contributors should send
    me mail to notify me of any mistakes in names or titles.
    
    The first copies will go to the contributors.  Some will go out
    this week, but I'll be on vacation next week and thus some may not
    go out until the week after that.  I intend to give priority to
    the people who sent their submissions the earliest (seems fair).
    
    Contributors: 
    
    	If you haven't instructed me to record Commusic III
    	over your contribution tape (or supplied a separate tape for that)
    	you should get in touch with me ASAP).
    
    	When you get your tape, listen to your contribution and if there
    	is any problem let me know.  It's possible to redo it but the
    	redone version will only go out on subsequent copies that I
    	make.  I'm not going to redo any tapes I've already made.
    
    	Please remember that I didn't promise audiophile fidelity. 
        I have limited equipement and limited time.  I spent much more
    	time with each submission than I even planned to.  No EQ-ing
        was done.  The process used to determine the recording level
    	was to play through the piece and set the level according to
        the peaks and "average" in the tune.  At least one submission
    	had an incredible range of dynamics that went from barely
    	audible to driving my peak meter needles into the next state!
    	Accordingly, some parts of that piece are gonna sound too low
    	while other parts may sound slightly distorted.
    
    	I DID MY BEST!!!  And as I've said, I'll redo it if you like
        for subsequent copies.
    
    Non-submittors
    
    	I haven't yet determined "how to order Commusic III".  Will
    	post a note on that when I get back from vacation.

    Pre-review
    
    	In my opinion, this is probably the best of the three Commusic
    	tapes in terms of content.  You may think this is a typical
    	"rah rah" type comment but I can only say that even after having 
        heard most of the submissions a half a dozen times or more,
    	I still find most of it quite enjoyable to listen to.

    	db

    Dan Eaton (AKOV76::EATOND) has graciously volunteered to assemble
    the liner notes as I am about an hour away from vacation.  I've
    sent him all on-line liner notes that I believe I've received.
    
    If you haven't sent me ON-LINE liner notes, please send them to
    Dan ASAP.  He'll post them here next week.
    
    I don't believe that I have on-line liner notes from the following
    contributors:
    
    	Steve Sherman
    	Richard Machin
    	Andrew Norton
    	Rik Sawyer
    	Synergy  (yes, I haven't even done *my* liner notes)
    	Anonymous
    
    I've sent out about 10 copies so far, all to contributors.  I expect
    to get about 4 more out by tommorrow.
    
    I'll be posting directions on how non-contributors can get copies.
    I think it's gonna work like this:  I'm gonna set a price based
    on postage, posting material costs (cushioned envelopes) plus cost
    of a blank tape.  You send me the money and your address, I send
    you the tape.
    
    Please do NOT send me tapes via internal mail.  That is likely to
    get you and me into trouble.  DEC now has a very strict policy
    regarding use of interoffice mail for personal items.  If I get
    flooded with blank tapes that arrive via interoffice mail, it will
    attract unwanted attention.
    
    	db

    
    Dave:
    
    'Es cierto, es cierto ... vi un lindo gatito...!!!'
    
    Now I'm really having fun with you guys. I couldn't stop laughing
    with I read 765.34 - .35 - .36... (please in that specific order).
    In fact I'm still laaaughping.
    
    
    Ok now down to buisness... (ssshhhhh music stuff)
    
    re .41:
            
    > If you haven't sent me ON-LINE liner notes, please send them to
    > Dan ASAP.  He'll post them here next week.


    What's the 'ON-LINE liner-notes'? My native language is Spanish and I 
    just didn't get it.
    
    re .all:

    How can I get a copy of the III master piece? Never mind about sound
    quality or noise reduction... I want to hear your tunes (Rythm,
    Progressions, Human Feeling, 'Armon�as' [sorry I don't know how to
    say it in english]).
    
    If it really sounds like hard worked compositions then I can go
    and make real 'Master' of it, in a real 'Studio', and make as many
    copies as you want.
    
    Put out the COMMUSIC IV topic and I will track it all the time...
    I'm ready to submit. However, I think we have to formalize some procedures
    for the 'DEC aire IV' as somebody mentioned before. Only one way
    to get tapes. As an example: Dolby B, Good original tapes (not K-mart),
    One format for submission, a MUSIC_Std procedure for getting tapes...
    and... maybe... well.. I don't know... you are the experts...


    re SALSA::MOELLER... Hey remember when you send me that mail regarding
    the procedure to get COMMUSIC I...? I was right here at this point
    writting this reply.  WWWAAAAAAWWWWW This is great!!!!.
    
    The DEC aire IV latin touch...
    
    Orlando
    
        

    Orlando,i]

>    What's the 'ON-LINE liner-notes'? My native language is Spanish and I 
>    just didn't get it.
    
    "On-line" means accessible by a computer. (On a disk drive somewhere).
    
    "Liner notes": each Commusic contributor sends me a description
    of his contribution(s).  I compile all these descriptions to produce
    "liner notes" for the tape.  Liner notes are like the text that
    appears on most record albums describing who played what, where
    it was recorded, etc.
    
    Dan Eaton will post the preliminary Commusic III liner notes next
    week and you'll see an example (or look in the Commusic II topic).
    
    How can I get a copy of the III master piece? 

    From .41
        
>    I'll be posting directions on how non-contributors can get copies.
>    I think it's gonna work like this:  I'm gonna set a price based
>    on postage, posting material costs (cushioned envelopes) plus cost
>    of a blank tape.  You send me the money and your address, I send
>    you the tape.
    
>    Please do NOT send me tapes via internal mail.      
    
>    If it really sounds like hard worked compositions then I can go
>    and make real 'Master' of it, in a real 'Studio', and make as many
>    copies as you want.
    
    Most of the submissions were done in modest home studios.  There's
    no need to make a big production of your submission.  It's not an
    album, it's just a chance to hear what other Commusic folks are
    doing.  We don't expect professional production quality.
    
>    Put out the COMMUSIC IV topic and I will track it all the time...
>    I'm ready to submit. 
    
    The instructions for submitting stuff for Commusic IV are the same
    as for Commusic III.  The process of collecting stuff for a tape
    is on-going.  When I get enough to fill a C-90, I release a Commusic
    tape.
    
>    However, I think we have to formalize some procedures for the 
    'DEC aire IV' as somebody mentioned before. Only one way
    to get tapes. As an example: Dolby B, Good original tapes (not K-mart),
    One format for submission, a MUSIC_Std procedure for getting tapes...

    I think you may have misunderstood something.  You only need to send me
    ONE copy of your stuff on any format that I have equipment for (listed
    in a previous note).  There's no need or advantage to saying it
    must be ONE particular format.  In your example, someone who happened not
    to have a deck with Dolby B I wouldn't be able to submit suff.B

    I'm very much looking forward to receiving your stuff.  Welcome
    to the commusic community.
    
    	db

	O.K. folks, here's the scoop.  Some people will be getting the tape
any time now, so I'd like to get together at least a draft of the liner
notes ASAP.  I still need notes from the following:
    
    	Richard Machin
    	Rik Sawyer
    	Synergy  
    	Anonymous

	My request is that you get them to me buy the end of the day tomorrow 
(Tuesday).  The I can send out a preliminary copy to the contributors for their
approval before publishing it here.  This was Dave's request and I think it's a 
good idea.  That way there's room to alter the contents, if it is felt 
necessary.

	Some have asked me how much should be said in the liners.  I have 
recieved anything from a simple two-lines-per-song, to epic extravaganzas
outlining all equipment used, motivations, instrumentation, vocalizations,
plots, counter-plots, motifs, point-counter-point motifs, articles of clothing,
grocery lists, etc...  I would think, at the bare minimum, the contributors
should provide at least the following:

	1.  Some idea of equipment used:  (i.e. Type of tape deck, sequencer,
synthesizers, acoustic instruments, effects devices, etc.)

	2.  A basic idea of recording process (i.e. thrown together in an 
afternoon, MIDI-based multi-tracking (sequenced), etc.).  Nothing too elaborate.

	3.  Possibly a quick blurb on the intent of the recorded work (to make 
a demo, to learn the recording process, to give as a gift, to express a theme, 
to show off your equipment 8^)).

	However elaborate you choose to be in your liner notes, please have them
submitted to me via VaxMail (AKOV68::EATOND) as soon as you can.  Anything not
recieved by Tuesday at the end of my work day will be excluded from the first
copy of the liner notes.

	Dan

________________________________________________________________________________
    	Side 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Peter LaQuerre
Selections for COMMUSIC III

These four songs were recorded on a Fostex X-15 4-Track cassette 
recorder and mixed using a Nakamichi BX-1 stereo cassette deck.

All songs written and performed by Peter LaQuerre.  All songs 
copyright 1987.  The instruments used were:

    o	 Maderia six-string acoustic guitar
    o	 An electric bass guitar
    o	 A Casio CZ-1000 synthesizer

All vocals by Peter LaQuerre.

These songs are dedicated to Sheryl LaQuerre who bought me the Fostex 
and put up with my late night ramblings.  Special thanks also go to 
Jeff Leavitt for supplying the bass guitar.

Specific information about each song:

    1	 Oh and It Seems Like a Long Time

    	 This song was recorded using a total of six tracks.  Two 
         tracks for the bass and acoustic guitar were mixed into one 
         track, leaving three open tracks on the X-15.  With those 
         three tracks, I recorded a three-part harmony.

    	 The harmony took a while because the tough part is making 
         sure each vocal part cuts in and out at precisely the right 
         time.  I wasn't totally successful, but it was closer than I 
         had been in a while.

    2	 My Name's Matthew

    	 This short piece was written for my seven-month-old son.  It 
         started out as just a fun four-part a cappella song, and 
         ended that way as well.  I thought it might add something 
         different to the COMMUSIC tape.  The recording quality is low 
         because I was still learning how to mix down to the stereo 
         deck when I wrote this one.  Since then, I've started using 
         higher quality tape and the SX and 70u settings on the stereo 
         mixdown.

    3	 Antenna Man Like Me

    	 I wrote this song after having a long conversation with two 
         antenna installation men.  They installed a big UHF antenna 
         on our house so we could receive Boston UHF stations.  The 
         song was recorded using the same technique as the first song.  
         I combined the bass, guitar, and acoustic guitar solo into 
         one track, which left me three open tracks to do the vocals.  
         
    	 After mixdown, I wanted to do the guitar solo over again, but 
         of course, that would mean redoing all the vocals, which I 
         didn't feel was worth the effort.  This is one of the 
         disadvantages to working with a four-track machine.

    4	 Everything Would Be All Right

    	 This was the first complete song I wrote using my new 
         CZ-1000.  The first four tracks were acoustic guitar rhythm, 
         keyboard rhythm, keyboard solo, and bass, respectively.  Then 
         I mixed those four tracks in stereo into my stereo tape deck.  
         That left me with two open tracks for the vocals.  Usually my 
         decision whether to use this process or the one used on the 
         1st and 3rd songs depends on how many harmonies I think I 
	 need for the song.


********************************************************************************
Steve Sherman

Night Shade - CZ-101, TX81Z, TR-505, QX5, cheapie cassette deck and R-box
for a mixer - entirely MIDI sequenced, original stuff, done for fun when I 
could scrape together some time - Bass pumps kind of a tetrachord hook.  Wish
I had the MV 2 when I did this one.  If you like wearing sunglasses at night ...


********************************************************************************
Richard Machin

	o Untitled

This is a piece of music to accompany a dance. The dance was a
short examination-piece, so I had a strict tempo to use, and each
section of the tune needed to be a distinct structure that worked
with the dance. The lead sections are a fraction of a second delayed
on the commusic version; this was due to a technical problem in the mastering
process. I ask your indulgence, sympathy and imagination in lessening
its ill effects.


