Re: Let\'s hear your latest stuff....right here
 

Rogerio, thank you. It is an amazing group, all the way down to even the director. She herself is only 25 years at most.

I enjoyed your tune. Man, you have such a driving sound, it is really Great !

Take Care,
Gene

Re: Let\'s hear your latest stuff....right here
 

Hello Paul,

REALLY nice tune !!!

Take Care,
Gene

Re: Let\'s hear your latest stuff....right here
 

Nice tune. Love the guitar playing. Nice mix. Nice production.

Really cool especially since all of you live so far away from each other!

John

Re: Mac Mixes!!!!!!!!
 

Sorry, for continuing to bombard you with this tune. I am on sort of a 'promotional campaign' right now and want to obtain various perspectives of this song. I have brought it to you first because, I am certain that you guys are of the scrutinizing type and will be painfully honest. This piece will be re-recorded with more live instrumentation. Let me know what you think and when I do get a chance to re-record/re-mix, what I could do differently.

"Five Bucks Gets You Nowhere"(edit)
Composed, performed, produced, engineered and mastered by Stewart Cararas
©2004 Phlorescent Beacon ASCAP

This is a track from my forthcoming album which was included on a compilation currently being pressed.
This particular song is more of a sociological satire. The parts which sound horribly cheesy were designed to sound that way. I in no way mind being the brunt of my own twisted joke.

Unfortunately, this recording wasn't intended to be released yet. I had hoped I would have been able to re-mix it but, given the time constraints regarding this release, it was virtually impossible.

At the time I was asked to be a part of the compilation CD, I was working 12/14 hour days trying to get our studio up and running. And since the studio wasn't ready I intended to bring it to Trent Reznor's place, as he has an SSL/PTHD, and mix there. But again, f**king time constraints.

The low-end punch is something I feel is missing. This definately enters into the re-mix equation. I really, didn't want to add any 'false bass presence' to the mix because I felt that the bass guitar sounded pretty good . Albeit, I wish that I had the time to have done something. It is kind of deceiving when the theme enters just after the 'quasi-industrial ostonato' and the bottem disappears. In retrospect, I would have dealt with this by continuing with the 808s on the quarter notes during the main 7/4 theme. Next time!!

I wasn't crazy about the long dramatic fade at the end, but it seemed like an appropriate segue into the next song, which was a slow meloncholy piano peice. Come to think of it, it's a very cool song performed by Rock City Morgue, Sean Yseult's (of White Zombie fame) new band.

At the time, I had to complete the mastering of the compilation CD as my deadline was 7:30 am last Monday. This was paramout. Not only did the CD have to be out the door but, also the magazine which was hosting the CD. Boy, did I learn a thing or two about magazine publishing turn-around time. These guys don't screw around. I mean, you can delay the release of an album - but a magazine, no way. Anyway, I was cutting it very close and felt that the bulk of the mastering had to be completed before I could even begin adding my song. No way was I going to compromise the entire CD for one song; not even my own.

When I was mixing/mastering this song I felt as though it was as 'finished' as it was going to be. I left the studio at 4:00 am, 3 1/2 hours before my deadline.

This is yet another example of an ALSIHAD production. Recorded and mixed within a Digi 001 w/ Benchmark DAC-1.

I guess sometimes you gotta bite the bullet just to get some press.

6.1 Mb
MP3 compressed @320 kbps

Five Bucks Gets You Nowhere

Re: Let\'s hear your latest stuff....right here
 

Rogerio,
'No Name/Lo G' is sounding great. the drums are tuff, and the middle part is excellent...a great buffer so it can kick ass again at the end. Sounds like you use little or no verb on the drums, which is great... really adds to the presence of the piece.
-Roy

Re: Mac Mixes!!!!!!!!
 

Aikon,

Just checked out your site. Nice! I really liked cut 14. Tequila Moonrise (more-acoustic)

This piece IMO embodies the description you have on the site of your music style the best. It’s organic, slick and has interesting melodic lines and textures. Nice mix and great female vocalist too!

dk

Re: Let\'s hear your latest stuff....right here
 

Hey rogerhavoc,

The new mix of Low G# sounds good. Just curious if you ever were able to do anything with the acoustic guitar part that I put together for that middle (quieter) section.

Re: Let\'s hear your latest stuff....right here
 

catching up on some listening....

telepc, 'alice' is a very good tune. The vocals sound great. Great performance, cool production.


"in the tube" has a great sound to it, very good guitar sound and playing.
very good sounding vox on "no pain" very nice production.

picksail, do you do a lot of mastering? your piece sounds great, I like the odd meter vibe to it, and the syncopated melodies. You get a great, pro, crisp sound to your mix. How much of that do you attribute to the benchmark you mentioned in your post? that's running the mix buss out thru the benchmark's d/a to another device, correct?

{Paul, great job on your team europa effort. I've been meaning to check out the rest of the cape team stuff.

That mastering does make a huge difference, but all parts of the process sound very, very good. Great sound, great playing, nice job.


Roger, "no name" sounds great also. Very clear, crisp production. Nice job.

bp

Re: Let\'s hear your latest stuff....right here
 

Thank you Mr. badperson ( you can't be that bad ),

You know, I never boast or promote myself as a mastering engineer. It just seems too highly esteemed. I can't even fathom working exclusively at that level, I just do what I think is best for the song/songs. I often get requests from people to do mastering and I do it, I just feel very uneasy about it. I almost don't even want to take credit for it. It requires utter objectivity to achieve acceptable results.

When I 'mastered' my peice I literally spent about a half an hour with it. The thing seemed to be mixed to the point at which, little else was necessary. I did not have enough time to devote to the song. I had to get the CD, in it's entirety, out the door. Damned deadlines!!

And yes, the Benchmark converter initially made a dramatic difference in the entire listening experience.
It revealed all the imperfections attributed to the substandard A/D conversion. All the jitter introduced from the A/D converters, which was most apparent around 300Hz/4-7 kHz, was now audible. I no longer had to be concerned with notching out the 300Hz, assuming that it was just an EQ issue and ultimately resulting in a thin, flat mix.

Now I have grown quite accustomed to the sound of the Benchmark, so much so, that I come straight out of the 192s into them and out to the monitors. Nothing in between.

Thanks,
Stewart

Re: Let\'s hear your latest stuff....right here
 

Cavet Your Eruptor

I didn't have the chance to try it... I had a fatal crash on my HDD back on that time... I remember that you sent me a great Clean Guitar part... Sorry! If you want to send it again, feel free.

Thanks for taking your time to do it!!!

NO NAME YET