Preservation Sound

Now available: the EP ‘BETTER IS GOLD’ from Enid Ze. 

You can hear it via the platform of your choice at this link.

Enid Ze is a musical vision conceived and directed by Zimbabwean-born singer/songwriter Nyasha Chiundiza, produced and mixed by yours truly, with invaluable aid+participation from so many of my most dear musical collaborators.  It is not lightly that I tell you: Nyasha is a visionary and an iconoclast.  Here’s some words about the project from the man himself, but please don’t take his (or my) words for it.  Check out the tracks.  This is something else, and something wonderful. From NC:

enid ze is a continuation  and reimagining of the Southern African tradition of Zamrock—W.I.T.C.H. Keith Mlevhu, Wells Fargo—where global pop and rock come to cohere in specific existential experiences of living many worlds at once. Listen to the panting on the title track “Better is Gold” and remember Letta Mbulu. When you hear “Marechera” recall modernist African writer Dambudzo Marechera’s poem, Punkpoem:

In the song

Are waterfruits;

In the plush and flow

Firestars eternally fixed.

Guitar strings lash

My back, draw blood –

The out of control voice

Skids shrieking across

Tarmac audiences.

When you hear “Shuwa” hear the word “sure” but also the  waves on the beaches of Maputo, Mozambique. Or the beer gardens of downtown Harare.  Also listen to how far home and how close it is, how unrest and rest lie together like a lion and lamb.

“Better is Gold” is about the condition of seeking more than you see—not in the future but in the things that you find along the way. “Better” is better than gold.

Download my new track “Derniers Préparatifs” here:

Eight days ago I found an ancient Italian polysynth at a local pawn shop. Called the Crumar Orchestrator, it’s an odd combination of string synth, ‘electronic piano,’ and monosynth all in one rather heavy package. The sound is effortlessly evocative of circa 1980 Euro cinema, and this track came to me instantly. You can see pics of the Crumar, hear my original live performance of the piece, and even see the drumkit mic’ing for this track at my Instagram page.

As with the rest of my Camerro project, this track was recorded entirely on a four-track cassette recorder: in this case, a Tascam 134. Here’s how it went down:

Track 1: Ace Tone ‘Rhythm Ace’ drum machine w/heavy Yamaha E1010 16th note echo; Track 2: Crumar orchestrator (this is the bulk of what you’re hearing). Track 3: Bass guitar. Track 4: add elec guitar while submixing with tracks 1, 2, 3.

After the bounce, I added live drumkit to track one (overwriting drum machine), and add two passes of Roland Alpha Juno synth + Hohner Pianet electric piano to tracks 2+3 (overwriting bass+ Crumar). The kit was recorded with two mics, submixed thru a basic mic preamp and heavily compressed to tape.

SONG TO WELCOME THE SPRING /// the first track I’m releasing from my solo recording project CAMERRO. 

‘control-click’ on the player below to download the MP3.

This song is inspired by my trip last yr visiting ancient pagan churches in Estonia.  Everything you hear is played live by me and the track was entirely recorded on a cassette 4-track.  For me this music is as raw and personal as it gets.  The 4-track cassette process requires that everything be performed carefully and with great intent as ‘fixes’ are not possible. For yall techy-types here’s how it went down:

Tascam 134 4-track cassette deck with Maxell XLII-S tape. Click to track three, elec gtr (finger picked rh+melody) to track one, drums to track two, bass to track four;

Submix gtr, drums, bass while playing congas all to track two (erasing click);

add electric organ on track two (overwriting drums), add sitar and cello (in sections) to track one (overwriting gtr), add percussion to track to 4 (overwriting bass). Two microphones were used: Bang&Olufsen ribbon for drums and perc, Neumann TLM170 for congas and cello, gtr bass sitar organ were direct. FX are Yamaha PROR3 reverb and Yamaha E1010 delay.

UTC’s “CG” ‘commercial grade’ line of transformers were high-quality sealed units made in the 50s and 60s and possibly later. The later ‘red paint’ iterations often have pinout data printed on the cases, but the earlier ‘metal-badge’ versions sometimes do not. Despite the wealth of vintage UTC transformer data already available online, I could not find this particular document on the internet so I have scanned it for y’all. This particular document has a March 1956 date code so i assume that it covers the line at-that-point.

CNTRL-CLICK TO DOWNLOAD 4PP PDF:

Units covered include output transformers CG-2L6, 4L6, 15, 16, 19, 710; power transformers CG-422, 428, 429, 431; bias units CG-315, 316; low-level audio units CG-131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 1347, 140, 141, 233, 235, 333, 433; and power transformers CG33, CG120, CG122, CH124, CG125, CG126, CG300, CG301, CG302, CG303, CG34.

I wanted to see how compact I could make a high-voltage, point-to-point wired Tweed Champ. Here’s the result. Leo Fender’s 5F1 circuit, but with a solid-state rectifier, built into a tiny vintage NOS Bud hammertone chassis. Front panel is gain (standby switch at zero), pilot lamp, input; rear panel is fuse, power switch, IEC and speaker jack. See my Instagram page for sound sample.

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