Slippers, A Fireplace and Good Music!

If anyone reading this knows me, they know that I have unusual tastes for a thirty five year old. I like some of what comes out today, but for the most part, I'm stuck in the past....before Vietnam, before they killed the Kennedys, and before our society experienced a painful downturn. Percy Faith once said that he was the chief advocate of the perfect evening at home, "...a pair of slippers, a fireplace, and great music on the phonograph." I know what he means. Columbia Records in the 1950's and early '60's really had a formula. America's best band-leaders, composers, choir directors and arrangers were all on the label. It was the place to be. The red and black label with the 6 CBS eyes on it almost invariably assured that whatever was in those grooves, it was good. Columbia's diverse roster assured that there really was something for everyone. If you liked brassy, bigger band arrangements, there was Benny Goodman and Harry James. If you liked it more serene and mellow there was Percy Faith, Paul Weston, and the Norman Luboff Choir. And If you wanted rhythmic dance music, you couldn't do any better than Ray Conniff, who released his first five albums on that iconic six-eye label. Oh, and did I mention that Sinatra's solo career started on Columbia? Classical Music Lovers weren't left out, either. From the beginning, there was always that great Russian maestro, Andre Kostelanetz. Well, if what I've said here intrigues you, the news is very good. This vast catalogue of treasure is for the most part still in tact. Now there are 2 ways to go about it. If you no longer believe that LPs are viable (and shame on you for that), Most of Columbia's Easy Listening Catalog was transferred over to The Hallmark Corporation, where they released most of it on iTunes, and Amazon.com. But see, to me, that's not as fun. You can also pour over the thousands of flea markets, antique shops, thrift stores and other places where people are liquidating their past, and you can find a huge chunk of what you're looking for, and in most cases not only are these LPs playable, they're in remarkable shape and sound fantastic when played back on modern turntables. I recently came across a three record set while I was in a flea market in Billings, Missouri. Originally released in 1956, "The Columbia Basic Library Of Listening And Dancing Favorites" was the original springboard for me into the world of Columbia's Easy Listening Department. Released on Columbia's "Masterworks" sub-label, it's a who was who of the time in popular music. The albums were 50+ years old, and they sounded amazing...and they recorded onto digital even better, assuring that not only can I have the slippers, fireplace, and great records at home, I can also take them with me wherever I go on my iPod. So, do yourself a great favor, and come with me back to a time in America when life was liveable, cars were huge, kids still played outside, and some of our country's greatest music makers reigned supreme via the recording arm of the Columbia Broadcasting System. Happy Hunting!

The Trouble With Sound Cards....

I gotta tell ya. I've been collecting records almost all of my life, and when I transferred my first album over to digital, I have to say I was amazed! I thought that having your records on your iPod was about the coolest thing that could possibly happen. But there was one problem, and that was everything that I transferred sounded so hollow... almost as if it was going through PVC pipe before reaching my software. I was always using Adobe Audition, first using the Audition 1.5 platform that had a lot of neat features, before moving on to the 3.0 which was even better. There are many great on board features of Audition that allowed you to beef up your sound before final saving of the mp3 file... and from that, East Malaysia was born. I performed many jobs for customers that were completely satisfied without even realizing how unsatisfactory the work actually was. Enter the Yamaha Audiogram 6. It is a USB external audio interface with Pre-amp and compression, allowing the lows to be True lows, and the highs to be life-like and not quite so tinny. I always wondered why the records never quite sounded the same in their digital state, as they did on the platter, and now I know. Now, don't get me wrong. There are a lot of Sound Cards out there on the market that will reproduce in a life-like way... I just didn't have one. So, if you don't feel like digging into your CPU, and damaging God knows what while you install your sound card, I would highly recommend going external. You'll be very glad you did. Or, better yet, Bring them to East Malaysia Productions, and let us do all the tinkering for you!

First Post!

Hi! I'm Ben Bitter, owner of East Malaysia Productions, and welcome to my new blog! This blog is all about Records, tapes, and every other forgotten media out there. I'll be logging in, and giving tips about digitization, new software that's out there, Audio interfaces, and also, from time to time, just some nice reminicenses about old albums, favorite labels, and other fun stuff like that. It promises to be very informative, and for those with a heart for albums like mine, a lot of fun, too. See ya soon!