I've looked around. No cassettes in sight. Tomorrow You're Going (duo record with Lucy Kaplansky) is the only one that came out on vinyl. I think there are some of those in stock.
Thanks for sharing. This song is sounding better all the time. I'll appreciate the new album all the more having listened to some of the new songs you performed live in concert and others as they took shape.
Thank you Joseph. That's the plan, to keep making it sound better until it starts to sound worse. Then we stop, hopefully. That's the whole ballgame right there.
Wonderful to hear the progression. And to read your experience with the transition from analogue to digital. I only know the latter... But I wonder, beyond the convenience is it better now, or just more dynamic, more possibilities? Has something been lost at all so we could gain all this?
So good! Love the tone on the accenting guitar…Richard, you folks are doing such fine work! Congratulations . So very glad to be a part of this journey.
Yessir, I think I hear two guitars: one panned left which I’d say is an acoustic rhythm (not as prominent, mixed further back.) The one I’m commenting on is panned just right of center, a little dirtier with an occasional thicker texture. That accenting grit, It’s a great touch. I think the ending is really cool too. Do you remember months back, maybe even the beginning of it all, you had a reluctance to open this to comments as it could affect your perception of what you were presenting and cause hesitance or self doubt? You used a word , I think it was creaticide? Does this exchange fall into that range.? The nerd in me wants to ask so many questions about the hardware and amps and instruments, the software, the plugins and I want to respect boundaries. Lots of words, sorry. I’m loving the evolution of this song , it’s really subtle and the textures added are, to me, beautiful.
Thanks, never negative, just curious. What’s the compression you’re using? Are the electric guitars using pedals or just miked clean and filtered through a plugin? The tone is really organic sounding. It’s a really clean mix too, everything in its place. Last Q: What DAW are you using for this project? Thanks for your time and attention, Richard.
We're in Protools. The electric is an old Esquire with the selector in position one (no tone engaged). It's going through a Stigtronics compressor and a KTR overdrive, both in very small amounts. The amp is a Singletone Arizona - a boutique Princeton type thing, made here in Argentina. From there a Sennheisser 609 going the preamp of a Neumann MT 48, the only interface I use. No plugins on the electric, except a Soundtoys Tremolator in the bridge. Within Protools, we're using some Waves stuff on my voices. There's also a UAD LA-2A on the main vocal. Finally, we're using the Avid EQ3 on acoustic guitar and the Haken. Right now these processing decisions are tentative, spur of the moment, just for the purpose of getting workable sounds. Some of them might stick. Others might be replaced by fancier tech. I have a lot of plugins: UAD, Waves, Baby Audio, Fabfilter. If you have any good suggestions I'm all ears. The plugin world is an endless warren.
This easily falls into the wasting your time category. Somewhere in Substack reply’s there are emblems beside the authors name( a line drawing of a fountain pen tip for you. It looks like a fox. So not important. )
The McCartney photo made me laugh. I smiled at the Beatles reference on the Villa Urquiza photo (and darn, that building reminds me of the UMass Amherst Fine Arts Center, which Garrison Keillor described as an abandoned dam project).
I will echo others here that it is a wonderful privilege to hear the slow unfolding of a new song. Please, please tell me that no one has been uploading your work to other sites.
thanks Georgette! That building might actually be an abandoned project. Financing tends to fall through around here.
As far as I know nothing is being uploaded. But then I don't have accounts with any of the streaming services. Thinking of releasing this record on cassette!
Lovely work, Richard. . . "What goes around, comes around at 30 years per second, give or take". You nailed it.
I'm sorry that you didn't have the opportunity to hold a vinyl pressing of "Sparrows Point" in your hands, since that is the way we came to this music in our earlier days. There was a long-shuttered Columbia record plant in Terre Haute, IN where I worked for a few years -- and in my own mind, it felt like hallowed ground.
Thanks Chris. I'll upload more steps in the process. Some may find this boring. It's like uploading the same song over and over. And they're not wrong. But there are so many elements and decisions along the way.
I produced an album for Stephanie Corby; you might know her. We ran the live mics across a Studer record head immediately to the play head and into Pro Tools. It was pretty hard to argue with.
I'll bet it sounded celestial! There is chatter about McCartney running mics directly into the back of his Studer. No preamps. It might've involved loose wires. Some say it's not possible. But I'm more convinced than ever that Maca can do just about anything. How did you do it? I'll check out Stephanie Corby.
I did it by working with an engineer who knew how to do it 🤣. We captured everything in pro tools as a backup simultaneously. Contrariwise, we had a real plate reverb but ended up liking an Altiverb IR more. We did a lot of blind testing of sounds which was a great education. And Stephanie would sound great recorded on a handheld GE cassette recorder!
Hi Becca. Unfortunately I can't yet accept any preorders. We're too far out from having a final product. And I don't even know in what format this thing will be released. But thanks for asking. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.
I've looked around. No cassettes in sight. Tomorrow You're Going (duo record with Lucy Kaplansky) is the only one that came out on vinyl. I think there are some of those in stock.
Still cherish my copy of Sparrows Point. Wish I could discover it all over again!
Love it—anything with dogs in it—gorgeous.
I'll try to include more dogs.
Thanks for sharing. This song is sounding better all the time. I'll appreciate the new album all the more having listened to some of the new songs you performed live in concert and others as they took shape.
Thank you Joseph. That's the plan, to keep making it sound better until it starts to sound worse. Then we stop, hopefully. That's the whole ballgame right there.
