lotusCast – The official blog & podcast from lotuspike

Lotuspike Welcomes Robert Rich to Pittsburgh April 23!

Lotuspike and Carnegie Science Center welcomes Robert Rich!
Sunday, April 23, 2006
8 p.m. in the Henry Buhl, Jr. Planetarium
$16; $8 for members, students, children and seniors

Join internationally-acclaimed electronic music artist Robert Rich under the dome of the Henry Buhl, Jr. Planetarium with live lasers and special effects. In his 20+ year career, Rich’s music has been distributed and broadcast internationally on major radio shows and has been included in feature films, gallery installations and planetariums across the country and abroad. In addition to his accomplishments as a musician, Robert Rich is also gifted innovator who participated in the creation of MIDI, a global computer language that synthesizers use to communicate with one another. Presented by Carnegie Science Center and Lotuspike Records.

Get more info here >

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Bob Moog – [music]

Today was the last day for Dr. Robert Moog, a man whose impact on
electronic music and music of all kinds cannot possibly be measured.
He will be missed, though his influence will be felt for decades to come.

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Voices Beyond The Dome Concert Series : UPDATE : TIKETS NOW ON SALE ONLINE -[music]

update!

You can now purchase tickets online for our Voices Beyond the Dome concert series @ the Science Center!

Click here for tickets >

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Back in the studio… – [music]

Now that I’ve got the studio nearly reassembled after moving, I’m starting work on my next album, tentatively titled West. It will be sonically similar to On Water, but the compositions will be more structured, in the direction of the last track on On Water, “Pray for Rain”. The first track, “Laurel Ridge”, is finished now; look for an exclusive preview of it in the next lotusCast podcast. We’ll also feature a sneak peek at Daniel’s work in progress as well.

-Ben

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CD Project – Scrap and Start Again! – [music]

OK, so after a long bout with a mix issue and learning a few things from scratch (thanks Jeff) I have decided to scrap my whole production process and start again.

It’s not as big of an issue for me as it is for an artist with a complex hardware setup or elaborate studio environment. This is mainly because my world is made up of one laptop (mac of course), a entry level MIDI controller and a guitar (which I don’t know how to use yet), so when I say I have abandoned my production process, most of it has to do with the DAW.

Thanks to fellow lotusFounders Jeff and Ben I have come to understand the value of Logic Audio’s mixing flexibility, so i am hooked and off and running.

My only regret is how much time I scratching my head over Ableton Live in the production process…and don’t misread this, I LOVE Live, but I found Logic to exceed my expections when it came to achieving some rather complicated sound sculpting tasks.

Thanks again to the lotusPartners. They are true mentors!

DP

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The latest technology…yeah, sure. – [music]

So I finally upgraded my version of Ableton Live, which I have been lovingly crafting some sketches for my upcoming project.

So, I am finding that upgrading, before it feels beneficial, can be somewhat disturbing and can really, really suck.

I upgraded to a newer version, while still not the latest (v. 4.0.4) , it is newer, and was alleged to fix a clicking / static noise issue with ReWire and MIDI controller movements. In doing so, not only did it not do anything to solve my issues, but now ReWire fails to work at all. Nice.

This is the error I got >

if anyone has any insight, feel free to have at it.

More later after I get things moving again.

DP

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It just may kill me before its mixed – [music]

It’s been a while since we added to the blog. Sorry to add to it with a rant…

I am mixing a few things as I approach a CD project, and so far it pretty much is the hardest damn thing i’ve ever attemtped music-wise.

Not sure why i’m struggling this much this time around…it’s not as if I haven’t done this before.

Jeff took a listen and we both agreed it still needs some EQ work and the mix is all up front. Jeff suggested maybe splitting the stereo audio to independent monos to create some more spatial presence. Overall, I have to rip it apart and start again to make room for everthing where it sits more comfortably.

Here is a sample of what i’ve got >

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Fantastic Mixes – [music]

So, yesterday morning when I was driving into work, I was listening to some music that was really well mixed. This got me thinking about making a list of my “favorite mixes”; i.e., albums that I think are exemplary in mix quality. I’ve started a list here. If you read this and want to add some of your own, please feel free to use the comments on this post.

• Peter Gabriel: So, Passion
• Steve Roach: Mantram
• Robert Rich: Bestiary
• nine inch nails: The Fragile
• Fluke: Risotto
• The Art of Noise: In No Sense? Nonsense! (probably the oldest item on the list)
• Fleetwood Mac: Rumours (whoops, no! much older than TAoN…)
• Madonna: Ray of Light

These are albums that, in my opinion, are so well-recorded that they’re interesting to listen to even if they’re not your favorite style of music (although I note that I’ve chosen albums on which I actually do like the music…). These are seductive recordings — I don’t mean musically seductive, Barry White-type seductive, but I mean that the recording is so good that the sound seduces you into attentive listening.

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