#singer | MidiMike

Posts Tagged ‘#singer’

Lifting the Veil of Depression – Peter Gabriel in Concert

Posted: June 24, 2016 in Opinions and Observations, Uncategorized
Tags: #audio, #band, #concert, #creative, #depression, #lyrics, #music, #musician, #performance, #performer, #personal, #singer, #song, #songwriter, #sound, #stage, #story, #writer

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There have been many memorable events in my life to date and many more to come. It might not be apparent at the time the impact any one of them would have at the time. I have never been diagnosed or treated professionally but I find myself dealing with depression from time to time. It is impossible to know what triggers those feelings and more difficult to see your way out. On one of those times I could not break the cycle. I had no motivation or inspiration. In fact, I did not care at all. About anything. I had been through similar situations before so for weeks I kept telling myself it would pass in its own time. I would get through this one as well. But that was the only positive thought I had. Life not worth living. Nothing made me happy or sad. I forced myself through motions and obligations by shear routine. I seemed like this would go on forever. It felt unbearable even though most of my friends had no idea what I was dealing with.

I had tickets to see an amazing show under any circumstances, so I went to see Cirque du Soleil. It is funny how this affected me. I watched human beings do what seemed impossible even if you could think of the skills in the first place. Art and amazing physical prowess seamlessly blended together to tell a story with few words. Strength and perfection only achieved with years and years of unrelenting practice and sacrifice. It again showed me the potential of mankind. Dedication, creativity, trust, respect were all required to make this amazing performance happen. I realized watching each scene that we are incredible beings when we try. That night I started trying again. I saw the end of the funk that was created by myself – for myself. I could see again the beauty of life and the result of hard work when things seem impossible.

History sometimes repeats itself. Funny to think of this after my recent event at a concert to see my musical mentor and hero – Peter Gabriel, performing on tour with Sting. It is so refreshing to know there are others in the world that struggle to be good. That work every day to promote peace love and all that corny stuff I could not live without. In their music and through their lives they can impact so many. I thought I would never be able to see Gabriel perform. I have come close, but things did not work out. They almost did not work out this time either. Of all the artists/people in the world, his music, words and projects affect me like no other person on this earth. I am who I am with his unknowing help and guidance. I struggle to be better knowing it is possible.

I grew up listening to Genesis and following his solo career. I am not obsessed and do not own everything he has. I do not know every detail of his personal life or career. But I do think I ‘know the man’. I understand him as a man and not an idol. We are growing old together.

Sting was also amazing and sang a number of Peter’s songs, and performing his own tunes and some from the days of The Police. For me, it was precious, unforgettable and one of the greatest musical experiences I have had.

Co-Write a Song with Me – Update

Posted: May 25, 2016 in My Tunes, projects
Tags: #audio, #creative, #lyrics, #music, #musician, #performer, #personal, #recording, #singer, #song, #songwriter, #sound, #story, #studio, #writer

The following is version two of the song I posted titled: “Some People”. See the following link to review the post: https://midimike.com/2016/04/12/co-write-a-song-with-me/.

I do want to thank the brave participants and hope I reflected your thoughts for each verse. I added as needed and took out as little as possible to fit the melody, but much of your thoughts are intact. The first two verses and one other verse are in the original release. If you have not sent in your submissions there is still time, and I will add them in a final version. Everyone knows “Some People” LOL!

To re-cap, I posted the song and video for Some People asking fellow bloggers to write verses for a new version of the song based on the format of the original lyrics. Each submission blogger is credited for their writings above each verse as co-authors! Who knows, maybe another video is in order and authors could submit pictures for their verses.

bino32 says:

Some people are happy
A smile or two to spread
Some people, they feel blue
With cold steel pressed against their heads
Trembling like me?
Or dancing like you?

