Laundry Rules Recording (part 3; 2 Foot Flame from NZ/Canada)
What else did we record at this home studio? -by Larry Crane
Like I noted last post, this house at 934 SE 32nd Ave., and Laundry Rules Recording in the basement, predates Jackpot! Recording Studio by several years, and the studio existed from early 1994 to late 1996. Previously, I discussed The Maroons, who had a big influence on the home studio getting busy here, but I’d like to mention other artists that recorded with me here during those years.
2 Foot Flame was the combo of Jean Smith (Mecca Normal) with New Zealanders Peter Jefferies (This Kind of Punishment, Nocturnal Projections) and guitarist Michael Morley (The Dead C, Gate). I’d known Jean for a while, as Mecca Normal had opened for my band Vomit Launch in 1989, plus she and bandmate David Lester had been sleeping over at my house(s) while on tour.
They all showed up and slept on the floor while we tracked half of their second album, Ultra Drowning, for Matador Records in my basement. I was a big fan of Peter’s album, The Last Great Challenge in a Dull World, a mostly self-recorded album from 1990 that had recently been re-released in the US by my pal Tim Adams at Ajax Records in Chicago.
The sessions were fun for sure. Michael would whip up a storm of guitar loops, Jean would read from her writings, and Peter would bang out some drums or keys. I think there may have been a bit too much drinking going on, but the recordings came out fine. I do recall their mastering engineer calling me up to complain about my Sony DAT machine making tapes that didn’t play back on other decks – I went a bought a Panasonic SV-3700 DAT deck which likely cost far more than the studio made recording all the artists here so far.
I’m sure having all these bands staying at our home and making records was wearing thin for my wife at the time, Marila, and any roommates who may have lived in this house back then! Apologies to Marila, Scott, Francisco, and Dana! But soon, the studio would be moving out and I’d be quitting my day job.
Yes, the Sony decks had a different 32kHz mode which other decks couldn't deal with, though I suspect that your comments were more about standard format 44.1kHz SP mode tapes.
Shayne Stacy actually "sold" me his SV-3700 DAT (I put that word in quotes since it wasn't for very much), but I usually use a TASCAM DA-20 MKII for dealing with that subformat of what is a godforsaken format, which also supports 32k (LP mode) as I had an archive of these I "needed" to transfer and the *third* DAT deck I have, a Sony 55ES...needs servicing, either bad caps or belts. Thanks for reminding me! Also have a Sony D100 (portable model) that still works on loan from a friend that used to tape shows, so make that #4. Why any individual should have this many DAT decks is beyond me.
Funnily enough, DIC DATs have a very bad rep (see https://www.tapeheads.net/threads/what-dat-tape-brands-actually-stood-the-test-of-time.71591/) but all the ones I had of these actually played fine. Other brands...