a)Talk about "Violet Horizon" Where did you get the name and what
the inspiration behind the album. Does it have a special message?
There are a few reason why I called this new CD Violet Horizon. First off, my favorite color is Violet, my father's mothers name was Violet and my birth sign is a Libra. Violet is the color that is associated with my birth sign. I came up with the title because I feel that I am at a point in my life where I am reflecting on my past from birth so this is where the symbol Violet comes in and also at the same time reflecting on looking into the future and being happy and content with what is on the Horizon. This is the meaning of the title.
This is my fourth CD and my third for Favored Nations and I feel if you look back in history at some of my favorite bands, the fourth CD is a very important one example - Led Zeppelin 4, Van Halen 4, STP 4 and so on. I am excited about this new CD and feel this is my best work to date. when writing the new material I reached back and thought about what got me excited about music and guitar in the first place and current players and music that inspire me. I thought about guitar players who inspired me and got my juices flowing. For example ... David Gilmour, Richie Kotzen, Gary Moore, Randy Rhoads, Steve Vai, Jimmy Page, Hendrix, John Sykes.
b) Talk a little about the musicians in your band. Who are they and tell us a little about them.
On the new CD it is myself on guitar, Ethan Mexisell on Bass and Ian Fry on Drums. Ethan and Ian did such a great job on this CD. I feel it is very organic sounding and raw. We recorded all the Bass and Drum tracks for the CD in two days. We went into the studio and played them as if we were playing a live show. This gave it a very live feel. I then went back and did the guitar overdubs. Ethan has been in the band for a few years now and is a very talented musician. Ethan and I produced my last CD The Color Of Light together. Ian is a very energetic drummer and has a really great feel but with incredible technique. I nicked named him Ian Fire because he is just burning! I also had the pleasure of having some guest guitar players put a solo on some tunes. Mr. Dave Weiner did a solo break on the song Devil's Juice. Dave did an awesome job and just killed. On the tune Sleestack I had Guthrie Govan do a jaw dropping solo at the end of the tune. Guthrie is Guitar Players Best new Artist of the year and is also a fellow Cornford amp endorser.
c) Who are the producers of the album? Who engineered/mixed it?
Violet Horizon was produced by myself and Carl Roa. Carl is a fellow musician/guitarist from New York and I feel it is always good to have another person involved in the process. Carl has great ears and he was very comfortable to work with. The drum tracking sessions were produced by Ethan Meixsell at Cove City studios in New York. The CD was mixed by Carl Roa and myself at Magic Elf Studios in New York. It was engineered by Carl Roa.
d) Do you have any future projects you are working on? Any future Goals?
My main concentration now and goals for this year and next year is to go out and perform the music from Violet Horizon. We are doing some concerts on the East Coast at this time and coming early 2010 we expect to do some performances at Namm in Los Angeles. I am also planning on doing guitar clinics around the new CD Violet Horizon and in negotiations to do clinics in Italy in early 2010 as well as planning on scheduling concerts in the UK.
I am in the process right now of working on my first instructional DVD through The Rock House Method. This will be released worldwide and I am very excited. I will feature some lessons around the music on Violet Horizon and also cover some topics that I think are missing from most instructional videos. I want to cover inspiration and how to write songs and of course all the other guitar related stuff. Please keep a look out for more information at www.robbalducci.com
Last but not least we are trying to capture a live performance of the band to release a Live DVD. We are in the process of filming some of the upcoming concerts.
e) Any cool stories you would like to share with us about the recording process? Was it fun? Exciting, hectic, bad, etc.
The recording process is always a lot of fun and to me I wish I could be in the studio all the time. I find it very interesting taking a musical idea and seeing it progress from the original idea into a complete thought and song.
I have developed a process when I record and that is to be as spontaneous as possible. When going into to record Violet Horizon I did not have any of my solo breaks written and even some melodies to some of the tunes. I feel that if you keep spontaneous and improv over the tunes you will come up with something that is fresh. I had to go back and learn a lot of the parts since there was so much improvisation in my recording process. We even kept some of the guitar solos from the basic tracking session. Another very unusual process I have when recording is I do not like to hear my guitar that I am recording through the monitors. I feel that if I hear the guitar loud and blasting into my face it makes me uncomfortable. Recording Violet Horizon and my past CD I only heard my guitar through the wall of the studio where the amp was mic'd and placed. Most musicians find this to be weird... but it works! This even crosses over to my live shows. I play with know monitor mix of my guitar, I just listen to what is coming out of my amp on stage.
