"Second City Sounds" are here

We got the box of CDs yesterday, and they look great. Big thanks to everyone who pre-ordered a CD; they will be shipped as soon as possible.

Be sure to join us for our the CD debut at our concert this coming Saturday at Friendship Village in Schaumburg.

Listen to "Second City Sounds!"

Our new CD, "Second City Sounds" has been sent to the printer. 16 songs that showcase a wide variety of styles. From Jazz to Rock, Classical to Original Compositions, "Second City Sounds" is a fun musical extravaganza for all.
You can listen to a clip of each song from our website.

We should have copies in our hands later this month, but you can order one now! Be the first to get one shipped to you.
Or you can get one at any of our concerts this year. We would love to see you at our CD debut! Join us Saturday, December 5 at Friendship Village of Schaumburg to celebrate the new recording.

Recording Do-over

After our last recording session was washed out by the rain, we found a new recording 'studio.' It's a senior living community, where we played a concert in April. It was really pouring the day of the concert, and we noticed it stayed quiet in the auditorium.

There was still a little noise, from cars on the local road and the occasional airplane, but it was still better than our old location. The residents also made some noise earlier in the evening, but got quiet as the night went on. We resolved to play the loud pieces first next time we record.

It was also really warm and humid - because we asked that the air conditioning be turned off. Nothing worse than the A/C kicking in during the recording. That problem will also lessen in the Fall and Winter.

Hopefully this all means our next CD will be produced this Summer, and available for purchase by December.

Recording Wash Out

As mentioned earlier on this blog, Chicago Bronze records a few songs from each concert season. We're just one session away from finishing our second CD.

We were all set up in the church were we usually do our recordings when the rain started. The sanctuary roof is apparently quite thin, and the rain was very loud.

We worked for a while before our engineer (Bob from Advanced Audio) said he didn't think we could get a quality recording. The background noise sounded like a hiss like from an old tape recorder. If it had been a demo recording, we might have let it go, but we wanted the highest possible quality.

We checked the weather radar, and it did look like it would get better any time soon, so we called it a night and went home. Hopefully we'll find another time when everyone can get together before we start drifting away for summer travels.

Handbell Podcast Review

It's been a couple months, but if you're not a regular listener to the Handbell Podcast, check out the October 14, 2008 show. (You'll find the player at the bottom of the page.)

There is an interview with CB director Phil Roberts, recorded at the recent International Handbell Symposium in Orlando.

Also featured is a review of our Christmas in the City CD.
Dean Jensen said in his review "Excellent CD; I'm thinking it's probably now one of my favorite handbell Christmas CDs."