:: Recone Helmut's Studio Log ::

:: Thursday, July 24, 2003 ::

Single Update: I requested some more bass on both tracks as they sounded a little thin on some systems. All of the content for the enhanced portion of the disk has been submitted - so right now I am waiting on a revision of the master, the multimedia authoring and the final artwork. Still on schedule.

It's funny, I have noticed lately that as soon as you make a track with some commercial appeal (that people think could do well in the semi-mainstream) everyone has an opinion about it. I mean, the friggin thing isn’t even released yet and I'm hearing how I should have done this and that differently, the edit could be more radio friendly, you have to do your promo pack a certain way.... blah blah blah. That shit cracks me up... :-)

Studio Update: God damn system drive on my Cubase machine gave up the ghost. I am pretty much fully backed up but this stalled the progress on "The Red Arrow" and downed the studio for the last two days. The new drive came in today so I'll be getting that working tonight. By the weekend this track should be done and I'll be moving on to one of the others. I feel like my momentum has taken a hit but I should be back on track by Saturday or Sunday.

Helmut Update: Feeling pretty good - anxious to get the single pressed and off my plate.

Sarah and I booked a flight to Colorado for Thanksgiving this year. We're going out to chill with friends and drink some beers. I bought the tickets so early cause they were really cheap....... already looking forward to that trip.




:: Recone 6:06 PM [+] ::
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Another track finished and recorded. I am just getting the last parts of 'The Red Arrrow' into the cubase machine and will start mixing it this week. Then I'll concentrate on the intro track and the remix of 2600 funkus. Should be done with those by the end of august which will put me half way done with the full length - on the road to an early 2004 release.

As for the single, the art is finished and looks great. Since we decided to do an enhanced CD, it's going to take Alan about a week to work up the interface and burn another master. We are including a promo pH10 movie with a cool little interface etc. So - we should be getting this thing to Diskmakers sometime next week, which means we'll have the disks toward the end of August - provided they dont nab me for the samples and refuse to press it. As soon as they arrive I'll start sending to press, radio and labels. The official release date is TBD but i am thinking the end of October.
:: Recone 5:29 PM [+] ::
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Always a pleasure visiting West Westside Music. I reccomend anyone in the area (or not in the area) needing mastering to give them a call. Anyway, the mastering is done (i might have him add a little bottom to the second half of the first song but thats a minor revision) and the art is almost done - so we should be getting this sucker to the pressing plant by next week. By the way, Alan at Westside offered to do an 'enhanced' CD for no extra charge - this means you can pop the disk in your computer and watch the pH10 promo movie and link straight to the web page etc. ... should be pretty friggin cool.
:: Recone 1:59 PM [+] ::
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Nice. Just stuffed the pre-master CD in an envalope and overnighted it to Westside music for mastering. They like to have the files loaded up the night before so it doenst slow down your session. I'll be there on Wednesday at 11am - should only take 2-3 hours to get it done since my mixes are already so dope :-). Then, once the art is done, the whole package gets sent to Diskmakers. I'm not sure what's up with Dr. Israel but I wasnt able to get a hold of him yesterday so the studio thing didnt happen. Hopefully we'll be able to link up in time to get him on the full length... Went to Coney Island on Saturday, rode the Cyclone, saw the Cyclones play, went swimming in the ocean, went to the aquarium - did nothing involving music or computers and it was very refreshing :-).
:: Recone 1:06 PM [+] ::
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Tonight:
Taking the night off - 007 Nightfire (XBOX) really needs to get finished tonight :-). No work tomorrow so I have a nice long weekend - sitting here playing video games, drinking sauza and lime and just relaxing my ass off. Tomorrow I am going to do some web site maintenance and work on the FUD song. Now that the single is done, I'll be hitting the rest of the tracks one by one and FUD is top on the list. Have some studio time with Dr. Israel this weekend so I need to prepare for that but otherwise I am taking it easy. Sarah and I are going to Coney Island on Saturday to drink some beer, eat boardwalk food and see a Cyclone game. The cam will be on all weekend.
:: Recone 12:54 AM [+] ::
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Another excellent and productive weekend! The final mixes for the Needless to Say single are DONE! They are burned to CD and I am listening on various systems here and there to make sure nothing is weird.... The artwork is almost done too, just some tweaks here and there. My mastering session is booked for next week on the 16th so... baring anything weird, we are on shedule for a september/october release. Also - I am loving that new SAC-2.2 thing, so much better than mouse mixing.
:: Recone 5:20 PM [+] ::
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Did the photo shoot for the single last night with Pete Miser. Went okay, got some shit Brian can use for reference. Bought a SAC-2.2 control surface last week - LOOK HERE - arrived yesterday morning and I am starting to learn how it all works. Mostly it's used as an interface between me and Cubase. No more mouse mixing... Since I am so tactile it actualy helps me mix and makes it a more enjoyable task. I sold some old shit to raise the money (remember I am trying to save :-)). Work really blows. I have decided that one year from yesterday is my last day at Saatchi. I dont know what I'll do for money but I'll figure something out. The single will be in the can by the end of this weekend. I am bringing my rig upstate (leaving tomorrow night) to do the radio edits etc etc and will come back with a pre master ready to go. There are lots of places to reference a mix up there (my old boom box, my mothers kick ass stereo, car stereos) so i can get that done too. The cross reference is so god damn important, and so many people skip it. Feeling really good about the two tracks on the single and REALLY cant wait to get it mastered.
:: Recone 11:13 PM [+] ::
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