A hard and simple look at the chances most people never have, even though choices are everywhere. Even still, thinking no chance will ever really come, we continue on. Friends would ask me to do some audio gig or help them get their gear set up. More than a few were acting as if they were in debt to me and owed me a big favor. That is where I came up with the first two lines. Then it was clear that for many chances would be rare, but sadistically many are available to others. The best chances you will ever get are Barely Perceptible.
Posts Tagged ‘#guitar’
Barely Perceptible MSK 2004
Posted: February 14, 2023 in #poetry, PoetryTags: #audio, #bass, #guitar, #lyrics, #michaelskennedy, #Midi, #midicontroller, #mididrums, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #personal, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #poetrypod, #recording, #songwriter, #sound
3
Music for Pet the Cat
Posted: January 20, 2023 in My TunesTags: #cats, #guitar, #lyrics, #Martinguitars, #michaelskennedy, #Midi, #mididrums, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #pets, #poem, #poetry, #poetrypod, #poetrytolyrics, #recording, #songwriter
I mentioned in my first Poetry Pod that I turned the lyrics of my Pet the Cat poem into a song. I had a good time recording this one and tried to make it fun for kids to listen to. Maybe on a rainy day you will sing this song as you pet your cat, or dog, or frog.
Here is Pet the Cat for your family entertainment.
Trance
Posted: November 3, 2022 in My Tunes, PoetryTags: #guitar, #lyrics, #Martinguitars, #meditation, #michaelskennedy, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #poetry, #recording, #singersongwriter, #songwriter, #StudioOne5, #vocalist, MIDI
I want to share with you my latest 24 hour song. Written, recorded and mixed in one day. This is “Trance”.
It seems to me
This is the place to be.
Outside everything
Inside nothing
In a
Trance
In a
Trance
It seems to me
This is the place to be.
Outside everything
Inside nothing
Internal Glance
Brain Dance
Another Chance
In a Trance
Outside everything
Inside nothing
UnPredictable
Posted: August 29, 2022 in MUSIC, Opinions and Observations, PoetryTags: #guitar, #jayaronoff, #localbands, #lyrics, #Mara, #michaelskennedy, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #personal, #poetry, #recording, #songwriter, #sound, #stanaronoff, #UnPredictable
A common topic shared on this platform as I reach 70 years old.
Another friend of mine has died unexpectedly. He was ten years younger than me. My posts have bragged about the people I have met over the years, and he is one of the special ones. Jay Aronoff truly loved music…. in all it’s forms, but he made it his own. Life had it’s struggles but he always had time for good friends.
Son of former Ohio Senator Stan Aronoff but he chose his own path. I met him when I worked at a local music store chain. I managed the store and he was a guitar instructor. Even when he was not in a lesson, the guitar was strapped around his shoulder and he encouraged impromptu renditions of our favorite prog-rock songs. He was easy to love.
Jay was stunned I had never had a cup of coffee. He persisted until I had my first and only cup of coffee with him. It wasn’t that bad but not as good as the smell of fresh ground coffee in the old grocery stores so I decided to stick with tea!
I did a video of Jay’s band Mara performing live. My wife Ellen and I did all the camera work on two separate nights, and I did the post production video and timing by ear. In memory of Jay Aronoff, here are links to that video filmed in 1988:
I also have some lyrics to share with all who knew Jay, and those who know me:
This is all Unpredictable
The end to a terrible day.
A phone call from another friend;
This would be the last day with Jay.
He was a very special soul
Who bound so many together.
I thought he’d be the one
To remember us forever.
Jay had his demons to face
I’m sure he faced many alone.
None of that matters today
Because from now on, Jay is gone.
This is all UnPredictable
The cruelty cannot be more clear
This would be the last day with Jay.
So I raised another glass of beer.
This is all UnPredictable
The cruelty cannot be more clear
This would be the last day with Jay.
So I raised a glass of beer.
Michael K
The Chase looking for a vocalist
Posted: August 17, 2021 in Live Sound Reinforcement Series, MUSIC, projectsTags: #bass, #creed, #guitar, #jamesfidelli, #jimihendrix, #keyboardplayers, #Liveband, #livesoundreinforement, #localbands, #metallica, #michaelskennedy, #midimike, #midimike.com, #petergabriel, #queen, #redhouse, #stonecoldcrazy, #thechase, #vintage recordings
Continuing on in this series, the cover band I performed with is trying out new vocalists. Fortunately I record often and want to share with you some of the live performances during this time with The Chase. The songs were performed by James Fidelli and he also played a bit of electric rhythm guitar.
What You Want
Posted: October 30, 2020 in Midi Series, MUSICTags: #guitar, #Ibanez, #michaelskennedy, #Midi, #midicontroller, #midimike, #midimike.com, #original songs, #Presonus, #singersongwriter, #studio, #studioengineer, #StudioOne5, #vocalist, #Yamaha
I have a rough version of a new song called “What You Want”. Well, it is called that now because I put lyrics to it from an earlier Lyric Post.
This is a tune using an old Yamaha drum machine I recently became caretaker of. I set up a nice but simple drum pattern using my Alesis MIDI drum pad and recording again in Studio One 5 by Presonus. I am using the internal sounds in Studio One 5 to play the bass guitar parts, triggered by an M-Audio MIDI keyboard I got with the drum machine and some other cool toys.
After the beat was down and feeling a bit more fun to play with, I added the two guitar parts using my Ibanez electric guitar. I recorded two tracks but instead of hooking up my amplifier and all my pedals, I plugged straight into the mixingboard so it would go direct-out to my computer input.
I used one of the many plug-ins included with Studio One 5 to add effects to the guitar. The built in guitar tuner plug-in is also really handy and I like the way it operates. So no need to connect to a tuner after each practice take. Each guitar track used the same plug-in but set to different guitar effects.
