Yesterday I was talking to my mom reminiscing about the past. I recall every experience from setting up nolit's studio to my current project studio (still called nolit's studio). In the 90s, everyone were venturing into setting up a rehersal studio and making money while having fun. I was setting my sights on a recording studio. I successfully did run my own studio sacrificing my own living room. Later I got into partnership to make the business grow and built the Purple Music Studio. But all these have ceased toward the late 90s. I have concentrated in my band gigging nightly thus giving me no more time for the recording business.
Now looking back from my long absense in the scene, I realized that somehow I did influenced a few one way or the other in setting up their own studios. I know hazel, a drummer of Sky Chubibo after recording a demo in my studio got inspired with my premier drums that she called me up the following day asking where I bought the drums. I learned later on she actually did acquired a Premier Fusion kit (mine was an ATK kit). She now runs a successful digital recording studio in fairview called the soundkitchen where she has a long list of clienteles.
Raymund Kutch, a folk singer at mayrics and recording artist for alpha with his band blusero, used to brin in clients to my studio for a demo. He now runs Jamtraxx in recto with 3 rehersal studios and one digital recording.
My old buddy Rey Cantong who was our drummer in the first batch of Gladys and the Boxers with K, now fronts the popular group Six Part Invention or SPI. He also has his own project studio at home running high end equiptment supplying audio for shows on ABS CBN, mostly on ASAP.
Recently I also learned recently that a client of nolit's studio had also set up his own recording studio called bedside recording. His name is choy gargantiel who used to play for a high school band noxious.
It is amazing that all these studios became successful. Still I wont forget the note my friend alfie left in my blog, all these technology boils to nothing if no creativity come out from the people who are recording. All these are just tools used in order to bring out the talents which God has given to us. Probably part of my purpose in life was to inspire others to build these tools. Now on to the next part, by creating more successful projects, I may encourage more to bring out their talents to better use. Make Good music and never stop!
Monday, June 30, 2008
The DI and my first gig
I am currently recording guitar tracks on a project. Mapping out the track assignment, I realized I needed a signal splitter or a direct injection box to be specific.I wanted to lay-in a dry guitar track and another which is processed thru a multieffects floor unit. Luckily I was able to buy a Behringer Ultra-DI DI20 from ebay at a cheaper price. I got more than what I bargained for since this thing can function in two modes - as a two channel DI box and as a splitter (link mode). And it is active, which means the signal become more managable by my digital interface pre amp.
Now I remember my first encounter with a DI box. When I was very young and in school, I belong to an inter-collegiate organization of visual artists called LUNA, mostly students of fine arts in different universities around Metro Manila. As a cultural group and affiliate of a larger student movement, our group would often work on visual effects for several student activities such as concerts and conferences. We were the people behind the stage of Joey Ayala's Awit ng Tanod Lupa Concert tour sponsored by the CCP. Joey Ayala would even jokingly call us Joey Ayala at ang bagong Luna. With several lull moments in painting visual arts, the group would often embark into jamming using whatever instrument is available.
Early Jammings
Jet had an electric guitar and a bass guitar at home in pritil, tondo, so we plug both into an old cabinet type phonograph player. We made a makeshift drums out of kiddie toys and water jugs. Later on we were able to reherse on a rehersal studio as we realized we can actually perform as a band. Being with a group of creative people, it is very clear that original musical compositions are plenty.
Playing them while working visual effects made the songs heared by officers of cause oriented organizations -and so the lyrics and music are criticized and refined. Luna was then active with another student cultural group called sining. And the collective started planning out performances to display its collection of "well-deliberated" original musical compositions. The first gig was supposed to be in UP Manila as an intermission to a conference of the college editor's guild of which I am also an officer. But technical problems and lack of time didnt make the gig happen.
The First Gig
The real first gig was a lagare. There was a campus fair at UST and we were the first group to perform that afternoon in the open air grounds outside the CAFA building. We had an hour and a half to perform and we only rehearsed a few songs. So we ended up jamming songs that we knew from songhits. . mostly new wave stuff. The audience responded with a lot of dancing mainly because we knew almost all of them. (hehehehe) The gig ended up at around 5pm as more bands had to perform and we have to run to San Sebastian for another gig.
The second gig that night was a big concert billed by then big bands - HAYP, Introvoyz and UMD. We were to do the front act. Since we came from a gig on UST on foot and it was getting late, we had to run inside San Sebastian. The audience were now lined up outside the auditorium and as they saw us running up into the building they started screaming. It looks like they mistook us for another well known band as we were running with our instruments going into the backstage. My first taste of fame however feign it seems (lol).
We got on backstage and the bands have already finished their soundcheck. I remember noel mendez was there to tell us that we can now change our clothes in the backstage as there was no time for soundcheck anymore. I saw his guitar lying at the back of the drums and it was my first close up look at a real ibanez guitar. We had not brought any clothes so how we look like is what you get - from running all the way from UST. But, hey we are an aktibista band so the haggared look seems appropriate. You can call it the proletarian look.
