Blog Archives - The Lumbrosos

Wednesday

6/29/2011

Patrick and I spent all morning on the computer doing the licensing and making sure all was submitted correctly and updating our web sites. At this very moment everything is at the duplicators and we are heaving a sigh of relief. Now all we have to do is wait. The CD singles will be available on iTunes, CD Baby, Amazon MP3, Napster, and others after the CD is officially released. Patrick will be working on setting up a page of lyrics and chords for anyone interested in learning the songs.

Please have a look at the final CD cover. Our graphics guy was also our Sound Engineer--we have to say he did a fantastic job and we think you will agree.

We are back to our regular Torah Study tonight and will be meeting at the house on Shabbat afternoon. Anyone coming by tonight for our Torah study is likely to get a little preview of the CD, even though we are really trying not to let the cat out of the bag...lol. If you don't make it tonight, please come by Shabbat afternoon and meet Patrick's father at the same time, who is here from France. (PS... TIP... practice your FRENCH!)

TUESDAY!

6/28/2011

WE GOT IT!!! I AM HOLDING IT IN MY HAND! The MASTER COPY! YAY!!! We are so excited. Sending it to publish tonight!

Sunday

6/26/2011

Today was a nice quiet day for us. We had the visit of our sons, so we had all five sons together to visit with Patrick's dad who came from France. It was a nice enjoyable time.

Patrick and I are no working on the final corrections for the CD cover, making sure lyrics and printing will be correct. We are very pleased with with Kevin has done! Can't wait to show everyone.

I am GLAD that Patrick has editing experience because I tend to miss things. It is interesting about editing. When we edit something of our own, we tend to miss things, because we think we know what is already written. We tend to see or not see things according to our own perspective. Anyone see parallels? We do!

We are also doing the legal paperwork that we need to certify which songs are ours, etc. This is the nit pick work that is a little more tedious, but so important.

After we have reviewed the cover, and set up the final addresses on our new domain, the CD should be ready to go to press on Tuesday.

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6/24/2011

Friday

Shabbat Shalom!

Patrick was able to take his father to visit the studio, which he enjoyed. We got the final CD tonight. Once we have approved it, it will go to press.

We also got the final of the CD graphics, which you will find on the Advance CD Orders page.

By Monday we should be able to let you know when copies will be available.

In the meantime... Shabbat Shalom... we need a nice sleep. How about you?

Tuesday through Thursday

6/23/2011

Tuesday night we were back at the Studio. There is still more work to do, correcting some notes and doing a few Tweaks here and there. We are getting to the point where we find a bug under every rock, so to speak, even on the regular music that we listen to! In making something like this, we suddenly become aware of every little detail.

It has been said, "Musical perfection is mathematical, but musical inspiration is DIVINE!" And that is what we want more than anything, more than perfection and that is that the Rouach Ha Kodesh will fill each song and touch the hearts of those listening to draw closer to Abba.

Wedneday, Patrick and I went to Seattle for the night so we would be there to pick up Patrick's dad who is coming from France. We spent the night at my aunt's, and of course we had to try the Album rough draft out on her. She is a musician, and plays bass in some local bands, so she would be a good critique. She sat down and began listening and wanted to hear it all the way through. She was very encouraging.

We made a few more notes to shoot off to our sound engineer who continues to work on this while we are away.

Thursday we went to SEA TAC Airport to pick up Patrick's father. We seemed to get stuck in traffic at every turn, but finally arrived home.

Big day tomorrow.... we will pick

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6/20/2011

MONDAY

Whew! The weekend has come to a close!

WONDERFUL NEWS!!!!! Today we received and email giving us permission to use Ana Bechoach! Just in the nick of time! Baruch HASHEM!! We are rejoicing: jumping up and down! We had recorded it by faith, but it was starting to look like we would have to scratch it.

Friday night we got home a little after midnight, after having been at the studio for about 12 hours. We recorded most of the vocals on this day, and finished most of the bass overdubs. We tumbled into bed, exhausted, but with smiles on our faces. Saturday morning we headed off to Shabbat Service where we had a blessed time doing the worship service. We shared our testimony of how things are going at the recording studio and then came home for some needed rest. I fell asleep in the lazy boy for 2 hours! Then we had dinner and I was ready for bed again!

