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Today is my 15th Wedding Anniversary.<\/p>\n
And on December 9, 1995, Jeanne and I got married in my cousins’ living room in Half Moon Bay, CA. And as part of the show, our favors were mix tapes copied on to genuine cassettes.<\/p>\n
Not CDs. The technology – and price – just wasn’t there yet. It was<\/em> 1995. So instead, we gave out a unique cassette offering that took a whole month to prep. <\/p>\n At the time, we were listening to Big Band. Sinatra. Jazz. The wonderful music of Cole Porter. <\/p>\n And Pink Floyd.<\/p>\n And that became the plan: To mix these genres into a complete, Pink Floyd-like conceptual album. For our wedding. With wedding standards as well as ambient sound recorded where the wedding was going to take place.<\/p>\n All we needed was a month. And lots of electric toys.<\/p>\n sources<\/strong> And his record collection. He had an incredible set of Hi-Fi Big Band LPs – most of which were recorded in the 1950s, when magnetic tape became standard. This was a step up from the scratchy wax disk sound that usually went with Big Band.<\/p>\n By the 1950s, Big Band had fallen out of favor – but luckily, Capitol Records brought in most of the original bands for these vinyl gems – and had some great sessions. Even though the resulting albums didn’t sell very well.<\/p>\n Years later, I found many of these recordings (and more) on a four CD set: Big Bands in Hi Fi Volume 1<\/a><\/em> and Volume 2.<\/a><\/em> An incredible collection of rarities.<\/p>\n Also part of the mix is an extended version of Sing Sing Sing<\/em> – with amazing<\/em> drums; from a 1967 concert album, Benny Goodman Today.<\/em> This is another rarity that eventually showed up on CD.<\/a> Imported.<\/p>\n We rounded out the tracks with some Cole Porter (THIS<\/a> is an incredible album), Sinatra (so is this<\/a>) as well as George Winston’s take<\/a> on wedding standby, Pachelbel’s Canon.<\/a><\/em> With the sound of a steam locomotive (found a recording of this one<\/a>) in the background cause our honeymoon involved a train ride to Seattle.<\/p>\n going analog<\/strong> Old radio broadcasts were mixed in – as well as rare 1920s jazz recordings (found at the local library) – blended with a very ‘tinny’ sound coming from a cheap speaker miked inside a metal bucket. And an Edison Cylinder Phonograph.<\/a><\/p>\n And somehow we got them all completed in time. The Collection of Our Favourite Dance Tunes<\/em> mix tapes were ready – just in time for the nuptials. Featuring a copy of Arthur Baker’s Mercator<\/a> as the font; it was his wedding gift.<\/p>\n few samples<\/strong> It’s incredible the memories that flood back when listening to this music . . . . We don’t have many photos from our wedding (long story there), so these tracks really are the snapshots in time for us.<\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/mehallo.com\/B\/mehallo_wedding2.jpg\")
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\nMy dad collected old stereo equipment. And I used to play with audio when I was in high school. So I raided my father’s garage. <\/p>\n
\nTo prep things, I cobbled together two four track mixers, two eight track decks – as well as a barely functioning turntable, three cassette decks and a stereo VCR.<\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/mehallo.com\/B\/mehallo_wedding5.jpg\")
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\nWhile we don’t (yet) have a digital version of the complete recording, here are a few of the songs that made the final cut. <\/p>\n