2024

This Is It Remix - Personal Effects

40yearsIn 1984, Personal Effects recorded our first full length LP (vinyl record album for the younger folks). We'd written a bunch of new songs in mid 1983, and put on a fun multi-media show to debut them. It took place at the Community Playhouse in Rochester, NY on August 27, 1983.

To record the album, we borrowed a Tascam 8-track tape recorder and a Yamaha mixing console from Bob Morasse, and a Whirlwind audio snake that we ran from the basement, up the laundry chute, to a 2nd floor bedroom which acted as the control room. Bernie Heveron (our bass player) had gotten ahold of three used reels of 1/2 inch tape from the Eastman School of music. We also borrowed a Neumann mic for vocals from Dwight Glodell (who referred to it as 'his car', due to the expense of being one of the best microphones in the world).

Duane Sherwood was the recording engineer, who'd run the recorder and set up a rough playback mix. We used a walkie-talkie to communicate between floors (I think). Or we may have just yelled up the laundry chute. After every take, we'd all run up two flights of stairs to hear what we'd done.

When it came time to mix, we used the same setup, limited by the post production processing available. And what we came out with was a respectable effort considering the lo-fi nature of it all. We pressed it, and it was issued as the first release on our own Earring Records label.

Fastforward about 25 years, and we found we had a lot of stuff we'd not need anymore. Stacks of multitrack and master tapes which nobody wanted. But in the back of my mind, I thought that one day I'd like to revisit that record and see what modern tools might be able to do to raise the 'fi' level from 'lo' to 'hi'. So, I sent the tapes off to Sonicraft in 2011 to have the multitracks converted to digital for remixing.

I proceeded to put the transfers away for 'some day in the future'.

This summer, I finally got around to seeing what could be done with them. I was most surprised by how well we'd actually recorded the tracks back in 1984. They sounded great, and really only needed a bit of multiband compression/limiting and some equalization.

As my ears aren't as good as they once were (hey, a life in rock and roll), I turned finalizing the project over to the amazing Arpad Sekeres for final EQ and mastering.

Happy to say the album is available now for streaming from the usual places. Hope you enjoy it!

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Let's take a ride around downtown Rochester in 1984, the year Personal Effects "This Is It" album was released.

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Click on poster for huge version
I dug into my archives (and Paul and Peggi's) to find photos, press, etc surrounding the 1984 project. I was pretty amazed by how much I'd found, all from within a six month period between August 1983 and the following March. Thanks to Gary Brandt for shooting the cover and related photos, as well as photos of us recording the album. Thanks to Duane Sherwood for engineering the recording and for our live lights and multimedia. Thanks to Kevin Vicalvi for our live sound and much more. 

 1. I Had Everything (Dodd, Fournier) 3:08
2. My Desire BONUS TRACK (Dodd, Fournier) 2:59
3. No One Can Get To You (Heveron) 3:53
4. Bring Out The Jazz (Dodd, Fournier, Heveron, Martin) 3:24
5. X-Melody (Fournier) 3:02
6. Fascinating Game (Edic, Fournier) 4:16
7. End Of The World* (Dee, Kent) 3:14
8. Drifting Apart (Dodd, Fournier) 4:25
9. What’s The Attraction (Heveron) 5:13
9. Security (Fournier) 2:19
10. A Mess (Dodd, Fournier) 4:41
11. Main Trail BONUS TRACK (Heveron) 3:43
13. Porch (Dodd, Edic, Fournier, Holm) 2:53
14. Mojave BONUS TRACK (Dodd, Fournier) 6:18
15. This Is It (Dodd, Fournier, Heveron, Martin) 3:11

Stream This Is It 2024 Remix

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This Is It 2024 Videos

New videos made from live 1984 footage for I Had Everything and Fascinating Game. New 2024 Remixes for Bring Out The Jazz and Drifting Apart.

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I Had Everything 2024 Video

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Fascinating Game 2024 Video

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Bring Out The Jazz 2024 Video

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Drifting Apart 2024 Video

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Fascinating Game/Screamin' You Head 1983 Video

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End Of The World 1984 Live Video