Pat Azzarello

Nice piece, and you did a very nice job on the orchestration. It's fun to hear people stretching out into new (or rather old in this case) styles and tonal pallettes. Gary (Garritan) certainly came up with a winner here, and it has a great price point... And he lives not too far north of you (Orcas).

I'll be posting a bunch here as I work through mixing a number of tunes. Last night I roughed out "Daybreak", available here: Daybreak - Rough Mix I think I've posted this before, but I'd be glad to hear any critiques you'd care to voice. I've got a number of other tunes posted (in various states of production) as well. This page also includes credits for some of the tunes. Tunes Page on my site

No, I don't think anyone here minds young musicians joining in. There's a wealth of experience and knowledge here at KC, and you're welcome to it.

I've been working on my project but haven't mixed it yet. I'll have some working mixes up pretty soon (within 2 weeks). It should be finished by the New Year, as well as working on a Christmas disc for a charity).

DX7 was introduced in 1983. Toto IV was released in 1982. Did they have a prototype? GX1 and GX2 I think. They did play the DX7's in a lot of the videos though.

It has always seemed to me that the DX went through a few "periods": Period 1 (1983, early-84): Stock sounds, minor tweaking. Stood out because it was so new and different. Rhodes, harmonica, organ, some brass and strings, and especially plucked sounds seemed to be DX by default. Period 2 (Late-84): People started to get programmers to come in and work on their sounds. Period 3 (85): Stacking became the rage. Besides multiple DX/TX stacks, adding the OB Xpander and Jupiter rack were the most common session setups that I witnessed. In early 85 dealers started to discount the DX and more "common" folk were able to buy them. People also started to buy program libraries (either on cards, or later computer based libraries). I started to hear "local" bands start to get some non-stock DX sounds in their rigs. Usable MIDI sequencing also really hit the scene about this time (84/85), and in combination with the TX Racks (216/816 and variations of) I began to hear the DX's playing different parts in the same track. Period 4 (86-87): DX's started to take a back seat to samplers: EII, Mirage, Sequential Circuits (what was it called). The D50 also hit the market and started to steal the limelight from the DX. Period 5 (88): The M1 workstation penetrated the market with it's "workstation" concept. The DX started to fall by the wayside. Period 6 (89 onward): Started to lose it's foothold in the recording world. Still had a lot of them in live situations because they were solid performance instruments, and had a decent keyboard on them. Cool DX tunes/albums I think the second Scritti Politti album had a lot of DX on it. The Money For Nothing intro was a DX. The DX was all over Al Jarreau's High Crime CD. Chicago XVII I hope there will be mention of Bo Tomlyn and all the work he did on the DX. He once told me a great story about how he created an EP patch (I think it was Hard Habit) with Michael McDonald (yeah, I know that doesn't make a lot of sense, but that's the way I remember it). Also, Jeff Vanston (CJ - now known for Spinal Tap, Best in Show score, etc.) did a lot of cool DX work (along with other stuff). He was definitely a "stacker" guy (OB Xpander and TX rack).

Anybody have a chance to listen to this yet? I'd like comments on the mix if you can spare five minutes. Thanks in advance!!! Sorry it took so long to write this up (I listend to it right after you posted, just didn't comment - sorry). Loved the Prophet Fugue, and really like this one too. If you don't mind, IMHO the colors were a bit homogenous (maybe that's what you were going for). I'd like to have heard different but complimentary patches for each of the voices. It could also use a little movement in the mix (panning, etc.) and potentially some delay (stereo) as a substitute for the long reverb (Would still need 'verb, but less of it).

Added two more tunes... Follow the links (it wouldn't let me link across accounts). Chango - Latin Streetbeater - Remixed version of the tune from the Cornered and Covered CD. http://home.attbi.com/~patazzmusic

OK. So I finally took the time to get some of my tunes up on my web site. They're not done, but the two that I've posted to http://home.attbi.com/~patazzmusic are in pretty good shape (I've still got some clean-up [some obvious glitches], trimming and fading, final bass parts, and mixing to finish) but they should give you an idea of what I do. I've got about 4 more that are in a similar state that I'll be publishing within the next couple of weeks as well. Anyway, they are definitely in the contemporary jazz vein. What I'd like to hear most of all however, is what you think of the tunes. Looking forward to your feedback. Thanks in advance...

Actually, the Toy Matinee "album" is one of my favorite CD's. There was a LOT of cool stuff on that record, and some pretty memorable concepts for tunes too (Last Plane Out, Queen of Misery, etc.). Too bad the public (and most of the musicians missed out on it)... I got turned on by a mutual friend of the "other" guy in the band. Jeez... I'll have to pull that one back out again. Thanks for jogging my memory, and welcome aboard.

Great idea for a post. I'll try to keep this short and to the point (not likely) http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/wink.gif Grew up in a Chicago suburb and started playing piano when I was about 6, though I got to sing at my older sisters' piano recital when I was only 4. Still remember the rush. Moved on to a teacher that could teach jazz and pop when I was 10 or 11, played my first bar when I was 15 and gigged around town through high school. Went to DePaul with a trip to Berklee (1 semester) in the middle. After college, played "B" sessions in Chicago for about 6 years, as well as a lot of live work, playing everything from House to Heavy Metal ("Can you make it sound just like Kashmir?") to gospel sweetening to jingles. Was known for DX and Emulator II work initially, but ended up doing a lot of arranging on my Mac as time went on. Worked a couple major album projects (mispelled my name, they did) http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/frown.gif but mostly independent releases, demos, and some jingles. Co-owned a 24-track studio for a couple of years, where I really got some great experience. Unfortunately the timing wasn't right and I got burnt out chasing clients for money (as I said, it was "B" session work) though the musical side always got me goin'. I ended up getting into the software business about 11 years ago, eventually moving to the Seattle area in the mid-90's. Currently, I'm writing and recording my own material (I'm working on setting up my music web site as we speak - I'll post some demos within a couple of weeks), but just suffered a setback as the drummer is moving back to NY. So... I'm looking to hook up with a drummer (who uses Sonar preferably). I also play in a local funk/soul/rock horn band with a bunch of great musicians from work (http://www.groovemob.com). I love my growing family (http://www.connectexpress.com/~patazz ) and although I don't get as much time with my music as I'd like, my wife is VERY understanding and allows me to spend most of my non-work, non-family time at a keyboard (musical or computer). Current Gear ------------ Yamaha C3 Piano 2000 QS-8 1997 CS1x 1999 TX416 1987 Roland D550 1986 Alesis D4 1991 Yamaha DX7 1984 Cakewalk/Sonar XL 1997 Alesis Studio 32 board 1998 Various Reverbs, compressors, etc. Lots of plug-ins Past Gear (and year purchased/sold) ----------------------------------- Fender Rhodes Stage 73 1975/1985 Farfisa Combo Compact Organ 1976/1980 Farfisa Combo Duo Organ 1980/1984 Arp Odyssey 1977/1984 Crumar Orchestrator 1970/1984 Yamaha Electric Grand 1983/1985 Oberheim OB-8 1985/1985 (lemon, returned to factory) Yamaha TX-7 1985/1987 Emu Emulator II 1986/1988 Ensoniq ESQ-1 1986/1991 Casio FZ-1 1988/1994 Roland R8 1989/1994 Roland U220 1989/1997 Emu Proteus 1992/1994 Emu Proteus FX 1994/1997 Opcode products (Vision, etc.) 1986/1997 Current Wish List ----------------- B3 B3 Wanna be (keep my back, thank you) Great piano mics