This week’s The Aquarian issue is a special with a 4 pages article written by award-winning writer John Pfeiffer – illustrated with photos: “Hurricane Sandy Shoreworld Special: Frankenstorm Shakes The Shoreworld – Recollections From The Perfect Storm”. Click here to read it
A whole paragraph actually quoted me with my impressions, I hope they inspire.
Enjoy the sun when it’s out!
As soon as the Power came back I was able to go back to JLM Mastering Studios to work with Mastering Engineer Roman Vail and we finished my new album entitled “Beautiful Sun”. I knew the title for a long time but wanted to keep it secret…
Like I had explained in one of my previous Blog Posts, with this record I feel I really learned about what mastering is, what it does to a sound.
I really enjoyed working with Roman Vail (visit his website here, Roman also has graphic arts talents).
He has worked with Joe Lambert at legendary Trutone Mastering Studios for many years and has been a senior mastering engineer at Joe’s own studio (JLM) for a few years now. Joe Lambert has an impressive worldwide catalog such as Moby (including the last one “Destroyed”), The Black Crowes and Sinnead O’Connor and it is such a great thing to have someone like this sponsoring his career.
The studio has top-notch Analog equipment but by now you should know that it’s not about the equipment, it’s about what you can do with it.
Roman has great ears and knows how to translate into technical tools what an artist wants or doesn’t want in their sound. He’s very respectful of an artist’s “relationship” with their music and he’s very patient. He listens to a broad variety of music and knows different ways of taking finalization of a Sound into different possible directions.
He mentioned my music is a mix of “Sade, Massive Attack and Sarah McLachlan”, which I find quite interesting. I find doing the mastering with his abilities brought this record to the next “level”, and took the amazing mixing Marc Urselli had done of the recordings to the most fabulous audio experience.
I am now working with Oasis Disc Manufacturing. I’ve been working with them for each of my projects since my album with Hate Dies Hard. We had such a complicated artwork back then and they had managed it so well that I never went with another company… Waiting for the Print Proofs of the Artwork they start it this week!!! And then it will be my favorite Distributing Company to do their awesome work!!!
The Music Video should be released shortly after the record…
Stay tuned!
Many of you have sent me messages to check on me during this terrible Hurricane Sandy! Thank you so much to everyone!
I am so grateful that my street didn’t lose one tree as all the others around me did… so sad… and I actually kept Power, even though there was some scary flickering!
Here’s my favorite tree on a street nearby that we lost in my neighborhood:
The Mastering Studio (JLM Mastering, Roman Vail) where my CD is being finished has been without power and as soon as it’s back on we can finish it. Fortunately the studio is on the 4th Floor… this was a VERY flooded area.
This is a picture of its neighborhood yesterday, as they’re still cleaning up:
And as soon as I can get down to the Village – once this map below doesn’t show anymore shaded train lines for half of Manhattan, I’m excited to go do more open-mics to warm up all of this record’s songs live.
One of my listeners PLEDGED for this new record (Fund-raiser is still open!) and he received an autographed “Collection Pack”, this is a picture he posted on his Facebook:
And finally! If you are still celebrating Halloween this week-end, make sure to grab YOUR COPY OF my version of “SALLY’S SONG” from THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS :
iTunes | Buy CD | Other retailers
Ever wondered how she would sound with my voice and in French? 
An Angel on Earth!
Ryan William posted an article about my fundraising campaign for this record (that’s still open!) on his Blog:
READ it here
Hiya!
The music video for “Thank You” has been filmed and it’s almost done being edited.
Like I said in my video blog:
Here’s some photos of the shoot:
The album is done being mixed, reviewed and adjusted….
And Now! here’s something interesting…
Audio Mastering.
If you’re not a musician you probably heard of “remastered” versions of some old records that’s often done for new media or to adapt the old stuff to the new ears a little bit…
Although I’m all for keeping it authentic and how it was done at the time, sometimes it is good to do that for old vinyl records so they sound good on CDs or mp3s too.
Well I’m now in the process of getting this record mastered, last step before duplication, and well if you want to do it right it’s not something where you pick anyone- it’s done-that’s it. Plus you can’t really pick the place in advance cos it all depends on how your songs mixes came out, and how it comes to your ears once it’s at that step.
For my past records I must say it all went smoothly and I had never really paid attention to it, for “a taste of departure” with Phizzy Lager Troy had taken it to a studio in Canton and all I remembered was that when we heard it it sounded 10 times bigger and shinier than the mixes. For Hate Dies Hard, Bill Korecky had mastered it directly after the mixes and I had noticed the compression on the songs but it sounded great. For the EP, Mr. Urselli had done the same thing and I hadn’t really noticed much difference with the pre-masters. And for “Will you hate the rest of the world or will you renew your life?”, Sean B. did it all digitally out of his A New Deal Studio and it sounded good.
From what I’m learning now about audio mastering from reading and hanging out in mastering studios with engineers, it’s not just about adding brightness, and volume or clarity, you can really give a shape to your songs and there’s quite an amount of additional depth you can give to it, especially when the album has different tones in it. There’s also the risk of “taking away from the mixes” and you don’t want that. I surprised myself when I realized I could hear “that stuff”, seriously! It would be easier if I didn’t hear these things and just forget about it and sleep well at night and release this record in 3 days, but hey no it needs that special treat, my crazy ears got it so here I am. The funny thing is that I explained and showed what I was hearing to other musicians and non musicians and they sorta “Feel it”, so there, if I hear it anyone can and that’s always the most important thing. And by the way big thanks to co-writer Sam Scozzari for lending his ears and reading my crazy text messages at 1 in the morning. (We got another song together on this album)… and Big big hugs to Steve Blankenship for his support and sharing his experience, advice and wisdom with me. I missed having a band during this time and it was nice to hear “I’m not completely crazy”.
