2008
2008-01-25 Went to revisit the Sharks at the Cross Eyed Seagull. Click here for samples.
.
2007
(2007-11-09 & 2007-11-17)
After an extended hiatus in Denver and at the 2007 Balluner Festival , I returned to the Topwater Grill not to record audio but this time, as a photographer for the HartFestival kickoff.
Got to follow this up shooting pictures for the HartFest -- Twas quite a classy event.
Cow Blues Brothers
(2007-09-21 6.4 gigs)
Recorded live at the Top Water Grill in San Leon, Texas. This was a makeup session from a previous recording debacle. Gobs of good material so we made them their own web page.
My wife's put up with listening to tons of recordings and even she says this band is good! Also happened upon a family of Cockatiels.
Improv at Belmar Labs (2007-09-08 804 megs)
Had a business trip to attend to up in Denver. Checking the local calendar of events was a Def Leopard concert in the Red Rocks Amphitheater but the weather was iffy so I ventured forth to an interesting venue in the Whole Foods downtown district for an evening of Improv (click here to listen).
Using a mobile rig of two AT-21R lapel mics and a Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox 3, I got a front row seat to an evening of very different entertainment. In the picture of the backpack, you can zoom in and see the lapel mics. The whole session was recorded on battery power.
The room sat about 70 people comfortably with concrete surfaces in an art gallery. It was a place I've always read about but never heard before this evening.
There were alot of aspects to this little project that were different and got a try out several things.
(Note - Panning added during post processing)
The TailDraggers Recorded live at Katie's in San Leon, Texas. (click here for samples)
It had been coming up on two years since I've been to this place, a converted U.S. Post Office and I remembered the place as having a good sound. This evening was a treat as the place was PACKED with alot of action going on and the band was very entertaining.
This time, in addition to setting up two stage mics, I also tapped off the house mixer for every signal available. Between the first and second sets, we went ahead and mic's the harp amplifier. Between the second and third session, we moved a stage mic a bit closer to the drum kit. All-in-all, a pretty good session.
Sundance Grill:
(2007-08-18 1.94 gigs)
(2007-08-26 12.76 gigs)
(2007-09-02 9.12 gigs)
Topwater Grill:
(2007-09-29)
During the magical summer of 2007, I was adopted by a fun bunch of merry music makers, recorded them on several occassions and had a great experience. Also expanded further by finally getting a chance to work on the Dreamsicle's website.
The Sharks, Live at the Knights of Columbus (2007-08-04 4.8 gigs) - A private party recorded live in extremely tight setup. Lot's of bleed over. Got tactics should we ever attempt such a similar situation again. Later that evening, we went to Hoppi's and heard some really exceptional spanish guitar playing making the overall evening good.
Notoriaty (2007-07-29 638 megs) - A National award winning barbershop quartet consisting of four talented individuals scattered across the state of Texas, makes catching this group a treat. They stopped by to sing a few numbers and we were able to capture most of the performance using two simple Sennheiser E635 (?) wireless mics about 2-3 feet from the performers.
Rock Island Band (07-07-07 7.1 gigs) - Recorded live at the Sheraton Hotel in Oklahoma City during the PCW 30th Class Reunion. On this project, we set up the recorders and went visiting for the rest of the evening. With all the frolicking about, we managed to grab this fun little number! On this number, the band featured classmates David P. White on bass, Scott Pacheco on 2nd lead guitar, and Rick Ayling playing lead.
Cow Blues Brothers (2007-06-03 2.2 gigs) - Recorded live at the Haak Vineyards in Sante Fe, Texas Not a good session. Recordings of the band came out well but we tapped the mixer for vocals and that signal was extremely hot with lots of clipping. Digital clipping sounds very bad. Owe 'em a rain check. However, we did manage to pull together this short video clip and one short warm up number that didn't have any vocals.
(2007-05-29 11.1 gigs)
Very successful evening hosted by Donny and Lisa McCorquodale and attended by the entire block. At least a dozen musician friends from over the decades stopped in and provided the entertainment without any rehearsal at all. A truly magical evening. If they do this again next year, I may try to mic everybody individually!
College of the Mainland Jazz Combo and Jazz Ensemble
Spring Concert (2007-03-27 1.96 gigs) - The prior session went so well, we went back for another round with equally good results. These concerts are headed up by Sparky Koerner, Professor of Music. (click here for a sample)
The Sharks
Live at the Sandbar
(2007-01-19 919 megs)
Recorded using two Behringer C3's on the stage and one Oktava MC-012 aimed at the monitor to capture the vocalist. Submixed on the spot and converted using a Tascam/Frontier Design US-144L and onto the G4 Powerbook with hard disk. Also used the JB3 as a backup and neded up using to the JB3 tracks. This was a makeup session because we had considerable problems with this room in a prior attempt (they had retiled the floor in the entire place and acoustics were extremely "bouncy"). Here, we mixed on the spot in an attempt to capture the sound of the place and got pretty good results. This does make for a loooong evening and tired ears. Also points out the need for better sound isolation at the recording desk.
2006
College of the Mainlands Jazz Combo and Jazz Ensemble
Christmas Concert (2006-12-10) - Recorded using two Oktava MC-012's, one Behringer C3, and one Marshall MXL-990. Converted using the MOTU Traveller onto the G4 Powerbook and external drive. This venue is perhaps the best place I've ever recorded; the room sounds great, the numbers are well rehearsed and the setup area nice and spacious. An A+++ facility.
Music, Music, Music !!!
Charity talent show (2006). Ten track recording grabbed off the house system. Lots of post production work with the show's director. CDs were produced and sold for fundraising.
2005 and earlier
Down From the Mountain (2005) - First live recording using my Mac laptop. Recorded straight to the Powerbook's internal drive. Submixed on 14 tracks on location down to 8 tracks. Twas one of them magical evenings. Took lots of post production work, got alot of good material but unfortunately, the project was never released.
The Sharks, Live at Katies (2005-12-03) - First venture out. Tracked using two Oktava MC-012 mics through a small mixer and recorded onto a Nomad Jukebox 3. Post processed at home using a PC and Quartz Audio Pro from Digital Sound Planet. Katies is an old converted Post Office in San Leon, Texas and was a good room to record. On this evening, Randy was filling in for their regular lead guitar player and provided some very tasteful playing.
Down From the Mountain - (2004 & 2003)
Godspell (August 2003) - Recorded three shows through overhead mics, through the house mixer and out an Aux path, onto "cassette" tapes. Once back home, we played back the cassettes running the signal through EQ, and expansion and digitized. Need to remaster this someday.
And countless seasonal holiday events recorded in a variety of manners off the house system.
