Book of Shadows - My Debut CD Album Sampler

[slstone]

Hey everyone, finally got duplication done and things printed and sent off, etc. My CD will be for sale all over the internet on March 1st. I put together a sampler for everyone to listen to and watch if you so desire.

Just though all my friends here would like a little taste of what is to come. Thanks to everyone!!!

[ronws]

Way to go, bro. I am excited for you.

It would be great to get immediate radio play for "Rage," a hard rocker. And "Relentless" for it's IM inspiration.

So many layers of things going on. One would have to hear this album several times, finding something new, each time.

And I am proud of you, as a general rule. And proud of you because of this.

[slstone]

Thanks, bro, I really appreciate that, and kudos to you for catching the Iron Maiden inspiration there. Several things I have to say. 1st off, Autotune played no part in this advertisement. I sang in key the old fashioned way. Rage would be a good song for radio due to its brevity. It's only 3 minutes long.

Relentless in only 4 minutes long.

Also, as usual, I am playing all instruments and doing all vocals.

My lovely wife, Debra did some backup vocals for me on 'Voices'.

I wrote each and every one of my songs with assistance from my lovely wife.

I wrote all the music, arrangements, everything.

All copyrighted and protected by my business entity, StoneCraft Music.

It has been shipped off to CD Baby for worldwide distribution, I am also readying

my accounts on all the other sites that allow hosting.

I will be marketing myself wildly next week, lol.

[ronws]

And I can bask int the glow of being your brother. Easy job, as far as I can tell.

[slstone]

2 more days to release. CD Baby has it all set, just finalizing a few things. It will be available for sale initially at CD Baby as both CD and digital download(mp3). It will be distributed digitally to a million other places, timing may vary on when they have it. I will leave the url of my album so that you may check to see when it is available.

I am excited to say the least. This had been a long time coming.

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/slstone

[napoleonboot]

I like this, well done.

The mix for the guitars a bit 'soft' souding for me though on most of the clips.

Ron keeps telling me to do an album. I'll listen one day Ron, but actually I think some of my work will appear on someone elses's later this year.

[ronws]

So, George, get with it, already. And I should take my own advice. For those who don't know, slstone really is my flesh and blood brother, same mother and father and all that stuff. And he is 2 years younger than I am. And obviously, way more talented in several directions.

Anyway, Scott, I will pay full price for a signed cd, when they are available. You know where I live.

[slstone]

lol, just in case I become famous, lol. If you wouldn't mind a little anecdote:

As you know, there is always some sort of fly in the ointment in any kind of progress.

I had actually printed the first 5 jewel inserts some months ago. Since that time, I had

changed the track order. Thankfully, there were only those 5 misprints. 3 have been given away,

leaving only 2. The others are printed correctly.

Question becomes, do those 5 become valuable, being the only 5 cd's with misprinted jewel inserts in existence?

or merely a mistake that was caught prior to mailing out....

So, bro, would you prefer one of the 'limited collector's edition'(i.e. the misprinted one), or a regular, correctly printed edition?

FYI, track listing on the CD itself is correct.(now that I finally got the dang printer working correctly). I have a special printer that prints directly on the CD. So it's not a cd label from a package at walmart, which I don't like anyway, as those kind usually get stuck in the CD player in the vehicle.

One more day, and CD Baby needs to get their crap together and hurry up and approve my new cover art. It's not difficult as it is the same picture, just different tinting.

Anyway, thanks for the kind words, bro, and you, too, George. Yes I agree on your assessment of the guitar mix.

Just a note. I have had no formal training in recording and mixing. I have learned it all on my own by doing it. Some of the things I am recording now are coming out much better. I would re record everything on this CD, but I would actually like to start on new material. Being my own band and vocal department, I am sure you can understand the challenge of writing, recording and mixing all on one's own....main phrase: time consuming.

Anyway, CD #2 is going to be much more epic and bigger sounding. Kind of like Nightwish meets Kamelot meets Iron Maiden meets Pagan's Mind.

[slstone]

just for notes of interest, inspiration for each track of my CD:

River Of Pain: I was listening to Supremacy, Our Kind from Pagan's Mind.

Vision: Nothing Specific, my first venture into writing power/prog metal.

Book of Shadows: believe it or not, inspiration was 'A Touch of Blessing' by Evergrey.

Voices: inspired by work(day job in mental health, I work in a group home for retarded adults)

Relentess: Obvious. I am a die hard Iron Maiden fan.

Rage: riff cross between 'I Wish I Had an Angel' from Nightwish and 'Dr. Feelgood' from Motley Crue.

(it was my old drummer buddy who had the idea of the drums sounding almost disco-ish whilst guitars are gritty)

Memory: main inspiration...my ex-wife whom I divorced 17 years ago. been with my current wife for 13)

Sands of Time: my 2nd foray in writing power/prog. especially in the long version during the extended instrumental

part had an odd time signature for awhile.

A lot of time and revising went into each of the songs. Had you heard them in their origianl inceptions, some would be unrecognizable. And yes, bro, many layers. That's the way I write. I love lushness when it come to music. I have a nasty habit of writing completely differing parts that seem to blend whilst playing them together. It's a knack I have. The trick came later when I learn to play all my songs and my guitar and sing them at the same time.

Anyway, just wanted to add a little interesting side notes....

Anyway, bro, let me know, I will send one this weekend.

[ronws]

So, bro, would you prefer one of the 'limited collector's edition'(i.e. the misprinted one), or a regular, correctly printed edition?

yes.

:D

[MDEW]

Good Luck SL. :)

[slstone]

Thanks.

[slstone]

Thank you and it is officially up and for sale:

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/slstone

or

http://slstonemusic.com

p.s. had to edit...for those who prefer iTunes as your source, I am already up there as well:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/book-of-shadows/id611487291

Thanks to everyone for the kind words...

[Vocalist Dad]

Scott,

Congratulations on your accomplishment of finishing and releasing your new album. That is something many artists strive to do and you have done it. It is interesting to see and hear the family resemblance between you and your brother. Although you have different approaches and styles to your music, you can still hear the Stone signature sound. I very much enjoyed all of the tasty samples of music. It is amazing you were able to do all of this on your own with a little help from the Mrs. You and Ron have been a wealth of info for those of us trying to understand the biz. Hopefully someday when things slow down a little bit, you can document how you did all of this. I am particularly interested in the CD Baby connection because of distribution and the best way to make larger quantities of CD’s. Keep up the good work and best of luck with the album.

Steve

[ronws]

Scott knows more about being a record label because he is one. He plays more instruments than I do. And it's not fair because he is 2.5 years younger than I am.

:D

[slstone]

hey bro, the challenge is, can I play them all at the same time...let me channel Michael Angelo Batio...2 guitar necks,

playing rhythm and soloing at the same time....wait give me a bass drum to kick, smack a cymbal with my head, see if I can play the keys with other foot.

[Adolph Namlik]

Anyway, Scott, I will pay full price for a signed cd, when they are available. You know where I live.

Yes, how does one purchase an autographed CD ??? I'm definitely interested :cool:

[slstone]

Due to popular demand, tomorrow I will put a link up so that those of you who wish to purchase an autographed copy may do so as CD Baby does not have any autographed copies.

Wonder if I should reserve an autographed copy for Mr. Lunte as well...

[slstone]

http://slstonemusic.com

https://www.etsy.com/listing/125312813/sl-stone-book-of-shadows-full-length

By popular demand, here are the only links on the entire internet where you can purchase

an autographed copy of my new CD.

p.s. Many thanks to my brother, ronws, and to our wonderful site administrator Adolph,

for not only the idea of setting up a place for special requests, but also for Adolph's

leniency and permission allowing me to advertise my CD(yes, I did ask permission first before

ever starting this thread.)

The link it takes you to is my lovely wife, Debra's, online shop, where my CD can be directly

ordered from me. Anywhere else you purchase, you get the stock I sent them.

And many thanks to everyone for the support and wonderful comments.

S.L.

[Robert Lunte]

Cool, ya... would love to have a copy... !

[Adolph Namlik]

S.L.

Thank You so very much for your EXTREMELY KIND WORDS !!! :cool:

Warmest Regards to both you and your wife, Debra !!!

~A~

[gno]

Sounds really good SL! I can only imagine how much work you put into this CD. I wish you much success!

geno