#creativity | MidiMike

Posts Tagged ‘#creativity’

The Answer

Posted: November 12, 2018 in Poetry
Tags: #blog, #brother, #conversation, #creativity, #family, #friends, #inspiration, #life, #opinion, #people, #personal, #poetry, #politics, #question, #questions, #truth, #writing, Art, pictures

MSK GS 1

MSK GS 3

MSK GS 4

MSK GS 2

Intelligence is not the answer,

Though wisdom certainly is.

I might be waiting for the cows to come home

But I don’t have time for this.

It doesn’t take a genius to know,

Facts are the same for everyone.

That doesn’t mean it’s all black and white

Or can be changed with a gun.

It’s often a matter of perspective.

And that makes it hard to understand.

Why someone turns grey into black or white

Without experiences of the other man.

If you have been supported by faith

Then religion can be your guiding hand.

Survive Jihads, Inquisitions and pedophile priests

You might begin to feel nothing but hate.

The police are always there to serve,

And get you home safe at night.

In my neighborhood it ain’t like that at all

So it’s safer to take your chances and run.

Intelligence is not the answer,

Though wisdom certainly is.

I might be waiting for the cows to come home

But I don’t have time for this.

All the experts seem so smart,

Until you hear from the others.

Sooner or later we have to realize

It’s time to stop killing our brothers.

Smart people become rich people,

Their answers bring cash and fame.

The poorest will always be poor; just look at them.

There’s no one else to blame.

Deep Inside

Posted: October 8, 2018 in My Tunes
Tags: #audio, #blog, #conversation, #creativity, #friends, #inspiration, #life, #media, #music, #opinion, #people, #personal, #poetry, #truth, #writing

This song has taken a while to finalize the arrangement. It is only part of the song it started out as. Diced, sliced, edited and rewritten, I hope this first mix sounds like it belongs! Sometimes you are guided.

I will play other sections in the future.

Please enjoy “Deep Inside”

Deep Inside me, Deep inside the eye of the storm

Deep Inside you. Deep Inside the eye of the storm.

Deep Inside me, Deep Inside.

Sometimes you are guided

And sometimes you are not.

The road is long; it never ends

No matter what you thought.

The place you are standing

Was never meant to be.

Lost when your memories

Created what you see.

Pound after pound

Life gets laid upon you hard.

Sound after sound

As the dealer plays his cards.

Sometimes you are guided

And sometimes you are not.

The road is long; it never ends

No matter what you thought.

Deep Inside me, Deep Inside the eye of the storm

Deep Inside you. Deep Inside.

For This

Posted: October 1, 2018 in Poetry
Tags: #conversation, #creativity, #friends, #inspiration, #life, #notes, #opinion, #people, #personal, #photography, #poetry, #politics, #question, #truth, #work, #writing

She looks so happy

From the outside, many of us do.

Sure and in control

Man, I wish that were true.

For every question

So sure we have all the answers.

Act as if we’re immune

To weakness, disease and cancers.

He stands there so calm.

No sign that he’s ready to explode.

Sleeves rolled up: digs in

This close to just running down the road.

There is no training for this.

Won’t find it on utube or Internet search.

There is no training for this.

No help from lawyers, police or church.

For every question

So sure we have all the answers.

Talk as if we’re not human

Just crazy, drugged up dancers.

Cover Tunes from The Chase Part 3

Posted: July 16, 2018 in MUSIC
Tags: #audio, #blog, #creativity, #friends, #inspiration, #life, #media, #music, #opinion, #people, #personal, #photography, #tech, #work, #writing

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The songs in this session are simple two-channel recordings. These are not multi-tracks of isolated instruments to be mixed down later. This is down and dirty history. I enjoyed recording and listening to each of the gigs. The rest of the band were ok with it, but they were really into the performance and live audience vibe. As a result, I did not get much assistance or cooperation with my projects. We never did a sound check for recording levels. We did not set up differently or use additional gear. I usually taped separate mixes from their sound board or by using a combination of mono mix and single hi-quality microphone up on stage. See my LSR series for recording configurations.

Unlike the other players I have jammed with, I had not been playing in bands since I was a teenager. I did not start playing in front of a ‘real’ audience until I was probably 31 or older. I started playing keyboards (technically different than playing a piano or organ) when I was 30. Before that I wrote songs and played my 12 string guitar for parties and such but that was about it.

Lacking confidence and years to sharpen my skills, I tried to make up for it in other ways. I practiced a lot compared to the other players.

I helped in tech – light – sound – marketing. The recordings were for me, LOL!

This is a live recording of a medley we came up with. None of us really liked disco, but no rocket science to keeping guys in the club is to keep the girls on the dance floor! We smashed together popular dance songs and other select songs toward the end of the 2nd set. Enjoy.

