I've been hard at work assembling the MP3 CD I blogged about some time ago. If you don't remember, you probably didn't care, but here's a recap. I'm going to put together a CD with 100 MP3s covering my life. They wont be a snapshot of now. You'll get to hear what I was listening to in 1972, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, and even 2005. You'll get the pre-teen years, the hemp years, the acid years, the Quaalude years (does anyone remember Quaaludes? Good old 714's?) Probably not. But, I digress, I do that a lot. You'll get the punk years, the married years, the folk years the ... you get the picture.

This is news. I have uncovered my turntable, and I'm ripping albums into MP3's. And, not just any albums, but rare hardcore and punk platters that you cant get anywhere, not for love nor money. (Ah, wouldn't that have been a grand thing. Trade ya a bit of vinyl for a bit of loving? That would be a good 7"'s both ways! But, I digress, I do that a lot.)

The first rare platter I ripped was ...

"The Decline of Western Civilization" - I'd looked for a CD version of this platter for a long time, and the second decline is available. The first one was punk, the second one is metal.

The second and third platter's to get ripped were

The Destructors "Cry Havoc and Unleash the Dogs of War" (12"ep) 1983
The Destructors "Exercise the Demons of Youth" (LP) 1982

Put together, they fit perfectly onto a 60 minute CDR. And yes, they sound great! I used a software package called GoldWave, to record the raw wave files. Then I ran the pops and clicks filter over it, to eliminate the blatant crap you get from vinyl, and then I got down to serious modification. I spent some time recording the 'rumble' you get when a diamond needle is stationary and a slab of vinyl is spun beneath it. I took that sound and created a filter in GoldWave, used it to mask out the rumble from the music, and presto-chango-ala-kazam ... crisp, sharp MP3's, from 23 year old records that sound better than the records could ever sound.

If anyone is interested in a how-to article, request it, and I'll put one together.

Or,if your interested in some old punk MP3's, and they are not available from the bands, drop me a line and I'll drop them on a CD-R for you. I'd accept requests, but I don't feel like posting what I have, it would take to long. There are about 1000 old LP's and 7"ep's lying around my home computer. Maybe I'll post a picture ...

P.S. Has anyone seen the new layout over at The Common Man? I'm jealous.