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.
Posts Tagged ‘#singer’
Is there Anything? MSK 2004
Posted: January 30, 2024 in PoetryTags: #audio, #Cakewalk, #lyrics, #michaelskennedy, #Midi, #midicontroller, #mididrums, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #personal, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #poetrypod, #recording, #recordingstudio, #singer, #singersongwriter, #songwriter, #sound
0
Get out of Line MSK 1981
Posted: October 10, 2023 in PoetryTags: #12string, #audio, #lyrics, #michaelskennedy, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #ovationguitars, #personal, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #poetrypod, #recording, #recordingstudio, #reeltoreel, #singer, #singersongwriter, #songwriter, #sound
From a broken relationship and the ensuing emptiness reflections are not easy. You can’t forget and remembering is overwhelming. A realization that you don’t have to wait, but what you want will easily pass you by. And from that day on you will know your loss. I remember adding the line about the train because our bass player in the Merchants of Death said he really liked to watch trains. So there you go!
From Where We Are MSK 1976
Posted: October 3, 2023 in PoetryTags: #12string, #audio, #lyrics, #michaelskennedy, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #ovationguitars, #personal, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #poetrypod, #recording, #reeltoreel, #singer, #singersongwriter, #singing, #songwriter, #sound
Wow, this is an old one! As a younger man I am beginning to imagine the life of a musician and entertainer. But my stage is in an empty arena. Family building with no money and less time takes its toll. Spread thin, sacrifices required, you know, the usual stuff kids deal with. Time to redirect and focus my life to move forward. Learn from mistakes and turn painful lessons to good use.
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“.
Take Away One Lyrics and Music
Posted: July 21, 2023 in #poetry, MUSIC, Music Theory, My TunesTags: #korgnautilus, #lyrics, #math, #mathematics, #michaelskennedy, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music theory, #musician, #musicismath, #poetry, #Presonus, #recording, #recordingstudio, #singer, #singersongwriter, #songwriter, #studioengineer, #studioOne
I wrote lyrics for Take Away One based on the idea of removing a particular note from a 4-note-chord. This leaves you with a specific 3-note-chord. Hence the name of the song and also the foundation for the original poem. I had to add a verse to the poem converting them to lyrics because for a few weeks one band member or the other could’t make a scheduled music jam. Often three members would drop out one by one leaving me as the only bandmate that made it for the jam! Sometimes we travel and jam in person, but more often we use a program for on-line musicians and connect from our homes. That is how we survived the Covid-19 lock-down.
You will notice the difference right away. This is another example of a song that came together really fast because it was based on a mathematical theme or idea. The chord pairs were based on the idea above, but the progression was completely random. The arrangement was pretty basic so it wrote itself. Once I had the title it was easy to think of examples in life where things get taken away. You’re probably doing it right now.
If you get writers block, try starting from a different point. I’ve never had writers block in my 50 years of writing and recording songs, so maybe I’m on to something.
I had fun with the ending and the arrangement has a few twists as usual. Enjoy Take Away One.
Enemies in your Head MSK 2022
Posted: July 18, 2023 in PoetryTags: #audio, #korg, #korgnautilus, #lyrics, #michaelskennedy, #midicontroller, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #personal, #poetry, #Presonus, #recording, #recordingstudio, #singer, #singersongwriter, #songwriter, #sound
Every decade or so I think I have written the best song I will ever write. Then I get older and write another. That is how I feel about Enemies in Your Head. It is a simple, powerful, emotional and deeply moving piece for me. I recorded the song with a piano, bass guitar and one vocal track. A capsule of desperation and futility. No end in sight. Often the price is paid, though there is no reward.
Music for “Reflections”
Posted: March 25, 2023 in My TunesTags: #cdbaby, #enemiesinyourhead, #guitar, #keyboard, #keyboardplayers, #lyrics, #michaelskennedy, #Midi, #midicontroller, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #perigee, #personal, #poetry, #recording, #recordingstudio, #singer, #singersongwriter, #songwriter
A little while ago I posted a poem called “Reflections”. I recently turned the poem into lyrics.
