#sound | MidiMike

Posts Tagged ‘#sound’

12 Years of Christmas

Posted: December 23, 2015 in family, Holiday, My Tunes
Tags: #Christmas, #creative, #family, #holiday, #lyrics, #music, #musician, #personal, #recording, #sound

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

My wife and kids are quite creative. The list of ideas and mediums they have worked with (mostly played with!) would take a few articles to cover them all. One of the coolest things we used to do was to hand make small Christmas Cards that we would send or give to family friends and co-workers. We made quite a few every year. Sometimes we would make glass ornaments, sometimes fold-out decorated trees. Scarfs and matching hats. Each one unique. They became collectors items in their own little way. One of my favorites was an audio Christmas Card. Everyone received a recorded cassette.

My studio has always been open to our kids. They can play drums or percussion instruments, keyboards and if careful a guitar or two! We would record often, starting when they learned their “A,B,C’s. So we decided we would write, sing and record a song. The idea of doing the 12 years was brilliant as we had been doing this for twelve years and there is a popular song about the 12 Days of Christmas. As you will hear we may have plagiarized a bit in this recording.

We had a great pet cat at the time and his full name was Tasmanian Devil, but we called him TazMo and later Taz. He loved to curl up in the cool bathroom sink and hang out. Some other lines will describe the type of card we sent or a piece of the original song, but I think you will get the idea.

Whatever your politics, Wherever you call home, Whomever you love, and Whenever you are able, take care of yourself and your family, have a safe holiday and a great New Year.

Live Sound Reinforcement Series Chapter 20 – Stay Focused on # 1

Posted: December 17, 2015 in live Sound Reinforcement, Live Sound Reinforcement Series
Tags: #audio, #band, #mixingboard, #music, #musician, #sound, #Soundengineer, #soundman, #technology

Through the beginning to the end of the last chapter, we have concentrated on the hub or the central nervous system of a Live Sound Reinforcement assignment.  I have been focusing a bit on live performance in a typical band or musical event.  We now understand how most equipment for the House PA, the stage monitors, effects, and even lighting systems use the mixing board as the central hub.  The mixing board’s usefulness does not end there!  Once equipment is set up, connected, turned on and confirmed functional, most of the adjustments made for the rest of the evening will happen because of changes to the mixing board.  It also becomes the Master Device, and all other connected devices are ultimately controlled by the mixer.  The sound engineer is the ONLY person that should touch the mixing board.

The next logical step would be to describe the components of the House PA system and how much power (or how much money do I need to spend….).  After all, this is what most people hear, right?

Obviously, I set up as a trap question.  The answer seems obvious.

If I said, “I sound like a broken record”, most young readers will not know what that means! But I will repeat myself on certain themes and I feel one a’ comin’!  The next important thing is not the House PA and the number of speakers and amplifiers you need.  Most small venue mixing engineers go straight for the house and main systems, completely ignoring the most important ingredient guaranteeing a great performance.  We will avoid that trap now and focus on the stage and more importantly – the musicians on the stage.

When bands practice, they ultimately find a good use of space and volume so each member can achieve the two primary goals;

1) Hear myself (usually louder than any one else.  This is not ego and we will get into that later)

2) Hear the other performers (usually not as loud as the performer wants to hear him/her self!!)

Once they settle in and can accomplish the above – practice is comfortable and productive.  Each member can hear themselves and can also hear enough of the other members to blend with them.  If you saw a live symphony orchestra and all you could hear were the trombones, it would seem like an awful performance.  If you were a musician in the orchestra and all you could hear were the trombones……………

Now we can go back to the band members standing on a stage or venue they have never seen or played in……   and now understand that this is a very real challenge, and the smaller the venue… the smaller the budget.  Lack of Resources can be difficult challenge to overcome.

In larger venues it was quite normal to have a smaller mixing board off to the one side of the stage.  All the instruments and monitors would connect to this mixer, and it would ‘split’ all channels and send them equally to the House mixing board out in the audience area.  (it can also be used to send signals to a recording van parked outside).  The sound engineer on stage makes the band members happy by concentrating on the performers but does not affect the signal going to the House board.  That way the House Engineer has full control of the unaffected incoming channels from the stage board.

Good enough for now and in the next few sections I will focus on the stage sound and mix.

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.

Live Sound Reinforcement Series Chapter 20 – The Musicians on the Stage

Posted: November 10, 2015 in live Sound Reinforcement
Tags: # mixer, #audio, #band, #effects, #guitar, #microphone, #mixingboard, #monitors, #music, #musician, #sound, #Soundengineer, #speakers, #stage, #technology, #venue, #writing

The next logical step would be to describe the components of the House PA system and how much power (or how much money do I need to spend….).  After all, this is what most people hear, right?

Obviously, I set up as a trap question.  The answer seems obvious.

When bands practice, they ultimately find a good use of space and volume so each member can achieve the two primary goals;

1) Hear myself (usually louder than any one else.  This is not ego and we will get into that later)

2) Hear the other performers (usually not as loud as the performer wants to hear him/her self!!)

