Jim Alfredson

CD is off to the duplicators. I'd love to get some more pre-orders as we've spent all the money and still owe for the studio time and radio.

And this: http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopic.php?t=53130&start=0

You might get a kick out of this: http://www.gearslutz.com/board/gear-shoot-outs-sound-file-comparisons-audio-tests/462141-oktavamod-rode-nt1a-vs-70s-u-87-a.html http://www.oktavamod.com/

I track everything at 24/44. There is really no need to use a higher sample rate especially since lower-level converters don't really sound that good at high sample rates anyway. Add to that the increased data throughput and storage you need plus the fact that your end product is going to be at 44.1kHz and I fail to see the point. However, using a higher bit rate certainly makes a huge difference. Allen, here's some advice I learned by many mistakes and trial and error, that was later confirmed by multiple engineers over at the TapeOp forum: Don't track in 24bit like you would in analog and certainly not like you would in 16bit. That is, don't try to get as close to zero as you can on the meters. 24bit has such an enormous dynamic range (144db irrc) and those "extra" bits are all in the low level stuff. In other words, the resolution is much greater and you can capture really quiet sources without "quantization" and other nasty 16bit artifacts, so DO IT! You should be averaging around -12dbfs on your digital meters for your sources. The funny thing is, around -14dbfs or so is akin to about 0dbvu in the analog domain. 24bit has a lot more headroom (about 18db worth) but using all that headroom in the tracking stage makes the mixing stage a lot more difficult and makes your mixes sound one-dimensional. Use that headroom to your advantage and let the levels breathe. And yes, modern converters, even "prosumer" level ones, are really good these days. I've tracked three albums using my lowly Presonus Firepods, including Groovadelphia, Greg Nagy's solo release (which is nominated for 7 Jammie Awards at tonight's award show and a national Blue Music Award for Best New Artist Debut in Memphis in May), and my solo disc In Memorandom. I mixed the latest organissimo CD, ALIVE & KICKIN' myself completely in the computer. The technology we have at our fingertips today is incredible. If you like MXL stuff, you should check out their tube mic, the V69. Put a NOS American tube in there and you've got yourself an incredible mic for very little money.

Good first show tonight despite some really crappy-ass backline for me. I had to have the sound guy go buy a soldering iron and some fuses so I could fix the Leslie. Three keys on the Korg digital piano didn't work at all (and they of course are right in the key centers that most of the tunes use) and one note on the organ didn't work either, but I made it work. I almost brought my rig to this hit since it was in Detroit, but the manager said not to worry about it. Oh well... everyone was happy and tomorrow night in Chicago should be a lot of fun. Janiva knows how to work an audience and put on a show... and she can SING.

I'm going on the road for four dates with L.A. blues singer extraordinaire Janiva Magness (winner of the BB King Entertainer of the Year award last year at the BMA's in Memphis). I'll be playing organ of course! Feb. 11th Callahans Auburn Hills, MI Feb. 12th Buddy Guy's Chicago, IL Feb. 13th Blues Blowout Waterloo, IA Feb. 14th Old Rockhouse St. Louis, MO Come out and hang!

At midnight tonight the Level 4 pre-order ends! Only a few hours left! Get it! http://www.big-o-records.com/zen-cart/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=3

There's something indelibly sad about old rock 'n rollers.

It plays for me on each of my three computers in three different browsers. Anyone else having a problem?

That's great, I think you should really make this clearer on the Big O page (how about just giving a full track listing for the DVD?). That's a good idea. Thanks. Gee, that's not that many! But if you're happy, that's cool! I guess from the fan's perspective, it's hard to stay realistic about sales numbers sometimes! Anyway, good luck with this, once more! I'm sure I'll like the disc... hoping as with the previous three, that the new one will be even better than the one before it! Well, it's a good start. The pre-orders have been up for a week. Obviously I'd like more and I hope we can get more. Thanks to all who have ordered so far!

As many as you want!

Florin, the order number reflects the total number of orders placed on Big O to date for all our products. We've had 30 orders so far. Not bad.

I'll be placing an order. Did you ever find out what happened at the printer? I ask because my own little Epson printer has been doing the same thing recently but only with PDFs. It will print fine for hours and then all of a sudden it will start spitting out gobbledyguck that looks just like that. If I print from another source, say Word or the web, it's fine, but PDFs come out all messed up. A reboot is the only solution. I wonder if it's an Adobe bug of some kind?

The weekend bump. My hope is to raise about $4k. We're almost halfway there. You guys rock.

Beautiful work, Mark.

You and you're joke's.

Zora's lunch menu can be a source of frustration (or comedy depending on your view). It suffers from the ubiquitous mis-use of apostrophes. February 2nd: Taco's and nacho's!

This is why God created the mute button.

Ok, unbeknownest to me, USPS changed their server and there was an update for zen-cart to reflect those changes. Shipping options are now fixed for international customers. Sorry about that!

Yikes... that should not be... let me see what's going on.

The DVD will feature all the tracks recorded at WKAR-TV (tracks 1 - 7 on the CD) plus bonus material from those sessions not on the CD.

The official release date is April 6th, but I will mail discs at least a week before that, if not two weeks before that. I'm hoping to have them in my hands by the 1st of March, but the DVDs may take a bit longer.

Hi friends! I'm excited to announce that we're now taking pre-orders for organissimo's latest release, Alive & Kickin', our new live CD (with a companion DVD available for two of the four participation levels). Alive & Kickin' was recorded at WKAR-TV last April for their television series BackStage Pass and aired just a week or two ago for the first time. The songs are culled from our three studio releases, but we take them to new places, stretch them out, flip them around, and do our thang with them! The CD also has two bonus cuts tracked at a gig in 2008 at Founders Brew Co. in Grand Rapids; the Zappa tune Blessed Relief and an 18-minute long epic version of Pumpkin Pie. With two of the participation levels we're offering a DVD of the WKAR-TV show. This will have two (perhaps three) cuts from the show not available on the broadcast or the CD. They are Bleecker, Danco de Alma, and perhaps Third Right On The Left. The cover art / design features photographs by our very own Mark Sheldon (sheldonm here on the board) and was designed by Cary (.:.impossible here on the board)! We have just four participation levels, ranging from $14.95 to $100. Level 1 - sealed copy of the CD Level 2 - limited edition numbered and signed copy of the disc Level 3 - same as above plus the DVD Level 4 - same as the above but you get your name in the CD itself! We hope you're as excited as we are about this release. This is organissimo as you've not heard us on CD yet. Please take a look at the pre-order levels and choose the one that best fits your budget and please, PLEASE spread the word to all your friends and family. This release is going to cost us quite a bit more than Groovadelphia due to the DVD portion and we also retained a very well-known and respected publicist to work the release for us. We're hoping this may take our career up another notch! And we need your help. Samples available over on the Big O site. To PRE-ORDER, click here!

That's scary, Greg. I'm pretty sure my allergy is to Yellow 5, which is supposedly outlawed in the UK as of this year. I read that it can cause stomach inflamation as well as a host of other things. Perhaps that explains the stomach issues I've been having the last few years.