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In this session we all shuffled around which audio application we were to use. Emile and Cash on Sonar, Greg and Jessie on the V-Studio, and Sophie and I were are on Pro Tools.
For us to be able to mix last weeks tracks we first had to use a ripper tool which converts Roland's proprietary file format to WAV files. The ripping process only took about 2 minutes.
Once we imported all the tracks into ProTools we gave it a quick listen. It sounded really good without any tweaks. This was because we spent some time last week capturing great sound right at the source.
I hadn't had a chance to hear the piano tracks up until now. As mentioned earlier, we used a pair of AT 4033's (see session 13 for more on mic'ing the piano). Click on the player to listen to the raw piano tracks. No effects have been added. The tracks have only been panned hard left and right. It should be noted that this is not a stand alone piano piece. I simply solo'd the piano from the multitrack session.

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No theory this week, we jumped right into tracking Greg's band. I appoligise in advance for the picture quality as they were taken with my cell phone.

Our instructor, Greg, is in a 3 peice band and they have been preparing for their upcoming benefit gig, "Stop the Rain". This was an opportunity for them to rehearse and for us to apply our recently aquired knowledge to a real world situation.

<a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_KcCGgmBQFy4/SAj-kyXA-QI/AAAAAAAAAJg/bE2amwXn8Jc/s1600-h/IMG00070.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5190678478491547906" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_KcCGgmBQFy4/SAj-kyXA-QI/AAAAAAAAAJg/bE2amwXn8Jc/s200/IMG00070.jpg" border="0" /></a>We started by setting up the drums for Vern in the main live room exactly as we have in the past. (Mic and positioning details are found in previous blogs so I won't go into detail again in this one). As we have experienced a few times now, the Ayotte kits are a PITA to setup. These Ayotte kits may be fully adjustable but without a doubt are one of the more complicated kits to setup.

The bass player was setup in the air lock off of of the control room. He (John) was play an awesome Ricky through a Sansamp so his setup<a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_KcCGgmBQFy4/SAj-uSXA-RI/AAAAAAAAAJo/fMyzYMRIgV8/s1600-h/IMG00073.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5190678641700305170" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_KcCGgmBQFy4/SAj-uSXA-RI/AAAAAAAAAJo/fMyzYMRIgV8/s200/IMG00073.jpg" border="0" /></a> was fast and easy. Greg was in one of the other isolation rooms playing his Godin through a Roland BR-8 and into a Roland amp which we mic'd up with a SM57.

The next step was to create a decent headphone mix for them to monitor with. We began with the drums. Adjusting the levels for each one of the mics, one at a time. Then we introduced the bass guitar into the mix and once again adjusted the levels. Finally, we adjusted the levels for Greg's guitar/amp and the vocals. After about 45 minutes we had what we thought was a solid mix for them to monitor with but found that the output to the headphones was not loud enough. The output from the V-Studio on it's own simply didn't have enough power to be heard over the drum kit. We quickly inserted a headphone amp to increase the output to all the headphones. This gave us more than enough volume and we were ready to start recording.

The band played 4 songs and we tracked 2-3 virtual tracks of each song. By the time we finished tracking our session was over so we didn't have any time to review what we had recorded. We will do this next session.

***In case you missed them on the first go around, previous sessions blogs can always be found here http://www.imusicscene.com/the_london_project/blog.php***

<p>Great new design! Help support our band by purchasing a quality t-shirt.</p><p><img style="width: 280px; height: 280px" src="http://cache.spreadshirt.com/users/352000/351022/products/351022_2670818_1_huge.jpg" alt="TLP T-Shirt Front" title="TLP T-Shirt Front" width="280" height="280" align="left" /><img style="width: 280px; height: 280px" src="http://cache.spreadshirt.com/users/352000/351022/products/351022_2670818_2_huge.jpg" alt="TLP - T-Shirt Back" title="TLP - T-Shirt Back" width="280" height="280" align="right" /></p><p>This shirt and other designs are available at http://TheLondonProject.Spreadshirt.com</p>

<p>YES!! We have just recieved our CD artwork from our designer. Duplication and printing will be happening soon. Right on time for our fall launch deadline.</p><p><img style="width: 268px; height: 210px" src="http://www.guitargearheads.com/modules/xcgal/albums/userpics/10079/cd_outside.JPG" alt="EP art (outside)" title="EP art (outside)" width="268" height="210" /></p><p><img style="width: 268px; height: 173px" src="http://www.guitargearheads.com/modules/xcgal/albums/userpics/10079/cd_inside.JPG" alt="CD art inside" title="CD art inside" width="268" height="173" /></p><p> </p>

<a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_KcCGgmBQFy4/R9qcBwnuqKI/AAAAAAAAAHk/DN3VN1CXh9o/s1600-h/IMG00037.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5177622275661146274" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_KcCGgmBQFy4/R9qcBwnuqKI/AAAAAAAAAHk/DN3VN1CXh9o/s320/IMG00037.jpg" border="0" /></a>This weeks session involved tracking drums using a session musician. The first part of the session did not go as smoothly as we had liked however. We had to do a bunch of trouble-shooting before we could proceed. Through the process of elimination we were able to determine a problem with mic wall plate "B" which inevitably delayed us by a couple of hours.
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<div><a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_KcCGgmBQFy4/R9qbzwnuqJI/AAAAAAAAAHc/pXuUAGNvQ5k/s1600-h/IMG00036.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5177622035142977682" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_KcCGgmBQFy4/R9qbzwnuqJI/AAAAAAAAAHc/pXuUAGNvQ5k/s320/IMG00036.jpg" border="0" /></a>Once we identified and solved the problem with the wall plate it was full speed ahead. By this time our session drummer (Dustin) had plenty enough rehearsal time and was able to crank out a couple of "keepers" within the first couple of takes.</div><div>In the end patience prevailed and we were able to get Greg's song that much closer to completion.</div></div></div></div>
Here is a drum only track using the room mics only. I will post a mixdown of the entire kit in a later blog.
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Hey all, I hope everyone had a great long weekend. For me, it gave me a chance to start finalizing our new track "Leaving the Past Behind". This song was written about my daughter Chelsea's high school graduation this past year.I still haven't figured out how to embed the player into a post like this so in the meantime you will have to visit our song page on our site.Cheers, LonniePS - the mix is still a little rough but the polish will be done shortly.

<span style="font-size: 7.5pt; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'">Hello everyone,</span><span style="font-size: 7.5pt; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'">&nbsp;I have uploaded the latest version of &quot;I Know She Understands&quot; which has recently been re-mastered thanks to Eric Smith of ERock Remastering (<a href="http://www.erockremastering.com/"><font color="#800080">http://www.erockremastering.com/</font></a>). </span><span style="font-size: 7.5pt; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'"><a href="/the_london_project/audio.php"><font color="#800080">http://www.imusicscene.com/the_london_project/audio.php</font></a></span><span style="font-size: 7.5pt; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'">Cheers,</span><span style="font-size: 7.5pt; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'">Lonnie</span>

We are now nearing completion of our new song, Future Mr. X. This song is about a mobster in the 30's. Karma ends up catching up with him.Drop us a line if you like it.