VIENNA CONCERT GRAND, BERLIN CONCERT GRAND NEW YORK CONCERT GRAND and UPRIGHT PIANO

The intonation of the NEW YORK CONCERT GRAND is optimized for an easy playing style. Even with very fine keystrokes an impressive sound spectrum is generated, with perfect pianissimo nuances and rich variations. The NEW YORK CONCERT GRAND offers a particularly clear rendition with an amazing degree of flexibility in timbre and dynamics, and is perfect for solo piano, jazz, classical and many other styles.
 

International pianists and designers created the foundations for the BERLIN CONCERT GRAND. Its unique freshness, strength and musicality established new standards worldwide. Utilizing the standard duplex scale, the BERLIN CONCERT GRAND provides enormously expressive power right to the top of the highest treble- truly a charming, magical instrument, vibrant and full of life.
 

The UPRIGHT PIANO is a traditional, quality piano with a warm, charismatic and compact sound. Time and time again, original artists and critics alike have hailed it as the "Best Concert Piano". In comparison with the real piano, it easily stands up - the UPRIGHT PIANO reveals a decay and rich sound full of nuances, power and poetry.

Select Studios have just upgraded to the full version of 

 NATIVE INSTRUMENTS KOMPLETE 6 in our north london recording studio

Komplete 6 brings together seven cutting-edge products that no studio should be without. Containing groundbreaking and multi-awarding samplers, synths, guitar/bass amps and creative effects, this collection represents Native Instruments' most powerful software tools.

From hip-hop to film scores, pop to techno, rock to classical and beyond – Komplete 6’s 7,000 presets and 60 GB of samples have it all covered. Everything from dirty synths to heavenly choirs, pounding drums to full orchestras, subtle pads to screaming leads – it’s all ready to play in premium quality.

Features   Includes 7 award-winning software products: synthesizers, samplers, effects and a virtual guitar studio Huge selection of presets covering the entire musical spectrum - all ready to play   Over 7,000 presets have been categorized as KoreSounds® and pre-configured for use with Kore
Suited for music production, live performance, instrument and sound design
High-quality audio engines deliver perfect sound quality
Includes sample libraries with over 60 GB of professional samples
 

XLogic Workstation Interface Solutions

The XLogic Alpha-Link Audio I/O range is a new family of fully featured multi-channel Audio Converters for Studio, Live and Broadcast Applications. The three different models each feature our high quality 24-channel AD/DA converter circuitry. the SSl Alpha-Link  card gives you all the quality of the legandery  SSl Sound .

Professional AD DA converter

Featuring up to 64 channels of digital MADI I/O at 48kHz (or 32 channels at 96kHz), 12 stereo AES/EBU digital I/O, 24 analogue I/O and much more, the Alpha link MADI SX delivers a dependable, versatile, high quality MADI Interface to AES / EBU based conversion solution.

Six Second Silence Autumn Britsh Tour

Normans  recording session at our  london recording Studios

Stuka Squadron Back in the our North london recording studio this week finishing off their new Ep

Due for Release  Later this year check out the band 

 

http://www.myspace.com/StukaSquadron

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The Studio had a new update this week

WE had a delivery of a new studio Kit 

Tama Rockstar custom 5 piece drum kit
 

Hardware 

Iron Cobra double bass pedal 
 

Cymbals:
Zildjian A Custom 16 crash
Zildjian A Custom 18 crash
Zildjian K 19" china
Paiste 402 20" ride
Paiste 402 hi-hats

 1. Is there an incident which happened that you think may have some song value? Write a song about that incident. If it were something you personally experienced, then that's probably even better

2.Practise writing lyrics that have absolutely nothing to do with anything you've actually experienced. This could really add more variety to your lyric writing. Was it something experienced by someone you know? Write about it.

3.Take a very good concept and write several songs about it. Each song should give a different twist or perspective to the concept. This may very soon add up to a complete concept album.

4.At times, you may have written a song with a great melody but you just don't like the lyrics. You should probably just keep the melody and completely rewrite the lyrics, based on a new topic.

5.Write lyrics about something you have read about in a newspaper or magazine. Or perhaps something you saw on tv. How about your favorite movies? Do they have interesting ideas for writing lyrics?

The history of microphones is actually pretty interesting. The first person to use the word microphone was Sir Charles Wheatstone in 1827. In 1876, Emile Berliner was the person to invent the first microphone which was used as a voice transmitter, known as a telephone today. He did not invent the telephone, but improved it with the microphone.
By the time 1878 came around, David Edward Hughes invented the carbon microphone which was later developed during the 1920s. With the invention of the radio, new broadcasting microphones also were invented. There would not be a history of microphones if these things did not take place.

James West and Gerhard Sessler of Bell laboratories played a big part in the history of microphones in the year 1964 as they received patent number 3,118,022 for their transducer which is an electric microphone. It offered something previous microphones had not, greater reliability and higher precision with something all consumers loved, a lower price.  This part in the
the history of microphones revolutionalized the industry and made it possible for general consumers to obtain the product. Almost one billion of these microphones were manufactured each year. Dynamic and condenser microphones were developed in the 1970s because they offer a great amount of sensitivity perfect for broadcasting with. To this day they are used by broadcasters worldwide.

