mark tonin

Some shows at the Starlight and Jane Bond in Waterloo ... click here for more info Peace, Mark

Thank you so much Brad for recording ... your kindness and generosity are much appreciated, and I am confident that much good karma will come back to you because of all that you share! Peace, Mark

Sorry to hear that you got kicked out Sarahbelle. If somebody had predicted who might get kicked out of a show at the Lanc, you'd be pretty much the last person on my list of guesses! No trouble caused on this end, other than not having your smiling face around for the whole show. Dr. Evil, thanks for making the journey down the 401 to play at this show. It is always a treat to play with you and the rest of the mice. Adding Ricky and Colin to the mix made it even more fun. Lots of people thanked me for putting on this show. I very much appreciate the kind words. Having said that, it was very much a team effort, with Schwa., Jay and MamaPink all contributing equally to the organization and running of the show, and with backbacon helping out with promotion. Not to mention all of the help from the bands, and from friends who helped out by hosting people, moving sound gear and lighting, etc. Definitely a team effort! Looking forward to the next time ... DIESEL DOG CD RELEASE PARTY at the Lanc on Saturday April 7th, followed by another one on Friday the 13th at Pepper Jack's. Peace, Mark

Hope you're feeling better soon Greg. For tonight ... bring hand drums if you want to! A few people asked me about it last night, and yes, there will be a drum circle downstairs between band sets. Peace, Mark

Wowzie wow wow ... huge numbers out last night ... apologies to anyone who couldn't get in, or who got in but felt too packed in ... we knew it was going to be busy, but we had no idea just how busy! King Roller brought out lots of people and put on a great show ... it was very well received. The Fatties with Tyler on keys and Ricky Neu behind the kit took a little while to get cooking, but when they did, there was no stopping them ... and no stopping this happy dancer. Man oh man I love the Fatties! Undoubtedly there will be lots more fun tonight, and with both floors going, plenty of room to move and groove. Looking forward to round two! Peace, Mark

No worries for Saturday Brad, as we'll have the 2 floors going, so there will be lots of room. Peace, Mark

I got a few calls at home last night about tickets for tonight, so I think we're in for a raging party! Be sure to send MamaPink a message if you are coming for sure tonight and want to reserve tickets. Peace, Mark

Yes, you'll be able to get in at that time Brad. The official door opening time for downstairs is at 7:30 on Saturday, although anyone showing up earlier will be able to get in downstairs. The official door opening time for upstairs is "as soon as sound check is done." No worries if you want to head upstairs before it is "officially opened" to set up your gear. On another note ... I am stoked for this weekend! Both nights are shaping up very nicely! Peace, Mark

And holy shit can that Dave Hill ever play the bass. Wow. You will be missed scottieking! And if it's twice as good, I look forward to watching you turn into a puddle of joy! Peace, Mark

Hey Brad and Keri - a recording downstairs would be great; mics will be needed; load-in will start at 7:30 upstairs on Sat. night, well before that downstairs Hey Babsy - no Heisholt as far as I know, but Rich Halley will be playing keys with them. Having said that, we can always hope for Heisholt as well so we have 2 keyboard players! Peace, Mark

I'm not usually one to read through the technical notes that go along with a live recording, but Tungsten's usually include some fun reading along with the usual technical geek talk! Technical Notes for this show: Source: 16 channel Split recording > Alesis HD24 Lineage: 16 Channel Multitrack> Alesis HD24>optical in RME Digiface>Vegas 4.0 Mixdown via 4 Stereo Stems through Neve/Filtek/Siemens EQ's and Bass through DBX 160VU Taped by: Eric Warren Transfered by: Eric Warren Now this was an experiment... I arranged the donation of the Sound System from my work for this show...it quickly got a little excessive (4000watt QSC/JBL VRX rig if you wanna know) and set-up took much longer than anticipated. The recording rig was a 16 track split using custom mic preamps and an Alesis HD24 Hard Disc recorder. All the tracks were recorded at 24bit/44.1kHz, from the mics to the pre-amps, straight into the recorder. Bass was Avalon U5 DI. No Compressors/Limiters or EQs on the way in. The mics were typical stage mics, mostly Sennheiser. The pre-amps, which are somewhat of a passion/hobby of mine, are a portable setup that I helped build with another fellow, and consist of kick-ass Neve, API, Siemens and Langevin preamps from the 60's and 70's that have been restored and racked with all the bells and whistles... So after flailing my way through the opening band with mis-patched mics and dead channels I was all ready to go for the 'Cats...but the $%^ HD24 recorder kept screwing up and kicking out of record mode. It wasn't 'till near the end of the night that I finally caught the message, the root cause was the Hard drive that was too big for the machine and couldn't write data fast enough after the file size got large (ATTN: HD24 users - no 200GB drives!!) ...so unfortunately 5 songs were left with serious time slices and dropouts, the worst, a kickin' 'Shakedown Street' had 3 cuts in it at the worst places...very unsalvageable... As I struggled with not drop-kicking a piece of technology an amazing concert continued....and I was determined to capture as much as possible. A total of 4 tracks were lost, and 'Speedballs' fades out as it's drop-out was closer to the end, although you can hear it was really just starting to rip when the fade starts... The outcome - the final collection of songs was around 90 minutes with crowd noise and thank yous and intros and drink calls and tuning, etc...great timing for a cassette, not so much for CD...so I started whittling out the crowd noise and tuning first...got it down to 84 minutes, then the extended ending thanks went and it was 82 minutes, then the crowd bits started to get shorter, down to 81 minutes, finally every non-musical bit was reduced to it's essence, with a couple necessary tricky fades and a brief 'thanks' at the end. What resulted is the leanest, meanest FatCats disc I've heard in a while. The rapid-fire songs create an insistence, almost a lean-forward-and-listen-to-what-the-hell-is-going-on kinda vibe. It reminds me of 'released' live shows you'd buy on CD more than a documentation of a concert experience...that wasn't the intention going into this, but I think it is the best way to present the tracks that were left from the recording. And it's fricking great in the car- But I digress...now back to the geekery... Mixdown was also an experiment. This was mixed OTB (out of the box) via stereo stems through various analog EQs. All corrective/subtractive EQ was done on a track-by-track basis via plugins within Vegas, but all sweetening/additive EQ was done externally. Processors included Neve 3126 EQ(drum mix), Siemens 295b EQ(gtr/organ mix), Filtek MK3 EQ(vocals) and DBX 160VU(bass). Soooooo....after all that, the output of the EQs and compressor were mixed via a Rane SM82 Line mixer back into a Stereo Vegas track. This then had a Waves L2 Limiter placed across it and noise-shaped/dithered down to 16 bit. Chopped up in CD-Wave and here you go. Now stop reading and start listening!

