My daughter Ellyn (9) and I sometimes hang out in the studio. One thing she really seems to like is working on the mixer.  Today, a Saturday, chores being done, we retired to the cool basement studio and spun up some old 8-track tape demos for her to mix with. This particular reel was an 8-track pre-production demo from the 90’s of a Voice tune called Prior Days. As we listened, I was disappointed to realize this never had the lead vocal added.  I guess you might call it Voice Karaoke.  Feel free to sing along if you know the tune.  In it’s finished form, you can hear it on the page “A Voice from the Past” elsewhere on this site. We only had an old reverb and a chorus pedal patched in, but here’s what she came up with. Ellyn really likes reverb, and the song speaks for itself.

 

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I would have hurt someone to have access to gear like this as a kid….

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As I sit here putting this page together, knowing the lyrics, it seems as meaningful as ever. Covid19 is ravaging our country and living carefree does seem ages away from me now. That said, we made a lot of those Prior Days, and, indeed, we will always have the tracks to remember it by.  A legacy especially meaningful to our children.

-Dan, July 18, 2020