Something Wonderful . . . 2001 A Space Odyssey

Something really fantastic happened last night. Barack Obama has been elected 44th President of the United States of America. Now take a look at this more closely because it is more profound than you might think.

It's not just about electing an African American to the presidency but also the changing of the guard. It's a brave new world and everyone senses it.

Have you noticed how the "old guard" republicans have already condemned and doomed this administration to failure? These are the scare tactics they have used ad nauseum forever but it will not work on the enlightened people any longer.

This shift in consciousness is beyond just the election of a young, intelligent and visionary new president. It's also about how the WORLD feels the hope as well, and how we are perceived; that we can shift the hatred, racism and warmongering practices this administration and former republican administrations have wreaked upon the world for far too long.

THIS IS SOMETHING WONDERFUL!

We are living in wonderful times and this is a new energy that will transcend the old politics and rhetoric we've endured since the deaths of Bobby and MLK, Jr.; that we have indeed reached the promise land we have sought for many years. This is not Utopian; this is the real deal.

Let's all get together and make this work for us here in the US and for everyone abroad too.

Congratulations America; we're on our way.

Peace and Love

Jorge

How to END a GREAT band... Part 1

The Majical Band. Twelve years in the making yet still redefining itself.

The rumors were true that the band was breaking up, and, after the two VERY BEST SHOWS of its career, one at the Millhouse Deli in Redding for the brew fest and the other at the Mosquito Serenade in Anderson, how could that be? Well, that's how Jorge likes it . . . save the very best for last.

Majical started out 12 years ago with three souls wanting to make music that was different in the Redding, California area, where country, blues and Top Forty was the music of the day. Jorge Arguello had played in bands all of his life and Michael P. Harris had for much of his. Hilario Salsedo was a newbie but had enthusiasm to make good music.

Hilario heard about Jorge through a friend of his named Larry Wright. He contacted Jorge and wanted to talk because he knew that he wanted to make music that was different too, just as Jorge did.

After a couple of meeting and jams, Hilario talked about a guy that would or could be interested in joining this nucleus and create something new. That person was Michael P.

He and Jorge hit it off immediately not only musically but, psychically; spiritually and they instinctively knew that there were internal rhythms and melodies wanting to come out. Michael heard what Jorge felt and vice versa and the songs just started pouring out.

First they just modified songs that were popular but they realized that making new music, original music that was different sounding, rhythmic in style but with melodious characteristics was where they wanted to go and from there formed a couple of the classic songs of the Majical repertoire still played today.

That nucleus went on to play stand out shows and Bob Gallegos of the iconic Millhouse Deli, a place where Majical would eventually play almost every year of its long standing career, gave those three, the very first chance to play, and play they did.

There were a hundred or so souls dancing to the strange rhythms, well, strange for Redding anyway, who were unaccustomed to anything cultural at the time. But get up and dance they did and Majical knew they had hit on something that folks around here were starving for.

This was a three piece band; Jorge on guitars, guitar synthesizers, singer front man and songwriter for the band, Michael P. on Keyboard Synthesizers and sequence designer for drum and other sounds as well as singer and songwriter for the band, and Hilario on all things that were percussion in nature.

After several months of rehearsing, getting to know one another and finally coming up with a name that Jorge came up with, Majical, they decided to go out and play. Majical turned out to be just a spanish play on the word magical but it represented what the band wanted to do and that was be majical at everything they did.

They took Redding by storm and a few months later they grew to a point where Jorge realized they needed to add real drums and a bass player to complete the sound, and so it began . . . the New Direction.

As reported by Jorge Arguello


Has the Majical Band ended? Long Hiatus may be more like it but find out here and come back to read more excerpts of the The Majical Band-Music that influenced the Scene.

Majical ART expands.

Hola Amigos,

Glad that you are here. God, I hope that all is well with you and that you are enjoying your SUMMER wherever that happens to be.

Redding has been unusually COOL well, relatively speaking of course. I mean it's still 98 or 97 during the day and we're still swimming in our pools or at the many lakes that surround this area. But normally around here it's 105 degrees and up during the month of August.

Of course it looks like these feathered dudes are dong alright and have the right idea because THAT'S the way you stay refreshed when you live around here. I think I'll go camping there cuz it looks pretty darn cool ;-)

So Majical has been staying busy but things have slowed down a bit for us. The summer is in its last LAZY DOG DAYS and many people including band members are vacationing or just doing the other things that occupy their lives.

