FRANKENSTEIN SOUND LAB





IN THE BEGINNING THERE WAS SOUND...

Then came Frankenstein and the Lab...

Like most operations connected with Malice In Sunderland, Frankenstein Sound Lab didn't have an actual defined starting point. It just sort of faded in when its time was right and will, no doubt fade out again once its mission - whatever that may be - has been accomplished.

FSL's origins lay in a desire to contribute to various music and sound-based Mail Art projects, and expanded outwards from there. Initial experiments commenced in early 2000. Equipment was basic, mainly cassette recorders linked to each other, a cheap keyboard, sound effects records {hurrah ! for the BBC Radiophonic Workshop } and primitive mixing facilities.

Originally, the project was dubbed BORDERLINE, on the not-unjustified grounds that it'd be a borderline decision whether what was produced qualified as music. That was dropped after it was discovered that a local Country & Western band were gigging under the same name. BAAL was mooted as a replacement, but never seriously considered.
Then, during an early session, Mr. Frankenstein left the room to grab a coffee. On his return, he eyed the sprawling mass of leads, wires and electronic devices and commented: "Looks like Frankenstein's Lab".

He considered this for a moment, then added: "Frankenstein's SOUND Lab".

So that was the name sorted...




C-30. . . C-60. . . C-90. . . GO !


The earliest FSL releases were cassette-only affairs...


THE CRAB WITH THE GOLDEN CLAWS {2000} was a split-release: FSL on one side, American poet MARK SONNENFELD on the other. Included a collaboration with Dancing Ken Hanks, the Minister for Happiness in the Official Monster Raving Looney Party.

ALCHEMY & ACCIDENT {2001}, several tracks were collaborations with Switzerland's BIDOCHE MUSIQUE.

A selection of the best tracks from these two cassettes are available on the CD ALCHEMY & ACCIDENT {see MALICE IN SUNDERLAND page for further details}.

THE DICEMAN VARIATIONS {2002} Inspired by reading Luke Rheinhardt's cult novel "The Diceman", the basic material was recorded using CuBase technology at Greenhouse Music, Sunderland, and thus represents FSL's first tentative step into the world of digital recording.

The original cassette plus additional material is available on the CD THE DICEMAN VARIATIONS. {see MALICE IN SUNDERLAND page for further details}.

Cassettes, while undoubtedly the mainstay of DIY music in the 1980s and 90s, had their drawbacks. Remember their distressing ability to unravel and foul up your tape deck, probably losing the music in the process {but only if it was something you really liked and had no prospect of getting a replacement}? And the sound quality, not always great to start with, deteriorated over time. A lot of great music only ever available on cassette is probably lost for ever. So it goes.
Around this time, we aquired our first computer, and with it the potential to produce our own CDs. It was a rather steep learning curve, not helped by the fact that we had apparently invested in a direct descendent of the now-legendary HAL-2000, complete with personality problems. It's ultimate fate was to cross us one time to many and as a result got taken apart with a hammer and crowbar and put out with the rest of the rubbish.


You dont mess with Frankenstein Sound Lab ! But before we stomped it, we did manage to produce some music.


BRAVE NEW DIGITAL WORLD



Having thus lurched onto the threshold of this brave new digital world, we prepared to stumble across it and produce the first FSL CD. Imagine our suprise, therefore, to discover that we had been beaten to it... the first Frankenstein Sound Lab CD was already out there !


to be continued