my favorite vocalist,amazing talent

listen to the vocals on CALL ME and EYE TO EYE from the first GO WEST album(released in 1985 under EMI/CHRYSALIS).....how he sneaks in his breathing between lines and his awesome tenor,fullbodied and soaring.
these days its been so hard to find great band vocalists...but in the eighties there was no shortage of great ones......and one is PETER COX....with the band GO WEST he had 3 albums....GO WEST(the dubut),DANCING ON THE COUCH(87')and the finale...INDIAN SUMMER(92')
this band has so many great songs including the PRETTYWOMAN OST's ...KING OF WISHFUL THINKING....although their songs are not thinking man's fare it was a perfect pop foil to Peter's amazing vocal talent.....going from "full blast force" to falsetto in some songs,a big R&B influence...he even covered BOBBY CALDWELL'S ,WHAT YOU WON'T DO 4 LOVE in 1992.
after GOWEST ,Cox released his solo on Chrysalis and disappeared from the limelight.rich and retired ,now thats a great career.....and to have great songs to show your kids too.
(GO WEST released a live album of their hits in 2006 called DON'T LOOK DOWN -LIVE under the GOING FOR A SONG indie LABEL in EUROPE.

SKETCH of a studio

the plans i drew on a piece of paper for bellehaus 4 months back,clockwise from TOP RIGHT,the window bet the 2 rooms,control room(as viewed from rear),control (as viewed from back),top view with resilient channel sketch on the left....and material list on top of it all....

a new GERMAN mic for me....

My latest toy ...a NEUMANN M149 TUBE microphone,mounted on a SE REFLEXION filter and a STEDMAN pop filter.......it sounds heavenly ........

how the panels look now

this is how the structures below would look days after it is finished and painted
the left is the front(absorbers ) and below the ceiling structures(5 pcs ...2 deepbass traps,a single black high bass,and grey and brown colored Mid/hi absorbers)

absorbers,front and ceiling too

the control room must be fully absorbent up to the engineers position,below is the front with 2 mid/hi absorbers,and a photo above of the 5 panel absorbers,2 deep bass traps ,2 hi and mid freq absorbers and a single hi/bass combi.all unfinished yet ...you will see what it looks like after the rooms finishing....believe me they make the room sound great. note below on the right side is the vocal booth.

lets change topic for a moment ....

i urge music producers and engineers,studio managers to get a hold of PHIL RAMONES book,MAKING RECORDS ...with highlights on his experience with so many popular artist.
i had searched hi and low for this book ,and i found it in MOA ,"fullybooked"bookstore.....
an amazing book,an amazing producer and author...
i cannot express enough gratitude ,
learning so much after reading it.

windowsssss,the bane of isolation

the studio windows are the challengers of studio sound transmission prevention.....if not constructed well ,will allow sound to pass from 1 room to another.
using 2 glasses of unequalled thickness,resonation is prevented and the huge air gap between glass dissipate the sound...bear in mind that the integrity of the glass wall structure is PARAMOUNT for success.the photo on the left is a prepared window for the vocal booth ,the right is the window between the recording room and control .this structure can be seen in its unprepped form below on some photos.

a better studio CEILING

ceiling structure must be torn down and strengthened ,to accomodate the heavy acoustic absorption materials and diffusors to be installed on finishing the rooms.notice the previous,not so good construction below and how it looks a week later...notice the rockwool ,fiber batting installed under the 2ndary structure to beefed up the walls isolation capability ,reducing transmission of sound within and from the outside.

the window between the recording room and control room

the window structure ,notice the sandwiching of the wall structure seen through the unfinished window,1 and half foot thick ,and note the 1 inch air spaces within,also the rockwool within the 2 outer structures .the walls are a combination of materials(disney style) to prevent sounds from passing through,the concept of Isolation.take note of the double door structure now installed too.

replace structures

you see the old room below with old wall demolished and rockwool installed prior to the drywall install.
above it you see the new wall partition with the DISNEY wall configuration structure,the same type of structure used in the orlando construction site for its sound isolation ability.AC has
been installed ,this new wall is 1 and half foot thick.the hole is for the window.

construction studio 101

right -when the drywall is up and the isolation booth is
finished


lower photo -the rockwool and studs wall.

