Recorded On A Mac: Hydrovibe. Interview and Giveaway!

There’s no doubt that Mac OS is the favourite platform for creative people and professionals: it’s stable, features rich and there are tons of applications for every need.

But this is not a secret.

Today, I’m very excited to announce a new post series on MacStories, “Recorded On A Mac“. This new series will focus on artists / bands that used Mac OS to record / edit their songs, with thoughts about the whole process and their favourite tools and apps.

The first band which agreed to collaborate with MacStories are Hydrovibe,  an alternative rock band from Los Angeles, United States. They’re also offering a free download  of their new album “Nothing Left To Lose” to 10 lucky readers.

Interview and giveaway rules after the jump!

I had the chance to chat with Heather St. Marie, lead singer of Hydrovibe:

“In the past few years, Macintosh computers and applications have grown in leaps and bounds… making a profound difference in the music industry. Now, independent bands like my band Hydrovibe, are able to record, sell, and promote albums with relatively small budgets. This past year, we used various programs to create our first full-length album “Nothing Left To Lose” which is available at http://hydrovibe.bigcartel.com/product/nothing-left-to-lose for $10.

During the recording process at Mad Dog Studios and Premeditated Music Studios (both in Burbank, California), we used both ProTools and Apple’s Logic to record and mix the songs. To keep up with all the notations for every track in all 15 songs, we used FileMaker’s Bento database application. We used Dropbox to share latest mixes between the band and the producer and mixing engineer.

While the album was being mastered, I worked with design firm New Level Graphics to create the album artwork. They used Adobe’s LightRoom to edit our band photos and Photoshop to retouch the final band shot to be used in the album.

While they were working on photos, I created an original oil painting which we then scanned and imported into Photoshop. The designers at New Level Graphics added grungy elements and color balancing in Photoshop, and they created the remaining 4 panels for the CD packaging. Then, the artwork was brought into Illustrator to add the text, logos, and barcode before sending to the CD manufacturer.

Now that “Nothing Left To Lose” is on sale, we are using Bento to track sales and various other apps to promote the album. I use Echofon to promote our band on Twitter, and I keep up with my to-do list using Things by Cultured Code.

The most important promotional tool for us is our website, which is run with WordPress and designed by New Level Graphics. I maintain the site and do some tweaking to the theme with Panic’s Coda, MacRabbit’s CSSEdit, and Panic’s Transmit ftp program. I am constantly providing promotional files to reporters, radio stations and fans, so I use Dropbox for file hosting and file sharing.

All in all, our band couldn’t get by without our Mac’s and the numerous applications I’ve mentioned above. We’ll be touring the US in November and December; a list of tourdates will be posted at our website http://hydrovibe.com.

Hope to see you at a show!”

You can find find Heather and Hydrovibe on Twitter as well:

http://twitter.com/saint_heather

http://twitter.com/hydrovibe

Giveaway

We are offering 10 copies of Nothing Left To Lose as a free download. To enter the giveaway you just have to:

- Follow me on Twitter (@storiesofmac) and tweet this message: “Win a copy of @hydrovibe new album on MacStories: http://mcstr.es/t/1h @storiesofmac”

and

- Leave a comment here with the link to your tweet.

I’ll pick up the winners on Monday, November 2nd.

Good luck!