Producing Rudy Saitta - Ch.0

Hi mates, and welcome to the "Chapter Zero" of this new production by Molen.

Let me introduce you my friend Rudy Saitta, very talented young singer and songwriter from my own town. To tell the truth he is Sicilian, but he moved here in the north when he was a child. He attends the course in pop music at the Conservatory of Music of Cuneo and that's where I met him first.

A few days ago, in collaboration with the independent label Ænima Recordings, I decided to start working on the full production (arrangement, recording, post-production, mastering and videoclip) of the next single by Rudy.

He came to me with a handful of songs recorded crudely with just guitar and vocals, so that I could decide, without being distracted by different sounds or arrangements, which of these was the one with the most potential.

I chose the one that convinced me more and today we started working on it.

First step: structure. We built a quick midi guitar guide and set up a list of markers to divide the whole song in sections.

Second step: vocal guide. I made Rudy record a rough vocal line so that I'll have a voice track to use as a reference when I work on the arrangement of the song.
I recorded this track using an SE Z5600A (tube condenser microphone) and an Audient ASP008 as a pre-amp.

That's all for today. Stay tuned and check out for next updates!

Bucket-Brigade and Analog Delay

Hi mates!

Just bought a really satisfying analog delay: the Electro Harmonix Deluxe Memory Boy. I love it.

As soon as I pulled it out of the package, I could not resist the temptation to open it and see what was inside and how it worked.

This delay is real analog and true bypass. The technology it uses is called Bucket-Brigade. The Bucket-Brigade is the classic technique the firefighters use to extinguish the fire, when they put themselves in a line and pass each other buckets full of water.

The first BB delay lines were made of series of capacitors which stored the audio signal incoming. The signal was moved along the line of capacitors, one step at each clock cycle. Now the line of capacitors has been replaced by integrated chips that serve the same purpose. Tap tempo and modulation are digitally controlled, but the signal (both the dry and the wet one) is never A/D or D/A converted in the whole process, as in the classical bucket brigade delay processors. The digital circuitry in the DMB has absolutely no effect on the sound.

I tried it along with the SIEL Orchestra and it sounds awesome. I'm sure I'll use a lot this combination in my next musical productions.

Huh... waiting for a spring reverb arriving in a couple of days. ;-)

Keep in touch for the next update!

New Arrival: SIEL Orchestra.

SIEL Orchestra MK1

The SIEL Orchestra is an analogue synth I've been looking for for a while. I bought it today from a keyboardist from Turin. Interesting price, perfect conditions, completely working. And it's not so obvious, since this keyboard is more than 30 years old!

Little history, taken from wikipedia.
"The Siel Orchestra is an analogue subtractive synthesizer, which was produced by Italian manufacturer Siel from 1979 to 1982. The original Orchestra was very limited but still a very characteristic instrument for its time. It produces its sounds from a divide-down oscillator network and therefore has 49 note (unlimited) polyphony. Although it contains 4 sections of presets (Brass, Strings, Reed and Piano), each which contain two sounds, the only parameters that can be edited are Vibrato (LFO), Brilliance (for the Brass, which also has a separate 'Brass Attack'), Attack and Decay. This ultimately means that the Orchestra cannot produce many different sounds; however because of its Italian origin and its distinctive routing, the Orchestra sound is not matched by any other similar synthesizers.
The Orchestra was later bought by ARP Instruments to be slightly modified, relabeled and then sold as the ARP Quartet. This version replaced the Reed section with an Organ one, however aside from that the synthesizer was almost identical.
The Orchestra does not support MIDI or any other means of communicating with other electronic instruments, however it does include a volume pedal socket which could be mistaken for a MIDI port."

I can just add that one of the main reasons why I was looking for this synth is the end of "Machine Gun" by Portishead. That "terminator-like" sound is made with an "Orchestra 2", but can easily be made also with the first version of this keyboard. I definetely love it.
And looking forward to matching it with an analogue delay like a Deluxe Memory Boy (arriving next Friday).