As promised, another update has come your way!

So, what else has QR been up to over the summer?  Well, we played (and sweated!) our butts off at a number of events up in beautiful wine country and saw some truly amazing venues.  We also made some Oakland appearances at Speisekammer, Piedmont Piano, and Svartvik Metalworks Studio (who generously gave us the use of their space for the evening).  As well as some San Francisco appearances at Pier 39 and Tiffany's.  However, as excited as we are to play ALL the time, there were a couple of stand-outs these past few months. . .

Quartet Rouge was invited to collaborate with the heavy metal band, Machine Head!  They needed some strings to help them with a few songs on their new album "Unto the Locust," and our friends at Jingle Town hooked us up!  I will be completely honest and confess that I'm not a huge heavy metal listener.  The closest I ever came was only a couple of months during my painful adolescent years when I took to playing my analog tapes of Guns 'N Roses and Def Leppard at medium blast in my room (lame).  But we were very psyched to do this.

In June, we went into the studio and met with MH frontman Robb Flynn and his engineer Juan Urteaga.  We began the day by working out some string harmonies, and then we started to track away.  The experience was so enjoyable, but it was also very interesting to see how a heavy metal band sets down their material.  You can even catch a glimpse of us in their video diary on youtube: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl28-G2zpow

Being familiar with the whole recording and editing process, we were prepared to end up on the editing room floor, but from what I understand, we made it onto no less than three songs.  Awesome. 

The other very remarkable event, was our debut at Yoshi's San Francisco (thank you, Natasha Miller!!!)!  We shared a bill with singer/songwriter Kristi Martel who also collaborated with us during our set and sang "The Way I Am" and "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps."  We were so thrilled to see so many of our friends and family out in the audience.  The energy and support of the crowd really helped us get through the night (thanks again Andy for bringing me the Tums--really nervous, upset stomach). 

By the way, if you missed us at Yoshi's, you can now catch some clips on youtube!

For now, our focus is finishing our recording.  As we take on other gigs and projects, a completed album becomes further from reach!  Also, as we leave each venue, we go into total remorse when people ask us if we have any CDs to sell :(  So for now, our eyes are on the prize :)

But, if you happen to be in San Francisco on Tuesday, November 8th, we'll be helping a fellow musician, Matthew Stewart, with his own CD release party.  Along with band Mental 99, we'll be performing at the very cool Cafe du Nord on Market Street.  Doors open @ 8:30.  Concerts begin with the ladies of Quartet Rouge @ 9:30.  

So, the end is in sight!  Hopefully, my next update to you will be that the CD is complete.  In the meanwhile, keep up with us on Facebook and Twitter or check out any new happenings on our website. 

Hello Quartet Rouge supporters! 

I truly apologize for the lack of updates up until now.  I see that the last one was all the way back on May 16th! (Yikes!!!)  Time truly flies. Where to begin?  

I'll start the update on how our recording is going.  If I lose you along the way as I ramble on, and you slowly start to fall asleep at your keyboard, you've at least sifted through the most important news first. 

Quartet Rouge was finally able to start tracking at the end of July at Jingle Town Studios in Oakland.  JTS is probably better known to us bay area musicians as "the Green Day studio," so it has been super exciting to go in each time and feel like you're in an awesomely creative environment.  Aside from the fact that I would also pretend just a tiny, tiny bit that I'm a rock star, but then out came the violin, and just like that the bubble burst. 

At first we'd anticipated that we needed two full days of tracking (totaling 20 hours), but reality reeled us in very quickly.  Two full days turned into four full days, and sometimes we were at the studio well past midnight.  Had we had more time and a larger budget, it could've easily turned into much more tracking.  On a side note, recording your own playing is exactly like looking at your reflection through an aesthetician's facial mirror.  The flaws can be horrifying.  And as we jumped through the rabbit's hole of "we can play it better" take-after-take, we discovered the madness had to stop at some point.  After forty hours of tracking, we finally had ten songs laid down. 

From September until now, we've been stealing back into the dark recesses of JTS' editing room (why is editing always done in the dark or near dark?) and have been diligently cutting, pasting, delaying, reverbing, making things louder. .  .and as far as last Saturday, October 22nd goes, I think we've finally managed to do a final edit on everything!  YAAAY!!!

By the way, a very big mention goes to the fabulous Lee Bothwick who has been our sound engineer on this project.  Aside from being our engineer, I feel like we can all call him friend, big brother (or more like, little brother), mediator, group psychologist. . .   And, a big mention also goes to Mari Tanaka, who is the general manager for Jingle Town.  She's probably the coolest female I've ever met (Really, she is.  And Hartig and McPhail, if you're reading this, sorry dudes.).  Mari has been very patient with QR in helping us piece together a recording and editing schedule as well as suggesting us for another project that I will talk about later. 