The DI Experience
And so the show has to start and auditorium suddenly was full of 3,000+ students. We positioned ourselves on stage and started setting up our gear. Back then I was unfamiliar with any big concert set up. All I knew was to plug my bass to the amp and start cranking. Since there was something plugged on the amp, I took it off and wooooong sounded all over the house which I ignored as I proceeded in plugging in my bass to the amp and started tuning. I recall a lot of technicians were all over the stage as our guitarists was having his own technical problems too. But I could hear myself on my own amp and so I was comfortable now and wanted to play on. Our singer, Buboy, had to do several spiels since the technical problem took almost 5 minutes or more. He told me later that it was difficult for him to make those spiels as he came from that school and just recently drop out - and then he has to face his teachers, administrators and classmates who were in the audience. Finally the guitar worked and the gig started rolling. In the middle of the first song, a technician realized my mistake as my guitar doesnt go through the house mix, and started fixing the connections. This is how I learned about a DI box. The gig was a success and the 3,000 + audience was very cool to respond to our compositions. Even the members of hayp and introvoyz gave us positive comments.
So What is A DI?
A direct box is used to convert an unbalanced signal to a balanced signal which can be handled easily by any mixing console and could match up with all the other signals thus making the mix easier. A balanced signal consist of three lines on three wire cables (positive, negative and ground), against the unbalanced that consists only of signal and ground. Usually balanced lines run on xlr plugs (used on conventional microphones) or standard stereo phono plugs (1/4) called TRS or tip-ring-sleeve (tip=hot or positive, ring- cold or negative and sleeve=ground). Guitars are high impedance signals with unbalanced outs. So they need to be converted to balanced signals for the mixer to handle. Thus a DI works as a converter between the guitar and the mixer. The DI also commonly works as a splitter as another output (unbalanced or link) feeds the signal to an amplifier so the guitarist can monitor his playing. But in some cases, the DI is not used on guitarists as a mic in front of the guitar amp speaker can deliver a warmer tone for the mix. A bassist needs a di as the low signal can only be enhanced on an active balanced line.
I dont want to go technical any further. You can always research on the use of DI by searching thru google. This ends my story on my first encounter with the DI .... which was actually my first gig.
Now I remember my first encounter with a DI box. When I was very young and in school, I belong to an inter-collegiate organization of visual artists called LUNA, mostly students of fine arts in different universities around Metro Manila. As a cultural group and affiliate of a larger student movement, our group would often work on visual effects for several student activities such as concerts and conferences. We were the people behind the stage of Joey Ayala's Awit ng Tanod Lupa Concert tour sponsored by the CCP. Joey Ayala would even jokingly call us Joey Ayala at ang bagong Luna. With several lull moments in painting visual arts, the group would often embark into jamming using whatever instrument is available.
Early Jammings
Jet had an electric guitar and a bass guitar at home in pritil, tondo, so we plug both into an old cabinet type phonograph player. We made a makeshift drums out of kiddie toys and water jugs. Later on we were able to reherse on a rehersal studio as we realized we can actually perform as a band. Being with a group of creative people, it is very clear that original musical compositions are plenty.
Playing them while working visual effects made the songs heared by officers of cause oriented organizations -and so the lyrics and music are criticized and refined. Luna was then active with another student cultural group called sining. And the collective started planning out performances to display its collection of "well-deliberated" original musical compositions. The first gig was supposed to be in UP Manila as an intermission to a conference of the college editor's guild of which I am also an officer. But technical problems and lack of time didnt make the gig happen. The First Gig
The real first gig was a lagare. There was a campus fair at UST and we were the first group to perform that afternoon in the open air grounds outside the CAFA building. We had an hour and a half to perform and we only rehearsed a few songs. So we ended up jamming songs that we knew from songhits. . mostly new wave stuff. The audience responded with a lot of dancing mainly because we knew almost all of them. (hehehehe) The gig ended up at around 5pm as more bands had to perform and we have to run to San Sebastian for another gig.
The second gig that night was a big concert billed by then big bands - HAYP, Introvoyz and UMD. We were to do the front act. Since we came from a gig on UST on foot and it was getting late, we had to run inside San Sebastian. The audience were now lined up outside the auditorium and as they saw us running up into the building they started screaming. It looks like they mistook us for another well known band as we were running with our instruments going into the backstage. My first taste of fame however feign it seems (lol).
We got on backstage and the bands have already finished their soundcheck. I remember noel mendez was there to tell us that we can now change our clothes in the backstage as there was no time for soundcheck anymore. I saw his guitar lying at the back of the drums and it was my first close up look at a real ibanez guitar. We had not brought any clothes so how we look like is what you get - from running all the way from UST. But, hey we are an aktibista band so the haggared look seems appropriate. You can call it the proletarian look.
The DI Experience
And so the show has to start and auditorium suddenly was full of 3,000+ students. We positioned ourselves on stage and started setting up our gear. Back then I was unfamiliar with any big concert set up. All I knew was to plug my bass to the amp and start cranking. Since there was something plugged on the amp, I took it off and wooooong sounded all over the house which I ignored as I proceeded in plugging in my bass to the amp and started tuning. I recall a lot of technicians were all over the stage as our guitarists was having his own technical problems too. But I could hear myself on my own amp and so I was comfortable now and wanted to play on. Our singer, Buboy, had to do several spiels since the technical problem took almost 5 minutes or more. He told me later that it was difficult for him to make those spiels as he came from that school and just recently drop out - and then he has to face his teachers, administrators and classmates who were in the audience. Finally the guitar worked and the gig started rolling. In the middle of the first song, a technician realized my mistake as my guitar doesnt go through the house mix, and started fixing the connections. This is how I learned about a DI box. The gig was a success and the 3,000 + audience was very cool to respond to our compositions. Even the members of hayp and introvoyz gave us positive comments.
