December 2008

 It's the last day of the year 2008.  I am sitting here reflecting on this past year. Once again I am filled with many memories of the people that I have had the joy to have come in contact with. Both new and old, I am truly blessed to be in a business that allows me to touch the dreams of so many artists.  Each bringing their own special talent to the studio to be recorded. I can't think of any other job that would bring me so much happiness. So to all of my friends that started out as clients, I raise my glass to you in hopes that your path to musical happiness will be as sweet as the time that we have spent together. When the bell tolls at 12 midnight to the sounds of "Auld Lang Syne", our combined memories (yours and mine) will be resonating in my mind.  I wish you well in the coming New Year. May Health, Wisdom and Happiness through music help you to live a more contented life on your path to where ever your music may take you.
May we all enjoy Peace, Happiness and Good Will in the New Year.  Have a safe, prosperous and Healthy New Year.                       Bruce Bolin 12-31-08

       Pete Droubay returned to Pudding Stone to begin a new project. Pete has been coming to me for over five years to record his motivational words of wisdom for  companies seeking to improve their business relationships and become more successful. Pete was in the booth for more than two hours non-stop. I will now do some cleanup editing and give him a couple of CD's to review. Once he has reviewed the edited material he will inform me where to make the break points to make four CD's. I will then add bumper music at the beginnings and endings of each CD.  After five years we both know the routine and the job is finished in short order. 12-31-08

    Sly Fox has landed. Sly Fox is the songwriting team of Bruce Bolin and Greg Ayala. We have been working on this album project for more than a year.  We get together once a week and write music for the joy of doing it. This CD is our first effort and we're as proud as anyone would be of getting it finished.  It has truly been a labor of love. But we are already working on the next album and have started several songs. The title track on this CD is Scattered Devotions, here is a sample of the song.  "Scattered Devotions".  (There are more music examples on the Hear Music page) 12-16-08

    Peter Mundy has continued to be a regular at the studio recording his CD project. We have reached the half way mark in his seventeen song saga.  It has been both challenging and rewarding to say the least since many of Peter's songs are in unusual 6/8 time signatures that are often syncopated and some have tempo changes that we have to contend with. The reason for the difficulty is that we will be handing the songs off to Greg Ayala, studio drummer at large, to record live drums onto Peter's tracks.  Greg likes to work in his drum studio from solid click and bass tracks as well as having all of the other rhythm tracks be in time. Peter is excited to be in the studio and we have formed a bond of unity and we are having a great experience in the studio. 12-15-08

November 2008

   Crystal Starr called to book time as she needed to record a one minute demo for a singing contest that is to be held in Los Angles in early January 2009. She came in with a friend Berit-Brewer-Bakken, who attends the same modeling agency as Crystal. My first job was to edit their music down to one minute. Both young ladies were nervous as they entered the booth with Berit going in first. After a few tries and some instruction both were able to finish their songs in about an hour each.  Last week another young lady named Jane Campbell, came in for the same treatment as she was in the same contest but from a different agency. I wish them all well and hope they get the opportunity to compete in L.A. Here are their songs in order. (Crystal's song), (Berit's song) and (Jane's song)  (I wasn't on my game and failed to take photo's of the other two girls) :(      11-30-08

  I got together with my old friend Bob Lobner over the weekend to discuss plans for a new CD project. The plan is that I will to go to his house located near Georgetown, CA to record he and I playing together. Then I'll add bass and hand off the files to Greg Ayala to add drums. I have found that it is easier to get well played basic tracks from Bob at his home where he is most comfortable playing. It helps a lot that I have a good mobile recording setup.  It is always fun for me to play with Bob as we have known each other for many years and there aren't any ego's to contend with. Bob is seen here toasting the new project over dinner. Here is a song from his prior album.  "She's so tuff".  11-25-08

  Lourie Neely returned after a two year absence to record several songs.  It was nice to see her again.  We got right to work and had her in and out of the booth and mixing in an hour.  She rode in on the back of a Harley with her friend Larry Stroh who was her chauffer for the day. They had been on a motorcycle toy run earlier in the day.  It was going to be a cold ride back to Ione, but she had her songs in her pocket to keep her warm. I got them to pose for the last picture as if they were on the bike. Here's one of her songs titled. "Who knew". 11-23-08

  Manny Rodriguez called to book some time.  He told me that he needed to get into the studio to record his music. He had put it off long enough and today was the day to get it done. Once in the booth he played and sang for over an hour. When he emerged he was soaked with sweat and exhausted. but he was happy that at long last he had a record of his music.  Manny's music was well played and sung. He plans on returning after he has had a chance to work out some bass and lead lines. At that time, I will post some of his music.  11-22-08

  Felice Bois (left) came in to record her seventeen track CD. I found her subject matter to be interesting as her material was directed at black folks and mostly young black men. Her message, "clean up your act, your language and make your life be a productive one"!  Bill Cosby would be a person that I could compare her  to. I wish her success because her message is very powerful.  Sean Childs stopped by to interview me as part of a business class that he is taking at Sacramento City College. We talked for over an hour and it was interesting for both of us.  11-20-08

   Geneva Garrett returned yesterday to do another of her annual spiritual readings interspersed with her singing and playing her original Gospel songs. She will return on Thursday to finish up this project before handing it off to a distribution company.  11-18-08

    Peter Mundy has been coming to the studio four times a week and enjoying the process of recording. Both Peter and I have had a wonderful time putting the songs together.  Here is an interesting and unusual point. All of Peter's songs are in 6/8 time. That is unusual, but the songs each take on a life of their own with interesting melody's and lyrics.  Peter said he has had this project in mind for many years and is happy to be finally seeing it through. Typically Peter will lay a scratch track with a click for timing reference. Then Peter will record several guitar tracks and a vocal.  I'll record a bass track and a guitar solo, followed by Peter doing a comp lead guitar track. As I mentioned we have been having to much fun in the studio.  11-15-18  

     Nat's back! Nat Brown returned with four back ground singers from his church. The singers are Lisa, Felicia, Johnny and Marcus.  They moved into the booth and we  worked on the blend  the concept and dynamics of the songs to be recorded. The songs were difficult but the years of singing in the church choir came into play and they blended well and delivered the goods. Lisa mentioned that it was the first time she had ever heard her voice recorded.  Felicia told her to "Get over it"!  It can be a bit of a shock the first time you hear your own voice. But in time you get used to it.    11-7-08

 Nat Brown continues to forge his way through his project. Last week he brought in Phyllis Harmon to play congas on two of the songs he will be playing for Stevie Wonder. This week Nat brought in Cynthia Douglas, his first call background singer to sing on three songs. Cynthia had done her homework by listening to the music before coming to the studio. She was prepared and delivered strong solid vocals in a short time as Nat looked (and listened). Cynthia smiles in the second picture as she has completed singing her parts before departing the studio. All of this was done as the rain was pouring down outside.  Be sure to vote your beliefs today as an American.  11-4-08

October 2008

                    I met with Peter Mundy on Friday (Halloween) to discuss his project.  We agreed on a plan and a schedule to begin work on Peter's music. He feels that this has been a long time coming.  Now is the time for Peter to have his musical dream come to fruition in the form of a finished CD.  10-31-08

                  On another note, Steve York sent me a DVD of his movie The Orange Revolution and I found it to be an exciting account of the revolution in Ukraine in 2004. At that time there were more than one million people in the street protesting the election. At Steve's website, I linked to some of the bands that provided music in the film and found that they were good strong bands.  Rock and roll is alive and well all over the world. This movie was well done and shows what a truly professional filmmaker Steve is. The trailer for this movie can be down loaded and viewed by going to-www.orangerevolutionmovie.com  Or the movie can be purchased on DVD for under $15.00 until the end of this year. If you think our political system is corrupt, look at theirs!   Seeing this commentary shows with all of it's flaws, how free and open our system is.    10-21-08