I am working on adding vocals but for now here is “What You Want”.
Music for “The Next Step”
Posted: July 13, 2020 in My Tunes, PoetryTags: #bandLab, #DAW, #drums, #guitar, #Ibanez, #michaelskennedy, #Midi, #mididrums, #midimike.com, #original songs, #poetry, #singer song-writer, #sonar, #song, #songwriter, #vocalist, #voice
Earlier I posted a poem (although poems and lyrics are often interchangeable with me) called “The Next Step”: https://midimike.com/2020/06/22/the-next-step/
This shuffle will take a while to get used to. Really, there is no groove here. No comedic relief either, but I do like the strangeness of it. How about that for an intro?!!
The recording was simple and there is a lot of open space in this one that makes most listeners a little uncomfortable. I played my Ibanez 6 string electric guitar and used effects from my PC after the recording to get the delay and chorus effects. I created the MIDI drums to match the odd beat in the guitar strums. After laying down a simple bass guitar track using computer plug-ins and the song is almost done.
“Not Now” put to music
Posted: June 6, 2020 in Midi Series, MUSIC, music technology, My TunesTags: #acoustic, #acoustic guitars, #bandLab, #Cakewalk, #guitar, #lyrics, #Martinguitars, #Michael s Kennedy, #michaelskennedy, #microphone, #Midi, #midimike, #midimike.com, #mixing board, #mixingboard, #music, #original songs, #poetry, #recording, #recordingstudio, #singer, #sonar, #vocalist, lyrics, original music, originals, poetry, singer song-writer, singing
I mentioned experimenting with an on-line jamming program. It became the clipboard for a few guitar sections I created while waiting for one thing or another to work. I titled each as verse, bridge, chorus, etc. I had to give it a project name to save the clipboard and I came up with “Not Now”.
I used those short pieces and assembled them into a song arrangement. Once the chords and arrangement were in place I naturally started thinking of lyrics (as I have a tendency to do). The file was named Not Now so I kept it as my Cakewalk (BandLab) project name. So it becomes the theme of the lyrics. In one hour they were written. Getting them to match the odd rhythms and sparse instrumentation became a challenge. It took me a few days to come up with the melody and then practice it enough to get the rough tracks down. To all just joining; I get things down to rough tracks and then write another song, poetry, lyric or instrumental. When I was young I hoped some band would do my songs correctly in a studio. I am not young now.
Here is a rough mix of “Not Now”. I used a Martin Acoustic/Electric guitar for the guitar track. Using my MIDI keyboard I pulled up a plug-in for drum sounds. I imported the original noodling guitar parts I did from the clipboard but they were not recorded to a metronome or drum pattern. I listened and figured out the tempo of the segments and set Cakewalk to match. That way I could listen to the short guitar segments as I created the basic drum parts and arranged all the segments in order. I pulled up a bass guitar sound and played the MIDI keyboard to generate the bass line.
Next, I Muted the original guitar tracks and recorded a new track to replace it. The song seemed to cry out for strings but that is usually just me. I like good sounding strings in various styles of music.
Lyrics were posted here: https://midimike.com/2020/06/01/not-now/
I gave a link to BandLab above. Full disclaimer this is not a commercial and I do not get paid for anything I do here. However….. if you are interested I used to pay hundreds of dollars every year or so to keep this great recording program updated. They now offer the program and all updates for FREE. No kidding.
I hope you enjoy “Not Now”. Each time I listen to it I like it more. Again, this is just me as each new song I write becomes my newest favorite.
If just for a little while.
Euphoria Before The Chase
Posted: May 13, 2020 in Live Sound Reinforcement Series, MUSIC, VideoTags: #bass guitar, #black Crows, #Cincinnati, #coverband, #drummer, #drums, #Euphoria, #guitar, #journey, #keyboard, #keyboardplayers, #KinksX, #Liveband, #livesoundreinforement, #michaelskennedy, #microphone, #midimike, #midimike.com, #mixing board, #Night Ranger, #Pink Floyd, #Queensryche, #Robin Trower, #Shooting Star, #The Chase, #The Who, #venue, #video, #vintage recordings
I just posted another vintage video to YouTube. This is a live recording of Euphoria in my early days with the band. We are playing live at Hollies in Springfield OH. for some of this post. This was a transition period as members of Euphoria took time off and a new band formed later to be called The Chase. I did use some video from the events but compared to hi definition available today, it just looks dated, because it is! Enjoy at night at home and some great live music:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAW_cJVFFog
The Chase Live 2
Posted: April 14, 2020 in Cover Tune Tuesdays, Live Sound Reinforcement Series, MUSIC, Photography, VideoTags: #acoustic guitars, #bass guitar, #guitar, #keyboard, #keyboardplayers, #livesoundreinforement, #michaelskennedy, #microphone, #midimike, #SOCIALDISTANCING, cover band, Creed, Jethro Tull, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, live audience, Live performance, live recording, local bands, Michael S Kennedy, MIDI Mike, Santana, Stealers Wheel
I posted songs from the first half of our live set when I was playing with The Chase earlier. Today I would like to share with you select songs from the second half of our set. The recording is decent – though this is ancient as it was recorded on a cassette tape!!!
Anyway, people all over the world are having tough times. Stuck indoors is the least of our concerns. Sit back, stay at home and listen to a live band performing classic rock songs from Jethro Tull to Santana and Creed.
As a note of mild interest; I have no pictures of the vocalist in this particular recording. I have video, but compared to the hi-res available today, the videos just don’t look very good. Sean (Shoeless Shawn) Bandy is the lead vocalist this evening.
Have a drink and a great evening in and stay safe!
Thanks for the visit!
MidiMike 