The music on my player is not necessarily music I mastered. There's music I like, artists I like, music by Myspace friends, and other assorted stuff. If you've recorded your own music... The best way to judge how your mixes would sound with Sonik Mastering is to try a free test master.
OK, on to my interests...
My kids, God, family, friends, nature, wildlife, walks, hiking, camping, music, kayaking, getting away from abusive people, mountain biking, golf, fishing, water skiing, movies, book stores, coffee, micro brewed beer, Long Island wine, spirituality, reading, NY Yankees, NY Giants, concerts, tennis, ADD and ADHD (I'm the ADD King), snow days, sleigh riding, gardens, my pets (corgies, ferrets, cats, rabbits, and a snake), thinking, sleeping late, pizza with anything on it except anchovies, ancestral homes: Ireland (I have dual citizenship), Denmark, and Scotland, birds, butterflies, flowers, trees, (yes, I'm a nerd), old buildings, playing keyboards and writing music not as often as I'd like, and art - especially Claude Monet and other impressionists, plus Georgia O'Keeffe, Emily Carr, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Harold Weston, and Caroline Abbott. Visit Caroline's Myspace page by clicking on the painting below.
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." ~Hunter S. Thompson
"I've never known a musician who regretted being one. Whatever deceptions life may have in store for you, music itself is not going to let you down." ~Virgil Thomson
"It's the music that kept us all intact, kept us from going crazy." ~Lou Reed
"There are only two kinds of music, the good kind and the other kind."* I like the good kind. Here are some of my favorites from over the years... a rather eclectic mix...
The Beach Boys - Brian Wilson - The Beatles - John Lennon - George Harrison - Led Zeppelin - Dusty Springfield - Marie Ingerslev - Rosie Abbott - Frank Sinatra - Billie Holiday - Hilde Hefte - B.B. King - Katie Melua - Eric Clapton - Johnny Cash - Joe Cocker - Chuck Berry - Robert Plant - The Byrds - Jimi Hendrix - The Monkees - Michael Nesmith - Nat King Cole - Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young - Black Sabbath - Ozzy - The Moody Blues - Pink Floyd - The Rolling Stones - early Blues music - Van Dyke Parks - Simon and Garfunkel - Diana Krall - Eva Cassidy - Johnny Hartman - John Coltrane - Hadda Brooks - Helen Merrill - Creedence Clearwater Revival - John Fogerty - Rosanne Cash - Johnny Winter - Muddy Waters - Korn - Pantera - Antonio Carlos Jobim - Dave's True Story - Avenged Sevenfold - Atreyu - John Barry - The Rascals - The Association - Regina Spektor - The Hollies - Small Faces (pre 1970) - MC5 - Stevie Wonder - Bob Marley - Dick Dale - Martin Denny - Les Baxter - Arthur Lyman - Scott Joplin - The Doors - Bob Dylan - Quincy Jones - The Allman Brothers - Claude Debussy - George Martin - Nick Drake - Lisa Mychols - Monica Shannon - Andrea Perry - India.Arie - Carlos Santana - Otis Redding - Louis Armstrong - Ella Fitzgerald - Stan Getz - Tony Bennett - Buddy Rich - Bing Crosby - Chubby Checker - Charlotte Church - Grand Funk Railroad - Fleetwood Mac - Van Morrison - James Taylor - The Talking Heads - Dire Straits - The Cars - The Kinks - Keane - Rancid - June Christy - Ray Charles - The Carpenters - Elvis Costello - Phil Spector (pre killer) - Free - Carol Kaye - Hal Blaine - Nelson Riddle - Leonard Cohen - James Brown - Evanescence - Charles Chaplin (Charlie wrote the music to one of my favorite songs, "Smile") - Jan and Dean - Eminem - Gene Pitney - Tommy Boyce - Bobby Hart - Burt Bacharach - Marvin Gaye - The Kinks - Stevie Ray Vaughan - Joni Mitchell - The James Gang - Joe Walsh - Thin Lizzy - David Bowie - Cole Porter - No Doubt - Rodgers and Hart - Amy Grant - George and Ira Gershwin - Chris Isaak - Erik Satie - J.S. Bach - Chopin - Beethoven - Pachelbel - Schubert - Sarah McLachlan - Billy Joel - Mozart - Vivaldi - Vanessa Mae - High Llamas - Irving Berlin - Sammy Cahn - The Chieftains - Anita O'Day - Etta James - Kyu Sakamoto, "I Look Up When I Walk" aka "Sukiyaki" ("Ue wo muite aruko" in Japanese), and lots more.