TALKING ABOUT LAZY DAWGS . . .

But here's what's going on anyway. Majical is doing more and more private gigs and that's really great although for our fans, groupies and friends it's not so much fun I guess. Our Millhouse Deli gig was great; the 3rd of July went awesomely well and we had a great time at what is now called BOMBAY"S formerly known as Billy Bombay's.

Personally I have gone to see SANTANA, ERIC CLAPTON in intimate venues and that has been wonderful seeing my musical mentors like that.

But I have also been very busy getting my new non profit organization off the ground. It's called the UNITED ARTS MOVEMENT INTERNATIONAL or UAMI for short. You can go to my website at http://www.uami.org/ and visit the blog at http://uami.blogspot.com/ to get even more information and knowledge of what I'm doing with my LIFE'S PURPOSE.

So what is on the horizon for the Majical Band?

We are definitely writing new material and it seems that with some of the changes that have gone on with the band and some more that are in store, we will be recording the next album and really spending time making that a really great sophomore treat for you.

But we are also working on three concert dates that we'll be promoting and doing ourselves. What I mean is that it won't be at a local PUB, BAR or CLUB, savvy?

I definitely will keep you informed though and it is coming sooner than you think. We are really excited because these will become shows that you'll remember for years to come. And when we all look back on it, they will be memories that you'll look fondly on and be glad that you were there to enjoy and be a part of it.

So stay tuned and watch out for the great things coming up. And if you wish to know more of what is happening with UAMI please join my NEWSLETTER at either the website or the blog at the links above.

Thanks for reading my newsletter and we look forward to seeing you soon.

Peace and Love,

Jorge- The Majicalman

HOW SHOULD I APPROACH THE MIX PROCESS?

If you think of songwriting and recording as an artistic process, it's not hard to draw an analogy between mixing a song and painting a picture.

Let's say you're looking at a painting of some French farmland. Your eyes move from the green rolling hills, to the creek winding past the red farmhouse, to the farmer greeting the cow as the sun shines above.

Now think of your mix as a "musical landscape." Every element is distinct but integrated, flowing into each other. A great mix allows the ears to wander from one sound to the next but always focusing back on the main elements - the melody, the hook, etc.

In your painting, the frequencies are your colors. Allow your instruments to stand out, with some colors brighter than others.

I hope this post helps out and if you are looking for musical equipment then look no further because you will find it here at:

http://www.jorgearguello.com/musica.html

Peace and love,

Jorge The Majical Man

How does a limiter work and who am I?

You are a MUSICIAN, and a recording one at that. So, you have a limiter and you want to know how it works.

First, what is a limiter? A limiter limits; it essentially reduces the amount of gain, or level coming into the device, and keeps that sound at a determined level set by the user of the device.

To put it simply it limits audio peaks that would otherwise cause distortion in the audio chain.

A limiter is also the same thing as a compressor, except that in the compression mode, the limiter is used to squash the overall signal, not just catch and reduce peaks.

The result is that you hear sounds that you wouldn't have before and it brings down loud offensive levels, smoothing out the track or live sound and giving it a more "polished" sound.

A basic limiter consists of input control, a threshold control, and a gain reduction control. The threshold is set by the engineer, and determines the point at which the limiter/compressor does its gain reduction.

The gain reduction control is typically expressed in terms of a ratio. For example, a 3:1 setting would mean that for every 3 db of level over the threshold, the limiter will only output 1 db.

Musical Tidbits

In other news, Sting, formerly known as Sting, published his memoir, Broken Music, in Estonia this last week. On Friday at 2pm, he will meet fans & sign copies of the book before his concert at the Saku Arena - featuring a new energetic and stripped down rock show from the Broken Music Tour.

The concert will feature music spanning the course of his career. The opening act for the evening and the special guest of the show is Sting's son Joe Sumner with his band Fiction Plane.

"I am delighted by the recent publication of "Broken Music". It has been 5 years since I've played Estonia and I look forward to meeting fans and performing there again," says Sting.

In the words of concert producer Peeter Rebane this is the first time in his 11 years and 400 show experience when a top world artist meets people in person and gives autographs signing books.

So there you have it, limiters, Sting, gear and fab-u-loso advice. Use it wisely.