Studio Way

Posted: July 9, 2018 in MUSIC
Tags: #audio, #blog, #brother, #creativity, #family, #friends, #life, #media, #music, #people, #personal, #photography, #poetry, #tech, #work, #writing

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Here is another song my brother David recorded at a studio years ago as part of his Studio Way project. My brother wrote the lyrics and is the vocalist on these tracks. Terry Boehm played keyboards. Tom Collier wrote the music and played guitar. This one is called, “Focus On Your Feet”. A fun toe-tapping song that sticks in your head!

The songs were being finalized in the studio as each came up to record. The rhythm tracks were recorded first, with lead instruments and vocals added later that day. A lot of people ‘freeze up’ their first time in a studio with the tape rolling (yes, this was back in the days when they used tape!) so recording can be very stressful – but with a bit of focus you can come out with great memories.

“Bookin’ Inst” Made to Order

Posted: June 30, 2018 in My Tunes
Tags: # mixer, #audio, #blog, #computer, #conversation, #creative, #creativity, #digital, #guitar, #inspiration, #keyboard, #life, #media, #music, #musician, #people, #performance, #personal, #photography, #poetry, #recording, #song, #songwriter, #story, #studio, #studioengineer, #tech, #work, #writing

MSK Studio

Part of the challenge in writing songs is how difficult it might be to convey a particular feeling or message to studio musicians. All players should be heading in the same direction, playing the same tune, moving at the same tempo and so on. Creating soundscapes must be a lot like painting. Drawing the lines and forms are one thing, but which color is best? There are so many available yet each one conveys a unique mood or feeling. Sounds can be like that. We asked a guitar player/friend of ours to come up with guitar tracks for a project I was working on. This was for a cable TV project looking for sound tracks for an automotive enthusiast series. We wanted to give the guitar parts a bit of mood setting so we asked him to create tracks that would generate the feeling of …

an engine or racing car, crunchy, powerful

drive – movement – acceleration, fast, fluid

Using basically no more than the above “instructions” he gathered toys and used the word imagery to shape the sound and the playing style for these tracks. We used the same list to come up with the basic tracks for the song. This song is an adaptation of a song I wrote a long time ago and we called it The Big D Jam. I originally composed this song using the Arp Odyssey synthesizer. I programmed a pretty cool sounding bass patch and came up with the bass line and skeleton of the song. This song in its original version was performed when I was with The Personal Touch years ago. If it was a rockin’ crowd we would let Ric Ahlers jam a bit on the solo parts. I put some simple lyrics to it and it was a really fun song to play out.  Recently I pulled it out of the song closet and re-wrote the chorus. I also used new software plug-ins from my computer for all the sounds. This was amazing for me because I have all this fancy gear with cool sounds and I am not using them at all. In this post, I wanted to give you an idea how the song progressed. The new sounds are just amazingly clear and natural. I will post in the near future the complete mix with vocals and effects. When the sounds and the performance match the request or target, the song seems like it was made to order.

The Wrong Reply: Another Tune from the Closet

Posted: June 18, 2018 in My Tunes
Tags: #audio, #computer, #conversation, #creativity, #family, #inspiration, #life, #media, #music, #notes, #people, #personal, #photography, #poetry, #tech, #truth, #work, #writing

I have been planning to pull out songs I wrote years ago that have never been recorded before (other than live jams in living room sessions…) and record them. I have been doing a bit of that lately and here is a song I posted the lyrics to earlier called “The Wrong Reply”

For a number of these songs it is difficult for me to imagine hearing the songs in any other way than with acoustic guitars and vocalists. I often think of harmonies, but adding instrumentation really opens up the choices of how the song is transformed. Many people are not aware that the popular Jimi Hendrix song, “All Along The Watch Tower”, was written by Bob Dylan! If you listen to both versions you can see how much the instrumentation and interpretation of the song can change it dramatically. There are many other examples, of course, but this is a good one as I appreciate both artists. This also demonstrates the power of doing a ‘cover tune’ someone else wrote, but that is a subject for a different article.

As with many of my recordings I play all the instruments – sometimes performing in the studio and sometimes using sounds stored on my computer. The drums are usually triggered sounds using MIDI controllers (like my keyboard or drum pads). Sometimes I will use drum loops that are pre-recorded drum patterns that you can pick and choose to match your song. My songs usually have a twist or odd groove to them and do not always lend themselves well to existing drum beats. I wanted something other than the standard drum kit sounds for this song and used other familiar percussion instruments. The bass guitar is recorded using the keyboard as MIDI triggers.

I made up the instrumental part as I forgot what I usually play there and may add a solo instrument of kind in the future.

Studio Way

Posted: June 13, 2018 in My Tunes
Tags: #audio, #blog, #brother, #conversation, #creativity, #family, #friends, #inspiration, #life, #media, #music, #opinion, #people, #personal, #photography, #poetry, #stories, #tech, #truth, #writing

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I may have some free time for a little bit and I would like to catch up on a bunch of things that have been on the back-burner for a while. I also hope to pull up old band and other video projects and push them hard into the hi-def age. It will be a lot harder than it sounds as some of my media is very old tech. We shall see.