Good enough for now and in the next few sections I will focus on the stage sound and mix.

March of 1990 – Pushing Forward

Posted: November 5, 2015 in Uncategorized
Tags: # mixer, #atari, #audio, #band, #create, #digital, #keyboard, #music, #musician, #personal, #recording, #retro, #song, #songwriter, #sound, #studio, #synthesizer, #tech, #technology, #writer, #writing, #Yamaha

I guess I never really came up with a name for this tune. Sometimes I will write lyrics and give it a working title. I do the same thing with musical pieces I am working on before there are dedicated lyrics assigned to the tune. As I continue to work on a piece, the name often changes when chords are matched with a set of lyrics. On rare occasion it happens at the same time, and that process is a little different – and easier! This is one of those weird situations where I never got to either, and this has always been referred to by the date….. March of 1990.

March in this case also has a double meaning. It is the pull away from the Winter season where I live. The steady movement of new life. The pace of growth that cannot be stopped. The instrumental tries to match that drive and frantic pace of the season. Driving rhythms, collage of melodies, bouncing themes – and then to dynamics and a reflection of what is now past. Then back to driving growth. That is what I think about as I listen to this tune. Even now, heading to Winter, I feel that March pushing forward.

Back to the Atari 1040 ST, I am sequencing all parts for this tune. I believe I added a new tone module from EMU called the Proteus 1. This was an amazing machine and I have not found anything as good and simple to use as the Proteus series. It was really cool for two major reasons in my opinion. 1) the sounds were just awesome for the time and there were lots of sounds on board. 2) the operating software used was just made for MIDI geeks like me. It was very simple and allowed the Proteus 1 to create splits, layers and zones, but it easily allowed you to access all 16 MIDI channels at the same time. I could write a few articles on this alone, but for now it meant you could assign a different sound to any or all of the 16 channels independently. As described in the MIDI series, this was great because you could use channel 1 for piano, channel 2 for organ sounds, channel 3 for strings, channel 4 for brass or orchestra sounds, 5 for flutes, 6 for sound effects, 7 for guitar sounds, 8 for solo instruments, 9 for the bass guitar sound, 10 for the standard drum channel and still have channels left over. Playing out in bands and in the studio with this was just a dream.

MIDIMike

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.

Naming the Mysterious 12

Posted: September 18, 2015 in Music Theory
Tags: #band, #guitar, #keyboard, #logical, #motivation, #music, #musician, #musictheory, #note, #notes, #piano, #recording, #songwriter, #sound, #theory, #tips

Up = (#/Sharp). Down = (b/Flat).

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
C	C# Db	D	D# Eb	E	F	F# Gb	G	G# Ab	A	A# Bb	B

There are a number of discussions possible here. My point is the rose is a rose experience from my own limited understanding. Music theory is not my strong point. I know players that are very specific in the reference of notes or the progression used when naming them. It does make it easier to communicate – – – – – – To set up this conversation let it be understood that any note can be raised or lowered in increments of half-steps. Take your Root note and play the next highest note and you have ‘sharped’ the note. If you play the next lowest note you have ‘flatted’ that note. Up = Sharp. Down = Flat.

Any note. Any instrument. Any Western scale. Similar to the reference in Tuning; if pitch is too high it is Sharp, and if it is too low it is Flat.

We agree on common ground for the Titles of the Twelve. Looking at the piano as my standard example we need to notice the color of the keys not as a place on a musical staff or its place in a scale but as a compact representation of DISTANCE. The chart above uses the shading to mimic the keyboard and is not compressed or compact like the real piano is but if you play notes to the right they get higher by half-notes. Color means nothing to this reference. We rarely call the C note a B#, and we rarely call the F note an E# but this is a similar relationship.

Above you see the black notes have alternate names assigned to them. One way to help easy translation is to keep with one designator in the project. Give the notes names that are one system and not the other. Various way to think of it – a rose;

C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, Bb, B, C is a rose:

C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B, C

is a rose;

C, Db, D, Eb, E, F, Gb, G, Ab, A, Bb, B, C

Along those lines I want to copy a recent comment from a great friend of mine and frequent commenter on this blog:

The math is easier if you name the root “zero.” 0 2 4 5 7 9 11 (the major scale). You can add 12 and get the same notes, just an octave higher. Subtract 12 and get the original keys. There are only 12 tones on a piano: 0, 1, 2, …, 11 After that, it just repeats.

The Mysterious Twelve is represented this way in the chart above. Starting with zero would change the Safe Seven representation to look like this:

C D E F G A B C

0 2 4 5 7 9 11 12

This is true and practical to use when considering the relationships of notes especially when working with musical scores where you are talking multiple octaves and keeping the relationships common. For many musicians, songs can be described as patterns. For example, if you are beginning a Jam and following previous examples in the key of C, you could say ‘lets start out with C for a few measures, then go to F and then go to G and repeat. Ready, set go!’. The Safe Seven shows us this relationship as a number starting with the Root equaling 1.