********************************************************************************
Andrew Norton

Infatuation
-----------

This was sequenced on my ESQ1.
The drums were Tr505 and the bass was a DX7.
There's some guitar that I wish I hadn't put on.
It was recorded directly on my Tascam 244.
It's not a love song.
My wife did the vocals.
I did the talking.
We wish we had a reverb.


********************************************************************************
Dan Eaton

	Studio Setup:	My studio is a startup situation consisting of
		o Fostex X-15 Cassette four-track tape deck
		o Peavey PA-400 4 channel powered mixer (since has been 
			replaced by Peavey 600S)
		o Casio CZ-101 MIDI synthesizer (Phase Distortion Synthesis)
		o Roland Juno 106 MIDI synthesizer (analog)
		o Yamaha FB01 MIDI Sound module (FM Synthesis)
		o Korg MS-10 monophonic synthesizer (Non-MIDI, analog)
		o Korg Super Drums (non-midi) (digital)
		o Roland MSQ-100 Sequencer
		o Shure SM58 mike
		o Various stomp box effects (EQ, analog delay,...)

	Goals of this contribution:	To put a couple of my favorite songs 
		onto tape for an entry into the hobby of multi-tracking, for
		review by more experienced multi-trackers, for pleasure, and
		to broaden my musical experience.

	General Notes: 	By the time these pieces are transfered from my master
		to Dave's master to individual copies, it will become 
		immediately apparent from the contribution that I had not 
		learned how to handle the hum caused by mismatched and 
		mis-leveled signals.  I have since done a great deal to correct
		this by sending the recorder 'hotter' signals and cutting them 
		back at the recorder, rather than sending medium signals and 
		having to boost them at various stages of the multi-tracking 
		process.

	Technical details:	Noise reduction type: Dolby B

	Song #1		'Is It Love' by Kelly Willard 
				(Copyright 1986 Willing Heart Music)

		Instruments:

		o Rhodes Piano - FB01 'NewElectric2'
		o Accoustic Piano - FB01 'Uprt Piano'
		o Drums - Korg Super Drums
		o Bass - FB01 'Elec Bass'
		o String Pad - Juno 106
		o High String - Juno 106
		o Voice - Your humble CMIII contributor, me

	Song #2		'Out in the Desert' by Dan Eaton 
				(Unpublished Work, Copyright 1974 Dan Eaton)

		Instruments:

		o Drums - Korg Super Drums
		o Ride cymbal - FB01 'Rd Cym'
		o Bass - FB01 'Elec Bass' MIDI'd to CZ101 brass pad
		o Oboe - CZ101
		o Flutes - CZ101 (patch by Eric Persing, publ. in Keyboard mag.)
		o Brass - CZ101
		o High String - Juno 106
		o String Section - Juno 106 MIDI'd to CZ101 Strings
		o Counter-Melodic French Horn - Korg MS-10


		Note: This is a Christmas song I wrote when I was 15.  It
		does have words, which I will publish if requested, but I felt
		the piece stood up as an instrumental as well.  This arrangement
		is a loose attempt to duplicate an arrangement I wrote in high 
		school for the school band.

    

********************************************************************************
Karl Moeller

"Agua Calient�" ('Hot Water') by Karl SALSA::Moeller

White Boy Salsa music. Piano, flute, and percussion.

This is a complete computer-based project. The piano track (MKS-20)
was recorded to a 120bpm click using Opcode MIDImac in the Macintosh,
where it was forgotten for months. After I got my E-Mu Systems' Emax
rack sampler, I rediscovered the piano track and used it as is.
That is, no editing, no quantization. All percussion parts, Emax
samples, were recorded to Opcode as well, using no editing, no 
quantization. An FSK sync tone was recorded on 8-track tape, and
tracks transferred to audio, slaving the sequencer to the sync tone.

I have an Emax sample which consists of (low notes to high): 
running water (5 notes), breathy sampled choir (2 octaves), stereo 
windchimes (5 notes) and the famed Emulator Shakuhachi sample, 2 octaves. 
I ran the Piano track against this and the Yamaha Fb01 'Hand Drum'
patch (to tighten the percussion), and, liking the result, added it 
all to the Fostex 8track. The sampled flute line was recorded direct 
to the 8-track using a bit of analog echo. 

The piece is fun, nothing heavy, meant to make you want to dance.

karl moeller sws tucson arizona u.s.a.
    

********************************************************************************From:
Dave Bottom

Payday:

Drums: TR-707
Bass: Yamaha single pickup p-bass copy
guitar: Fender strat (Duncan hot stack pickups)
slide/lead guitar: strat, my fingers and a bic lighter
vocals: me through an AKG-d-300

misc: recorded on a tascam 234
      bass and drums bounced to single track
      vocals enhanced by a tapco mixer (reverb) and an Ibanez DM-1000 for
      delay
      mixed on a teac PE-20 mixer (basic 4 track)

Old song recorded in 4 hours in one afternoon

Tried so Hard:

Drums: TR-707
Bass: Yamaha
guitar: Fender telecaster custom thinline (two humbuckers semi-acoustic)
leads: tele again
vocals: me the AKG, the tapco and the DM-1000

recorded on the 234, bounced base, drums and rhythm guitar to one track
vocals on one track and leads/echo on seperate tracks

recorded in one afternoon (6hrs + or -)

originally this was two segments of unrelated songs

Both songs written by Dave Bottom copyright 1987


________________________________________________________________________________
    Side 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
Rik Sawyer
	o Comfortable Slaves
	o Spags
	o Periwinkle

    
********************************************************************************
Steve Sherman

Tantara - CZ-101, TX81Z, TR-505, MIDIVERB 2, QX5, cheapie cassette deck and 
R-box for a mixer - entirely MIDI sequenced, original stuff, done for fun when 
I could scrape together some time - Alternates time signatures throughout.  
Nice when it's loud enough that you can feel the bass.  Fun to play while 
cruising ...


********************************************************************************
Tom Benson 

BAD DOG

  My brother-in-law needed a theme song for an animated cartoon he's
  working on called BAD DOG. He gave me some lyrics and said he was looking
  for something in the style of the B-52's, so I wrote and recorded this music,
  and had him sing the lead vocal. This will be played over the closing
  credits (if the cartoon is ever completed) - I have other variants for the
  opening theme and incidental music.

    Brian Mitchell - vocal
    Tom Benson - guitar, CZ-5000, background vocal

BOINGERS

  The Bloom County comic strip features a band called Billy and the Boingers
  (formerly "Deathtongue") made of up Opus, Bill the cat, et al. This summer 
  they had a theme song contest, and this was my entry. Part of the challenge
  was figuring out they might be looking for... The band seems to lean toward
  heavy metal - for instance, like most metal bands, they feature a tuba
  player. Since I don't (yet) own a tuba, I substituted trombone. The recording
  was done in two long nights, using a borrowed drum machine (thanks, db).
  I barely got it in the mail on time.
  
  This version is a different mix than what was submitted. Also, the fade-in
  and -out, and guitar solo have been re-done. I'd like to change some of the
  drum patterns, and bring them up a bit in the mix, but I'd have to start
  over... That's life on a 4-track.

    Tom Benson - vocal, guitar, trombone, CZ-5000, RZ-1
    Guest vocalist Linda Benson as "the star-struck fan."

  (Both songs are a bit too "bright" on this tape due to a defect discovered
   in the deck I made the master on, which required they be played back with
   the wrong EQ setting... close enough.)


********************************************************************************    
Synergy (Daryl Gleason/Dave Blickstein)

"I'll Love You Forever"

Music by Daryl Gleason & Dave Blickstein
Arrangement by Daryl Gleason
Lyrics by Daryl & Kristy Gleason
(Liner notes written by Daryl)

Vocals:			Daryl & Kristy
Keyboards:		Dave & Daryl
Drum programming:	Dave & Daryl
Guitar:			Dave
Bass:			Daryl

Instruments:
    Roland HS-60 and Ensoniq ESQ-1 synthesizers
    Casio RZ-1 drum machine
    Carvin guitar
    Ibanez Roadstar II bass

Other equipment:
    Yamaha MT1X 4-track tape deck
    Atari 1040ST running Dr. T's Keyboard Controlled Sequencer software
    AKG BT-320 and Shure SM58 mikes
    Mesa Boogie guitar amp
    Roland keyboard amp
    Traynor YT-1500 bass amp

Goals:

    The main goal in recording the song was to get a copy of it onto
    tape; it was my first original song, written about five years ago on
    a little Casio keyboard.  Also, we had to justify buying all of the
    equipment :-).  We ultimately intend to arrange and record each
    original as it is written.

How we did it:

    I developed a preliminary keyboard part on the HS-60 and sequenced it
    with the KCS on the Atari.  Dave and I then worked up the drum part on
    his then-new RZ-1.  When we had something we liked, we uploaded the
    drum part to the KCS via MIDI into a single sequence.

    We decided we really wanted velocity sensitivity on the lead keyboard
    part, so we used the ESQ-1 to record a few variations on the lead,
    recording them on the KCS and editing the imperfections from them.
    After finishing the lead part, we devised the background keyboard parts
    on the HS-60, also recording them on the KCS.

    When we were finished, and I had everything edited and sequenced, we
    fired up the two keyboard parts and the drum part from the KCS, and I
    played the bass part.  We recorded all four instruments on one tape
    track.

    Dave then worked up and recorded the rhythm guitar part on the second
    track.  Kristy and I recorded our vocals on track 3, then Dave
    developed and recorded the guitar solo on tracks 3 and 4.  The solo
    required parts of two tracks because it was done in several segments,
    with reverb added in on some parts and not on others.

    The 4-track recording was then mastered right onto the COMMUSIC III
    master tape via Dave's Beta Hi-Fi VCR.

    This was our first recording project, and we learned a lot about the
    recording process and capabilities/limitations of our equipment.
    We're reasonably satisfied with the recording, but it was a long
    process, and we may redo it at a later date to take advantage of the
    techniques and experience that we acquired as the project was nearing
    its completion.


********************************************************************************
Anonymous

    This piece was written by an occasional COMMUSIC noter.  It was 
    submitted "anonymously" (Dave Blickstein knows the composer's 
    identity and agreed to anonymity for the time being) so that
    COMMUSIC III recipients would react to the piece rather than its 
    composer.  The composer's identity will be revealed eventually.
    
    The piece, cutely titled "GetSiriusNoah", was written in 
    response to a challenge by other COMMUSIC noters to "write 
    something serious" for a change.
    
    The composer wishes to thank Len Fehskens (who also knows the 
    composer's identity) for the use of his studio and his 
    engineering and sequencing skills.  Len also suggested some 
    minor changes to the piece during the recording process.
    
    GetSiriusNoah is 3'10" long, and is composed in the serial idiom.
    It uses the techniques of inversion, retrograding and retrograde
    inversion, as well as rhythmic augmentation by a factor of two.
    Metrical groups employed by the piece are 27/8 (subdivided as 
    bars of 9/8, 7/8, 6/8 and 5/8), 27/16 (similarly subdivided) and 8/4.
    There are 9 instances of 27/8, 9 instances of 27/16 and 1 instance
    of 8/4.  This makes for a total of 73 bars (each of the 
    subdivisions is a bar) (9*4 + 9*4 + 1), and a total length of 
    761/16.  Both 73 and 761 are prime numbers.  The piece exhibits 
    several other numerological curiosities (e.g., 761 = 27*27 + 32 =
    (3^3)^2 + 2^(2+3); 27/8 = (3^3)/(2^3); 73 = (3^2)*(2^3) + 1; etc.).
    
