Using A.I. to remix a 40 year old band demo. Fostex X-15.

The original song video; • WAY OUT WEST - way out...

[@hunterrogersmusic]

This is what I like these AI assistance programs for. Not so much generative stuff, but being able to recover the once impossible.

[@hellishtimber]

AI really is an incredible tool. small point but this also "generative" as the model is making an educated guess at missing frequencies

[@mikeg2491]

@@hellishtimberI imagine you’re going to get a whole renaissance from the music studios remastering old Beatles, Stones & other albums to sound crystal clear and modern with no distortion. Probably will create controversy too so I got my popcorn ready

[@mikethebloodthirsty]

​@@mikeg2491already used AI on the Peter Jackson Beatles film. THAT'S where it works great... AI is often not actually AI... Its actually just non AI software repackaged... And used automatically without much input from the user.

[@kaivrock]

This sounds really good for being originally done on that Fostex

[@atomreader8162]

I had the same model Fostex. Got it around 1985-86. My stuff never sounded that good. Nicely done. Great use of modern software and AI. Your final mix sounded great!

[@Grump-wm1tp]

Great job! Just thought I'd mention that Audacity itself comes with stem-creation capability - it's a little fiddly to set up, but if you're already an Audacity user, essentially you install just another Audacity plug-in. It will split a standard "band" song into Drums, Bass, Vocals, Instruments. For anyone concerned about loading up their precious songs into unknown cloud sites and possibly having them "appropriated", this might be an alternative. My story: I just completed "transforming" a live mono recording of 25 tracks done back in 2000. Someone plugged an old cassette deck into the mixing desk, but it only recorded one channel. The singer's voice was really loud in the recording, and due to the auto-leveling in the cassette recorder, it drowned out a lot of the other music from time to time. So my starting point was a mono-recording of a six-piece band on a crappy tape deck playing live in a small party environment, and the full performance captured. I had already converted the tape to WAV a couple of years after it was recorded to make a CD, but it sounded crap. After fiddling with AI last year, I tried an online freebie first, but found Audacity was just as good for this job. I was totally blown away - suddenly, I could hear the drums properly and other instruments, and I could finally control the vocals - I was able to stereo-image the mix and use other tricks to EQ/compress/reverb each track, even fix/thicken some backing vocals; the end result is awesome compared to the original. Where it struggled in some songs was the bass - I think the combination of auto-leveling and the loud voice just erased a lot of it on the original - if I could be bothered, I could probably rebuild the bass lines myself LOL. The other bit was the "Instruments" track where on some tracks the lead guitar work was a bit lost against the rhythm guitar thanks to the poor mixing by the guy on the desk that night. I think online stem sites might do a better job of separating the "Instruments" into separate tracks. The piano and sax were likewise a bit too blended. I suppose I could try and load up that "Instruments" track into an AI stem site and see if it can parse out further, but I think I've done as much as I can be bothered - if it was a lost song from some incredibly famous band then probably worth the effort, but not for our little ensemble LOL!

[@popitinpete]

Thanks, I'll look for that plug-in.

[@TonysMusic1974]

Unless It's gotten considerably better, it's not nearly as good as the web-based AI programs like Moises.

[@wjec1970]

I was in a teenage rock band, and we had an X-15! We learned so much on that little machine...

[@RetroPlus]

That's amazing, truly one of the better uses for Ai I've seen

[@PaulMeUnder]

That's excellent Pete! Nice job. Might have to try and dig out some of my old tape demos and do the same.

[@popitinpete]

@@PaulMeUnder Thaks Paul. Wow, someone’s actually watched this. Yes, you should do this, it’s loads of fun. I’m considering paying for the full app which gives you many more divisions eg separate snare & kick.