Charles G. says:

Some say it’s not their place
Others misuse the day
The faithful will say grace
Some have too much to say
A wonderful spot
To watch it revolve

None Other Then Hannah says:

Some beings are kind,
Generous to others.
While many are glued,
Haunt victims to the ache.
Countless overcome,
And show way of escape.

Ancient Skies says:

Some people are just people

not me but you –

longing for a reason to

not to be blue –

hey my brother hang in,

you can sing again –

it’s all about the tune you see –

but this life just ain’t free.

Some people are just people,

not me but you.

So sing that tune

to chase the blues.

tracihalpin says:

Some people are real
Some people pretend
Some people don’t feel
Which one are you?

atribeuntangled says:

Some people say they spread the love,

believe like them and rise above.

But if you stray and use your mind

you fall so fast and ties unbind.

Song in the Making Part IIII – New vocalist

Posted: May 12, 2016 in My Tunes
Tags: #audio, #creativity, #digital, #keyboard, #lyrics, #Midi, #music, #musician, #personal, #piano, #recording, #recordingstudio, #singer, #song, #songwriter, #sound, #story, #studio, #vocalist, #vocals

As we moved the song “My Heart is Silent” forward, I wanted to give you an update in the process. New chord structure keeping some of the vibe from the first version and new vocals and you can see how quickly songs can change from the original concept. The last version had a female vocalist and this time we hear from a friend of Mack. His name is Carlos and he has a smooth ballad vocal style. Again, this is the first vocal attempt to give us an idea how the song feels with a male vocalist and more of a structured feel to the verses.

We decided to go with a spoken intro for the first verse. I like the way it opens the song and allows us to build the vocals as the song progresses. Oddly enough, a lot of the lyrics went back to the original as the song structure fit the words a bit easier. We also considered doing a male-female duet. No final decision yet and we are still thinking about back-up vocals to enhance some of the lines from each verse to drive the end of the song as it builds up.

I added MIDI string parts after the piano intro. The drum parts and bass guitar are also all MIDI generated coming from the computer. I added a low-key rhythm guitar part during the chorus and later verses. Once we have the vocal parts finalized we may add other instruments as the song progresses toward the end.

So what do you think? Male vocalist, female or duet?

What other instruments do you ‘hear’ in the final version? Saxophone? Brass? Orchestral? Lead guitar?

Do you like the spoken opening verse rather than jumping straight into the melody?

Here is the latest rough mix of “My Heart Is Silent”.

A Song in the Making Part III

A Song in the Making Part II

A Song in the Making

Lucky Break – We Can Make It As Two

Posted: March 17, 2016 in MUSIC, My Tunes, Uncategorized
Tags: #family, #guitar, #love, #luck, #lyrics, #music, #musician, #personal, #poem, #poetry, #singer, #song, #songwriter, #sound, #story, #writer

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The time is all right,

The music’s all right

But that’s not the way you feel.

You think it’s so sad,

You drove yourself mad.

Don’t forget, you made a deal.

What happened that day, made you run away

‘Til your world seemed so unreal.

All of your friends said, you were living dead,

It takes time for wounds to heal.

You stopped and looked around,

What you need could be found.

Don’t need a lucky break, to handle what we make,

We can make it as two.

Your mamma’s all right,

Your daddy’s all right.

They both love you the way you are.

Yes snowflakes can fall,

And not land at all.

Life is not quite so bizarre.

What happened that day, made you run away

‘Til your world seemed so unreal.

All of your friends said, you were living dead,

It takes time for wounds to heal.

You stopped and looked around,

What you need could be found.

Don’t need a lucky break, to handle what we make,

We can make it as two.

This song is on my new album Before The Chase available now on itunes!

Start to Stop Again

Posted: February 3, 2016 in My Tunes
Tags: #audio, #guitar, #lyrics, #music, #musician, #personal, #recording, #singer, #song, #songwriter, #sound, #story, #studio, #writer

There were a string of original tunes in the early 1980’s. Some you have heard here already. These were very profound times in a lot of ways. Real work worlds. Kids. Relationships. Marriage. Responsibilities. Debt.