SUNDAY morning we awoke feeling refreshed. In fact, we actually left early for the studio and stopped at the store to get a salad and some roasted chicken for our lunch. We worked on doing the last of the vocals and instrumentalizations. Hope Hathaway, our teen soprano, arrived around 1:00 to add her backup vocal to the song, 'Eliyahu HaNavi". She did great! We are so blessed to have her on the song. It took us until evening to get all the overdubs done, which left us only a LITTLE time to start the mixing. We were able to get the basic mixing done, but will have at LEAST ONE more day of mixing and mastering at the studio. The good news is that we won't have to be there for all of this, though Patrick will be going down to check on things.

The equipment is SO sensitive there at the studio that we had to CRINGE sometimes at the mistakes and off pitch vocals. WHAT? Could we really be THAT off? But that is what the mixing is for. They are able to correct the little natural variances that occur with live performances. We were amazed to see how the studio has the equipment to sharpen or flatten our vocals and make them just perfect! But all of this takes time and though we were hoping we were done, it is still going to take time to get it right.

So we came home with the partially mixed CD, with feelings of apprehension, but when we stuck it in the CD player in the car, we were amazed that it sounded really GOOD! The sound quality is top notch, and even this rough recording caused Patrick and I to look at each other with amazement and say, "Is that us???"

That said, once all the little corrections are done, we are going to be so excited to offer this to everyone!

SHABBAT SHALOM!

6/18/2011

As the Shabbat comes to a close, I have a couple of moments to update the blog.

FRIDAY We got up early and dropped some of our music equipment at the place of our Congregation so that we would be ready for Shabbat Service Worship the following day. Then it was off to the studio. We arrived at 10:45 am and met with Ron and Rob. Our sound engineer was delayed with car trouble, so we were able to get some photos taken for the Album Cover. Once the Engineer arrived, we were on a roll: we were adding different percussion, bass and some acoustic guitar to our basic tracks. After a quick lunch break, we started on vocals. We had the visit of Rob's family with his wife bringing us all a Starbucks drink! In between events, Patrick was busy writing and typing the information we need to put on the album cover. By the end of the evening, we had most of the basic overdubs completed and three quarters of the vocals. But, the "end of the evening" was after midnight! LOL! So Patrick and I tumbled into bed about 1 AM, tired but contented. "The sleep of the laboring man is sweet." And it was indeed sweet.

And, I forgot to mention, we got to see the beginning of the Album cover. They are doing an EXCELLENT job and we are very thrilled as we see it all coming together.

Thanks to everyone who participated in our poll about the lyrics. I think we have come to a very nice solution. We will be putting all the English lyrics on the CD itself, and we will make the French and Hebrew lyrics available with the English on our website. We are still working on the design and will have to see what our space restraints are.

SATURDAY: We woke up and headed out to the Congregation for Shabbat Service. We had such a blessed time, and really enjoyed our time of fellowship. Once home, we just relaxed for the rest of the day. I took a BIG LONNNNNNNNNNG NAP! I was really tired. Now I am feeling refreshed and ready for tomorrow.

Tomorrow we will be adding the violins, strings, oud, harp, and any other instrument. We also have vocals and harmonies to add to three songs. Hope will also be joining us tomorrow to add her part to "Eliyahu HaNavi" Then we should be starting to work on mixing. It looks like we will have to add another Studio day if we want to have a proper mixing and editing of our songs. Mixing is VERY important and the more time we give to the sound engineer to do this, the better product we will have. Hopefully the extra day will be enough.

PLEASE PRAY THAT WE CAN GET PERMISSION to use the song "Ana Bekoach" We REALLY want this song on the album, but we are having a hard time getting the necessary license. If there is anyone who has connections in Israel, or is willing to help us with this, please let us know.

If we have to scratch this song, it will be very disappointing. But the Lord's will be done.

We should have a basic tracks on the CD tomorrow night, which we will review for errors, and then the final mixing and editing will be done on Tuesday. By Wednesday, it should be ready to go for Duplication. Hopefully we will have the finished products at least by the 15th of July. We will keep you posted.

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6/16/2011

THURSDAY
Yesterday we had Hope come by to work on adding some Vocals on "Eliyahu". Though she is only 16, the Lord has given her a beautiful voice, and we just HAD to have her participation on this. Her voice blended very well with ours.

We continued reviewing the rough takes of our songs yesterday between classes of my music students.

This morning, Patrick and I got up early to work on going through each song to catch the little "boo-boo's" and to see where we want to add harmonies etc. We finished 6 before he had to go to teach a couple of Hebrew Classes. This evening we will be having a Skype meeting with Rob to go over anything that we might need to work on tomorrow. Ron is coming over tonight and we will rehearse bass parts and hopefully add his back up vocals too.

