#observation | MidiMike

Posts Tagged ‘#observation’

The Value of A Musician – A Cautionary Tale

Posted: July 8, 2015 in Opinions and Observations
Tags: #audio, #band, #bass, #creativity, #guitar, #inspiration, #itunes, #journey, #keyboard, #love, #motivation, #music, #musician, #observation, #performance, #performer, #personal, #piano, #recording, #runningsound, #singer, #sound, #Soundengineer, #soundman, #speakers, #stage, #story, #studio, #truth, #vocalist

As a member of a cover band, I was given the opportunity to add something to my personal profile on the band web site. I added a statement that went something like this; “we will play anywhere for free…..we just charge to move the equipment in and out”!

If you think about it, you would have to pay an awful lot of money to have ‘professionals’ move that much equipment. Then they have to pack it all up and take it back at the end of the gig. I have played keyboards, guitar, percussion and back up vocals in most of the bands I performed with. Sometimes I also ran sound at the same time! I was carrying so much gear for myself that I probably had more than the sound guy! Once you haul equipment out of your house (I did not have duplicates, so what I used in the studio I had to tear down and take to the gig, set it up, tear it down, take it home and set it up in the studio again) and set up the gear you are all hot and sweaty and exhausted and now get to play for 4 plus hours, pack it all up and take it home. Ahhhh, the glamourous rock and roll life. Knowing all that, I think most people would be amazed at how little the local band playing the bar scene gets paid for all that work. Maybe it is confusing because we call it ‘play’. If I figured out an hourly rate I would probably get really depressed!

We also had to practice, individually and as a band. No weekends free…. you get home at 3 or 4 in the morning and have to recover most of the day, then you play that night and do it all over again. I always worked at a day job and still do, so this was about all the free time I had. Now time for family, writing and recording projects and hopefully a little time in the sun.

Is it fun? Absolutely. I am an introvert and very shy in public, but it is a thrill to perform with great musicians and have the audience appreciate what you are doing. I would not give it up, and if I were a bit younger I would still be out there. At one point I told the band members that I would quit gigging out when I turned 50 – or my van broke down, whichever came first. My van did break down first, but our light guy fixed it himself for free. So I kept playing out. Way past 50. I recently stopped because tinnitus (a ringing in the ears from long exposure to loud sounds) got pretty bad in the last few years. I only play out for special occasions these days, but it is still a blast.

The Walking Man Intro

Posted: July 1, 2015 in projects, Video
Tags: #atari, #audio, #band, #brother, #create, #creative, #creativity, #death, #digital, #life, #midimike, #motivation, #MTV, #music, #musician, #observation, #performance, #performer, #personal, #project, #recording, #recordingstudio, #retro, #runningsound, #sound, #Soundengineer, #soundman, #story, #studio, #studioengineer, #tech, #video, #writer

Believe it or not, MTV started off as a media outlet for – VIDEOS! It was not what it is today. Music videos were still relatively new and there were not that many out there but they started being produced in numbers once MTV provided an outlet for them. The Chicken or the Egg thing all over again. I did not own any video equipment, but I was familiar with photography and music, so it was a natural interest for me. Back then, cable companies were starting to set up monopolies in various cities throughout the US and we were in the Warner Amex territory. As part of their agreement with the city to provide cable and other services, Warner Amex made some of their equipment and channels available to local citizens. They provided training and allowed non-profit citizens to go through camera and editing training and once completed you could schedule use of their equipment to create content for viewing on their Public Access channels.

I was one of the first (my card was # 000090!!) to sign up for the training classes. I would borrow their equipment and film bands and live performances, family growing, along with a number of other projects.

My first project was to make a video that introduced the idea and benefits of the Public Access program, (we hoped if we had a complimentary message it would be good for PR and relationships with the people that administered the program, (we were right). and a music video idea we had been working on. This is by definition low-budget and is dated by equipment and resources available today. But it was a learning experiment and was a lot of fun. To do a lot of what we did it took a bunch of planning and trial and error. I had been playing keyboards for a very short time and there are a bunch of mistakes, I was new with the video editing and production, but not this was not bad for the first release. Usually, I am also the cameraman, but filming my own band required additional operators. I edited the video from the collection of raw tapes and a live performance of the song.

