I thought I would share this little piece with you. I am just experimenting with new sounds to see what I come up with. There is no real structure or drum tracks to speak of. Just a bunch of cool textures and visions of other worlds. Or, maybe it is this one in the future?
MIDIMike
I posted lyrics earlier for this new song and I have a mix of the music ready for “It Only Takes One“
I am working on the vocals now and will have some ‘filler’ tracks to add at some point. I used drum loops (edited and a bit tortured at times!) for the rhythm tracks. I play all the guitar tracks and added a MIDI bass guitar part from my keyboards ……. until the band can make it in for a session.
But for now, here is the instrumental version.
Happy New Year!
I posted a poem called “Take Away One” recently. I knew this one was a song in the making so I started working on writing music around the theme. I tell my friends that I ‘feel’ music theory more than I know or understand it. Sometimes I look at the patterns and rhythms, often I get fascinated by melodies that twist within the chords. Often I get distracted by simple mathmetical relationships in music – ’cause that’s what it is.
There are many tonal relationships between chords in any arrangement. For background, two notes played simultaneously is an interval. With three or more individual notes you can form a chord. The more notes within the chord the greater the potential for complex tones. Some combinations sound calm, delightful and inspiring. Other combinations are uncomfortable or have a lot of dissonence. Some are downright ugly by themselves if truth be told.
Not to get too deep here, because I can’t swim in these waters, but the arrangement uses the relationship when you have a 4 note chord (of any root note you prefer). Start with a G Major 7th chord as my example. It consistes of 4 individual notes: G (the root here by definition of the chord name), B, D and F#.
If you Take Away One – the G in this example as root note of the chord – you have a 3 note chord called B Minor. The arrangement consists of alternating between pairs of Major 7th chords and their relative minor 2nd chord. (or is it its 2nd relative minor?). Then I pick another random pair of Major 7th/2nd Minor chords and continue. Hence the name of the song.
I am working on the melody line and recording the vocals but here is the instrumental version of “Take Away One“.
As with many authors, I often write about my personal experiences. For some, peace is not something to be attained but avoided. Quiet leads to suspicion and tension. Better to whip up some good old fashioned drama that helps you feel excited and important. In the center of the storm you can’t feel the winds ripping the rest of the world apart. This is what makes you happy, but there is only room for one.
I know it has been a while since I have posted much, but in reality I have been pretty busy. I have a lot to catch up on, but for now I want to share a new song with you. I wrote the lyrics to “Trap” a while ago and now have music for it. The lyrics have changed a bit so I will include an updated lyric sheet as well.
I have a vocalist coming in to redo the melody track to replace mine, and I will keep my harmony track. Soon another friend will send me bass guitar tracks, but for now, here is “Trap”.
When you think you are making the right decision
Everybody you connect with is on your side.
Well, buckle up your seat belts and hold on to your cap
You don’t know it, but you just walked into a trap.
A trap you can’t get out of. X2
A trap you couldn’t see.
A trap of your own making.
Trapped for all eternity.
Still struggling and squirming trying to believe
Yellin’ ‘I don’t understand’, makes you look like a fool.
All bundled up nice with a box, bow and pretty wrap
However you say it, you’re stuck in a trap.
Lashing out at anyone that comes even close.
You keep pushing yourself further and further away.
Suddenly you hear a loud and powerful snap
Now you know it, you just walked into a trap.
When you think you are making the right decision
Everybody you connect with is on your side.
Well, buckle up your seat belts and hold on to your cap
You don’t know it, you just walked into a trap.
It seems like you are making your own choices
Everything’s going down just like you planned.
The box is smashed and you’re hanging from a strap
However you play it, you’re stuck in a trap.
Suddenly you hear a loud and powerful snap
Now you know it, you just walked into a trap.
I have a rough version of a new song called “What You Want”. Well, it is called that now because I put lyrics to it from an earlier Lyric Post.
This is a tune using an old Yamaha drum machine I recently became caretaker of. I set up a nice but simple drum pattern using my Alesis MIDI drum pad and recording again in Studio One 5 by Presonus. I am using the internal sounds in Studio One 5 to play the bass guitar parts, triggered by an M-Audio MIDI keyboard I got with the drum machine and some other cool toys.
After the beat was down and feeling a bit more fun to play with, I added the two guitar parts using my Ibanez electric guitar. I recorded two tracks but instead of hooking up my amplifier and all my pedals, I plugged straight into the mixingboard so it would go direct-out to my computer input.
