Write about your first computer.
Unlike other computers available at that time, it had built in MIDI ports! This allowed musicians to connect the computer to the new generation of MIDI keyboards, sequencers and drum machines. MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface.
Later I got a job at a music store selling musical equipment and was given the nickname MIDIMIKE!
I still have the Atari and my Yamaha DX7 MIDI keyboard.
Midimike
Back with the morbid themes. A how to guide when the end of your life is here. A lesson from the wise and experienced. Dyeing is the easiest part. Once you are gone though, your story can be told by others. So be kind!
Bucket lists have been a recurring thing now and then. In the earlier days I would think about crossing off something on the list before I die. Now my list has a bunch of things to do before someone else like the artist or performer dies! Back to the song, it is trying to inspire us to think of life as short for some but death happens to all of us as they say. What would you like to do? One of those was just to finish something to be proud of. To actually accomplish something good. But whatever it is, I want to take you with me when I do it.
This was an unsusual song-writing project for me. I was experimenting with some guitar chords and came up with an interesting progression. I often start a song by messing around with the keyboards or guitar and work out an arrrangement as a scratch framework for drums and other instrumentation. Then I record just the basic raw instrument with all of it’s flaws, but keeping as much of the ‘vibe’ as I can.
From this track I figure out the tempo I am using and get an idea of the arrangement. With ‘The Feast’, I started with a really slow tempo at first. This allowed time for the chords to open up to harmonies and musical tension. Then I usually archive the original track, and start building the song. After I worked out the arangement and had the basic rhythm tracks finished, I started playing with a melody line for my lyrics.
Often, I will just sing as I walk throughout the house and do regular chores when no one’s around. For ‘The Feast’, I had some ideas but nothing stuck. I decided to use the keyboards and a flute sound to noodle around with the melody line. Later I decided it didn’t work and changed the sound to an acoustic bass guitar part and it seemed to fit!
But when I added all the MIDI tracks, guitar and vocals, it seemed pretty dull. Yes, it had melodic texture, but did not have the feel I was looking for. As an experiment, I changed the tempo to make it much faster and this is the version below:
The lyrics were a bit difficult to fit into the much shorter spaces, but I got used to it soon enough and it seemed to work well enough for rock and roll. So I had to re-recorded all the tracks after the tempo change. Not the most efficient way to record a song, but as I always say – ‘any port in a storm’!
I had my 70th birthday last week. I am not sure how many more songs there are waiting inside me. I just get fascinated by almost every aspect of writing, recording and producing music. There are enough people on the planet now that there is a fairly large audience for almost any style of music. The recording software of today is MIND BLOWING compared to when I first started recording when I was 15 years old.
It is too bad that the music industry intentionally crushes novel styles and creative talent while pushing the same vanilla – overproduced – cookie-cutter garbage that is easy to sell (when there aren’t many options available). It is like going to the grocery stores now and seeing fewer and fewer products that are not the ‘store brand’. You can’t buy your favorite bread there anymore (because it is not AS profitable for them to sell), so you settle for what is there.
Don’t settle.
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.
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
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
A spin off from an afternoon contemplating how many people get the basic premise of evolution wrong. I often hear descriptions as if the organism intends to branch off or enhance a trait or feature. Anyway, I wondered what was the first emotion and how quickly did the others develop. While I am at it, in what order? Did humans and other primates have dreams before experiencing emotions?
At times I think I am a bit OCD, but it is probably just an organizational fixation I have developed. Mostly because I walk throughout the house without lights on all the time. If something is out of place I can find myself stumbling to the floor. Mistakes are made, wonders go unobserved, people search for the wrong thing. It’s easy to do.
A cute association I made when it looked like I was finally going to get a divorce last year. This song blends ideas over a number of years as many of my lyrics tend to do. Screaming over nothing. Saying stuff she knows isn’t true. But the reflections of a love that got away was from a past relationship decades ago. What are your Eight Letters?
I love you
I am sorry
A B C D E F G A
MidiMike 