*"There are two kinds of music: the good kind and the bad kind (or the 'other' kind). I play the good kind." ~attributed to numerous musicians, including Lois Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and probably numerous others.
"All music comes from God." ~Johnny Cash
A video from one of my favorite bands, circa 1976 (hence the weird clothes)...
Below is a spontaneous short song and video by one of my favorite artists, Rosie "Rojo" Abbott. Last summer Rosie set out to write a song a day and record all the parts in one take, like a painter making a daily sketch. This is one of those songs.
"All music is important if it comes from the heart." ~Carlos Santana
"A painter paints pictures on canvas. Musicians paint their pictures on silence." ~Leopold Stokowski
"Music is what feelings sound like." ~Author Unknown
"One good thing about music, when it hits you feel no pain...so hit me with music..." ~Bob Marley
"It’s like a language. You learn the alphabet, which are the scales. You learn sentences, which are the chords. And then you talk extemporaneously with the horn. It’s a wonderful thing to speak extemporaneously, which is something I’ve never gotten the hang of. But musically I love to talk just off the top of my head. And that’s what jazz music is all about.” ~Stan Getz
Movies
Naked Gun, Austin Powers, Forrest Gump, Anger Management, Wizard of Oz, Sound of Music, Matrix, animated Disney movies, Harry and Tonto, Gigot, Groundhog Day, Meet the Parents, The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), The Passion of the Christ, It's a Wonderful Life, Crash, Remember the Titans, Men of Honor, Field of Dreams, The Summer of '42, Saving Private Ryan, Somewhere in Time, October Sky, Harvey, James Bond movies, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Scary Movie, My Cousin Vinny
"Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life." ~Ludwig van Beethoven
"It seems to me that those songs that have been any good, I have nothing much to do with the writing
of them. The words have just crawled down my sleeve and come out on the page." ~Joan Baez
"It's taken me all my life to learn what not to play." ~Dizzy Gillespie
Television
Family Guy, South Park, CSI, Mad TV, Seinfeld, House, King of the Hill, Cops, Craig Ferguson.
"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." ~Aldous Huxley
"My creed for art in general is that it should enrich the soul; it should teach spirituality by showing a person a portion of himself that he would not discover otherwise... a part of yourself you never knew existed." ~Bill Evans
Books
I'm currently reading "Einstein: His Life and Universe" by Walter Isaacson. (A birthday present from my daughter)
Recommended books for musicians:
"The Future of Music: Manifesto for the Digital Music Revolution" by David Kusek and Gerd Leonhard
"The Self-Promoting Musician" by Peter Spellman
"I Don't Need a Record Deal! Your Survival Guide to the Indie Music Revolution" by Daylle Deanna Schwartz
"Making Music Make Money: An Insider's Guide to Becoming Your Own Music Publisher" by Eric Beall
"Mastering Audio: The Art and the Science" by Bob Katz
"Moneymaking Music: Your complete guide to making, keeping, protecting, and growing your music-success fortune" by Jeffrey P. Fisher
Lately I'm reading books on physics and astronomy. I'm also into reading old stuff... Greek, Roman, Medieval, Renaissance. It feels like someone from the far distant past is here today, talking through their writing. Sophocles is great.
