005-Shaolin Records Podcast: Starting with Logic Pro X and Kontakt Trombones

Shaolin Records Podcast

Richard Del Connor here. As the founder and record producer of Shaolin Records I've evolved from 4-track recording to 8-track to 16-track and eventually 24-track recording in 1979.

This year, 2021, I've acquired Logic Pro X music software as my DAW Digital Audio Workstation. After a decade using ProTools I've only started using Logic Pro and have not mastered it yet. Frustrating... But hopefully by the time I finish my next Shaolin Records album project I will have mastered this music software.

I've also acquired Kontakt digital music software program which enables me to use samples of orchestra instruments and record them onto my songs. I am "learning to play the orchestra." As a trombonist who sadly had to sell all his trombones to remain a flutist... (I explain this in the podcast). I am excited to have purchased two different trombone sample programs that are far more than the trombone samples you get when purchasing an "ensemble" or "orchestra" package of music samples.

My first album using Logic Pro and Kontakt will be "Scorpion Resurrection" by Kung Fu Cowboy. I recorded most of these instruments in Tacoma Studios, my home on wheels for 6 years. So now I am assembling them into the Logic Pro app and preparing to learn how to orchestrate with digital samples. This album will be perfect for learning how to play these digital trombones. I was imagining the guitar parts as horn sections when I performed and recorded them.

"TRUST ME" was recorded in the studio where Frank Zappa was recording "Sheik Your Bootee." That's what they told me the album was titled. I never owned. it. My band, THE RICH, recorded in that same Village Recorder studio at night when Frank's band was out of the studio.

I was interviewed on a radio station a couple years ago and they asked me about Frank Zappa. I ran from the topic and didn't want to say anything bad about him. I LOVE the albums "Freak Out" and "Absolutely Free," so Zappa fans may someday hear my stories of working with Frank Zappa. Ironically, I told some stories on this very podcast but my new USB microphone was causing horrible sound problems that I discovered after recording this show. So those stories are going to remain a secret since I just threw those recordings in the trash.