[@PaulMeUnder]

@ I just miss you soothing voice Peter 😄

[@tonyfreeman1577]

Great vid. Just shared it to my old band/recording mate who still has his x15 and a ton of recordings

[@PocketSunlight]

I was attracted to this video because I used to have a Fostex X15 too and wore it out. I had many tapes worth of 4-tracks that I'd lost the ability to recover. A couple of years ago I bought another 4-track and, like you, transferred each track into a DAW (Reaper, in my case). Part of my reason for doing so, was not necessarily to remix these tracks, but to work out what I wrote/played, so I could record them afresh, with modern equipment. Although many of these recordings are sonically substandard, they are immensely important to the creator, because they transport one back to that moment of creation (I used to create as I recorded, rather than record an already arranged track). I've also, dabbled with a.i. (for recordings I've not had the 4-tracks just my original mixdowns) but have found the a.i. currently lacking in assisting me to break apart layers of synths. Clearly Peter Jacksons work on the Beatles recordings demonstrate there is the ability out there to get things profoundly separated - I hope for a time when the masses (or at least me!) can also do so - there's some decent tracks I've written that I haven't a clue what I played! Thanks for sharing your process.

[@gordonmckiernan4725]

This is great! Love your DIY ethic.

[@mindwizard3632]

Im glad I stayed for the whole video because the remixed/remasterd/reimagined videomashup is just awesome. If you wanna grow your channel you should tease some of that in the beginning and more ppl will stay and end up liking and subscribing as I did. Keep it up bro! peace out

[@donaldburnet6948]

Heck yeah! Nice work, I dig the song and the video is great. I have several dozen songs of my own from back in the day onfour track cassette, sounds like this will be a great tool for me to use to remix them and make them sound decent.

[@johnhunter4181]

Great result. Apple's Logic has a Stem Splitter built in which can split a stereo song into vocals, percussion, bass and 'other' - it worked really well on my Tascam 244 tapes.

[@jcsolomon6470]

I Wanted one of these back in the day!I do Still Have a Teac 4 Track in original box,pristine condition,got it in Fall of 95!Wow,30 years!😮🐯😎❣

[@mowler8042]

That's the machine I started with! such a fun video thank you

[@cph2004]

I love videos like this. I get to see and hear how people used old equipment.

[@darkstatehk]

This is a great video on why I also love AI to rejuvenate my old compositions. That said, I’d just like to add my two pence on this, as I’ve been down the AI audio rabbit hole myself. Basically, for music you originally created and still own outright, you would continue to own the copyright after using AI websites like FADR or similar services. That's unless you’ve specifically agreed to different terms in a contract (for example, when using a free service as is the case here.) For most independent bands and musicians like yourselves, the original copyright remains with you. However, since this AI tool did such a great job and I loved the end result, a “free” service is ultimately not truly free in this sense I would argue, because someone, somewhere, will be using YOUR music to train some other model. Just be cautious, the critical part is that you don't relinquish ownership on your original material. Again, I love the new version!

[@bigfatlazydork]

Make another video on how you EQ’d, compressed, delayed, and reverbed these tracks.

[@IanScanlanMusic-wf9kd]

What a revolutionary device that X-15 was. Like you, I spent hours and hours of recording on that machine. The biggest consideration was what cassette tape to record on. Metal tapes were the most sought after but were quite expensive. I also bought myself a Fostex X-26 4 track which was great too.

[@moorbilt]

I jumped to the end Great trackjob

[@StevoLloyds]

Nice vid and great sounding track that would be release quality back in the days of the Stray Cats etc.

[@eddiebirkett9602]

we did many many demos on the road with the x 15 , great investment . we would overdub the drums in the bar after hours or in the morning before the bar opened , after it was bounced , then a feed from the foh mix board of the drums

[@davewestner]

Nice to be able to split these out, but man, the original recordings sound really good. Nice job. Always happy to meet another X15 user. Cut my teeth on that machine. I think it was more fun recording with that than it ever was with 2" tape.

[@rayjayvids]

Well done sir, a lotta prep yet impossible without the stem separation, I love the result 👍

[@gilberthernandez1264]

I must say this is one of the coolest vids I have seen In a while..nice job... and cool Trac and vid...

[@darrenkaskie2648]

Great to see this video. Good job! This is what AI should be used for. I've been doing a similar thing using the Moises AI app to separate stereo mixes into stems to remix songs recorded over 20 years ago. It's worked a treat.

[@WilliamAshleyOnline]

Yeah I never knew what to do with it, I spend years thinking abou it. 40 years later. Yo AI what you think of this. 3 seconds later, AI: Done.

