Oh VHS dub, where art thou?
Hello, my friends. Hopefully, the title of this post will interest you enough for the next few lines, as I simply *had* to write about what just happened.
In short, since the beginning of the Masters Tour, many people have been asking me about my background, and how I got started in audio and video (and video software). That inquiry was usually followed by, "Have you done any old-school audio layback/post-sync/ADR to analog video before?", and naturally, the answer is, YES.
Long story short: I've kept a VHS tape (a dub, from an original 3/4" U-Matic master) from some of the work I did in college; stuff that I not only re-sync'ed, but a whole bunch of clips were entirely re-voiced a-la ADR, had foley re-recorded live, and new sound effects flown-in (courtesy of multiple 1/4" tape machines with vari-speed heads). I've had this thing for 14 fricken' years...and now I've lost it!!
Well, maybe I haven't *lost* it...but I may have thrown it out. ;( Yeah...every 6 months, I get into this gotta clean house mode, where I basically dump EVERYTHING that hasn't been touched in more than a year, and seemingly feels like it's destined for the waste bin anyway. This past January, the 'mass exorcism' included my entire VHS video collection, save for some classic Beatle vids that you just can't get (and are still worth something to collectors). Everything, even personal vids, were dumped. I'll never transfer them, the tapes weren't stored properly anyway, and the quality wasn't good in the first place. I can do with photos only.
So...I'm totally bummed, because I really wanted to post this one particular video. But all is not lost. I've got a storage space, and I've got an inkling that a dub-of-the-dub exists in a box, underneath several boxes, all labeled by year. Yes, I'm *that* OCD. Si vous cherchez, vous trouverais, n'est-ce pas? Let's hope so ;)
Until we meet again (hopefully, with video in hand, and on YouTube)
Blog on.
Comments
Well... Murphy's Law says that what can go wrong, will go wrong. If you look for that tape, you might not gonna find it. I tried to find a necklass my girlfriend gave me two years ago and I lost 6 months later. Never found that thing, but when I was redecorating my room, I found it yesterday under the television... Maybe you have to look there too?
Matthew
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Hey Matthew. Aha! I found it! Yes...buried deep within a series of boxes in storage. Granted, this is the 'dub' copy that I knew I had; the original may very well be long gone. But alas, there is peace once again ;) Now, I just have to transfer the thing and see 'just how bad' it looks/sounds. It was at least copied via HiFi decks (back in the day) running at high (SP) speed, so I'm hopeful it's at least semi-watchable. Stay tuned! ---JL
Posted by: Matthew | August 1, 2008 7:47 AM