This song was not written in one or two sessions. It took quite a long time to make this fit together. I Often find snippets in other writings and combine with others to make a full song. This is one that I may have done that with as there are so many different topics and observations. Part of my challenge in writing songs people can relate to is being able to state the obvious in a clever, funny or different way. So I would think of these ‘one liners’ and write them down. Some were my normal trite stuff, but a few were well said and became part of these lyrics.

I like to play a few different ‘voicings’ or positions on the 12 string and take advantage of open strings or cool octaves when I can. (it also reduces the hand-cramps you get when holding down all those strings!!) In some chord changes you can play the same chord in different positions back-to-back and it sounds like you are playing different chords. The guitar part is sparse and melodic. It sets the mood during the intro. Allowing the intro chords to ring out with a slow rhythm lets the 12 string shine all the more. The lyrics paint a pretty good picture of life experiences I had during that time.

Don’t think you can’t help out my friend. Because we try, we control the end!

A Lack of Concern

Posted: November 23, 2015 in MUSIC, My Tunes, Uncategorized
Tags: #audio, #band, #guitar, #keyboard, #lyrics, #music, #musician, #personal, #recording, #singer, #song, #songwriter, #sound, #story, #studio

For another look into the times, Lack of Concern is a gem in a time capsule.  These were good times.  I was still working at the music store.  Playing with toys, buying a few here and there and energy I can only imagine looking back, LOL!   It was a period where a lot of music was written and performed. Lots of projects.  Learning as much as we could.  Showing it to others!  That was the fun part.

The words in a number of my songs are important to me.  In the same way I have been told that aromas and fragrances can help recall a specific event in the past, lyrics do for me.  They are a portal that allows a connection to create itself again. With that memory brought to the surface I can recall many of the events that inspired thoughts that somehow managed to become poems or lyrics. I surround myself mentally in the time.

“Tease me with the truth, baby, don’t tempt me with a lie” is one that puts me back at that time, in that mood.  This song contains a number of those portals.  This song asks the basic question; … ‘do you know what you are doing and still do it, or are you completely unaware of what you are doing?”. I just love the upbeat arrangement in this song. For this song I had the Yamaha DX7S, their updated model and a drum machine. My wife Ellen and I do the vocals. I play acoustic rhythm guitar parts and Shawn my buddy! comes over to play the lead and decorative guitar parts. I just let him run wild during the entire song and pick the gems to accent parts of the song. This may be the only time I have recorded this song. It is also one I rarely play out, but I think it is catchy in its own way.

Mr. Charlie Told Me So

Posted: October 22, 2015 in My Tunes
Tags: #12string, #acoustic, #audio, #band, #cover, #creative, #creativity, #greatfuldead, #guitar, #music, #musician, #performance, #personal, #recording, #retro, #singer, #song, #songwriter, #sound, #story, #studio, #vocalist, #vocals, #writer, #writing

Thinking about a recent post where we shared our first concert experiences, I was reminded about my first concert to see The Grateful Dead. I was fairly young and the environment was overwhelming and exciting.

We used to play one of their songs called “Mr. Charlie”. The Grateful Dead are off beat by nature and this is one of their songs most people have not heard. I recorded this cover song a couple years ago and decided to pull it out of the ‘deep-freeze’ and post it for the fun of it.

When I was in cover bands, we were pretty much forced to play main stream or currently airing songs. I would suggest the unknown songs often but understood when we played only a few. This one never got the approval either, but the core group used to warm up on this one and I just like the flavor of the song.

Credits to The Grateful Dead. This is my Ovation 12 String guitar and I do a little harmony. Hope you have a little fun with this as well.