[@davidlincolnbrooks]

I had that same Fostex unit back in 1983!

[@destinyreturns4885]

I was doing the same thing in the early 70's with a Teac 3340S. Boy those were great times....

[@dr.feelicks2051]

Dolby b that actually worked!. Never found that with stereo hifi decks. This was Surprisingly transparent as I recall

[@rodrigobelinchon2982]

just my thoughts, I think this decks runs tape at double speed, that surely helps

[@dozerblade]

That was good, I also started on a X15 in 1984 , I also had the small mixer compressor that fostex made to go with the recorder, and I listen to some of my recordings from back then and the quality was very respectable. I use a portastudio 24 SD now, but I think I had more fun on that old machine, and funny enough I think they cost the same, about £400 !

[@foto21]

I had a Fostex X-15 but got rid of it years ago. I digitized various 4 track recordings through a regular cassette deck, (ending up with 2 tracks in reverse), and flipped two of the tracks around to rebuild mixes. It was cool to hear them, but I have found it unlikely to generate bigger mixes from these, but who knows, maybe it will be possible with some AI work. So far I have found AI separation of 2 track recordings etc, to be less than fantastic. A LOT of warble. However, the best results of resurrecting old band recordings were OF COURSE, made from 16 track (and a few 8 track) studio tapes, which I sent off to get digitized. Did some kick and snare replacement and ran the guitars and bass through VSTs, and added new vocals, and voila, resurrected songs with mixes that sound pretty darn good! So at least I got my money's worth spent on that studio time years ago.

[@MoonhareStudio]

Thanks for this, a true blast from the past. I still have my X15 which was a step up from bouncing from one mono cassette to the next! Also have the tiny outboard mixer and compressor but unfortunately the drive band on the recorder is knackered 😢.

[@jerrymckenzie1858]

I just got a flashback when I saw that Fostex!

[@zcarm]

Cool video, thanks for sharing, I still own 2 Fostex X-15, one still original from the 80th, they were pretty pricey that time. Then got another one from eBay. But now both are not working anymore, even though a technician had a look both of them. Stereo messed up and on both the LEDs are not 100% working anymore. A pity as I still have so many master audio tapes from the 80th...I hope one day, one guy can fix them...

[@ViewMyBits]

Sounds great. I had a fostex -15 too as a kid, so this was cool to see, thx!

[@Wibble99O]

Great project, really enjoyed that. I have an old band tape stashed away somewhere, getting me thinking.

[@luismartinez6408]

My uncle found the tascam 244 in the dumpster. He gave it to me. I used it to record even though the tape player didn’t work I hooked it up to my interface. It sounded very rich and sparkly.

[@sutorguitarsbytondewit6854]

wow, seeing that Fostex X 15 brings back memory's, my first multitracker, then a A8 reel recorder and now digital Roland 18 track

[@george_slipstream_atlantis]

Great vid. I literally just did this with an old 1980 stereo cassette recording of one of our old tunes. Not as polished and due to the source recording quality, I had to / was able to replace some elements. I used Splitter AI though as Fadr seems to require a subs in order to down load.

[@Chrispy01a]

I had one of these back in the day also. Great little machine. My first experience with a multi track was the hire of a Tascam 244. Great times!

[@made_by_chris]

I have this exact 4 track sitting on my desk. It was bought new by my pops. Cool to see someone using one in 2025

[@AllanGildea]

Great job! And cracking wee song and video, too.

[@JamesPeachMusic]

From a 4 track with bounces, amazing! One thing, separate with UVR5, free AI software which runs locally, no sign-up, login etc. Even has de-reverb which worked great on solo'd vocals for me.

[@graysynther2169]

Great recovery, considering it’s from tape! Might give that a go on some old country originals I wrote in a country band called RedEye, back in the mental line dance Craze days..good time & music.

