Calypsonians

Audio Restoration and CD Cover Design

Music is a beautiful thing. I’ve been working on an audio restoration project lately. The group was called the Calypsonians and they played authentic Calypso. The recordings were made with a portable cassette recorder in the early sixties. My job was to transfer the audio from the original cassettes to a digital form (ultimately a CD) and do whatever I could to enhance the sound quality.

Calypsonians

Here is a short sample from a track called “Take Me Back To Jamaica.”

As well as the audio restoration, I also designed a cover for the CD. My idea for the CD cover design was to use as much historical material as possible. To accomplish this, I scanned in a couple photos of the band and took photos of the cassettes. I used one photo of the band for the cover and the other band photo on the inside. The lettering on the cover is actually the original handwriting from one of the cassettes.

Calypsonians CD Cover Design

The magnetic tapes were deteriorating, but now the music is safe in a digital form. I feel blessed to have gotten the chance to work with and restore a recording that’s nearly fifty years old.


Comments

5 responses to “Audio Restoration and CD Cover Design”

  1. Jacob Bell Avatar
    Jacob Bell

    hello, I’ve been doing some research into my routes, and apparently my granddad Joseph Clemendore born in trinidad moved to Jamaica and joined a band called the Calypsonians, used to perform at a hotel called The Montego Beach Hotel, when he had my mother they moved to the united kingdom, where my mother met my dad, I don’t need to explain the rest, I was born as well as my brother Charlie, we have music on our dads side but had no idea my mothers side was musically inclined! we are currently recording our first album, and I’d love to know any more information you may have about the band, like the members or a link to all of there music as I have none! he then moved onto becoming known as “Cobra Man” in a moving circus, I’m just fascinated at my history haha.

    1. Hi, Jacob,
      I am very interested in the figure of your grandfather. Please, could I contact you somehow? My email is annamelodia@hotmail.com.
      Thank you!

    2. Hi, Jacob,
      I was doing a research on Joseph Clemendore when I found your comment. I would like to talk to you about him (scholaris@icloud.com).
      Thank you!

    3. Lynette Gravesande Avatar
      Lynette Gravesande

      Hi – Patrick Gravesande who is now 63 I believe was the first child of Joseph Clemendore, His mother Doreen Gravesande had Patrick after meeting and having an affair with Joseph whilst on tour of the Caribbean she was a singer and he was a contortionists and tap dancer – at that time he danced with her brother-in-law Little Georgie (George Piercy) who were both from Guyana He was married to his manager at the time and so never married Doreen who was only 19 when she had Patrick. As you also have heard he was in a band but mainly was known for his Cobra man act and tap dancing. Patrick has been trying to look for any relatives of Joseph Clemendore for many years until recently he found one of his daughters Clementina Clemendore who was born and lives in Liverpool – are you any relation to this side of the family?

  2. I do calypso research and am very interested in getting a copy of this remastered cd and also I have a lot of clippings on Cobra Man and would be happy to share with Jacob Bell if he contacts me at rfunk99707@gmail.com

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