Friday, June 5, 2009

the first four tracks on Dictaphonia #3 received - I hope to have Dictaphonia #2 ready June 15


In the last two days I have received four more contributions to the Dictaphonia project, all of which will appear on Dictaphonia #3.

York, Pennsylvania, USA
"Panic Attack"

Kingsport, Tennessee, USA
"shrapnel bath"

52) Karl J. Palouček
Berwyn, Illinois, USA
"Phonorail"

Saint Petersburg, Florida, USA
"Nylon/Mylar"

I have completed the master for Dictaphonia #2, and soon I will start producing copies for the contributors, putting together the artwork, etc. I hope to be able to start mailing out copies on June 15th.

My friend Dave Fuglewicz, who appeared on Dictaphonia #1, recently custom-built a device for me that will make production of Dictaphonia tape copies not only much easier and more efficient, but will enhance the sound quality.

4 comments:

  1. what sort of device? please share!

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  2. I'll also be playing parts of Vol. 1 and 2 this friday June 19th, on my radio show, The Ill-Planned Escape Route on wmua.org 10pm-midnight EST.

    Best.
    Mike/belltonesuicide

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  3. Dave made an attenuator for me. At the beginning of the Dictaphonia project I bought two Panasonic RR-930 desktop microcassette transcriber machines to make copies of the compilations. My original plan was to record copies from the compilation master by connecting a cable from the master playback machine into the MIC jack of the microcassette machines and thereby making direct line dubs. This however created a horrible distorted buzzing/rumble that made the copies unusable. I was informed by those with technical know-how that this happened because the MIC jack is a pre-amp. When I made the first 25 or so copies of Dictaphonia #1 I had to make open air dubs (believe it or not), playing the master back through a small Marshall guitar amp and recording the copies using the built-in condenser microphones on the Panasonic machines. The upside of this was that I could make two copies of the compilation at a time. Plus I had the joy of hearing each and every copy as it was made. Needless to say I have an intimate knowledge of Dictaphonia #1. Somewhat surprisingly to me, many people have commented on how great those early copies of Dictaphonia #1 sound! Dave Fuglewicz built an attenuator, which in simple terms reduces the signal so that it doesn't overload the MIC jack of the recorders. So now I am able to make copies by more or less making line dubs. Because I am not making open air dubs any more while making copies I can now move about my tiny apartment freely, bump into things clumsily and curse, flush the toilet if I want to, and run the air conditioner, yawn loudly, talk on the telephone, and play other music.

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  4. Hi Mike, thanks for playing Dictaphonia #1 and #2 on your The Ill-Planned Escape Route radio show!

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