More Fun With Beta
There has been little drama in my life lately. Life has been good, with daily practices of guitar and sitting.
The beta machine still provides sentimental amusement. I dug out a beta cassette called ” Bruford and the Beat,” which is a Bill Bruford drum clinic. He demonstrates a drum rudiment and then plays it over several different drums in his drumset. He then announces that this is the rhythm to the King Crimson piece “Discipline.” Then you see K.C. from 1981 perform the piece. It must have been early in 1981 because the performance is a rather timid performance. Another clue to the year is that Belew is playing a Roland Guitar Synthesizer rather than a stratocaster. Both R.H.V.L and Steve Howe are interviewed in this video. Steve Howe mentions that a Bruford drum line gave him the idea for the guitar part to ” Siberian Khatru.”
Another beta cassette has some early Nobz demos, with an amazing amount of dynamic range. What must have happened is that I mastered them at Dragon Path Music in Atlanta. I seem to remember that studio having a device called a Dynamic Range Expander. We must have run the cassette master into the expander before putting the signal onto the beta cassette. Hopefully I can remaster these early recordings onto CD and give them to the bandmembers as a Christmas present this year. These songs were some of the first songs that Tim Trautman and I ever wrote. One song has the fastest guitar solo that I have ever played.
One sad note is that Judy Rushin’s father died this past week. Judy is Crafty Guitarist Rob Rushin’s wife. I read about Mr. Knopf in the Atlanta Journal. Although I never met him, I would have enjoyed talking to him as he was a psychology professor at Emory.
May God rest his soul,
I.C.