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Thread Singer-songwriter in Saudi Arabia

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1 Singer-songwriter in Saudi Arabia
Hi there.

I am a Canadian singer-songwriter currently living in Saudi Arabia. I put out one CD called [i]Endless Contradictions[i] in Canada in 1995, found it difficult to promote while also holding down a fulltime teaching position (drama/English), but managed to get a synchronization deal with the first cut for the show Party of Five and an offer that never panned out for another deal with Dawson's Creek.

I picked up my musical training in piece meal fashion, over the years, attending courses, studying vox classically for four years with a private teacher, and also E. Indian singing with another teacher in Canada for two years and then musical studies in Benares, India, etc. I have a strong interest in music, but really it's an ongoing experience learning. (Check out my website for a full bio, pics, songs, diary, etc.)

And so I must be slightly nuts to think that I can add to my list of things to do: mastery of home recording. But it all make sense, as we know, to start somewhere, and my goal is to make albums, whether they be songs only or soundscapes as well. Taking the advice of a friend who used to work for Warner Records in T.O., I decided to work harder at making money, so that I could afford to make music. In her words: "I'm tired of hearing musicians bitch and complain about not having enough money to record. Go paint houses, plant trees, do what you have to do." The words weren't directed at me, but I took them to heart. Living in Saudi, teaching, is my "planting trees", and I have slowly been acquiring gear and setting my home studio up. This time, I picked up the last essential item: studio monitors. And I'm ready to make things happen.

So, my gear:

- Mac Powerbook G3 (Firewire): 400 Mhz, 512 Megs ram, 18 GB on the harddrive
- Lacie external firewire harddrive: 320 GB
- MOTU 828 Firewire audio interface
- Digital Performer 3 software -- as recommended by a friend who finished the Berklee recording/engineering program, for he said it offers "more" than Pro-Tools LE
- Tascam portable DAT recorder -- bought it for field work before I had my DAW software
- M-Audio BX5 Studiophile monitors
- Yamaha AG Stomp -- preamp and guitar effects for acoustic guitar
- TC Electronic M-One XL Processor -- for reverb and effects, de-essing, etc.
- one Audix Om-3xB mic for vocals
- one Rode NT3 condensor mic for recording guitar, etc.
- two Peavey PVM 480 condensor mics for stereo recording on the DAT recorder
- QueFire CDRW--24x10x40x

I also have a cheapo Sony handheld cassette recorder which I may use for getting scratchy, crappy "field" recordings on the street. It has an external mic, or I can record right from it and also record the clickety clack of the recorder (JUST KIDDING).

If there are any Mac users out there and in particular DP3 users, I'd sure like to share tales. And, of course, we all know we have to share files, so I'm open to learning from any and everyone.

I bought myself two books on home recording and am slowly making my way through them. Thought I'd start with the basics again, because even though I have used Cubase and DP3 and my gear, etc., it's been sloppy and uninformed. I want to be more systematic this year and want to at the very least demo all my material if not do an album. Zee time has come!

Looking forward to meeting some of you.

Lorelei
2
Welcome to Studioathome JFDI !

Thanks for joining this new forum. I hope you will like it.
Everybody should present soon & in details their homestudio as you did ;)

I can see that you are ready to rock with your impressive home-studio... and I am looking forward hearing some of your new prod.

By the way, we'll open soon a directory where everybody will be able to promote their work and make things happen.

Glad to have you here,

Red.
3
Thanks a lot. I'll definitely put the word out among my contacts that you guys exist. And whatever I learn as I go along I'll be happy to share. Musically, I hope to be productive this year: this website will hold me to it and keep me on task, methinks! If anyone is interested in collaborating in some manner, I am open to talking about it also.

Cheers!

Lorelei