This video features my younger brother as the narrator and the music is from the duo I was in at the time called, “The Personal Touch.” The intro theme is a musical piece called “The Big D Jam”. The video is based on a song the guitar player wrote called “Transaxle“. We took vague ideas and filmed them all. Then edited them into something semi-cohesive! There are a bunch of funny stories that went into the making of Walking Man but I will spare you for now. The end credits use a song of mine introduced earlier called “The Pleasure Tax“.

As with many of these blasts from the past, there are lots of good memories and a number of painful ones. Looking at this video again so many years after, I see my youngest brother Chris in his healthy days doing the narrative part introducing the musical video before health problems including throat cancer took their toll. This is when we thought we would last forever….. there was no end in sight. We do not last for ever. For him, the end was so close to the beginning. We all have our vices, but with legal ones like tobacco and alcohol killing people every day, we all know someone that has been affected by the results. Here is the real message we should be sending; These drugs may not kill you. You will not lose ten years of your life. You will survive – and grow old – and suffer – for decades, with a disease that is eating you from the inside out. I am glad I was there to help him a little as he faced the end. I would have given anything to find another path for him, but he knew where he was going. It did not stop him and neither could I.

A Nation United…..Finally!

Posted: June 26, 2015 in Opinions and Observations
Tags: #America, #American, #change, #daughter, #dreams, #equal, #family, #harmony, #inspiration, #inspire, #journey, #life, #love, #lovewins, #marriage, #marriage equality, #marriageequality, #observation, #personal, #proud, #samesex, #scoutus, #story, #truth

Even though I am very concerned and interested in the political challenges of our time, I do not venture into those topics in this blog. My opinions are my opinions. I have my reasons for voting the way I do. Most of you have your own reasons for your private thoughts.

…….. but today I want to acknowledge the announcement by the Supreme Court. You may not agree with me – but in my humble opinion that does not make you my enemy – and I am CERTAINLY NOT YOURS! I am not gay so this does not affect me personally, but it has directly affected one of my daughters. What we have done in the past to many great and loving people was just wrong.

I am so thankful and happy this long battle for something so simple and assumed by so many as basic human rights has been decided. There is a much longer battle ahead. Like prejudice and racism, this is not over and is not easy to implement. We still have so far to go, but let us enjoy this major change and how our country continues to move in the right direction and knows it is in our best interest as a nation and as a people to treat every citizen equally.

I cannot stop smiling!

Lost Love – Your Loved Ones Are Still With You

Posted: June 24, 2015 in MUSIC, My Tunes
Tags: #12string, #acoustic, #audio, #cancer, #create, #creative, #creativity, #crying, #death, #dreams, #family, #father, #guitar, #inspiration, #inspire, #itunes, #life, #loss, #love, #lyrics, #midimike, #mom, #motivation, #music, #musician, #observation, #performance, #performer, #personal, #poetry, #recording, #recordingstudio, #retro, #singer, #song, #songwriter, #sound, #story, #studio, #tears, #truth, #vocalist, #vocals, #writer

Death is nothing new. My father died of cancer when I was – well, to be honest, I do not really know. mid-twenties? early thirties? How can a person be talented enough to write beautiful music and still be so lame when it comes to anything important? I am not sure, but my family has had to deal with me for a long time. My parents were divorced for years and I did not know him that well. At the same time, I felt like I had known him forever. He was never there through the most difficult times In my life and yet at the same time he never left. Reading about loss of a loved one on other blogs it is clear many people do not feel that way. The loss is real, it is crippling, it never ends and there is no comfort for the emptiness, no magic words.

