GROUP BUY: Ocean Way & Drum Masters Ultimate Studio Drum Bundle!

[Squids]

small world: Jason from Jellyfish played on a bunch of stuff we did. THanks again for everthing (and for putting this together).

I saw Jason not that long ago mastering his latest album at Ocean Way (well over a year ago at this point, time flies). Nice guy. Extremely talented. I'm good friends with Lyle Workman who replaced Jason for the album Spilt Milk and also Jon Brion who also played guitar and other assorted noises on that album. Lyle also played with Kevin Gilbert who I played keyboards with in the mid 90's.

But there was a band called The Grays that I know some people here are aware of. It's one of those bands that only certain people know but when they do they RAVE about it (well, same thing for Kevin Gilbert too). But, before they were called The Grays they were called "Me" and they used to play Beatles covers all night long at this place called Cafe Largo (which is now a little theater). Those were great times. Too bad that band couldn't stay together... or Jellyfish for that matter. Both Andy and Roger use Sonic Reality sounds. We actually sampled Roger's voice which has been in some Sonic Reality products but we have a massive vocal library coming for the Infinite Player that has Roger Manning, Jason Scheff of Chicago, some of Alan Parsons Project singers, Opera singers, Beatboxers, unreleased Miroslav Choirs... it's a very cool thing that's been in the works for about 10 years! It will be a relief to finally release a bulk of that stuff that has never been out there and played yet. I'm looking forward to using it all myself!

Anyway, I rant to keep things interesting in the thread. We have some musos that really like to hear the kinds of stories. If you have any you want to share please do. We all like it. I try to relate it to sounds. But we've had some good stories in here not just from myself but others talking about studio experiences that I think was fun for the... what is it now, 70,000 views on this thread? That's crazy. HI! tap tap tap, is this thing on?

[spikey]

Thank you Waz, all the more sweeter a deal if it could be sweeter...

[Chester Desmond]

Been out of the loop for a few days so many thanks to Reverend Rhythm for picking up my slack.. this should be the latest list although I may have missed some new links in the MADNESS this thread has become in the last couple days

Here's a list of threads that have been posted outside KVR so far:

http://www.acidplanet.com/forum/?FID=8&TID=82442&TPN=1

http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=1886881

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/equi ... p-buy.html

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-co ... ost4852625

http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtop ... uy#p325878

http://logicprohelp.com/viewtopic.php?p=258571#258571

http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=47684

http://forum.image-line.com/viewtopic.php?t=44769

http://vdrums.com/forum/showthread.php? ... post449464

http://www.vdrums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=54905

http://www.synapse-audio.com/forum/view ... hp?id=7449

http://www.zynewave.com/forum/viewtopic ... 6324#16324

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/for ... ?ForumID=1

http://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=293318

http://www.futureproducers.com/forums/s ... p?t=317399

http://www.toningenieur-graz.at/forum/v ... f=42&t=726 (GERMAN)

http://rayzoon2.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=28146#28146

http://zendrum.com/forums/index.php?topic=2327.0

http://www.macosxaudio.com/forums/viewt ... 49#p367549

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showth ... p?t=649533

[Squids]

""""I was going to pick the Copeland snare but since in the DM2 Signature regular title that has it there's also the Octobans it kind of makes more sense to be there."""""

can you tell me more about this??? are you talking about a future stewart copeland signature kit that you mentioned in an earlier post?? or is this something available now?? ive been dying for some decent octoban samples that are actually playable!

also everyone keeps asking for a bruford kit which i second but there are also some cool Alan White drums sounds on many Yes albums... just throwing that out there.. : )

We may add some Alan White drum kits to the Drum Masters series at some point. We already have a Bruford kit coming soon for the Infinite Player. It's from a previously released library of his that we enhanced but couldn't get him to do a new session unfortunately. I could imagine it better but it is better than nothing!

