Rob Scallon Records a Metal Band on 100 Year-Old Equipment

I’m always interested in old technology, mostly because I enjoy how ridiculous it can be and I like the character of old stuff. So, naturally, I had to watch Rob Scallon’s latest, a video of him laying down a metal track with really old recording equipment. How old, you ask? So old that the recording device has Thomas Edison’s name on it. So old that in the instruction manual you’re encouraged to lubricate some bearings with spit. So old you have to impress your sound into wax. So old that… well, you get the idea. Old as balls.

Watching the process astounds me, and I find myself wondering not how all of this works but how people figured this shit out in the first place. Firstly, how does one make soap from aluminum — and how does one even get the idea for that? Then, who the hell thinks they can record sounds into said soap and play those sounds back through wax? I’m impressed by the ingenuity of thought, and I’m also impressed that the same people who invented this stuff will tell you to just fuckin’ spit on the needle and call it good.

Scallon tells MetalSucks that he chose a song in the style of deathcore for this experiment because of its slow nature, which he figured (correctly) would still produce a coherent-sounding final product.

Check out this weird and awesome experience below, along with a previously released video that goes more in-depth on the setup.