Artist Name: Martin Buon Title: Dame Todo Genre: Spanish Pop (Alt-Latin) Rating:
Equipment Used
iMac running Steinberg Cubase with Cubase native plug-ins and Waves plug-ins, Native Instruments Kontakt, and Spectrasonics Omnisphere. Mics: MXL Genesis (vocals), MXL drum kit set (kick and toms), Sennheiser MD 431 (snare), Shure SM57 (hi-hat), AKG C1000 (stereo overheads), AKG D112 (bass amp). Bass also recorded direct. Yamaha NS-10 monitors, TASCAM DM-4800 digital mixer used as interface (including all mic preamps). Yamaha S-90 keyboard workstation used for onboard piano sound and as controller.
Production Notes & Credits
“Dame Todo” is a male vocal Latin Rock/Pop song. Martin wrote, recorded, and produced the track, he also sang and played all the piano and keyboard parts. Emiliano Almeida played drums and Larry Goldman supplied the bass. Martin explains, “Dame Todo means ‘give me everything’. The song is about a guy that robs another guy in the street because he thinks he has a better life than him and he deserves something good too. At the end the robber will pay for it with his soul, but the other guy will be the down payment.”
Reviewed By Marty Peters
This month’s SPOTLIGHT is a funky, driving song that shines from top to bottom with great writing, arrangement, performances and tracking/mixing. Let’s dive in and have a look-see!
Right out of the gate we were struck by the energy and passion displayed by all involved here. The sound sources seemed to leap right out of our monitors, in a balanced but charged way that really brings out the excitement of both the playing and the mix. Speaking of playing, all three of these guys have chops of the highest order!
As for the sound sources, we love the super-tight drum tones. The snare drum pops with authority and the kick and toms show superb definition. Combined with Larry’s articulate slapping electric bass, the interplay is “hand in glove” to our ears. Moving on, the keyboard-generated horn section exhibits Martin’s fine arranging skills, as do the breakdown/buildup section. As we have mentioned numerous times, a reoccurring theme among our SPOTLIGHT features is the quality of the arrangements presented, and “Dame Todo” certainly keeps that streak intact. Speaking of arrangement, we absolutely love what Martin has done with the ending of his song; the ascending chord “lift” followed by the descending bass line is simply gorgeous to our ears.
Lastly we congratulate Martin on his present, artifact-free vocals. Placed ever so slightly out front of the mix, they help drive matters along with a rhythmic sense that is almost like adding another instrument to the proceedings.
Of course none of this would be worth a grain of salt without a skilled mix, and again Martin delivers. Energy, clarity, movement—these are the things that are critical to this genre, and all are present and accounted for. Congrats to all involved!
Suggestions
As you can tell, “Dame Todo” checked off a lot of boxes for us. With all of our SPOTLIGHT songs, irrespective of genre, we are consistently amazed at the quality of work you loyal readers are achieving out there. We hope you take the time to study each and every one for knowledge as well as inspiration. As they say, “a rising tide lifts all boats!”
Summary
Funky and fine!
Contact
Martin Buon, [email protected]