Regarding Stewart Copeland we have two things in his style. One is Drum Masters Signature Kits Vol. 2 which has Octobans, a Tama kit and his Tama Signature Stewart Copeland snare. It also has signature snares from Weckl, Chambers and Gadd plus sounds in the style of John Bonham, Ringo Starr, Motown and others. The Copeland-style kit on that is cool and the product, like this group buy, has a lot of variety and good value. I think it's worth having for a variety of reasons. But what's even more accurate is the Hugh Padgham Collection we're doing. That's not officially announced yet though but it's not a mystery since you can see on our web site that we're doing sessions with him at Genesis' studio (that was to get the essential Phil Collins sounds the way he recorded him on his solo records and with Genesis). So, the next one we're doing with him are the sounds of Ghost in the Machine and Synchronicity.

You see, there are a few aspects to a sample library. One is the instrument you're sampling. Another is how it is recorded and where. So, for instance, the Copeland signature snare and Octobans I was talking about were just recorded in a nice sounding studio by a very good engineer... but not a producer/engineer who was there and knew how that sound was recorded. But still... good to have a sample of that snare with quality recording equipment and everything. What's even better is a deluxe session where more authentic recreations of the sessions with the original elements are involved... we've been doing more and more of those kinds of sessions because they're fun and educational. Granted, it's a lot more involved and the products (like EpiK DrumS with Ken Scott is a good example) are more expensive as a result. But it's kind of like an interactive "Classic Tracks" (If you've ever seen that awesome show where they pick apart a classic album). It's nostalgic for the engineer as well.

Now for the disclaimer I said I wouldn't do but... I am not saying we're the only sound company who works with engineers who where "there". There are definitely sound companies that do some interesting sessions with great engineers as well. But I am speaking just about the way we sometimes just do a quality session sampling of a nice instrument and sometimes it is an all out production going for every nuance of authenticity with the original engineer/producer... we can't do that ALL the time. But we do like to do that once in a while for the most iconic classic instrument sounds from timeless albums.

[zedd]

That snare from Kit 6 is killer and could definitely get close and would definitely be useful for multiple situations.

I'll be in on the group buy tomorrow and will list you for the epointz if I can figure out how to do it.

Thanks Mannas. That would be great. It is very easy to do the referral... when you place your order you will see a field where you can enter the ePointz referral name.

Perhaps after we have had some time to play with these new drums and have built some reggae hybrids we could do some swapping.

And in the meantime... maybe Squids is taking note of how much we would love the snare from Kit 6 Dry.

[lagavulin16]

I'm in, gave maximilians1 the epointz.

[Squids]

Have you done octobans already?

Yeah, they're on Signature Kits Vol. 2 coming out next month along with the Copeland Signature snare and a bunch of other fun stuff. Signature Kits Vol. 1 has those big Roto Toms that Bruford used and all sorts of percussion coming as well. This group buy product is the introduction to a "fleet" of libraries in the Signature Kit series that are for interchangeable kit pieces all with the same script features. So you can do hybrid kits with say Octobans in the first 3 tom slots and big rotos on the next two slots and a floor tom on the 6th tom slot. Then a Bonham style kick and snare. Fun stuff like that if one expands with the other flavors of the series. Even though there are a lot of kits in the GB bundle that is still just an introduction to that series where there's more cool stuff... like Octobans and Rotos, Signature Snares, all sorts of different bands. I don't want to go on about it TOO much here (even though I love to talk about it because I am a gearhead). But if you like to collect instruments then that's what this is all about mostly.

[michael2]

small world: Jason from Jellyfish played on a bunch of stuff we did. THanks again for everthing (and for putting this together).

I saw Jason not that long ago mastering his latest album at Ocean Way (well over a year ago at this point, time flies). Nice guy. Extremely talented. I'm good friends with Lyle Workman who replaced Jason for the album Spilt Milk and also Jon Brion who also played guitar and other assorted noises on that album. Lyle also played with Kevin Gilbert who I played keyboards with in the mid 90's.