  Nat Brown came back to the studio to begin another CD project.  Like clockwork, Nat does a new CD every year. He does this because he returns to some of the same venues to perform and his fans want to buy new CD's. Nat had me play guitar on several of his new songs. Nat also mentioned that he has been in contact with Stevie Wonder who has shown interest in having Nat record some of his music. Nat will be back  soon to continue the process and I'll keep you in the loop.     10-17-08

  Steve York is a movie producer. He has been shooting documentaries for 30 plus years.  Steve (shown here in the middle) lives in Maryland but needed to come to Sacramento to record voice over's for his latest film. I was contacted two weeks ago to do a session with Steve on October 5th. Our session lasted eight hours and used six different voice over talents but yielded many tracks of Vietnamese language for this film. Steve's films are usually completed with three to five different languages and shown all over the globe. On October 4th Steve was in an LA studio recording voice over's in yet another language. To say that Steve gets around in an under statement.  10-6-08

  Duane Thompson AKA Mickey Cartel stopped by to have me transfer some tracks from his synth into Pro tools for mixing. He is new to the music game and needed some guidance on getting his beats from synth to CD. He'll be back to lay some vocals once he's satisfied with his rap for his vocal performance.  10-3-08

September 2008

What a difference a year makes. Almost one year ago to the day the American River Music Festival was held for the first time in Coloma California. Sadly it rained all three days. The show went on as scheduled but the attendance was scarce because of the weather. This year September 19,20 & 21. the weather cooperated fully and the festival was the place to be. The music was great as was the sound and the scene was one of fun and frolic. It reminded me of the outdoor concerts of the 60's and 70's. I was working on the sound crew and from my vantage point, "a good time was had by all". The festival drew twenty six acts from as far away as New York and Michigan. The music was stellar. There were some magic moments where the musicians had the crowds on their feet cheering, dancing and chanting for more. It's easy to see that this festival will continue to bring good music and a good time for all who attend. Like many, I plan to be back next year for more of the same.
Once again many thanks to Matt Semonsen for his tireless efforts to make this a true American experience for all to enjoy.     9-22-08

    Mark Tyler called me two months ago as he was planning a Make-a-Wish foundation fund raiser to be held Sept. 13th in Elk Grove. Mark had seven bands lined up to play in the parking lot of Cassidy's Restaurant.  Mark wanted me to set up the sound and mix the bands. I agreed and this last Saturday we held the function. There was a Corvette car show, and many vendors including food, a rock climbing wall and a jump house for the kids. The rock music ran from 11am to 7:30pm to the delight of all who attended.  It was a good function for an even better cause. Thanks Mark for getting behind this event and to all of the bands and volunteers that participated. It was good fun and the weather was just right.
Some times we do things for "Good Karma" as payment.    9-15-08

           Mike Lounibos  is a Nashville produced country artist that has been playing with our band from time to time. Mike and I got together last Friday to demo a new song that he wants to present at the Northern California Songwriters Association next week end. The song is a nice country ballad that caught my ear from the first time I heard it.  I used a click track and recorded a rhythm guitar on my Gibson 335, then I laid a lead track and a comp. track with my Fender Strat. Next came a bass line and lastly some drums to round out this country song. Then Mike stepped in to the booth and sang his heart out. Here's  "If I had a heart"   9-8-08

August 2008

  Bruce and Greg continued weekly their songwriting mission. Now we are in the final fix-n-mix portion of our project. We have been mixing for the last six weeks and are nearing completion of this album. Frank Lizarraga came in for another mix on his project.  Frank also recorded some acoustic guitar track for a new song for Luvtaxi.  8-29-08

         Frank Lizarraga came in to finish the mix on a song for the new Luvtaxi CD project. As is Frank's way he had yet another song that he wanted to get started on.  So it was into the booth where he recorded several acoustic gut string guitar tracks. He requested and got a click track for timing purposes. Once he was satisfied with those tracks, we began to finish the mix on Check your Text.  It's a love song sung by Luvtaxi's percussionist Jamie Zuniga. We managed to get it all finished in just 2 and a half hours. Here's Check your Text.  Click to hear.  8-19-08

  Tanjia Harris and David Carmiol have completed the Recording Connection Audio Engineering course and they are eager to take what they have learned in the last twenty weeks and begin to fulfill their recording aspirations. We have enjoyed the learning process and it gives me a great deal of pleasure to have had a hand in helping them to get a foothold in their dream of working in the recording field. I wish them well and trust that they will begin to make their mark in the music business.  8-12-08

August 2008

  He's back......Ilon Griffin has returned to begin work on his next album project. Hot on the heels of his self titled album "Ilon", this singer is not one to rest upon his laurels. Ilon is digging in to begin an all original CD project. We met last week to map out a strategy for the project. On Sunday Ilon brought Adrian Jasper, who is a song writer, to the studio to recorded several songs acappella so that I could get to work on the music. I have found that when working in this manor, it's a good idea to have the singer keep time by snapping their fingers. In doing this I have a much better concept of how they are feeling the time. Now I will get together with my long time friend Jimmy Malone who is a fine keyboard player and we will program the songs. Here is a sample of a song from Ilon's recent release. "Be mine tonight"  (Click to hear) 8-10-08

Linda Ventriglia was featured back in February when she needed a bilingual voice over recorded for her freedom doll project. At that time I brought in Natalie Lariz to do the voice over in English and Spanish. Move forward six months and we are back at it again with English and Mandarin being the recorded languages. This time the VO was preformed by seven year old Angela Tang. Angela stepped into the booth with her mother giving support and additional help from a teacher in the control room with correct Mandarin pronunciations. We were able to get the VO recorded in an hour. Now I need to edit the two versions together and add some Chinese bumper music to the recording. Then it will be shipped off to China to be placed on a chip in a playback device that will play back the recording when a button on the doll is pressed.   7-31-08

Gloria Heidi stopped by to pick up some revised mixes of her last recording. Accompanied by her constant companion Peter Shaw, they told me that they have been on a fast track doing shows all over California. She thanked me for the recordings and is making plans to begin a CD project.  Heidi is always asked for CD's when she performs and feels it's past time to get that project started.  7-15-08

Mario Williams AKA Young P.O.V  (Point of View) called for a quick session to get his demo together in order get his name out into the general public. This was a down and dirty session as time and his bankroll were in short supply. Basically it was one time through for each of his five vocal tracks. Here's a sample of his work called "I'm a boss."   As always click to hear.   7-10-08

Gerard Yun and Rich Krivcher returned to the studio after a long absence. Rich is the producer of this Japanese haiku CD project that was begun some four and a half years ago. Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry that has hundreds of years of history with regards to form and performance. Rich wasn't happy with one intro segment that was played by Gerard and wanted to have the part re-recorded before completing the project. Gerard is a music professor now residing in Canada. After all of these years Rich was finally able to catch up with the professor and schedule a session while Gerard was in town visiting his family. We got right to work after Gerard had an opportunity to warm up with his Japanese flute called a shakuhachi.   After several attempts, Gerard was able to produce the feeling and sound that Rich was looking for. "All's well that ends well."      7-1-08

June 2008

The Kids Corporation  were back for another installment of theme show music for a TV show that airs on Saturday morning at 10:30 on cable Channel 18. Mike Martin is the brain child and producer/director of the show. he writes and records the music for each episode.  The kids who are now veterans of the recording booth, got right down to business recording their vocal tracks. With proud mom's and dad's looking on and snapping pictures,  the kids made it through the session in just under two hours. Now Mike will use the theme music for yet another weekly chapter of the show.  6-30-08

   Tanjia Harris and David Carmiol are now in their sixteenth week of the Recording Connection Audio Engineering class.. Both have been working on Pro Tools recording songs that we have collectively written during the class. They have been taking home data disks to import into their respective software systems to mix and process. This twenty week course has just flown by and I am pleased with their progress. Tanjia is a fine singer and we have had lots of fun writing songs in the studio.    6-28-08