So What is A DI?
A direct box is used to convert an unbalanced signal to a balanced signal which can be handled easily by any mixing console and could match up with all the other signals thus making the mix easier. A balanced signal consist of three lines on three wire cables (positive, negative and ground), against the unbalanced that consists only of signal and ground. Usually balanced lines run on xlr plugs (used on conventional microphones) or standard stereo phono plugs (1/4) called TRS or tip-ring-sleeve (tip=hot or positive, ring- cold or negative and sleeve=ground). Guitars are high impedance signals with unbalanced outs. So they need to be converted to balanced signals for the mixer to handle. Thus a DI works as a converter between the guitar and the mixer. The DI also commonly works as a splitter as another output (unbalanced or link) feeds the signal to an amplifier so the guitarist can monitor his playing. But in some cases, the DI is not used on guitarists as a mic in front of the guitar amp speaker can deliver a warmer tone for the mix. A bassist needs a di as the low signal can only be enhanced on an active balanced line.
I dont want to go technical any further. You can always research on the use of DI by searching thru google. This ends my story on my first encounter with the DI .... which was actually my first gig.
I am looking for something 2
There are several tricks on how to look for music over the internet. Since I am not an expert in searching hard to find music (I leave it to the experts at h2f forum... specially to jane who's searching skills still amaze me), but I know a little html and a little google tricks, I created a page for my use. But I want to share it with all of you so you can also utilize this tool.
The search page has several options. The main page will search on common sites where most music are located. I will be updating the tools once in a while. There are three other options which are the multiply music search, the blogspot search and torrent search. I am sure there are other ways to look for music. I am open for suggestions and comments.
Click this to go to the page.
Thanks to the staff of musicph for allowing me to use a subdomain off their hosting account thus assuring me of bandwidth availability. Thanks to people who taught me tricks on google custom search.
The search page has several options. The main page will search on common sites where most music are located. I will be updating the tools once in a while. There are three other options which are the multiply music search, the blogspot search and torrent search. I am sure there are other ways to look for music. I am open for suggestions and comments.
Click this to go to the page.
Thanks to the staff of musicph for allowing me to use a subdomain off their hosting account thus assuring me of bandwidth availability. Thanks to people who taught me tricks on google custom search.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Looking for Randolf Fantone (leowai)
For all these years I have been searching for this person by the name of Randolf Fantone. He is also know as Leo (half of the Leowai duo).
Leo has left dozens of compositions, mostly potential hits in my demo pile. We used to record a lot of songs in my old 4-track studio before. We even have a project with delcy, a young singer whom we were supposed to produce an album. All songs for the project are still with me.
Leo is an accomplished songwriter with hits such as "nakangiti" sang by michelle samesa and one song by ric segreto. He had hits also with the band leowai, one which was included in the a dozen alternatives album and another in the christmas on the rocks album. He is also a folk singer doing gigs in the malate area playing acoustic or sometimes on a sequencer.
Last time I talked to leo was when he was going to palawan for a folk stint in a resort. I wasnt sure for how long the contract was. I have heared of the story that one time leo was so frustrated with how things are turning around his life that he went to the breakwater in luneta and smashed his Martin acoustic guitar which was a gift to him by a foriegn fan. I have asked his old partner Wai who now plays for carlo aquino's band, and he never heared of leo for a long time. It seems they have some sort of an unresolve dispute.
If anyone knows him and his whereabouts, I would be happy to hear it. I know leo still knows the old studio where I used to live. I am back in the old shack and am here again living in the old place which he knows well. With such a prolific songwriter I am sure we can create lots of projects which we used to do before.
Leo has left dozens of compositions, mostly potential hits in my demo pile. We used to record a lot of songs in my old 4-track studio before. We even have a project with delcy, a young singer whom we were supposed to produce an album. All songs for the project are still with me.
Leo is an accomplished songwriter with hits such as "nakangiti" sang by michelle samesa and one song by ric segreto. He had hits also with the band leowai, one which was included in the a dozen alternatives album and another in the christmas on the rocks album. He is also a folk singer doing gigs in the malate area playing acoustic or sometimes on a sequencer.
Last time I talked to leo was when he was going to palawan for a folk stint in a resort. I wasnt sure for how long the contract was. I have heared of the story that one time leo was so frustrated with how things are turning around his life that he went to the breakwater in luneta and smashed his Martin acoustic guitar which was a gift to him by a foriegn fan. I have asked his old partner Wai who now plays for carlo aquino's band, and he never heared of leo for a long time. It seems they have some sort of an unresolve dispute.
If anyone knows him and his whereabouts, I would be happy to hear it. I know leo still knows the old studio where I used to live. I am back in the old shack and am here again living in the old place which he knows well. With such a prolific songwriter I am sure we can create lots of projects which we used to do before.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
The Party was GRAND!
After several weeks of preparations, my son's 5th birthday party (along with my wife's bday celebration) was a hit. The idea was to hold a party that will be better than those parties at foodchains yet spending less.
Holding the party at home was the main idea. This way you have your time, you're on your own turf and you know the neighborhood. But still you are in a community so you have to abide by the rules. So, asking permission from the barangay officials for a loud band to play on my garage was granted up to 10:30pm. We could actually extend only if the neighbors wouldn't mind the noise. I figured since all the visitors would be professional musicians, it wont be noise coming out from us. And the neighboors might even enjoy free concerts from a rare collection of jammers. The garage (three car slots) was the perfect choice so as to accomodate the volume of people. Anyone from the outside can watch the show through the gate. But I still have to assign Mang Titing to serve as the bouncer watching over outside.
