When Waffles Matter

Alex Hill

Alex Hill booked 6 to 9pm at Hallmark Recording Studios near Baltimore, Maryland. Arriving ten minutes in advance for this 11-08-84 session he took his place in the studio, tuned up his Martin D18 dreadnought guitar and got to work.

Mr. Hill recorded nine original songs in all. Recorded direct to a Scully 280b at 15 ips, the tracks were mixed live (no overdubs).  I am posting here my four favorite songs from the session. 

At 9pm he packed up the D18, paid his bill and departed into the chilly Owings Mills night. Never heard from him again.

For those who follow my sort of geekiness, I used three Neumann U87 microphones: One for the vocal and two to capture the guitar: one about 5” from the sound hole and the other about 32” away and pointing directly toward the nut of the guitar. Reverb applied only to the vocal, not the guitar. 

I do not own this music. It is posted here because I enjoy sharing music from my recording studio career. I will cheerfully take this music down if contacted by Alex Hill. Me: bakervoice@gmail.com .

MWOP 5 Remastered

The world was not in its right place the fall of ’78. As autumn dawned two popes died within thirty-three days of each other. In November 896 misguided souls literally 'drank the Kool Aid' at Jonestown. And, worst of all, the Yankees won the World Series.

Fortunately for the human race there was one bright, shining moment that dismal fall. Three methane dispensers named Larry, Steve and Chris holed up in a recording studio in Baltimore to produce the fifth installment of what famed voiceover artist Lary Lewman would later proclaim as “the very reason the English continues to thrive” (True! Lary would become an MWOP fan in 1983). The recording session occurred on the 17th of October 1978 and wasted a whole lot of Ampex 406 tape. 

Unique to this episode of MWOP was the addition of a third member to the panel, Pete Bowles, semi-artfully performed by Chris M. Historians are still trying to figure out why the hell he was even there. Still, all logic aside, hecklers the world over are grateful that Chris’s voice is now part of media history because, thanks to podcasting, we can dial up his inane patter and ignore it all over again just like it’s 1978.

Right after the turn of the century Chris became a resident of Timonium; an extremely permanent resident: At repose off East Padonia Road, halfway between Johnny Unitas and Spiro Agnew, just left of the tree. We did point out to Chris in ’78 that he ought to stick around ’til podcasts get invented so he could enjoy to this remastered upload. I reckon he had other plans.

Nevertheless or lessthenever, this upload is heartfeltishly dedicated to the late Chris M., who was perhaps MWOP’s first big fan. We can state that even though heartfeltishly isn’t even a word. Lessthenever isn’t either but you knew that when you saw it on the screen 4.5 seconds ago.

So put your hiner in the recliner and enjoy Music Without Perspective #5 and we sincerely hope that you are always and forever “Live from Exit 20”.

Contact bakervoice@gmail.com for questions, complaints, or recipes. 

Billy Cole Trio

In the early part of 1982 the Billy Cole Trio recorded at Flite Three Studios in Baltimore, Maryland. The session took place all in one day utilizing the largest of the three rooms, studio C.

I recall the trio was from Europe. Their objective was to walk out with a finished master to shop around to various jazz labels. I’m not aware if they were ever signed. 

The performances were recorded straight to Agfa 1/4” tape on a Scully 280b running at 15 ips. Meaning, it was mixed as the musicians performed. From that 1/4” master I made a cassette dub, which is the cassette this transfer was made from. So …… your ears are hearing two generations away from the original performance. How cool is that?  See what I do for you?

Here in 2024 the 42 year-old cassette had to be repaired prior to digitizing. The actual tape inside the cassette shell was oh-so gingerly extracted from its 1982 shell and transplanted over into a new cassette shell (whew). Ken Burns was present, filming the tape transplant, and you’ll get to see the process in a PBS documentary in three years.

The Dolby B characteristic of the original cassette was properly decoded in 2024. I am quite satisfied with whole of the analog to digital transfer. There’s some tape flutter near the beginning but it stabilizes after some seconds.

I do not own this music. Using Google I have been unable to locate/contact The Billy Cole Trio. I will remove this post if contacted by a party representing the artist. Me: bakervoice@gmail.com

Enjoy The Billy Cole Trio!

CLOWNBOARD

Clownboard was written by CRD3, in Santa Monica, CA, in 1991.

Narrated by Simon A.

Recorded and mixed in 1991 in Timonium, Maryland by deaseL.

 

"If it's important to you, next time, choose Clownboard."

Sassafras String Band

Happy New Year 2024!

