Here are lyrics I wrote to be as much a country song as a parody of country songs. Even back in 1981 I was reflecting on spending most of my time growing old. Another song of mine performed with my first real band, The Personal Touch.
Posts Tagged ‘#vocals’
Country Rag MSK 1981
Posted: May 16, 2023 in #poetry, PoetryTags: #audio, #lyrics, #Martinguitars, #michaelskennedy, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #personal, #personaltouch, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #poetrypod, #recording, #recordingstudio, #songwriter, #sound, #vocals
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Brighter and Brighter MSK 1980
Posted: April 11, 2023 in #poetry, PoetryTags: #audio, #lyrics, #Martinguitars, #michaelskennedy, #Midi, #midicontroller, #mididrums, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #ovationguitars, #personal, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #poetrypod, #recording, #singersongwriter, #songwriter, #sound, #vocalist, #vocals
This is nothing more than my usual ramblings at people that keep turning on lights every time they come into the room and I am sitting in the dark. Then to add insult to injury, they leave the bright lights on when they go out of the room! AARRRGGGhh. Keep your big bright ideas to yourself.
The Chase vocalist search continues
Posted: August 20, 2021 in Live Sound Reinforcement Series, MUSIC, projectsTags: #jamesbrown, #Jeffbeck, #Jethrotull, #Liveband, #livesoundreinforement, #localbands, #michaelskennedy, #midimike, #midimike.com, #musician, #recording, #seanbandy, #steelydan, #The Chase, #vintage recordings, #vocalist, #vocals
In no specific order here, we have our third vocalist working with my cover band called The Chase. Performing with us now is Sean Bandy (Shoeless Sean to his followers). I don’t think I have any real pictures of this time. I will keep looking but so far nothing great.
Sean also played acoustic guitar and does a great job of working with the audience. We played songs from the Beatles to Zappa and from James Brown to Queen and he kept up with them all. I am playing keyboards and electric rhythm guitar, as well as back up vocals. I am not running sound at this point from what little I can remember. I posted a couple videos of us on my You Tube channel earlier. See the following links THE CHASE LIVE 1 and THE CHASE LIVE 2. These are more like music with pictures and old video clips. The video recordings I made for that time did not translate well to the leap in resolution 30 years later lol.
Which vocalist is your favorite from the few examples here?
Holiday Tradition Past
Posted: December 11, 2020 in family, Holiday, Midi Series, My Tunes, projectsTags: #Christmas, #family, #familytraditions, #holiday, #michaelskennedy, #Midi, #midimike, #midimike.com, #recording, #recordingstudio, #SMPTE, #songwriter, #vocals
Holidays are fun with creative people.
I often mention my talented wife and children sprinkled within posts over the years. When the girls were very young we made Christmas and the holidays a creative fest whenever possible. From pumpkin carving parties with over 200 pumpkins, costumes and haunted houses, we put our own flair into everything. We avoided the commercial and traditional.
Each year we would send our many friends a hand-made original Christmas ‘Card’. We would start two months before Christmas to imagine, design and create a unique holiday greeting from our entire family. Many are still hung up or placed on mantels to this day. It is hard to describe so you can get an idea of the projects. One time we made small cloth trees decorated in style with a hook on them so you could hang them as an ornament. Another year we took clear glass ornamental globes and other shaped bobbles and poured paint inside making them sparkle with bright colors and/or glitter on the inside of the glass.
As a musician I built up a small home recording studio over the years. In the lyrics we reference “7 tracks and SMPTE”. I had a digital recorder back then but advanced as it was at the time it only had eight tracks, and one of them you used to record a clock signal so it would sync with the MIDI instruments I had controlled by a hardware sequencer (RECORDING WAS A LOT HARDER IN THOSE DAYS!!!). Every few years I managed to work in a family musical project. Here are two audio recordings we sent as that year’s ‘card’.
This tradition really became a thing and people looked forward to getting their next card, knowing it would be unlike any other they would receive that year, or ever again.
Here is my family recording two Christmas carols for our annual card project. One is a traditional cover of a song you are familiar with. The other is our version of a classic. Even if you aren’t ‘all about Christmas’ and everything, I think you will find this cute and maybe hilarious at the same time.
I wish you all well and hope we can keep lost loved ones close to our hearts and friends and family in our thoughts.
