ian choe music

I’ve been getting a lot more attention these days (though thoroughly undeserved, haha), so I’ve made plans for this spring break to stay in Cambridge and spend majority of my free time in studio with David to finish up some tracks for a demo we’re putting together.

I really appreciate all the new supporters who have been sending me messages of encouragement via Twitter! I know you’re all trying to be nice, but the tracks currently out are a) not mixed, b) not mastered, c) recorded poorly, and d) not finished! That being said, I promise to work hard over the next few weeks so that I can release higher quality tracks (with less vocal errors if I can kick this cough before break starts!).

Thanks so much! I’ll also be redesigning the website and hopefully launching a friendlier interface so that people don’t have to just come to the blog to download stuff. I kind of want an “About Me” page, as vain as that sounds.. haha.

Thanks again, I’ll post a rough schedule for recording, studio sessions, and releases soon!

Hey everybody! I’m happy to announce that I recently added the following items to my recording/production set-up:

A/D Converter: Apogee Rosetta 200
Microphone Preamp: Focusrite Voicemaster Pro
Monitors: Yamaha HS50M x2

I also picked up a bunch of Blue Kiwi Quad Microphone Cables per the advice of Tommy Park. In case you guys haven’t seen in yet, go check out the Tik Tok drama/CF for Cass right away! It’s pretty sick and it very prominently features Tommy’s first #1 single (of many to come).

Hey everybody, I’m still having trouble with a pretty bad cough, and so I haven’t been able to record any new vocal tracks for the album. However, I did take time to listen to and correct some errors with the mixing and balance with the two tracks that are available on the blog.

Not Enough (Guide Track) MP3
One More Day (90 sec. Teaser) MP3

Some notes:
- Somebody pointed out that the copy of “One More Day” had a lot of fuzz and noise, so I fixed that and rebalanced the channels.
- “Not Enough” was also rebalanced for a ton of mixing issues that I can’t believe weren’t addressed in the first place. Despite not being healthy enough to re-record the vocals properly, I’m pretty sure the voice and the instrumentals blend much better now that I’ve solved some issues with clashing frequencies.

Thanks for all the support! Almost 150 downloads in December, which I find absolutely shocking – I might not even have 150 friends, but if I do, they’re all certainly doing their jobs and boosting my web-stats quite nicely.

Expect new tracks as soon as I get my voice and lungs back! Also, and I should have mentioned this at the beginning of the post, I found somebody to feature on some of the duet tracks! She has a beautiful voice and an even better attitude (i.e. she likes my music). So get pumped, you won’t have to listen to just my voice on some of the upcoming tracks! Except for in the rap verses, unless somebody steps up. Seriously, step up please.

Contact me.

After developing a few more tracks and getting a feel for what this whole project is going to look and sound like when it comes together, I’ve decided to designate the most versatile of the duet tracks I’ve been working on as the title track. It has a classic R&B feel with a decidedly electronic/dance influence, and will heavily rely on some serious call-and-response interaction between the male and female vocalists following the build-up. I’m still working on developing lyrics and arrangement patterns, but the track is coming together nicely. On that note, if there are any ladies who want to feature on this track, please hit me up and I’ll provide you with a sample of the guide track and the lyrics/melody.

Also, a few full hip hop tracks are also in development, so aspiring rappers should also contact me about verses that they can fill. In most cases, I will already have lyrics, but feel free to spitball ideas with me if you have some good ones.

As a final note, I’m happy to say that the brief sample of “One More Day” has the Tommy Park seal of approval, so expect that sample to get a lot of attention over the next few weeks as David and I work to turn it from a simple 10-minute concept session into a full-length track.

I’ve had way more hits and downloads in the past month than I would have expected, so that’s been really encouraging. Thanks for the love, keep coming back all winter to hear more previews, and hopefully final album versions of the teasers already available on the site (with cleaned-up vocals and instrumentals).

Download

Here’s the R&B track that David and I worked on over the weekend with a short vocal sample as well. We recorded after my voice gave out, so there isn’t much creativity there, but you should be able to get an idea as to what the final track will sound like. I have a couple more tracks in production, so check back often to see if any new previews or samples have been uploaded.

Download (Right-click > Save target as…)

Thanks for being so patient. Finally, as promised, here’s a hi-fi copy of the guide track that I’ll be using to record the final version of this particular song (entitled “Not Enough”) for the upcoming album. David and I worked hard this weekend to try and mix and master the sound, but you’ll no doubt hear blips and imbalance issues throughout the song. My voice gave out unexpectedly in the middle of our second day of recording, so you’ll also probably hear me straining to reach a couple of the notes or disappearing completely when I should be sustaining. Overall though, David and I were pretty happy with the track, and with a little work, we think it’ll sound great. We would appreciate any comments or suggestions on the track (click to email) so that we can make the album as complete as possible. Finally, feel free to get in touch with me to laugh about (or offer to feature on) the two rap verses in the song.

Thanks again everyone. Hope you enjoy the track! I’ve drafted a preliminary schedule that should see two or three more guide tracks finished by the middle of December. “Not Enough” and the other track we worked on this weekend should also be completed and ready for distribution by then. I’ll keep you updated via the blog, but feel free to contact me personally to check up on how things are going!

Thanks for all the support! Hope you’ll stick around to hear what the final track sounds like, I promise it wont be as rough as the mp3 you just downloaded.

I’m almost done with the recording and mixing for the teaser track. My friend and I actually composed a full length track yesterday during one of our “breaks,” so tomorrow’s sneak peek at the album will also include a short (30~45 second) sample from the newest track in addition to the full length teaser track.

A little information about the teaser track before it becomes available for free download:
- The track that is being released tomorrow is a guide track.
- The final version of the track will feature a special guest!
- This track is NOT the title track for the upcoming album.
- IT’S FREE SO DOWNLOAD IT AS MANY TIMES AS YOU WANT.
It’s likely that the “album” will be classified as an EP (isn’t Wikipedia great?!) rather than a full-length album, but that’s still loads more content than anyone has seen on Ian Choe Music since 2007, so quit complaining and download what you can while it’s available!

First, a huge thank you to everyone who has been so patient with me throughout the trying process of waiting for me to actually publish any new content or release tracks. After a bit of a personal revelation that kind of changed my opinion about the whole idea of making music, I made a huge push this weekend to polish some tracks for public release. Now, all that remains is remastering the vocals and getting all the tedious arranging and engineering out of the way. I’m still in the process of deciding which of the few tracks I’ve been preparing will be made available, but as promised, there will (FINALLY) be something for you to listen to on 23 November 2009.

Thanks again for all the support. I can’t wait to have something new to put up on the site.

Regards,
Ian