I also wanted to share with you some of the songs my older brother David did in a studio years ago. I was not involved in writing or recording these songs. My home studio was meager by today’s standards and I was only set up for one-man songwriting stuff. I was not able to record an entire band at one time back then.

My brother’s band was doing some original songs and jamming pretty often. Tom Collins and David had an inspired writing session for a couple of hours before practice. The band mates were so excited with the new material they made calls and booked time in a recording studio the next week!!##!!

I will detail the studio experience and give the band members and authors their due in future blogs. Here is a tune from the Studio Ways session that will kick things off well. “My Dog Loves You Too” is a heart-warming love song with a pleasant twist of humor. David was faced with a challenge to write a funny love song. His ex-wife Cynthia came up with a few guitar parts and the song writing took off! Like this one, all the songs were literally finished and arranged in the studio the day they were recorded. It gives a great live feel to the collection. Tom Collins wrote most of the music for this recording and my brother wrote the lyrics.

Please enjoy “My Dog Loves You Too”.

From the beginning

Posted: May 7, 2018 in My Tunes
Tags: #audio, #blog, #brother, #conversation, #creativity, #family, #friends, #inspiration, #life, #music, #people, #personal, #poetry, #thanks, #truth, #writing

Those that have visited my site from the beginning to those that have read my posts and comments over the years will know that I started a musical path early-on in my childhood. From my parents selecting musical instruments for Christmas and my birthdays to my older brother David writing poetry that I would turn into beat and melody (using whatever toys I had available at the time!).

As my interest in poetry grew I tried to soak up what he already knew. Younger, I did not have training, but I had a natural feel for timing/rhythm and melodies. I picked up theory, arrangement, recording techniques and a million other things from people way smarter than me in later years, but early it was just experimentation and the fun in creating.

We shared a lot, critiqued a lot, and bounced around things as they got better and better. Writing lyrics is funny. We use them to tell a story or create a mood. Vocals can put us in a trance or allow us to laugh ourselves silly. Lyrics by themselves they are often trite or ‘nothing, really’. But put them in front of the right music and performance and they can become life altering.

Over the years there were countless songs we co-authored in one way or the other. I often leaned on my strong points in the beginning and created the chord progression and melody, but David learned to play the guitar and we later played piano/keyboards. It is difficult if not Impossible to know what parts originated where. I stopped trying decades ago!

I have posted songs that we are particularly proud to have been even a small part in writing. (I think there might be one or two more I have not posted yet, I will have to check LOL). In the following weeks I would also like to post a number of songs my brother wrote and recorded years ago. He and a few friends went into a recording studio and laid down his new songs even as some were being finalized. As I did not record or perform in his “David K and Studio Way” session, it was great to hear this completed project for the first time.

Here are a few of the favorite songs I posted on this blog.

https://wordpress.com/post/midimike.com/205

https://wordpress.com/post/midimike.com/173

https://wordpress.com/post/midimike.com/116

https://wordpress.com/post/midimike.com/50

I will do a little research and post a few tunes from “David K and Studio Way”.

You’re In Love

Posted: May 1, 2018 in Poetry
Tags: #conversation, #creativity, #family, #friends, #inspiration, #life, #opinion, #people, #personal, #photography, #poetry, #questions, #truth, #work, #writing

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You just can’t’ stop thinking about it.

You’re In love.

If you would risk everything

For another five minutes.

You’re In love.

Their eyes hold the answers

It will take you years to learn.

You’re In love.

When the simplest touch

Sends tremors to your core.

You’re In love.

How do you know?

What’s only spoken of?

How long can you deny?

You’re In love.

Because all it takes is a look

And you can’t help but smile.

You’re In love.

The outside world ends

When they call your name.

You’re In love.

How do you know?

You’re In love.

When will I know?

You’re In love.

Can you still deny?

You’re In love.

Here are the reasons why

You’re In love.

Their eyes hold the answers

It will take you years to learn.

You’re In love.

When the simplest touch

Sends tremors to your core.

You’re In love.

Because all it takes is a look

And you can’t help but smile.

You’re In love.

The outside world ends

When they call your name.

You’re In love.

MidiMike

Available on iTunes and CD Baby

Social Media

MSK original Songs

Posts Tagged ‘#creativity’

The Answer

Deep Inside

For This

Cover Tunes from The Chase Part 3

Studio Way

“Bookin’ Inst” Made to Order

The Wrong Reply: Another Tune from the Closet

Studio Way

From the beginning

You’re In Love

Archives

Available on iTunes and CD Baby

Social Media

MSK original Songs

Posts Tagged ‘#creativity’

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