                                          
Frank, Celia and Jamie of Luvtaxi were back in the studio last Monday evening to record some vocals for the two projects that they are working on. We also imported some Basque language samples for a song that that Frank has been putting together in the world music category. Once again Luvtaxi has been nominated for a SAMMIE in the Latin/World/Raggae category.  Go on line and show your support with a vote for them. I am doing the same. Here's a link to help you to vote.  http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/Event?oid=389970           6-6-08

                                                Ryan Hensley is a young Latino rapper that needed to have a demo recorded. We got together and began the task of getting his rap onto a CD format. He was joined in the booth by his cousin Rickie to help calm his nervousness. But after a short time, Ryan was spitting his verses and feeling comfortable. They left the studio happy and content and Ryan mentioned that he had been wanting to record for more than eight years.  6-2-08


May 2008

                                               Just in time for the annual Sacramento Jazz Jubilee opening today, here is a cut from Black Tuesdays album.  It's titled "I found a new baby". Click to hear.  Also last Friday I attended and did a live mix for The Bluez Catz CD release party held at Po'Boys in Orangevale near downtown Folsom.  The band sounded great and a good time was had by all.  5-23-08

                                                 The Black Tuesday Jazz Band is an eight piece traditional Dixieland band. I recorded an album for them about seven years ago. When the leader Hal Needham called me earlier this year stating that they wanted to be recorded on May 17th. as one of their members was coming from Florida for the Dixieland Jubilee. Hal said it was the only time the whole band would be able to record. I scrambled to find and rent a place large enough to contain a band of that size. So last Saturday we all got together at 9am set up and got to the task at hand. We were able to record thirteen songs in nine hours. We took one half hour break for lunch then back to recording. Once the music is mixed I will post a demo.  5-20-08

        Once again I turn my attention to Frank Lizarraga, the man who almost lives at Pudding Stone Recording. Frank and I met early Friday morning to mix one of the songs from one of his current two projects.  I know it sounds confusing but more about that later. We worked for a couple of hours then when we had the mix in the bag I suggested we take a lunch break to give our ears a rest. Not that the music was loud but to relax and come back after lunch with a fresh perspective. When we got back the first listen revealed some flaws in our first mixing attempt. We were able to tweak the mix and burn a CD for him to take home for more scrutiny. This was not an isolated incident, it's a good idea to build in breaks when recording and mixing to allow for re-generation of your ears. In other words "Fresh ears". Here's the song "Ritmo Suavacito". 5-17-08

     Week after week Greg and I (Bruce Bolin  & Greg Ayala) get together to work on our original music.  If you just keep at it, in time you will amass a library of original music. We feel that we are just getting into our stride as a songwriting team. In recent months these two songs have been the point of our attention.  The first is "Blood thicker than water" and "She's my Amy".  Click to hear.  5-15-08

  In the arena of gospel music, Precious Craft is a major icon. She has been a mainstay in and around central California for many years. She is also my friend. I have recorded her group, "The Voices of Faith" and have done several projects for her dating back at least ten years. When she called me on Monday to request that I come to Cosumnes River College where she teaches and directs a gospel choir to record the group before the end of the school year I answered the call. With my two current audio engineering students in tow, we quickly set up for the session. The choir was eager and responsive to the task at hand. We were able to record seven songs in just two and a half hours. Now I will mix, master and get the CD's duplicated and delivered by next Monday as Precious wants to hand out the copies to the class at their final meeting next Tuesday.   "Almighty"   Click to hear     5-14-08

 

   Last Saturday my mission was to record Joe and Susan Finkleman reciting their poetry while being accompanied by Francesca Reitano playing a variety of flutes and singing background vocal parts. The other member of the group was Mark Halverson who played percussion. These two musicians helped to create a variety of different moods as a background for the poetry. It was a very interesting several hours in which time we recorded the seventeen poems.  Basically it was a live performance in the studio. Once we were set up, we moved quickly through the material as the group has been working together for some time. I mixed the project the next day and Joe and Susan are planning to pick it up the finished masters tonight. I love the diversity that is presented to me in the studio. It always keeps the work interesting. 
Here are two of the poems titled  "Jonah"  and  "Overhead-Overheard"    Click to hear    5-12-08

                                              Frank Lizarraga came in Thursday morning to transfer some new tracks that he recorded at his home studio into existing songs that we already have in Pro tools.  Then we mixed one of the new songs. Frank then asked if I could join Luvtaxi playing lead guitar at Sacramento City College the same afternoon. The mix and the gig both came off well and all in all, it was a good day. 5-10-08

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
         Arrangements were made by choir director Anthony Lien for me to record his all girl Loretto High School choir at the Presentation Catholic Church. The session was four and a half hours long as we recorded nineteen songs. I was very pleased with the quality of the singing from these high school girls. 
The singing was in tune and they responded well to the choir director. They sang through many difficult passages in the songs with few problems. I was also impressed with the enthusiasm exhibited by these young ladies. This album project is one that will stand the test of time and will bring fond reminders of what it was like for these young classmates working together for the common good in a choir.
That commitment by them resulted in some very good music.
They deserve be proud of their accomplishment.  Here is the   "Twilight song"    Click to hear  5-8-08

 


        Frank, Celia and One's of Luvtaxi  were back for more overdubs as they move ever closer to finishing up their CD project. Dirk Lang picked up the rough mixes of his live recording from two weeks ago. 5-2-08

April 2008

                                              


Amy Sanchez from "Amy in the pocket", (featured several bands down) stopped by to pick up a finished mix of her song "Women of the world".  We chatted about the gig scene and her plans to get the band gigging into the local area. She is excited about the recording and looks forward to the next opportunity to lay some tracks. 4-25-08






 

The Dirk Lang Band is a rockin' four piece group that play with a "No holds barred attitude". Dirk contacted me to do a live recording of his band because he is in need of a professional demo. I met up with Dirk and the band at the Folsom Hotel in historic downtown Folsom last night, set up and recorded two sets of raging Rock-N-Roll much to the delight of the packed house. These guys were non stop rockers with very if any little dead time between songs.  They put on a fine show. The band features Dirk on lead guitar and lead vocals, Paul on lead guitar and vocals. Davin on bass and vocals and  Mike on drums. The songs were well executed and the repertoire was straight ahead rock-N-roll.
Here is the finished demo. (Click to hear) 4-18-08

 
     
 
There was a reunion in the studio last night. Three former members if the Latino band Suenos came together to play and record horns on a song for a Frank Lizarraga project. Frank is resurrecting some of the old music that led to the bands popularity some twenty years ago when the band was raising hell . Bernie Torres, Rudy "El Lobo" Alcantar and Augie Lara stepped into the booth and after a short time played the horn charts that were written by Bernie for this occasion. The horns blended nicely, sounded sweet and added a whole new dimension to the song. Bernie played tenor and alto sax and Rudy and Augie played trumpets. A good time was had by all with lots of laughter over old memories and stories from the bands past exploits. Also during this session Luvtaxi's bass/guitar player Rudy"Ones" Marnitez  recorded a electric guitar part for a current Luvtaxi song.  4-17-08



   Felipe Lariz came by yesterday and we made our final preparations to have his year long project duplicated. We arranged for the CD duplication and got together with my favorite graphic artist and roughed out ideas for the outer cover, the inside and the tray card of the CD. Then we finalized the graphics for the CD itself. It is an important step getting all of these items correct and then proof reading them several times to be sure that all the bases have been covered. Once the project goes to the printer your stuck with the results. Misspelled words or wrong information can only be corrected by paying to have the project re-printed. Remember when it comes to the way your CD looks and sells as it sits in a rack with thousands of other CD's,
"You have one chance to make a good first impression".    4-15-08

  Frank Lizarraga was back on Monday to supervise the mixing of a song from his jazz group "Amy in the pocket", featuring Ami Sanchez. Meanwhile Valerie Marston of Sister Swing (pictured on the left) was working on a tight schedule in preparation for a gig that happens tonight in the Bay Area. It was a long day for me, but a fruitful one.  
4-8-08