I KNOW that wasteland. Years later my younger sister died from a freak drowning accident. I was prepared for the death of my dad (and grandparents, friends and distant family members before him). I shared his love of life and his regrets during that brief time. For my sister I had no defense. I did not dwell on death, but if I considered it, it was almost a guarantee she would outlive me. Surrounded by close family and friends I just started crying. Talking, greeting, consoling, hugging, but through it all I cried. I could not share her love of life or future dreams. I could not speak to her of death; she was gone. I thought we had so much more time left. For days if I saw her picture or heard her name; I cried. Even this far forward I had to mentally prepare to write this intro.

Not long ago, my younger brother had to pay his pleasure tax. Years of drinking and smoking caught up and throat cancer started eating away at him. The funniest and kindest guy you would ever know, he did not want to burden anyone with his problems. I did the best I could to let him know he was not alone and did not have to go through that by himself. We spent a lot of time together in those last few months. As his medical power of attorney, I followed his direction. I understood his desires and knew his demons. Some things are still too painful to think about so I don’t. But I do remember what a great human being he was. We cried many times together and apart. These days I smile thinking about him, and how great humanity can be.

Love is another type of loss but for all my education and experience over the years I could not tell you which loss is more devastating. Family you live with and know all the cool things you learned and shared together. A loved one you will never be able to learn and share future things with. Loss of the past or loss of the future. The wasteland seems to keep spreading out forever. You will never get through it and nothing can replace it.

In the middle of the wasteland jumping all the way up to the moon seems more likely than getting through to the other side. But it is the sense of loss that keeps us there. My father is still with me, telling me “remember the past, but look forward, son. Don’t blind yourself to the path out, seek it”. Hopefully, you will see that your loved ones are still with you.

This is a fairly recent song. I happened to be going through my files to build a catalog of songs I have, songs in the works and ones I have co-written for a project. Looking through papers here and there, rifling through files saved from one form of media to another, I found a set of lyrics entitled “Lost Love”. I looked at it for a while and started reading the lyrics. I did not recognize any of it, but it was my handwriting and as you will soon see, it is very personal. I read them and thought, I need to do something with this.

I have instruments in almost every room in my house. A week earlier I had been playing a chord progression that was simple but captured a certain feeling or mood that I liked. I ran upstairs and got the lyrics I mentioned. I played the guitar with the lyrics in front of me and started to sound out where the lyrics fit in the progression.

Thinking the music and lyrics fell together beautifully, I went to my studio to lay down a rough version of the song. I used one microphone and recorded the guitar and melody line. This is “Lost Love“.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/dark-energy/id962943592

Reels of Tape Lyrics

Posted: June 19, 2015 in MUSIC, My Tunes
Tags: #12string, #acoustic, #audio, #band, #cdbaby, #create, #creative, #creativity, #demo, #dreams, #guitar, #harmony, #inspiration, #inspire, #itunes, #journey, #life, #love, #lyrics, #microphone, #midimike, #motivation, #music, #musician, #observation, #performance, #performer, #performers, #personal, #poetry, #recording, #recordingstudio, #retro, #runningsound, #singer, #song, #songwriter, #sound, #Soundengineer, #stage, #story, #studio, #studioengineer, #vocalist, #vocals, #writer

Reels of tape feel no pain

Watch the movie over again.

Life pours past the flags unfurled

Crack the crystal paralyzed world.

CHORUS: I’ve been told if you live in the future,

You’ll be who you wanna be.

But I ain’t moving to San Francisco

‘Til it drops into the sea.

Careful surgeons with knives of rust

Open wounds of crimson lust.

Forget today and tomorrow.

Leave this song behind, and all it’s sorrow.

CHORUS: I’ve been told if you live in the future,

You’ll be who you wanna be.

But I ain’t moving to San Francisco

‘Til it drops into the sea.

First things first, but think about it twice.

Follow those who take their own advice.

Wasn’t trying any other time.

I’d walk away mumbling a Few Shattered Lines.

CHORUS: I’ve been told if you live in the future,

You’ll be who you wanna be.

But I ain’t moving to San Francisco

‘Til it drops into the sea.

Reels of tape feel no pain

Watch the movie over again.

