It is with great pride and pleasure that I announced that my new jazz CD is in the house and available for investigation and ordering at www.dougrobinson.com.
This is an unusual project, no matter how you slice it. First off, my trio (JAZZOOO) is a tight and dynamic modern jazz trio: mostly acoustic piano (with some e. piano and a synth solo now and then), acoustic bass (but also an Azola electric upright) and acoustic drums. Of the 13 songs, 11 are my original compositions and they each reflect different aspects of my influences, ranging from The Beatles to Brahms to Miles Davis and Brad Mehldau.

As far as jazz goes, I like to think of it as being accessible without being simpleminded. Check out the mp3s at the site and you'll see what I'm saying.

The next unusual aspect is how the album was recorded. Dot (Dan Richards, of course) flew to my CA home studio and did a frankly brilliant job at capturing the band in a one-room setup with minimal isolation. Even though I've recorded in far more luxrious and flexible studios, I think the vibe on this album tops my previous releases...and I really like those too!

Dot started what amounts to a 'making of' website, chronicling the gear we used and showing photos of the sessions and mic placement--it's definitely worth a look at www.thelisteningsessions.com/jazzooo.htm.
Everything was recorded on my VS2480. If you have a preconceived notion of what kind of quality is possible with a standlone DAW, all I can say is listen again to the mp3s (which are actually pre-mastering, another interesting story).

Several gear manufacturers sent us their products to use during recording. I'll be posting a review of the gear at Digital Pro Sound next week, but some of the participants were Millennia Media Systems, John Hardy, Earthworks and ADK Microphones.

The artwork is by Atticus Wolrab, who has done terrific work on guitarist Mike Kennealy's CDs for years. The cover image is taken from a painting by a friend of mine, Fran Carder. The 6-panel digipak has cool photos, comments from the composer (like you don't get enough of those here!) and some other surprises.

This is an independent release on my own label, Act As If Music. I am far from impartial about it, but even still--I believe it can stand up to serious scrutiny artistically and sonically.

Please, come check it out at either of the sites above. If you're intrigued, pick up a copy and enjoy the results of our labors.

And by all means, let me know if you're either in SF, Berkeley, Visalia or the area of Arroyo Grande--we'll be touring small clubs and doing house concerts in early June and I'd love the chance to meet and play for you.

Thanks!

Doug Robinson
www.dougrobinson.com

Congrats, Doug! I have enjoyed the mp3s and am anxious to hear the final masters. I'll order the latest project next time I have the dough-re-mi for it


Who did the mastering?

quote:

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Originally posted by dirtyragamuffin:

Who did the mastering?

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John La Grou (from Millennia)...

Dusty is correct. We used eight channels of Millennia Pres for the recording, and Dot suggested that John (who does mastering on the side) might be interested, even though he's said he's not looking for that work right now. I very subtly sent it to him saying "Say, when we go to get it mastered by someone else, what would you recommend he do?"

To my great pleasure, John responded that he'd be open to mastering it himself.

The process was interesting--first, we had several three-way emails about how much compression to use (not much) and how much processing to use (not much). I was insecure about going too minimal in terms of mastering--partially because i didn't completely trust my mixes at that point, and partly because I didn't want my CD to sound different from everything else out there.

Dot's position was that it already sounded different than anything out there, so why not go with that? Correct me if I'm misrepresenting your point of view, Dan.

John sent me a fully-mastered version of NY Blues with the kitchen sink approach: everything a mastering engineer could do, he did. It sounded...great! Just like a Warner Brothers CD, in fact. But so much subtlety had been lost. We started scaling it back, and back and back till we got to the point it is now.

Dirty--thanks. I can't wait to send you one!

I just did an hour-long interview on the local jazz station, where we played four or five songs and I answered questions, told stories, and gave Dot props because the music sounded so good. Sales are off to a good start--I do hope we'll get some more orders from guys like Dusty so we can discuss the work here!

Yep, great to see this CD out and about among the people now.

Proud to be a part of it. Buy the CD!

just ordered mine!

"Just ordered mine!"

And out it went today, Rob. Thank you!

In preparation, please abstain from listening to any music outside of screechy, atonal jazz or The Carpenters until it arrives.

It's all about appreciating, you know.

sure doug......
in fact, i'll just listen to "The Darkness" for the next 5 days.....

LOL

"sure doug......
in fact, i'll just listen to "The Darkness" for the next 5 days....."

You and the rest of the world!

"And by all means, let me know if you're either in SF, Berkeley, Visalia or the area of Arroyo Grande--we'll be touring small clubs and doing house concerts in early June"

Jazz, I'm planning a trip to LA in June. I'd love to scoot down to San Diego and catch a show. I've got to make the rounds of Orange County anyway to visit old friends - I'll just keep going South. Please post a schedule when you get a chance.

Exzcellent, Ratman! Do you know your dates yet?