Transcript
Marc Maron (0:00)
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Chad Kassam (1:56)
He.
Marc Maron (1:56)
He says he's on a mission and he's saving the world from bad sounds. He does a lot of remastering of classic records, but he seemed like an interesting guy and a guy that I might have had some questions for. But I'm not full geek. I'm not full nerd. I don't go full nerd into much of anything. Because to be full nerd, you've got to really put your whole life into it. And you have a pursuit, a grail, a sense of perfection attainable, which Chad does. I'm just a guy that got into records. How long has it been, you guys? When did I start doing that? Was it, what, 12 years ago? I don't remember. It was part of this show where I started getting into vinyl like every other Guy my age or older, usually again, again. I'm the last year of boomer, so I don't suffer the full boomeritis. But I, you know, I started getting into to records and I started chasing the sound. Doing the tube thing. Remember there was some trouble. I had a tube amp wasn't working out, trying to get the right sound, spending some money. Didn't spend a lot of money at that time, but I decided to spend some money. It all started with that trip to Jack White's office. Well, those Macintosh 275s in the wall. But I worked around that. I didn't get a 275 for a while, but I got some tube amps and some speakers. I try and get the right sound. Spending that money. And it was always frustrating at the beginning because it didn't. It didn't sound as good as it should have for the price that I paid. Does anything. But then I kind of leveled off over the years and I kept amassing records. I was getting sent records, I was trading records in. I was buying new records. Now we've got like a few thousand records in there. I don't even know what I have anymore, but I know I have a lot of good shit. But then it gets to a point, well, I don't want to. I don't want to. I don't want to diminish it. I'm happy about my records. Like yesterday, I was talking about Del Shannon to Kit. Kit said I should cover Del Shannon's Runaway, which is a great song. And then I started realizing that he did a later record that was kind of a. Kind of a special record, kind of a psych rock record that I knew I had, but I couldn't remember one song on it. So I thought maybe I'd listen to that. And then that got away from me. But I did have the option. And I know some of you are thinking, like, just get on Spotify, just get on the, you know, itunes or whatever. But you know this. There is a difference in listening to records. And I still believe that there is a difference. Chad and I talk about that. I know some, you know, analog nerds or some antivinal guys are like, you guys are outta your minds. There's a reason we don't buy records anymore. And that reason is, eventually you're gonna need a new fucking house just for your dumb records. Again, not that much of a nerd. Some guys have tens of thousands of records. Like I said, I probably got 2,3000, and I don't know what I Have, But I know they're all in there. And I know I haven't listened to a lot of them more than once. Some not at all. So what is that about? Where am I at with it now? Well, the one thing I start to realize about getting older is that if you have this type of obsessive personality that doesn't lock in for a lifetime, you're just looking for something to occupy your passion, your life, and seek meaning, seek some sort of, not necessarily perfection, but close, right? Is that attainable? How long does it last? Like I said, I don't know if I'm a lifelong obsessive because now I'm starting to think, like, where are all these records gonna go when I'm gone? And I willed them to somebody. I willed them to the guy that got me most of the records. My records collection has been curated by me, by Dan Cook over at Gimme Gimme Records, and Lance over at Permanent A Bit. And then other record stores I go to, I take suggestions. There's so many records I knew nothing about, and I have them now, and I still know very little about them. But the real question is, is that, what is that about? Because now I'm on the other side of it now. I've got a lot of records. They still sound good, my system sounds good, but I just don't have the wherewithal to keep going with it. Because you get into this cycle where you, like, you go to the record store, you trade in a few records, you leave with five, maybe you listen to one and then they're on the floor, and then you're like, I got to fold those into the collection, but shouldn't I listen to them first? And now you're just sitting in a room surrounded by hundreds of records. And then you go upstairs and they're in your hallway, hundreds of records, and then you go into your office, and there in the office, hundreds of records, and. And they're all there. And they make me feel happy. I'm glad I possess them. It's like many of my books. But what is it really doing for me? What does it make me feel? Who does it make me be? How is it helping the core project of being happy? I don't know. I don't know. I just know that knowing me, because I don't have the courage or commitment to be an all in nerd, you know, I end up with a lot of things that I was very passionate about, you know, from, you know, sanding wood boxes. That was a brief one from finding the Perfect pick for my guitar. That wasn't that long, but it was pretty intense. And I think I landed somewhere. Certain plants around my house that I have a codependent relationship with. Like, why the fuck doesn't the lavender just grow straight up? Why are these trees not growing at all? I think, sadly, as I move into my later years, that a lot of things that I do and put my whole heart into, I'm doing just to be disappointed eventually. Is that a thing? Is that possible where you just hit this wall? It's like, what am I doing? I got a lot of records. I like. Got a lot of records. I don't know if I like. I got a lot of records that are just cool records that. That I don't listen to. But, like, I'm never going to have them all. I'm never going to know what I have. I'm never going to understand all this stuff. I'm glad I possess it. It's almost like you're curating a library that is just built on your tastes. And as that changes, or you become less interested in the curated collection, you're just sort of like, fuck, what is this library even for? I don't know. I don't know. I do enjoy it. I know people are like, well, you know, you should do what you enjoy. I enjoyed it for a while, but now there's no end to it. And the records coming in, I don't know how many I listen to. Sometimes I don't listen to records for weeks. But anyway, I am not too disappointed. I am a little overwhelmed. But that's another thing that I think I crave. I crave not just disappointment. I crave things that, you know, I want to feel shitty about. I crave things that make me hate myself. Because I think that, sadly, is. That's the basket my being lives in. And I gotta change that now. In changing that, does that mean that I just let it all go and start smoking weed? Does changing that means I clear the slate and just see who I am alone in my living room with a lot of empty record shelves and just a place where my stereo system used to be? Do I feng shui my fucking being? On an existential level? What do I do? Well, that's all speculative and, you know, that's the way my brain works. But I imagine I'll probably just go in and listen to that Del Shannon record and I'm going to talk to Chad here about the nature of analog, the nature of remastering, what makes sounds great, what records are great. What his operation is because he's a guy like me. He's. He's obsessed, but he's all in. You know, we're both recovering guys and some of it is kind of, kind of, you know, druggie bullshit, Just chasing something, chasing that perfect sound, chasing that perfect note, chasing that perfect woman, chasing that perfect, you know, high from getting on stage or gambling or whatever. When you got that bug, it's best you apply it to something that isn't dangerous. And I think the only way record collecting gets dangerous is if you get so many. And one day there's an earthquake that your seven or eight foot record shelf with 10,000 records that spans the entire length of your wall falls on you in a chair with your headphones on, crushing you. That is the only way out of the deep nerd obsession is to be crushed under the weight of thousands of records in the middle of listening to something that sounds perfect on your amazing system. Huh? Hey, I'm back at Largo for a comedy and music show on Wednesday, July 23. Tickets are at largo-la.com playing with a new set of characters, working on some songs, doing a Taylor Swift song if that is compelling. So now let's go ahead and do this. So, as I said, I read about about Chad Kassam in the New York Times, and he sounded interesting. He built a little empire out there in Kansas where he remasters records, he records live acts, he makes his own art for his covers. Well, he has an operation there, a printing operation. He's got his own remastering studio. He does. He only remasters from the analog tape originals. And he seemed like a pretty possessed dude. And I thought, well, maybe he can speak to my obsession. And again, I am jealous of any. Any true addictive nerds. Focus, passion, and compulsion to chase this thing down, whatever that thing is. And he's one of those guys. You can follow him on Instagram, you can subscribe to the YouTube channel Acoustic Sounds KS to get the latest on their releases. And this is me hashing it out with Chad Kassim. 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