Brothers, Presents and Fudge

You know the best thing about brothers?  When they know you have a stress-filled week coming up, they buy you half a pound of your favorite Vanilla Praline fudge.  That's what Erik did for me this week!

No worries, I haven't eaten all of it...not even close...yet!

But aren't thoughtful brothers great?

My older brother, Keith, taught me how to play baseball with a baseball--no tennis balls allowed.  I could catch and throw with the best of them.  Erik taught me math in high school, and he's younger than I am.

And now Erik and I work together everyday on music.  Pretty amazing!  Of course, Erik and I have been best friends from the time we were little since we are only 18 months apart.  People used to think we were twins as teenagers because we kind of look like twins and we were on college campuses attending master classes!

So keep the fudge coming, Erik!

(P.S. Keith, I do still like Betty Jane Candies Gremlins, so you can consider it an idea for a birthday present for me...)

For today, I thought I'd highlight Rush, one of Erik's absolute favorite bands.  So here's "Tom Sawyer" by Rush!

Masterclass from Bruce Leek the Mastering Master!

Erik, Bruce Leek, and Jordan

Me, Bruce Leek, and Erik

Last week Bruce Leek came to record the BYU Philharmonic Orchestra and, fortunately for us, he also taught not just one masterclass, but "mentored" students for three days! (Click for Photos.)

Bruce is one of the first mastering engineers having mastered Beach Boys, Pink Floyd, and many other artists.  He is a master at recording and mastering.  He shared with us so many lessons that are already invaluable as we are recording and mixing our next albums.

Erik's favorite thing he learned is Bruce Leek hates compression--so does Erik!  Unlike what many sound engineers like to believe, compression DOES change the sound.  Of course it does because compression makes the sound louder, so it's going to be changing things.  To quote Leek, "Compression sounds like crap!"

Erik learned that instead of using compression he can use a limiter and an expander.  That allows for individual control on the high end and the low end.

Working almost 20 hours besides his regular job at BYUB and going to school, Erik helped unpack and set up Leek's equipment.  Erik is an old hand at setting up and striking audio equipment--well, just about any equipment really!

I was able to go learn from Bruce on the Saturday morning when pick ups (sections of the music that are recorded to be spliced back in with the performance) were being recorded.  I learned so much by listening and observing!

I had to borrow Erik's work gloves...sensitive hands!

The funniest part of all this is I helped pack up his equipment.  Do you believe it?  Yes, me!

I am so grateful that Bruce Leek enjoys teaching the rising generation of audio engineers.  He gave us priceless gifts of knowledge that can only be gleaned from a master.

Doing it for the Team or Meeting the Ungas

"I'm doing it for the team."  That's what we say in our family when we do something we usually do not do but do anyway because it is important to someone else in the family!  Late Saturday night, my mom did just that!

My sister, Amy, LOVES BYU football.  I don't think she has ever missed a game.  That's our Amy!

Erik, the other half of the Jillaine Records team, is the audio mixer for the live broadcasts of BYUtv's Countdown to Kickoff  pregame show and the BYUtv Sports Postgame Show  for away games.  Naturally, I was tuned in during Countdown to Kickoff.  So was Amy, who texted my mom asking if somehow a "Harvey Unga" autograph could make it onto some Chaston BYU gear!

Being a creative problem solver, my mom realized that she might by chance see Harvey after the BYUtv Sports Postgame Show  while she waited to give Erik a ride home from work.  I collected a couple of BYU presents set aside for Christmas for Amy and my older brother, Keith William.  I grabbed a BYU hat of Erik's and put them all in a bag for my mom to take with her to pick up Erik.  I also double checked that the black Sharpie wasn't dried out.  I kept her posted on the progress of the Postgame Show.

Harvey and Keilani Unga

As you see, my mom got a picture of Harvey and his wife, Keilani, who is on the BYU Women's Basketball team.  What a beautiful couple--and so gracious to take the time to visit with my mom!

Actually, a few years ago Keilani, Erik and I were all in the same performance psychology class. Keilani even remembered Erik and me from class, that I was a singer, and that I had performed in class as part of a presentation.  I remembered her but did not expect her to remember us!

And thank you mom, for "doing it for the team!"

There's more! It was great seeing Harvey as a commentator on the Pregame and Postgame Shows. Being an on-air co-host for a radio morning show for an internship (read my previous posts Birthday, Voice Tracking, Internship and Saying Goodbye... and Radio and Ann Romney), I know that the quality of the voice is supremely important.  Harvey has such a mellow, smooth voice that still allows the intensity and urgency of his comments to connect with the audience.  He is articulate and smart about what he says. He did a great job creating audience interest and contributing to the November 17 Dave McCann and Jan Jorgensen team!

