*Originally Posted on mikekonopka.com on August 20, 2022*

The Freeze Band-A Restoration Story

a guest blog by Andrew Luxem, a mikekonopka.com client

This year, 2022 marks a major milestone for my dad (he’s turning the big 7-0!) and I wanted to do something special for him. In the 1970s and 1980s, my dad played in a band called The Freeze Band. He played guitar, sang, and wrote songs. They played throughout the Southwest, including Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Colorado. In 1978, The Freeze Band recorded their full length album. The album was in heavy rotation in our house growing up. As the world moved to digital, converting vinyl albums directly to our digital devices did not sound the best. The best we could do was to run the record player directly into our computer and record it as the record played. This did not turn out well, but it’s the best that we could do with what we had at the time.

For my dad’s 70th birthday, I wanted to track down the original master tapes for The Freeze Band recordings and digitize the album. Over the years, my parents and I stayed in contact with Roger Schmidt, the recording engineer for The Freeze Band album. In February of 2022, I reached out to Roger and luckily, he still had the original tapes. Roger cautioned that there would be a challenge as the tapes were over 40 years old, and they likely only had one more play in them before they disintegrated. The tapes were fragile and they hadn’t been played since the original recording and mastering.

After speaking with Roger, I knew that I would need to find an expert that specializes in restoring and digitizing analog tape. After an online search, I found Mike Konopka. Mike is well-known as a first call music mixer and audio producer who has worked with many major label artists such as The Kinks, Wilco, Maren Morris, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, and Crowded House. I arranged a call with Mike and he said that he would be more than happy and willing to restore and digitize The Freeze Band album. Mike had restored The Kinks Archive (read about it here) and he was more than qualified to help with my project.

Roger would arrange for the tapes to be delivered to Mike. Upon receipt, Mike would then bake the tapes. This is where it gets a little bit specific. Once baked for Hydrolysis, for each reel, Mike created 8 separate DBX encoded 24 bit / 48khz WAV files from the 1/2″ eight track master. All 8 audio tracks were the exact same length and file size. He then transferred the 1/2″ 8 track files flat without any EQ or compression, etc., so that my dad, Roger, the rest of The Freeze Band could mix and master digitally as they like.

I started this project in February of 2022 and it was completed in March of 2022. I decided to surprise my dad early with the digital tracks of The Freeze Band album. I decided to do this, so that he could meet with his old band members, as well as Roger to talk about the recordings and to listen to the newly digitized versions. Kim Dimmer (drums, percussion, vocals) sadly passed away in 2014. Hopefully, this is a great tribute to his tremendous drumming on the album.

In addition, I hope these digitized recordings continue to live on into the 21st century and beyond and are a testament to my dad, The Freeze Band, Roger Schmidt, and the rest of those involved with the creation and release of The Freeze Band album.

I am sharing the digitized tracks. I am also sharing the mixes that Lon (bass guitar) has recently completed. Please enjoy and everyone wish my dad a big happy birthday!

Listen to Lon Miller’s Freeze Band Mixes
Pain in my Heart

City Talkin’

Going Back in Time

Under The Crown

The Ninth Song
In Time

Empty Place

Solstice

The Holdout

Credits: Tom Luxem (Guitar, Vocals), Lonnie Miller (Bass Guitar), Marty Schlemeier (Pianos, Flute, Vocals), Dave Miller (Lead Guitars, Vocals), Kim Dimmer (Drums, Percussion, Vocals).

Paul Christophanelli: organ, clavinet, synthesizer
Recorded at Sunrise Soundworks
Engineer: Roger Schmidt
Produced and mixed by the Freeze Band and Roger Schmidt
Cover Design: Mimi Yanta
Photo: Robert Zessis
Technical Advisor: Rex Leonard
Audio Restoration: Mike Konopka, Thundertone Audio

We wish to thank Paul Christophanelli, Cindy Staab, Gena Wade and Jim Messerli for their help, with a special thank you to Al Ryan.

-Andrew Luxem