What I hear is very nice, but would like to hear more also.

Later,

Excellent work.........Very smooth and professional. Summertime sounds a little airy if thats the right word, but it could be that you used a realtrack accoustic bass on that track. What I heard was great.

Makes me want to learn sax.

toucher

This sounds good, and shows BiaB real strength, jazz!

I am curious about your signal chain for the sax recording...mic, preamp, soundcard, DAW, etc. This is one of the better Sax sounds I have heard in awhile.....

Wow! Thanks for all those kind comments. I agree, the clips are a bit short, so i've loaded two full tracks: go to this web page

Regarding my recording equipment, it was pretty basic:
A cheap Carol microphone (E-plus 3) cost me about $10 US
A simple two-track mixer Eurorack UB1002
I loaded the B-I-B tracks into Cool Edit Pro, where I did the mix.
I played saxes/clarinet. Everything else was Band-in-a-box.
I used some echo (cool edit) on the sax and clarinet.

Any further suggestions would be most welcome.

Regards
Mike Laatz
Cape Town

Hey Mike

Only had chance to listen to s'wonderful - but (a) the track is a great demo of BIAB's realband capabilities (I'm now getting less and less likely to wait for a Mac version and just go out and buy a cheapie PC so I can run it - darn it!) and (b) the track is a great showcase of your playing, back in teh day I used to listen to a lot of Scott Hamilton and Harry Allen and it kind of reminds me of them a bit!

Cheers




Paul

Mike,

PG should refer prospects to your page. They will become customers!

Professional musicianship and engineering is what I hear.

Trax

Mike Laatz, Thank You for the info...very impressive! I also own a UB mixer (nice little units) and am a long time CEP user (I stopped at AA 1.5).

Great Job!

Mike;
I just rushed home from work and fired up this forum to see what was going on, as I always do. I went right to the longer versions on the link provided. Super job! I listened on headphones up loud with my hands pressing them on my ears. I heard NOTHING to be critical of. Great live playing and very very good mixing, effects and all. This is such a great program. Working in ones own "studio" is so rewarding. Can't wait to here more.

Regards. . . .
Gene

Great work Mike!

Can anyone recommend a remedy for a seriously swollen head? I can't believe all the nice comments!

I'm glad you enjoy what I've done, but really, the credit goes to the Band-in-a-box team for developing such a great product.

Best wishes
Mike Laatz
http://www.capetownjazz.com/

OK Mike, here goes.
As a sax player the one song I most enjoyed was White Christmas.
I had the horn playing in the mid-upper register.
All the others seemed to sound less "alive" I believe due to
the lower register of the tenor being used.
Maybe the exerpts (sp?) that you chose didn't reveal a 2nd or 3rd chorus
where the sax was allowed to be heard in a more singing style, I don't know.
I am sure that you are of an age that has heard of Stan Getz and his
use of the complete range of the tenor.
I am only trying to be constructive in my comments.
thanks

Thanks, your comments are very constructive indeed.
When I recorded the Christmas and Gershwin albums, I deliberately chose keys that would keep me mainly in the lower register, because I've never managed to get a tone I really like on the higher notes. If I could get a sound like Getz, you bet I'd be up there more often. It's a different story when I move away from the "gentle jazz" and play rock stuff, which I do occasionally. But I do enjoy the low-down breathy sound.
Strangely, when I play alto in a big band, I really like the sound I get in the higher register.

By the way, I was playing alto, not tenor, on "White Christmas".

But thanks again for your comments...I'll do some serious work on my tone in the upper regions.
Regards
Mike Laatz
http://www.capetownjazz.com/