In September 1979 a Maryland-based bluegrass group, The Sassafras String Band, recorded a whole heap o’ songs just outside Washington DC at Storeroom Sound Studios in Langley Park, Maryland. This upload is the entire output from that one evening of recording. Though not an employee of the studio, I was in attendance; assisting recording engineer Greg B. 

At the time I was a recording engineer at another studio (in Baltimore) and Greg was my friend. He knew I liked bluegrass music and invited me to be in on the session.

This transfer is from an audio cassette I made from the 1/4” 15 ips mixmaster 44 years ago at the Baltimore studio where I was employed. Please bear in mind that 44 years is a long time for an audio cassette to be on the shelf. Tape oxide deteriorates. Additionally, my entire tape collection crossed the Atlantic twice by ship (I lived in France for 11 years). 

Using modern digital software available to me today here in 2024 I have painstakingly tried to restore the audio on the original 1979 cassette. I have always enjoyed the Sassafras String Band!

I do not own this music. I provide it here out of love — not only because I remember fondly the session but because the quality of the musicianship. They were nice guys to boot!

I would like nothing better than to be contacted by a member of the Sassafras String Band here in 2024. I think they were from Clinton, Maryland. The members would have been about 26 years old in 1979. I wonder if the band is still together after all these years?

If a member of the Sassafras String Band would like for me to take this post down and remove the music, I will cheerfully comply.

My name is Steve and I can be found at bakervoice@gmail.com

 

UPDATE 10/14/24

I am thrilled to post that two members/associates of the Sassafras String Band, Neal and Dana, have contacted me regarding their music being featured on WWM last January 1st. Wow....it took less than 11 months for this to happen. Thank you Internet! They report that all of the guys are still around and playing music though geography keeps them from playing together as much as they would like. A reunion is not out of the question.

 

I was corrected: The band has never self-identified as a 'bluegrass' band; rather, they prefer the term 'string band'. My apologies to the guys in the group for originally mislabling them in my original blurb above.

 

Barricaded Borgnine Sandwiches

Happy 2015!
Your pal,
Lenny

Labtayt Sulci in the mid-1970s

Happy 2013 and greetings from Liège, Belgium where I am the keynote speaker at this year’s CCCS (Conference of Consolidated Confectionary Sugar refineries). Tomorrow I’ll submit a white paper followed by a pointedly powerful PowerPoint presentation aptly monikered, “Bile: Our Least Appreciated Bodily Fluid”. If you are indeed in Liège for the CCCS do stop by ballroom D at 2pm to attend the seminar. There will be a brief Q & A immediately following where you may debrief me (I have more underwear back at the hotel).

Current events beside this week’s CCCS convention? Well, you are probably aware that waffle eaters stateside are awfully wafflely concerned about going over the “fiscal cliff”. Here in Belgium, however, the looming concern isn’t the “fiscal cliff” but rather the “biscuits bluff”. The Belgian government will have to slap an additional across-the-board 43% tax on doughy products such as biscuits, pancakes, and waffles if congress and the president fail to strike a deal by noon today. My people in Brussels tell me that the two sides could not be further apart and that the speaker and the Belgian president are both bluffing about the bluff, even if the play on words doesn’t translate into Flemish. Belgian Speaker of the House John Batter is fearful of losing his speakership, not to mention getting debriefed. Let’s hope the briefs and the ‘biscuits bluff’ can be ironed out before I fly home from the conference Friday. Email me at whenwafflesmatter@gmail.com if swelling persists or you have it lanced.

And finally, in response to several e-mails, we feel a need to reinsert a track from the “10 Miles to Denver” episode of a year ago. Seems our audio mule faded out a certain track a bit too early for listeners’ tastes. Audio mule has apologized and pay has been docked. As a make-good, said track is featured in this new podcast (sans fadeout). Heck, you may just wanna own that thang outright. Cool. Go to http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_3301174 (that’s where stole/confiscated/procured it. The track is ‘And More Rain’ by Rho. Indeed there are a total of 10 mp3s by Rho there for the grabbing. Please support these artists!

Hey, guess what? Just for grins, this episode was compiled, edited, and mixed entirely ONLINE using a free online gizmo called “Audio Tool”. No local software was used. G’on and twirl your own knobs at www.audiotool.com. It’s a virtual recording studio AND IT’S FREE. Just remember to clean up the empty beer cans as you leave.

