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Brothers of Briar

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Most excellent news!

I don't drift down to the music topic here, but it sounds like you are well on your way to another incredible piece of art being finished.

Congratulations!

Most excellent indeed...........
 
RANDE!!
Just listened for close to an hour through your website! AWESOME stuff!!!
Can't wait to hear more!!!
Zach
 
Approved the hard copies of the artwork proofs today. So now it's officially in the hands of their production dept.

They estimate a completion date of Thurs 12/15. And with shipping it should reach me probably Wed 12/21 or later due to the holiday slowdown.


Cheers,

RR
 
Learned that the Surf project has shipped and should take delivery this Friday. I'll vet the results before making this available. Just in time for Xmas!

In the meantime, there's been much going on with the new acoustic and misc electric projects. Too much to go into right now, but wrote a new tune over the weekend that has the potential to be the finest thing I've ever done. Pretty jazzed about the possibilities if I can pull it all together. "If" being the operative word!


Cheers,

RR
 
Ah, it sounds more like 'when' you pull it together than 'if'. Let it come, and grasp it, throw it down, and record it! You got this!

:cheers:
 
Just received the Surf project CD's. The graphics are all 100%, so now am going to vet the audio portion of this before posting this for distribution.

While I have complete faith in this duplication company I've also had a couple embarrassing bumps with other projects, so am understandably concerned. So, I'll be back in the morrow with the appropriate updates.

And yes, in due course this will be available on my website for free downloads for those of you who can't play those funny little round things!


Cheers,

RR
 
Brewdude":7ljwwf8v said:
In the meantime, there's been much going on with the new acoustic and misc electric projects. Too much to go into right now, but wrote a new tune over the weekend that has the potential to be the finest thing I've ever done. Pretty jazzed about the possibilities if I can pull it all together. "If" being the operative word!
Click to expand...
Ozark Wizard":7ljwwf8v said:
Ah, it sounds more like 'when' you pull it together than 'if'. Let it come, and grasp it, throw it down, and record it! You got this!

:cheers:
Click to expand...
I'm appreciative of your confidence Ozzie. But this one will rely on the talents and strengths of many outside my regular sphere of contacts. In fact, it's whole new world to be explored and may well prove to be either my swan song or the complete opposite. Delusions of grandeur or the crowning glory - no in between!

;)


Cheers,

RR
 
Just a quick update to say that the new acoustic project is progressing nicely. Have 19 tunes for that one so far, and it's destined to be another 2-disc set.

I'd say I'm well over the halfway point on this one. All the guitar, mandolin, bass, drums, and my vocals are in place.  Still need to get the fiddle guy in for his tracks as well as the rest of the accordion stuff cut. Plus I'm featuring my favourite female vocalist Susanna Fuller on a few of these, as she's the finest I've ever had the pleasure of working with.

Also have one rather ambitious selection that will include a full concert orchestra as well as a pipe and drum band. Should be the stand-out cut on this if everything goes to plan. I won't be doing the vocals on this one however, as it requires the kind of voice of an operatic Italian Tenor. And I have a few candidates for that task.

As well as this acoustic project, I'm also working simultaneously on a misc electric project where the styles run the gamut. Everything from straight up R&R, Metal, Texas Swing, Country R&R, etc. Lots of very talented guest musicians featured on this one. Think I have 10 tunes for that so far.

But the focus is on getting the acoustic project completed, and hope to have that wrapped up in a couple months. I'll put up one of the selections up here in an mp3 as a sample before the main project is complete so you can see what I'm up to.


Cheers,

RR
 
Wrote a great little tune this past week and went into the studio Fri to cut the backing track and vocals. It's an acoustic ditty that has very much of a "Country meets Square Dance" feel! For acoustic guit, fiddle, banjo, acoustic bass, and drums.

This tune came to me all at once just like I'd known it all my life, and the lyrics just about as fast. It's pretty silly and humorous and should be a hoot when finished!

And this makes 21 tunes so far!

8)



Cheers,

RR
 
I posted this in another sub-forum but it belongs here-

Great weekend for tunes. Had a fun little ditty fall into my lap Sat - just a laid-back travis style fingerpicking number. Just sat down and played it like I'd known it all my life. Lots of fun to play. Plus wrote the lyrics to another number I'd composed last week. Both will be part of this big acoustic project I've been working on.

So this makes 23 tunes so far!


Cheers,

RR
 
Had another one of those rare instances when I woke up in the middle of the night with a song playing in my head like I'd known it all my life. And of course I instantly recognized that it wasn't.

So, somewhat reluctantly at like 2:15 AM I got up and climbed down to my music room to capture this before it slipped away. Took my little hand held dictation recorder and after I'd found the key sig, recorded what I could of the very rough version.

