Life (and Death) Get In The Way

It is perhaps fitting that the San-Ship album touches upon the darkness that one can experience in life.  After all, it was the untimely death of my kid brother that sparked the inspiration to do this album in the first place. And the darkness continues...

On May 1, 2014, the body of a dear, dear friend was found.  She committed suicide after a prolonged bout of severe depression.  And just last week, an uncle of mine passed away.  He had been ill for several years and finally his heart said "no more."

There is never a "good" time to lose someone you care about but these two deaths, particularly of my friend came at a real bad time.  For the last couple of months I had been exceedingly busy with my law practice. But also, I had been in the process of some major studio upgrades.  It's still a work in progress but it is coming along.

Here's the new mixer in its console home.

There's still a lot to do with the work area including installation of a side car rack and customizing the console desk with a rack bay to the left of the mixer.  And then there is sound treatment/isolation to as well as painting.  I can still work on the album doing all of this but what was hard before is now very hard.

But the studio upgrade situation is now a little bittersweet.  I wanted my departed friend to share in the joy of having effectively a new creative space to work my muse.  But it was not to come to pass.

In any case, I am now shooting for a September 30th release date.  Let's keep our fingers crossed.

60 Day Warning

I gave myself a deadline to complete my mixing and master of the San-Ship album of June 30^th.  Will I make it – possibly but I think I may go until July 30^th.  Issues are primarily time – everything from my law practice to assisting a very good friend with a personal crisis.  The “good” delay is that we’ve been upgrading ESQ Music to include a new digital mixer and Argosy housing console for it.  The console was fully assembled last night but now we have to break down the old console, fit it into the new console and re-wire the connections.  A lot easier said than done.

Here are a picture of the new mixer/control surface.  It's a Tascam DM-3200:

Here's the Argosy Console/Desk to house the DM-3200:

At the mid-point of assembly

Fully assembled Argosy Console, (without arm rest) but "naked."

I plan do to a full review of both pieces but I'll say one thing about the Argosy now.  To the right of the console, there is a 13-space rack bay for outboard gear.  To the left, it is a blank "producer's desk."  For us, this was wasted space and we're willing to pay extra to make that space rack space for another 10-13 spaces.  Argosy said that they couldn't do it because there was not enough room and some of the pictures of the console online suggested that this was the case.  However, having the console in real life -- the left producer's desk area is identical in size to the rack bay.  So, a little down the road, we will get our buddy Ricky to drill some holes and fit the bay with rack rails and we'll be good to go. Always work to do... 

I’m down to tracking the last song to be used for the album, (though it will likely be the first song on the album), “God of The Gutter.”  However, I still have to go back to a few tracks to record various overdubs, but about 85% is fully recorded.  Given the flexibility of modern DAWs, I “mix” as I track.  Many others work this way such as Kevin Churko, the engineer/co-producer for Ozzy’s 2010 Scream album.

While I enjoy, composing, playing, recording and mixing, I am looking forward to the end of the process, releasing the record and moving onto my next musical projects, which will include video and a prog rock EP. 

2014: Year To Be Happy?

New Year's is one of those bittersweet "holidays" that evokes the apparent need to look at the year that past and promise (or hope) for a better year, often through making certain choices, commitments, etc.  A secular Yom Kippur, if you will.  (I'm sure there's some historical overlap given that Yom Kippur immediately follows the Jewish New Year).

In any case, good luck to all with your respective chosen improvements.  I will start off very small, but relevant.  The Master Cylinder played drums (a/k/a "Pile Driver"), and I, Johnny Human Torch, played bass, (a/k/a, "Low Beef Oil").  On the one hand, it's cool that someone was thoughtful enough to name the band members after the fact, but they made an error or had erroneous info.

Having to do this correction of "the record" if you will, is SO Tap.  We were (are) the Spinal Tap of NYC thrash.