So, I borrowed the studio set from our drummer. It came complete with a Fender Passport PA system, a drum set, one boston engineering bass amp and one Roland guitar amp. My cousin lended us his bostin engineering guitar amp. I set up my own gear of amps and speakers for the keyboard. But the keyboard did not arrive even tho the keyboard stand was ready. So it was the good old rock and roll.
The kids have their own program of activities. Party started with the usual kainan with my relatives. Then one by one the guests came in. Before it was getting dark, a pabitin was held for the kids. The games had to be cancelled as there were only a few kids in the afternoon (most kids came in late). Next was the performances. First up was my son Angelo who did a rocking rendition of Crazy Car. Then it was followed by my daughter Lala who also sang two songs before doing a dance number where angelo joined in. My nephew sam did his own version of crazy car. Lala did most of the performances for a total of 5 numbers. A captive audience of over 30 people enjoyed it. After the performance, the kids went inside the house to watch Hanna Montana 3d concert on Disney channel. Hanna Montana 3d glasses which we got from the mall was distributed to all the kids and the kids at heart who were all eager to watch the show.
Then it was time for the band to play. So the drums and the guitars are set up. First on was a collection of musicians. My old highschool classmate has a brother 'remugs' who used to be the front man of a cebu based band "Happy Days" back in the 90s. He brought his own guitar gear. My cousin beer also brought his own guitar (a black telecaster which used to be owned by one of the porkchop duo - used on a lot of their performance). Buboy from the band sining who is now a webmaster took the drum chores. Bong who used to play bass for wired and now plays for enmasse did the bass. And so this collection of musicians did a first set with whatever songs they collectively know. Mostly new wave and early 90s stuff.
Up next was renditions of original compositions. Kuyakurt (from Blue Martian Cookies) did a few of his original songs including the infamous Spaghetti. Sam our keyboardist forgot to bring his keyboard and so he playedthe bass instead. Mon (our drummer for k and the boxers and magpie)who arrived late took over the drums, and so Buboy could play the guitar. Buboy did his original song Split which was stolen by Grin Department. Then after tatay paeng (my father in law) sang a few old songs including 'unchained melody' where my son angelo did the drums with the help of Sam.
By special request, Mang Kaloy Rufo was called on stage to do several guitar instrumentals. He was accompanied by SPI front man Rey Cantong who played drums. Rey was the first batch drummer of gladys and the boxers before forming his own band Six Part Invention. Mang Kaloy, father of Jack Rufo of Neocolours, was also the guitarist of the 3rd batch of gladys and the boxers. I did the bass this time. Mang kaloy played moon river, and some beatles medley.
Next on stage were Magpie singer Wayne Perez who sang a few cover songs and Kearney (who came in with mon) a band manager/booker sang a few numbers also. There were more from the audience who failed or refused to perform. Sigfried (Bakulaw), an accomplished film director who used to write for Rock and Rhtyhm came in along with his family. Rey of SPI came in along with his co-singer Kaye. My wife angela wanted to sing also but was too busy with the preparations.There were two more visitors of tatay paeng who was a drummer and a bassist wasnt able to perform.
Ok so let me mention a few people from the audience. Luna veteran Conan. My highschool classmates Dandy Wong (a nurse from USA who is on vacation) and his wife. highschool classmate Engineer Orly Entero, and his cousin and brother (who performed). Sigfried Sanchez and his wife and three kids. The Relatives: Tita Chu and Tito Emcee, Tita Itos, Cecil, cedes, trixie, arlyn, issa, manolo, yvette, derik, beer, nina, sam, baby gab and baby john.
Big thanks to the people who helped out in making the party grand. Edwin, mang titing, noel, CT, bespren and waki.
My son angelo enjoyed the day with a lot of playmates and would like to thanks you all for all his gifts. He enjoys them a lot. I will be posting a lot more pictures on manuelangelo's blog.
Till next event...
Holding the party at home was the main idea. This way you have your time, you're on your own turf and you know the neighborhood. But still you are in a community so you have to abide by the rules. So, asking permission from the barangay officials for a loud band to play on my garage was granted up to 10:30pm. We could actually extend only if the neighbors wouldn't mind the noise. I figured since all the visitors would be professional musicians, it wont be noise coming out from us. And the neighboors might even enjoy free concerts from a rare collection of jammers. The garage (three car slots) was the perfect choice so as to accomodate the volume of people. Anyone from the outside can watch the show through the gate. But I still have to assign Mang Titing to serve as the bouncer watching over outside.
So, I borrowed the studio set from our drummer. It came complete with a Fender Passport PA system, a drum set, one boston engineering bass amp and one Roland guitar amp. My cousin lended us his bostin engineering guitar amp. I set up my own gear of amps and speakers for the keyboard. But the keyboard did not arrive even tho the keyboard stand was ready. So it was the good old rock and roll.
