The Dick Tady Orchestra is no stranger to polka music and they’re no stranger to professional recording sessions. With over 16 professionally produced and recorded albums to their credit, with one being nominated for a Grammy Award and one of their single recordings being on a Grammy Winning album with Canada’s Polka King – Walter Ostanek, they decided it was time to bring some of those old dusty recordings out for a “spin” in the digital world.
The concept was simple; lets update the sounds of the first recording, from back in 1963, and everything since and clean up the pops and clicks that LP records have, or the mushy, worn, wavy sound of that old 8-Track or Cassette audio tape and give it a new sparkle. With that, “The Best of the DTO – The 5th Decade” series was born. But, they didn’t stop there.
The early days of recording for the DTO involved studios that only had 4 individual tracks to record all of the instruments and voices, which really handcuffed them as recording artists. While the recordings sounded good, it limited them on what options they had for adding any additional instrument or vocal parts. But, in today’s recording world, there are many more available tracks options that can be used. The DTO took the opportunity to open more tracks for some of the original songs and add additional tracks, enhancing the listening experience.