I continue to look at the actions I see in crowds or parties that I become part of. The opening verse is part of a number of themes I have pondered for a while. How much is enough for wealthiest people on the planet? How can you measure when you succeed? And it applies to all. You know something is wrong and you don’t say anything….. She simply wasted what she had….. They never knew how good they had it until.
Posts Tagged ‘#midicontroller’
How do you Know? MSK 2007
Posted: December 5, 2023 in PoetryTags: #audio, #Cakewalk, #lyrics, #michaelskennedy, #Midi, #midicontroller, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #personal, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #poetrypod, #recording, #recordingstudio, #singersongwriter, #songwriter, #sound
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Hint of Truth MSK 1993
Posted: November 28, 2023 in PoetryTags: #audio, #Cakewalk, #lyrics, #michaelskennedy, #Midi, #midicontroller, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #personal, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #poetrypod, #recording, #songwriter, #sound
Short and more to the poetry side. I am a salesperson at this time. I imagine the words came from the need and/or ability of the sales person to show the glitter and hide the mud when demonstrating a product. It is easy to show a hundred things to back up a lie, but you can only find a few things to verify the truth.
Heaven is Warm MSK 1983
Posted: November 21, 2023 in PoetryTags: #audio, #Cakewalk, #lyrics, #michaelskennedy, #Midi, #midicontroller, #mididrums, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #personal, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #poetrypod, #recording, #recordingstudio, #singersongwriter, #songwriter, #sound
Another oldie here. My lyrics and poetry often reference religions and their associated topics and phrases. Since my early adulthood, I began my rapid change in direction from an altar boy in the Catholic Church studying to become a priest or other station toward atheism. These are concepts most people around here recognize. My habit of stating the obvious does not reflect well on most religions as their flaws can be felt worldwide.
Hearts of Stone MSK 2016
Posted: November 14, 2023 in PoetryTags: #audio, #Cakewalk, #lyrics, #michaelskennedy, #Midi, #midicontroller, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #personal, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #poetrypod, #recording, #recordingstudio, #singersongwriter, #songwriter, #sound, #vocalist
Even islanders from eons past knew there are other lands. Birds would cross continents in yearly marathons in the air. Most of us in the US know so little about anyone or anywhere not contained by its political borders. Beyond the ocean is of little consequence to many here. That leads me to consider what I would be like in a place with no rivers or lakes. How could I survive a frozen tundra or tropical swamp? If evil were the ruler would I want to live in torment? Would I be in a prison for the rest of my life? We judge from so far away on many levels and the laws of man are easily corrupted.
“The Dream” Dolby Atmos Mix
Posted: October 22, 2023 in #poetry, music technology, My Tunes, technologyTags: #audio, #dolby, #DolbyAtmos, #lyrics, #Martinguitars, #michaelskennedy, #midicontroller, #mididrums, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #poetry, #Presonus, #recordingstudio, #singersongwriter, #songwriter, #spatialpanning, #Studio1+, #studioOne, #StudioOne+, #thedream, #vocalist
Again using Dolby Atmos for the spatial audio mix, I have another song for you to listen to. Using headphones will give you the best dimensional effect, though the speakers will also reflect some clarity and each instrument or vocalist will be heard a bit easier and clearer – more distinct.
I imagine this to be similar to being in a small crowded room with lots of people talking. It is hard to make out any of the conversations going on around you. Now, Imagine the room much bigger and everyone spaced further away from each other and you. Now you can hear conversations and know who is laughing or singing. Something like that. Instead of mixing so all the instruments are ‘sitting on top of each other’ in the stereo field, the listener can be part of – or completely removed from the sound scape. We can now give the listener the illusion of sound coming from anywhere in the ‘room’ we create.
Here is another song I wrote and recorded recently called “The Dream”. The spatial effects in Atmos do indeed, give a new dreamy sound to the mix.
MIDIMike
Forward MSK
Posted: September 26, 2023 in PoetryTags: #audio, #lyrics, #michaelskennedy, #midicontroller, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #personal, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #poetrypod, #Presonus, #recording, #songwriter, #sound, #studioOne, #StudioOne5
Music for “When In Doubt”
Posted: September 9, 2023 in MUSIC, My TunesTags: #alternative, #audiotechnica, #folk, #lyrics, #Martinguitars, #michaelskennedy, #midicontroller, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #personal, #poetry, #progressivefolk, #recording, #recordingstudio, #singer, #songwriter, #Studio1+, #StudioOne+
I am not really finished with this song. Many of my songs move on to the ‘finished’ shelf when there is a lot more to be done with the song and/or recording. Being the jack-of-all-trades singer-songwriter/engineer-producer and all the rest means I can generate decent versions of my original music without waiting for band mates, schedules, funding and studio availability.
