LONG GONE LONESOME BLUES - THE THOMAS FRASER STORY (Page 6)
Andrew Rose of Pristine Audio takes up the story.....
When the tapes first arrived they seemed like just another batch of reels to transfer to CD. I've been handling all sorts of audio material for years, so you rarely expect to find anything particularly special - the previous job had been a rich businessman's Bar Mitzvah recording from 1963...
The Thomas Fraser tapes was something different - very different. Here was something I'd actually want in my own collection, something I'd listen to. My initial impression was of the similarity between what Thomas was doing and the kind of groundwork that some British pop pioneers did back in the 50's - in particular the much-overlooked side of Lonnie Donegan's early output, digging out old blues songs and either performing them straight or reinventing them for skiffle. It seemed to me that while Donegan had been busy mining the Leadbelly songbook, Thomas had cast his net wider and brought together an altogether more eclectic catch of styles and songwriters.
Karl started by sending me some of the four-track tapes, which form the smaller part of the collection. By squeezing four tracks onto tape designed to take two there is an inevitable loss in sound quality, but I was pleased with the results I was able to get. Four-track tape never really became a professional format, and there were very few truly high-end recorders ever made. Fortunately there was a gap for 'semi-professional' 4-track recorders in the market, and the output from my own mid-60's valve-driven Akai is remarkably good, as well as being true to the technology Thomas used.
Clearly my efforts made a good impression - a few weeks later several large packages arrived with more tapes - this time the two-track recordings. These I was able to play from a true top-of-the-range Studer A807 professional tape deck - the sort of machine that retailed for more than the cost of a new car!
Every effort was made to ensure I extracted as much as possible from the tapes - heads were judiciously cleaned and realigned for each tape; the sound was digitized at the highest possible resolution; masters were saved onto hard disc at even higher resolution. Despite the wonders of modern digital technology, the most crucial point and potentially weakest link in the chain is the analogue playback and digitization. You can only restore what's there, and you need to extract every last nuance before taking it any further.
With each of the songs there were a series of processes designed to bring out the recording beneath the tape hiss and often distortion of these old recordings. Hiss was the hardest thing to deal with in these takes, as it shares the same frequencies that give the recordings their life - take too much away and it sounds dull, leave too much in and it becomes an irritating distraction.
Meanwhile at the other end of the audio spectrum many of the recordings lacked bass warmth, probably a by-product of the microphones used. Some were better than others in this respect, but again something needed to be done.
Thus began a painstaking process of addressing each aspect of the sound - for each individual song. Using a mixture of elaborate software for noise reduction, frequency enhancement, equalization and gentle compression I tried to bring out the best in each recording. It was decided early on not to try to add artificial reverb or try and make these mono recordings fake-stereo, but instead to remain true to the direct nature of the sound.
I hope this is what has been achieved. Throughout the process, as each layer of grime was peeled back to reveal the gem beneath, I wanted to try and uncover the sound that I might have heard as a visitor to the Fraser house all those years ago. I hope Thomas would recognise the results as true to his own performances.
As the masters arrived from Andrew, 25 of the best tracks were selected. This was perhaps an even harder task than the transfer work earlier. What distinguishes the songs for me is their openness to interpretation. All have equal validity in a blues, country or roots scenario. On this release, I wanted to present a better cross-section of Thomas's music with his favourite blues and country supplemented by a couple of jazz tunes and of course, a traditional fiddle reel.
I was determined to lay down a memento for future generations and to give the public a better insight into a unique talent. I felt that it was important that the recording career of one of Shetland's most talented musicians was not forgotten.
I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I finally was able to take delivery of the finished product. It has been a lengthy, difficult and at times, frustrating process but when I listen to the music, it gives me an immense feeling of satisfaction.