NEWS
It looks like the summer rush has begun around here. May is shaping up to be another busy month for The Cow. Lots of both new and old bands scheduled to come in to record new songs, so if you’re thinking about booking time in May, we still have a couple dates open but be sure to call now. May promises to be every bit as exciting a month for us as April. Since last month we finished producing three songs for Tub Ring as well as recording new bands like Little Blue Taxi and Vile Order.
But best of all from the month
of April, we have upgraded all of our computers. Now our three music computers
(Control Room, Studio Moo and Gigasampler computers) all have the latest
and greatest 3000 Processors and 2 Gig of memory in each machine. They
are all much faster and better than before (making mixing go smoother
and quicker) and the machines are more stable than ever too. Less crashing,
less waiting, less headaches, more music!
NEW GEAR
The newest addition to our gear library is 200 new gigas for our Gigasampler. [A moderately quick explanation of the Gigasampler for those of you who may not know: the Gigasampler is software that replaces MIDI with actual recordings of instruments. What this means is when playing a keyboard with a double bass giga patch, for example, hitting a key on the keyboard will result in a recording of a double bass note being played. Striking the key at varying velocities results in corresponding volumes of attacks, and when lifting the key for stringed instruments like a bass you will hear the finger being lifted off of the string. Being able to change dynamics, styles, attacks releases and more just by playing a keyboard makes for an authentic sounding recording without the need to know how to play the bass or saxophone or marimba or any of these Giga instruments.]
The giga instruments we have vary from strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion to multiple pianos, organs and synthesizers, drum kits, voices, saxophones, harps, guitars and basses. There are also lots of rhythmic samples with African beats, Latin percussion and more as well as full choirs where you are able to type in words and the choir will phonetically sing what you’ve typed; rare instruments of the Far East, Middle East, India and Europe; loads of synth sounds and rhythms, special Hollywood effects; and yes, even Phat and Phunky brass and winds. The list goes on and on. To give you an idea of how many we have and how involved the gigas are, when zipped, the 200 gigas fill up an entire 120-Gigabyte hard drive! If you are ever interested in adding additional sounds to your songs, the Gigasampler will have what you need.
Our Tama drum tension watch arrived and it is every bit as fun, exciting and useful as we thought. The tension watch is used to measure tension of the drum heads as opposed to the popular lug tension. This little tool makes for precise tuning every time and for those of us without perfect pitch, it makes tuning the drums much faster and more exact. We've had the chance to try this little guy out for sessions and it works like a charm. Make sure to see it in action next time your in recording, your drums will be thankful for it.
WHO’S in the RECORDING STUDIO
We finished mixing and mastering three Tub Ring songs in April. This schizophrenic rock group tours internationally and made it to #84 on the CMJ charts with their last album. Of the three songs we recorded for Tub Ring, all will be appearing on compilation albums in the near future and two are possible album tracks for their next full length CD, tentatively titled "Zoo Hypothesis". To learn more about Tub Ring and find out when they’re playing in Chicago, check out their website, www.tubring.com. Also, listen for them on the local shows for both Q101 and 94.7 The Zone.
Vile Order was in recording three brand-new songs this past month. This metal band from close-to-home Oswego is comprised of two former Terrakore members Matt Yaga (singing vocals) and Matt Bloomquist (on drums). The two have added Bob Anderson (formerly of Noozel) on bass and Chris Calderon (formerly of Monospit) playing guitar to complete the wall-o’-sound.
Children’s Metal (or "funny
metal") band Little Blue Taxi
began recording with us in April. The group sings for children in a metal-ish
style all their own: songs such as "Naptime" and "Ravioli
Smile" are accompanied by traditional singing and the typical metal
screams, but with music that keeps it interesting by adding lots of changes
in style, speed and time signatures. The lyrics are aimed towards kids
and have no swearing, making them readily accessible to parents who want
their kids to listen to modern music of the day rather than the same old
nursery rhymes. This creative force consists of Rob Reiff (vocals, Hawaiian
guitar), Jon Pfortmiller (congas, quasi timpani, keyboards), Dusty Greenlee
(guitars, bass) and Blain Sinderson (drums) all from Harvard, IL. To find
out more about the music of Little Blue Taxi, go to their website at http://littlebluetaxi.tripod.com.
For more information on these artists, contact us at news@callthecow.com
JOKE OF THE MONTH
Two cows were out in a field
eating grass. One cow turns to the other cow and says, "Moooooo!"
"Hey", the other cow replies.... "I was just about to say
the same thing!"
Send
in your favorite (clean) cow joke to news@callthecow.com and if we use
it we'll link to you.
CONTACT
INFO
For booking information, tours, new sampler CD, or anything else, contact us at.
record@callthecow.com
www.callthecow.com
(630) 897-9023
For old 2003 newsletters january, february, march, april
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