DETERMINED BAND PRODUCES ALBUM BY ITSELF.

Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

Dennis Russell describes the recording of his album ``My Little World'' as a ``bare, bare, bare bones production.''

Hoping to attract attention to their music, Russell and his bandmates scraped together money to rent a recording studio and contract with a company to manufacture 1,000 copies of the album on compact disc.

The CDs are expected to arrive from the manufacture within a few days.

``We're doing it all ourselves like our own record company,'' Russell said.

Technology, such as relatively inexpensive digital audio equipment and desktop publishing, is making it possible for groups like the Dennis Russell Band to independently produce and market their own albums on compact discs.

The cost of putting the album out, including renting a recording studio at $30 an hour and the initial pressing of 1,000 compact discs, will run between $5,000 to $6,000, Russell said.

The band will sell its CD for $10.

``We dipped into savings and credit cards,'' Russell said. ``Hopefully, we'll make that back fairly quickly.''

Russell, an English literature major at the University of California, Santa Barbara, wrote the songs, sang and played the guitar on the album.

The other musicians are keyboard player Laura Hemingway, an Antelope Valley College music professor; bass player Alex Ogborn; and drummer Weeble, a music major at Cal State Northridge.

The band regularly plays clubs in Lancaster. In November, Russell was the opening act for Cyndi Lauper at the Lancaster Performing Arts Center.

``We had people ask for recordings,'' Russell said. ``That inspired us to put something like this out.''

The music was recorded over a stretch of about a month last summer at a Hollywood studio. Each of the 10 songs took about 10 hours to record.

The band recorded basic tracks with rhythm guitar, bass, drums and keyboard and then dubbed in solos and vocals.

There is a sharp difference between how a song sounds in a studio compared to playing live, band members said. What sounds great live can sound ``busy'' in a studio, forcing musicians to simplify what they are doing.

``The tape is not forgiving. It picks up everything,'' Ogborn said. ``It has to go on tape smooth and even.''

The master copies of the songs and the graphics for the album art were then sent to a San Luis Obispo company, which is manufacturing the CDs.

Russell plans to sell the CD at the band's shows and through a mailing list the group has worked up over the months. The Hang 'n' Java coffeehouse will also sell the CD, and Russell plans to see if any of the Antelope Valley music stores will carry the album.

Another potential sales outlet is the Internet, Russell said. Other groups have set up Internet sites where people can hear a sample of the music and order albums.

``The potential of reaching an audience on the Internet is huge,'' Russell said.

Russell hopes the album will get some air play at radio stations.