Music
 

    • Artist Spotlight: Paul Russell & Calamity Studios

    The Adventures of a “Displaced Englishman”, 1950s Bollywood samples and the Singapore-based studio with SONAR at its core.

    By Oz Owen

     

    Make no mistake - the unusually monikered Calamity Studio is far from living up to its name. Quite the opposite, in fact. Singapore-based Calamity bills itself as the A/V production arm of composer and producer Paul Russell’s Pi2 Creative Services, a successful ‘boutique’ marketing agency.

    Paul’s passion for music and production translates into a full studio diary, keeping him busy on a wide range of projects - whether creating original music and soundtracks with the help of an impressive roster of songwriters and musicians from as far afield as the UK, Australia and the USA, or - as his latest project ably demonstrates - weaving vintage Bollywood samples into contemporary compositions.

    At Calamity, Paul specialises in creating original compositions in a variety of genres - from ambient through dance to straight-ahead rock/pop. What’s more, he’s making a fine living doing exactly what he loves.

    Paul first got hooked when he picked up a bass guitar back in 1976 - the time when musical anarchy was running riot across the UK thanks to the Punk explosion, but it was some years before Paul set about creating his first recording studio, trading in his trusty four-track Portastudio in favour of a more upmarket eight-track setup in what was fast turning into a life-changing quest.

    Fast-forward to 1999 and we find Paul living in Singapore, running his own creative agency and building his first digital recording studio replete with Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 to capture every nuance of his compositional ideas. Within a year, SONAR arrived on the scene, and life would never be the same again… Calamity Studio was becoming unstoppable!

    Artist Spotlight: Eddie King & Megatrax Productions

    On Rapture, Dimension Pro & The Difference 64 Bits Make

    Megatrax chief engineer, producer and composer Eddie King

     By Randy Alberts

    “I love the way SONAR sounds,” says producer, engineer and composer Eddie King. “Particularly in the bottom end which is tight, fat and well defined. It’s my subjective opinion that SONAR’s 64-bit processing makes a huge difference.”

    Given his aural perspective comes from multiple vantage points, it can be said King’s subjective opinion distills closer to objectivity with every SONAR mix he finishes. A Mac-based Pro Tools engineer/producer by day at Megatrax-a premier production music library and recording studio for film, t.v., advertising and multimedia-and a talented home-based composer and arranger by night with SONAR on his screaming-fast PC server farm, Eddie’s bi-platform, dual DAW audio opinion carries just a bit more weight than most others’ do.

    “Once I saw that SONAR runs solidly, has good functionality and then, the big one, that SONAR is the only DAW running at 64-bit,” says King, “that’s when I thought, ‘Well, hello!’ It makes sense that better resolution means things are going to sound better, too. Again, this is subjective, but I have to say that SONAR’s 64-bit resolution does, in fact, make a big difference. I know Cakewalk has done more objective, blind listening tests about this, but at least I know for sure that SONAR makes a big difference for my sound and my mixes.”

    Both Sides of the Building: Mega Tracks & King’s Sound

    Eddie King’s audio credentials began years before the founding of Megatrax. In 1980 he opened and for years seriously upgraded his old Neve 3 and vintage analog gear racks at Kingsound in North Hollywood, his own commercial studio wherein Megatrax-one of his clients there-first began building their respected, comprehensive music library. Fifteen years later, in 1995, he sold Kingsound to them, Megatrax made Eddie their chief engineer and the two have been a very busy team ever since.

    Cakewalk’s Holiday Bundles: Music to Your Ears

    The holidays are just around the corner and to celebrate, we’re bringing back Cakewalk’s Holiday Bundles! This is your chance to upgrade to the software you want at prices we can only offer once a year.

    We’ve put together a Cakewalk Holiday Bundle for everyone on your list, for every budget. Plus, we’re offerng free shipping through December 30th on orders of $99 or more! Browse our eStore to pick the perfect bundle!

    Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

    Composer Vivek Maddala uses SONAR

    International, award-winning composer Vivek Maddala gives a tour of his home studio- featuring Cakewalk’s SONAR as the main DAW. Maddala also introduces the synth rack feature and included VST instruments in SONAR 7 Producer. If you’re wondering, “Why should I use SONAR?” Maddala’s interview should help answer your question.


    Vivek Maddala - Intro
    Uploaded by CakewalkInc

    Vivek Maddala - Why SONAR, Synth Rack
    Uploaded by CakewalkInc