      Alex, Jamie Celia and Frank, all from the group Luvtaxi were back in the studio for a vocal overdub session last Friday. Alex and Celia sang a duet as did Celia and Jamie. This group continues to record and produce new music to the delight of their fan base and for their own satisfaction. Frank keeps writing and the band keeps arranging new material. They are getting lots of airplay on Internet radio stations which are drawing larger audiences. We are in an exciting period of time where artists have many new ways to promote their music and don't have to rely on radio and record company's to get the material in to the public domain.  4-7-08

   Jimmy Spalding returned to the studio to record a solo guitar on his song "Arrowhead". First we needed to straighten out some timing errors from the original recording. Once that was completed Jimmy started searching for just the right guitar tone for the solo. In about an hour we had the solo in the can. As often happens, Jimmy wants to augment the song by having another bass player come in to lay down a new bass part. The tune is coming along quite nicely and I should have a demo mix soon. 4-5-08

   Rob Bierman is an airman stationed at Travis Air Force Base.  Rob is due to be shipped out to Iraq next month and he wanted to record several songs for his wife and three month old baby. Rob emailed me to ask if I could donate the studio time to make the recording.  Considering his situation I agreed.  Last Saturday Rob, his wife Rachel and new baby came to the studio. Once Rob was in the booth we got underway in earnest.  I had my two audio students assisting with the recording process. In an hour and a half Rob had his three songs on CD and was thanking us for the opportunity. I asked Rob if any other studios had answered his request, his reply was "not even one studio had answered the call or replied via email".  Oh well! I felt that it was a just cause deserving of my time, talents and studio.  4-1-08


 

March 2008

   Doran Smout is a musician/music lover who played in a band back in the early 60's. One night while playing with the Bob McCaul Band in a popular night club in Salt Lake City, he recorded the performance. Now some 40 years later he is resurrecting those old tapes to give to the ten surviving children of the lead singer Bob McCaul. Doran came to me to make a tape transfer and to try and clean up the sound. I EQ'd the tapes as I transferred them into Pro Tools and made them as listenable as possible.  Then I burned them onto CD's for Doran to give the children. An extra benefit of this project is that both the mother and father of the lead singer Bob McCaul, played in the band at the time and the children will be able to hear their grandmother sing and their grandfather play saxophone.   3-25-08

  Tanjia Harris has joined the Recording Connection Audio Engineering class and is in her fourth week.  Tanjia is a singer the has recorded in many studios in the Bay Area and has been recording her song writing ideas on her Boss digital recorder. She is eager to learn the tricks of the trade and has benefited  from the information she has learned so far in the few short weeks that she has been involved in the program.  3-24-08

   Jimmy Spalding is a friend that I played with about five years ago.  We were a songwriting team called Wave Pilot that met every week to write and record. So it was nice to see Jimmy again after a long absence. Jimmy wanted to record a song that he had written the night before along with his son Timmy who is a young, but very talented drummer. This was a good opportunity for my Audio Engineering students to observe a session in progress. With Timmy in the booth and Jimmy in the control room we first recorded the rhythm guitar and drum tracks. After several attempts and some arrangement changes, we had our basic tracks. Then we overdubbed Bass, another rhythm guitar and several small comp tracks. Jimmy will return in two weeks to record a melody line and mix.  3-22-08

  Scott Calapp picked up  his freshly mastered project.  Next stop is getting the master duplicated. Here is one of the 19 songs on this album. It's called Legendary Expression.  (Click to hear)  3-22-08

  Gloria Heidi and Peter Shaw paid a visit to Pudding Stone to record two songs for Heidi's new show. The last time they came in was about a year ago. Once again we were here to record the music with John Wielder at the keyboards. John can lay down piano, bass and a combination of string and horn patches all at the same time. This is not programmed or slight of hand using midi. This is real time full range all from his fingers at one time. All four of us were involved trying to get the arrangement correct for a difficult song.  It took several tries but in the end we prevailed. We ran out of time and had to schedule another time to finish. More later as this tail unfolds.  3-19-08

   Sean Bahry is back in the studio armed with a new set of original songs. Sean wanted to demo these songs for a producer that had heard some of his earlier efforts. He booked two days this last weekend in order to get the job done. We used a gorilla form of demo process where by we laid down scratch guitar and vocal tracks, then came back to record finished tracks including bass and drum tracks. (Much like I had done with Scott Berrain earlier) There was little time for rest and we worked continuously. In the end Sean was happy but I feel that we'll need to spend some more time with the mixes. I am impressed with Sean's growth in the last six months. Though he is only sixteen and completely self taught, Sean is absolutely committed to his craft. "Obstacle" (Click to hear)  3-17-08
 

         Lauren Ona was the winner of a local American Idol type of contest that was presented by the Good Morning Sacramento show on cable Channel 31. Lauren is twelve years old and was the youngest to compete in the contest.  She has a very good voice considering her age. She quickly adapted to being in the studio and did a good job once she was in the booth.  She took direction well and with the help of her mother Fay, Lauren turned in a good performance. Now she has a professional demo to present to movers and shakers in the music business.  I have little doubt that we have not head the last of Lauren Ona.  (Click to hear)   3-15-08

                                                


                                                 Scott Berrain called to book some time to demo two of his songs.  Scott has been working on and off in Iraq for several years as a telephone installation technician. He has been in Iraq six times and during his spare time Scott  has been writing songs and working out the arrangements. We got underway by having Scott play a scratch guitar track to a click to establish the arrangement. Once we had that solid we began layering other guitars and a bass part as well as his vocals. I programmed a drum part and the song was sounding pretty good. Then we worked on the next song by repeating the same program. Scott will post his music on You tube and the whole world will have access to his songs.  Check out "Set you free".  (Click to hear) 3-13-08
 

  Nat Brown returned on Monday to have me master the sound tracks less his vocal and horn parts for his single act. Nat regularly gigs around town to the delight of his fans and the general audiences. Now Nat will have some new tracks to perform to. Meanwhile here is a cut from his now completed CD project. This song is  titled "Saturday night before Christmas".  Have a listen. (Click to hear)  3-11-08

 Ilon Griffin has finished his long over due CD project. But the finished product is worth the wait. Now Ilon will begin promoting his CD by performing personal appearances. He has some inside tracks with local radio stations and the Sacramento Bee news paper. Here is a song that Ilon wrote both the lyric and melody lines to. I recorded a rough track of him singing acappella. Then I took his vocal line and wrote, arranged and played the music for his song.  Personally I think this song hits hard and really shows off Ilon's vocal power. The song also features Dave McAsey on the bongo and conga drums.  I played the guitars, bass and programmed the drums, keyboards and strings.
It's titled "Be mine tonight". See what you think  (Click to hear)  3-7-08

Felipe Lariz has picked up his mastered CD project.  Now it's off to the duplication plant and soon it will be into the hands of his eager fans. It has been a lengthy process getting this project to it's finished form.  Felipe has gone through several metamorphoses. He took a three month break in the process to practice and work on his vocal technique in order to arrive at better vocal performance.  I applaud his efforts. I noticed an improvement after the break. Felipe is committed to his craft and I think he will continue to improve and will make many good records.
Nat Brown has also received his mastered project. Nat's journey began over a year ago.  The CD sounds good and should be a good seller for Nat. He will submit a song from this project to the Grammy's this year in hopes of securing a Grammy. Good luck to both of these artists. Here is a song from Felipe's CD.   (Click to hear)    3-6-08

February 2008


Luvtaxi returns to the scene of the crime. Actually they are doing some additional tracking and they used the opportunity to have a photo shoot. Pretty slick. They continue to write and record new original songs that are associated with Luvtaxi or Suen`os which was a band that both Frank and Jamie played in some twenty years ago. Pictured on the right is Scott Calapp, a rapper that needed to have me Master his 19 song CD project. His music hits hard and his rap topics are interesting and fresh. It's not gangster rap. Meanwhile Felipe Lariz is close to having his CD project Mastered. It's nice to see the sun after all the rain that we have been having lately.
Keep smiling, it keeps you young.  :)  2-27-08
 