Microphone history dates back to the 1800s so it is possible to see why we have come to such great lengths in offering top of the line, high quality products by many different manufacturers.

Hi all

Another busy week in our london recording studio ,hope to see you all back soon 

Paul select Studios  

 2^nd week of 3 with six second Silence all songs recorded

Monday 30^th of November Start Mixing The Album

 

 Darryl Pearson Advocates Steinberg Gear

Guitarist, songwriter and producer Darryl Pearson was initially a member of DeVante Swing’s production crew named Swing Mob. This collective was also associated with renowned artists such as Timbaland, Missy Elliot and Ginuwine, just to name a few.After Swing Mob folded in 1995, Darryl Pearson moved on to become one of the most sought-after producers in the US, meanwhile producing for Madonna, Justin Timberlake, Chris Cornell and many more.

How did you get started in the music business?

 

I met DeVante Swing from Jodeci and became part of his production crew called the Swing Mob. I played guitar, bass, keyboards, did sequencing and sang background vocals for various artists like Usher, Mary J. Blige, CeCe Peniston, H-Town and a whole host of others.

How did you first start running Steinberg products?

A friend of mine named Jeffrey Smith turned me on to Steinberg because he was using Cubase. I fell in love with it when I saw it. I was using an MPC 60 and I realized how much more I could do with Cubase. Ed Spence at Washington Music Center has always been incredibly helpful.

What projects have you been working on recently?

I worked on projects with Madonna, Justin Timberlake and Chris Cornell. I also do commercials for Greibo Media in Baltimore including Coca Cola, Morgan State University, Humana, Sotheby’s and Hewlett-Packard.

You do a lot of projects with Timbaland. How did you two first meet?

We were both in DeVante’s production crew. Brian Kidd and myself were using Nuendo, and Timbaland saw how we were using it with our NeKos, and then I set up a laptop with it and he has been using it ever since.

Have you used the AudioWarp on any projects?

Rodney Jerkins and I were working in Ireland on a Michael Jackson project. Rodney had done a special beat at a certain tempo. Then we wanted to slow down the whole song to match the groove. We stretched the audio of the song in Pro Tools to no avail. We were able to stretch the tempo in real time in Nuendo with great results. Everyone was very impressed.

Are you doing anything in surround?

We are doing a whole movie in 10.2 scoring and mixing entirely in Nuendo.

Have you started running Cubase 5?

I am working on various artists for Universal Entertainment’s Brooklyn Entertainment. I love the VariAudio feature. The sound quality is excellent and the features can’t be beaten. I have used Melodyne but it is more complicated as it wasn’t integrated into the program and autotune wasn’t as advanced or flexible.

Have you had a chance to check out the Steinberg hardware?

I am very impressed by it and I am looking to doing my next project with it. I want to set up dedicated Steinberg studios in different locations and want the people to hear how Steinberg sounds better than Pro Tools. I can get so much more done with it.

Do you carry your own system to various studios?

I have a NeKo and a laptop. I was recently in a studio, bypassed the big Mac and went to my three-year old Toshiba laptop where I was able to sequence 18 VST instruments with no problems and then bounce down to an entire vocal session on the laptop. The studio was blown away by the performance as they couldn’t sequence six instruments on their G5 with their full-blown Pro Tools rig. The way that Steinberg works with virtual instruments is superior because they invented it.

Do you see a lot of your friends switching to Steinberg?

Everyone that sees me use it switches over to a Steinberg system and wants me to configure it for them. I have done systems for Justin Timberlake, Hannon Lane who worked with Jennifer Hudson and Rihanna, and, of course, Timbaland. They are all very happy with the Steinberg gear. 

The development of the electric solid body guitar owes a great deal to the popularity of Hawaiian  music in the 1920s and 1930s. Hawaiian guitars were solo instruments played with a metal slide. Electric Hawaiian guitars were the first instruments that depended entirely on their sound being amplified electrically not just acoustically.

A key figure was Adolph Rickenbacker who originally he was to make metal components for Dopera Brothers' National Resonator Guitars. While at National, Rickenbacker met George Beauchamp and Paul Barth who had been working together on the principle of the magnetic pick-up. Together they formed the Electro String Company and in 1931 produced their first Hawaiian guitars. Their success prompted Gibson and others to start producing electric guitars,

In the 1940s Gibson new electric models became firmly established. People began to work on ways of applying the solid body of the Hawaiian and steel guitars to regular instruments. In 1944, Leo Fender, who ran a radio repair shop, teamed up with Doc Kaufman, a former Rickenbacker employee, started K & F Company and produced a series of steel guitars and amplifiers. Fender felt the large pick-up magnets in use at the time need not be so large. He incorporated a new pick-up which he wanted to try out into a solid body guitar based on the shape Hawaiian but, with a regular properly fretted fingerboard. Though only meant to demonstrate the pick-up the guitar was soon in demand. 1946 saw the formation of Fender Electric Instrument Company and the introduction of the Broadcaster.

