Ken Lewis - News, Thoughts and Advice for Musicians, Artists, and recording industry people
Saturday, May 01, 2010
Cassidy Gold #50 (or is it #51??)
Wow, i havent blogged in forever. My apologies. i've had quite alot to say, but no time to say it. I'm gonna try to find time to get back on my blogging game. This is a good way to start. I just found out today that an album i worked on quite a while ago, Cassidy "I'm a Hustla" went gold!!! YEAH!!! i'velost count but i'm pretty sure thats either #50 or #51 on my gold and platinum list. With record sales in the dump, its become harder and harder to earn gold records, but i still get a few here and there, I'm lucky and grateful. So, i did a bunch of music for the song "A.M. to P.M." on the album, that was my contribution. My production partner, Brent Kolatalo, engineered the sessions (and probably added some music too) so thats his 8th Gold album. Congrats Brent!
Man, there's so much more to tell, and i havent updated my site in about a year. YIKES!! I think i'm gonna start trying to hit the blog again several times a week. Take care.
The news of the devastation in Haiti is far beyond comprehension. The early images of destruction alone pull my heart into my throat. I've already donated to the relief effort, and i suggest everyone who can donate anything directly to the relief efforts to please do so. Haiti needs you right now.
For my part, I have decided that the next two independent artists to hire me to do a mix for them, I will donate the entire mix fee to the relief effort. 100% of it for both mixes, and i will also donate the money to whatever Haitian Relief Organization the person chooses. I am just so heartbroken over what i'm seeing there that if i can stop what i'm normally doing and spend two work days relieving suffering down there in any way that i can, thats what i'm going to do.
The only caveat, you must actually tell me you are hiring me for the Haitian Relief mix.
Just wanted to post a little diversion from the usual. I was recently in Barcelona and absolutely fell in love with the place. What a great city. the food, culture, people, weather, night life, is all exceptional. I met some great people while there, and found a wine bar in the Gothic quarter that i really loved. If your in Barcelona, definitely check out Vinda Bar, in the Gothic Quarter, not far from the Cathedral. I had a tremendous bottle of wine for about 18 Euro, and a really good one for 14 Euro. Lee, the owner, was really good at suggesting wines as well, and when i told him what i liked, everything he picked was spot on. and the food is really good too. there's my Barcelona tip!!! here's a pic from Vinda bar of my favorite wine of the trip. Spanish wine rocks!
Almost Christmas!! cant wait. Still grinding on these mixes though. Current and or recent projects include Miggs (WARNER/ROCKRIDGE), Notar (TYRRANOSAURUS), J. Lewis featuring Flo Rida (INTERSCOPE), The Higher (EPITAPH), Portable Payback (UNIVERSAL), King Phaze, Linzee Starr, Lovely Hoffman, One Less Reason, Jocey, Black Lagoon, 13 Yards to Victory, Brandon Beal, Warren Dean, Jamie Wainwright featuring Craig Smart, The Accentrix, Marina Chello, Paul G featuring Akon (UNIVERSAL SA), Carishma and Sunny Khubani, Surefire Music Group, Trillogy, Xtortya. Whew!!! I have been BUSY. If i've been working with you and forgot to mention you, my appologies, its a little hectic right now and i'm working from memory.
OK, on to my blog. One of the BIGGEST misconceptions about audio in general, but specifically about vocal tracking in the digital world is this. If you take a vocal track, and you make a digital copy of that vocal track, THAT IS NOT A DOUBLE TRACK. Making an exact copy of ANY track does absolutely nothing except make it a bit louder (just like pushing up a fader does).
All the time, i get songs in to mix, and for instance, the lead vocal has a "double" track, which turns out to be not a double track at all. just a copy of the original lead vocal track thats labeled "LV DBL". Dear young engineers, artists, producers, people just learning, etc.... please read this blog and understand exactly what i'm saying. Same with guitar tracks, keyboards, basslines, etc... If you want a double track of something, you simply have to perform it and record it a second time. If its not feeling like a double track, then you didnt perform it as closely to the original take as you need to, try again. If it was easy, everybody would make records :-)
I hope this helps clear up a couple of my biggest pet peeve misconceptions about recording vocals. Good luck in your record making endeavours. if i can be of service to you, here I am.
Wow! I just got back from Amsterdam and while i was there i had the true pleasure of seeing the Symphony perform at the legendary Concertgebouw concert hall. I couldnt film during the performance, unfortunately, but i did get some good footage at intermission. this shows basically how the orchestra is seated, what instruments go where, and shows you a great view of the Hall as well as this insane pipe organ they had. And the sound of that place with that orchestra was truly exceptional. Maybe the best sounding hall I've ever been in and I've been in many. The video gets cut a little short because the usher was coming over :-)
I just wrapped up production for a rock band called MIGGS on Warner / RockRidge Records. I'm finally back in New York City and beginning to mix the project, but this was recorded down in Tampa, Florida where we were recording the band. This goes thru how i recorded the piano for the record. What microphones, placements, etc... This was during the recording of piano for a song called "Damage".