His bow tie was a stellar way to be distinctly himself!  Thanks to Harvey for his guest appearance on BYUtv's Pregame and Postgame shows yesterday!  Be sure to follow Harvey on Twitter!

Halloween, Photography and CD Designs!

Halloween is so much fun!

I love to dress up, so it's a good thing it's Halloween.  I am dressed up as Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany's.  The best part is I didn't need a wig since I now have long hair--a change quite a few people have noticed!  Frankly, my hair just keeps getting longer and I love it!  Erik, my brother and sound engineer, dressed up as Frodo in his totally custom costume!

But even more than Halloween, I love Christmas, especially Christmas music!

And what would music be without the cover art?  Absolutely nowhere if you ask me!

Erik is not only an incredible sound engineer but he's a pretty nifty photographer, too!  On all of my previous album covers I'm not smiling.  But on Jazzy Christmas to You II I'm smiling a big, happy smile that seems to show how big my mouth is!

The SMILING Album Cover!

For this Christmas album, I wanted a design that was as bright and cheery as the smile Erik captured while taking pictures for it.  I love snow and the color blue, so to me, icy blues and whites mixed with snowflakes is bright and cheery!  One of the most bright and cheery people I know is my friend who is also a talented artist, Katie Payne!  So Erik and I made a mock up of what we envisioned and then asked Katie to make it look like art...instead of like a mock up of what we envisioned...!

And what a beautiful cover she made!  She did it so quickly and professionally, too!

Katie is an amazing person in addition to being an amazing artist!  She is now living in New York City with her husband who is also an artist.  I kept texting her as Hurricane Sandy neared the area.  I just wanted to make sure they were all right.  Of course, she joked then reassured me they were handling things just fine!

Fortunately, Katie agreed to do some other work for me, too!  So you will be seeing more of her work on upcoming projects.

Recording and All that Prep!

This is from recording in April...looking forward to tomorrow's session!

Tomorrow we switch gears from mixing to recording!

I've been getting charts ready for months. Tomorrow's session is going to be for a jazz standards album to be released in 2013. Haven't decided on a title yet...but rest assured it will be a good one.

Erik is getting the equipment ready, making sure all of it is in shape for tomorrow. He cleaned his Yamaha M406 mixer with 6 Class-A preamps it was modded and his Gallien-Krueger MB150E bass amp with DeoxIt D5. He also lubed the faders on his Mackie CR1604-BLZ Mixer with DeoxIt F5.

We will be trying out some new mics that Erik borrowed from a friend. Usually I use my Neumann KMS 105, but we thought we might try out the Shure KSM 9 tomorrow, too. I've used it in live performances that were multi-tracked, but never for this kind of recording. Other mics we are trying are the Audix SCX25A and the Audix D6!

Even though normally used for vocal overdubs in a large room or just an untreated room, we're going to try out in a "live" situation our new MXL RF-100 Reflection Filter tomorrow. It may not work, but it's worth a try to help isolate the vocal and drum mics from picking up sounds they shouldn't!

Jesse Quebbeman-Turley is coming by tonight to set up his drums so we are ready to start in the morning!

Zach Wiggins is back on keyboard and we have a new-comer on bass: Josh Larsen! James Archibald has been my loyal bassist for six years, but he is now in Texas after finishing his Master's in Physics. Going to miss you, James, but welcome Josh!

Stay tuned for pictures and audio!

Recording and Mixing the Next Single

Today Erik and I finished mixing the newest single. I'm still holding back on the name...it's a good one! 

I already revealed I co-wrote it with Justin Jensen, my new songwriting partner, and that Justin plays piano and sings with me on the track in this original duet.

The recording was a story in itself and it's a miracle it even came about!

Several months ago on the Monday before Justin had an early morning wake-up call for a trip to Africa, he made time to record! We originally were supposed to record the Saturday before, but a family member was in the emergency room. It is completely acceptable (and advisable) to cancel recording sessions when this happens! But fortunately, he made it to record on the following Monday! 

At times it seemed as if it just wasn't going to come off then as if knowing we only had a few more minutes, it came together.  

After Justin and his wife got back from Africa, we touched base to figure out how to collaborate from a distance.  Stay tuned for more songs written with Justin...there is one on the upcoming Christmas album, sweet stuff!

The mixing came together very quickly, which was a nice surprise! Unfortunately, a tube in our Pro VLA II compressor went bad, so we had to use just our UREI LA-12 compressor instead of both. So we had to adjust, but it all worked out in the end!

More tomorrow!