Idea H-2-12

This is one of those happy accidents of the recording and mixing process. The original music tracks were recorded by Scott in early 1987 using a Korg DW-6000, a Casio SK-1 (on loan from the Fiber family), and recorded onto a Fostex X-15 Multitracker 4-Track Cassette Recorder.

Later in 1987, the infamous DSL sessions were recorded. For these mind altering sessions, Scott and I ended up using the other side of the cassette from the Idea H-2-12 recording.

Now, jump forward 2 years to the Summer of 1989 when I was mixing tracks for final release of The Secret Society project. Though most of the songs for The Secret Society release were recorded during the Summer of 1988 at Horse & Buggy Highway Studios, I was looking for additional material to include on the final master. This is when I stumbled upon the cassette with Idea H-2-12. I popped the cassette in the X-15 and hit play.

Here's where the happy accident occurred...

The previous song that I had been mixing was a 4-track song and had all the levels wide open so, as the 2-tracks for Idea H-2-12 started to play, the 2-tracks from the other side of the tape were also audible. However, those 2-tracks from the DSL sessions were playing backwards! I thought it sounded "so cool" that I mixed it all together and we created our first (and only) backwards masking song.

Now you can be the judge of whether or not this song is as "cool" as I thought it was at the time and you'll also get bonus points if you can decipher the backwards masking vocals and sounds from the DSL sessions. But be warned, you may not want to know what the backwards masking vocals and sounds are!