    The piece was executed by Len's MC500, and recorded on his Tascam 38 
    in 3 passes, using 6 audio tracks and a sync track.  It was 
    scored for string ensemble (Roland MKS-80 Super Jupiter and 
    JX-10), flute (Casio CZ-101), marimba quartet (MKS-80 and JX-10),
    gong (MKS-80) and brass ensemble (MKS-80 and JX-10).  The MKS-80
    was chorused through Len's two Roland/Boss RCE-10s, the JX-10 used
    its onboard choruses, and the CZ-101 was chorused through a 
    Roland/Boss CE-300 SuperChorus.  Len's Roland SRV-2000 digital
    reverbs were liberally applied.  (Thanks to Len for providing me 
    with an equipment list, or I would never have gotten this right.)
    
    A detailed sequencer score will eventually be available to anyone
    interested.
    

********************************************************************************
Tom Janzen

"Interpretation III: LvB 2nd"

Tom Janzen, pianist and processing
Apologies to Ludwig van Beethoven and his Symphony No. 2 as transcribed by
Franz Liszt.

I first tried processing old music in about 1976, using short 19th century 
character pieces for piano by Chopin, Schubert, Schumann, etc., but the only 
processing available to me was editing, overdubbing, and speed change.  The 
original recordings were protected, so I can't use that piece anywhere.  
Currently, Los Angeles composer Carl Stone sits onstage with a few turntables, 
and spins old pop songs into digital signal processing equipment, distorting
and mixing them into a cubist re-assembly, and I've taken a similar tack
here in a non-real-time mode.  Equipment for this included a cheap 2-second 
delay, an SPX90, and a Kohler & Campbell 36" upright.  Here, Beethoven's 2nd 
Symphony was folded over 4 times; each overdub was separately processed with 
loops, echoes, flanging, chorusing, pitch-change, and reverberation.  - TEJ

Interpretation III Copyright (c) 1987 Thomas E. Janzen


********************************************************************************
Event Horizon (Bill Yerazunis)

Last Moonlight - � Peter Antoniou, Event Horizon Music.

	- P E O P L E -

Peter Antoniou 
Larry Amrose
Rudy Kieser
Rudy's Ex-girlfriend, whose Name shall Not be Mentioned.
George whatsisname
Bill Yerazunis

	- E Q U I P M E N T -

Sequential Circus
  Prophet-600
  Pro-1
Moog
  Minimoog
Ensoniq 
  ESQ-1
Yamahaha
  DX-100
  DX-21
  QX-7
Casio
  CZ-101 (x 2)
Seil 
  DK-80 
  CBM-110 Bass Pedals
Two German-Named Places
  two flutes, shiny
Korg 
  MD-16 Sampled Drum
Sholtz
  Rockman
Rickenbacker
  4001
DOD
  Noise Gate, Compressor/Sustainer
Uher
  U-81 microphones
Kelsey
  K-16 Studio Mixer
Sony
  PCM-F1 Digital Tape
3M
  Masking Tape
Coca-Cola
  Coke Classic
Cases by
  Calzone
  Anvil
  Tough Traveller
  Fruit of the Loom


	- W H A T   I T   W A S   L I K E -

Oh, what a mess.  We could not multitrack
it onto the digital tape, hence what you hear is, essentially, "live".
Even the mixing had to be done "live".   Because there was no effective
monitor system, we had to arrange the cardiod microphones to pick up 
a minimum of the monitor feed.  The cardioids were in the mix to pick up
the flutes.  Actually the room ambience that this accidentally created
worked rather well.
	
We do a lot of "layering"; having one synth control another via MIDI or
CV and considering the resulting combination sound as one "voice".
if you think you hear someone changing patches dynamically in this
piece, you're right.  

Because there were open mikes in this mix, we couldn't shout at, swear
at, or otherwise insult each other.  This led to some extremely innovative
hand and facial gestures.

Heard after one particularly miserable "take":

	"<<whistle>> First keyboard player, illegal trill.
	Penalty is -5 dB and loss of take.  It is now second take."

Do we plan to make a record? Actually, we do.  We even had a contract with
a record company, but they went broke.

________________________________________________________________________________
    	Side 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Peter LaQuerre
Selections for COMMUSIC III

These four songs were recorded on a Fostex X-15 4-Track cassette 
recorder and mixed using a Nakamichi BX-1 stereo cassette deck.

All songs written and performed by Peter LaQuerre.  All songs 
copyright 1987.  The instruments used were:

    o	 Maderia six-string acoustic guitar
    o	 An electric bass guitar
    o	 A Casio CZ-1000 synthesizer

All vocals by Peter LaQuerre.

These songs are dedicated to Sheryl LaQuerre who bought me the Fostex 
and put up with my late night ramblings.  Special thanks also go to 
Jeff Leavitt for supplying the bass guitar.

Specific information about each song:

    1	 Oh and It Seems Like a Long Time

    	 This song was recorded using a total of six tracks.  Two 
         tracks for the bass and acoustic guitar were mixed into one 
         track, leaving three open tracks on the X-15.  With those 
         three tracks, I recorded a three-part harmony.

    	 The harmony took a while because the tough part is making 
         sure each vocal part cuts in and out at precisely the right 
         time.  I wasn't totally successful, but it was closer than I 
         had been in a while.

    2	 My Name's Matthew

    	 This short piece was written for my seven-month-old son.  It 
         started out as just a fun four-part a cappella song, and 
         ended that way as well.  I thought it might add something 
         different to the COMMUSIC tape.  The recording quality is low 
         because I was still learning how to mix down to the stereo 
         deck when I wrote this one.  Since then, I've started using 
         higher quality tape and the SX and 70u settings on the stereo 
         mixdown.

    3	 Antenna Man Like Me

    	 I wrote this song after having a long conversation with two 
         antenna installation men.  They installed a big UHF antenna 
         on our house so we could receive Boston UHF stations.  The 
         song was recorded using the same technique as the first song.  
         I combined the bass, guitar, and acoustic guitar solo into 
         one track, which left me three open tracks to do the vocals.  
         
    	 After mixdown, I wanted to do the guitar solo over again, but 
         of course, that would mean redoing all the vocals, which I 
         didn't feel was worth the effort.  This is one of the 
         disadvantages to working with a four-track machine.

    4	 Everything Would Be All Right

    	 This was the first complete song I wrote using my new 
         CZ-1000.  The first four tracks were acoustic guitar rhythm, 
         keyboard rhythm, keyboard solo, and bass, respectively.  Then 
         I mixed those four tracks in stereo into my stereo tape deck.  
         That left me with two open tracks for the vocals.  Usually my 
         decision whether to use this process or the one used on the 
         1st and 3rd songs depends on how many harmonies I think I 
	 need for the song.


********************************************************************************
Steve Sherman

Night Shade - CZ-101, TX81Z, TR-505, QX5, cheapie cassette deck and R-box
for a mixer - entirely MIDI sequenced, original stuff, done for fun when I 
could scrape together some time - Bass pumps kind of a tetrachord hook.  Wish
I had the MV 2 when I did this one.  If you like wearing sunglasses at night ...


********************************************************************************
Richard Machin

	o Untitled

This is a piece of music to accompany a dance. The dance was a
short examination-piece, so I had a strict tempo to use, and each
section of the tune needed to be a distinct structure that worked
with the dance. The lead sections are a fraction of a second delayed
on the commusic version; this was due to a technical problem in the mastering
process. I ask your indulgence, sympathy and imagination in lessening
its ill effects.


********************************************************************************
Andrew Norton

Infatuation
-----------

This was sequenced on my ESQ1.
The drums were Tr505 and the bass was a DX7.
There's some guitar that I wish I hadn't put on.
It was recorded directly on my Tascam 244.
It's not a love song.
My wife did the vocals.
I did the talking.
We wish we had a reverb.


********************************************************************************
Dan Eaton

	Studio Setup:	My studio is a startup situation consisting of
		o Fostex X-15 Cassette four-track tape deck
		o Peavey PA-400 4 channel powered mixer (since has been 
			replaced by Peavey 600S)
		o Casio CZ-101 MIDI synthesizer (Phase Distortion Synthesis)
		o Roland Juno 106 MIDI synthesizer (analog)
		o Yamaha FB01 MIDI Sound module (FM Synthesis)
		o Korg MS-10 monophonic synthesizer (Non-MIDI, analog)
		o Korg Super Drums (non-midi) (digital)
		o Roland MSQ-100 Sequencer
		o Shure SM58 mike
		o Various stomp box effects (EQ, analog delay,...)

	Goals of this contribution:	To put a couple of my favorite songs 
		onto tape for an entry into the hobby of multi-tracking, for
		review by more experienced multi-trackers, for pleasure, and
		to broaden my musical experience.

	General Notes: 	By the time these pieces are transfered from my master
		to Dave's master to individual copies, it will become 
		immediately apparent from the contribution that I had not 
		learned how to handle the hum caused by mismatched and 
		mis-leveled signals.  I have since done a great deal to correct
		this by sending the recorder 'hotter' signals and cutting them 
		back at the recorder, rather than sending medium signals and 
		having to boost them at various stages of the multi-tracking 
		process.

	Technical details:	Noise reduction type: Dolby B

	Song #1		'Is It Love' by Kelly Willard 
				(Copyright 1986 Willing Heart Music)

		Instruments:

		o Rhodes Piano - FB01 'NewElectric2'
		o Accoustic Piano - FB01 'Uprt Piano'
		o Drums - Korg Super Drums
		o Bass - FB01 'Elec Bass'
		o String Pad - Juno 106
		o High String - Juno 106
		o Voice - Your humble CMIII contributor, me

	Song #2		'Out in the Desert' by Dan Eaton 
				(Unpublished Work, Copyright 1974 Dan Eaton)

		Instruments:

		o Drums - Korg Super Drums
		o Ride cymbal - FB01 'Rd Cym'
		o Bass - FB01 'Elec Bass' MIDI'd to CZ101 brass pad
		o Oboe - CZ101
		o Flutes - CZ101 (patch by Eric Persing, publ. in Keyboard mag.)
		o Brass - CZ101
		o High String - Juno 106
		o String Section - Juno 106 MIDI'd to CZ101 Strings
		o Counter-Melodic French Horn - Korg MS-10


		Note: This is a Christmas song I wrote when I was 15.  It
		does have words, which I will publish if requested, but I felt
		the piece stood up as an instrumental as well.  This arrangement
		is a loose attempt to duplicate an arrangement I wrote in high 
		school for the school band.

    

********************************************************************************
Karl Moeller

"Agua Calient�" ('Hot Water') by Karl SALSA::Moeller

White Boy Salsa music. Piano, flute, and percussion.

This is a complete computer-based project. The piano track (MKS-20)
was recorded to a 120bpm click using Opcode MIDImac in the Macintosh,
where it was forgotten for months. After I got my E-Mu Systems' Emax
rack sampler, I rediscovered the piano track and used it as is.
That is, no editing, no quantization. All percussion parts, Emax
samples, were recorded to Opcode as well, using no editing, no 
quantization. An FSK sync tone was recorded on 8-track tape, and
tracks transferred to audio, slaving the sequencer to the sync tone.

I have an Emax sample which consists of (low notes to high): 
running water (5 notes), breathy sampled choir (2 octaves), stereo 
windchimes (5 notes) and the famed Emulator Shakuhachi sample, 2 octaves. 
I ran the Piano track against this and the Yamaha Fb01 'Hand Drum'
patch (to tighten the percussion), and, liking the result, added it 
all to the Fostex 8track. The sampled flute line was recorded direct 
to the 8-track using a bit of analog echo. 

The piece is fun, nothing heavy, meant to make you want to dance.

karl moeller sws tucson arizona u.s.a.
    