Life at Lèige,

Lenny

Ten Miles to Denver

Enjoy the aromatic audio, Walloonians, although be aware that the compiling of this particular episode sent our audio person running for the Advil. You have been warned. I’ve fallen sick by the wayside and my life is leaving me quick. Your pal, Lenny

Gary Paul - 4 songs

The passing of a dear friend is never soft on the soul. Such is the case for the recent passing of a real brother to those who knew him. Gary, aka LC Burt, today would prefer that we not dwell on his passing; rather that we listen to if the low E needs tuning, that elusive next jam session, or which freebee music he recently scarfed from his local library. He was an artist: Born on Hurmeb Day and sadly leaving us on Jimi Hendrix’s birthday. Featured here are four of the roughly fifteen songs Burt recorded in 1980 at various studios in Baltimore. Originally recorded as dry tracks, the intent was for other instruments to be overdubbed at a later date, hence the ‘spaces’ left for solos, etc. For these particular songs such overdub sessions never occurred. Burt’s life highway had off ramps unlike the guy next door. Unconventional. Oddly wrong. Just plain whacky. Though if one were to summarize his net positives at the close of his 57-year ‘gig’ it could be argued that he was a lot more honest/stable/warm/giving/normal than a lot of us. His reality was innocent. Gary would have been a total failure as a world leader. Fine. Hell, less than .000001% of the people reading these words even knew Gary. Now with the Web, this podcast, and an RSS feed his voice soars around the globe. “Why don’t you play something I like?” Burt would often say in some funny character voice he invented. OK, Burt, we are doing just that. And we thank you for them.

MWOP 7 Remastered

Happy 2011! As New Year’s Day tradition dictates, a hearty heaping upload is in order. And we’ve got a doozie: Through the tubeless tire-less efforts of our crack legal department, this wafflecast has secured the exclusive rights to feature, one episode at a time, the entire Music Without Perspective series. As a first installment we offer up number 7 of the series, recorded 10/9/80. MWOP was audio program hosted by Vince Valparaiso and Ken Westby. It ran from August 1977 to October 1980. Newly-released alblums would be played and reviewed / critiqued by the two illustriously immature hosts. Except for the 4th broadcast, MWOP reviewed alblum cuts by “vocalist” Tom Brown. Mr. Brown had been an OSHA compliance officer. By the mid-70s he was a freelancer, giving instructive seminars around the country in the name of workplace safety. A November 1976 remote recording gig meant Baltimore-based audio engineer Larry was dispatched to a Philadelphia hotel ballroom to record such a (yawn) day-long seminar presented by Tom. The intent was to market the blah-blah audio to factory managers desiring to stay out of trouble with the Occupational Safety & Health Administration arm of the US government. Indeed, “Coping with OSHA” -- a 5-cassette binder of Tom’s industrial blather -- was released to the masses in the spring of 1977 and a splendid time was guaranteed for all. But back to Larry. Scurrying from Philly to the Baltimore studio in his beige Plymouth full of ¼” tapes-o-Tom, Larry begrudgingly pounced on the rather ominous task of editing the lengthy OSHA seminar to a more easily-digestible audio product. As the reader can imagine, this took months to finish. In the tedium of editing Tom’s snarky delivery of the English language Larry amused himself by putting Tom’s voice to stock music. Little did he know that another equally immature audio engineer toiling across the hall in another studio was growing increasingly curious about the musical creations wafting forth from Larry’s audio cave. As 1977 dawned, that other audio guy, Steve, was now egging Larry on to produce even more Tom. Recognizing the genius of Larry’s edited “songs”, a vehicle of delivering Tom Brown to the public was needed. The two came up with “Music Without Perspective”; an interview show featuring the vocal stylings of Tom Brown. Cassettes of MWOP were circulated throughout the Baltimore-Washington area and soon MWOPs 1 through 3 were gushing forth from car stereos of the region. Early 1978 found Larry and Steve trying to outdo the other in the Tom Brown department. Tape loops became more elaborate. The envelope of Tom’s musical Je ne sais quoi was pushed. Bear in mind these were tape “loops” in the purist sense of the word: Samplers and digital audio workstations did not exist in the 70s. Some of their tape loops stretched down the hall to a secretary holding a pencil through a spinning 5” reel atop her knuckle, providing tension to the capstan 40 feet away. And it cannot be understated that Larry and Steve got paid for such clowning around. All MWOPs were produced on company equipment on company time, “live from exit 20”. In all, seven MWOPs were produced. The MWOP featured here is, ironically, the final program of the series. We are not purposely going out of order: All seven MWOPs are / will be painstakingly restored and digitized for the Internets. It just so happened that # 7 was the first tape found in the vault. The hope is that the other six will be located, cleaned up, and published to the Web. Please stay tuned. Sleep well at night knowing standard When Waffles Matters episodes shall be forthcoming. Three new shows have actually been in the hopper for about a year. They’re all nearly complete yet require a bit of tidying up before they get Lenny’s stamp of approval. But for now, sit back and situate yourself inside a 1980 Baltimore recording studio with orange walls where it is always live from exit 20...