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The first step for me to work toward the Jesters Longevity archive and compilation record was to find as many of the masters that I could, and analyze the effort to remix that tracks we decide to re-release. The Fluency EP (1998) was recorded on a Tascam 464 cassette four-track recorder, the master of which had already been converted to a digital format. Half of Wicked System (2002) and International Love Songs (2005) were recorded on a PC using a version of Cubase available at the time. I had to spend some time converting those master files to the latest version of Cubase, which stripped out any effects used with plug-ins that were sunsetted. Ironically I have the masters for the first Jesters recordings and the last Jesters recordings. The ones in the middle have been a little bit more challenging.

The masters for Analog Dub Report (1999) and the half of Wicked System (2002) were recorded on a Fostex R8 (eight track ¼” reel-to-reel) machine that broke halfway through the recording of that album. It was repaired sometime around 2010 but I never found the time to transfer all of my old master tapes. This past weekend I dusted off the machine and fired it up. Using a tape that wasn’t a critical master, I tested the machine and it worked for a short period of time, and I thought we were good to go! Unfortunately, shortly thereafter the machine stopped rewinding and suddenly stopped playing properly. After a quick search on the Internet, it looked like it would be several hundred dollars to buy a replacement that may or may not be in much better shape than mine. My only use for the machine at this point is to transfer the master recordings to digital so I’m now on the hunt for a service (that I trust) to convert the tapes.

This is the moment when I thought I  would be able to do it myself! The actual audio was playing through headphones, but it was definitely working for at least a little while.