What happens next?  We still need to do a final listen to the finished edits--a final double,triple-check and sure that we're happy with everything.  And finally, we need to send the recording off to be mastered.  As Lee explained, this person "equalizes all the levels."  Um, okay.  So off to a master-er it will soon go. 

As it turns out, QR is rehearsing tonight, and Michi is picking me up in five minutes!  The events from May until now will need to wait for now. . . but we have more plans for the future.  So please keep up with us on Facebook and www.quartetrouge.com. 

By the way, we're all having a serious mental block in coming up with a title for this first  recording.  If you have any ideas, send them our way! 

More soon.  Promise (totally not a lie this time). 

Genie

Hello everyone!

I apologize for the radio silence up until now.  There's really no excuse, but you probably want to know what has happened with your contributions up until now.

Until now, we have spent probably, um, zero dollars of the Kickstarter fund.  Fortunately, we are working, employed musicians and have been happily working on previoiusly committed music endeavors.  Unfortunately, most have been projects outside of QR which has kept us away from putting complete focus on the completion our album.

Michi, Rachel, and I took part in a project with Sanford Dole Ensemble in mid-April where we premiered a newly commissioned work by Robert Kyr.  There was a film crew present to document the making of this work, and as part of the process, they paid a visit to Rachel's home and interviewed her!  Hopefully you'll be watching this documentary on public television in the near future.  We all watch public television, right? 

In the meanwhile, Kathy ran and completed her first marathon!  Kudos to Kathy!  Since that accomplishment, she has been rehearsing and performing in the orchestra of a one-man show at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco starring. . . (wait for it). . . Hugh Jackman!  I definitely missed her during the last set of rehearsals and concerts with Santa Rosa Symphony, but if you're going to choose between Santa Rosa Symphony (which I do adore) and Wolverine, I mean, who and what are you going to choose?   

If you're a Kickstarter supporter from the bay area, and you also enjoy fiddler-extraordinare, Mark O'Connor, Michi has been busy organizing the O'Connor Method Teacher Workshop presented through the New Century Chamber Orchestra.  This workshop will take place this weekend at San Domenico School.  If you're interested, let me know through this website or peruse http://www.ncco.org for more information. 

So, where has Quartet Rouge been??  Thought you'd never ask!  :)

We donated a set to the Berkeley Repertory Theater Gala during their silent auction/cocktail hour at the Four Seasons on April 23rd.  And, from what I understand, the gala was a huge success raising over $100,000 more than they had the previous year!  On a side note, Rita Moreno was in attendance, and  I, for one, was all types of excited when West Side Story's Anita passed us. 

In the past two weeks, we've also appeared at the Actual Cafe in Oakland, Art in the Alley in Jack Kerouac Alley in North Beach, and before a very large crowd at the Professional Business Women in California Conference in Moscone Center.  However, the next two weeks we're stepping it up even more! 

Tomorrow, Tuesday night, May 17th:  John Collins Bar in downtown San Francisco at the corner of Minna and New Montgomery.  Our set will be @ 11:00 pm, but the awesomely talented Rich Armstrong and Jesse Brewster will be opening starting at 9:00 pm.  

On Friday, May 20th, we'll be performing during cocktail hour of Symphonix's Masked Ball Event.  It looks like quite the shindig.  Unfortunately, we definitely can't help you with tickets to this event, but if you want to be part of the next generation of classical music enthusiasts, this may be for you!  

We're also appearing at some awesome private events at Pier 39 in San Francisco and a spa/resort in Colorado Springs, CO (I'm sorry, the name of the resort escapes me right now. . . old age (meh)). 

On, Saturday, May 28th:   Slartvik Metalworks Studio in Oakland.  This is a Quartet Rouge concert concert.  We're not background music.  No bar, no crowds, no noise, no booze. Okay, there'll still be some booze.  But the important thing is that this is a concert!  And we'd love to see you there!  Check out our site at http://www.quartetrouge.com and click on our calendar link to find out more information! 

So, what's with the recording?  Help has been found, and we're getting a move on it!  Yaaaaay!  We're aiming to be done with the listening, editing, and re-recording by mid-June.

Sorry this was so lengthy!  But that's what I get for going dark on you for so long.  We're still here -- just working. 

I'll attach some pics for your viewing pleasure!  

Hope you've all been well, and see you soon. 

Cheers,

xoGenie

Well, we've had a most interesting last 48 hours.  Saying that we're "filled with gratitude" doesn't quite cut how we feel about the latest outpouring of support.  It's actually pretty freakin' awesome (comes closer but not quite there).

Quartet Rouge feels so fortunate to have such great fans, family and friends.  We're about four days away from the Kickstarter deadline, but success or no success, we'll find a way to finish this debut album.  It's the best way we can honor you!

We've been a little quiet these last couple of weeks, but starting at the end of this month and next month, we'll be out and about almost every week.  We'll let you know when and where!

See you at the finish line!

Cheers,

xoGenie, Kathy, Michi and Rachel