The Freeze Band: A Restoration Story

• Andrew Luxem

Tracking down and restoring my dad's band's original master tapes from 1978, one fragile reel at a time.

Vintage reel-to-reel tape recorder with analog audio reels
<h2>The Freeze Band: a restoration story</h2>

Originally posted on mikekonopka.com on August 20, 2022

In 2022, my dad turned 70. I wanted to do something special.

In the 1970s and 80s, my dad played in a band called The Freeze Band. He sang, played guitar, and wrote songs. They performed all across the Southwest (Arizona, California, New Mexico, Colorado). In 1978, they recorded a full-length album that was a fixture in our home growing up.

As music moved into the digital age, we tried to keep up. But converting a vinyl album to digital using a simple record-to-computer setup never captured the true quality. It was grainy. Incomplete. We always wished we could hear it the way it was meant to sound.

<h2>Rediscovering the masters</h2>

For his birthday, I decided to find the original master tapes and have the album professionally digitized.

Luckily, my parents had kept in touch with Roger Schmidt, the original recording engineer. I reached out in February 2022 and Roger still had the original 1/2" 8-track tapes. But there was a catch: they were over 40 years old, fragile, and likely only playable one last time.

It was now or never.

<h2>Enter Mike Konopka</h2>

I needed someone who specialized in restoring and digitizing analog recordings. That's when I found Mike Konopka, a first-call music mixer and audio producer who's worked with:

  • The Kinks
  • Wilco
  • Maren Morris
  • Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
  • Crowded House

Mike had recently restored The Kinks Archive, and he agreed to take on our project.

<h2>The process: tape baking and transfer</h2>

Roger shipped the tapes to Mike. Here's how the restoration worked:

  1. Tape baking: Mike "baked" the tapes to prepare them for hydrolysis and stabilize the magnetic material.
  2. Track transfer: For each reel, he created eight separate DBX-encoded 24-bit / 48kHz WAV files from the original 1/2" 8-track masters.
  3. Flat transfer: Mike transferred all audio tracks flat (no EQ, compression, or processing) so The Freeze Band could mix and master as they wished.
<h2>Gifting the music back</h2>

By March 2022, the project was complete.

Instead of waiting for his actual birthday, I gave my dad the digitized album early so he could reconnect with his bandmates, Roger, and the music itself. One member, Kim Dimmer (drums, percussion, vocals), had sadly passed away in 2014. This restoration was a tribute to his drumming.

<h2>Keeping the music alive</h2>

I hope these digitized tracks live on well beyond this moment, preserving the sound and spirit of The Freeze Band for generations.

Listen to Lon Miller's Freeze Band Mixes:

Credits

The Freeze Band Tom Luxem – Guitar, Vocals Lonnie Miller – Bass Guitar Marty Schlemeier – Pianos, Flute, Vocals Dave Miller – Lead Guitars, Vocals Kim Dimmer – Drums, Percussion, Vocals

Additional Credits Paul Christophanelli – Organ, Clavinet, Synthesizer Recorded at: Sunrise Soundworks Engineer: Roger Schmidt Produced by: The Freeze Band & Roger Schmidt Cover Design: Mimi Yanta Photography: Robert Zessis Technical Advisor: Rex Leonard Audio Restoration: Mike Konopka, Thundertone Audio

Special thanks to Paul Christophanelli, Cindy Staab, Gena Wade, Jim Messerli, and especially Al Ryan.

Keep Reading

← Back to The Strategic Brief