I started making recordings in 1984 when I was 13. I would write parodies of songs and record them by playing the original song on one tape recorder, then using a second recorder to capture me singing over it. In early 1986, my dad showed me a secret. He gave me a roll of 8 mm film (that had a movie on it) and cut a small piece off. He taped it over the bottom left side of the cassette tape where the record head would rest. In this primitive manner, I could record a "track" and then re-record over the same spot with another "track". You can hear this on songs like "Can't Win 'Em All" (the guitar solo). By 1987, I was using a couple external microphones. For drums, it was mostly pots and pans. In 1988, I got a Realistic stereo mixer and another tape deck. Now I could feed a tape from one deck through the mixer onto another deck while adding another track. In this manner, I could add as many tracks as I wanted (7 or more sometimes, but then the sound would start getting pretty bad). The drawback was there was no way to mix anything once it was recorded. In 1989, I got a child's drum kit for $40 and a bass guitar. The big change came in 1990 when my dad helped me purchase a 4-track recorder. I used it until 2004 when it broke (the second time) and I couldn't find a way to get it serviced. That's when I got a computer and I've used Garageband to record ever since. - Weird Paul, 2012 www.weirdpaul.com www.facebook.com/weirdpaul www.weirdpaul.bandcamp.com