The kids have their own program of activities. Party started with the usual kainan with my relatives. Then one by one the guests came in. Before it was getting dark, a pabitin was held for the kids. The games had to be cancelled as there were only a few kids in the afternoon (most kids came in late). Next was the performances. First up was my son Angelo who did a rocking rendition of Crazy Car. Then it was followed by my daughter Lala who also sang two songs before doing a dance number where angelo joined in. My nephew sam did his own version of crazy car. Lala did most of the performances for a total of 5 numbers. A captive audience of over 30 people enjoyed it. After the performance, the kids went inside the house to watch Hanna Montana 3d concert on Disney channel. Hanna Montana 3d glasses which we got from the mall was distributed to all the kids and the kids at heart who were all eager to watch the show.
Then it was time for the band to play. So the drums and the guitars are set up. First on was a collection of musicians. My old highschool classmate has a brother 'remugs' who used to be the front man of a cebu based band "Happy Days" back in the 90s. He brought his own guitar gear. My cousin beer also brought his own guitar (a black telecaster which used to be owned by one of the porkchop duo - used on a lot of their performance). Buboy from the band sining who is now a webmaster took the drum chores. Bong who used to play bass for wired and now plays for enmasse did the bass. And so this collection of musicians did a first set with whatever songs they collectively know. Mostly new wave and early 90s stuff.
Up next was renditions of original compositions. Kuyakurt (from Blue Martian Cookies) did a few of his original songs including the infamous Spaghetti. Sam our keyboardist forgot to bring his keyboard and so he playedthe bass instead. Mon (our drummer for k and the boxers and magpie)who arrived late took over the drums, and so Buboy could play the guitar. Buboy did his original song Split which was stolen by Grin Department. Then after tatay paeng (my father in law) sang a few old songs including 'unchained melody' where my son angelo did the drums with the help of Sam.
By special request, Mang Kaloy Rufo was called on stage to do several guitar instrumentals. He was accompanied by SPI front man Rey Cantong who played drums. Rey was the first batch drummer of gladys and the boxers before forming his own band Six Part Invention. Mang Kaloy, father of Jack Rufo of Neocolours, was also the guitarist of the 3rd batch of gladys and the boxers. I did the bass this time. Mang kaloy played moon river, and some beatles medley.
Next on stage were Magpie singer Wayne Perez who sang a few cover songs and Kearney (who came in with mon) a band manager/booker sang a few numbers also. There were more from the audience who failed or refused to perform. Sigfried (Bakulaw), an accomplished film director who used to write for Rock and Rhtyhm came in along with his family. Rey of SPI came in along with his co-singer Kaye. My wife angela wanted to sing also but was too busy with the preparations.There were two more visitors of tatay paeng who was a drummer and a bassist wasnt able to perform.
Ok so let me mention a few people from the audience. Luna veteran Conan. My highschool classmates Dandy Wong (a nurse from USA who is on vacation) and his wife. highschool classmate Engineer Orly Entero, and his cousin and brother (who performed). Sigfried Sanchez and his wife and three kids. The Relatives: Tita Chu and Tito Emcee, Tita Itos, Cecil, cedes, trixie, arlyn, issa, manolo, yvette, derik, beer, nina, sam, baby gab and baby john.
Big thanks to the people who helped out in making the party grand. Edwin, mang titing, noel, CT, bespren and waki.
My son angelo enjoyed the day with a lot of playmates and would like to thanks you all for all his gifts. He enjoys them a lot. I will be posting a lot more pictures on manuelangelo's blog.
Till next event...
Friday, June 20, 2008
Preparations for the Party
Tuloy ang saya kahit bumabagyo! Rock en Roll Sa Ulan !
Today is my son's fifth bday. And I am holding a big party in my garage. In the past we had parties were we normally jam on acoustic guitar all night. Tonight it will be different.
The party will have the normal perks of a childrens party. Kiddie games, Pabitin, Trip to Jerusalem, Bring Me, and all those stuff. I prepared a lot of prizes for the kids. Also a lot of food that I am sure kids would enjoy. A nice cake with 5 candles will be shared after the celebrant blow off the fire. Hopefully this year the cake will be whole before the blowing of the candles.
After the childrens party will be the adults party. It was my wife's bday last jun16 so we are celebrating it also today. I borrowed some studio equiptment from my bandmate. We will be using a Fender Passport PA system which has four mic inputs and two stereo line inputs. I borrowed a set of bass and guitar Boston engineering combo amps. And we will be using a modified drum set which our drummer custom made out of a design from a drum magazine. The keyboard will have the biggest speaker in the "stage". I made a speaker set for my old "raon" bass amp with two 15" daichi pro instrumental speakers. The cabinet hieght I think is 4 feet. Since I broke my old "raon" bass amp head. we will be using a modified component for the keyboard instead.
I have two guitars to use, a red fender/squier blues strat which I borrowed from our drummer, and my old RJ custom made guitar from all original parts taken off several damaged original guitars from the RJ repair shop. The neck is a samick which the guy at RJ custom built a matching body. All the hardware are all parts. And one pick-up is an old beaten up seymour single coil (neck). The bridge pick up is a SKC humbucker - the cheap alternative wonder.
I will not be using any of my recording gear. Not even my old multitracker which I use as a 12/4 mixer. Everything will be live as it is a simple jamming. The mix will be made by whoever is holding whatever instrument. It will be the old mayrics style. Crank up your amp so the people at the back can hear you. Or in other's point of view, crank down your guitarist or bassist amp so the people at the back can hear your voice. Its the old mano-mano way.