How I review masters?
I listen to it on Bose stereo speakers from my laptop, then in the living-room stereo, then simple Altec computer speakers, burn a CD and walk to my car take a listen there (that’s the BEST!), make neighbors think I’m crazy cos I’m in the car for half an hour but not leaving (lol), then import the song into iTunes, throw it onto my iPod Nano, listen to it at home…. and now the best stuff: listen to it on the train, walking on the street in Manhattan with the crazy city hum, and of course compare it to other artists on the iPod. When I say “compare it”, I mean I look for volume differences and whether treble mids and lows are balanced.
Now I could get REALLY crazy and compare it on different Apple devices since they have different sound chips but hey I’m not THAT nuts…
Anyways a great master should sound good EVERYWHERE. End of the story.
I am very proud to let you know that my song “Blues Alone” was used for a video presenting the very determined Yael Cohen, CEO of a fast-growing Cancer awareness organization.
The video was featured in the magazine Fast Company to support the 38th Rank article about Ms Cohen as part of the 100 Most Creative People in Business of 2012 countdown, crediting “Music by LiLi Roquelin”. Read article and view video here
I thanked super-talented photographer Matt Furman (stylish Billboard magazine cover and more in his portfolio) for using my music in this project. I blushed when he added he loves my work…
More on F- Cancer and how the organization is succeeding to educating people and the youth here.
Fast Company is the world’s leading progressive business media brand, with a unique editorial focus on innovation in technology, ethonomics (ethical economics), leadership, and design. Written for, by, and about the most progressive business leaders, Fast Company and FastCompany.com inspire readers and users to think beyond traditional boundaries, lead conversations, and create the future of business.
A little message full of News… as I’m finishing my stay in the South of France la Provence/French Riviera! The picture below was taken on the beach where it’s cool at night.
Ready for the News?
* Inspiring others: Since “Renew” and “Keep This for you” were on Lifetime TV networks, many dance studios across the country have used my song for other dance routines. (Guess what’s the favorite show of millions of dancers?).
Also some like to just sing it in their bedrooms! Some of them posted a video on Youtube, and here are a few:
One of them is a video of young dancer Autumn Miller (from the show Live to Dance) made by a fan, another is 2 young girls playing in their living-room, and one is a cover of my song!
* Numerous video editors used my music for their videos on Vimeo and the most recent was 10 seconds of “Come and hear my Story” for a Tongal Project.
* Marc Urselli ( Marc Urselli.com ) started mixing the record and I have to thank him for already dealing with my pickiness, he well deserves a 4th Grammy Award for his patience!
* New Music video should be shot in September.
Download “Keep this for you” and “Renew” at iTunes or Amazon now, or buy the full album!
Tonight National TV channel LifeTime Network aired the episode 17 of season 2 of “Dance Moms” and my song “Keep this for you” was used for the main group dance routine “The Huntress” – which placed them 2nd in the competition for the “Starpower” Regionals in May. It is a “Hunger Games” inspired Dance and even the My Hunger Games website featured it and listed my name and title!!!
I was super excited!!! I knew about it for a while but kept it secret to preserve the momentum . I must say that the choreography was absolutely beautiful and dramatic with “Epic Style”!
And YESSS it is the second song of this album that “Dance Moms” uses (previous one was “Renew” for their dance called “Sinful”)!!!!!
Download “Keep this for you” at iTunes or Amazon now, or buy the full album!
iTunes | Buy CD | Other retailers
(Visit http://www.mylifetime.com/shows/dance-moms/video/full-episodes to see the episode, it should be online tomorrow – dance performances are towards the end).
ENJOY THE SONG AND MUCH LOVE!!!
Fun stuff! My song “Dare” was placed on a DVD for the best-selling author Michael Sandler, for his RunBare company. Here’s a photo showing our partnership:
The funny thing is that I’m not really a sports person and recently my music was placed for a major Dance show, then an extreme-skiing movie and now barefoot running! I guess my music inspire the challenging minds! 
.
I will also have a bigger TV placement coming up but *I’m not allowed to say anything until it airs*.
*** Show! On Monday May 14th I am very pleased to perform in Oyster Bay Long Island at a showcase!
Monday May 14th, The Homestead in Oyster Bay, Long Island NY www.thehomesteadny.com, 8pm, 107 South St., Oyster Bay, NY 11771
This is a fancy restaurant. There will be 3 other artists and we’ll be playing 5 songs each in a circle, with all of us on stage.
*** The Record: What an experience to live… I had a crisis last week lol, but I’m doing good. If I get a song or parts of a song too much in my head, the best way for me is to listen to a lot of Blues music… I listened to “Ain’t no sunshine” and ended up doing a quick cover on Youtube:
*** The guitar and me: a story….
…..And thank you for my fan Abade for doing my Facebook Top Banner!
If you’re following me on Facebook you probably have seen some of these shots. I put them in a gallery.
The recording of the album is going well, we are half-way with the guitars and the strings.
I started to record the vocals for the songs that are ready. Enjoy these few shots!
Click here to see the whole gallery. I’ll be adding pictures as we go.