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:
jjaR Project Two
Posted: August 13, 2019 in projectsTags: #bass guitar, #drummer, #drums, #guitar, #midimike, #music, #original songs, #recording, #recordingstudio, #vocals, #voice, ADAT, Alesis, Cincinnati bands, Cincinnati Scene II, female vocalist, fender guitars, gibson guitars, jjaR, lead guitar, Michael S Kennedy, MSK Studios, multi track recording, music production, musicians, original music, originals, songwriting, support local musicians, WEBN
I think we started recording Project Two in May of 1996. Project One was mixed by the end of March so we had a good feeling for the next project. I will eventually dig up archives for details as I am now relying on brief notes and scribbles of information. I do not have lyric sheets for these songs but I know most of the lyrics by heart.
As you know I am really bad with names. I know Annette Rogers was the lead vocalist and I believe she wrote most of the lyrics. My notes also mention Robert Downing with the band.
This was a band I wished I had kept in touch with. At the time in my life there were so many projects and I had my own music and bands I was involved with. All this and I worked a regular full-time job!
I have a brief video of the band setting up – somewhere. Who knows, maybe I will dig it up along with my track sheets and band info.
By the middle of September we had all the recording done and mixed Project Two. We did ten songs in all and I will share a few more with you today.
jjaR
Posted: August 6, 2019 in projectsTags: #audio, #bass, #bass guitar, #Cincinnati, #drummer, #drums, #foodchainoflove, #guitar, #michaelskennedy, #microphone, #Midi, #midimike, #original songs, #photo, #photography, #recording, #recordingstudio, #studio, #studioengineer, #vocalist, #vocals, 102.7FM, 1996, ADAT, Alesis, Annette Rogers, Cincinnati bands, Cincinnati Scene II, Deary Me presents, female vocalist, food chain of love, jjaR, Michael S Kennedy, MSK Studios, multi track recording, original music, originals, photographs, Top Cats, WEBN
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.
What’s Left
Posted: July 30, 2019 in Cover Tune TuesdaysTags: #bass, #bass guitar, #drummer, #drums, #guitar, #Liveband, #livesoundreinforement, #midimike, #video, #videographer, #vocalist, #vocals, Dollar Bills, Ed Goen, Gary Jefferson, keyboards, lead guitar, live audience, Live performance, live recording, local bands, Michael S Kennedy, musical video, saxaphone, support local musicians, www.midimike.com
Last weekend I dropped in on some friends playing out. With camera in hand I caught a few minutes of “What’s Left” performing live. It reminded me how glad I am that I don’t play out any more. Performing for a live audience is fun and addictive but being my own roadie was killing me quickly! I always joked that we would play anywhere for free……. we just charge to move the equipment in and out!
This was just for fun and I appreciate the guys letting me point my camera at them for a while. I like their logo in the back.
NRSB 30 years ago
Posted: July 19, 2019 in VideoTags: #30yearsago, #battleofthebands, #Cincinnati, #contest, #drummer, #drums, #harmonies, #harmony, #keyboard, #Liveband, #livesoundreinforement, #Midi, #midimike, #original songs, #vocalist, #vocals, 30 years ago, anniversary, battle of the bands, Bogart's, keyboard controller, keyboards, live audience, Live performance, live recording, Michael S Kennedy, MIDI controller, Nixon, NRSB, original music, originals, Reagan, Satan Buddha, vintage recording, vintage video
On the 30th anniversary of our performance with NRSB at Bogart’s in Cincinnati, I want to share a vintage video of that once and only performance. All original songs by members of this incredible band. I am so glad this was captured by hand-held camera out in the audience! Thanks DR.
Part I
Part II https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCv8NrHglpk&list=PL6nW06rbKPIo97mbrFsrAWed2OUaDvMkF&index=12&t=0s
We were just a bit ahead of our time.
CRASH LANDING Set 2
Posted: July 16, 2019 in Cover Tune TuesdaysTags: #acoustic guitars, #bass guitar, #coverband, #drummer, #drums, #guitar, #keyboard, #Liveband, #livesoundreinforement, #mixingboard, #stage, #venue, #video, #videographer, #vocalist, #vocals, audio recording, clubs, cover band, festival, keyboards, lead guitar, live audience, Live performance, live recording, local bands, LSR, Michael S Kennedy, musical video, support local musicians, vintage video
Building upon my earlier posts of a night out with Crash Landing, I continue with the first part of the second set.
In future posts I will detail mixing/recording process and Live Sound Reinforcement techniques. For now, enjoy a few songs from my old cover band.
MidiMike 