[@lespaul2550]

Sweet!!! I thought I was the only one who kept their X-15 from the 80's. My Leading Edge Model "D" PC from back then had a Roland MPU-401 MIDI interface with tape sync so I always used track 4 for time code. Just to improve the S/N ratio, I'd always keep the speed knob cranked to +15%. I had it connected to an Alesis 1622 mixer with a pair of Alesis 3630's, Alesis MIDIVerb II, Alesis QuadraVerb+ and a DeltaLab Effectron Jr. delay. All this through a Furman HA-6 headphone amp that had 20 watts per channel speaker outputs into a pair of Alesis Monitor One speakers. My mixdown deck was a stereo Kenwood DAT recorder. I've still got that but it's got a broken belt. Wow all that stuff sounded like poop (except the DAT recorder)... but it worked and was a great learning experience. You've probably inspired me to dig in the closet and break mine out again just to see if it's belt is still in tact. I replaced it once from dry rot but that was decades ago. I've still got ALL that outboard gear in a the closet. Just don't have the heart to throw it out yet.

[@popitinpete]

@@lespaul2550 Ha, same for me with using max varispeed. I can’t help thinking I was at my most creative using that old thing. 😎

[@AFRoSHEENT3ARCMICHAEL69]

Man I remember those devices and I remember when I got a digital one too and now were mostly on computers. Crazy

[@bukyld]

I had that Tascam Portastudio. Exactly that one. Had so much fun.

[@giltrahan]

1985 the Fostex X15 was my first multitrack recorder. What a workhorse. I still have all my original cassette tapes. I will have to try this AI program.

[@jason.martin]

Wow, so cool, I love AI for this kind of stuff. SOunds great !

[@UnderDarkSkies]

Awesome! I really like this work 👍👍👍

[@zedxxx9]

I've got lots old demos and experiments where it's so nice that I could now remove a bum track or a lousy vocal thing I sang onto an otherwise cool reference recording, which could now be salvaged and integrated with a properly vocal and other instrumentation. So many old cassette tapes I need to work my way through to see what's worth preserving.

[@GiulianoDiaz-cn2rd]

That's a pretty good song

[@JD247-p1x]

This was a monster throughout the entire 90s

[@drillbag]

I have been using A.i software on my multi-track drum recordings, it's great for cleaning up the overheads and tom mics, it also works brilliantly on vocal tracks for removing spill from other instruments.

[@BeesWaxMinder]

Can TOTALLY Relate... Man After My Own Heart!

[@alextirrellRI]

Fun project. I have so much legacy band stuff I want to create stems and clean up with AI tools. There's a couple other ones that can split out more -- Moises AI and Lalal AI. You need to use the paid options to try them, and as with anything success varies. Having 4 tracks to work with here goes a long way to a cleaner separation!

[@sharonlee4773]

I love it,great job! Tho I confess - you lost me at Folder!

[@rumginray]

Very cool - I might have to try this on some of my tracks... It would be good to hear at least part of the original mix. Unless I missed it somehow.

[@johnjohnCDN]

I spent 1,000s of hours on my x-15. Way to go, man.

[@kaislivesoundchannel4706]

The X 15 was my first 4 track as well, always had problems with that mechanical punch in balloon😂

[@Plazman]

I picked up a Tascam Portastudio in the late 80s for $300. Unheard of deal, they were usually twice that, but this was when DECK II and other digital workstations were coming into being. Amazingly, the little guy has held its value?!? I see them for $300-400 now. Crazy.

[@pedrodepacas4335]

Bravo on the mix!!! Sounds better to me than the original video mix. From a cassette. Yup.

[@neurosonica.official]

omg omg omg omg omg !!!!!!!! i had one! and also still have a peavey TNT130 similar to yours

[@fraser3186]

Very good think I will dig out my old tapes and gives this a try Thanks

[@robbrown3543]

Sounds pretty good

[@joeydendron]

I used to have a Fostex X 26! I fucking love certain specific objects!

[@wjec1970]

I've still got an X-26! I might dig it out now...

[@Tuscarora]

I had the Tascam Porta-1 ministudio. But I stupidly gave it away after I started using a Tascam 8 track studio and the Korg D1600.... and now I have all these 4 track cassettes with all kinds of old songs I was working on, on them and can't play them.

[@someblokeontheinternet]

Those were the days - when you had to be inventive with the 4 track, overdubbing, mixing down, etc. My school (mid 80s) had a Tascam Portastudio and a Yamaha drum machine - I had hours of fun making stuff in the school music studio and even taking it home for recordings. I don't think I have any tapes that survived from that time though.

