BIOGRAPHY OF ARSENIO ORO
#1
M.A.D
I was born in Cuba on June the 1st 1977, in Nueva Gerona, located in Isla De La
Juventud. There is where I played a classical guitar for the first time at a
very early age. At that time I couldn’t even comprehend the instrument. But, just the
way the wood smelled and the way it sounded did it for me. Since that day I
always wanted to be a guitarist. My mother always tried to get me into an art
school. But, I was never accepted, because I was a Jehovah’s witness and in a
communist country that doesn't flow very well. Although, that didn't stop me
from listening to music.
After a few years in cuba my family
desired to go to the US and here is where I was influenced by my favorite
band OVERKILL. Later on I started listening to MEGADETH, METALLICA,
SLAYER, SEPULTURA, in other words, heavy metal masterminds. After a
while, I started to fast forward to the instrumental parts in every
record. It had something in it that got my full attention. Later on
I started learning their rhythms and then the guitar solos. Before I
knew it I was into STEVE VAI, JOE SATRIANI (My favorite guitar
player), FRANK GAMBALE (I learned electric guitar mostly because of
Gambale's ChopBuilder video), MANUEL BARRUECO, JOHN WILLIAMS, PEPE
ROMERO, just great musicians. I could say that I had a private
lesson with all of them. Cause I use to listen to them 24/7.
During all that time I was also
taking my classical guitar lessons in Miami Senior High School with
Dr. Kunze and I also had an opportunity to have a lesson with Pepe
Romero. They both taught me a great deal of things that I still
follow religiously up to this day and one of them is discipline.
Four years later I graduated from high school and I went to Miami
Dade Community College. There, I met a teacher that actually
perfected my classical guitar technique, his name is Jose Adan. We became
good friends. My technique has been
improving since those days.
When I started recording M.A.D.
It was very hard looking for people to work with. Their
techniques were always a problem and my ideas were not getting done
properly so I started to work on my own. I remember buying my
equipments for my studio and learning how to do everything. I became a better producer, and a better
musician thanks to that so I ain't complaining. But, I have to be honest, M.A.D was hard to record no
matter what. The thing is that I was also going to school fulltime, working
the rest of the day in an office and I'm not even mentioning all the
homework they gave me in college. I remember doing homework for more
than five classes and learning two classical pieces a week for my
private classical guitar lessons. So, the only time I had to record
where on the weekends and sometimes things didn't come out the way I
wanted and I had to wait until the other next weekend. I was going
nuts. That's when I decided to finally tell my classical guitar
teacher what I was doing, because he was the only one that didn't
know I also played the electric guitar. I guess I knew he was going
to tell me what a classical guitar teacher would say. "You should
not play the electric guitar if you are a classical guitar player",
which is something I don't believe. Well, he heard the way I play
the electric guitar and he was very impressed. He thought it was not
possible to play both guitars at a professional level. That's when
he told me to follow my dreams and that's what I did. I have to say
that it was the best decision of my live.
RECORDING FORMAT OF
M.A.D
This album was very challenging for me to record. Aside the fact that this was
my first instrumental album, I used two very uncommon recording formats to get
the appropriate sound. Guitars were plugged directly in from the pre amp to the
mixer without having to mic the cabinets and a rhythm machine played an
important roll as my band. That put me on the position of composing, producing,
and performing everything. But, that was the only way to get the sound I wanted,
which was very metal, very industrial, and professional. To tell
you the truth, if it wasn’t for today’s technology, this record would have never
been done. Machines helped me record this album without any complains. The thing
is, that in order to like machines you have to know how they work and that takes
an open minded human being to know it is stupid to be narrow minded
and jealous of what they can do. They might be your only way to get your dreams
done if you are a loner like me.
The guitars were recorded directly in
to get the most aggressive and unusual
distortion anybody could think of. I just didn't want to repeat the same
sound every band has. You know, the usual Mesa Boogie sound. Not
that there is anything wrong with that sound, but nowadays the only way to be
original is by using the technology we have around us. Because, if you
think about it, every movement, chord, or scale was created centuries ago.
So, Knowing that made me try this idea of recording directly in without thinking
about it twice. Also, not only the distortion was unique. Every effect, even the ones that sound like a
synthesizer where created with the guitar, which wasn't easy to do. But,
it is worth it when I hear somebody asking me, you did that with a guitar?