Life pours past the flags unfurled

Crack the crystal paralyzed world.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/dark-energy/id962943592

This is one of the original acoustic tunes that’s featured on my new album “Dark Energy.” You can find it on ITunes or CD Baby under Michael S. Kennedy.

Reels of Tape – A Few Shattered Lines

Posted: June 17, 2015 in MUSIC, My Tunes
Tags: #12string, #acoustic, #atari, #audio, #band, #cdbaby, #create, #creative, #creativity, #demo, #dreams, #guitar, #harmony, #inspiration, #inspire, #itunes, #journey, #life, #love, #lyrics, #microphone, #midimike, #motivation, #music, #musicequiptment, #musician, #observation, #performance, #performer, #performers, #personal, #poetry, #recording, #recordingstudio, #Reel, #retro, #reverb, #runningsound, #singer, #song, #songwriter, #sound, #Soundengineer, #soundman, #speakers, #story, #studio, #studioengineer, #vocalist, #vocals, #writer

As I continue to dig into past songs it is easy to see one problem I have; I am not good at naming my songs. Sometimes I go for the punch line, but the punch line is not even a line in the song! Sometimes I try to highlight one phrase, but ignoring conventional songwriting wisdom, I do not use a phrase over and over in the chorus and call that the title. So here is another example where the names have changed over the years. Originally the title was “A Few Shattered Lines“. I was reading a letter from a friend of mine at college and I pulled some of his phrases into the lyrics. Below are the results.

Reels of Tape has a deep meaning for me. I spent a lot of years recording on reel to reel tape decks. I still have my original 4 track TEAC machine. The lyrics are more abstract than other songs I have written and for some reason I can still slip back to those times when I hear this song. I am using my Ovation Balladeer 12 string guitar as my standard writing/recording instrument over the years, and I just love the tone and the progression of the chords. The twelve strings just sound so full, and when using open tuning, it can make the chords sparkle. The other quick observation: I don’t get rid of equipment I buy…… I keep it forever!

The lyrics seem to create images that expand beyond the words. Familiar topics can do that sometimes when looked at with a different point of view or even a change in mood. I love – Life pours past the flags unfurled, Crack the crystal paralyzed world – and other parts, but I could not really tell you why. Another phrase that sticks with me is – Forget today and tomorrow, leave this song behind, and all it’s sorrow. a lot of my lyrics have a rather dark perspective. But behind them all is a sense of hope and a promise that things will get better and improve. I am one of the most optimistic people I know!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/dark-energy/id962943592

Recording as an acoustic tune, I use one track for the vocals (unless there is a harmony track) and I use another track for the ‘line out’ from the acoustic/electric guitar, and then I use another track for a microphone placed in front of the 12 string (even here, it is important to place the microphone at the ‘sweet spot’ to get the best tone. Placing a microphone in front of anything without testing will more often disappoint rather than delight. As in other posts, I have had better success if I literally stick my head up to the instrument and move back and forth until I get the best sound. Doing this while playing the instrument is not practical, so I place the microphone, record, listen and compare it to other tracks that use a different microphone position. Once you have the best of the best, you can be pretty safe using it again. Live situations with full bands and instrumentation is a challenge and I still try to stick my face in there to get an idea what that instrument sounds like but also if it is close to other instruments, speakers, or unwanted noise makers. Most vocalists will stand in front of the microphone, but even in this case if they lean or tilt one way or the other it can dramatically affect the final tone or sound. Much of this is tied to the proximity effect and we will get into that later. For the most part I will pan the 12 string guitar line out to hard Left and the microphone for the 12 string hard Right. Vocals go in the center, unless you have more than one vocalist or lead singer. I use very few processors like compressors, gates, limiters, and the like. As long as you start with a solid tone a bit of EQ if needed, bring in some light reverb or delay and the mix is done.

The Human Voice is an Amazing Instrument!

