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[CHANCE]

I sometimes see a commercial where two people are talking with two tin cans and a string connecting them, and my mind goes back to my childhood days when I remembered doing just this! I clearly remember getting kite string and trying to go the max between my friend who lived in the house behind me. It didn't work, even with the string tight. Then there was that infamous "Germainium diode crystal radio"! I was amazed that I was hearing radio with no power needed! I was also certain that some of the sounds I was hearing, was coming from outer space. LOL I built control panels (that did absolutely nothing) but it was fun. An uncle of mine who was a merchant marine got me a guitar and some other strange instrument that started me loving music. A few years later, another uncle brought me a Presto acetate recorder and a Webcor wire recorder (with the magic eye) that started my love affair with recording. I just found a cassette copy of that recording and was blown away what was said on that recording. "for recording, call 444492" . I was 14 or 15 and little did I know that, "that was my beginning" of a love affair that is still going strong today at the age of 66.
It might be interesting how some of you all  got your "first taste" of audio in the beginning.

[compasspnt]

That "tin can and string telephone" commercial s for Progresso soups...the end user is supposed to be talking to the Progresso chefs.

BUT, the string is not taut (rather, it is hanging loosely down), so this couldn't work for real.

Someone dropped the ball.

Or the string.

[Larrchild]

Quote:

I was also certain that some of the sounds I was hearing, was coming from outer space.

Later, Bjork would confirm this.

My dad was a tv repairman with a shop full o' tubes, but my main influence was my uncle who had McIntosh, Revox, Scott, Thorens, etc.
When I saw those silver Scotch 111 10 1/2" reels turning at 10, I pretty much knew I was on this train.

[J.J. Blair]

When I'm with you, it doesn't matter where we are, or what we're doing.

[RSettee]

For me, it was probably with buying albums and then reading the liner notes. Up until then, I always assumed that it was the bands that did everything, that made everything sound like that, that it was live in the studio or something like that....I had no idea about multitracking, I think I was 6 or 7. Then I wondered how a two guitar band could be playing a bunch of different guitar parts, how the band sounded like a whole bunch of people. I thought that they had lots of other musicians playing live with them in the studio at that time!

I realized when I saw producers and engineers and assistants and people like that, that I realized that there was more to a recording than a band just plugging in an amp and singing into a mic. I really liked the finer mechanics of how they got that stuff to sound like that.....still do.

[Jay Kadis]

I was into electric trains until I got my first guitar at age 13.  A year later I cajoled my parents into buying me an electric guitar and amp (little did they know where THAT would lead...) which I promptly took apart.  I started building simple electronic circuits like an FM transmitter with a 50' range and then remote control circuits for model airplanes.  Once my band got started, I became fascinated with tape recorders - my dad had a Revere and then got a Sony TC-355 with sound-on-sound and that was all it took.  My first session in a pro studio at age 16 cemented the relationship.

[GaryR47]

J.J. Blair wrote on Sat, 31 October 2009 13:38

When I'm with you, it doesn't matter where we are, or what we're doing.

Took me a second, but now I'm laughing my head off.  I think I could do a really bad "lounge singer" interpretation of that song.  It lends itself with the maj7's in there.

[Daniel Farris]

When I was ten, I found my mother's "Revolver" and "Rubber Soul" records. They went on my record player and never came off. This led to checking out all of the Beatles records from the public library.

When I was twelve, I got a Sony Walkman (the earlier version that had the record function) and I figured out how to disable the erase head so I could do primitive overdubs.

Between ages sixteen and twenty, I played in bands while I worked as a projectionist.

By the age of twenty, I was apprenticing under a southern soul engineer who had a Grammy and a platinum record. I haven't made a single dime that didn't come from recording since then. That was 17 years ago.

That about covers it for me. Those are the turning points.

DF

[CHANCE]

J.J. Blair wrote on Sat, 31 October 2009 12:38

When I'm with you, it doesn't matter where we are, or what we're doing.

Played that song to death

[CHANCE]

Jay Kadis wrote on Sat, 31 October 2009 13:33

I was into electric trains  remote control circuits for model airplanes.  Once my band .

Oh yeah American Flyer & Lionel. (Remember that ozone smell?) I too loved R/C scale aircraft. I stayed with that hobby for years. I even smuggled some pot in the belly of a 60 powered aircraft from Newgales Mexico over the AZ border when we played at the Flying Tiger in Tucson. Had 2 transmitters (green flag)

[jwhynot]

I was marked from the start.

My first word was "record", spoken while standing on an armchair and pointing at the yellow vinyl 45 of Roy Rogers singing "Happy Trails to You".

That was probably just about 50 years ago.

Yeesh.

JW

[Tidewater]

Putting Matchbox cars on Nat King Cole records.

Have yourself... gGghHh a gghhhhht rry Lit.. gHhhHhhhT.istmas

I was invited to attend a session that I ended up playing guitar on without pay, and the single went silly. The first time an A&R guy ever had sex consentually with me, but without my full knowledge.  

[Daniel Farris]

jwhynot wrote on Sat, 31 October 2009 14:43

I was marked from the start. My first word was "record", spoken while standing on an armchair and pointing at the yellow vinyl 45 of Roy Rogers singing "Happy Trails to You". That was probably just about 50 years ago. Yeesh. JW

Okay okay! I confess!

I took a correspondence course a few months ago.

DF

[nob turner]

i started playing piano at 6 (my mother played and taught).  when i rebelled at 11, they gave me a clarinet.  when i rebelled at 12, they got me a guitar.  i stuck with that, and spent the majority of my free time playing it (kind of like my son does these days, come to think of it).

in high school, we had a project where we could write a paper or create some kind of media project (this was the early 70's... very "modern" teacher, i suppose).  well, anything but a paper, right?  a couple of friends and i created a faux band called "joe shmoe and the shmoettes" and recorded them (us) on my parents' revere in my living room.  that was shortly followed by a long, scripted firesign theater-like recording.  that hooked me, and i spent my savings on a sony tc353d recorder, on which one could bounce back from track to track.  i overdubbed guitars 'til you couldn't hear the first track much anymore.

the rest is history...

[Waltz Mastering]

When I was thirteen my sixteen old brother bought a pair of Altec A7 voice of the theater speakers and a crown amp and set them up in the basement. Fortunately for me, this was in the same room with my strat and fender champ amp.

About a year later I started buying these German open reel 1/4 track decks with paper route money out of the want adds called Dokorders that had sound on sound...     Started teaching guitar at the local music shop when I was 15 and never looked back.  Fast forward 30 years (23 of those running a studio)...nuclear family  and halloween candy.