Got up the next day and found I did OK. Proceeded to flesh out the arrangement and wrote the lyrics in practically one go. Looks like this one needed to be recognized!

I hasten to add I've had this happen multiple times the past, but normally have elected to go back to sleep. And of course in the morning it's gone. Not so this time! So it will go forward to be the 24th tune on this project.

Oh, and composed the 25th today. What can I say..........

:bounce:


Cheers,

RR
 
Another new acoustic tune in the works. Completed the arrangement and lyrics this weekend. So that makes 26!

This week I have a big session with the fiddle guy who will complete his tracks. After that I'll cut the new one, and also ask the engineer to start the final edits and preliminary mixing on the bulk of the project so we don't lose time, as most of them have been completed as far as tracking is concerned. As well, he's getting very busy with other projects so want to capitalize on the progress.

No telling when this one will be complete. Every time I try and predict this it always goes into overtime. And this will be no different!



Cheers,

RR
 
No new tunes in the works, as I've more or less put a stake in the ground for the selections on the acoustic project. Ya I know I've said that before!

So right now the engineer is starting the final editing and mixing. He'll have some preliminary mixes for me to listen to soon. And I do have a few tunes that probably will require harmony vocals, but want to listen to the first mixes before deciding.

Additionally, there's 2 selections that guest vocalists will appear on, so am awaiting their sessions. Not to mention the string arranger who will be composing and directing the live string quartet on 3 of the tunes.

What I am doing however is working out an arrangement for one of the misc electric tunes. It's a very energetic and up-tempo number with a country flavor. I call it "Hoedown" and has guit, bass, drums, fiddle, and pedal steel.

The pedal steel guy didn't do his arrangement the justice it needed so I decided to go ahead and write some flashy solos that would be more in line with my vision.

This challenges me in a good way, since playing like that is part and parcel of my history although it's been a while since I've had to call on those techniques. So I'm woodshedding right now and getting back into the groove and the mojo for something like this. Should be a good exercise for me.

Using my Tele (made by local luthier Mike Lull, who is also the best guitar tech around), and a new amp I just picked up. It's a Carr Lincoln, and is one of the hot boutique brands right now. Not a big or powerful amp at 18w, but the circuitry was designed around the classic British amps of the 60's.

I've only had the Carr a few weeks now and am finally getting the feel for the settings as they're different from my previous go-to amps, both of which I put up for consignment in order to afford the Carr. (Not that the Carr is terribly expensive, mind. Just that it was time to move on.)


Cheers,

RR
 
Brewdude":auo5ciu6 said:
Thanks for the kind words and encouragement amigos. Happy to hear my tunes tickled your fancies!

I plan on updating my website, and will be offering free downloads of all 5 previous albums. I'll keep y'all apprised when this has been completed.

I also have another acoustic album that I never officially released due to issues with the final mix. I completed this one back around '09/'10, so it bridges the gap between "Sands Of Time" which was '06/'07 and "Reflections and Fantasies" which was more like '10/'14.

The final mix of this one - entitled "The Wind and the Cradle" never did meet my standards despite several re-mixes. It became apparent to me that the studio I was working out of wasn't able to deal with the technical issues.

I'm happy to report that my present studio is more than capable of dealing with these issues. So I have this project in their hands, and in due course will be doing a complete re-mix on this one for future release - provided we can get my external HD from the old studio to talk to the different one at my present studio.

My engineer seems to feel confident we can do this, provided my external drive hasn't been corrupted, or some other technical issue rears it's ugly head. Time will tell, but he's on the case and is very competent.

That project has a lot of very cool tunes, and I'd like to present it in the manner I originally intended. So as they say, watch this space!


:bounce:



Cheers,

RR
Click to expand...
Well it's been a long time since I originally posted this info. But very pleased to report that significant progress has been made to resurrect this old project and bring it up to date. Briefly, the issue was finding a studio that could transfer the digital data from the older drive (from a Mackie HDR) to a drive that my present engineer can use in a Pro Tools session.

Perseverance finally paid off, and a local studio was identified who had once used Mackie gear and could handle the data transfer. And that engineer has just reported that he's gotten about half of the tunes for this one transferred. There were some initial issues which caused me concern, but it wasn't down to my drive.

All to say that this particular project may finally have a new life and get mixed according to how it should have been a great many years ago. I've held off on the official release of this due to many technical considerations. And listening to it after a few years confirms that there is a lot of good tuneage here!.

Hopefully there won't be any more glitches in this process. After which the engineer at my current studio will get the project in a format he can perform his magic on.



Cheers,

RR
 
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