FINALLY! Finished mastering my debut CD! Check me?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Llarion
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Llarion

Llarion

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My upcoming debut CD, a dichotomy of silence, is finished mastering! Two of the songs that will be on it are now posted on my website:

Shades Of Gray - a difficult song to record/master, because I used real, acoustic drums. I'm playing everything on this one. It's a fun piece, with several meter and feel changes, and a really sweet chord progression. How did I do recording the live drums? This was recorded on a Roland VS-880EX.

Dewpoint - I posted this one a while back when I first hit the board, but this is a full remaster of it; it's significantly smoother than the previous mix. I found that I was pushing the highs a bit on everything, so this is a mellower, rounder finish, as is the rest of the CD now. This one is using Roland V-Drums (the little V-Club kit) and was recorded on a Korg D1600.

I did the mastering in Cool Edit Pro, using various Waves plugins.

Head over to www.llarion.com and go to the Listen page. You can see the CD cover on the Buy CDs page.

The hifi MP3s are at 160kb, the lofis are 32kb.

Thanks!!

Cheers,
Phil "Llarion: The Jazzinator" Traynor
Smooth & Ambient Jazz
www.llarion.com
-Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons;
for you are crunchy, and go well with ketchup.
 
Quite an " agressive " sound for such a mellow song. Good job on making this somehow avoid the " elevator music " category that it could have easily fallen into. Sounds like a ton of stuff going on at once, yet you hear everything! Nice clarity, nice depth.
 
First thing, great playing on all fronts :)

But I have to admit, as a fan of everything but rap and country, that "Shades of Grey" is very milky white... I can imagine this to playing while waiting in line at the pearly gates. I think you did get on the elevator :(.

This is coming from someone who only plays clean if they're out of 9 volt batteries and forgot their AC adapter :p
 
I checked your tunes out awhile back and it's all good.I love smooth jazz.

Got a question for ya.Whats the complete chain on the Bass guitar on "DEWPOINT"?Like from the guitar to the recorder......everything in between.

Thanks,
Kramer

[edit to correct song title]
 
Thanks all!

Pinky,
I completely understand, my man; I know full well that I'm a niche market. It's all good. Elevators and dentist offices gotta have tuneage too, right? I mean, what's Barry Manilow gonna listen to when he retires? SOMEBODY'S gotta play to that market. Might as well be me. :D

Pipeline,
Thanks man; it was a tough tightrope to walk; with so much going on it was difficult to keep it from being cluttered!

Kramer,
The complate chain for the bass guitar on Dewpoint is:

1983 Peavey Foundation, both pickups cranked - cord - deck. Flat EQ, no compression, no effects whatsoever in acquisition, only the light compression that was laid over the final stereo master later on. I'm never ever getting rid of that bass, man, it is pure magic to record with.. :)
 
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hey llairion!

long time no see. i loved you new song!

good job!



zeke
 
Hey thanks man!

I kinda figured you were gonna say the sound was captured totally by the Bass guitar and it's pick-ups.:D

I recorded with a Peavey Foundation a long time ago(late 80's) on a 4-track recorder and I noticed that it didnt need any help as far as a pre-amp or EQ etc....Im gonna hunt one down.It's so much easier when you have an instrument that responds so well to recording that all it takes is to plug it in and hit record.

Im thinking about buying one of those Nathan East Bass Pre's also so that should pick up the slack in my bass chain.

Thanks again.

Off to find a Peavey Foundation!;)
 
I thought I was listening to 'shades of grey', but it says dewpoint..

great stuff all the way around..

If I had to nitpic, I would say it sounds like it could be a little crisper..

thumbs up!
 
i listened to shades of gray........sounds good.........nice guitar tone.....good levels........

the artwork for the cd looks pretty cool too, nice stuff........how many are you printing up?
 
I'm gonna do an initial run of 1,000. I'm working the financing end right now. I've looked at Oasis, Discmakers, Disc Alliance, and a few others. Anyone know of a really good dupe house with a strong package deal that included 4/1 liner and tray card, 4 color on the CD, barcode, shrink wrap, and film charges for under $1500?
 
shades of grey:...very nice sound....man it sounds great to me.
i thought the drums sounded fine too......top notch stuff .....its a little out of my personal preference "scope" but i can tell when something sounds great and this does...!!!



nice work.
jamal:D
 
Shades of Grey...

Yeah... you know what? This actually sounds kinda good... there is some aggression in there... and those synths sound very good, and have a "depth" not usually found in common "synth jazz" that I've experienced. By "depth", I guess I mean that each "instrument" seems to have its own identity and space, and it doesn't at all sound like a sequencer-special. Certain sounds take over now and again, and others slip to the back... nice dynamics... The chord changes rule, man. Actually, in "Lumber"... I tried to get some of that jazzy feel in the verse with a loopy bassline... but failed... yours sounds excellent, and has that aloof, walleyed, shrugging indifference expected from a good jazz bassline ;)

I'm liking the aggo keys near the end (around 5mins). This may be the best "smooth jazz" I've heard. Very nice.


Chad
 
I really enjoyed the tunes man. The ambience depth is nice, I rode deep into the fretless forest....
 
Hey Llarion,
...very nice man. ...........smooooooove! I'll echo Kramer's compliments on the bass tone and the bass playing. Very nice man. I enjoyed this a whole bunch.
......smooooove.

very, very cool:cool:

g (heres 5 from me......... )
 
Wow...

aloof, walleyed, shrugging indifference expected from a good jazz bassline
Click to expand...

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!! :D :D

I love it!! Can I use that??

Thanks guys, very much! Y'all rule!
 
Stick a fork in 'em. These sound great to me. All the playing is superb as usual and the instruments are all so clearly defined and separated. The acoustic drums on Shades sound nice too. Great job! :cool: :D
 
great recording and great playing! I hope this doesn't offend. I listened to "shades of grey". It sounds like a supporting piece of some larger work, i.e., like the background music to an interesting conversation in a movie.
 
Oh, no offense at all!

Dave,

I actually take that as a compliment! My mission with my Smooth Jazz is to make music that is relaxing and rich, but does not demand your attention; BUT rewards you if you give your attention. I've always been drawn to film and TV soundtracks, and I think I subconsciously write in such a way that the end result would be workable in that medium... I've got a piece in the upcoming film Dysphoria, and it's exactly that sort of scenario... :)

I've got an Ambient Jazz CD following this one that takes that concept to a whole other level... :)

Barometer,
Thanks very much! Validation by other talented folk is satisfying indeed!
 
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