I realized long ago I cannot make them commercial or ‘radio-play’ worthy on my own. But here you can see early versions of a song or two developing or maybe ones I pushed out into the lime light too soon. I’m OK with that because most of my songs are not ready for prime time. Still, I think I have a bunch of great tunes posted on this blog. Some of my tunes are progressive folk, some lean towards alternative, some are a bit on the soundtrack side. Maybe not your style of music, but there’s something for everyone.
I hope you enjoy an early glimpse of “When In Doubt“.
Music for “The Wrong Thing”
Posted: September 1, 2023 in MUSIC, music technology, My Tunes, PoetryTags: #guitar, #korgnautilus, #lyrics, #Martinguitars, #michaelskennedy, #midicontroller, #mididrums, #midimike, #midimike.com, #mixingboard, #music, #musician, #personal, #singersongwriter, #songwriter, #Studio1+, #studioengineer, #vocalist, #vocals
I put lyrics I posted earlier to a new piece I am working on. This song also originated as a mathematical idea. Based on rhythm or patterns this time. Specifically: drumming my fingers on the top of a dinner table. Percussion is so deep in my history it is hard to separate it from the real world. So I tap out a rhythm that is slightly difficult until I get it consistent. This drum pattern is short and repeated with slight variations over time. As you might imagine from listening to music, even drums are ‘tuned’ for specific songs or projects.
Each tom in the drum kit is tuned to a specific pitch (the good drum techs will match the tuning to the current song/project/session). Now transfer those notes to a piano staff and you can play ‘melodies’ on the drums. My finger tapping pattern became the basis for an arpeggio of sorts when I used it to play different chord formations on my Korg Nautilus keyboard. That meant that I would use the repeated pattern for each chord in the song progression. Then I added new parts and changed a bunch of stuff until presto-chango! A new song!
I got out my cheapo 5 string bass guitar and added a back up feel for the keyboard melody. I like to add guitars to most of my recordings and used my brother’s Martin 6 string to add the chord structure and main rhythms throughout the song.
Once the arrangement was settled for the most part I started to write the drums. This gives me the opportunity to match or follow the accents and rests in the guitar parts. I can make sure the drum beat is matching my song and not the other way around. I often add rhythmic nuances to each verse and chorus. I use a MIDI drum pad to trigger sounds in software I have in my recording suite and created each segment’s drum track. After way-too-much-editing, I got a reasonable drum track with good balance and lively feel.
You guessed it. I do all of this myself so now it is time to come up with a melody and try to do the best I can to sing it. Most often the melodies I write reflect my limited vocal range and power. I would have a real vocalist sing what they were able to and felt inspired to sing. Same with all the other instruments I play as well. I get out my Audio Technica 4033 microphone to work out melody, timing, phrasing and harmonies. It takes me a number of practices just to find where my voice can fit in and what notes I can (and can’t) reach. All prepared and organized it still takes me an hour or so of trial and error to record what you will hear even though it is not quite right.
Package it all up with solid mixing levels and some processing or effects added to individual tracks and I have a quick mix ready for you. I might not add anything else to this song personally. As usual, I will play this song for friends and see if they feel like adding to or replacing my tracks.
There are so many ways to create music. Take your MIDI melody line and make it the bass guitar part. Use any drum pattern to trigger piano notes or other samples. Play with the rhythm by starting the drum pattern on beat 2. Listen to birds chirping or wind chimes in the breeze. Make it easy to get started and see where things go, but rule number one: don’t wait for the vocalist to show up!
MIDIMike
Felt this way Before MSK 2005
Posted: August 22, 2023 in PoetryTags: #audio, #Cakewalk, #lyrics, #michaelskennedy, #midicontroller, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #personal, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #poetrypod, #recording, #recordingstudio, #songwriter, #sound, #vocalist
I really love the twist in these lyrics. They have a push-pull effect as you go through each verse. It reminds me of the excitement and fear sharing the same space as you find yourself in a new relationship….. each new step scary and thrilling. Afraid to share too much or hold too tightly.
Eye of the Storm MSK 2017
Posted: August 8, 2023 in PoetryTags: #audio, #lyrics, #midicontroller, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #personal, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #poetrypod, #Presonus, #recording, #singersongwriter, #songwriter, #sound, #vocalist
These lyrics are a sister version of Deep Inside. Writing the song I think I had too much to say so I ended up writing two songs with similar themes and lyrics. Neither is what I had planned and I am not convinced it worked out for the best, but I like the lyrics for each. The meaning is too complicated to get into details. We all hold a lot deep inside. Life is a journey full of traps with no signs to tell you how to get out.
MidiMike 