********************************************************************************From:
Dave Bottom

Payday:

Drums: TR-707
Bass: Yamaha single pickup p-bass copy
guitar: Fender strat (Duncan hot stack pickups)
slide/lead guitar: strat, my fingers and a bic lighter
vocals: me through an AKG-d-300

misc: recorded on a tascam 234
      bass and drums bounced to single track
      vocals enhanced by a tapco mixer (reverb) and an Ibanez DM-1000 for
      delay
      mixed on a teac PE-20 mixer (basic 4 track)

Old song recorded in 4 hours in one afternoon

Tried so Hard:

Drums: TR-707
Bass: Yamaha
guitar: Fender telecaster custom thinline (two humbuckers semi-acoustic)
leads: tele again
vocals: me the AKG, the tapco and the DM-1000

recorded on the 234, bounced base, drums and rhythm guitar to one track
vocals on one track and leads/echo on seperate tracks

recorded in one afternoon (6hrs + or -)

originally this was two segments of unrelated songs

Both songs written by Dave Bottom copyright 1987


________________________________________________________________________________
    Side 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
Rik Sawyer
----------------------------------------------------------------------
	all songs were recorded on a teac 244 and mixed down to
a technics cassette deck (what kind? el cheapo). Delay= ibanez analog
Reverb = teac spring, amp= 30 watt marshall, mic = sm58, various picks.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
	comfortable slaves
	==================
		went to dave dreher's studio and, after playing with
his linn drum, came up with the drum beat. (i still don't have a drum
machine) Took the drum beat home on tape, got stoned and 2 hours later
had written and recorded all the words and music. Very simple and
repetitive. Not exactly finished but close enough for now.

equipment;
		linn drum
		washburn f5v5 guitar

		it's political/social commentary...virtually meaningless.
		it's about a guy and girl who fall in love and live happily
ever after in a new house with 2 kids, a dog and a rider mower but she can't
cook very well.

	4 tracks: 1=drums, 2=lead gtr, 3=rythm gtr/bass/harmony vocal
		4=lead vocal
========================================================================

	spags
	=====
		went to dave drehers and picked beat numbers at random...
almost...and made a pattern out of it. Stole it and took it home. 2 weeks
later i started playing with it and wrote this in one evening.

equipment;
		linn drum
		washbrun f5v5
		it's about 2 boys who fall in love and buy a department
store and live happily ever after in a condo in shrewsbury with 1 kid, 1
gold fish tank, no lawn to mow and they eat out a lot.

	4 tracks: 1=drums, 2=rythm, 3=bass, 4=lead

==========================================================================
	periwinkle
	==========
		wrote this on acoustic/classical guitar for 1 person
10 years ago. There was a lot more picking and improv. then.  I had to
keep it more structured this time in order to complement (be complemented by?)
the additional pieces; percussion and keys.

equipment;
		500 year old toy fisher keyboard...1 note.
		500 year old toy fisher keyboard/percussion...basic beat rhumba
beat...?
		very old ibanez acoustic 6 string
		cheez kurl can with socks stuffed in it for extra bongos.

		it's about a girl and boy who fall in love and live happily
ever after in an old home with 3 kids and 2 cats and a live-in gardener who
doubles as cook.
		
		4 tracks: 1=keys, 2=gtr, 3=rhumba beat, 4=bongo
===========================================================================

    
********************************************************************************
Steve Sherman

Tantara - CZ-101, TX81Z, TR-505, MIDIVERB 2, QX5, cheapie cassette deck and 
R-box for a mixer - entirely MIDI sequenced, original stuff, done for fun when 
I could scrape together some time - Alternates time signatures throughout.  
Nice when it's loud enough that you can feel the bass.  Fun to play while 
cruising ...


********************************************************************************
Tom Benson 

BAD DOG

  My brother-in-law needed a theme song for an animated cartoon he's
  working on called BAD DOG. He gave me some lyrics and said he was looking
  for something in the style of the B-52's, so I wrote and recorded this music,
  and had him sing the lead vocal. This will be played over the closing
  credits (if the cartoon is ever completed) - I have other variants for the
  opening theme and incidental music.

    Brian Mitchell - vocal
    Tom Benson - guitar, CZ-5000, background vocal

BOINGERS

  The Bloom County comic strip features a band called Billy and the Boingers
  (formerly "Deathtongue") made of up Opus, Bill the cat, et al. This summer 
  they had a theme song contest, and this was my entry. Part of the challenge
  was figuring out they might be looking for... The band seems to lean toward
  heavy metal - for instance, like most metal bands, they feature a tuba
  player. Since I don't (yet) own a tuba, I substituted trombone. The recording
  was done in two long nights, using a borrowed drum machine (thanks, db).
  I barely got it in the mail on time.
  
  This version is a different mix than what was submitted. Also, the fade-in
  and -out, and guitar solo have been re-done. I'd like to change some of the
  drum patterns, and bring them up a bit in the mix, but I'd have to start
  over... That's life on a 4-track.

    Tom Benson - vocal, guitar, trombone, CZ-5000, RZ-1
    Guest vocalist Linda Benson as "the star-struck fan."

  (Both songs are a bit too "bright" on this tape due to a defect discovered
   in the deck I made the master on, which required they be played back with
   the wrong EQ setting... close enough.)


********************************************************************************    
Synergy (Daryl Gleason/Dave Blickstein)

"I'll Love You Forever"

Music by Daryl Gleason & Dave Blickstein
Arrangement by Daryl Gleason
Lyrics by Daryl & Kristy Gleason
(Liner notes written by Daryl)

Vocals:			Daryl & Kristy
Keyboards:		Dave & Daryl
Drum programming:	Dave & Daryl
Guitar:			Dave
Bass:			Daryl

Instruments:
    Roland HS-60 and Ensoniq ESQ-1 synthesizers
    Casio RZ-1 drum machine
    Carvin guitar
    Ibanez Roadstar II bass

Other equipment:
    Yamaha MT1X 4-track tape deck
    Atari 1040ST running Dr. T's Keyboard Controlled Sequencer software
    AKG BT-320 and Shure SM58 mikes
    Mesa Boogie guitar amp
    Roland keyboard amp
    Traynor YT-1500 bass amp

Goals:

    The main goal in recording the song was to get a copy of it onto
    tape; it was my first original song, written about five years ago on
    a little Casio keyboard.  Also, we had to justify buying all of the
    equipment :-).  We ultimately intend to arrange and record each
    original as it is written.

How we did it:

    I developed a preliminary keyboard part on the HS-60 and sequenced it
    with the KCS on the Atari.  Dave and I then worked up the drum part on
    his then-new RZ-1.  When we had something we liked, we uploaded the
    drum part to the KCS via MIDI into a single sequence.

    We decided we really wanted velocity sensitivity on the lead keyboard
    part, so we used the ESQ-1 to record a few variations on the lead,
    recording them on the KCS and editing the imperfections from them.
    After finishing the lead part, we devised the background keyboard parts
    on the HS-60, also recording them on the KCS.

    When we were finished, and I had everything edited and sequenced, we
    fired up the two keyboard parts and the drum part from the KCS, and I
    played the bass part.  We recorded all four instruments on one tape
    track.

    Dave then worked up and recorded the rhythm guitar part on the second
    track.  Kristy and I recorded our vocals on track 3, then Dave
    developed and recorded the guitar solo on tracks 3 and 4.  The solo
    required parts of two tracks because it was done in several segments,
    with reverb added in on some parts and not on others.

    The 4-track recording was then mastered right onto the COMMUSIC III
    master tape via Dave's Beta Hi-Fi VCR.

    This was our first recording project, and we learned a lot about the
    recording process and capabilities/limitations of our equipment.
    We're reasonably satisfied with the recording, but it was a long
    process, and we may redo it at a later date to take advantage of the
    techniques and experience that we acquired as the project was nearing
    its completion.


********************************************************************************
Anonymous

    This piece was written by an occasional COMMUSIC noter.  It was 
    submitted "anonymously" (Dave Blickstein knows the composer's 
    identity and agreed to anonymity for the time being) so that
    COMMUSIC III recipients would react to the piece rather than its 
    composer.  The composer's identity will be revealed eventually.
    
    The piece, cutely titled "GetSiriusNoah", was written in 
    response to a challenge by other COMMUSIC noters to "write 
    something serious" for a change.
    
    The composer wishes to thank Len Fehskens (who also knows the 
    composer's identity) for the use of his studio and his 
    engineering and sequencing skills.  Len also suggested some 
    minor changes to the piece during the recording process.
    
    GetSiriusNoah is 3'10" long, and is composed in the serial idiom.
    It uses the techniques of inversion, retrograding and retrograde
    inversion, as well as rhythmic augmentation by a factor of two.
    Metrical groups employed by the piece are 27/8 (subdivided as 
    bars of 9/8, 7/8, 6/8 and 5/8), 27/16 (similarly subdivided) and 8/4.
    There are 9 instances of 27/8, 9 instances of 27/16 and 1 instance
    of 8/4.  This makes for a total of 73 bars (each of the 
    subdivisions is a bar) (9*4 + 9*4 + 1), and a total length of 
    761/16.  Both 73 and 761 are prime numbers.  The piece exhibits 
    several other numerological curiosities (e.g., 761 = 27*27 + 32 =
    (3^3)^2 + 2^(2+3); 27/8 = (3^3)/(2^3); 73 = (3^2)*(2^3) + 1; etc.).
    
    The piece was executed by Len's MC500, and recorded on his Tascam 38 
    in 3 passes, using 6 audio tracks and a sync track.  It was 
    scored for string ensemble (Roland MKS-80 Super Jupiter and 
    JX-10), flute (Casio CZ-101), marimba quartet (MKS-80 and JX-10),
    gong (MKS-80) and brass ensemble (MKS-80 and JX-10).  The MKS-80
    was chorused through Len's two Roland/Boss RCE-10s, the JX-10 used
    its onboard choruses, and the CZ-101 was chorused through a 
    Roland/Boss CE-300 SuperChorus.  Len's Roland SRV-2000 digital
    reverbs were liberally applied.  (Thanks to Len for providing me 
    with an equipment list, or I would never have gotten this right.)
    
    A detailed sequencer score will eventually be available to anyone
    interested.
    

********************************************************************************
Tom Janzen

"Interpretation III: LvB 2nd"

Tom Janzen, pianist and processing
Apologies to Ludwig van Beethoven and his Symphony No. 2 as transcribed by
Franz Liszt.

I first tried processing old music in about 1976, using short 19th century 
character pieces for piano by Chopin, Schubert, Schumann, etc., but the only 
processing available to me was editing, overdubbing, and speed change.  The 
original recordings were protected, so I can't use that piece anywhere.  
Currently, Los Angeles composer Carl Stone sits onstage with a few turntables, 
and spins old pop songs into digital signal processing equipment, distorting
and mixing them into a cubist re-assembly, and I've taken a similar tack
here in a non-real-time mode.  Equipment for this included a cheap 2-second 
delay, an SPX90, and a Kohler & Campbell 36" upright.  Here, Beethoven's 2nd 
Symphony was folded over 4 times; each overdub was separately processed with 
loops, echoes, flanging, chorusing, pitch-change, and reverberation.  - TEJ

Interpretation III Copyright (c) 1987 Thomas E. Janzen


********************************************************************************
Event Horizon (Bill Yerazunis)

Last Moonlight - � Peter Antoniou, Event Horizon Music.