But there was a band called The Grays that I know some people here are aware of. It's one of those bands that only certain people know but when they do they RAVE about it (well, same thing for Kevin Gilbert too). But, before they were called The Grays they were called "Me" and they used to play Beatles covers all night long at this place called Cafe Largo (which is now a little theater). Those were great times. Too bad that band couldn't stay together... or Jellyfish for that matter. Both Andy and Roger use Sonic Reality sounds. We actually sampled Roger's voice which has been in some Sonic Reality products but we have a massive vocal library coming for the Infinite Player that has Roger Manning, Jason Scheff of Chicago, some of Alan Parsons Project singers, Opera singers, Beatboxers, unreleased Miroslav Choirs... it's a very cool thing that's been in the works for about 10 years! It will be a relief to finally release a bulk of that stuff that has never been out there and played yet. I'm looking forward to using it all myself!

Anyway, I rant to keep things interesting in the thread. We have some musos that really like to hear the kinds of stories. If you have any you want to share please do. We all like it. I try to relate it to sounds. But we've had some good stories in here not just from myself but others talking about studio experiences that I think was fun for the... what is it now, 70,000 views on this thread? That's crazy. HI! tap tap tap, is this thing on?

I remember "me." Jason can't escape the Beatles (he did an all Beatles kids record not too long ago), and the Grays surely has a lot of that. There was a great pop scene in LA at the time. I played with another guy (Michael Lockwood) that you may know. He was tight with Jon Brion and Aimee Mann. We had a band called Wink. That guy has played on a ton of stuff, after we split I went more of an indie pop route.

We were recording at A&M one day, and were out in the hall singing 10cc songs with Jason, and Steven Tyler came out of the room across the hall and gave a quick falsetto harmony, yelled "YEAH" and then disappeared back into his room. I was very young and blown away by the whole experience.

[Ah Xoc Kin]

Here's a list of threads that have been posted outside KVR so far:

It's also in a few other places. SlickDeals comes to mind. If I think of another one I'll be sure to let you know.

[Squids]

If you want more stories there's a good Aerosmith Squids story here: http://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-co ... ost4935466

Also, for anyone following the drama of Chris Whitten vs. eSoundz Group Buys you can see if he turns things around and posts a friendly story about his days playing with Paul McCartney (which I am pretty sure is correct but if I'm wrong then... I guess we'll get nothing and like it!).

No I am not going to do a name the movie on that last line... too EASY. I am going to have to be much tougher. Anyway it was Caddyshack again. Looks good on you though!

[autodafe]

I don't have many "Studio Stories" and the only one I have are about Italian songwriters or pop/rock stars that none of you will ever know...

[Squids]

I remember "me." Jason can't escape the Beatles (he did an all Beatles kids record not too long ago), and the Grays surely has a lot of that. There was a great pop scene in LA at the time. I played with another guy (Michael Lockwood) that you may know. He was tight with Jon Brion and Aimee Mann. We had a band called Wink. That guy has played on a ton of stuff, after we split I went more of an indie pop route.

We were recording at A&M one day, and were out in the hall singing 10cc songs with Jason, and Steven Tyler came out of the room across the hall and gave a quick falsetto harmony, yelled "YEAH" and then disappeared back into his room. I was very young and blown away by the whole experience.

Listen to this. I actually met Jon Brion while he was working on Aimee's "Whatever" album. He didn't live in LA yet. He called me from an ad I had in the RECYCLER (which I am sure you know... this was EBAY in print and I was addicted to it every week). It was a WANT AD FOR MELLOTRONS and he called and said "If you want one does that mean you HAVE one?" and so I brought that and a sampler over to Tony Berg's studio... I think in Pacific Palisades or West LA somewhere and there was this nice home studio with an API console and Jon directing like a madman. You could tell he was brilliant before he had even gone on to do all the accomplishments (like film scores and producing). Aimee was chilling out. I remembered her from Til Tuesday (how could you forget the video with "He said SHUT UP"? I never said "shut up" to a girlfriend again after that (just kidding).