  Geneva Garrett has been having me record her playing her ebony Steinway Baby Grand piano in her living room. Capturing her performance on her piano is a job calling for my mobile recording rig. The sound quality was excellent.  Meanwhile Nat Brown has been in the studio recording vocals and sax solo's for his up coming album. Nat told me that he was nominated for a Grammy this year.  Nat's vocals are smooth and he is gifted with a vibrato that really catches your ear. 2-20-08

  Lulu's back in town. Lulu Small (pictured on the left) was a singer and a band mate in my band Puddingstone back in the mid 70's. She has been living in Alaska since 1978 when the band did a gig in Anchorage and she felt so at home that she decided to stay. Lulu came to town for a rare visit.  Along with Lulu was her old side kick and our mutual friend Sally Alexander. Together we had lunch and discussed old times at Fanny Anne's in Old Town Sacramento. It's nice to get back together with old friends and get caught up on what has been happening in our respective lives. 2-18-08

 David Carmiol has just completed the second week of the Recording Connection Audio Engineering course. When I asked him if he was learning anything his reply was "oh ya" . David is already on the computer recording with Pro Tools. He has made plans to buy a Digidesign ProTools LE 002 unit from Mark Tyler who has two of them. So as it turns out one student finishes the course and another begins the next week.  Geneva Garrett came in to record several readings that she had me edit into a song that she had recorded previously. On Monday I will go to her house and record her playing her grand piano. I will use my mobile recording unit to capture her performance.   Barry Weiner from The Bluez Catz came by today to pick up his mastered CD's so he can have them duplicated before his CD release party on February 22, at the Po' Boys club located on Oak Ave. in Folsom. The band will play from 9 to 11:30PM.   2-16-08

    Mark Tyler has completed his twenty week Recording Connection Audio Engineering course. We had a good time during our weekly meetings and now Mark plans to continue recording with his Pro Tools setup. Mark has several friends who want to have him record them. In addition, another friend wants to have Mark score a movie that is to be shot in Mexico. He was even offered a role in the movie. Here is a song that Mark wrote recently and was used as his final mix for the class. "Se Cavo, The story of Gringo Loco".  (Click to hear)  2-13-08

     Shelly Jagd stopped by today to have me edit her a demo that she can put on her web site as well as on Myspace. Shelly had recorded a meditation CD last year and this Mp3 added the final touch to this project. (Click to hear)   2-11-08.

      The  jazz group "Amy In the pocket", featuring as pictured Amy Sanchez, Frank Lizarraga and Bill Taylor. Frank and Amy paid me a visit last week to transfer and then record a vocal track on one of the groups new original songs. Amy was in the booth for a little over an hour and when she emerged we had her lead vocal and two back ground harmony vocals in the can. Frank has been recording basic music tracks with his Yamaha digital recorder.  Then he'll come to the studio and transfer the tracks into Pro Tools. After which we record vocals and sometimes solos as needed. This is proving to be a very cost effective way for Frank to get his material recorded. It works for me too! 2-4-08

                        


     Natalie Lariz is becoming a studio pro at the ripe old age of six. On Monday I received a call from Linda Ventriglia, who is a designer of dolls, to do a voice over session for one of her friendship dolls. Linda wanted the VO talent to sound like a young girl. I suggested Natalie who fits the need perfectly.  Natalie can speak both English and Spanish which were needed for the VO. The session got under way on a cold and stormy Thursday.  Though the material wasn't very long, Linda wanted certain vocal inflections from Natalie. Also there needed some music to be recorded for the last half of the VO. Natalie's dad Felipe helped out on the keyboards and I provided the acoustic guitar for the back ground music. In under three hours the product was in the can and Linda is ready to ship the VO's to China for manufacturing. (Click to hear) 2-1-08

January 2008

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Greg Coffin and I met at the studio at 9am Wednesday morning the 23rd. to begin the task of adding effects, sweetening, mixing and assembling the music for the demo. We worked straight through till 5pm.  We took a break for dinner then began again at 6:30.  We finished at 11:30pm.  It was a long but productive day. We were blurry eyed and tired but we finished what we had set out to do. Greg was very organized and I felt that we made a good team. All in a days work at Pudding Stone. 
Here is one of the songs titled "Pick up".    (Click to hear)    1-25-08

    Greg Coffin (seen on the right in the first photo) is a composer and a playwright who wrote the play
"Right next to me", that is currently being preformed at the B Street Theatre.  The other two people are the actors Melissa Dye and Edward Watts. The second photo has the band in the back consisting of Tara Mc Connell bass, Jim Nakayama, percussion and Graham Sobelman, piano. The play is a two act modern musical where most of the dialogue is sung. Greg contacted me last week to set up a recording session of the actors and musicians so he can send a demo to New York for a possible  Off Broadway showing. We got together at the Theater on Monday and recorded the two act play with my mobile recording gear. We recorded the two hour play in just under four hours. Greg and I will get together today (Wednesday) to add sound effects and mix. Then Greg will FedEx the demo to New York later tonight. Having just seen the play last week, I was impressed by how contemporary the play was. Also as a musician/songwriter, I thought the music and lyric content were very well done. Strong melodies over interesting modern changes.
"Right next to me" is a must see play.  It will run for the next six weeks thru February 24th.  Call the B street theatre box office for show times.  1-21-08 

                  The Corporation Kids under the direction of Mike Martin came in to record the intro and outro music for a kids television show that Mike is producing for Channel 17. The kids consisted of six girls ranging in age from seven to twelve. Their voices were just what Mike needed for his show. With each kid there was a mom in tow to drive the kids to the studio. As I have mentioned before I never know what new adventure awaits me in the studio.  But variety is my cup of tea.   (Click to hear)
1-19-08

                                                

          Josh and Nathan from Natomas high school came in to record a public service announcement AKA a PSA about cleaning up things on campus. Including litter, language, clothing and attitudes of the student body. They took to recording like a duck takes to water. We rolled through two songs in a short period and they were video taped while recording by Robert Ansell of Royce Video Productions. The boys were fresh and they had me laughing out loud as they recorded their songs. It was a lot of fun watching them work. This is one of their songs entitled "Clean it up".  (Click to hear). 1-15-08


 

                      Darrell Dobbs AKA Pretty Boy Flord came in to get some dubs copied from his latest project. He's sending off CD's to get some feed back with hopes that he can acquire some backing and continue with the entire CD project .  Check out his song "So Heavy".  (Click to hear) 1-12-08



           Frank Lizaragga of Luvtaxi seen here in a photo op with Pudding Stone's Bruce Bolin during  a mixing session for Luvtaxi. Frank brought in almost the entire Luvtaxi gang for the mixing session. Seen from left Rudy (Dms), Jamie (Perc), Frank (Guitar), DJ Ones (Bass) and Josh (Keyboards). The flute's were played by special guest Bernie Torrez. The songs are sounding good as we finalize the mixes. Listen to "Song for my mother" (Click to hear). and "Tecolote" (Click to hear) from Luvtaxi.    Later that same day Julie Rost stopped by to record some songs for her musician boy friend as a surprise birthday present.  It was her first time in any studio. When finished Julie was happy with the results. Julie's CD is winging it's way to her boyfriend. 1-11-08

          Six year old Natalie Lariz and her father Felipe returned to Pudding Stone after a three month layoff. Felipe felt that he needed several months to practice some of the singing techniques we discussed while we were recording his project last year.  Then almost to the day Felipe and Natalie came back to begin again to finish up the project. Natalie sang her two songs and left with her mother as Felipe stepped into the booth and sang through nine songs.  I could immediately hear the  difference in his singing.  We will continue until all the vocals are finished to satisfaction, then on to mixing.   1-11-08
 

Caught in the act, pictured on the left is Bruce Bolin working on some guitar lines for a new original song. Photo taken by Monster Labs mastering engineer Eric Broyhill as Bruce turned in surprise to find Eric taking his picture. Center is 16 year old Vanessa Lopez in the booth belting out a song for her demo.  Although it was Vanessa's first time in the studio, she quickly overcame her nervousness and performed rather well.  A visit from R&B singer Beverly Rivers who had been out of touch for several years was welcomed as we got caught up on the news of her career.  Barry Weiner stopped by for some final tweaking of his mixes before mastering.
Here is a song from the live recording of  The Bluez Catz playing,  "La Grange"   (Click to hear)   1-7-08

December 2007

        December 31, 2007.  The last day of the year.  I am sitting here reflecting on this past year, I am filled with many memories of the people that I have had the joy to have come in contact with. Both new and old, I am truly blessed to be in a business that allows me to touch the dreams of so many artists.  Each bringing their own special talent to the studio to be recorded. I can't think of any other job that would bring me so much happiness. So to all of my friends that started out as clients, I raise my glass to you in hopes that your path to musical happiness will be as sweet as the time that we have spent together. When the bell tolls at 12 midnight to the sounds of "Auld Lang Syne", our combined memories (yours and mine) will be resonating in my mind.  I wish you well in the coming new year.
May Health, Wisdom and Happiness through music help you to live a contented life on your path to where ever the music may take you.
May we all enjoy Peace, Happiness and Good Will in the New Year.  Have a safe and Healthy New Year.     Bruce Bolin 12-31-07

        Jerry Cook stopped by to pick up another song that was custom made for his project. Jerry plans to launch his night club project in the new year. His style is very R & B, blues and funk.  But Jerry brings lots of that old school soul to his music when he sings.  12-22-07

      Barry Weiner and Dave Davis were back  to finalize the mixes before mastering the CD. Barry had me include three previously recorded tracks to serve as bonus tracks. The guys are seen here in the booth preparing a voice over track that will introduce the bonus tracks. Soon all will be finished and the Bluez Catz can begin distributing their CD's amongst their awaiting fans. This entire process from live recording  to mastering will have taken just about two months. That's pretty fast!  We at Pudding Stone wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year.  12-21-0

        Bruce and Greg are still at the it, writing and recording original music. Here is a song that Greg wrote and we collectively arranged.  It's called "Say you love me". Give it a listen. (Click to hear)  12-8-07
 

         Bluez Catz Barry Weiner and Dave Davis were back for another mixing session. We moved quickly through several songs and are almost at the point of shifting our attention to mastering this live CD project. It sounds good. Ilon has also been a regular visitor also as we finalize the mixes of his CD project.   12-6-07

          Shelly Jagd needed to record a meditation CD in order to have some product to demonstrate her skills and to sell at up coming craft fairs. She quickly made an appointment with me and yesterday we got under way. Shelly had her script honed and ready. After a short run through to determine the proper pacing, she was able to record the 35 minute program in one setting. We selected some bumper music from my library, made some clean up edits and assembled the whole program in under three hours. Shelly is relived that the production part of the project is behind her and she is very happy with the results. I found the timbre of Shelly's voice to be very interesting and identifiable which is important in the field that she is breaking into. 12-1-07

November 2007

        Is there a doctor in the house? Yes, Dr. Barry Weiner and lead singer Dave Davis of the Bluez Catz were in mixing their live CD project last night. We were able to do some cleanup recording and mix four songs in just three and a half hours. These were rough mixes as we home in on the Bluez Catz sound. All in all it was a productive session that included a lot of laughing once the good Dr. stepped into the booth. We plan on getting back together next week to continue the process. 11-30-07

          Jamie and Rudy who play percussion/vocals and bass respectively, with Luvtaxi stopped by to continue mixing their project. But because of conflicting schedules, Frank Lizaragga (leader of Luvtaxi) could not be there for the mix. We worked of the fine balance between the drum set and the percussion which is the backbone of the Luvtaxi sound. Then turned out attention to the rest of the mix. The song sounds strong and clear and is ready to be added to the up coming CD. 11-28-07

        Ilon Griffin has been a regular at the studio as we have been mixing his project. Ilon has had many balls in the air and is looking forward to getting this project wrapped up and in the can. The good news is that the end is in sight with three original songs and eight popular and classical songs that showcase Ilon's talent as a Lyric tenor.  11-21-07

                                               Jimmy Malone was called into action to record some keyboard tracks for Ilon Griffin's original song titled "Springtime". With Ilon standing by, Jimmy crafted a nice piano part for the song. Then we turned our attention to some strings, after which Ilon mentioned that he felt the song needed a bridge.  Jimmy came up with an interesting eight bar bridge that gave the song a contemporary twist. With the addition of a cello string line in the bridge the song was sounding pretty complete. The next day Ilon and I got together and I programmed a percussion part for the song and I edited the bass line to work more smoothly with some of the new piano chord changes. As it now stands all we need to do to finish the song is to add Ilon's lead vocal and some back ground harmony parts. 11-12-07

                                               The B Street Theater routinely puts on plays six days a week, every week for the general public. They also have two programs that cater to children, exposing  them to live performances. One of these programs is known as  The B Street School Tour. An acting troop travels to local schools within a distance of 100 miles and performs for groups of kids in cafeterias and gymnasiums at the schools.  The troop performs up to 12 times per week. These plays are very popular since many schools have dropped artistic programs from their curriculums. The B Street needed a demo of the play to display on their web site.  I was hired to record a portion of the hour long play with my mobile recording rig for that demo.  I have cut together a sound track and imported pictures into a program that plays both sound and pictures with interesting transitions between the pictures. It's a time intensive project but the results are worth the effort.  11-8-07

                                              Mark S. Allen of Channel 31's Good Morning Sacramento and Pudding Stone Recording Studio have entered into an agreement.  Pudding Stone will record the winner of a weekly segment on the morning program called "Small Town Superstar". This segment will run for four weeks. Good luck to all of the participants and I look forward to working with the winner. A camera man from Channel 13 and their sister station Channel 31, came by yesterday to shoot some "B" roll for a small spot that is to be aired during the program. I was recording a session with Ilon Griffin when he arrived.  So the camera man shot some footage of Ilon in the booth performing his song. Look for the spot on the morning show from 6 to 10 am. Keep those cards and letters coming in.  11-6-07

      Greg Ayala and Bruce Bolin (that's me) continue our weekly song writing adventure. We have been working on a song titled "Gas Ronda".  It's the story of a hot, modern day lady that loves to drive fast and race. I have to say that it's a lot of fun to have a successful collaboration and to see your efforts materialize onto a song that brings a smile to your face. "Hey we still have it"! Check out Gas Ronda. (Click to hear).  11-3-07

October 2007

                                              Barry Weiner met with me yesterday to pick up the rough mixes to begin to evaluate the songs that will be on the CD. We plan of getting back together in two weeks to begin mixing. Barry intends to release this album by the end of February next year. We're on the fast track, but that's Rock-N-Roll!  10-25-07

The Bluez Catz are a band that wanted to record a live album at a local gig. I got a phone call from Dr. Barry Weiner. I was told that four times a year The Catz throw a party at Zagoto's located in the Canterbury Inn off of Hiway 160 and they wanted to have the band recorded live. The band consists of Barry (Guitar), Danny (sax), Charlie (drums), Vinnie (bass), Waylon (guitar) and Dave  (vocals & harp). The band got off to a rousing start cheered on by a house full of fans that had come for the recording party. When ever the Blues Cats play at Zagoto's, the band includes a Mexican style dinner for the patrons. It's a win, win situation for everybody.  Intercept is a popular band from LA who started off the night with a tight set and features Barry's son Jason playing drums.  It was a good show that included a guest appearance from the manager of Zagoto's singing a James Brown song. I recorded two sets and now must get down with the business of mixing and mastering for the album 10-23-07