	- P E O P L E -

Peter Antoniou 
Larry Amrose
Rudy Kieser
Rudy's Ex-girlfriend, whose Name shall Not be Mentioned.
George whatsisname
Bill Yerazunis

	- E Q U I P M E N T -

Sequential Circus
  Prophet-600
  Pro-1
Moog
  Minimoog
Ensoniq 
  ESQ-1
Yamahaha
  DX-100
  DX-21
  QX-7
Casio
  CZ-101 (x 2)
Seil 
  DK-80 
  CBM-110 Bass Pedals
Two German-Named Places
  two flutes, shiny
Korg 
  MD-16 Sampled Drum
Sholtz
  Rockman
Rickenbacker
  4001
DOD
  Noise Gate, Compressor/Sustainer
Uher
  U-81 microphones
Kelsey
  K-16 Studio Mixer
Sony
  PCM-F1 Digital Tape
3M
  Masking Tape
Coca-Cola
  Coke Classic
Cases by
  Calzone
  Anvil
  Tough Traveller
  Fruit of the Loom


	- W H A T   I T   W A S   L I K E -

Oh, what a mess.  We could not multitrack
it onto the digital tape, hence what you hear is, essentially, "live".
Even the mixing had to be done "live".   Because there was no effective
monitor system, we had to arrange the cardiod microphones to pick up 
a minimum of the monitor feed.  The cardioids were in the mix to pick up
the flutes.  Actually the room ambience that this accidentally created
worked rather well.
	
We do a lot of "layering"; having one synth control another via MIDI or
CV and considering the resulting combination sound as one "voice".
if you think you hear someone changing patches dynamically in this
piece, you're right.  

Because there were open mikes in this mix, we couldn't shout at, swear
at, or otherwise insult each other.  This led to some extremely innovative
hand and facial gestures.

Heard after one particularly miserable "take":

	"<<whistle>> First keyboard player, illegal trill.
	Penalty is -5 dB and loss of take.  It is now second take."

Do we plan to make a record? Actually, we do.  We even had a contract with
a record company, but they went broke.

    Question: 
    	If someone has  1) a COMMUSIC III tape and
    			2) a friend who wants one...
    	
    	is it OK to make a dub (assuming friend is willing to accept
    	possible degradation in sound quality)  ?
    	
    It seems OK to me, but I want to be sure...
    	
    	-Bill
    

    re: .48 (Is it OK to make dubs?)
    
    I don't claim to have any authority with which I might "authorize"
    this, but I don't see any problems with it.
    
    However, I think it's important that your friend understand who
    did these things, the nature of the commusic tapes, and also
    he should understand that it should be treated like copyrighted
    material (much of it *is* copyrighted).

    Just my opinion,
    
    	db    

    After much consideration this is how I've decided to handle the
    ordering process for Commusic III.
    
    There are several methods.
    
    1.  The preferred method
    
    You send me $4 via US MAIL, I send you a Maxell UDXL-II C-90 with
    Commusic III on in a padded envelope via US mail.  This is essentially
    my cost.
    
    My address is:
    
    		Dave Blickstein
    		96 Robinson Road
    		Hudson, NH 03051
    
    Please do not send me stuff through interoffice mail.  You may get
    me, you, or *us* into trouble.  I've already been "caught" and they
    are watching me.
    
    This price only applies to U.S. addresses.  If it costs more to
    send where you are, *You* must find out what it will cost me to
    send it to you and add that to the $4.
    
    The default noise reduction is Dolby B.  You may request no noise
    reduction or dbx noise reduction if you like.
    
    2.   Discount plan
    
    You stop by my office at Spit Brook (ZK2.3), give me $2.50, I give
    you a Commusic III tape.  No postage costs.  I'll TRY to keep my
    office stocked up on tapes.
    
    3.  Others
    
    If you have some real good reason for doing it a different way,
    send me mail.  I am open to other methods, and I would consider
    making copies on better grades of tape for those who want it.
    
    Please remember that this is a lot of work for me (at the moment
    I can only make two copies at a time) and that I will steadfastly
    prioritize my time over your convenience and preferences if I feel
    they are not appropriate.  (For example, I don't like the idea of
    having folks send me tapes because I have to keep track of them,
    plus when *I* provide the tapes, I can make copies at MY convenience
    and not when I happen to have received tapes.  Besides $2.50 for
    a UDXL-II is a decent price, and if I can find lower, I'll pass
    on the savings.)
    
    Again, please do NOT use interoffice mail!
    
    I will keep a list of everyone I send the tape to and post it
    occasionally.
    
    	db

    I'd like to remind people that even though Commusic III is the main
    focus right now, I'm already collecting stuff for Commusic IV.
    The process of collection will be continuous.
    
    I'm particularly anxious to get Commusic IV out because due to an
    error on my part, Paul Harmon's submission didn't get onto Commusic
    III even though it should have gone on before other things that
    did go on.  I'm very anxious to make this up to Paul by getting
    Commusic IV out as soon as possible.
    
    Using the Beta as a master seems to have worked well for Commusic
    III.  However, one thing that is not working well is the amount
    of labor involved in making duplicates.  I'm planning on borrowing
    more tape decks so I can make more than two copies at once (anyone
    wishing to volunteer a tape deck who lives in the Nashua area, please
    contact me).  One problem with using a VCR for this purpose is that
    the wear on the video heads for a VCR that comes with play time
    is FAR more critical than with audio decks.  Video heads probably
    have about 1/50 the playback lifetime as audio decks and replacing
    heads is very expensive.
    
    If I have to make 50 copies, that's 37.5 hours of playback time
    which translates to significant wear.
    
    I think for Commusic IV, I may consider either getting someone else
    to do the duplicating or having that done professionally (not sure
    what that costs).
    
    

Hmm.  DAT decks have spinning heads just like VCRs.  I wonder what the
head lifetime is going to be for those?

RE < Note 765.51 by DREGS::BLICKSTEIN "Dave" >

	Just a quick note regarding something Dave said.  I'd be happy to
consider having copies made by a professional agency in the future.  It would
be *much* less wear on the compiler (and his equipment) and I doubt it would
cost that much, as long as we had a reasonable amount of people interested.

	What *would* be additional work, though, would be the co-ordination
effort to have the orders in, the money in, and the interface with the
pro sound company.  But, the labor that Dave has gone through on *all*
aspects of the tape could be reasonably divided among more than one
person, whereas now, it is pretty much up to Dave to do it all.

	If it can be done reasonable, it'd even be nice to have a simple
black-n-white tape index printed up to go along.  I like the idea!

	Dan

P.S. Notice how this tape is, as someone said, becoming an institution?  It's
kind of a parallel to the _____jams going on in Dregs::Music.

    I'll second the motion for a studio.  We could make this a biannual
    thing pretty easily with a 60-minute tape.  That'd only be about
    one submission every six months or so for the average contributor,
    maybe?  I wouldn't mind paying a pro $10 a pop.  The older tapes
    could even be archived and made available to interested noters.
    Two tapes a year would cost about the same as my KEYBOARD subscription.
    No big deal.
    
    Steve
    

    
    There are a lot of inexpensive duplicators in New England, look
    in MIX magazine.
    
    I have a dumb but functional program for creating cassette tape
    labels that's written in DCL and works well with a LA75 in LQ
    mode but looks ok on a LA50. I'll post it here for extraction
    if this is the proper place.
    
    CdH
    

    Unless we're careful choosing a duplicator we may end up with copies
    far below our expectations of quality.  Consider the quality of
    most commercial cassettes.  I appreciate everybodies' concerns here,
    but if we farm it out, let's do so carefully.
    
    How about having a "duping party"; all we need is enough decks to
    reduce the master deck's head wear by a factor of n.
    
    len.
    

    
    CdH
    

    2 TEACS, will travel....
    
    Edd

    Simplifying things, the best possible solution was if there was
    some way I could get a massive number (well, let's say about 10)
    of cassette decks for about a week.
    
    The "duping party" idea is probably not very feasable. It still
    takes 90 minutes to make copies and probably everyone who would
    bring a deck to such a thing would want a copy anyway.  It doesn't
    help me with the tapes for all the other folks who order copies.
    
    Once again, if anyone can loan me a decent tape deck, PLEASE let
    me know.  I hate to add further stipulations, but I also can't
    really afford the time to go driving around New England picking
    up and returning tape decks.  It would be nice if we could do the
    loan and return somewhere around the Nashua area.
    
    I've put a lot of time (and even some money) into this.  I 
    think it's reasonable to ask for this kind of help.  
    
    	db

    The easiest solution may be the most obvious.  If you want the 
    best-quality tape, get one from Dave.  But, if a dupe of one of
    Dave's tapes is sufficient (and having already done a couple of
    copies, dupes seems okay to me) then relieve some of Dave's burden
    by providing dupes yourself to interested parties.  Anybody have
    any objections?
    
    Steve

    re: .60

>    But, if a dupe of one of Dave's tapes is sufficient (and having
>    already done a couple of copies, dupes seems okay to me) then 
>    relieve some of Dave's burden by providing dupes yourself to
>    interested parties.
    
    God Bless you Steve Sherman!
    
    If you plan on making dupes, remember that I am willing to use a
    higher grade of tape than UDXL-II if you request it (and pay for
    it.)  Potential dupers might want to request a metal tape.
    
    I can also make a VHS Hi-Fi copy.
    
    	db   

    I'm a bit confused. Are we talking about current duplicating load
    for those who have not yet recieved tape III, or are we discussing
    duplication/distribution for tape IV ?
    
    As one who has been on both sides (borrowed/chained 10 dex at once)
    vs. commercial duplication, I vote for commercial duplication..
    however ! That was for my OWN music, where I could make an educated
    guess as to how many tapes I could sell in how long/how much $$
    I had.
    
    Commercial duplication costs will be under $2.00 per 60 OR 90 minute
    cassette. But, due to the sporadic nature of requests for these
    tapes, having a 'bunch' duped up front requires a very organized
    precollection/distribution setup.
    
    Does anyone know how the USENET folks set up their tapes? They even
    had a COLOR COVER !... $4.00 per copy if I remember.. Tom J and
    Dave had entries..
    
    Pray remove this ambiguity ! Tape III or IV ? And, yes, db DOES
    deserve some help of some sort ! It's a big load he took on for
    us. 

    karl

    I'm talking about both III and IV.  So far I've been able to keep
    up (by making tapes whenever I'm at home) but it's a royal pain.
    
    At some point I thought I might propose to attempt to widen the
    circulation of this thing (initially the MUSIC conference, then
    possibly other conferences, then maybe even DTW or something like
    that.)
    
    However, given the current methodology of making tapes, that would
    be a form of suicide to my home and social life.
    
    I think if I could just get some folks to do without their cassette
    decks for a week, I could at least handle the Commusic load without
    tying up unreasonable amounts of my time.
    
    	db

I vote we have a duping party as Len suggested.  However, the duping can
be to high quality tapes which can in turn be used as masters for further
duplications.  This way, any commusicians with two cassette decks who 
attend the party can help take the load off of Dave's shoulders.

Of course, ah, ahem...well, I only have one cassette deck.  Just thought
I'd make the suggestion tho.

Todd.

    Gheesh, the problem is that everyone keeps promoting this as a 
    'duping' party. Lets get our priorities straight, put the party
    first!!!!
    
    Let's have a party duping!!!
    
    Edd

Yea, and most people probably think that duping is the only electronic sonic
transfer that will happen at a party filled with commusicians.  Bullogna.

Who's bringing the Bass Ale?

Todd.

    
    Who's duping who? (hmmm, toon?)
    
	EVERYONE knows we is a party buncha guys...
    
    	Like pegged at +4 on high-bias, fer sure, eh?
    
    Dos Equis or Singha. No swill, please. 
    
    when do we do it?
    

________________________________________________________________________________
    	Side 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Peter LaQuerre
Selections for COMMUSIC III

These four songs were recorded on a Fostex X-15 4-Track cassette 
recorder and mixed using a Nakamichi BX-1 stereo cassette deck.