I may write a little note tonight before heading to bed, but if it gets too late, you may not hear from us until Sunday night, or Monday morning. We will be doing 10 hours of studio time on Friday and Sunday. We will also be doing worship at Sh'ma Israel Congregation on Shabbat morning.

OH, and PLEASE!!! We put out a poll today about our CD cover design and we would LOVE to have your input! Please take the time to give us your input on this poll that is on our home page.

ONE MORE POINT: We now have our OWN Domain! So please make a note that you can now find us at :

www.thelumbrosos.com

Tuesday

6/14/2011

We are taking time to rest up and are finding out that we are quite wiped out from the weekend. It isn't that it is hard work, but it is very thrilling and being excited I think just takes extra out of us. Plus, we really do sing our hearts out to our Heavenly Father!

Yesterday, we found out all the information that we need about getting the graphics done on the CD. It turns out that our Sound Engineer has experience in doing CD covers and graphics, and since he is offering to do it at a reduced price, we are probably going to go with him.

So today Patrick and I sat down and had a look at our budget and discussed the cover design and style for the CD. We are ready to accommodate people's comments, but at this point we are thinking NOT to put the lyrics on the CD jacket or in a teeny weeny printed booklet, that you need a magnifying glass to read. We thought it would be better to make the lyrics and chords available on our WEBSITE instead! This will save money and bulk, and we figure that people would be happier to have larger readable lyrics and chords that they can use for their own worship services.

We are still trying to figure out the date of the CD release. We should be done recording by Sunday (June 19th). We MIGHT need an extra day on Monday, but then within a day or two we should be ready to go to print. Then it takes 10 days from the time the design is approved until the finished project is ready to ship. Then is should take 5 days to ship. SO..... we are counting the days and hoping it will be ready for the different events we have planned during the summer.

We will also soon be updating our website and we will have our own domain name and will be dropping the "Weebly" part of the website as we will be having our own domain.

This evening, Patrick and I sat down and went through four songs, working in some extra instruments: violins, strings, cellos, musette... etc. Four more to go....maybe tomorrow.

In the Studio

6/13/2011

Lots has happened since my last entry.

Thursday night rehearsal went well. Rob and Ron were here until 10:00. We got a good practice in.

FRIDAY morning we were all at the studio by 10:30 ready to roll. It took us about an hour to an hour and a half to set up the instruments and sound equipment. We met "Yamio" (Kevin) our sound technician. He is very nice and we can see he is going to do a great job. The first step was to lay down the basic tracks to our songs: keyboard, drums, and guitars. We took several recordings of each song. With a break for dinner, we finally left the studio at 10:00 pm, with a CD containing several tracks of EIGHT different songs! We thought it would take the two days to get six down, so we are really encouraged. We are EXHAUSTED! I didn't realize how taxing this would be. Of course, it is a great feeling, and we feel wonderful, but very tired.

SATURDAY MORNING: We are a little tired, but headed off to Shabbat Service. There we did some songs that we haven't done for a while. It was a refreshing change, after working on the other songs for so long. We had a wonderful Shabbat with all our friends and then headed home. I fell asleep in the chair for a couple of hours. THEN, it was time to go over the songs that we did, choose the best one, and make notes on all the different things that needed to be changed or corrected. Did a little review of a couple of the lyrics that needed changing.

SUNDAY: We spent a little time working on the different violin parts to add to one of the songs. We got a little carried away, and ended up being a half hour late to the studio. Rob and Ron were already there. We set out to record the basic tracts for the last four songs, but it just seemed to be more of a struggle. We just didn't have these last songs down as well, as we were expecting more to do them next weekend. We weren't making much progress and in fact decided to cut the Hassidic Medly. After a lunch break and a photo shoot, we came back and added all the acoustic guitar and extra percussion. This went REALLY smoothly! We did all EIGHT songs, and recorded Patrick's vocals on a couple of songs. The sound quality is astounding! We are encouraged and have put BACK the Hassidic Medley on the list! Guess what time we finished at the studio? 11:00 PM!!! We were home by midnight..... WHO KNEW that recording could be so much work? But wonderful work indeed as we sing and praise our hearts out with the promise of sharing it with the WORLD in a couple of weeks.

Here we are all in the Studio with our sound engineer.