The Bible is a great book. (obviously)
-- Stalking the Soul --
Did you know that men can be victims of physical and emotional abuse by women? Men usually stay quiet about it, feeling that no one will believe them or understand. Abusive women (and men) can so skillfully conceal their abuse (physical or psychological) that they come across as charming and kind to others. The hatred that the abuser projects onto their victim calms the abuser's inner tension, allowing the abuser to act pleasantly in the outside world. In time, the identity of the victim is profoundly eroded, leading to depression, debilitating anxiety, and other symptoms of severe stress, including suicide. Victims are isolated from family and friends. They lose all self esteem in both their own eyes and their abuser's. The abuser poses as the victim, only to seduce her next victim: another giver and healer. Often, emotional abuse builds over a long period of time until it becomes so unbearable that victims lash out in frustration and anger, only to appear unstable and aggressive themselves. This is the intent of many abusers: to systematically destabilize and confuse their victims (with irrational, threatening behavior that preys on the victim's fears and self-doubts), to isolate and control them, and ultimately to destroy their identity. These relentless predators are incapable of compassion or empathy, always blame the victim, and never see their actions as wrong. Here's a good book about abuse at home and in the work place:
May the frames of your belonging be large enough for the dreams of your soul.
May you arise each day with a voice of blessing whispering in your heart that something good is going to happen to you.
May you find a harmony between your soul and your life.
May the mansion of your soul never become a haunted place.
May you know the eternal longing which lives at the heart of time.
May there be kindness in your gaze when you look within.
May you never place walls between the light and yourself.
May your angel free you from the prisons of guilt, fear, disappointment, and despair.
May you allow the wild beauty of the invisible world to
gather you, mind you, and embrace you in belonging.
By John O'Donohue, author of "Eternal Echoes: Celtic Reflections on Our Yearning to Belong"
"If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music. ... I get most joy in life out of music." ~Albert Einstein
"Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness." ~Maya Angelou
"Quit playing what you think I want you to play!" ~ Gil Evans
"If it sounds good, it is good." ~ Duke Ellington
Heroes
My Mom, my kids, my grandparents, great-great-great ... grandma and grandpa Ardipithecus ramidus and all my ancestors going back to the beginning of life without whom I and a lot of us would not be here, mastering engineer Bob Katz for his work to make recorded music sound good again, Louis Armstrong "founding father of American music", W. C. Handy "founding father of the Blues", Albert Einstein, soldiers fighting for freedom for all people, Jeanne d'Arc, and those who have found peaceful ways to change the world, especially Mother Teresa, St. Thérèse Martin, St. Francis of Assisi, Coretta Scott King, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"The idea that beauty is revolutionary is a revelation to me... I've discovered the part of my brain that can't decode anything, can't add, can't work from verbalized concepts, but that does make melodies with pitch and rhythm... beauty is enough." ~Beth Anderson, composer
"I would advise you to keep your overhead down, avoid a major drug habit, play everyday, and take it in front of other people. They need to hear it, and you need them to hear it." ~James Taylor
"I never tried to prove nothing, just wanted to give a good show. My life has always been my music, it's always come first, but the music ain't worth nothing if you can't lay it on the public. The main thing is to live for that audience, 'cause what you're there for is to please the people." ~Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong
"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness, and life to everything." ~Plato
Dowling College
Oakdale, NY
Graduated: 1986
Student status: Alumni
Major: B.B.A. in Business Administration
Minor: Marketing
Clubs: Ancient Order of Turtles
About me:
I love music, nice people with integrity, the outdoors, and lots of other things listed over in the interests section.
One of my interests is music. We're at the beginning of an amazing new age of music, when everyone can record themselves and distribute their music around the world. Gone are the days of big record labels putting out cloned commercial junk and robbing artists. Gone are commercial radio playlists that control everything people hear. (Well, almost.) These are very exciting times!
