Cookie's Corner - #164 - There's nothing like the fear and anticipation of putting on a 30 year old reel of tape!
From Cookie Marenco - Founder and Producer Blue Coast Records and Music
I’m a packrat when it comes to tape. I NEVER throw any recordings out if they’re on tape. And I regret the tapes I’ve given back to the record labels… who knows what happens to them… (example… how many fires does Universal Music seem their storage facility. Seems like every 15 years everything goes up in smoke.
Buy Two Get One Free is still available at the Blue Coast Music store.. you site for high resolution downloads!
Ben Demerath was a fan of Windham Hill and an oboe player when he came to me sometime in the early 1990’s. He was also an amazing acoustic guitarist, singer and lyricist. Ben asked me to produce his album…. how could I say no to a fellow oboe player?
After 2 years recording Ben and overdubbing 3 different drummers, 2 bass players, 4 keyboard players, 10 guitarists, bagpipes, backup vocals and I can’t remember what else, we released Thirty Degrees on Cojema Music…. the name of my first label. In 1993, the album was released.
Cojema Music became a great labels for acoustic singer songwriters, instrumentalists and a way for me to invite hundreds of incredible session musicians to perform. Many of those session musicians are now on Blue Coast Records.
Cojema predated streaming music and so much of the music has never been released beyond CDs decades ago. It was incredible music… very different from what you’ll hear on Blue Coast Records. Big productions, recorded to tape and much of it mixed to tape.
Now, with some urging by the musicians, I’m looking into the storage shelves to see what we can release. The first album we’ve discovered was Thirty Degrees, Ben Demerath’s first album. We’ve found the 1/2” tape and have done our restoration process, including the transfer to DSD 256. We’re working on remastering now.
The album is not available on any streaming services, but we plan on releasing it in early 2024 and sooner at our Blue Coast Music Store
If you’re eager to hear the album, view the 8 page booklet wth the list of credits, we’re going to offer all our annual paid subcribers a FREE copy of the CD, including shipping through the end of August 2023 or until the supply runs out.
The offer is only good for subscribers to Cookie’s Corner. Write to us and provide your address. You can subscribe here…
If you’re a subscriber to Blue Coast Records substack, you won’t get a free CD but you will get a free download of one of the songs on the album, Hundred Years of Solitude, coming next week. You can sign up here for your monthly free download at Blue Coast Records substack.
As always, thank you for supporting our music and craft!
Cookie Marenco
Producer and Founder
Curious... Did you bake the tape?