His Simon to My Garfunkel

Posted: September 28, 2015 in My Tunes
Tags: #acoustic, #audio, #create, #creativity, #guitar, #harmony, #music, #musician, #personal, #recording, #retro, #singer, #song, #songwriter, #sound, #story, #vocalist, #vocals, #writer, #writing

Years ago when I was still learning to play guitar; I know, we are always learning! In this piece, my great friend and musical soul mate Tom Robinson is playing guitar and singing. I play around with the harmony, not knowing exactly where this song is going as we play off each other’s ideas as the song ends. This is another very basic living room recording but I simply love the song and the textures we created around the basic outline of the song. I hope you enjoy it as well. There are a number of inside jokes and references people might not totally understand, but I don’t think that will interfere too much.When I contacted them recently for correct song credits the answers were definite with options available for future adjustments. Tom Gorman and Tom Robinson [for all intents and purposes…] wrote the lyrics. Music by Tom Robinson. For a little more history I will include a portion of the conversation for historic kicks and giggles.

(Co-authors) Tom Gorman to Tom Robinson:

It was I July or Aug of 77 at your apartment. ….. Your stereo wasn’t working, and you were tinkering with it. You began to make progress and said “We got the capability . . .” For whatever reason, that inspired me, and I wrote most of the words to the song, including most of the refrain. ….. You came up with the lines about (mutual friends). I had written “We’ve got to feed our habits now” but couldn’t think of anything else. You changed “habits” to “rabbits” and added the line about rounding up the steer. At a later point, you put it to music and added “Thinkin’ about our doodely doom” and “weekend in the womb.” You also gave it the title “The Round-up.” The illegal beer was the Millers that (we) managed to score on a Sunday when it was illegal to sell it on Sunday.

Save the Moment!

Posted: September 16, 2015 in Poetry
Tags: #acoustic, #creative, #creativity, #father, #guitar, #life, #love, #lyrics, #music, #musician, #observation, #personal, #poem, #poetry, #singer, #song, #songwriter, #story, #writer

Still Turning (c)

I keep looking through the blinds
Not knowing what I’ll find.
I keep looking
I keep looking.

I start walking out the door
Can’t remember what for.
I start walking
I keep walking.

I turn left then I turn right
Just trying to get it right.
I’m still turning
Still turning.

Spending much more than I make
Never have what it takes.
Spending my time
Spend all my time.

Think about it day and night
See it all in black and white.
Better think again
Think again.

I turn left then I turn right
Just trying to get it right.
I’m still turning
Still turning.

Looks good but sounds all wrong
Like words to a different song.
Doesn’t feel right
Feel alright.

Never know what the future brings
Tell Daddy everything.
You never know
You never know.

Once upon a time, maybe two
You love someone who loves you.
Save the moment
Save the moment.

Question of the Week? Part 2

Posted: September 11, 2015 in Opinions and Observations, Question of the Week
Tags: #answer, #conversation, #creativity, #love, #music, #musician, #personal, #petergabriel, #question, #sing, #singer, #song

For me, the answer is easy, but I would rather have a few minutes to talk about whatever they wanted to talk about….. whatever was on his mind. I would not want my favorite artist, Peter Gabriel, just to sing a few songs and leave, But to have a short conversation would be memorable indeed! His creativity, charitable works and world views would make for a very interesting interaction. My wife and daughter would love to have him serenade them with, “Here Comes The Flood.”

What about you? Who would you want to stop by? What song would you want them to sing?

MidiMike

Available on iTunes and CD Baby

Social Media

MSK original Songs

Posts Tagged ‘#singer’

Lifting the Veil of Depression – Peter Gabriel in Concert

Co-Write a Song with Me – Update

Song in the Making Part IIII – New vocalist

Lucky Break – We Can Make It As Two

Start to Stop Again

A Lack of Concern

Mr. Charlie Told Me So

His Simon to My Garfunkel

Save the Moment!

Question of the Week? Part 2

Archives

Available on iTunes and CD Baby

Social Media

MSK original Songs

Posts Tagged ‘#singer’

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