This might be a good time to detail my recording process a bit. As I write and record my own songs, I am trying (in my mind) to create a working demo of the song. Something you can listen to and get a good idea of the song and it’s potential if performed and/or recorded by an established band or artist. Because I play most of the instruments on my recordings and I do most of the singing, I know there is a lot of room for improvement. I am not the best guitarist, pianist, or vocalist around, but I write really good songs. I get them ‘good enough’ and then I move on to the next song I am writing or to the next project I am working on.
When I post my songs they are fresh from the mixing board and have not been edited and cleaned up like a formal studio version. As with my new release on CDBaby called, “The Enemies in Your Head”, the versions available on-line through Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Youtube Music, Pandora and the rest have been mixed but also mastered to make them sound a bit more professional.
“Reflections” will be on my next release, but if you use any of the services above and dozens more, you can listen to my music by searching for my name or CD names.
Hint: If you search for Michael Kennedy you will probably not find me. There are a lot of us!
If you do an artist search for Michael S ——- or —– Michael S. Kennedy you will see my releases. They are available for download and the entire CD sounds better streaming after the mastering process.
Any way, here is “Reflections”, hot off the press.
MIDIMike
What You Want is now a song
Posted: November 10, 2020 in My TunesTags: #melody, #michaelskennedy, #Midi, #midimike, #midimike.com, #mixingboard, #musician, #original songs, #singer, #songwriter, #Soundengineer, #vocalist, #vocals
After smoothing out the timing and lyrics to match the mood I was after for this new song, I wrote a melody that seems to fit pretty well.
I squeezed some of the lyrics as I mentioned and cleaned up the instrumental glitches (a technical term for anything that isn’t right) and added a few parts to the instrumental verison I posted earlier.
Minor changes go on for a long time in the final tracking stage. A lot of it will not be used at all and some will be low in volume so as not to hear distinctly. But similar to color splashes added to the face in a painting, it can really bring out the rest of the ‘image’.
What You Want:
Music for “Let You Go”
Posted: July 20, 2020 in music technology, My Tunes, Poetry, technologyTags: #boss, #Martinguitars, #Midi, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #original songs, #poetrytolyrics, #recording, #recordingstudio, #singer, #singer song-writer, #songwriting, #Yamaha
I posted a poem earlier called “Let You Go” https://midimike.com/2020/07/07/let-you-go/ that I really liked. While I was working on writing the music for these lyrics I got side-tracked. I had recorded a few MIDI drum parts and had a guitar theme I liked playing on my Martin Acoustic/Electric guitar chained together trying to get a feel for the song.
A good friend called me out of the blue and asked if I wanted to have his old MIDI studio gear. No instruments or toys will be orphaned if I can help it so I drove over that day. We chatted for a while and I left with a van full of what most people would call ‘ancient’ gear. This is the stuff hits were made with. Everything you heard growing up using electronic drums or synths used these gems.
I got home and hooked up a few pieces like a kid not knowing which present he wants to open first. DAYS LATER I opened up my recording project again and played with a vocal effect toy I had not gotten to yet. Not wanting to stop an idea I was working on I started recording in another section of the session. As you will hear, I decided not to sing the chorus parts. Instead I used some of the lyrics to do a chant-style intro and outro.
After juggling the original music around I started to work on a melody for the lyrics. I used some of the chant themes so the melody took shape pretty quickly. Not wanting to overdo the vocal effect, I just used reverb on my voice. Then I added some MIDI bass guitar sounds and put the pieces together.
Next, I added a little MIDI piano in the chorus sections and sprinkled through the end of the song. Then I made some stupid editing error and trashed all of the drum tracks!!! Redo the drum tracks and a few days later I have a rough mix for you.
As some of you will know, a rough mix is probably the last one I do! LOL.
Here is “Let You Go” as it stands today. I hope you enjoy this one.
“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.
MidiMike 