I have a lot of musician friends who will be coming. Some people I havent communicated with for quite some time now. A lot of them have made it big in the music industry. Others made it on other fields. It would be exciting to hear what jamming we could make as our music, ears and skills have matured . . . not to mention the tastes and preferences in music.
Hope the afternoon party and the night will rock.... despite the bagyo. Hopefully, no brownouts please.
Today is my son's fifth bday. And I am holding a big party in my garage. In the past we had parties were we normally jam on acoustic guitar all night. Tonight it will be different.
The party will have the normal perks of a childrens party. Kiddie games, Pabitin, Trip to Jerusalem, Bring Me, and all those stuff. I prepared a lot of prizes for the kids. Also a lot of food that I am sure kids would enjoy. A nice cake with 5 candles will be shared after the celebrant blow off the fire. Hopefully this year the cake will be whole before the blowing of the candles.
After the childrens party will be the adults party. It was my wife's bday last jun16 so we are celebrating it also today. I borrowed some studio equiptment from my bandmate. We will be using a Fender Passport PA system which has four mic inputs and two stereo line inputs. I borrowed a set of bass and guitar Boston engineering combo amps. And we will be using a modified drum set which our drummer custom made out of a design from a drum magazine. The keyboard will have the biggest speaker in the "stage". I made a speaker set for my old "raon" bass amp with two 15" daichi pro instrumental speakers. The cabinet hieght I think is 4 feet. Since I broke my old "raon" bass amp head. we will be using a modified component for the keyboard instead.
I have two guitars to use, a red fender/squier blues strat which I borrowed from our drummer, and my old RJ custom made guitar from all original parts taken off several damaged original guitars from the RJ repair shop. The neck is a samick which the guy at RJ custom built a matching body. All the hardware are all parts. And one pick-up is an old beaten up seymour single coil (neck). The bridge pick up is a SKC humbucker - the cheap alternative wonder.
I will not be using any of my recording gear. Not even my old multitracker which I use as a 12/4 mixer. Everything will be live as it is a simple jamming. The mix will be made by whoever is holding whatever instrument. It will be the old mayrics style. Crank up your amp so the people at the back can hear you. Or in other's point of view, crank down your guitarist or bassist amp so the people at the back can hear your voice. Its the old mano-mano way.
I have a lot of musician friends who will be coming. Some people I havent communicated with for quite some time now. A lot of them have made it big in the music industry. Others made it on other fields. It would be exciting to hear what jamming we could make as our music, ears and skills have matured . . . not to mention the tastes and preferences in music.
Hope the afternoon party and the night will rock.... despite the bagyo. Hopefully, no brownouts please.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Musicians of today are so lucky!
With the tide of technological advancement, it is clear that musicians of today are far luckier than those of yesterday.
In the old days, most musicians would create a demo of their compositions by playing on a piano or guitar and recording on a simple desk cassette recorder. I remember my uncle used to have one were they record over a small mic and huddle close and sing.
If you were a band, it would be a lot more difficult. You need to have a band set up by renting a studio. Hooking up everything on a mixer and relaying on the ears of a sound engineer to get a good mix and record a song live direct to a cassette. Others would wait for a big gig and politely ask the technician to record your set.
If you are a solo composer and you know how to work with midi, then you can get an MC-50 and create a sequenced minus one for your song. Or you may get one of those expensive cassette based track recorder to record each instrument one by one. But you are limited to 4-track (as most cassette based are) and your only option to go beyond its limitations is to do ping pong recording. This means recording 3 instruments of seperate tracks, mixing them into one track to get three more available tracks.
And then you have to convince a producer or anyone who has the cash to spend for a production quality recording in a studio. Then you will record your song to reel. Production cost is ultimately high which means, producers will only spend if they know that they will profit from it.
But things changed. You dont have to spend so much not just to make a demo but to actually make a production quality album. This is the reason why most bands of today produces their own albums in what they call EP. Or other profit minded people goes into the indie market.
In the recent years, setting up a recording studio was not too expensive anymore. Anyone who have a good international credit card can order some digital recording equiptment such as ADATs or any other quality multitracker. Gone are those big reels which are so expensive (not just the recorder but even the reel itself are so expensive . . not to mention heavy). Other people who have relatives abroad can ask them to bring home the goodies. Digital multitrackers which are stand alone came out and those who can afford are now getting them.
At this point, there became evident who where the bands who have cash and those "other bands" who would frown on the "rich kids" bands out of envy since they dont have access to produce their own album. Now these "other bands" will have to rely on the good old "discovery by an A&R" method to get an album.
Today things are changing and changing fast. Everything can now be done with a PC. Even professional recording studios have PCs and people at home can equal the specs of those PCs. Most professional studios run on mac, primarily because of their power and reliabilty. But PCs are trying to catch up. Now you can record a production quality album from your own bedroom. The recording equiptment are now available in the local stores. JB music has a wide array of m-audio equiptment at sale price being the local distributor. Yupangco distributes a lot of line6 recording products and roland. Audiophile distributes Tascams and Alesis. No need to look over the internet and order as the prices comes out cheaper since you dont pay for shipping expenses. Softwares are readily available. . . although I hate to promote this but they are being sold at the sidewalks for less than a dollar (figure of speech here). You can even get Sonar, Cubase, Reason, Protools LE, Abelton, Audition, Cooledit, Wavelab, and all those other cool stuff in one DVD for about P250.