All songs written and performed by Peter LaQuerre.  All songs 
copyright 1987.  The instruments used were:

    o	 Maderia six-string acoustic guitar
    o	 An electric bass guitar
    o	 A Casio CZ-1000 synthesizer

All vocals by Peter LaQuerre.

These songs are dedicated to Sheryl LaQuerre who bought me the Fostex 
and put up with my late night ramblings.  Special thanks also go to 
Jeff Leavitt for supplying the bass guitar.

Specific information about each song:

    1	 Oh and It Seems Like a Long Time (2:31)

    	 This song was recorded using a total of six tracks.  Two 
         tracks for the bass and acoustic guitar were mixed into one 
         track, leaving three open tracks on the X-15.  With those 
         three tracks, I recorded a three-part harmony.

    	 The harmony took a while because the tough part is making 
         sure each vocal part cuts in and out at precisely the right 
         time.  I wasn't totally successful, but it was closer than I 
         had been in a while.

    2	 My Name's Matthew (1:05)

    	 This short piece was written for my seven-month-old son.  It 
         started out as just a fun four-part a cappella song, and 
         ended that way as well.  I thought it might add something 
         different to the COMMUSIC tape.  The recording quality is low 
         because I was still learning how to mix down to the stereo 
         deck when I wrote this one.  Since then, I've started using 
         higher quality tape and the SX and 70u settings on the stereo 
         mixdown.

    3	 Antenna Man Like Me (3:34)

    	 I wrote this song after having a long conversation with two 
         antenna installation men.  They installed a big UHF antenna 
         on our house so we could receive Boston UHF stations.  The 
         song was recorded using the same technique as the first song.  
         I combined the bass, guitar, and acoustic guitar solo into 
         one track, which left me three open tracks to do the vocals.  
         
    	 After mixdown, I wanted to do the guitar solo over again, but 
         of course, that would mean redoing all the vocals, which I 
         didn't feel was worth the effort.  This is one of the 
         disadvantages to working with a four-track machine.

    4	 Everything Would Be All Right (4:43)

    	 This was the first complete song I wrote using my new 
         CZ-1000.  The first four tracks were acoustic guitar rhythm, 
         keyboard rhythm, keyboard solo, and bass, respectively.  Then 
         I mixed those four tracks in stereo into my stereo tape deck.  
         That left me with two open tracks for the vocals.  Usually my 
         decision whether to use this proce9ss or the one used on the 
         1st and 3rd songs depends on how many harmonies I think I 
	 need for the song.


********************************************************************************
Steve Sherman

Night Shade - (3:55) CZ-101, TX81Z, TR-505, QX5, cheapie cassette deck and R-box
for a mixer - entirely MIDI sequenced, original stuff, done for fun when I 
could scrape together some time - Bass pumps kind of a tetrachord hook.  Wish
I had the MV 2 when I did this one.  If you like wearing sunglasses at night ...


********************************************************************************
Richard Machin

	o Untitled (3:05)

This is a piece of music to accompany a dance. The dance was a
short examination-piece, so I had a strict tempo to use, and each
section of the tune needed to be a distinct structure that worked
with the dance. The lead sections are a fraction of a second delayed
on the commusic version; this was due to a technical problem in the mastering
process. I ask your indulgence, sympathy and imagination in lessening
its ill effects.


********************************************************************************
Andrew Norton

Infatuation (2:50)
-----------

This was sequenced on my ESQ1.
The drums were Tr505 and the bass was a DX7.
There's some guitar that I wish I hadn't put on.
It was recorded directly on my Tascam 244.
It's not a love song.
My wife did the vocals.
I did the talking.
We wish we had a reverb.


********************************************************************************
Dan Eaton

	Studio Setup:	My studio is a startup situation consisting of
		o Fostex X-15 Cassette four-track tape deck
		o Peavey PA-400 4 channel powered mixer (since has been 
			replaced by Peavey 600S)
		o Casio CZ-101 MIDI synthesizer (Phase Distortion Synthesis)
		o Roland Juno 106 MIDI synthesizer (analog)
		o Yamaha FB01 MIDI Sound module (FM Synthesis)
		o Korg MS-10 monophonic synthesizer (Non-MIDI, analog)
		o Korg Super Drums (non-midi) (digital)
		o Roland MSQ-100 Sequencer
		o Shure SM58 mike
		o Various stomp box effects (EQ, analog delay,...)

	Goals of this contribution:	To put a couple of my favorite songs 
		onto tape for an entry into the hobby of multi-tracking, for
		review by more experienced multi-trackers, for pleasure, and
		to broaden my musical experience.

	General Notes: 	By the time these pieces are transfered from my master
		to Dave's master to individual copies, it will become 
		immediately apparent from the contribution that I had not 
		learned how to handle the hum caused by mismatched and 
		mis-leveled signals.  I have since done a great deal to correct
		this by sending the recorder 'hotter' signals and cutting them 
		back at the recorder, rather than sending medium signals and 
		having to boost them at various stages of the multi-tracking 
		process.

	Technical details:	Noise reduction type: Dolby B

	Song #1		'Is It Love' by Kelly Willard    (3:40)
				(Copyright 1986 Willing Heart Music)

		Instruments:

		o Rhodes Piano - FB01 'NewElectric2'
		o Accoustic Piano - FB01 'Uprt Piano'
		o Drums - Korg Super Drums
		o Bass - FB01 'Elec Bass'
		o String Pad - Juno 106
		o High String - Juno 106
		o Voice - Your humble CMIII contributor, me

	Song #2		'Out in the Desert' by Dan Eaton   (2:33)
				(Unpublished Work, Copyright 1974 Dan Eaton)

		Instruments:

		o Drums - Korg Super Drums
		o Ride cymbal - FB01 'Rd Cym'
		o Bass - FB01 'Elec Bass' MIDI'd to CZ101 brass pad
		o Oboe - CZ101
		o Flutes - CZ101 (patch by Eric Persing, publ. in Keyboard mag.)
		o Brass - CZ101
		o High String - Juno 106
		o String Section - Juno 106 MIDI'd to CZ101 Strings
		o Counter-Melodic French Horn - Korg MS-10


		Note: This is a Christmas song I wrote when I was 15.  It
		does have words, which I will publish if requested, but I felt
		the piece stood up as an instrumental as well.  This arrangement
		is a loose attempt to duplicate an arrangement I wrote in high 
		school for the school band.

    

********************************************************************************
Karl Moeller

"Agua Calient�" ('Hot Water') by Karl SALSA::Moeller  (4:52)

White Boy Salsa music. Piano, flute, and percussion.

This is a complete computer-based project. The piano track (MKS-20)
was recorded to a 120bpm click using Opcode MIDImac in the Macintosh,
where it was forgotten for months. After I got my E-Mu Systems' Emax
rack sampler, I rediscovered the piano track and used it as is.
That is, no editing, no quantization. All percussion parts, Emax
samples, were recorded to Opcode as well, using no editing, no 
quantization. An FSK sync tone was recorded on 8-track tape, and
tracks transferred to audio, slaving the sequencer to the sync tone.

I have an Emax sample which consists of (low notes to high): 
running water (5 notes), breathy sampled choir (2 octaves), stereo 
windchimes (5 notes) and the famed Emulator Shakuhachi sample, 2 octaves. 
I ran the Piano track against this and the Yamaha Fb01 'Hand Drum'
patch (to tighten the percussion), and, liking the result, added it 
all to the Fostex 8track. The sampled flute line was recorded direct 
to the 8-track using a bit of analog echo. 

The piece is fun, nothing heavy, meant to make you want to dance.

karl moeller sws tucson arizona u.s.a.
    

********************************************************************************From:
Dave Bottom

Payday: (4:07)

Drums: TR-707
Bass: Yamaha single pickup p-bass copy
guitar: Fender strat (Duncan hot stack pickups)
slide/lead guitar: strat, my fingers and a bic lighter
vocals: me through an AKG-d-300

misc: recorded on a tascam 234
      bass and drums bounced to single track
      vocals enhanced by a tapco mixer (reverb) and an Ibanez DM-1000 for
      delay
      mixed on a teac PE-20 mixer (basic 4 track)

Old song recorded in 4 hours in one afternoon

Tried so Hard: (5:26)

Drums: TR-707
Bass: Yamaha
guitar: Fender telecaster custom thinline (two humbuckers semi-acoustic)
leads: tele again
vocals: me the AKG, the tapco and the DM-1000

recorded on the 234, bounced base, drums and rhythm guitar to one track
vocals on one track and leads/echo on seperate tracks

recorded in one afternoon (6hrs + or -)

originally this was two segments of unrelated songs

Both songs written by Dave Bottom copyright 1987


________________________________________________________________________________
    Side 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
Rik Sawyer
----------------------------------------------------------------------
	all songs were recorded on a teac 244 and mixed down to
a technics cassette deck (what kind? el cheapo). Delay= ibanez analog
Reverb = teac spring, amp= 30 watt marshall, mic = sm58, various picks.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
	comfortable slaves (4:45)
	==================
		went to dave dreher's studio and, after playing with
his linn drum, came up with the drum beat. (i still don't have a drum
machine) Took the drum beat home on tape, got stoned and 2 hours later
had written and recorded all the words and music. Very simple and
repetitive. Not exactly finished but close enough for now.

equipment;
		linn drum
		washburn f5v5 guitar

		it's political/social commentary...virtually meaningless.
		it's about a guy and girl who fall in love and live happily
ever after in a new house with 2 kids, a dog and a rider mower but she can't
cook very well.

	4 tracks: 1=drums, 2=lead gtr, 3=rythm gtr/bass/harmony vocal
		4=lead vocal
========================================================================

	spags  (3:55)
	=====
		went to dave drehers and picked beat numbers at random...
almost...and made a pattern out of it. Stole it and took it home. 2 weeks
later i started playing with it and wrote this in one evening.

equipment;
		linn drum
		washbrun f5v5
		it's about 2 boys who fall in love and buy a department
store and live happily ever after in a condo in shrewsbury with 1 kid, 1
gold fish tank, no lawn to mow and they eat out a lot.

	4 tracks: 1=drums, 2=rythm, 3=bass, 4=lead

==========================================================================
	periwinkle (7:35)
	==========
		wrote this on acoustic/classical guitar for 1 person
10 years ago. There was a lot more picking and improv. then.  I had to
keep it more structured this time in order to complement (be complemented by?)
the additional pieces; percussion and keys.

equipment;
		500 year old toy fisher keyboard...1 note.
		500 year old toy fisher keyboard/percussion...basic beat rhumba
beat...?
		very old ibanez acoustic 6 string
		cheez kurl can with socks stuffed in it for extra bongos.

		it's about a girl and boy who fall in love and live happily
ever after in an old home with 3 kids and 2 cats and a live-in gardener who
doubles as cook.
		
		4 tracks: 1=keys, 2=gtr, 3=rhumba beat, 4=bongo
===========================================================================

    
********************************************************************************
Steve Sherman  (4:42)

Tantara - CZ-101, TX81Z, TR-505, MIDIVERB 2, QX5, cheapie cassette deck and 
R-box for a mixer - entirely MIDI sequenced, original stuff, done for fun when 
I could scrape together some time - Alternates time signatures throughout.  
Nice when it's loud enough that you can feel the bass.  Fun to play while 
cruising ...


********************************************************************************
Tom Benson 

BAD DOG  (0:50)

  My brother-in-law needed a theme song for an animated cartoon he's
  working on called BAD DOG. He gave me some lyrics and said he was looking
  for something in the style of the B-52's, so I wrote and recorded this music,
  and had him sing the lead vocal. This will be played over the closing
  credits (if the cartoon is ever completed) - I have other variants for the
  opening theme and incidental music.