i construct studios for my clients

first off is you double wall the rooms you need done.
using gypsum boards on studs,with rockwool and plywood.

my favorite artist ,KITCHIE

the 2nd kitchie nadal album,Drama Queen is out on the market peeps,this is the best opm release of 2007 my friends,released by the mighty GMA records too,get up and listen,aaawww.
the artistry and thoughts given to the production and performance blew every other releases this year,for me.the album invites u to listen as she paints colors ,pushes your imagination to new heights,and the music frames the work so well.sadly,why can't other opm artist make albums ,as good as this?tell me....

my roots,important,it is.....yoda

Family has always played a big part in our success.we pride on loving our family and keep it close to our heart.i love my brother Julius and my sister Des,in the picture on the left is joshua ,Des eldest son.a smart and exceptionally talented
young man now.on the right are two of my only idols in this life... ,romy Sr and Cena,my Papa n Mom
.they are the best,hardworking n wise ,these two kept us alive in spite of the hell we gave them growing up.
i remember my papa watching over us ,as we have dinner,and asking me if i still hungry ,and attempt to move his share of food into my plate.how unselfish,romy is.
and my mom cena,knowing i was sick n still at school deciding to talk the teacher into releasing me for the day,and on a rainy day picked me up.happiest day of my life to have loving parents like these.wish i can be a good dad too.

on playin live

sometimes i do miss the gigs,the nervous energy before each performance,the fear of missing notes on your solo,and the souncheck jams before each show.
but band life is also hard on the heart ,its about 5 people or so....moving as one and if one is out of time then...wham....
everyone's dead.

on this old photo(baby is at my back see....)she sang in this band,i moved from being a stationary keyboard player to a mobile synth whako,i used the old heavy Roland AXIS controller ,and a rack of modules,the yamaha TX81z,AKAI S1000,Roland MKS 80,MKS 50 and an emu vintage keys module.

AS a CHILD

i grew up with music around me,romy Sr.my dad sings well and my mom loves to play records and she forced us to get piano lessons so young.she got me an old RCA Victor phonograph player when i was 8yrs old,i spun 45s til they skipped and died.my first album was an orange vinyl SOUND OF MUSIC soundtrack.i was buying my own albums when i was in grade school,and had a guitar gift from papa when i was grade 4.and then in in the 60s the beatles came and i got an album...HELP

My Workplace at home

the mix position where projects are finished off.2 monitors act as main reference,a KRK V8 and a n event BAS system,to the right(not on this photo,but on photo third below)are a pair of yamaha Hs50ms and an alesis monitor one.on the table is a TASCAM FW1082 firewire controller,so i dont have to mix with a mouse,to the right is the remote TRANZPORT.above is an analog reel 2 track to mix on.left is the rack with outboards




below is the FRONTIER TRANZPORT a wireless remote for
the computer so you can control it anywhere in the room.











the keyboards are all controlled by my AKAI MPC1000 sequencer and the YAMAHA kx88 .most of the boards are vintage analogs.

PBB HOUSEMATES album and Sept show 2007

the 1st batch of PBB housemates was set to make an album this year ,i was asked on board as producer for the album and it went on the sales shelf this september.we did the recording in 2 weeks and the fabulous FAS replicators did the 5,000 copies in 2 days.boyet of soundsrite mastered the album,Joey of the WORKSHOP played guitar on the songs too.
the album was released by Star records and we did a FREE show at the ARANETA COL.to launch it.

SSL preamps sound so heavenly

i love the SSL DUENDE,the way you get access to a channel strip from a console
(on software from the developers of the real thing)
plus their wonderful SSL xlogic mic pre,EQ combi channel.
it helps ,when you have great equipment to work with.
i myself buy gear to inspire me (like a new toy)...... gives me the excitement to get to work ,
on my music.
like a good movie,book,or a new CD that fires me up...new gear makes me want to get back to work...again n again.

reflexion filter for studiomicrophones

the SE reflexion filter,
a large diaphragm condenser microphone picks up a lot of extraneous stuff,
so SE electronics built a filter wall behind the mic to kill the reflecting sound ,
preventing it from coming back into the rear of the mic.
it totally changed the room sound everywhere i tried it.