its a mix of VI and real instrumentation. The bass guitar is real, the acoustic plucking similar to 1 min 1:13 marker is a VI, the chord strum every once in a while is an acoustic 6 string.
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This is my earliest recording that is still intact. This was from high school recorded in my bedroom, obviously live in one take, into CoolEdit. I was on drums.
This one I did for a mixing contest a couple years ago. I played all instruments (yes, drums are sampled. I’m not any better at drums now than I was in high school). Vocals are my friend Mark Richey.
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Brilliant - I love the way it goes all “Back to The Future” around 2:30, then just keeps on going!.. away into the prog rock wilderness!
I remember this one - awesome song! 
OK, I’ve been chicken up to now, but I’ll go next. (I think I may actually have the oldest recording too!) After college, around 1988 or so, I was in a band and we picked up a Tascam 8-Track cassette recorder - and let me tell you, this thing was the schiznit! (Although you really had dubious quality stuffing all of those tracks onto a cassette.)
I recorded this song weekend and played everything, including the HR16 Drum Machine that’s still in my basement. 
(Pardon the quality - it was recorded to cassette, mixed down to cassette, and copied over to a cassette, then eventually converted to an mp3.)
It’s called “Words Can’t Say”:
Here’s a band project using the same machine circa 1989 right before we all parted ways. We tracked the drums through a mixing board and onto the Tascam. Same with the vocal so we could use the reverb off the board. I played bass and the snazzy keyboard parts. 
Sweet Innocence:
Fast forward a few decades to 2015 and my son’s music teacher tracked this song for me that I had written for my Mom. He played the drums and cello. This was my introduction to digital recording and a DAW. I was hooked!
Who Will Wipe The Tears:
I picked up Studio One and to learn my new DAW, I started to redo some of our old band songs and needed a singer. I looked up my old band mate from 20+ years ago and got him back into recording in the process. We collaborated on this EP. Rather than try to decide whose mix should go on the EP, we each put our own mix on there. The first one was pretty much done when my pal started collaborating, so he didn’t do a mix of that one. (Mixes 1,3 and 5 are mine. Mixes 2 and 4 are his.)
Finally, here’s a tune I did with my then 15 year-old son. He’s more into that electronic computer music stuff and did the keyboard-y things. We bounced between FL Studio (his DAW) and Studio One which is where I mixed it.
Now, after a year plus of “immersive” mixing, I’m ready to start creating again. (…and to stop buying plugins!) Hopefully I’ll have some “bashable” stuff before too long!
What a great site this is! Thanks to all of you who are so generous with your knowledge and talents! Cheers!
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Nice - kind of a “bass taking the lead” instrumental
Sweet! - funky rhythms - great bassline - great hook! A pretty decent recording for the time too!
Wow, nice step up in quality - love the live cello. The song has a cool storytelling vibe too.
Prog-rocky vibe happening - Really enjoyed “Standing There”.
Very nice stuff - great to have music in common!
Amen, Bro - Looking forward to it!
Thanks Andrew! I’m glad you enjoyed “Standing There”. That was one where I really went crazy with the whole “digital recording” thing. I took the original drum beat intro from the cassette and programmed it using MT Power Drums. (A FREE drum program in case anyone is unaware). Then I spliced up the original drum intro from the cassette and created a parallel drum track that I ran throughout the song. So the intro is just the cassette recording which I compressed the crap out of to sound like John Bonham, then I blended in the programmed drums with my “original drum track”. So for that particular song, the 3 of us original band members got to play together again (virtually). Fun stuff! 
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Cool - I love hearing stories like that! Thanks for sharing.
If anyone is interested in downloading them: http://www.powerdrumkit.com/
EDITED TO ADD: I started a thread about this plugin here: http://www.indierecordingdepot.com/t/mt-power-drum-kit-2/3036
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BTW Andrew, the quality and attention to detail on your recordings is amazing - all the way back to your 4-track! Respect! 
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Thanks Mike… however, the 4 track stuff makes me cringe - analogue recording limitations notwithstanding, there are some clams in there that I should have fixed. That said, (usually as a result of often using borrowed equipment and instruments) I was always so limited by time and opportunity back then.
I came back to listen to this one. What/who/where is this song? I’m a sucker for a good guitar delay! Good singer too! I’d love to read a “case study” on this one too! 
Thanks Mike - Glad you liked it enough to take a second listen!
The song is called “Bulldozer” - I wrote it around 92 or 93.
Yours truly playing / singing all but the drums - they were played by Paul, the drummer in my old band.
It’s from my album that I’m saving up to have mastered now.
Thanks Mike, that’s very kind of you to say - but TBH my energy for description at that level of detail is a bit depleted these days.
As much as I enjoy actually doing those write-ups, they are extremely time-consuming… And while it’s always thrilling to get enthusiastic responses from people such as yourself, I get the feeling for the most part that the average reader can’t really be bothered with the printed word in any extended format these days.
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Well done and many kudos!
My “request” was really tongue in cheek, because I realize full well what a herculean effort you put into writing up that case study that you shared with us. (That is why I copied it off this forum and put it into a Google Doc - so I can refer to it whenever my brain has enough capacity to soak up some more useful and practical tips. ) Many many thanks for doing that!
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+1 for this… it’s an enormous investment of time to do such a thing, and we do appreciate it Andrew! And totally understand that it is a rarity, for sure. 
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I was just wondering if you had considered mastering it yourself? You’d have the best idea of what the end result should be, no?
And after mastering will you self-publish, kind of like what ptalbot seems to be doing?
Yes, I have - It would certainly save me some money. However, I’ve come to the conclusion that a third party would really benefit the process. A little while back, I purposefully posted a blind listening test for this specific reason - to decide whether getting an ME’s input was worth it:
The results of that test convinced me that it was.
Of course, & I still will be ultimately in control of the final mixes, because I have to approve what the ME does.
Yes, at least that’s the plan.
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Yes, now I remember the listening test, duh! Smart way to do it, and it stands to reason that an outside specialist could bring good things to the project. I’ll look forward to the album!
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I copied Andrew’s case study as well… 
@ColdRoomStudio I also have a 41!!! page case study you did 5-6 years ago on RR on the song “Clockwork Clown”.
If anyone is interested I could gladly send it to him.
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Another case study?? YES!! Please send it to me. Thanks in advance!
Oh wow, really? Now that’s a blast from the past - The Slate Cup circa 2012! I thought it was forever lost to the Internet purgatory that was Recording Review!