About the CD Project
In the summer of 2002 my niece Carolyn and I casually discussed the possibility of doing some
kind of Christmas recording for family and friends this year. The necessary pieces to make it
actually happen came together late in October, and this CD is what resulted!
I arranged and recorded the instrumental tracks between November 1 and 8 (mostly after
midnight, which probably explains a few things) and sent daily mp3s to Carrie as I completed
the tracks. She worked with the songs all week and figured out what she wanted to try vocally.
We finally got together the evening of November 8, and spent the evening working with the
equipment and experimenting with mic placement and such, and recording some test tracks.
We then spent all day Saturday, November 9 recording the vocal tracks for these songs (plus
several others that didn't make the cut). Carrie went home on Sunday with the rough mixes,
and I continued working out and recording parts. My son Michael (he's six, in case you don't
know him) recited the Christmas story for use on "Silent Night" on the evening of the 11th.
After getting Carrie's comments on the rough mixes, I spent all day November 14 doing the
final mixes. Carrie's dad Phil then took on the daunting task of doing the CD graphics and
getting the copies pressed. I started setting up the web site on November 18 (still working on
that), and things are pretty much wrapped up with a week to go until Thanksgiving - looks like
we made it!
It's been several years since I've made an attempt at any "serious" recording, and the
equipment sure has come a long way in the interim. The ability to do everything digitally and
send daily mp3s to Carrie as the arrangements progressed is something I never could have
imagined way-back-when, and we would not have been able to do this in the time available
without the Internet. The mp3s on this web site, although not quite as good quality as the CD,
are way better than the best I could have done on my last project (1995), so I'm not
complaining. Carrie and I hope you enjoy the tunes, rough edges and all. Check back in 2003
for more (maybe), and we wish a joyous and blessed Christmas to all of you!
Rick
November 21, 2002
kind of Christmas recording for family and friends this year. The necessary pieces to make it
actually happen came together late in October, and this CD is what resulted!
I arranged and recorded the instrumental tracks between November 1 and 8 (mostly after
midnight, which probably explains a few things) and sent daily mp3s to Carrie as I completed
the tracks. She worked with the songs all week and figured out what she wanted to try vocally.
We finally got together the evening of November 8, and spent the evening working with the
equipment and experimenting with mic placement and such, and recording some test tracks.
We then spent all day Saturday, November 9 recording the vocal tracks for these songs (plus
several others that didn't make the cut). Carrie went home on Sunday with the rough mixes,
and I continued working out and recording parts. My son Michael (he's six, in case you don't
know him) recited the Christmas story for use on "Silent Night" on the evening of the 11th.
After getting Carrie's comments on the rough mixes, I spent all day November 14 doing the
final mixes. Carrie's dad Phil then took on the daunting task of doing the CD graphics and
getting the copies pressed. I started setting up the web site on November 18 (still working on
that), and things are pretty much wrapped up with a week to go until Thanksgiving - looks like
we made it!
It's been several years since I've made an attempt at any "serious" recording, and the
equipment sure has come a long way in the interim. The ability to do everything digitally and
send daily mp3s to Carrie as the arrangements progressed is something I never could have
imagined way-back-when, and we would not have been able to do this in the time available
without the Internet. The mp3s on this web site, although not quite as good quality as the CD,
are way better than the best I could have done on my last project (1995), so I'm not
complaining. Carrie and I hope you enjoy the tunes, rough edges and all. Check back in 2003
for more (maybe), and we wish a joyous and blessed Christmas to all of you!
Rick
November 21, 2002
Production Notes:
Recorded digitally on an 8-track Roland VS-840EX V-Studio
Most instrumentals are from an Alesis DG8 Digital Grand with the "Sanctuary" ROM card
The Hammond organ on "Joy to the World" is an E-MU B3 Module
Drums are from a Casio WK-1630
Vocals were recorded with a good ol' Shure SM57
Mixdown was direct-to-disk (.wav files) through a SoundBlaster Live! Drive
Some post-production was done on the PC with Cakewalk Express v8.04
Additional CD prep was done on the PC with Diamond Cut Audio Restoration Tools v3.09
CDs were created from 320kbps mp3s created with CDex v1.40
mp3s on this web site were created and tagged with MusicMatch Jukebox 7.2
Recorded digitally on an 8-track Roland VS-840EX V-Studio
Most instrumentals are from an Alesis DG8 Digital Grand with the "Sanctuary" ROM card
The Hammond organ on "Joy to the World" is an E-MU B3 Module
Drums are from a Casio WK-1630
Vocals were recorded with a good ol' Shure SM57
Mixdown was direct-to-disk (.wav files) through a SoundBlaster Live! Drive
Some post-production was done on the PC with Cakewalk Express v8.04
Additional CD prep was done on the PC with Diamond Cut Audio Restoration Tools v3.09
CDs were created from 320kbps mp3s created with CDex v1.40
mp3s on this web site were created and tagged with MusicMatch Jukebox 7.2