I used one of the many plug-ins included with Studio One 5 to add effects to the guitar. The built in guitar tuner plug-in is also really handy and I like the way it operates. So no need to connect to a tuner after each practice take. Each guitar track used the same plug-in but set to different guitar effects.
I am working on adding vocals but for now here is “What You Want”.
Early in 1996 I was introduced to a Cincinnati band called “jjaR”. I met them while they were playing at a popular club called Top Cats. I was really impressed with the band and their original songs. Annette Rogers was the lead vocalist and she commanded the room with her emotional portrayal of each song. The band was intense and dynamic.
March 13th, 1996 we started recording in my home studio. They were troopers. I have a small space for recording with no isolation rooms for drums, vocals, etc. The band wanted a clean demo. They did not want a lot of processing and effects in the mix. A band after my own heart!
We did two separate sessions. The first session was mixed on March 26th, 1996. I was recording on the Alesis ADAT (Alesis Digital Audio Tape) machine for the first project. We only had 8 tracks to work with back then and no computer editing or effects. They were pros. They set up, got settled in and played their songs with obvious passion.
One of their tracks appeared in a collection of bands our local radio station WEBN (102.7FM) published on CD. They were featured on the second annual CD release. Deary Me Presents – Cincinnati Scene II included “Food Chain Of Love” on the 3rd track of the compilation CD. You can still find a copy or two on on-line.
Here are a few tunes from Project 1 for your enjoyment.
This is an early recording of a Cincinnati band “Chakras”. I recorded them back when I used the ADAT digital tape recorder. It does not have the ‘bling’ of modern recordings but I think you will enjoy the performance.
https://www.facebook.com/chakrasrock
Here is the 2nd installment of my live recording of Crash Landing back in 2002. I played with them for a number of years. First as a sound guy. I knew the singer Gary Jefferson and he pulled me into the group. Gary and I go back a few years. He knows everyone and has played all over town. I have helped him with outside projects and you can hear his vocals on a lot of my original songs. Great people are hard to come by, but they will be there for you when you need.
I wish I had more video to share. I have a call out to other band members and friends to send me copies of anything they have. I have created videos for years but never really did much during this time. Again, I wish I had. Here is the next section of an evening with Crash Landing. This is still the first set and we are getting warmed up. Settling into the sound. That is the toughest thing about one-night-gigs; everything sounds so strange for the first 3 or four songs at the minimum. Depending on the sound guy/gal, this could take up to an entire first set to get comfortable.
I don’t have records of who was running sound this night. With this band I USED to run sound from the audience, then became a band member and ran sound and played/sang from out in the crowd using our own equipment! In many ways that was very cool. After a while we hired sound companies and I just don’t know who was at the board.
I hope you enjoy a night out – to hear a live band – without leaving your home. It’s like you are at the show, but you can still have one more drink and not have to drive home!
Here is the you-tube link for part two: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vHdxs6z-Qg
MSK Studio
Part of the challenge in writing songs is how difficult it might be to convey a particular feeling or message to studio musicians. All players should be heading in the same direction, playing the same tune, moving at the same tempo and so on. Creating soundscapes must be a lot like painting. Drawing the lines and forms are one thing, but which color is best? There are so many available yet each one conveys a unique mood or feeling. Sounds can be like that. We asked a guitar player/friend of ours to come up with guitar tracks for a project I was working on. This was for a cable TV project looking for sound tracks for an automotive enthusiast series. We wanted to give the guitar parts a bit of mood setting so we asked him to create tracks that would generate the feeling of …
an engine or racing car, crunchy, powerful
drive – movement – acceleration, fast, fluid
Using basically no more than the above “instructions” he gathered toys and used the word imagery to shape the sound and the playing style for these tracks. We used the same list to come up with the basic tracks for the song. This song is an adaptation of a song I wrote a long time ago and we called it The Big D Jam. I originally composed this song using the Arp Odyssey synthesizer. I programmed a pretty cool sounding bass patch and came up with the bass line and skeleton of the song. This song in its original version was performed when I was with The Personal Touch years ago. If it was a rockin’ crowd we would let Ric Ahlers jam a bit on the solo parts. I put some simple lyrics to it and it was a really fun song to play out. Recently I pulled it out of the song closet and re-wrote the chorus. I also used new software plug-ins from my computer for all the sounds. This was amazing for me because I have all this fancy gear with cool sounds and I am not using them at all. In this post, I wanted to give you an idea how the song progressed. The new sounds are just amazingly clear and natural. I will post in the near future the complete mix with vocals and effects. When the sounds and the performance match the request or target, the song seems like it was made to order.
MidiMike 