From left to right:
Rob: drums

Christine: Keyboard/backup vocals

Ron: Lead guitar, bass

Yamio (Kevin): Sound engineer

Patrick: Rhythm Guitar, lead singer

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6/9/2011

Getting Ready to go to the Studio!
Today may be my last entry until Monday. The last couple of days, Patrick and I have spent a lot of time working on the final ideas for the songs we hope to get done this Friday and Sunday at the studio. Being busy with the practicing, and some music students who come on Wednesdays, it seems that the housework will just have to wait. The Laundry is piling up, and so is the dust, and the yard needs attention, but it is all going to wait, because the priority now is being ready for the studio.

We spent time working with Hope, a teenager with a beautiful voice, who will be singing on "Eliyahu" as a back up voice. We have a different arrangement on this song, and I think it is going to be very nice.

Tonight, Rob, our drummer, and Ron, our lead guitarist, will be coming over after six for an in depth rehearsal. We want to be sure that we know what we are doing tomorrow.

Tomorrow, Friday, we will pack up all our equipment to be at the studio at 11:00 am and we will work until 8:00 pm. Then we will opack up all our music and tote it to our congregation for Shabbat Service, then tote it all back to the Studio for Sunday morning for another full day of studio work.

I may just be excited enough to come and write the blog when I get home on Sunday, if I am not too wiped out. I may even do a recap Saturday after Shabbat. It is possible that we might have a small preview of a song or too to put on the blog.... MAYbe....

So stay tuned! The most exciting part is yet to come!

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6/6/2011

Working on the Bass and Lead Guitar.

Ron made it over tonight and worked on the Lead Guitar parts as well as the Bass Guitar. It took about three hours, but it seems that things are coming together nicely. We were able to have him record over the other practice runs.

Patrick came back VERY excited after spending the afternoon at the studio. What was supposed to be ONE hour, turned into FOUR as they chose different sounds to add to our songs. The owner is very nice, and did this free of charge. This will make a big difference in how much time it takes for the finished product. They found some wonderful sounds which will be great. The owner told us that he is also inspired by the prospect of recording music for "the MOST HIGH" (his own words. He has also volunteered to play along with us on different songs if we need him.

As Patrick was leaving, he met the sound engineer. The sound engineer asked Patrick to lend him some different kinds of music that we like and want to sound similar to, so that he can get the right idea. So Patrick gave him instructions on how to listen to some of the Hebrew Radio Stations, and lent him some of our favorite music. It is very encouraging that these two guys at the studio are very intent on getting things right and helping us get the sound we want.

OK, It is nearly 11:00 pm, time for lights out!

Teeny weeny vacation before the final prep for the studio

6/6/2011

Here I am just taking a breath of fresh air at one of the historical covered bridges in the Willamette Valley.

Patrick and I feel very refreshed after our once a year overnight vacation. We got a terrific coupon deal six months ago, and it was a time for us to talk and get some ideas refreshed, and just take some time to relax. We also went to spend a day at a local campground with friends. They were wonderful in making us feel like honored guests. It was so nice to have some nice weather, after all this rainy spring.

Sunday morning, Rob came over and we went over all the rest of the songs. He has been a great team mate and adds SO much to the songs, both with percussion and his musical advice. We feel very blessed to have him working with us.

THINGS TO PRAY FOR:

We are still trying to locate the owner of this one song we want to do to get permission to add it to the album. It has been very difficult to contact them because they are in Israel and with the time zones and everything, it just hasn't worked out yet. We are preparing it by faith anyway, but please pray that we can get this permission that we need, as we would really like to include this powerful song on the CD.

Patrick is going to the studio today to go look at some different sounds that we want to add to the songs, including accordion on the French song, and mandolin, oud, strings, violin, flute and some other surprises.

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6/2/2011

Thursday night rehearsal

We had a full rehearsal tonight. Ron made it with his electric guitar to do some nice leads and riffs. It is the first time that we have all been able to get together.
With Rob on drums, things started coming together quite nicely. We did about six songs tonight that we feel are "studio ready"

We are really tired though. It takes quite a bit out of us, but is very inspiring.

Wednesday

6/1/2011

Today was the last day for our little Hebrew School. Summer break! So the students played games outside and then we watched a movie, and ate hamburgers. Yay! Now that school is out, I will have more time to join Patrick in arranging the songs and typing out the lyrics.

This evening we had our weekly Torah study.

Patrick got an appointment to go to the studio and choose some different sounds to add to the songs. It is very nice of the studio owner to let us do this, as he isn't charging us for this and it will save us lots of time in the studio later.