Now bands can call the shots and create an album to whatever they desire to integrate in it since they can now do it in their own home. They can even record each instrument on each house of each band member. There was even a band I saw on Ellen show where the member have not meet each other before, only through the internet via youtube and was able to come up with an album simply by sending thru email elements of the songs.
So what do you need to make a good recording? First you need a good PC. It would be better if you have a dualcore. A quad core is excellent. Get lots of memory. Memories comes cheap nowadays. I got a 1GB DDR for only P800 (that is a kingston lifetime warranty). So 2GB is P1600. Memory is important especially when you mixdown a song especially with all those effects you put in on each element.
One primary equiptment you will need is a good soundcard. A soundcard for recording is like a videocard for gaming. It is an acceleration hardware. This means sound is processed on a soundcard thus minimizing the workload on the main processor. A good soundcard should accept at least 24bit and 48khz audio resolution. If you have the budget get the highest you can afford. Another thing to consider is the inputs and outputs. If you are recording live drums then you would definitely need one with at least 8 inputs in order to record the drums on to separate tracks. Also think of the versitality pre-amp you could get out of it. Something that accepts line level, unbalanced and balanced inputs plus phantom power. This way you can plug in your guitar directly thus eliminating noise from any external devices you need to pass thru. You can actually record your guitar without effects and use the virtual effects softwares. Just make sure you are monitoring the sound you want so as you can play accordingly. Next issue to consider is the latency. Most people who first time record on a pc would complain that there is a delay in the way the audio is input. Thus the guitar misses the beat of the drums. A good soundcard should eliminate this problem.
My advise now is to invest on a good audio monitor. Get a good near field monitors - or make one if you know how. Get a good headphone. I am using a Philips SHP1900 headphone I bought from Astrovision for only P650. Use reliable cables to avoid noise. And dont hesitate to experiment to get the sound you want.
This will go longer if I dont stop now. I am sure a lot of you will comment or ask questions about a lot of recording stuff. Please feel free and I will try to answer in the best way I could.
Enjoy!
In the old days, most musicians would create a demo of their compositions by playing on a piano or guitar and recording on a simple desk cassette recorder. I remember my uncle used to have one were they record over a small mic and huddle close and sing.
If you were a band, it would be a lot more difficult. You need to have a band set up by renting a studio. Hooking up everything on a mixer and relaying on the ears of a sound engineer to get a good mix and record a song live direct to a cassette. Others would wait for a big gig and politely ask the technician to record your set.
If you are a solo composer and you know how to work with midi, then you can get an MC-50 and create a sequenced minus one for your song. Or you may get one of those expensive cassette based track recorder to record each instrument one by one. But you are limited to 4-track (as most cassette based are) and your only option to go beyond its limitations is to do ping pong recording. This means recording 3 instruments of seperate tracks, mixing them into one track to get three more available tracks.
And then you have to convince a producer or anyone who has the cash to spend for a production quality recording in a studio. Then you will record your song to reel. Production cost is ultimately high which means, producers will only spend if they know that they will profit from it.
But things changed. You dont have to spend so much not just to make a demo but to actually make a production quality album. This is the reason why most bands of today produces their own albums in what they call EP. Or other profit minded people goes into the indie market.
In the recent years, setting up a recording studio was not too expensive anymore. Anyone who have a good international credit card can order some digital recording equiptment such as ADATs or any other quality multitracker. Gone are those big reels which are so expensive (not just the recorder but even the reel itself are so expensive . . not to mention heavy). Other people who have relatives abroad can ask them to bring home the goodies. Digital multitrackers which are stand alone came out and those who can afford are now getting them.
At this point, there became evident who where the bands who have cash and those "other bands" who would frown on the "rich kids" bands out of envy since they dont have access to produce their own album. Now these "other bands" will have to rely on the good old "discovery by an A&R" method to get an album.
Today things are changing and changing fast. Everything can now be done with a PC. Even professional recording studios have PCs and people at home can equal the specs of those PCs. Most professional studios run on mac, primarily because of their power and reliabilty. But PCs are trying to catch up. Now you can record a production quality album from your own bedroom. The recording equiptment are now available in the local stores. JB music has a wide array of m-audio equiptment at sale price being the local distributor. Yupangco distributes a lot of line6 recording products and roland. Audiophile distributes Tascams and Alesis. No need to look over the internet and order as the prices comes out cheaper since you dont pay for shipping expenses. Softwares are readily available. . . although I hate to promote this but they are being sold at the sidewalks for less than a dollar (figure of speech here). You can even get Sonar, Cubase, Reason, Protools LE, Abelton, Audition, Cooledit, Wavelab, and all those other cool stuff in one DVD for about P250.
Now bands can call the shots and create an album to whatever they desire to integrate in it since they can now do it in their own home. They can even record each instrument on each house of each band member. There was even a band I saw on Ellen show where the member have not meet each other before, only through the internet via youtube and was able to come up with an album simply by sending thru email elements of the songs.
So what do you need to make a good recording? First you need a good PC. It would be better if you have a dualcore. A quad core is excellent. Get lots of memory. Memories comes cheap nowadays. I got a 1GB DDR for only P800 (that is a kingston lifetime warranty). So 2GB is P1600. Memory is important especially when you mixdown a song especially with all those effects you put in on each element.
