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 ‘#singersongwriter’
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
0
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.
A Thousand Ways
Posted: October 29, 2023 in #poetry, PoetryTags: #athousandways, #lyrics, #michaelskennedy, #midimike, #midimike.com, #musician, #personal, #poetry, #singersongwriter, #songwriter
Even the shortest journey
Has A Thousand Ways to stumble.
You fall, you Get Up.
There’s no need to be humble.
Years of effort and planning
Have A Thousand Ways to crumble.
The clues are all there;
Just listen to the rumble.
There’s only one way to build
And A Thousand Ways to fall down.
Lessons, from mistakes.
From cave, village and town.
History has shown us man
Still A Thousand Ways a clown.
You just left her there;
The bride in her wedding gown.
We tell our children all the rules
With A Thousand Ways we ignore.
Terrible choices
Eons and eons before.
Years from now you will find yourself,
Reliving more than A Thousand Ways.
A million decisions from billions of choices
Each one sings a melody, like a line from a song;
There is only one way to do it right
But A thousand Ways to do it wrong.
When you do all that you can
In A Thousand Ways you restore.
You will be happy when you look back
And see so much left to explore.
Glass of Tears MSK 1981
Posted: October 24, 2023 in PoetryTags: #12string, #audio, #lyrics, #michaelskennedy, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #ovationguitars, #personal, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #poetrypod, #recording, #recordingstudio, #reeltoreel, #singersongwriter, #songwriter, #sound
Another set of lyrics that started out more of a poem. Stating the obvious again, it appeared to me many people search for the perfect one overlook the very person they are seeking. Even in 1981 I knew how easy it was to underestimate the importance of relationships and great friends. We will all find out eventually that we were just a bit too late. The commercials of the day are responsible for the rest of the lyrics and I am not sure if they mean anything at all, but I like the idea of a glass of tears.
“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
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.
Filters of Life MSK 2017
Posted: September 5, 2023 in PoetryTags: #lyrics, #michaelskennedy, #midimike, #midimike.com, #personal, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #poetrypod, #singersongwriter, #songwriter
Opposing views of the same situation. What we might see as precious others see as ridiculous. Each of us blind to the cost of ignoring the obvious. Lessons learned by so many are forgotten to apathy. Shared knowledge replaced by broadcast propaganda.
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
MidiMike 