    Brian Mitchell - vocal
    Tom Benson - guitar, CZ-5000, background vocal

BOINGERS  (3:22)

  The Bloom County comic strip features a band called Billy and the Boingers
  (formerly "Deathtongue") made of up Opus, Bill the cat, et al. This summer 
  they had a theme song contest, and this was my entry. Part of the challenge
  was figuring out they might be looking for... The band seems to lean toward
  heavy metal - for instance, like most metal bands, they feature a tuba
  player. Since I don't (yet) own a tuba, I substituted trombone. The recording
  was done in two long nights, using a borrowed drum machine (thanks, db).
  I barely got it in the mail on time.
  
  This version is a different mix than what was submitted. Also, the fade-in
  and -out, and guitar solo have been re-done. I'd like to change some of the
  drum patterns, and bring them up a bit in the mix, but I'd have to start
  over... That's life on a 4-track.

    Tom Benson - vocal, guitar, trombone, CZ-5000, RZ-1
    Guest vocalist Linda Benson as "the star-struck fan."

  (Both songs are a bit too "bright" on this tape due to a defect discovered
   in the deck I made the master on, which required they be played back with
   the wrong EQ setting... close enough.)


********************************************************************************    
Synergy (Daryl Gleason/Dave Blickstein)

"I'll Love You Forever"  (?:??)

Music by Daryl Gleason & Dave Blickstein
Arrangement by Daryl Gleason
Lyrics by Daryl & Kristy Gleason
(Liner notes written by Daryl)

Vocals:			Daryl & Kristy
Keyboards:		Dave & Daryl
Drum programming:	Dave & Daryl
Guitar:			Dave
Bass:			Daryl

Instruments:
    Roland HS-60 and Ensoniq ESQ-1 synthesizers
    Casio RZ-1 drum machine
    Carvin guitar
    Ibanez Roadstar II bass

Other equipment:
    Yamaha MT1X 4-track tape deck
    Atari 1040ST running Dr. T's Keyboard Controlled Sequencer software
    AKG BT-320 and Shure SM58 mikes
    Mesa Boogie guitar amp
    Roland keyboard amp
    Traynor YT-1500 bass amp

Goals:

    The main goal in recording the song was to get a copy of it onto
    tape; it was my first original song, written about five years ago on
    a little Casio keyboard.  Also, we had to justify buying all of the
    equipment :-).  We ultimately intend to arrange and record each
    original as it is written.

How we did it:

    I developed a preliminary keyboard part on the HS-60 and sequenced it
    with the KCS on the Atari.  Dave and I then worked up the drum part on
    his then-new RZ-1.  When we had something we liked, we uploaded the
    drum part to the KCS via MIDI into a single sequence.

    We decided we really wanted velocity sensitivity on the lead keyboard
    part, so we used the ESQ-1 to record a few variations on the lead,
    recording them on the KCS and editing the imperfections from them.
    After finishing the lead part, we devised the background keyboard parts
    on the HS-60, also recording them on the KCS.

    When we were finished, and I had everything edited and sequenced, we
    fired up the two keyboard parts and the drum part from the KCS, and I
    played the bass part.  We recorded all four instruments on one tape
    track.

    Dave then worked up and recorded the rhythm guitar part on the second
    track.  Kristy and I recorded our vocals on track 3, then Dave
    developed and recorded the guitar solo on tracks 3 and 4.  The solo
    required parts of two tracks because it was done in several segments,
    with reverb added in on some parts and not on others.

    The 4-track recording was then mastered right onto the COMMUSIC III
    master tape via Dave's Beta Hi-Fi VCR.

    This was our first recording project, and we learned a lot about the
    recording process and capabilities/limitations of our equipment.
    We're reasonably satisfied with the recording, but it was a long
    process, and we may redo it at a later date to take advantage of the
    techniques and experience that we acquired as the project was nearing
    its completion.


********************************************************************************
Anonymous (3:15)

    This piece was written by an occasional COMMUSIC noter.  It was 
    submitted "anonymously" (Dave Blickstein knows the composer's 
    identity and agreed to anonymity for the time being) so that
    COMMUSIC III recipients would react to the piece rather than its 
    composer.  The composer's identity will be revealed eventually.
    
    The piece, cutely titled "GetSiriusNoah", was written in 
    response to a challenge by other COMMUSIC noters to "write 
    something serious" for a change.
    
    The composer wishes to thank Len Fehskens (who also knows the 
    composer's identity) for the use of his studio and his 
    engineering and sequencing skills.  Len also suggested some 
    minor changes to the piece during the recording process.
    
    GetSiriusNoah is 3'10" long, and is composed in the serial idiom.
    It uses the techniques of inversion, retrograding and retrograde
    inversion, as well as rhythmic augmentation by a factor of two.
    Metrical groups employed by the piece are 27/8 (subdivided as 
    bars of 9/8, 7/8, 6/8 and 5/8), 27/16 (similarly subdivided) and 8/4.
    There are 9 instances of 27/8, 9 instances of 27/16 and 1 instance
    of 8/4.  This makes for a total of 73 bars (each of the 
    subdivisions is a bar) (9*4 + 9*4 + 1), and a total length of 
    761/16.  Both 73 and 761 are prime numbers.  The piece exhibits 
    several other numerological curiosities (e.g., 761 = 27*27 + 32 =
    (3^3)^2 + 2^(2+3); 27/8 = (3^3)/(2^3); 73 = (3^2)*(2^3) + 1; etc.).
    
    The piece was executed by Len's MC500, and recorded on his Tascam 38 
    in 3 passes, using 6 audio tracks and a sync track.  It was 
    scored for string ensemble (Roland MKS-80 Super Jupiter and 
    JX-10), flute (Casio CZ-101), marimba quartet (MKS-80 and JX-10),
    gong (MKS-80) and brass ensemble (MKS-80 and JX-10).  The MKS-80
    was chorused through Len's two Roland/Boss RCE-10s, the JX-10 used
    its onboard choruses, and the CZ-101 was chorused through a 
    Roland/Boss CE-300 SuperChorus.  Len's Roland SRV-2000 digital
    reverbs were liberally applied.  (Thanks to Len for providing me 
    with an equipment list, or I would never have gotten this right.)
    
    A detailed sequencer score will eventually be available to anyone
    interested.
    

********************************************************************************
Tom Janzen (?:??)

"Interpretation III: LvB 2nd"

Tom Janzen, pianist and processing
Apologies to Ludwig van Beethoven and his Symphony No. 2 as transcribed by
Franz Liszt.

I first tried processing old music in about 1976, using short 19th century 
character pieces for piano by Chopin, Schubert, Schumann, etc., but the only 
processing available to me was editing, overdubbing, and speed change.  The 
original recordings were protected, so I can't use that piece anywhere.  
Currently, Los Angeles composer Carl Stone sits onstage with a few turntables, 
and spins old pop songs into digital signal processing equipment, distorting
and mixing them into a cubist re-assembly, and I've taken a similar tack
here in a non-real-time mode.  Equipment for this included a cheap 2-second 
delay, an SPX90, and a Kohler & Campbell 36" upright.  Here, Beethoven's 2nd 
Symphony was folded over 4 times; each overdub was separately processed with 
loops, echoes, flanging, chorusing, pitch-change, and reverberation.  - TEJ

Interpretation III Copyright (c) 1987 Thomas E. Janzen


********************************************************************************
Event Horizon (Bill Yerazunis) 

Last Moonlight - � Peter Antoniou, Event Horizon Music. (?:??)

	- P E O P L E -

Peter Antoniou 
Larry Amrose
Rudy Kieser
Rudy's Ex-girlfriend, whose Name shall Not be Mentioned.
George whatsisname
Bill Yerazunis

	- E Q U I P M E N T -

Sequential Circus
  Prophet-600
  Pro-1
Moog
  Minimoog
Ensoniq 
  ESQ-1
Yamahaha
  DX-100
  DX-21
  QX-7
Casio
  CZ-101 (x 2)
Seil 
  DK-80 
  CBM-110 Bass Pedals
Two German-Named Places
  two flutes, shiny
Korg 
  MD-16 Sampled Drum
Sholtz
  Rockman
Rickenbacker
  4001
DOD
  Noise Gate, Compressor/Sustainer
Uher
  U-81 microphones
Kelsey
  K-16 Studio Mixer
Sony
  PCM-F1 Digital Tape
3M
  Masking Tape
Coca-Cola
  Coke Classic
Cases by
  Calzone
  Anvil
  Tough Traveller
  Fruit of the Loom


	- W H A T   I T   W A S   L I K E -

Oh, what a mess.  We could not multitrack
it onto the digital tape, hence what you hear is, essentially, "live".
Even the mixing had to be done "live".   Because there was no effective
monitor system, we had to arrange the cardiod microphones to pick up 
a minimum of the monitor feed.  The cardioids were in the mix to pick up
the flutes.  Actually the room ambience that this accidentally created
worked rather well.
	
We do a lot of "layering"; having one synth control another via MIDI or
CV and considering the resulting combination sound as one "voice".
if you think you hear someone changing patches dynamically in this
piece, you're right.  

Because there were open mikes in this mix, we couldn't shout at, swear
at, or otherwise insult each other.  This led to some extremely innovative
hand and facial gestures.

Heard after one particularly miserable "take":

	"<<whistle>> First keyboard player, illegal trill.
	Penalty is -5 dB and loss of take.  It is now second take."

Do we plan to make a record? Actually, we do.  We even had a contract with
a record company, but they went broke.

    A question for past and future Commusic tape contributors.
    
    Several folks in the MUSIC notesfile have expressed an interest
    in hearing stuff done by DEC musicians.
    
    Does anyone have any problem with me contacting such individuals
    and informing them about the Commusic tapes?  I do NOT plan to
    mention the Commusic tapes in the notesfile - I only intend to
    inform people of it by mail who explicitly demonstrate an interest
    in hearing music produced by Deccies.  One reason I don't intend
    to advertise is because I doubt I could handle the volume.
    
    I have a few tapes leftover.  I really don't want to do another
    "run" although I'm willing to make copies on an occasional request
    basis.
    
    Commusic IV submissions are starting to arrive.  If you wanna get
    your stuff on IV better send it in soon.  I still have only 3 tapes
    in hand, but lots of "it's in the mail" messages.
    
    	db

    Why not post a note there that you are willing to part with n tapes
    and allow them to establish their own distribution method?  Might
    even make the Beta master available to one of them.  Just a thought.
    
    Steve

    While I don't mind having my stuff heard by a new round of ears,
    I gotta admit I'm not up for 'retriggering' the 'attack' portion
    of the request_for_tapes envelope. I've got the C-II master tape
    and certainly don't mind filling the occasional requests as they
    come in, but it's nice not staring at a half dozen tapes waiting
    to be duped.
    
    I'll continue to fill all requests.
    
    Edd

RE: .69

   I don't know what happened to the COMMUSIC I master.  If I had it, I
   don't suppose that I would mind making one or two copies, but I gotta
   agree with Edd & Dave - too much hassle to try and fill mega-requests.

   One thing that I wonder about ... most of us in this conference seem
   to have a high level of morals.  In brief, you can pretty much bet
   that Edd is not going to try and ripoff something from Len, for
   example (rude comments ignored).  Can we count on the same type of
   personal consideration from "outsiders"? 

   I'd hate to see anyone get ripped off. 

   And, while we're at it, did we ever decide how IV is going to be
   "mass-reproduced"?  (Again, rude comments ignored.)  Are you planning
   on handling the whole thing again, Dave? 