Awesome Eric ... thanks! I'll definitely be making copies to pass around this upcoming weekend to people. As I mentioned in a previous thread, this recording rocks in a big way and the sound quality is fabulous, especially after the first track when all of the levels are tweaked. Tungsten Gruvsten works his magic again ... Peace, Mark

Alexis ... YOU ARE RIGHT! The lineup posted on the first page is correct ... Dave and WTTS are playing on Saturday. I hope that you (and the car you are in) can make it. If I remember correctly, your car died on the way to last year's show ... Peace, Mark

Nice to see this, my friend! I look forward to playing with you on Saturday night at the Lanc for the Groundhog Fest. We'll have Ricky Neu playing drums with us in addition to Tim, and Colin on sax, so it's going to be a blast. I still remember a few jaws dropping when we played Keeps Us Alive at the Freaker's Ball in the summer of 2005 ... mine included! Your guitar playing blew my mind ... Peace, Mark

If all goes according to plan, I should have the final version in my hands on Monday, and will be bringing some copies to the show on Friday. I've been listening to the show this morning ... wow ... it is rockin' ... awesome sound quality, especially after the first song when all the levels have been tweaked nicely. Peace, Mark

Yesterday I picked up tickets for the Saturday night Sisters Euclid show. It looks like I'll finally get to see this band! Hey Andrew, have we met? I'm thinking it's likely, but I can't put a face to your name. Hopefully you can make it out next weekend for the Groundhog Fest, and if you do, please (re)introduce yourself to me. Peace, Mark

Tungsten isn't actually doing sound, but the guy recommended by Tungsten last year (Matt K.) is doing it again this year. Last year's sound was awesome, it was one of the best sounding bar/club shows that I have ever been to. It's the same sound guy for both nights this year, so it should sound FAT on Saturday night as well. Tungsten will be there, helping out with sound and lights and doing some recording I think. Nothing like last year's recording setup, but something to capture what goes on. I think he's recording on Friday night for sure, and is planning a matrix mix. He may also record on Saturday night, but if you're coming down Brad I could see him leaving the recording to you on Saturday night. Or maybe both of you can record. Peace, Mark

What a great idea Greg ... I'm going to do that right now! I am so stoked about Friday night at the Lanc ... I was speaking with Tungsten yesterday and it is going to sound FAT upstairs at the Lanc for the Groundhog Fest! Peace, Mark

The Registry Theatre Peace, Mark

I heard an interview on CBC radio a few days ago with the professor who conducted this research: The Hunt for the Worst Sound in the World And here's an article about the study: World's Worst Sound? Peace, Mark

I just noticed in the Thursday section of The Record (KW's daily newspaper) the following listings: Kevin Breit Friday March 2 with Matt Brubeck, Jesse Stewart Kevin Breit and Sisters Euclid Saturday March 3 Both shows are at the Registry Theatre in downtown Kitchener. Peace, Mark

Sara Edge is a beautiful woman no matter how I look at her. Huge birthday hugs to you my friend! Peace, Mark

The Boathouse is a cool little venue ... it's in Victoria Park, which is an old park in Kitchener. Lucas Stagg hosts a "Stagg Ranch" at The Boathouse every month, which features different musicians. I think it's also Lucas' birthday tomorrow night, which could make it even more fun. I've got a pretty full weekend lined up already, or else I'd check it out for sure. Peace, Mark

Huge birthday hugs to you edger, and to Bolton as well if it's also her birthday! I'll see you next Friday at the Lanc for some celebrating! Peace, Mark

I hope that things went well with the surgery ... positive healing vibrations for your step father. Peace, Mark