But yeah, there was a great scene in LA at that time. I remember just seeing Jon's shows and sometimes he'd call me up to sit in. One time he just gave me a plastic toy sampler and said "go". So I did a feedback solo putting the mic next to it's little speaker... you had to do something out there if you were going to be on the spot for one of his impromptu shows. Sadly he didn't record them and they were brilliant every night. He'd even write songs right on the spot by sending a piece of paper around the room asking people to write a few words on it and when it got back to him he'd write a song right then and there and it'd be pretty darn good too! That's quality entertainment IMO. He still plays at the new Cafe Largo if anyone is in LA you MUST see it. Jon Brion. Sometimes Fiona Apple or other artists he's worked with just make cameo appearances unannounced too.

----
OT Mega Post Part Two:

Since Steve Tyler just came up twice on two different forums I will copy paste my Steve Tyler story... one of those "if only" situations:

Steve Tyler apparently uses our sounds in IK plugs that he takes with him on tour. I've never met him though but I have a funny story from years ago. I got this call from a friend of mine I used to work with named Mark. He's a great keyboardist and singer (replaced Roger Hodgson in Supertramp so... he can sing pretty high). Anyway, Aerosmith had asked him if he'd tour with them and he couldn't because he had commitments but he recommended me. So their management called me telling me that I was highly recommended and to audition for "keyboards and vocals". But then I said to the assistant there "Ummm... what sort of vocals are you talking about?" and she says "The background vocals" and then I said "You mean the parts harmonizing HIGHER than Steve Tyler?" and then she really didn't know what to say... so then I said that what they really need is a VOCALIST that can play some keys, not the other way around. The keyboard parts aren't particularly complicated but those vocals... I sing the sort of mellow lower tones but wouldn't dream of "belting it" above Steve Tyler. Mark could have pulled it off which is why I am sure it was offered to him first. Oh well. I didn't audition because I wasn't about to make a fool of myself. I mean I SERIOUSLY thought about "flying in" samples of the vocals but you just can't do that when there's harmony in the VERSES! So... bye bye touring gig with pretty decent pay. But this was... early or mid 90's? Something like that.

Later I played with a guy named Toss Panos who toured opening for Aerosmith (I think he was with Steve Vai) and he said the keyboard player was "hidden" and it wasn't such a glorious gig. I wouldn't have minded though... if it was just keys.

[Squids]

I don't have many "Studio Stories" and the only one I have are about Italian songwriters or pop/rock stars that none of you will ever know...

Name dropping is not required. It doesn't have to be The Hedge. I'd love to hear any interesting studio stories. It'd be worth a whole thread in the SR forum just for that I think. We're spamming the crap out of Zedd right now! (jk, he likes it)

[autodafe]

Well, OK...

So, back in 1991-92 I had a band, we took part in a rock contest and were selected for a compilation (still on vinyl) and a concert in a famous place in Milan.

We had the opportunity to record a track in a big and famous studio here with a famous producer who did many Italian artists in the eighties.

we were 18-20 years old, no experience, lots of influences mainly by Living Colour, rock/metal bands, lots of stuff really.

The track we selected was a song against war (the first Gulf War was just happening), which had some strong metal chords, anti-militarist rap words and so on. Quite ahead of times for the Italian scene at the beginning of the nineties.

The famous producer had a listen to the finished song and insisted that we should "sweeten" the song a bit, and that we should record a small "acoustic intro". We hated the idea, and refused to to that, but in the end it was something like "take that damn 12-string guitar and record an 8-bars intro or you're not going to be on the album". So we did, but really hated him and the version of the song...

BTW: this was the song (played live and TV aired) :

guess who I am for some ePointz

[zedd]

We're spamming this crap out of Zedd right now! (jk, he likes it)

Ha! Well for the record, I don't consider actual discussion to be spam.

I was just thinking of how I wished that I could have been at a recording session with Jon Brion and Aimee Mann. There were some Beatlesque flavours in that project, and some high-quality production. Definite artistry.