Sonik Wheel Productions assists musicians with audio mastering and marketing. My goal is to make the most enjoyable sound and cost-effective marketing affordable and available for all independent artists, regardless of where they are located, while advocating ethical business practices. (As you know there are some unsavory characters in the music industry.)
“One word frees us of all the weight and pain in life: That word is love.” ~Sophocles
We pause now for a message from Sonik Wheel Productions...
---> SONIK MASTERING AND MARKETING <---
Mastering Anywhere in the World (including where YOU are!)
Success starts with great songs, solid performances, high quality sound, and effective marketing.
You can elevate the quality of your music without spending a fortune, with Sonik Wheel's affordable, audiophile quality mastering. We can bring out the best in any mix.
SONIK MASTERING ON-LINE
Mastering is the art and science of taking a collection of completed mixes and preparing them for replication, distribution, and enjoyable listening.
Sonik Wheel optimizes your recordings with the careful use of equalization, parallel compression, limiting, stereo and harmonics enhancements, analog tape modeling, and other processing (only if needed) to give your music a consistent and professional sound from track to track.
Sonik Wheel can transfer your mixes and reference masters over the Internet with no loss of sound quality to and from anywhere in the world. This means no travel expenses or customs issues for our overseas clients. We'll burn your master to high quality Taiyo Yuden discs. Shipping is included.
Because most recorded music today ends up in the digital domain, Sonik Wheel is skilled at using hi-end tape compression modeling and other special techniques to ensure that your music maintains a rich, warm, analog-like sound.
Our HEDD 192 from Crane Song is a sure cure for "digititus." The HEDD is engineered to be musically transparent while providing the capability of generating analog sound in the digital domain. The HEDD will bring out the natural harmonics and warm analog sound of your mixes!
We use K-System metering and monitoring to help prevent the hyper-compressed, distorted, and ear-fatiguing sound found on many CDs today. Despite popular belief, such hyper-compressed recordings do NOT play well on the radio.
Designed by mastering guru Bob Katz, the K-System integrates the best concepts of the past with current psychoacoustic knowledge. Click here to see Bob Katz's honor roll of well mastered CDs. We use many of these as references.
SONIK'S GEAR
We use only the best-sounding gear, such as Algorithmix equalizers, the mastering compressor and brickwall limiter from the TC Electronic Mastering System 6000 (used by the world's top mastering houses), and a Sequoia digital audio workstation.
Our monitors and amplifier were designed by famed engineer Andrew Lipiniski, recognized by the U.S. National Bureau of Standards as having perfect hearing. Check out our Lipinski Sound L-707 loudspeakers at www.lipinskisound.com.
One of our most "Fab" toys is the EMI/Abbey Road TG Mastering Pack, which provides authentic emulations of EQ and filter modules from the original EMI TG12410 transfer consoles found at Abbey Road Studios. These consoles have long been the secret weapons of Abbey Road's mastering engineers.
Sonik Wheel's owner and chief engineer, Bill Jacobs, has more than 30 years of experience as a musician and audiophile concerned with the sound quality of recorded music.
ISRC
Sonik Wheel can encode your songs with International Standard Recording Codes (ISRC). The ISRC is the international identification system for sound recordings. ISRCs provide the means to automatically identify your recordings for royalty payments.
FOR BEST RESULTS IN MASTERING - "Less is more"
Please do not add any processing or effects to your final mixes. For best results, do not EQ, compress, limit, alter sample rates or bit depths, increase or decrease gain (loudness), adjust stereo, normalize, or do anything else to your final mixes. EQ, compression, etc. are OK on individual tracks within a mix, always keeping in mind that "less is more". Record at 24 bit or higher. Please leave about 5 to 10 dBs or more of headroom. Never let the peaks go above -3 dBFS. You can keep the peaks even lower. (RNDigital Labs offers a free plug-in meter, called Inspector, that monitors headroom.) Use good mics, and get the sound you want during recording as much as possible. Use the best analog to digital converter you can afford. That said, its You and Your Music that matter most, not the gear or technical stuff! Please feel free to send me a message if you have questions about preparing your mixes for mastering.