Posted: June 15, 2015 in Opinions and Observations
Tags: #12string, #audio, #band, #create, #creative, #creativity, #guitar, #harmonies, #harmony, #inspiration, #inspire, #Instrument, #life, #love, #lyrics, #melody, #midimike, #motivation, #music, #musician, #observation, #performance, #performer, #performers, #performing arts, #personal, #piano, #recording, #singer, #song, #songwriter, #sound, #soundman, #stage, #story, #vocalist, #vocals, #voice, #writer

When I was listening to music in my early years, it seemed very natural for me to sing along with the songs I like or new tunes I heard. I did not realize until years later that what I was doing was harmonizing with the melody, rather than duplicating it. This was probably my first gateway into music creation. I seemed to have a knack for developing harmonies. Rhythms and timing also came to me without me understanding what I was doing. Some people play sports, some are good at math, and some are builders. I just seemed to feel comfortable with music. My mother was in theater, radio and music and I have already blamed her for a lot of exposure to performing arts while I was growing up, so I will continue to do so!

The human voice is an amazing instrument. There is nothing like it. I know that I am not a powerful vocalist – I simply do not have the pipes it must take, but fortunately that did not stop my love for singing. As I sang along more and more, I got better at finding the notes that would enhance or decorate the melody line. I never tried to over power them, but to add to them. Sometimes a song only needs a phrase or two highlighted by harmonies or echoing the melody. Other tunes seemed to inspire harmonies throughout the song. Eventually I would hear the melody in my head and sing along creating harmonies. I could not begin to tell you how to create each note while singing… there are no manuals for this. There are lessons to be learned and great teachers or vocal instructors, but the basics are not easily put into words.

When it comes to instruments, there is a certain amount of knowledge and practice involved in understanding where the right notes are and hitting them at the right time. Just knowing the right ones to play are not enough as you have to know when and when not to play them. I bring this up because a lot of musicians talk about jam sessions or getting together and without a lot of details, start playing new themes and using ideas from other musicians to create and have fun. My point here is that I was never that comfortable simply bringing my instrument and jamming with others. I do feel comfortable with harmonies and if asked to add percussion or drums, I could fit in. But for me playing guitar, keys, bass, flute, sax, etc. without practicing and knowing what I was doing ahead of time is difficult. Many of the musicians I worked with were absolutely great at this. They were great at bouncing musical ideas off other players and coming up with gorgeous textures, themes and tonal landscapes. I have a few early examples of jams and creative sessions I would like to offer here from time to time.

LOVE/HATE Challenge – Getting to Know You

Posted: June 11, 2015 in Opinions and Observations
Tags: #12string, #artists, #audio, #band, #biking, #books, #challenge, #creative, #creativity, #daughter, #education, #family, #friend, #friendship, #guitar, #hate, #inspiration, #inspire, #life, #love, #midimike, #motivation, #music, #musician, #nature, #observation, #performance, #performer, #performers, #personal, #photography, #piano, #poetry, #recording, #recordingstudio, #runningsound, #song, #songwriter, #sound, #Soundengineer, #soundman, #stories, #story, #studio, #truth, #writer

LOVE/HATE Challenge

I’ve been nominated to complete this challenge by several of you and after some convincing from my daughter, I’ve decided to give it a go. Instead of nominating 10 more bloggers, I would like to ask you all to post your favorite things in the comments so I can get to know you better.

I want to take this moment to thank all of you again for your very kind and encouraging comments. I have truly enjoyed reading your blogs and getting to know you better. Thank you for being a part of my journey.

Here it goes…

Love:

Writing and recording music
Biking
Photography
Nature – in all it’s glory and mystery
Family and friends
Reading great books, poetry, stories
Creative music – artists and performers
Teaching and helping others
Science, education, discovery and truth
Finding solutions to difficult problems.

