This is the instrumental stereo tracks extracted from a project I did in the late 80's, at the recording studio at my former high school.
The song was mostly written by my ex-teacher's cousin, but all of the arrangements, performing, recording and mixing were me.
This was a song that the teacher and I produced for the High School's recording studio, as part of a series of holiday music creations that the school produced over several years.
It's truly amazing how good the quality of analog 1/2 tape (8 track reel to reel) can be, especially after some subtle noise cleanup and mastering is applied. The tracks were captured (saved!) digitally, from the analog tape, in 2010.

The Village School's "Happy Holidays" Instrumental

Karaoke version of the famous Thai song giving honor to HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the King of Thailand.

King's Footsteps (no Intro)

First of five songs that the band performed live in the studio in Brooklyn for a demo. Only released on cassette, this track was remastered to sound better.

I'll Be Around

Second of five songs that the band performed live in the studio in Brooklyn for a demo. Only released on cassette, this track was remastered to sound better.

All The Things I Do

Third of five songs that the band performed live in the studio in Brooklyn for a demo. Only released on cassette, this track was remastered to sound better.

Cry Out

Fourth of five songs that the band performed live in the studio in Brooklyn for a demo. Only released on cassette, this track was remastered to sound better.

Have Your Love

Fifth of five songs that the band performed live in the studio in Brooklyn for a demo. Only released on cassette, this track was remastered to sound better.

Real Life

Mario Vasquez live showcase at The Cafe Wha?
Multi-track recording and post-production mixdown.

This is a series of projects being posted to demonstrate my mixes.

Solitude (Mario Vasquez)

Mario Vasquez live showcase at The Cafe Wha? 
Multi-track recording and post-production mixdown.

This is a series of projects being posted to demonstrate my mixes.

She Comes In Waves (Mario Vasques)

Original song (unfinished) circa 1990's
Written, played and performed by me.
Midi sequence with triggered vocal samples, mixed to cassette.

Hold You In My Arms

The Village School holiday song "Winter Magic" (circa 1989)

Music written, produced and mixed by Marty Berenberg and Jonathan Steiner.
Lyrics and choir arrangements by Marty Berenberg.
Music arranged and recorded by Jonathan Steiner.
Performed by Phil Richards (vocal), Jonathan Steiner (keys, drum programming), Rob Math (electric guitar), and the Great Neck North Middle & High School Choir.

This song was created at the recording studio at The Village School. The keyboard parts were midi sequenced, and then synched to the Tascam48 1/2" reel-to-reel 8 track, where the guitar and vocals were recorded. It was mixed to a 1/4" reel-to-reel deck.

It's an all-analog recording, except for the re-mastering, which was done recently in the digital domain. It's exceptional clarity (especially for a 1/2" analog tape recording) is probably due to the fact that none of the instrumentation (except guitar) was committed to tape.
What you're hearing, is a first-generation midi performance of the keyboards, synth modules, samplers, drum machine, and effects processing.. all submixed together, and then captured live to the 1/4" deck along with the vocals, guitar, (and their effects) from the 8 track, during the mixdown.

See if you can pick out some of the traditional holiday song themes that are woven into the string and horn arrangements. This homage to classic holiday song melodies became a trademark of many of the holiday songs I produced with Marty at The Village School.

Winter Magic (digital, remastered from original source)

The finished take!
I decided to try my hand at voicing the famous speech of Optimus Prime from the Transformers movie. This was a one-take performance, and it seemed to capture the feel of the character, so I kept it, and built all the sound processing up around it. For the record, there is a .3% pitch and formant correction being applied via the processing; the rest is "all me".
Deep nods to Peter Cullen, the original voicetalent of Optimus Prime.

jonny12key

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