AUDIO REPAIR
We can eliminate unwanted noises from otherwise perfect recordings, such as metronome ticks, a squeaky chair, door slam, cell phone ringing, “p”s popping, and digital clicks. Occasional audio repairs are included with all Sonik mastering.
SONIK'S LOW PRICES FOR HIGH QUALITY MASTERING
With the value of the US Dollar hitting record lows as compared to the Euro and other currencies, there has never been a better time to master your CD's in the USA.
Your first mastered song on each project is free, with no obligation to buy more!
Our prices are as low as $20 per song! (or about €15, £10, or 217 MXN when ordering 15 songs), depending on how many songs you have mastered.
$135 (about £69 or €102) 4-song mastering package for your demo, EP, digital downloads, and streaming audio, including your Myspace player. Includes 1 free!
$180 (about £92 or €135) 5-song mastering package for your demo, EP, digital downloads, and streaming audio, including your Myspace player. Includes 1 free!
$300 total for a full-length CD mastering package of 8-15 songs. That's only $20 per song for 15 songs! See the currency converter below for the price in your currency. Recent examples: $300 USD = £200, €216, 1,587 kr., or 374 AUD.
Click here for a currency converter to see how much $300 US dollars for a full length mastered CD equals in your currency.
Packages include a red book standard production master CDr, backup master CDr, and Internet ready mp3s converted directly from the 32-bit masters.
You can pay 3 or 4 times as much, or more, for comparable quality mastering.
TRY A FREE DEMO MASTER!
If you're considering having a project mastered, please feel free to send a mix for a free Sonik demo master. The best way to judge mastering is to hear one of your own mixes mastered. Much of the ultimate sound quality of mastering depends on the mix.
Drop a .wav or .aif file in the Sendspace Drop Box at the Sonik Wheel website. Be sure to include your email address so we can contact you. Please do NOT send MP3 files, as most of the audio data has been lost and cannot be restored.
SONIK'S MONEY BACK GUARANTEE!
If you are not completely satisfied with our work, 100% of your payment will be refunded.
SONIK CAREER AND MARKETING PLANS
Success starts with a clear, realistic plan. Later, measure your success and adapt. Sonik Wheel offers music career planning services to specially selected artists. Contact us at sonikwheel@sonikwheel.com for availability.
SONIK WHEEL ARTIST MANAGEMENT
Sonik Wheel provides personal management services for specially selected artists, such as singer, songwriter, and voice actor
Marie Ingerslev, so that our artists can focus more on music and less on business. Please contact us for information and availability. Visit Marie's website here.
"Music is perpetual, and only the hearing is intermittent." ~Henry David Thoreau
You Are an Old Soul
You are an experienced soul who appreciates tradition.
Mellow and wise, you like to be with others but also to be alone.
Down to earth, you are sensible and impatient.
A creature of habit, it takes you a while to warm up to new people.
You hate injustice, and you're very protective of family and friends.
Extremely independent you don't mind living or being alone.
Souls you are most compatible with: Warrior Soul and Visionary Soul
"Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent" ~Victor Hugo
Who I'd like to meet: Everybody on my music list, all my favorite MySpace artists, singers, songwriters, musicians, and nice people who share similar interests, not necessarily in the music business.
HELLO BILL HOW ARE YOU SWEETIE ? DO HOPE YOU ARE DOING REALLY WELL IN BUSINESS AND IN ALL ASPECTS . I ALWAYS WISH THE BEST FOR YOU . MAY YOUR WEEK BE BLESSERD TAKE CARE MUCH LOVE LPX HUGS X
Hi Bill, how's life? Summer Solstice Greetings from Ireland!! This is a video of photos I took early this morning at a Stone Circle near my home.. Wishing you a wonderful day.. :)
Happy Father's Day Bill! I hope your day is as wonderful as you. Thanks for always being so encouraging and supportive. You're awesome and I so appreciate your friendship. Take care and God bless. (((HUGS)))!!!