There are a few reason why I called this new CD Violet Horizon. First off, my favorite color is Violet, my father's mothers name was Violet and my birth sign is a Libra. Violet is the color that is associated with my birth sign. I came up with the title because I feel that I am at a point in my life where I am reflecting on my past from birth so this is where the symbol Violet comes in and also at the same time reflecting on looking into the future and being happy and content with what is on the Horizon. This is the meaning of the title.
This is my fourth CD and my third for Favored Nations and I feel if you look back in history at some of my favorite bands, the fourth CD is a very important one example - Led Zeppelin 4, Van Halen 4, STP 4 and so on. I am excited about this new CD and feel this is my best work to date. when writing the new material I reached back and thought about what got me excited about music and guitar in the first place and current players and music that inspire me. I thought about guitar players who inspired me and got my juices flowing. For example ... David Gilmour, Richie Kotzen, Gary Moore, Randy Rhoads, Steve Vai, Jimmy Page, Hendrix, John Sykes.
b) Talk a little about the musicians in your band. Who are they and tell us a little about them.
On the new CD it is myself on guitar, Ethan Mexisell on Bass and Ian Fry on Drums. Ethan and Ian did such a great job on this CD. I feel it is very organic sounding and raw. We recorded all the Bass and Drum tracks for the CD in two days. We went into the studio and played them as if we were playing a live show. This gave it a very live feel. I then went back and did the guitar overdubs. Ethan has been in the band for a few years now and is a very talented musician. Ethan and I produced my last CD The Color Of Light together. Ian is a very energetic drummer and has a really great feel but with incredible technique. I nicked named him Ian Fire because he is just burning! I also had the pleasure of having some guest guitar players put a solo on some tunes. Mr. Dave Weiner did a solo break on the song Devil's Juice. Dave did an awesome job and just killed. On the tune Sleestack I had Guthrie Govan do a jaw dropping solo at the end of the tune. Guthrie is Guitar Players Best new Artist of the year and is also a fellow Cornford amp endorser.
c) Who are the producers of the album? Who engineered/mixed it?
Violet Horizon was produced by myself and Carl Roa. Carl is a fellow musician/guitarist from New York and I feel it is always good to have another person involved in the process. Carl has great ears and he was very comfortable to work with. The drum tracking sessions were produced by Ethan Meixsell at Cove City studios in New York. The CD was mixed by Carl Roa and myself at Magic Elf Studios in New York. It was engineered by Carl Roa.
d) Do you have any future projects you are working on? Any future Goals?
My main concentration now and goals for this year and next year is to go out and perform the music from Violet Horizon. We are doing some concerts on the East Coast at this time and coming early 2010 we expect to do some performances at Namm in Los Angeles. I am also planning on doing guitar clinics around the new CD Violet Horizon and in negotiations to do clinics in Italy in early 2010 as well as planning on scheduling concerts in the UK.
I am in the process right now of working on my first instructional DVD through The Rock House Method. This will be released worldwide and I am very excited. I will feature some lessons around the music on Violet Horizon and also cover some topics that I think are missing from most instructional videos. I want to cover inspiration and how to write songs and of course all the other guitar related stuff. Please keep a look out for more information at www.robbalducci.com
Last but not least we are trying to capture a live performance of the band to release a Live DVD. We are in the process of filming some of the upcoming concerts.
e) Any cool stories you would like to share with us about the recording process? Was it fun? Exciting, hectic, bad, etc.
The recording process is always a lot of fun and to me I wish I could be in the studio all the time. I find it very interesting taking a musical idea and seeing it progress from the original idea into a complete thought and song.
I have developed a process when I record and that is to be as spontaneous as possible. When going into to record Violet Horizon I did not have any of my solo breaks written and even some melodies to some of the tunes. I feel that if you keep spontaneous and improv over the tunes you will come up with something that is fresh. I had to go back and learn a lot of the parts since there was so much improvisation in my recording process. We even kept some of the guitar solos from the basic tracking session. Another very unusual process I have when recording is I do not like to hear my guitar that I am recording through the monitors. I feel that if I hear the guitar loud and blasting into my face it makes me uncomfortable. Recording Violet Horizon and my past CD I only heard my guitar through the wall of the studio where the amp was mic'd and placed. Most musicians find this to be weird... but it works! This even crosses over to my live shows. I play with know monitor mix of my guitar, I just listen to what is coming out of my amp on stage.