   Valerie Marston of Sister Swing (pictured here on the left) has been burning the midnight oil to produce a new photo demo for the group. First we cut together a sound track made up of songs from several of their five CD's. Then we imported hundreds of photos taken over the last ten or so years. We worked out transitions between the pictures and dropped the whole thing onto a CD. This is quickly becoming the way to show your group without having to go through the expense of making a video. Ilon Griffin is back in the house of Pudding Stone and ready to finish his current project that was put on hold several months ago because of other conflicting business interests. Ilon also has his eye on doing a Christmas project before this Christmas.  We will be working many days straight to accomplish this feat   10-11-07

   

   Felipe Lariz has been a regular visitor to the studio recording both instruments and vocals for the last several months. He confided to me that he has learned a lot about the process and complexity of making an album. He feels that it's a lot like going to school and he will benefit from the experience. We are nearing the end of the recording process and have done some preliminary mixes to find the sound that Felipe wants to project on this project. Felipe has his sights on the big prize, as he moves forward to making his full time career in the music business.   10-3-07


September 2007

 Luvtaxi is back in the mix when they returned to the studio to record some overdubs. This was the follow up to a mobile recording that was done at the home of Frank Lizaragga in their rehearsal studio. First it was Jamie in the booth to record some percussion parts. Followed by Celia who laid a vocal track. We were hoping to get Frank in the booth to play some acoustic guitar parts, but we ran out of time. Rudy was there as always giving his support and critiquing the takes. We will continue as Luvtaxi evolves on it's endless journey of original music.   9-24-07
                                     

 The American River Music Festival took place Sept. 22 & 23rd on the banks of the American River near Coloma, CA. Mother nature didn't
cooperate and rained some both days. But for the people that dawned their umbrellas and braved the weather, it was a great outing. There were ten bands over the course of the two days. The music was fresh and there were work shops and mini concerts at several of the campgrounds in the evenings, plus food and drink for all. Pictured left to right, the sound crew. Bruce, Glenn and Tony. Next a shot of the stage,  two of the performing acts and finally some of the crowd. Even with the in-climate weather, it was a good time and we hope to make this an annual event. The master of ceremonies was Joe Cravens, and Joe was on his game. Joe is a master of improvisation both musically and as a MC. The man was just plain funny. I haven't laughed that much in a long time.  This festival was the brain child of Matt Semonsen who spoke with me several years ago about throwing this bash. His parade got rained on but his spirit is strong as is his resolve. This is a good example of realizing your dream. To throw an event of this type takes a lot of time, money and preparation.  My hats off to Matt and I will be looking for next years festival.  9-24-07

       Jerry Cook came in to the studio to master his songs onto a  performance CD.  We worked through nine songs, to get ready for his performance this Friday night (9-21-07).  It's been a long a long road for Jerry and myself.  We were pleased with the way the music sounded and are looking forward to getting into some new songs.  Life is good.  Now Jerry, "GET OUT THERE AND WORK IT!"  9-19-07

    
       Jeremiah Shavzz  paid me another visit to record a track and begin discussions on getting a package deal in place for his new project. We listened to some music that points up his perceived identity. Jeremiah or "J" as he likes to be called, is looking into the popular east coast type of rap as we talked of the style and the method we would pursue. J is a likeable young man and I look forward to working with him and helping him turn his "Dream into a reality"  Also on this somber sixth anniversary of "911", let us all remember not to forget the day everything changed for all of us as Americans.    9-11-07

       As I mentioned earlier, Greg Ayala and I have been collaborating on some original music and we get together weekly. In recent weeks we have been working on a song the was sparked by my seeing the planet Venus positioned just under a crescent moon back in June of this year. The song has taken on a life of it's own and along the way we has Felipe Lariz play some accordion on the song.  It's a simple tune but we are excited about the arrangement and the lyrics. See what you think about this rough mix of "Venus under a crescent moon".  
  (Click to hear)  9-9-07

       Mark Tyler has signed on to study the Recording Connection Audio Engineering class that I have been teaching for more than fifteen years. I first met Mark about ten years ago when he played some smokin' lead guitar on a song called Jazzman on an album that I was recording. (Click to hear) For years Mark has wanted to get a good handle on the recording process and has now begun the twenty week course. On the first lesson he has already started by recording into Pro Tools.  We are getting off to a running start.  Mark is pictured here atop his Harley Davidson motorcycle.  Welcome aboard Mark we'll be diggin' in and having some recording fun!  9-8-07

                                                  T-Mobl is a three man rap group that are all decedents of the island of Tonga. Performing under the name of Tongan Mobb Life, these guys are some big fella's that I mistook for Samoan's at first. The three rappers, Joe Dolla, ESPN and Bumm, all shared time in the booth.  We moved quickly through the songs and  they were very happy when they left the studio and promised that they would return. Have a listen to their song titled (Spanish Fly).  Jeremiah Shavzz  called to make an appointment to try out the studio. He said that he has been looking for a place to record and had not been able to find a studio to his liking. He jumped into the booth and recorded a short one minute freestyle rap. I asked if he were finished and he said yes that he only wanted to see how the studio felt and sounded. I asked if he could change anything, what would it be? Jay said he'd like his voice to sound slightly higher. So I proceeded to EQ his voice, then added some reverb until he had a big smile on his face. He liked it and he liked what I did to his voice.  Check out  (J's Freestyle)    9-4-07


August 2007

           Felipe Lariz has finished the tracking portion of his current CD project. Now I will transfer the tracks into Pro Tools for mixing and any additional production. Two of the songs feature Felipe's five year old daughter Natalie. She's very cute and had no fear in the vocal booth. Felipe has exposed all of his three children to music and all three can play and or sing. Felipe wants to have a family band that performs in the area.  Greg Ayala and I continue to collaborate on our original songs during our weekly meetings. We have also recorded some live drum tracks for Jerry Cook's live back up performance music.  8-30-07

            Hillary Garrett has been my audio engineering student for the past twelve weeks. In that time Hillary has made a major leap forward in the audio program and in particular the study of Pro Tools. Hillary has moved to Portland Oregon to pursue her career in the music field. It gives me a great sense of accomplishment to have helped her to begin to realize her goal as a recording engineer. Felipe Lariz continues to make his weekly trek to the studio as we move through his project. Interestingly, Felipe is playing all of the instruments on this album and providing his own back ground harmony parts.  Lloyd Mason has finished and picked up his CD masters and is planning to contact Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney to offer his songs and performance abilities for the campaign.  8-21-07 .                                          

                                                     Nick Vang is a former client of mine.  I recorded his first two CD projects with his group The Loners.  They were a popular Hmong group that hailed from Sacramento back in the 90's. Nick has been doing his own recording with a Roland Digital 16 track machine.  Nick wanted me to record two guitar solos on a couple of his newest songs.  We got set up and were able to get the solos finished in just one hour. I had done some solos on his previous CD's. Sean Bahry returned to work on yet another new song. Sean just keeps crankin' them out.   8-2-07


July 2007

                                                     Dave McAsey asked me to travel to his house with my mobile recording rig to capture him in his most comfortable
environment. Dave has recorded at the studio many times before and wanted to change things up a bit. We set up in his living room and began to record. In a relaxed setting such as this I have discovered that it is sometimes better for certain artists and bands. That being, to record them where they practice. They don't have to acclimate to a new surrounding. We recorded several songs in just two hours. Some of these were seven minute performances. Now I will add these three songs to Dave's other songs to make a nice demo. I was also visited by Christine Martin this week. She needed to have me transpose a song into two different keys for a wedding ceremony that she will be singing for this weekend. On the same day Gloria Heidi and her producer Peter paid me a visit to have me increase the volume on their performance CD's.  7-28-07

           Frank Lizarraga and his drummer Rudy Morones came in the studio to follow up on the mobile recording we did last week. Frank recorded bass tracks and acoustic guitar.  He seemed to enjoy recording while looking out of the window to the view below. Meanwhile Rudy just relaxed on the couch as Frank was working. We will continue with overdubbing as time allows.  7-24-07

