couw Posted December 16, 2003 Report Share Posted December 16, 2003 That's a nice picture to stare at while listening to the song. Not being from NY, is that Central Park? Yes, I took it a couple of days ago. looks cold Chris! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Al Posted December 16, 2003 Report Share Posted December 16, 2003 That's a nice picture to stare at while listening to the song. Not being from NY, is that Central Park? Yes, I took it a couple of days ago. Nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted December 16, 2003 Report Share Posted December 16, 2003 Great take guys -- love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Dye Posted December 16, 2003 Report Share Posted December 16, 2003 Thanks so much! Sounds wonderful. You should stick an ID3 tag in the file with artist info and the URL to your site in the comment field. When it inevitably gets passed around, you could sell some records and get some new users here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster_Ties Posted December 16, 2003 Report Share Posted December 16, 2003 You should stick an ID3 tag in the file with artist info and the URL to your site in the comment field. When it inevitably gets passed around, you could sell some records and get some new users here!!! YES!!!! This would be a good idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
connoisseur series500 Posted December 16, 2003 Report Share Posted December 16, 2003 Thank you for the song, guys. Sidenote: Jim Dye: who got kayoed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slsmcgrew Posted December 16, 2003 Report Share Posted December 16, 2003 That was one of the nicest versions of that song I've ever heard. That is probably my favorite Christmas tune. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Dye Posted December 16, 2003 Report Share Posted December 16, 2003 Thank you for the song, guys. Sidenote: Jim Dye: who got kayoed? Cleveland Williams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catesta Posted December 16, 2003 Report Share Posted December 16, 2003 Nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.:.impossible Posted December 18, 2003 Report Share Posted December 18, 2003 So sweet! Keep 'em comin'! We are digging it up here in Rhode Island. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Alfredson Posted December 18, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2003 I added two more tunes to the original post on page 1, so head back there and download them posthaste!!! Season's Greetings, y'all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
couw Posted December 18, 2003 Report Share Posted December 18, 2003 great! thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Johnson Posted December 18, 2003 Report Share Posted December 18, 2003 Thanks for sharing your music and time, Jim & company! The tunes are delightful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Dye Posted December 18, 2003 Report Share Posted December 18, 2003 Thanks guys! There is enough material here to call this the Organissimo Christmas EP 2003! All you need is a cover. Perhaps couw or AfricaBrass will do the cover art and post it here. We could burn it and send it out with the next Blindfold test. Loving the rendition of 'O Christmas Tree'. It smokes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pryan Posted December 18, 2003 Report Share Posted December 18, 2003 Much thanks for the tunes, Organissimo. Best of the season to you also! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vibes Posted December 20, 2003 Report Share Posted December 20, 2003 Thanks again for the great tunes, guys. I just ordered your CD and will keep my fingers crossed on a Christmas album coming out sometime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michel devos Posted December 23, 2003 Report Share Posted December 23, 2003 Excellent balance indeed.Your basement sounds magnificent...or you used very good mikes : can you tell us more about it? Thanks again and have a merry Christmas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Alfredson Posted December 24, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2003 Michel, The recording was fairly simple. I recently purchased a MOTU 1224 interface, which is one of their older models. It doesn't have all the fancy wing-dings that their newer interfaces have and it only does 24bit/48kHz recordings (not 96kHz like everybody is doing nowadays... for what reason is beyond me...) but it sounds good and since I bought it used it was quite inexpensive. The 1224 gives me 8 analog inputs and 10 analog outputs to and from the computer. I used Cubase SX 2.0 as my DAW program. Everyone was in the same room. I set up the recording like this: (Track # - instrument source - microphone - preamp) Track 1: drum overhead left - MXL 603s - Presonus M80 Track 2: drum overhead right - MXL 603s - Presonus M80 Track 3: snare - Shure SM57 - Bellari RP503 tube preamp Track 4: bass drum - Shure Beta52 - Presonus M80 Track 5: hi-hat - MXL 603s - Presonus M80 Track 6: organ low rotor - Rode NTK - Presonus M80 Track 7: organ hi rotor - MXL 2001 - Presonus M80 Track 8: guitar cabinet - MXL 53m - Bellari RP503 Track 9: saxophone - Studio Projects C3 - Presonus M80 As you can see there are nine tracks, but as I said the MOTU 1224 can only do 8 analog inputs into the computer at once. On the song where there is no saxophone (Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree), I used the setup listed above for tracks 1 thru 8. On the tune with saxophone (The Christmas Song), I used the hi-hat track (track 5) as the input for the saxophone, but routed it to track 9 in the computer for easier mixing. I slightly compressed the snare drum going into the computer with the Bellari pre-amp (it has a built in compressor and EQ section). The Bellari's are actually not that bad considering they cost next to nothing. I think I got the pair for $200 used. I changed the stock tubes in them which made subtle differences to the tone. I added a slight bump in the organ bass EQ at around 200 Hz. Probably 2db or so. I compressed the saxophone sllightly using the Waves plug-ins for Cubase SX and also EQ'd the midrange a bit. I'm not thrilled with the sound of the C3 on saxophone, now that I've tried it. I'm getting a MXL 67G for Christmas (from my lovely wife!) which is supposed to be a darker sounding mic. I'll try that next. I also have another Rode NTK I could try. The NTK is a really beautiful sounding tube mic (single pattern... that's the only bummer). I try to buy all my mics in pairs. I used the Waves C4 compressor on the drum sub-mix. It's a multi-band compressor which allows you to compress certain frequencies but not others. After some playing around I was able to get a real nice, natural sounding high end on the drums, but still squash the middle enough to tame the dynamics a bit. Not too much... I hate too much compression. Add a sprinkle of reverb here and there using (again) the Waves plug-ins and that was that! The biggest issue I found was since I recorded in 24bit/48kHz I had a lot of dynamic range to play with. When I down converted into 16bit, I had to really watch my levels. 16bit only has a dynamic range of 94db or so. 24bit has a dynamic range of 112db, I think. So you can push it a lot harder. I've also read that it's better to record at 24bit/44.1kHz since you do not have to re-sample the audio from 48kHz to 44.1kHz for CD transfer. You just have to down-convert the bit-rate, which is easier and less noisy that changing two sample rates that have nothing to do with each other mathematically. Live and learn! I recently acquired a MOTU 24i interface off Ebay which will give me 32 analog inputs into the computer, so I won't have to worry about stealing drum channels for the saxophone! Now I just need more mics and more mic preamps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Johnson Posted December 24, 2003 Report Share Posted December 24, 2003 Wow. Free tunes AND a lesson in recording techniques. Can this Christmas get any better?!!! Thanks for the info, Jim! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Alfredson Posted December 24, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2003 Well, I was feeling pretty good about those recordings... and then I heard this: Jazzoo... Granted, they have some nicer equipment than me, but man... the recordings just sound so natural and open. I gotta get some better mic preamps. I gotta start saving up for a Millenia HV-3D. Our last record, recorded at a real studio, made ample use of that preamp and it sounds beautiful. I think that would take the recordings to the next level. I invited the engineer and musicians to post here. I like their sound. I'll definately be checking the record out when it is released. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spontooneous Posted December 24, 2003 Report Share Posted December 24, 2003 These are the best new Christmas jazz tracks to reach my ears in quite a few years, guys. "O Christmas Tree" is an absolute knockout. Keep it up! And thanks, as always. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Alfredson Posted December 24, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2003 Well, I can't compete with THIS STUDIO. Maybe someday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe G Posted December 24, 2003 Report Share Posted December 24, 2003 Excellent! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Dye Posted December 24, 2003 Report Share Posted December 24, 2003 Doug Robinson is a great guy. He's a regular over at Jazz Corner. It'd be nice if he decided to spend some time here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bright Moments Posted December 24, 2003 Report Share Posted December 24, 2003 Thanks so much for the excellent xmas music! B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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