The Jam could also be started by saying ‘key of C, let’s play a 1,4,5 progression. Ready, set, Go!’. In this relationship, 1 = the Root or C, the 4th = F, and the 5th of the scale = G. The next jam session might be in the key of Bb, but we can still state this as 1,4,5 and the musicians that know the Safe Seven in each key will easily translate. You would be surprised how many popular songs follow the 1 – 4 – 5 and similar patterns! Starting with 1 as the Root, allows this pattern to more easily translate to the Root, 3rd, 5th – as this matches the common chord progression associations.

The point being there are a number of names for our ‘rose’, depending on the need or project at hand. If we call C “C”, “B#”, “0” or “1”, we are still describing the relationship between the 12 notes. As with the sharps and flats naming structure, once we start with a system, use the system through the entire project to avoid confusion!

Peddle Down, Let’s Burn This Town

Posted: September 1, 2015 in My Tunes
Tags: #atari, #audio, #creativity, #digital, #lyrics, #music, #musician, #personal, #poetry, #recording, #retro, #singer, #song, #songwriter, #sound, #story, #studio, #synthesizer, #tech, #vocalist, #vocals, #writer

“Rainy Day”

Cruisin’ down the avenue

Raining in the lightning.

Listening to the radio

Cruisin’ in the darkness.

Peddle down, let’s burn this town

Fire from my tires.

Reflections in my rear view mirror,

I will find tomorrow.

Comin’ down the avenue

Raining and the lightning.

Reflections in my rear view mirror

I will find tomorrow.

Go for ride real late at night

Rain comin’ down like it usually does.

So I turn the radio to the right

Playin’ the same songs as the other night.

So I slammed the door and I left for good

Now you find me driving in your neighborhood.

Don’t explain it to me, it’s well understood

Everything you do for me is for my own good.

Turn ‘round the corner I’m still losing my mind

So I punched it down and left it all behind.

Tryin’ not to cry I push it all back

Racing fast to nowhere on a one way track.

No colors at all, just the burning headlights

And the crackling of lightning tearing into the night.

People ask me what I do at night

I tell them only one thing makes me feel all right.

It makes me feel all right.

Lyrics by Michael & Ellen Kennedy

Music by Michael Kennedy

A Small Token…

Posted: August 25, 2015 in My Tunes
Tags: #12string, #acoustic, #appreciation, #audio, #create, #creative, #creativity, #guitar, #inspiration, #inspire, #life, #love, #lyrics, #motivation, #music, #musician, #performer, #personal, #poetry, #recording, #retro, #singer, #song, #songwriter, #sound, #story, #thank you, #thanks, #vocalist, #vocals, #writer

Thank you, thank you, thank you! For the next few days I’ll be offering all of my blog friends a free download of my song “Miracles In Your Hand“ off of my upcoming EP, “Before The Chase.” I have been struggling to find a proper way to thank you all for your support and encouragement over the past year. I was very close to throwing in the towel, but I started this blog and thanks to all of you and your kind words, I’ve been motivated to keep pushing forward. As I watch this year’s calendar fill with major events and milestones, there are usually small celebrations here and there. At each one I am not only surprised at the positive response and friendships created, but also by the amazing amount of talent and creativity this community produces. Please stop by and add this original song (Click here – Miracles in Your Hand) to your personal libraries as part of my continued appreciation for all you have done to support and spread my works.

After a break-up some of these lyrics just poured out. Seeing the same thing and coming to opposite conclusions. Having an early exposure to poetry first, I try to keep those ideas reflected in many of the songs I write. The chorus was an idea I had been playing with lyrically for a while and it seemed to immediately fit with the loss described in the verses. What would you do if you held a miracle in YOUR hand? What if that couldn’t save you?

“Miracles In Your Hand” (c) MSK

A reason is such a small thing,

Can’t you give me one?

Seems to me you were holding out,

Were you really just holding on?

The things we did won’t mean a thing,

The memories drift away.

The things you said hang in the air,

Like a light that will not fade.

CH: You’re alive one day with miracles in your hand,

Then you’re heading for a wall, drivin’ fast as you can.

I settled down uneasy, I’m just waiting for tomorrow to come.

When the answers seem so distant,

Questions lose their fun.

You thought that I was shutting up,

I was really just shutting down.

It’s time we found the meaning,

In the games we have made.

And a reason makes the difference,

When the last trick must be played.

CH: You’re alive one day with miracles in your hand,

Then you’re heading for a wall, drivin’ fast as you can.

I settled down uneasy, I’m just waiting for tomorrow to come.

MidiMike

Available on iTunes and CD Baby

Social Media

MSK original Songs

Posts Tagged ‘#sound’

12 Years of Christmas

Live Sound Reinforcement Series Chapter 20 – Stay Focused on # 1

A Lack of Concern

Live Sound Reinforcement Series Chapter 20 – The Musicians on the Stage

March of 1990 – Pushing Forward

Mr. Charlie Told Me So

His Simon to My Garfunkel

Naming the Mysterious 12

Peddle Down, Let’s Burn This Town

A Small Token…

Archives

Available on iTunes and CD Baby

Social Media

MSK original Songs

Posts Tagged ‘#sound’

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