Instead of hearing something like, you sound just like. . . The only catch
with this way of recording was that I had to be extremely clean and careful with
my playing. I remember how every movement or even
the nails hitting the strings made a noise if I didn’t hit it the right way,
specially on the classical guitar. That is why most guitar players like to mic
their recordings. The distance between the microphone and the cabinet
allows them to get away with dirty picking, or mistakes in general. Some of
them say that recording directly in doesn’t allow them to get the same feedback,
which is not true. You could also get the same feedback plugged directly
in to the mixer. All you have to do is turn the speakers on, instead of
using a headphone. Anyway, It doesn’t mean that I’m never going to record
using a microphone. I’m doing it right now in some songs of other
projects. But, my reason for doing that in those projects is, because I
want to get an old school sound. What I’m saying is that we should
be free and not always follow a recording format of a band that came before us
just because they were here first. If you know that the only way to get a
certain sound is by doing something unusual or complicated, do it. Anyway,
is about time something new starts happening to music today.
Before I even thought of recording this album, I was one of the guys that
thought rhythm machines would never replace a drummer. I thought they could only
keep one rhythm like on techno music, but I was wrong. I realized that those
machines are like type writers that are able to playback any rhythm I program
into them. The most beautiful thing is that today’s technology is so advance
that you can’t tell the difference between a drummer and a machine if I don’t
tell you about it. The down side is that machines are taking jobs away from a
lot of musicians today. Take my record as an example. I used a machine to do a
drummer’s job, a bass player’s job, and a piano player’s job. In dream
theater, the keyboard player is taking the job of an entire symphony by using a
synthesizer. I know that if we didn’t have this machines a lot of musicians
would have made a lot of money. But, there is no reason to feel bad about that
also. Nobody at the beginning was able to even understand what I was trying to
create. So, I got my ideas and programmed them into those machines, and
wala. Every time I pressed play, they never made a mistake or asked me for money. Now,
isn’t that beautiful?
The Roland 1680 was the best machine
I have ever bought. That machine is so far beyond better then any other
machine that still up to today 07/25/03, other brands are competing with it.
It really made the recording experience so enjoyable that now I’m not only
working as a musician, but also as a producer for my work, or for any other band
that I have the chance to work with. Everything I know about recording, I
learned it on that machine. I remember
showing my record to students finishing their Master’s degree as sound recording
engineers and they could not believe how everything was produced. Some teachers
even said that I was gifted, but the only difference between me and them beside
that, was that I not only studied more, but practiced more than a regular
student.
I think that the biggest problem becoming a producer is how to mix and master an
album without clipping noises and too much compression. That’s why I take mixing
very seriously, because it could ruin all your hard work if you don’t do it the
right way. Nowadays, even my favorite bands are compressing their recordings so
much that they don’t have dynamics at all. There have been cases that you hear
16 tracks of recorded instruments and when it gets to the part of only two
tracks of instruments, you only feel those two instruments getting louder
instead of staying where they were. That’s why if you are compressing, you
should be careful with how much you compress. Because, you don’t want the overall
level of your compressor to take control over your recording.
The clipping noise problem, is a
different ball game all by it self. Some producers mix with desk monitors
and use them too loud, which is very bad if you care about getting a good sound.
The best way to hunt for this noises are to use headphones as monitors and lower
the volume until you could hear your surroundings. The clipping noise will pop
out of the recording easily after doing that, especial if it's not an acoustic
piece or song. If you are mixing an acoustic clean tone recording, it
becomes harder. Because, the clipping noise will be within the recording
and it won’t pop out as much. That’s when the skilled producer comes in to
save the day. But, if you were to do that job, you have to listen to the
recording so much, just to find where it distorts, that it almost becomes a
religious act. The best way to learn and become a skilled producer is to
be a doer instead of a dreamer. Buy your equipment and don’t be afraid to
find out if you have it in you. The best thing to do is to get a reliable
systems. Don’t try to build a workstation using any consumer's computer.
Nothing would work better than a system built by highly skilled engineers from
brands like Roland, Akai or Mackie. Don’t waist your time, record.
M.A.D is not going to be the best record I’m going to produce. I’m a believer in
learning and moving on to do greater things. In other words, every album I’m
going to produce is going to top my previous one. I will always keep my
recording format which gives me my signature sound, but I’ll never stop
experimenting with new ideas. Although, be sure that the changes are going to be
for the better and not for the worst. At this point I’m not even trying to
compete with any of my idols. I will always respect them as the guys that came
before me and open doors for me. But, if you are not going to be better than your
teachers why bother learning. I already feel that I have accomplish what I wanted
with M.A.D. So far this is the best record I’ve heard and it will be until my
next one. Which, I could tell you right now that is going to be a master piece. In the mean time, lets ride this wave to where it takes us and never look back.
Arsenio Oro. Feb 1st, 2003.