[@TheOriginalStubbs1967Sauce]

I used to own a Fostex X26 it was awesome at the time 👍🏼😎🇨🇦

[@markkinnon4866]

I've still got my Tascam 244 🙂

[@kerryhagan8152]

I rue the day I binned my Fostex 280. Nice video.

[@davidowen3543]

This is excellent! Unfortunately my old Fostex seems to have seized up, but I have managed to transfer my old songs onto GarageBand via my Dad’s old stereo.

[@Heaven-dy9lj]

Excellent. i have some demos from 92/93, will try this.

[@analogkid4557]

Sounds excellent!

[@MePeterNicholls]

They were expensive eh

[@brubakersflatcakes9755]

I happen to have an old tape that might be perfect for this treatment.

[@darrenruiz6904]

Funny I stumbled on this video. I just got one of these from a storage find. Its is in Immaculate Condition it came in the original Fostex Carry bag/Case. I imagine it works but i dont have a power supply. It has a weird battery pack. It came with an Elton John Cassette . Cheers nice video

[@batphink2655]

I bought the competition the Tascam Porta 1 and loved it lol.

[@feralkid1879]

Me too, and those things were like $400 if I remember right. Graduated up to a Fostex R-8 reel, which was around $2200. Wore that machine out in about 3 years. It was a very cool machine but really didn't sound that much better than the x-15 cassette.

[@Jamman610]

My Tascam and Fostex both died. Still have the box o tapes. I wrote more songs & instrumentals back then than I do now. For the live basement jams I used two Radio Shack PZM MICs in ch 3 & 4 & monitor out from the Sound Craft mixer to ch 1 & 2 for the vocals & overhead drum MICs . Amps were loud enough to be picked up on the PZM MICs. Sounds pretty good. I have tinnitus now. Wonder why.

[@lambretatuga]

Tanks for sharing.Amazing!

[@morrinsville23]

I bought one back in the 90's loved my x15.. noisey bugger but got my bands albums done

[@tomblaze2]

sounds amazing -

[@Dark-Sky-Park]

I had an X-15 in 1988. To give you an idea, it was £240 then!

[@MikMech]

AI the Video as well... ? Kudos on implementing this type of project.

[@Tristanrgreene11]

This is dope man!

[@arothmanmusic]

I did something similar with my bands's demo, although ours was recorded on a digital four track. Now I'm thinking I need to dig out my Porta07 tapes!

[@slawaschwed]

Very cool! Late 1980s Yamaha 4-track man here ))) Still got the tapes, no machine though

[@Timkast]

Nice work! Wish I saved stuff. 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@Hammerman48]

It’s amazing what we can do now…..compared to what we had back then.

[@royaltyfreemusiccollective8662]

Sounds great !..I was posh..had the X28H lol

[@Jarrettfan]

I like the sound of it

[@Mr77pro]

I've still got my X-15!!!

[@julianp4787]

We didn't get to hear the original mix

[@RevIsnot]

yeah would have tied the whole thing together! haha

[@popitinpete]

Fair point. To be honest, I hadn't remixed this in the Fostex for decades but quality would've been ok. It's more about the fun of processing 8 tracks rather than 4. ;-)

[@SickAcousticCovers]

Im doing the same thing right now with a demo i made with my high school band on an adat recorder 25 years ago!

[@sublime_]

Technology is amazing these days. it’s getting scary good

[@garyphillips725]

I bought an X-15 new and I still have mine as well! Question though... Seems as though you did a lot of merging without the benefit of your DAW to spice up the tracks before merging. Maybe you felt it wouldn't be that beneficial? Do you think you gained some noise reduction, as in, did the AI software leave a little of the noise behind as it extracted the instrumentation? The end result does speak for itself and I definitely may end up trying this on some of my old four track cassettes. I remember I went from the fostex X-15 to the Fostex 8-track on 1/4" tape to an 8-track Tascam on 1/2" tape. Still have the Tascam as well but I must say it's collecting dust... well I do have it covered. Cheers! 😜

[@jasperchance3382]

Interesting

[@cl1xor]

The x15 was 300 pounds in 1983 on release, that would be around 1000 pounds today!