With the increasing popularity of home recording facilities there have been plenty of programs that show you how to make a record. Here's another, but this one is something special. It's got soul.
Do you want to learn the anatomy of a cool R&B track? If so, here's something you'll like. It's the R&B Master Series II, a complete program that puts you inside Tony's Pro Tools studio. And with it you get a chance to mix the song yourself too.
Tony Shepperd introduces talented singer/songwriter Shelea Frazier and a team of world class musicians to show you how the track is assembled from the very first part, programming the drums, to the final polished mixing session.
It's an interesting program, which gives lots of tips and tricks into how to get 'that sound'.
Perfect Tracking
Shelea's tracking sequences are really cool because you can see and hear her laying down what will be a smooth wall of R&B backing vocals one by one, without Autotune, each part in perfect harmony with the last.
And through it all is Tony's articulate presence, explaining microphone and pre amp choices, why he chooses certain compression ratioe and makes different EQ settings. Even if you don't produce R&B, or have a Pro Tools outfit, the principles stil apply and are worth learning.
Mix it Yourself
Of course, it's very Pro Tools focused, so a lot of the plugins are unfamiliar to, or out of reach of, a lot of people. But the cool thing about the Master Series is that it also includes all the raw wave tracks and some mixes already made up in Cubase, Sonar and Reaper.
I'd recommend this for anyone starting their own home studio, or starting out on their own career in the music industry. Veterans will also get a kick out of drooling over Tony's outboard gear, like the Tubetech CLB-1.
R&B Master Series 2 is available on DVD, download or SD media. It was produced by Jeff Markham for Techbreakfast LLC. Jeff also runs On The Mark Music and The Project Studio in San Jose California.
Musicians featured are: Alex Teamer - Drums Michael Nielsen - Acoustic Guitars Reggie Hamilton - Bass Guitar Randy Emata - Keys and Pads Raul Ferrando - Strings and Orchestration
The Calamity Mix
I got a sneak preview of the DVD and here's our mix of the track featured, Never Thought I'd Say It, by Shelea Frazier. Many thanks to Shelea, Tony and Jeff Markham for permission to publish the track on this site.
Demand crashed the server on the first night! But normal service is now resumed. Everyone was trying to get hold of Pop Friction. Because we're giving away the 2004 debut album of Calamity Pop for free right now. Visit the Pop Friction page for details.
New Digital Download Sites
Calamity Studio output can now be digitally downloaded in any format you like at the following sites: Monjour Nagraan
New Kit
Recently added stuff New Plugs!
The amazing Valley People Dynamite from Softube is now part of our armoury. It's a fabulous little dynamics box that we've been using on the Stu Smith project to give the drums that extra 'snap'.
We're currently trialing Stilwell's Bombardier, but haven't had much chance to give it an overhaul yet.
Soundtoys Native 4 (yes I know, I'm weak), even thought its performance in Sonar 8.5.3x64 is ass and the developers have no intention of fixing it.
Softube's wonderful Bass Amp Room Softube's wonderful Tube Delay Softube's wonderful FET Compressor (it's a bit like an LA2A but better) Something secret but wonderful from Softube! (yes, we think Softube are wonderful)
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