8-)

    The current distribution count of Commusic IV is about 40 copies.
    
    I personally am not willing to front my own money to charter a
    professionally copier for copies that haven't been ordered and paid
    for yet.  I think that may be an intrinsic problem to using pro
    copiers: we don't know how many copies to advance order.
    
    We might try a system where we ask people to order and pay in advance.
    That's how we take care of the initial rush of copies.
    
    Considering this, it also might behoove us to advertise the tape
    in MUSIC, GUITAR, DRUMS (new file on node YODA), FOLK_MUSIC, etc.
    By increasing the volume, it might make it more feasible to use
    a professional duplicator.
    
    However, I think the simplest method would be if I could just get
    some folks to loan me their recorders for a week or two after I've
    finished the master.
    
    Believe me, my intention isn't to make a threat, but I'm considering
    not using the Beta this time.  I just don't want to put that many
    hours of wear on it.  It's really not designed for that level of
    use.
    
    Or perhaps, we can just arrange some kind of scheme where people
    get copies by copying other peoples copies.  (This proposal should
    lay to rest any fears that I have any interests in doing this other
    than sharing our music.)
    
	db

    The thing about giving it to deccies is "Trust and Verify"; we know
    where they live.  8-) The stuff I submit is usually throw-aways, but
    some people put their best music on the tapes, so they would be
    at greater risk if anonymous people outside dec got the songs.
    
    No one would ever steal my stuff anyway, darn it.
    8-)
    Tom

    Re .74 - Aww, c'mon, Tom, you never can tell.
    
    Re .73 - The only problem with copying copies is the quality is pretty
    poor.  Until we get DAT, n'th generation cassette copies leave a great
    deal to be desired.  How about getting another Beta HiFi machine
    into the act?  Alternatively. if 4 or 5 dedicated COMMUSICians were
    to haul their cassette decks over to Dave's place some Saturday
    afternoon, we could crank out some 20 copies or so in a little more
    than 6 hours and only 4 passes over the master.  The "duping party"
    idea got shot down last time, but I'm not sure why.
    
    len.
    

    Well, I went out and bought a duping deck this weekend.  It just
    seemed like a good deal on a good deck, something that OBVIOUSLY
    would come in incredibly useful, and my old deck may be having
    Dolby problems.
    
    FYI, the new deck is an AIWA.  It has just about everything in NR:
    Dolby B & C, dbx.  It also does the HX Pro bias optimization.
    
    Not only will it allow me to make better copies easier, it also
    presents us with some opportunities depending on how I do things.
    
    In theory, I can now accept submissions with any of the above
    NR.  But... the deck has a (common) limitation that the tape you
    are recording will be recorded with the same NR as the tape you
    are playing back.  You also must use the same tape formulation
    for both tapes.  If you think about it, this creates some interesting
    problems for both tape submission and reproduction.
    
    TAPE FORMULATION
    
    As for as tape formulation, I had been using metal tape for the
    Commusic masters.  I think we wouldn't lose that much by going
    to a high end chrome formulation (UDXL-IIS).
    
    NOISE REDUCTION
    
    I would REALLY like to start using Dolby C instead of B for the
    masters.  The question is how many of both the submittors AND
    Commusic tape "consumers" have Dolby C?
    
    I can handle the Dolby B submittors by playing their tapes back
    on my old deck.  I can handle the OCCASIONAL DBX submissions by
    making a temporary Beta HiFi copy and then duping back onto the
    AIWA.  You should only submit in DBX if you DON'T have dolby C
    cause there ain't much advantage to a 2nd generation copied DBX
    over a first generation Dolby C.   IMO, DBX gives a fair improment
    in dynamic range, but only a negligable improvement in noise when
    your dealing with audio cassettes.  Noise seems to be the real
    problem on the Commusic tapes.
    
    So submission is only a minor issue.  More of an issue is the
    duplication.
    
    If I could know that at least the "majority" of folks would take
    a dolby C Commusic tape, I think we could go to dolby C with no
    problem.  I can make Dolby B copies on my old cassette deck.
    
    Or do more people have DBX than I might have thought?  I suspect
    more people have C than DBX but of course we're not dealing with
    your average audio cassette user here are we?  The ordering
    instructions I wrote up for Commusic tapes asked folks to give
    me what form of NR they can use (one of which had to be "B" or
    "none") but even though I've now made well over 120 tapes
    only rarely did anyone say anything other than "dolby B is fine".
    
    BTW, I do NOT currently intend to use the 2x speed for duping tapes, 
    although initially experiments have demonstrated it to be surprisingly 
    good.

    PRICING
    
    I want to be VERY UP FRONT about the profit vs. non-profit status
    of me doing these tapes.
    
    In the past, I have been paying $2.50 for each UDXL-II, 75 cents
    for the mailing envelope, and 73 cents for postage.  This adds
    up to $3.97 which explains the $4 price I've been charging.  It
    doesn't cover the cost of the master tape which I buy, but generally
    I get a free UDXL-IIS with each 10-pack of UDXL-II's so that's both
    my payback and I guess "profit".
    
    Now postage is going up, but I have found a regular source of tapes
    where I pay about $1.80 per tape.  That'll cover the additional
    postage I'm sure.  I'm sorta inclined to keep whatever is left over
    as a sorta consideration for my time, other incidental expenses
    and to help pay the VISA bill for the new deck.  I'm sure at some
    point, that profit will get soaked up by inflation.
    
    Anyway, I just want to give people an accurate impression of my
    "non-profit" status in case there were any questions.
    
    	db

    My Cassette decks are DOLBY B, not C. Since the Cassette is not used
    for any real purpose, other than copying Demo Tapes for people, I'm
    not planning to upgrade them (I have more than one deck - 4 in all),
    I plan to leave things alone until DAT becomes available.
    
    								Jens

    Dave, I can't speak for everyone, but I have nothing against your
    charging a small profit to cover the cost of the deck you just bought.
    I think you're doing a great job, and I think the cost of the tape
    is money well spent. Thanks for doing a great job!
    
    						John.
    
    PS: B or C is fine with me.

    
    a suggestion to send mail to dave on your vote for B,C,or DBX
    and what your deck(s) support......
    
    ??????
    
    were you asking for this dave? you want lotsa little notes here?
    

    Yes, in fact I thought of asking folks to do that instead of replying.
    
    Anyway, why isn't anyone answering?  If I don't hear a chorus of
    "Dolby C is fine"s I'm just gonna stick to Dolby B cause that's
    safe.
    
    But as you all know, I *HATE* Dolby B so...
    
    Please respond.  I'd like to start mastering Commusic V soon.
    
    To summarize, please send me all the forms of noise reduction that
    would be acceptable.
    
    	db
    
    p.s.  I'm told that Dolby C is generally more compatable between
          decks, not so much because it is more tolerant, but rather
    	  because it requires more stable components to work properly.

    I vote for either Dolby B or dbx.  No Dolby C here, and no plans
    to get one.

-b

    All I gots is Dolby B or nada ...  By the way, be there a deadline
    yet on Commusic V submissions?  I've almost got one submission ready.
    Mainstream stuff, I'm afraid, but then, how often do you end up
    writing what you thought you were going to write?
    
    Steve

    
    
    Actually, Dave, Dolby C is *more* sensitive to compatibility problems.
     
    Remember both Dolby systems are level-sensitive, and since C is
    more drastic in its action, level mismatches cause more severe
    mistracking.
    
    As far as your auto tape type thing, you can put some tape over
    the punchout on the top of the metal cassette and your machine will
    think it is chrome type II (all cassettes have an erase punchout;
    type II have an additional punchout, type IV metal yet another which
    is how decks with auto type sensors figure it out).
    
    BTW playback EQ for both types II and IV are the same, it's just
    the recording bias that differs.

    My preference would be Dolby B I suppose.  The improvement of Dolby
    C would be minor anyway since most of the submissions are sent to
    you Dolby B.
    
    

    I'm a dolby b or dbx person..with dolby being the desired system...no
    dbx in my truck...
    
    dave

    
    
    I can do dbx or Dolby B or C.....or nothing at all! :^)
    Whatever's easiest.
    
    Ralph
    
    

    Thanks for the inputs.
    
    Please send me mail instead of replying here.
    
    Steve Sherman (and all future submittors), the concept of "deadline"
    is not applicable to Commusic tapes.   I "release" a tape when I
    have enough submissions to fill a C-90 - period.
    
    Right now, there's plenty of space on Commusic V.  I don't 
    think I even have a whole side yet.
    
    Permit me to offer some advise though.  Do not rush something with
    the idea of getting it in "on time".  Several folks have done this
    and ended up regretting it (including me).  If it doesn't get onto
    V it'll be on VI.  Not only are people getting more prolific, it
    appears that more and more folks and sending in stuff.  I think
    that it could well work out that we see a new Commusic tape every
    month or two in the future (if I can keep up and if the "distribution
    networks" continue working as well as they have).
    
    	db

    Does anybody else out there use VHS HiFi Stereo as their quality
    recording media?
    
    (as far as my ear goes, it's about as good as PCM-F1 format, if
    you use good-quality tape.)

    
    
    re: .87
    
      Yes, I do. I use it almost exclusively for finished product mastering
    and storage, since the format isn't really good for much else in
    my opinion (it's a real pain to edit VHS tapes, they never start
    where you want them to).
    
      I occasionally use it as a temporary medium when bouncing tracks.
    If I'm trying to preserve a stereo mix and I want to add two more
    tracks (4 track), I mix the first four tracks to VHS HiFi and then
    run it back to a fresh tape (or location on the current tape). This
    way I don't blow away the original (saving it for future mixes),
    and the HiFi has equal or better specs than the Tascam anyway, so
    there seems to be less noise than if I just tried bouncing the tracks
    on the Porta-Two anyway. Besides, it's impossible to do on a 4-track
    without doing it in mono.
    
    /pjh

    Here's what I've decided to do for Commusic V:
    
    I will make a dolby B master on UDXL-IIS.  If I get a significant
    number of contributions with some other form of NR (or video Hi-Fi), 
    I may also make DBX and C masters.
    
    I have the good solution to the dolby compatability problem.
    Dolby B submissions will be copied DIRECTLY without decoding and
    re-encoding.  In fact, there's not even much choice.  That's how
    my dubbing deck works.
    
    So, if folks have problems decoding your submission, at least it won't
    be my fault.  ;-)
    
    I think I only have about one side worth of material at the moment.
    Haven't received a submission since Spring jam.  Since demand for
    Commusic IV has subsided (completely), I'm all ready to start on
    Commusic V, thus it's just a matter of getting enough material.
    
    So send it in.
    
    	db

    I recall reading somewhere that it's not a good idea to copy NR
    encoded stuff directly.  I don't recall the reasons, but it was
    discouraged.  However, if you don't have a choice, you don't have
    a choice.
    
    Got to get some stuff together for COMMUSIC V.  But the question
    is, which of the zillion unfinished projects to finish?
    
    Better yet, start something new!
    
    len.
    

    < Note 765.90 by DRUMS::FEHSKENS >
>    I recall reading somewhere that it's not a good idea to copy NR
>    encoded stuff directly.  
    
    Possibly rolloff on the boosted high end. A good deck should handle
    it.
        
>    Got to get some stuff together for COMMUSIC V.  But the question
>    is, which of the zillion unfinished projects to finish?

    So many Beatles tunes, so little time...
    
    
    karl (~17 minutes on its way!)

    aaarrg... looks like the push is on.  I'll have about 3-5 minutes
    of stuff off in about 1-2 weeks...  No problem with B NR, but I'll
    submit a normal version just in case...  Thanks, db!
    
    Steve_who_has_been_too_busy_*WORKING*_to_get_anything_done >:(