Hate:

Wasting natural resources
Thinking that money makes you special
Personal and corporate greed
Things that should, but do not work
Violence
Thieves, scammers and swindlers
Demanding people
Bigots
Liars
Corporate and government politics

American Indian – An Instrumental

Posted: June 10, 2015 in MUSIC, My Tunes
Tags: # mixer, #American Indian, #atari, #audio, #creative, #demo, #different, #digital, #equipment, #FX, #guitar, #inspiration, #inspire, #itunes, #keyboard, #midimike, #mixingboard, #motivation, #music, #musicequiptment, #musician, #Native American, #observation, #opinion, #performance, #performer, #personal, #piano, #recording, #recordingstudio, #retro, #song, #songwriter, #sound, #Soundengineer, #soundman, #story, #studio, #studioengineer, #synthesizer, #tech, #writer, #Yamaha

I don’t mind acknowledging that I am different than a lot of the people I know and hear about.

I am PERFECTLY OK with this. I know my music and lyrics are not the typical main-stream songs blasted everywhere. I will not appear on any searches. Growing up and watching all the Westerns and TV shows, I never – not even once – wanted to be the cowboy or the soldier. I identified with the ‘good guys’ as most kids do, but to me the cowboys and soldiers were not the only good guys. I identified more with the American Indians living with nature rather than conquering.

I am not sure what exactly inspired this song when I started it. I often think about music videos and how that could help explain through images some of the themes in this musical piece. Possibly the new toys that could make sounds that added less traditional Western culture ideas and more ethnic and international instruments. I also like contrapuntal rhythms and themes, so you will hear a lot in these pieces.

Music Hits Me Deeply

Posted: June 3, 2015 in Opinions and Observations, Reviews
Tags: #audio, #band, #bands, #bizarre, #Buffalo Springield, #civil rights, #creative, #digital, #family, #genres, #harmony, #influences, #inspiration, #inspire, #lyrics, #midimike, #music, #musician, #observation, #performance, #performer, #performers, #personal, #retro, #singer, #song, #Song review, #songs, #songwriter, #sound, #story, #unusual, #vocalist, #vocals

I have been influenced by so many individuals, bands, groups and performers over the years it is quite amazing. I was never stuck in a particular style of music. I am not a fan of opera or deep country music or blues, for that matter (I know, that will not go over well with some of you! HA!) as I lean to the other side toward open and interpretive styles. There are a bunch of names we all know and can pretty much agree on if you listen to rock, pop, jazz, R&B, country, etc. But I have almost always been drawn toward the unusual but talented; the bizarre and clever; off axis dead on target! I love bands with great vocals and harmonies. Some of my favorites are quite popular now! Household names sometimes, but many are just now getting recognition and others never gained much of a following…… I know what at least one feels like, LOL.

After growing up listening to the music of my parents and older brother and sister, I enjoyed groups out at the time. No need to go over ancient influences here. But as I was growing more and more music-aware, there were bands I really enjoyed – not just a song or two, but everything they would release. The Beatles, The Who, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Procol Harum, Gentle Giant, Yes, King Crimson, Steely Dan, The Police, Chic Corea, Herbie Hancock, Frank Zappa, Simon and Garfunkel, Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie and others before and after them just kept getting better and better.

Today I love a lot of music, but there are very few bands or artists I love most of what they do. For most it is hit and miss. Other groups are fairly consistent. Just no one I go out of my way to hear every song. Just me getting old, so no need to panic.

If you will, let me show you what has affected me growing up and songs from groups I consider the best of the best. I will probably get to your favorite groups to, but there are just so many over the years. As this is not a reflection of history, I will again avoid attempts to be chronologically accurate. Buffalo Springfield was one that managed to send me a message, and it helps to remember the times and the events surrounding some of these songs and those that lead to their hit “For What It’s Worth”.

MidiMike

Available on iTunes and CD Baby

Social Media

MSK original Songs

Posts Tagged ‘#observation’

The Value of A Musician – A Cautionary Tale

The Walking Man Intro

A Nation United…..Finally!

Lost Love – Your Loved Ones Are Still With You

Reels of Tape Lyrics

Reels of Tape – A Few Shattered Lines

The Human Voice is an Amazing Instrument!

LOVE/HATE Challenge – Getting to Know You

American Indian – An Instrumental

Music Hits Me Deeply

Archives

Available on iTunes and CD Baby

Social Media

MSK original Songs

Posts Tagged ‘#observation’

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