Mike "MadMan" DeMita's RC Helicopter Site

Music and Recording

INSTRUMENTS, EQUIPMENT:

Instruments:
- Kimball Baby Grand (c 1925)
- Alesis full keyboard/synth/midi
- Fender American Deluxe V-Neck
Stratocaster
- Martin D16RGTE Acoustic
- Takemine Acoustic
- Fender Mandolin
- Full pack of Hohner blues harps

Equipment:
- Digi-Tech GNX4,
- Zoom H4N,
- Zoom H2
- Fender tube amp
- Peavey amp
- Roland cube
- Some decent microphones
- Laptop and mixing computers

Software used:
- Pro-tracks
- Adobe Auditions

Playing music and recently recording it has become a competitive hobby to RC for me. As a kid, I was forced to take piano lessons and,
after a 20 year break, I took it up again in the mid-90's as a way to relax. Despite hating lessons then, I am glad I took them and I highly
recommend trying to get your kids to take them or doing it yourself. It helped me subsequently teach myself guitar and I have even been
working over the last couple of months on harmonica and mandolin. Tried them in a couple of these tunes after only a few days of practice.

Unlike those of us that struggle with music, however, my wife was born with a beautiful voice. She is, after all, the daughter of a
to-remain-nameless multi-album recording artist of moderate renown from years gone by (too many years for me to want to say). Despite
being modest about her vocals and protesting my requests for her to sing, it was her accompaniment to my random playing over the years
that made me want to record. That and I like messing with Adobe applications because I am a glutton for punishment on a computer.

Bottom line, we started this joint 'hobby' in 2008 and, regardless of the quality of the results, it is a one that doesn't take me away from the
house and her, and it is one we can enjoy together. I usually don't practice much, she doesn't practice at all and I only do one or two takes for
any particular track. Then I go about mixing, which in and of itself is an art I have yet to master, and finish it all in one night or weekend.
Anyway, enough on the excuses, all in fun so who cares.

Good, bad or indifferent, I post this 'work' as a tribute to the fun we have had doing it and to the voice I have heard and loved
for so many years that I often hear it in my dreams.

Here are a few of the 20 or so tunes we have fooled around with since we started hobby recording 3 years ago. MP3's - file
size range from 2-10 mb. Pretty much most recent first (except Genesis which I put at the top because it is my favorite and
yet was one of our first attempts). As a joke, I named our little duo "The Clampetts". She does not like the name. It is,
therefore, nice to be the one that knows how to add the credits directly to the MP3 file in the final mixdown. :)

"Genesis"

"Cortez the Killer"

Studio and Music Room Setup Pics: