Ma-Me-O Music Ltd.

Professional Recording Studio with Resort Style Artist's Accommodations

also: NEW! Summer Cabin Rentals

Home Page - August, 2008 - Celebrating 11 years of making music at Ma-Me-O!

Recording Studio with "resort" artist accommodations 
located on Pigeon Lake in Central Alberta, Canada

Hello and thank you for visiting our recording studio website! We are located at Ma-Me-O Beach, Alberta, Canada, about halfway between Edmonton and Red Deer, due west of Wetaskiwin on the South East shore of Pigeon Lake. Please feel free to look around, and if there is anything I can help you with, in terms of planning, budgeting, arranging, recording, mixing, mastering and completing your project, drop me a note at miles@ma-me-o.com.

Please visit our "links page" for valuable information about copyright, music licensing, bookings, funding, various interesting connections...

Check out "MySpace" for some music samples..

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Our Background...

My name is Miles Jackson. I have been playing the piano since I was five years old, and it is still my main instrument. I also play some accordion, mandolin, flute and drums.... Of course, now I play with a lot more electric keyboards, midi, computers and software. I started recording music in the mid eighties, and have been both performing and recording since then.

My wife, Jocelyne and I moved to Ma-Me-O Beach from Calgary on April 1st, 1997. Before that, I operated a project studio in Calgary for 15 years, Milestone Productions, and have an extensive background in midi sequencing. 

Over the years, from about 1967 on, I played with many groups, including "Richter Ten", "Adanac Reply", "Barry Allen and the Cheyenne Winter", "Cannonball", "Redemption" from Edmonton, "Stratus Faction", "Backline Orchestra", the "Allen Sisters", "Black and White Affair", "Milestone Trio", the "Saturday Pro Big Band", "Band du Jour", "Tommy Hunter", "Neil Gow and the Five Knights", the "Carlene Friesen" band.... Where has all the time gone? :-)

Also, I toured with Frank Mills (Music Box Dancer) about three times a year as musical director up until he retired after Christmas of 2000, writing the arrangements, playing orchestral parts on the synthesizer and directing the choirs at Christmas time. 

At Stampede time in Calgary, I continue to work with the pit band (Rockin' Al and the Dream Crushers) at the Youth Talent contest at the Archie Boyce Theatre on the Stampede grounds, where we back up about 80 contestants each year! We have band leader Al Muirhead on trumpet and conducting, Steve Foster on drums, Kai Poscente playing bass, Bobby Cairns playing guitar, Eric Friedenberg on sax, flute, keys and clarinet, and yours truly, Miles Jackson on keyboards. Some of our past winners include Paul Brandt (My Heart Has a History), Gavin Hope (the Nylons), Bret Barrow, Billy Klippert (Canadian Idol), Maureen Murphy, last year's winner, Tara Tennant - this year's winner, and several others who have gone on to successful careers! This year has been year 27 for Al as bandleader, and 17 years for yours truly !

Over the past 10 years of operation, I have produced and arranged many CD's ranging from folk to speed rock, classical and jazz to alphorn music; country to marching bands, choirs, and big band to inspirational and gospel music, native powwow music to comedy. Did I mention blues and R & B? Plus some music that defies description, as we know it today!

I like nothing more than working with other singer/song writers on their projects, either for demo purposes, or for commercial CD release. Let's get together and make some great music!

Artists Accommodation right above the studio!

Now Available!

"The Artist's Loft" above the studio features 3 bedrooms, a fully equipped kitchen, a bathroom, sitting room (tv and stereo) and a living room that looks down into the studio! Also, there is private covered parking and several screened-in decks and balconies. Please inquire about the availability. Suitable for 3 or 4 people...

Click here for more info and to see some pictures....

"Free" Money!!! 

It seems to be grant application time again, and a lot of people have been asking me for help in preparing budgets and estimate sheets. I have uploaded a couple of helpful forms. One is an XL spreadsheet budget so you can "plug in your own" numbers, and the other is a pdf document the gives a good outline of the costs involved. Please feel free to download them and use them to put together a reasonable budget for your project! I hope they prove helpful! 
Here are links to the most common funding sites for Canadian musicians.

Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Canada Council Grants
Factor Grants

Help support our Artists!

Several of our artists have released excellent CD's that are currently for sale. Whether your tastes range from folk to rock, country to jazz, easy listening, old-time or modern uplifting music, there is something interesting and entertaining for you here! Artists include Frank Mills, Craig Young, Florence Foxwell, Room to Dance, Judy Armstrong, Jill Younghusband, Carlene Friesen, Jeff McCann and many more...
Help us support them by buying some of their product! Here is a page featuring some of our latest releases. 

All CD's are for sale for $20, which includes GST and shipping anywhere in Canada or the U.S.A. Just mail a check to the address at the bottom of the page, and we'll get your selection right out to you!

Services 

• Producing and recording Singer/songwriter demos
• Help with writing and arranging your songs
• CD Recording Projects (Cubase 4 platform) complete with
• Digital mastering (Wavelab 6.0)
• Backing trax and minus mixes - karaoke sing along tracks! Original or otherwise.
• Jingles written and produced for radio and television
• Arranging, Orchestrations, Scoring, Lead sheets, Copying (Finale 2007)
• Audio Restoration (Cd's from old tapes, records etc.)
• Graphic design, digital photography, CD covers, labels and tray cards
• Small and large run CD and DVD duplication or replication
• Online CD sales for our artists

Click on the links below for updates on some of our recent recording artists!

June 25th, 2007 - Canadian recording artist, Doug Jones has just released his second album of original country/rock music, entitled "Forbidden". He had a very lively CD release party in Calgary at the Orpheum theatre featuring a smokin' 8 piece country band.

March 5th, 2007 - Alana Folkard is just releasing her first CD, consisting of 12 of her own songs. This is a fabulous collection of heart-felt songs about love, life and faith. Alana's beautiful clear voice is supported by the guitar wizardry of Dave Hamilton, and the sometimes quirky but always grooving drums parts played by Kim Glanville.

Feb 3, 2007 - Rollanda Lee and her "Canadian Hot Stars" Jazz Band have just completed their second CD, "Our Kind of Jazz", and this one IS hot! 18 dixieland jazz tunes, split evenly between vocals and instrumentals. Under the capable guidance of trumpet master Al Muirhead, this 8 piece recorded all of these tunes pretty much live off the floor in 2 days! The players include Andrew Glover of piano, Wes Yaciuk on guitar, Dean Pierno, drums, John McPherson on tuba, Jim English on trombone and Doug Innes on clarinet.

Last year, the group recorded it's first CD, "New Orleans Swings" with almost the same group. This year, we have Jim English replacing Art Rowe on trombone.

October 26th , 2006 - Jeff McCann has just released his latest album, "Serpent on the Grass" has just been released! Click for more info... Jeff is a singer/songwriter and guitarist from Peace River, and this album is good! Check it out!

Calgary Stampede Youth Talent Search is over again.... For some pictures and info, click here... For more info on how to audition, contest rules and contacts, check the Youth Talent committee's website www.stampedetalentsearch.com

Carlene Friesen has recently recorded a charming new album of old tunes entitled "Country Recollections" with her live band! Wes Yaciuk on guitar, Kevin Andrews on drums and myself on piano and bass, and Carlene singing and fiddling her heart out!

Congratulations to Florence Foxwell on the successful completion of her latest CD, “Outside the Box”! It features eleven original tracks and it’s a nice evolution of her talents as both a singer and songwriter. It is now available either here or through her website! Drop me a note and I can send you one.

Client List

Rates 

Our regular rate is $50 per hour for multi track recording and mixing. Block bookings (2 days or more) go for $350 per day, based on 8 hours studio time. For music preparation, such as arranging, sequencing, writing charts and copying parts, our rate is $40 per hour. 

Please feel free to call and discuss your project, and I can help you put together a budget based on your particular requirements! We can arrange accommodations at the rate of $50 per person per night for artists working in the studio.

The Gear...

I use a Spirit Auto mixing console 24 X 8 X 2 with 56 inputs available. I also have an ADAT 8 track digital recorder for transferring projects. The computer is a Music XPCwith a gig of ram, and it runs Cubase SX 4 as the recording platform. The computer is equipped with a DVD burner, so clients can easily and inexpensively archive their material to DVDs. I use the Motu 24 I/O card, which allows me to record up to 24 digital channels at a time! Your product is then mastered using Wavelab 6.0, and burned onto CD. Then, we apply pictures (yours, or I can take some here) and labels for a professional looking and sounding finished product. Reasonably priced replication can be arranged. I also use Finale 2007 to write out arrangements, lead sheets or even full orchestrations. Projects are archived onto DVD for later retrieval or transfer. I also have a "stable" of excellent players who come and help out whenever necessary!

Also, we have a set of Pearl drums, a Young Chang 6'1" grand piano, a box full of percussion toys, some accordions, guitar and bass amps, and various guitars and synths. Lots of fun stuff!

I have the usual compliment of outboard gear, and a decent collection of mics. Other gear is available. Clients are welcome to bring any of their own gear they would like to use.

Contact info

Miles Jackson
Ma-Me-O Music Ltd.
Box 7, 606 Beach Road
Ma-Me-O Beach, Alberta, Canada
T0C 1X0
Email inquiries to: miles@ma-me-o.com
Telephone: 1-780-586-2678