D. Lee Jackson

Words and Music

New Song Released – “What It Shall Be”

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What It Shall BeMy first serious foray into the world of jazz/funk fusion is out and available for download from CD Baby as a digital single! “What It Shall Be” was released on Friday, January 11th, as an MP3-320 file. Grab your copy today at this address:

https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/leejackson12

There’s also a high-resolution 96KHz/24-bit version available on Bandcamp at this address:

https://leejackson1.bandcamp.com/track/what-it-shall-be-96khz-24bit-version

You won’t believe it when you hear it, but like all my other songs, this one was done “in the box” – meaning that no live musicians were involved in the recording. Only my trusty Roland SC-88Pro and several software samplers and synths were used. It still comes out sounding like a jazz/funk quartet, with a guitar, an acoustic bass, a person on keyboards (electric grand, organ, Mk.1 electric piano), and drums.

Geek insight of the day: I used XLN Audio’s Addictive Drums 2 on the song. I even sent off a copy of my finished product to XLN Audio to get their feedback. They were impressed! Said they liked the “ghost notes” I used. All the more reason to grab a copy and hear them for yourself.

Please spread the word!

“Composers Play” Interview Up On YouTube

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Composers Play LogoI recently had the honor of being interviewed by Scott Tobin (website here, YouTube channel here) for his intriguing “Composers Play” series. Scott is a gentleman and a professional, and you’d do yourself good to look into his works. He conducted his interview of me over a two-day span (partially due to a power outage on my end) and then did an excellent job of putting together a three-part end product.

You can listen to the interview at these links:

Please help spread the word using the AddToAny icons at the end of this post, and of course, if you have any questions about anything in the interview, please don’t hesitate to ask using the Contact page. Thank you for reading!

Grabbag High Definition Remaster Available!

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Radiation LogoI told you to watch for it, didn’t I? 😉

Now available on Bandcamp: the official 96KHz/24-bit re-recording, remix, and remaster of Grabbag, the Duke Nukem theme, done by yours truly! This new release has been created with meticulous care in an attempt to capture the spirit of my original 1995 recording as found on the Duke Nukem 3D Plutonium Pak and Atomic Edition CDs, but with as much clarity as possible. You can download your copy here, for free if you want:

https://leejackson1.bandcamp.com/track/grabbag-96khz-24bit-2018-remaster

Please note: to get the full fidelity recording, you want to select either the FLAC, ALAC, WAV, or AIFF formats for download. The MP3, OGG, and other formats will compress the file and not give you the full fidelity that the former formats will.

And now, the geeky details, for the audiophiles among you. The recording was, obviously, done at 96KHz and 24 bits, capturing sounds from my Roland SC-88 Pro (the original 1995 recording was done on an SC-88) into Cakewalk by Bandlab. All mixing was done inside of Cakewalk by Bandlab as well. Mastering was performed within Adobe Audition CC 2019. The end product was uploaded as a 96KHz/24-bit WAV file to Bandcamp.

As I said, you can download your copy for free if you want. However, a few coins in the tip jar would certainly be appreciated. 🙂

Duke Nukem and the Duke Nukem logos are registered trademarks, used courtesy of Gearbox Software, LLC.

All other trademarks are property of their respective companies.

A Theme Song, A Contest, A Product Endorsement, and More

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The Cyber Den LogoI’ve got several items on tap for this update. First up is a musical project that I’ve been working on for the past couple of weeks. It’s a new theme song for a gaming-related radio broadcast on Siren FM in Lincoln, UK. The show is called The Cyber Den, and it’s hosted by Jake “The Voice.” It airs every Wednesday from 10:00 a.m. to noon GMT and can be heard from the link posted previously. If you want to hear it, tune in next Wednesday (24 October 2018) at 10:00 a.m. GMT and listen for its debut!

Next up is a contest that’s being held by the fine fellow who runs the Retro Garden game review web site. The prize is an autographed copy of my Calibrations album! Not too many of these exist in the wild, so now’s your chance to get one for yourself. Rules for the contest are posted at this link. Good luck!

HumfreesMoving on, I’d like to place an unpaid plug for a product that I’ve been using since the late ’90s. They’re called “Humfrees,” and you can see them in the black-and-white photo on this page. They’re intended for use with musical equipment racks. What do they do? They isolate gear from the rack rail and from other gear attached to the rail, reducing the chances of developing ground loop noise in your signal path. They’re a little tricky to install, but in my experience they’re well worth the effort. Highly recommended.

Finally, now that I’ve finished the aforementioned musical project, I’m going to be removing (with the help of my son) my old Kawai K5000R synth from my rack and taking it to Audio Electronics in Dallas for refurbishment. It’s developed a problem common to the K5000R series — the LCD screen has a tendency to fade out after several minutes’ use. I’m going to have them fix that, plus do a full clean-out and check of the systems. Should cost a couple hundred bucks, I’m guessing.

Oh yeah – one last thing. I fixed the problem of the Yamaha CS6X on my own. Turned out to be a much easier fix than I thought it’d be. And no, I’m not telling you how I fixed it. It’d be too embarrassing.