Hello Bill, Very Nice to meet You! Its Great to have Your Friendship! Thanks you for Listening to my music & the Lovely Comment:)) Hope You have a Beautiful Week!! All the Best!! Trice Jacobs x x x
Heey Bill :) I'm diggin your Space & what you're doing with it, no doubt! Excellent bands! Hell yeah! And funky biz! Nice! Oh yeah, I wanted to thank you for the groovy friendship! But thx a MILLION for the music & your insight.
Hey Bill, Thank you very much for the kind comment and I’m very sorry for taking this long to reply! I’ve been so busy with the Wake Up-Stop Child Abuse charity organization and with my forth coming album that I hardly had the time to work on the profile at all. I hope all’s well on your side and I wish you a great Sunday! Take care and best wishes, Ralph
Thanks a lot for the friendship! I hope you had a good time while viewing the page, watching the videos and listening to my music!? Also, i wanna thank you very much for the kind comment, makes an old man feel good for a change!
Thanks for the comment! Everything is fine here. We added 3 playlists to our music player that contain songs from our previous albums. New cd will be out in 2 months. Buy our music itunes amazon ... or visit our website. www.ashestoashesmusic.com Please sign the guestbook and enjoy a preview of a new song. Keep Rockin the house and eventually the whole world will begin to shake!
You're always so thoughtful!! You have a wonderful weekend as well! I'm going to move either the second or third weekend in June. I've been living in my ex-husband's house for the last seven years so this is going to be a big change for me. I'm leaving the place where my kids alway come home to. I'll be twenty minutes up the road, but when they're here, I never want to miss a single second with them. I'm not use very use to change, but it will be exciting to see what God has in store. I'm finding the hardest part of life is being seperated from all my family. Hopefully things with the music will start to come together and it will keep me busy. Then perhaps it won't be so bad. God bless you Bill. You're such an awesome person. (((HUGS)))!!!
Thank you for the add and friendship. We really appreciate. We will appreciate if you could send us comment about our music you can freely say and speak your mind. Well love to hear from you. Thank you.
We ..just Release The New CD here in myspace last Saturday. Check it out… Please Comment to us… If you think we suck please say so… We can take criticism no PROBLEM!!!
Have A Wonderful Day, A Spectacular Week and A Extra unordinary Weekend
We are an Extra Unordinary Band. The Full CD was recorded in one take at a time all improvised, just minimal mixing to keep the levels down and to preserve the mood of the recording.
The Music you will hear was made out of nothing using real instruments performed at the time with no idea or concept. From the beginning we wanted to real create a new type of music performance...
We called Accidental Music.
Hope you like but if not is ok send us a bad comment.
Lupus Keys, Pepe Botella Drums and Drum Sounds Real play, Juan Chispa Synth Guitar, Electric Guitar, Percussion.
HELLO Bill how are you my lovely friend ? I hold in very high regard . I LIKE YOUR MANOR AND REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR FRIENDSHIP AND SUPPORT SWEETIE . Wished you lived nearer so I COULD ASK YOUR ADVICE about the music lols . Hope this is finding you well . Always wishing the best for you HAVE A WONDERFUL EVENING much love LPX HUG X
Hi Bill, thanks for your kind words and the complete meters information, I apreciate it a lot. For the momment Im working with Cubase. Sorry if I replay to you a bit late, sometimes I entertain me reading and listening your myspace. I found it very interesting and maybe I will need your services if I finish my CD some day... All the best.
Thanks a million for stopping by to listen and Especially for your praise:) ! It's very affirming to have your support & wanted to express my appreciation for your positive thoughts in my direction...
Online Now!