One primary equiptment you will need is a good soundcard. A soundcard for recording is like a videocard for gaming. It is an acceleration hardware. This means sound is processed on a soundcard thus minimizing the workload on the main processor. A good soundcard should accept at least 24bit and 48khz audio resolution. If you have the budget get the highest you can afford. Another thing to consider is the inputs and outputs. If you are recording live drums then you would definitely need one with at least 8 inputs in order to record the drums on to separate tracks. Also think of the versitality pre-amp you could get out of it. Something that accepts line level, unbalanced and balanced inputs plus phantom power. This way you can plug in your guitar directly thus eliminating noise from any external devices you need to pass thru. You can actually record your guitar without effects and use the virtual effects softwares. Just make sure you are monitoring the sound you want so as you can play accordingly. Next issue to consider is the latency. Most people who first time record on a pc would complain that there is a delay in the way the audio is input. Thus the guitar misses the beat of the drums. A good soundcard should eliminate this problem.
My advise now is to invest on a good audio monitor. Get a good near field monitors - or make one if you know how. Get a good headphone. I am using a Philips SHP1900 headphone I bought from Astrovision for only P650. Use reliable cables to avoid noise. And dont hesitate to experiment to get the sound you want.
This will go longer if I dont stop now. I am sure a lot of you will comment or ask questions about a lot of recording stuff. Please feel free and I will try to answer in the best way I could.
Enjoy!
Friday, June 6, 2008
The New Nolit's Studio
Ok, So I decided to set up my nolit's studio again. But this time it wont be a full band studio, instead it will be a project studio. But it is digital and the resolution is in par with professionals at 24bit/96khz. I can go up to 192khz with my 1TB disk space and 2gb memory. But I would settle with the industry standard.
So what is a project studio and how does it differ from my old studio? Nolit's Studio used to accept bands who wanted to have a recording of their songs for demo or indie release. I had a band set up and can do live recording. But I choose to record them track by track so as to get a cleaner result and much easier to mixdown.
A project studio does not have that band set up and do not accept clients or walk-ins. All I will be working are projects I will be creating or will be working with partners. I currently dont have a booth so drum tracks using acoustic drums and vocals will be done in another studio.
So here is what I currently have. On a decent quad core PC, I got a lot of audio software for tracking audio, mixing and mastering. I am using an EMU 1820m digital audio system (PCI, daughterboard and audiodock) which I bought from Rey of Six Part Invention. He told me they recorded their first album in this equiptment. Also recorded "Steep" in Toni Gonzaga's new album using this equitment. I am also using my old fostex multitracker as a simple mixer. I love using this since it has full sized faders, 12 channels off 4 bus.For now I am using a Yamaha PSR keyboard as a midi controller. Later on I may be upgrading to a good digital mixer/DAW controller and a decent keyboard controller.
Here is what I can do right now. I could import elements from a drums recorded in another studio. Lay in bass, guitar and keyboards. Then pass it to another studio for vocal tracks. Then I can mixdown all the elements. And later master for production quality. I could also program drums using a redrum or any other sequencer since I have reason ver4 and EmulatorX. I also have tons of sampled sounds of percussions and drums.
This digital age has opened a lot of doors for me and revolutionized the capability of Nolit's Studio. Right now I am still undecided if I would set up a full studio like before. Technology is within reach of anyone with a PC. I would rather work on projects with people who want things done. Share my experience and knowledge . And hopefully broaden my network of friends.... Later create lots of albums may it be commercial or not. I am after the realization of dream and not much on the financial side of it. Success for me is the creation of a concept album with all details perfectly implemented. Its is a long journey and I am far from my destination.
Wish Me Luck!
So what is a project studio and how does it differ from my old studio? Nolit's Studio used to accept bands who wanted to have a recording of their songs for demo or indie release. I had a band set up and can do live recording. But I choose to record them track by track so as to get a cleaner result and much easier to mixdown.
A project studio does not have that band set up and do not accept clients or walk-ins. All I will be working are projects I will be creating or will be working with partners. I currently dont have a booth so drum tracks using acoustic drums and vocals will be done in another studio.
So here is what I currently have. On a decent quad core PC, I got a lot of audio software for tracking audio, mixing and mastering. I am using an EMU 1820m digital audio system (PCI, daughterboard and audiodock) which I bought from Rey of Six Part Invention. He told me they recorded their first album in this equiptment. Also recorded "Steep" in Toni Gonzaga's new album using this equitment. I am also using my old fostex multitracker as a simple mixer. I love using this since it has full sized faders, 12 channels off 4 bus.For now I am using a Yamaha PSR keyboard as a midi controller. Later on I may be upgrading to a good digital mixer/DAW controller and a decent keyboard controller.
Here is what I can do right now. I could import elements from a drums recorded in another studio. Lay in bass, guitar and keyboards. Then pass it to another studio for vocal tracks. Then I can mixdown all the elements. And later master for production quality. I could also program drums using a redrum or any other sequencer since I have reason ver4 and EmulatorX. I also have tons of sampled sounds of percussions and drums.
This digital age has opened a lot of doors for me and revolutionized the capability of Nolit's Studio. Right now I am still undecided if I would set up a full studio like before. Technology is within reach of anyone with a PC. I would rather work on projects with people who want things done. Share my experience and knowledge . And hopefully broaden my network of friends.... Later create lots of albums may it be commercial or not. I am after the realization of dream and not much on the financial side of it. Success for me is the creation of a concept album with all details perfectly implemented. Its is a long journey and I am far from my destination.
Wish Me Luck!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