At the same time Les Paul was working in the same direction. Paul experimented with pick ups throughout the 1930s but, had experienced feedback and resonance problems and began to think about a solid body guitar after hearing about a solid body violin by Thomas Edison.. Paul was convinced the only way to avoid body feedback was to reduce pick up movement and the only way to do that was to mount it in a solid body.

Paul persuaded Epiphone to let him use workshop on Sundays, where in 1941  he built the historic "log" guitar

In 1947 Paul Bigsby in consultation with Merle Travis built a solid body electric guitar that shared certain design features with the Broadcaster that Fender  introduced in 1948. Bigsby wasn't far from Fender operation in Fullerton and there is some question who was looking over whose shoulder

Fender was more concerned with utility and practicality rather then looks and wanted a regular guitar with the clear sound of a electric Hawaiian but, without the feedback problems. The result was the the Broadcaster which he began  producing in 1948 later renamed the Telecaster.

In 1954, Fender began producing the Stratocaster. Along with the Telecaster and the guitars Les Paul was designing for Gibson, they set the standard for solid body guitars

http://www.history-of-rock.com/guitarstwo.htm

1. Learn how to play multiple instruments, learn how to read sheet music, master tempo's, perhaps even write your own music.
2. Learn how to use a soundboard. Learn how to use multiple computer programs. Create some beats, and don't only write for one genre. Try doing punk, ska, rock, rap, r&b, country, funk, jazz, and the likes. The more genre's you do, the more broad your horizons, the more clients you can have.
3. Start networking. Create business cards. Tell your family and friends you're producing music. Post bulletins around your neighborhood. You will get clients in no time, if your prices are reasonable. Charge cheaply per hour, or per song. Do you have a cousin who is a great singer? A uncle who has a niche for playing the tuba. Produce them, but remember usually keep family and business separate.
4. Get an internship at a production company. Sure, its tough work, but you might get some free time in a real recording studio. Soon you might be more trusted and earn a paycheck.
5. Go to college. Get a degree. If music production doesn't work out, you have something to fall-back on. Sound engineering, or something to do with business would be a good choice.
6. After you receive a good income, you could save up, and start your own studio with your clients that you have gathered all this time, or can continue your job with a production company.
7. Never stop loving music. Don't lose interest, and don't give up if you love what you're doing.

As I write this, the original 1961 version of Ben E. King's recording of "Stand By Me" is number one in the Billboard Hot 100. It is the theme of a hit movie, but this alone will never sell records. What will is a strong message: heart! Your favorite record of the 1950s or 1960s is both a landmark and a personal challenge. Listen to some of these "oldies" and hear how much was achieved without high-tech equipment. To make recordings that transcend the technology used to create them--recordings that the next generation of musicians will admire as you admire those of the past--is the real challenge.

There have been four separate stages in the development of music recordings studios, roughly aiigned with each decade since the 1950s. Until the late 1940s, music was recorded in two ways, both mono. Many recording sessions were done direct to disc, with one or more lacquer masters cut right in the studio. If the music was for a film soundtrack, it was recorded directly onto a 35mm optical soundtrack negative. Running at 18 inches per second, and with about 55 dB signal to noise ratio (abbreviated S/N, a parameter we'll define later), this method gave better overall sound quality than any disc of the time.

Tape recording, developed by the Germans during the Second World War, was used both in radio broadcasts and for the deciphering of intercepted code messages. The poor sound quality obtained on that early equipment, due largely to inferior tape, soon improved with the introduction of commercial recorders and new tapes by Telefunken in Europe and Ampex in the United States. These machines were mono, full track (one 1/4" wide track), running at 15 ips for music-quality performance. Lower speeds were usually reserved for voice recording. It was discovered early that you could overdub by playing back a previously recorded tape through a mixer, blending that with live mics, and sending the composite signal to a second recorder. In the history of record production, this simple step rivaled the invention of the wheel.

Obviously, the pretaped music lost a bit of sound quality and gained a bit of noise. Nevertheless, this technique did allow artists to add layers of new music. Such mono-to-mono copy-overdubbing was the standard in pop music production up until 1962. Until that time, pop and rock records were made to sound good on AM radio-in highly compressed mono. Not much attention was paid to true stereo in pop and rock until 1967, when the Beatles brought out Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. While stereo was entering its second decade for classical and jazz recording, these genres were played primarily on FM. Rock was usually confined to AM until the early 1970s.

Throughout the 1950s, record companies owned most of the better recording studios, renting unbooked hours to outside users for radio and TV commercial productions. There were very few independent studios of any real quality. For rock, the large, well-designed acoustic space did not matter as much as the engineer's ear for getting excitement into the mix.

To Read More 

 http://multimedia.utsa.edu/technology/3153/restricted/history-2.html