Wonderful to hear the progression. And to read your experience with the transition from analogue to digital. I only know the latter... But I wonder, beyond the convenience is it better now, or just more dynamic, more possibilities? Has something been lost at all so we could gain all this?
So good! Love the tone on the accenting guitar…Richard, you folks are doing such fine work! Congratulations . So very glad to be a part of this journey.
Thanks Gary! By "accenting" do you mean the electric?
Yessir, I think I hear two guitars: one panned left which I’d say is an acoustic rhythm (not as prominent, mixed further back.) The one I’m commenting on is panned just right of center, a little dirtier with an occasional thicker texture. That accenting grit, It’s a great touch. I think the ending is really cool too. Do you remember months back, maybe even the beginning of it all, you had a reluctance to open this to comments as it could affect your perception of what you were presenting and cause hesitance or self doubt? You used a word , I think it was creaticide? Does this exchange fall into that range.? The nerd in me wants to ask so many questions about the hardware and amps and instruments, the software, the plugins and I want to respect boundaries. Lots of words, sorry. I’m loving the evolution of this song , it’s really subtle and the textures added are, to me, beautiful.
I was talking about something else. This is not that. Ask away. I love talking about gear, down to nuts and bolts!
Thanks, never negative, just curious. What’s the compression you’re using? Are the electric guitars using pedals or just miked clean and filtered through a plugin? The tone is really organic sounding. It’s a really clean mix too, everything in its place. Last Q: What DAW are you using for this project? Thanks for your time and attention, Richard.
We're in Protools. The electric is an old Esquire with the selector in position one (no tone engaged). It's going through a Stigtronics compressor and a KTR overdrive, both in very small amounts. The amp is a Singletone Arizona - a boutique Princeton type thing, made here in Argentina. From there a Sennheisser 609 going the preamp of a Neumann MT 48, the only interface I use. No plugins on the electric, except a Soundtoys Tremolator in the bridge. Within Protools, we're using some Waves stuff on my voices. There's also a UAD LA-2A on the main vocal. Finally, we're using the Avid EQ3 on acoustic guitar and the Haken. Right now these processing decisions are tentative, spur of the moment, just for the purpose of getting workable sounds. Some of them might stick. Others might be replaced by fancier tech. I have a lot of plugins: UAD, Waves, Baby Audio, Fabfilter. If you have any good suggestions I'm all ears. The plugin world is an endless warren.
And there might be little reverb coming from a Strymon Flint
And the little emblem by your picture here, it could actually be a tactical fox!
What emblem?
This easily falls into the wasting your time category. Somewhere in Substack reply’s there are emblems beside the authors name( a line drawing of a fountain pen tip for you. It looks like a fox. So not important. )
Not to put too fine a point on it, but how pathetic that my avatar is a fountain pen!
The McCartney photo made me laugh. I smiled at the Beatles reference on the Villa Urquiza photo (and darn, that building reminds me of the UMass Amherst Fine Arts Center, which Garrison Keillor described as an abandoned dam project).
I will echo others here that it is a wonderful privilege to hear the slow unfolding of a new song. Please, please tell me that no one has been uploading your work to other sites.
thanks Georgette! That building might actually be an abandoned project. Financing tends to fall through around here.
As far as I know nothing is being uploaded. But then I don't have accounts with any of the streaming services. Thinking of releasing this record on cassette!
Sounds very good through the miserable pouring rain here al otro lado de la Cordillera. Saludos
Thanks Maryline. Everything sounds better through the miserable pouring rain.
Lovely work, Richard. . . "What goes around, comes around at 30 years per second, give or take". You nailed it.
I'm sorry that you didn't have the opportunity to hold a vinyl pressing of "Sparrows Point" in your hands, since that is the way we came to this music in our earlier days. There was a long-shuttered Columbia record plant in Terre Haute, IN where I worked for a few years -- and in my own mind, it felt like hallowed ground.
Sounds pretty damned good for something no where near a finished product. But, when is anything, a finished product? 🎶
Thanks Chris. I'll upload more steps in the process. Some may find this boring. It's like uploading the same song over and over. And they're not wrong. But there are so many elements and decisions along the way.
Lovely! Looking forward to final version fully produced.
I’m not finding it boring, for me it’s a privilege to be ‘inside’ the process of bringing a song to life. Thank you Richard, it’s a wonderful song. D
I produced an album for Stephanie Corby; you might know her. We ran the live mics across a Studer record head immediately to the play head and into Pro Tools. It was pretty hard to argue with.
I'll bet it sounded celestial! There is chatter about McCartney running mics directly into the back of his Studer. No preamps. It might've involved loose wires. Some say it's not possible. But I'm more convinced than ever that Maca can do just about anything. How did you do it? I'll check out Stephanie Corby.
I did it by working with an engineer who knew how to do it 🤣. We captured everything in pro tools as a backup simultaneously. Contrariwise, we had a real plate reverb but ended up liking an Altiverb IR more. We did a lot of blind testing of sounds which was a great education. And Stephanie would sound great recorded on a handheld GE cassette recorder!
GE? She must be really good.
McCartney also did things with engineers who knew how to do things. So you're in good company.
Love this view into the recording process!
How do I preorder a copy of Monochrome as a birthday gift for one of your fans. His b'day is next week?
Thanks, Becca
Hi Becca. Unfortunately I can't yet accept any preorders. We're too far out from having a final product. And I don't even know in what format this thing will be released. But thanks for asking. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.