          Anthony White paid me another visit today. We tried to get together last week but just as we began to record, my board blew up and failed. So Monday with a spare board in the temporary position we got underway. Anthony rapped both free style and from the written page. I can tell that this is a well read person that is opinionated and has logical convictions associated with those opinions. I enjoyed both conversing with Anthony and hearing his raps. His is a refreshing escape from the normal bang rap artist. Anthony really has something worth listening to. We were able to record 18 songs in just four hours. 7-24-07

                                                
            Fred Sanchez of the Latino group Los Elegantes stopped by to have me transfer some old recordings in preparation for several CD projects that he will be releasing. Los Elegantes has been operating out of the Sacramento area for more than 35 years and has a long history of quality music. Working from old Dat tapes and even a cassette, I made new masters for the duplication process. Fred asked if I could increase the tempo on a couple of his songs without changing the sound. I said "sure, this is Pudding Stone where we make studio magic everyday". Fred recently went to Guadalajara, Mexico to record a new CD. I listened to part of it and it sounded great. The studio there is owned by one of Fred's former singers. After many years Fred is still making good sounding music.  Hang in there Fred!     7-18-07


                        

                                                Luvtaxi is back in the mix.  Last Saturday we did a mobile recording at their place of practice. Trying to beat the heat we started at 10 am.
Once we were set up and had a good headphone mix we began to record. Things went smoothly as Luvtaxi has been down this road before. We were going after solid rhythm tracks and we will finish the rest of the tracking in the studio. In order of appearance; Frank guitar, Rojo drums, Jamie percussion and vocals, Rudy bass, Celia vocals and Josh on keyboards. Later that afternoon I joined them and we played a house party gig.  It was hot and fun with good food and good music!    7-16-07

      

       Lloyd Mason made his weekly stop to work on his current song titled "We the people". We are working in a new melody line and it takes time to forget the old one. But this is progress as we feel that the new melody is far better than the old one.  7-13-07

  
        Sean Bahry is back in the studio scene. He has a summer job so with his pay he wants to get his demo finished and mastered. Sean and I worked on this song to change it up some from the original arrangement. What can I say, this guy loves to record his material. We will be getting together tomorrow to continue.  Meanwhile this is an un-finished version of "No where to go".   Click to hear     7-12-07

         Michelle Meador and her daughter Jane booked three days to record and produce a three CD spoken word project. This project was an instructional method for speaking Japanese. We were able to get all of the recording finished in three days, but needed an extra four hours to finish the production of the masters. Which included placing some Japanese bumper music (played on the Koto) on the front and back of each chapter to serve as an introduction and outro.  Now all that's left is some graphic layout and to get the printing and duplicating finished. It was an interesting four days to say the least. There's always an new adventure at hand! 7-1-07

June 2007

         Felipe Lariz and I have been working on the graphics for his CD project.  We have settled on the pictures and layout design and have submitted them to the graphics designer that I work with regularly. We hope to have everything finalized in a week or so.  6-26-07

                                              Christine June called to say that she wanted to make a quick demo.  We got together about two hours later and began to work on her song.  Christine wrote the lyrics in the studio as I programmed the music. We needed to take an hour break as Shane Kalbauch came in to record the violin parts for Lloyd Mason's song. Soon we were finished with the demo and Christine had her first ever recording of herself. Another happy ending!   6-26-04

       Bruce Bolin and Greg Ayala continue to get together each week to work on original music. The results have been good in that we both can communicate well in both musical and lyrical terms. We are both old school players and we're not bothered by any generation gap. By the way, today is the longest day of the year. AKA the Summer Solstice. 6-21-07

       Kim Lupoli and De Morey  spent the entire weekend in the studio. The job at hand was to produce and mix their album which has a working title of "Keeping it simple".  We needed to do some clean up work on the song arrangements as well as add some vocals, strings and additional guitar parts. We began at 2:30 in the afternoon on Friday and finished Sunday afternoon by 4pm. It was a grueling 20 hour work weekend but we were able to get the job done. On their way home Sunday afternoon to Atascadero, CA  they could listen to the mixes and evaluate the work. Next is a trip to the mastering studio to put this project in the can.  This song is called  "So everyone will know".   (Take a listen)     6-11-07


       
       Ilon Griffin was back in the vocal booth to keep moving ahead with the work on his album. We needed to do some experimenting with the mic placement as Ilon has a very powerful voice and normal placement was not working.  We found that by moving Ilon back yielded the best results for the bigger notes in his songs. This is not normal procedure, but then neither is Ilon.     6-7-07

        He's back. Sean Bahry has returned with another song to record.  This young man is a song writing machine. We did not finish it but Sean wanted to hear what we had so far. So here's the rough mix of the yet unfinished song "You got me singing". (Have a listen)  6-5-07

May 2007

       Noah Agruss finished the string parts for Mai Cha's six songs.  Noah is a gifted composer and delivered the parts on schedule. Now I will load the string wav files into Pro Tools and add them to Mai's songs.  Soon after I will need Mai to come in and re-sing his vocal parts.  5-24-07

       Greg Ayala made his weekly visit to the studio and we recorded the lead vocals to Greg's song titled "Is it love". I find the song to be an interesting mix of modern Reggae with an big 80's drum sound. Have a listen and judge for yourself. Now Greg and I will get to work on one of my songs that Greg penned some lyrics for.  It's working title is "Without a clue, but happy".   Here's   "Is it love" (Click to hear).    5-23-07

       Paul Fury booked some time to record several songs that are to be added to his current project.  Paul has become a veteran in the studio and was in and out of the booth in a very short time. We had a few laughs, but we got the work done.  5-22-07

      Hillary Garrett has signed on as the newest Recording Engineering student this year. With a music major background in college Hillary wants to get on the inside track of the recording studio business. Welcome aboard Hillary. Greg Ayala and I continue to get together in the studio once a week and the results are promising.  Greg's latest song is asking the question "Is it love".  It's a reggae song with huge 80's style drums. We have worked on the arrangement and a guitar rhythm as well as two guitar solos. Once the vocals are finished being recorded I will post it so you may have a listen.  5-17-07

     Lloyd Mason decided to have me add a fiddle to two of the songs that we recorded some years ago. I contacted Shane Kalbach, a violin player and sent him two Mp3's so he could get prepared for the session. Here is one of the two songs prior to his parts being added. 
 (Click to hear)  5-14-07

        

        Keith Mello-Hall has completed his twenty week Recording Connection Audio Engineering course here at the studio. Now Keith is armed with some of the skills needed to go out and rock the music world. Keith is interested in writing original music and is looking for a band to perform and write with.  Good lick Keith. You'll do well!   5-13-07

      Krissi Gray and Kash Villiani are a musical team that got together several years ago to collaborate on projects. They work together on the music with Krissi singing, rapping and playing several instruments.  Kash is the music producer and programmer. I met them when I bought some software from them a couple of weeks ago. They decided to come to
Pudding Stone to record vocals and mix. Their project needs to be finished by the end of this month. Here is one of the songs we're working on titled "Lullaby".  (Click to hear)  5-12-07

       
       Anthony White wanted to book some studio time to record some "Free Style" rap.  He just flew through the ten songs and was never at a loss for words. He did not work from any paper or pre-written lyrics.  He just stood in front of the mic and "Came from his dome". I was amazed that there was a constant flow of words.  As the topics changed, I noticed that there wasn't any swear words in his lyrics. The man has skills.       (Have a listen)  5-8-07
 

       Sean Bahry returned for the second week in a row with yet another new song. We worked on the song and found a nice groove. The song is called "I see the road ahead".  This rocker is a bit of a departure from the two ballads that Sean has brought to the studio in the past. We really rocked it out and I like it a lot.  The big guitar sound has always been a hook for me. With this song there is something special about the sound and feel. Sometimes things just flow together. This is a product of magic in the studio. Can you figure out what it is? (Check out the mix)  5-6-07