Earlier this year, Stax Records released WRITTEN IN THEIR SOUL: THE Stax Songwriter Demos, a whopping 146-collection of unearthed demos from the Stax vaults. 140 of the 146 tracks had never been released before. A project nearly 17 years in the making, this collection was compiled by GRAMMY-winning producer Cheryl Pawelski.

When it came to the tapes themselves, GRAMMY-winning audio engineer Michael Graves (Osiris Studios) was presented with the great challenge of restoring the recordings — some of which were damaged due to age or wear and tear. Here, Graves takes us behind the scenes of his process and explains what it was like to bring some of these recordings up to hi-resolution quality.

Listen below to hear him walk through one of the problems he encountered while restoring the demo version of “Either You Love Me Or Leave Me,” written by Homer Banks and Carl Hampton.

 

Check out the full WRITTEN IN THEIR SOUL project HERE, and stay tuned for more glimpses into the making of this epic collection!