[LAU] LAM annual Best of mix 2009

[Mike Mazarick]

> Patrick Shirkey wrote:
> I'm pleased to announce that the latest Annual Best of Mix for 2009 is
> now up for your listening pleasure.
> 
> http://djcj.org/audio/lam

Thanks, Patrick for this !!

And to think this was all done with an old Radio Shack boombox and Audacity!
;-)

Actually the truth is a bit more complicated, so I'll give you guys an
overview.

My brother and I have been talking for years about throwing a 'Recognition'
party for an old jazz trumpet/flugelhorn player from Fayetteville, NC named
Ray Codrington that all the jazz heavyweights in the area know, love, and
have played with.   You may have heard some of his recorded work because of
his recordings in the mid-60s with Eddie Harris, Stanley Turrinetine, and
others.   He recorded what later became the 'jazz standard' called 'Freedom
Jazz Dance'.

Well, my brother's wife got tired of hearing us go on and on about what we
wanted to do and told me to 'make it happen'. 

It was easy, because Ray has a lot of musical fans and everyone was getting
tired of getting together every decade or so for someone's death or because
of some other severe crisis.   We ended up holding the event in the upstairs
above a local woodwind repair shop.   The owner (Rodney Marsh) is a jazz
player and has fixed up the upstairs to look like a nightclub so that the
aspiring jazz players who take lessons at his shop will have a place to
play.   A classical musician may aspire to a concert hall, but all a jazz
guy is looking for is a gig in a nightclub.  What Rodney has created is a
'faux' nightclub because he doesn't have any liquor licenses (and there
aren't any nightclubs around here suitable to play in).   There were about
120 attendees of the party over the 4 hours, and the place was always at its
capacity of about 80.  Rodney is also a gourmet chef and only got to play a
little bit during the evening.  He's played the flute lead on 'Night in
Tunisia'. 

It was recommended by someone else that I use a local sound guy who had
recorded Nine Inch Nails, American Idol, Matchbox 50, etc.   He is all about
ProTools and he has an elaborate sound setup which included putting 5 mics
on the drums, a $6k Neumann 'head' mic at the back of the room, etc.   As
part of the deal, he captured the sound he mixed and gave me a download (on
my disk) of the 16 tracks of raw WAV files.

After a lot of noodling around, I took a few selections from the 4 hours of
music and put them in Ardour where I got a rough mix and eventually
converted it to an MP3 so it would be small enough to download.  I hadn't
figured out how to use the effects on 'Night In Tunisia' and I never figured
out how to use the automation on any of them, so I would just 'set it and
forget it'.   I'll eventually figure all of it out, and post some more
stuff.   I've just got to find a block of time to do this.   You would be
surprised at how 'unaware' the jazz guys are of basic recording.   They
often wandered around on the stage and one string bass player literally
refused to plug into the DI box for some reason (which means about 30
minutes of the recording doesn't have a direct bass input.

Here are a few pictures of the event:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/1143697@N22/
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2054294&id=66106565&l=096dd86c33


Just so you know, the 'which B3 clone is this?' is actually a real B3 and
leslie.  If you listen carefully, you can hear when the tube went out,
taking out the upper keyboard.  It was being played by a monster keyboard
player named Chip Crawford.   Here's a YouTube of one of his performances:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSadt0OYsNw
The singer is his wife Eve Cornelius.   She's a real 'diva' and both of them
believe it is very important that I get a 'release' from everyone who
performed because of her recording contract (a near impossibility and by no
means worth the effort).

Which leads me to what my evil plans are...
;-)

April Fool's is coming.   You can get in on this joke if you want to.

Even though all these guys are at least in their 50s and many have been thru
this at least once, all of them are convinced some record company is going
to recognize their innate talent a give them a gazillion bucks for a
recording contract.  They all still have stars in their eyes.

Here's the deal:
I need somebody (else I'll have to figure out how) to write an email message
to me telling me that their recording has had 25,000 downloads and is very
popular with the Rave crowd in Prague and Poland.   Naturally, the eastern
European promoters want to know if someone can perform live for about
$10,000 plus travel expenses for a show or two, with a concert tour likely.
The email message must have kremvax somewhere in the header and be released
at 12:01 AM April 1 Prague local time.   They will want to know if I have
releases for this to make sure it can be promoted properly and meet the
European Labor commissions standards so that visas can be issued.

Later on April 1, I will need to get a second email from ASCAP stating that
anyone who has signed a release is personally liable for the $.05/copy
'mechanical rights' for the 25,000 downloads and asks me will I forward the
names of the people who have signed releases so ASCAP can deduct the
royalties from their pay.

Maybe at this stage the European promoters become angry and withdraw from
the deal, but ASCAP still wants to be paid...

...

Around midnight after this dialog with the 120 people is finished and
everyone is stirred up properly, we'll have to put out a giant 'April Fool'
from Kremvax.

-Mike