Bethel Music – The Loft Sessions
January 23rd, 2012 § Leave a Comment
One of my favourite mix collaborations from 2011 is now released, The Loft Sessions by Bethel Music in Redding, CA. Beautiful songs, fabulous voices, fabulous videography and a unique vibe. Certainly worth checking out.
http://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/the-loft-sessions-deluxe-edition/id490189307
jrj
Summer.
August 11th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Well, summer’s well on its way, nearing its end, and we’ll have yet another season upon us. But not quite yet. It’s amazing how while hibernating in deepest winter, I’m at my most ‘media-prolific’, yet in deepest summer, feeling most alive, I have no inclination to sit at the computer longer than necessary.
I guess most of us do things out-of-the-ordinary in the summer. Vacations, events, activities… It’s unbelievably refreshing. Of all the seasons, though not necessarily my favourite, summer is my most needed one. Filling up the spectrum of life and living, catching up on the things that make us human and warm-blooded, I’m simply elated.
MakeProMusic has had some great shooting sessions, we’re 30% of the way there. Two really inspired artists are about to release some new music, Resosound will receive a facelift, and I’ll be traveling the world looking for the most curious and interesting people I can find. But not yet.
No, it can wait. Without fully savouring the warm, quiet evenings, long and drawn out sunsets, teaming leaves and swaying branches, outdoor gigs galore, friends and long-lost acquaintances, there’s simply no point in doing anything.
enjoy
jrj
MakeProMusic has started
May 10th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Well, here we are. After months of prep, technical setup, business planning, we’ve started shooting. And wow, it’s pretty silly talking to a camera by yourself at 10pm.
MakeProMusic is designed to be a video reference learning tool that, well, helps you make pro music. There’s a lot of music being made, and I imagine there’s a lot of struggle getting ideas out how we want them. If the aspiring full timer, part time warrior, casual hobbyist, or seasoned pro have gone through anything like I’ve gone through, learning what the essence of recording music is, then this will be a total breath of fresh air. I wish I could have apprenticed with one of the top in the field, and then switched to 5 or six more legends, at the same time doing my own gigs to learn the ropes. I wish I would have had more discussions along the way with peers instead of just the feeling of competition in a smaller area. I wish everything and everyone I learned from didn’t always have this massive musical slant or huge opinions that, well, don’t objectively add up besides to say, ‘I’m just not into that.’
At the same time, ‘audio school’ doesn’t officially exist, in the sense that the profession itself is completely freelance, short of video-land. It’s expensive. In the end, you’re 30k worse off than before, and still have to go out there and test yourself to see if you even have a shot.
And do we even need audio school? If inspiration and creativity are king, any sort of ‘officiality’ kinda kills the whole unique approach-thing. Still, learning is learning, and information is information, and time is precious. I’m hoping to pack as much learning and information into something fun and visually satisfying that gets as close to one on one conversation as possible.
So far, it’s been technical headaches. Cameras, software, screen capture, audio examples, lightbulbs, prep notes, glare-proof glasses, release format, session logistics… it goes on and on. Every day some new wonderful puzzle comes up, right when I’d like to make some progress. But I think it’ll be worth it. Every minute of it. Last night, I turned on the lights, turned on the camera, and did the intros to the basics section. Basics are, well, boring and superfluous, they’ll need a good spin to guarantee anyone’ll actually watch em. And those are the kind of challenges I love.
Stay tuned, it’s on its way.
Helen White – One of the Last Artists
April 7th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
She’s not on iTunes. She boycotts Nestle.
She sings jazz on the side, and writes artsy pop tunes, or is it the other way round? Either way, her voice and personality are truly delightful.
How did I meet Helen? I think I was her accompanist for a few mornings while she taught vocal lessons. Not at all my favorite kind of gig, with my sight reading skills and all, but she made it fun because, well, she cared. Actually, that sums her up perfectly. She cares. She has plenty of marvelous opinions to share, both through her music and in conversation. It’s election time right now, and oh how I wish she were eligible to vote (nothing sinister, she’s from across the pond, where she got all her charms!), we’d get some wonderfully fiery insight from her.
About the music. I’ve done two recordings with Helen, one of originals, and one of standards. I’d have to say what really stands out in these two records are the vocals. She’s just a great, inspired singer. Jump over to her site here, and check out two songs, Midnight Sun off the jazz record, and As I Picture You from her originals. These are the kinds of things a recordist can only hope for doing a session: inspired, great sounding music. And it’s all her.
Oh Helen, if only you were on iTunes I could put the fancy link right here __________, and people could just zap it up! But of course, Helen’s music isn’t for anyone. It’s for those who appreciate art.
Helen apparently would much rather love it if you emailed her for a disc, which she would probably personally deliver. It’s worth it, just to catch the accent 
helenwhitesings@yahoo.ca
Reaper – pro music app of the future.
April 5th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Well it isn’t free. And shouldn’t be. But it’s so close, as universal and open-source as it gets, and as of 04/04/11, 40$ for a personal license.
I think it’s the future.
I was at a bit of a loss when Laura Gow, new assistant in training, needed some software to start learning on. I just don’t do cracked software, and the thought of getting someone new into that kinda thing from the get-go was fundamentally as un-educational as it gets. I’m on a Mac 24/7 with occasional Parallels use, which also meant we’d be on different systems. I remembered a colleague of mine talking about an open-source program called Reaper, and said, “Hey try it out. I think it’s free.”
After mixing a new Kat Penfold single on it, I’m excited. Not so much about all the cool features, or how it has the secret to making great music simply by sneezing on the keyboard, (for that, tune in to MakeProMusic tba), but because of the category it’s in.
See, making music on phones and ipads is still pretty primitive, and, well, bad. The phone’s great for picking up a random sound and is the king of portability, and don’t get me wrong, the fact that Garageband is on iPad now is pretty dang cool, but we’ve actually lost a lot of freedom in the portability. We can’t record any sound, any synth, any way. One of those three, if not all, gets severely compromised and it just doesn’t beat the classic funky mic/funky interface/funky laptop/knapsack combo. It’s even easy programming piano tracks with your computer keyboard.
With Reaper, the barrier to entry is once again lowered dramatically. You end up having practically the most flexible pro app being the cheapest and most easily accessible. Now that’s exciting. That means that everyone that comes in the door to learn can start immediately for free, and after 30 days, a tiny fee to keep the software team eating and making the app better.
So no need for ipads n phones, or money. It’s all about learning and experimenting, and, well, creativity and style.
It ain’t the easiest program to learn, and because there’s about 8 different ways to do any one thing, and 4 of those are either buggy or don’t work, it reinforces the need for a personal workflow more than ever. I took a good 3 hours and recreated my custom mix console with it, and if I hadn’t, I never ever would have been able to stay creative for even a second while getting used to the controls.
But it’s the future.
Carl guitar session – One Day
March 31st, 2011 § 2 Comments
Tracking guitars for Katherine Penfold‘s upcoming single, One Day. I like guitar overdubs, there’s usually a lot of room for experimentation, and I think it’s because I’m a keyboard player that I find it so fascinating. It’s not as static an instrument, or as precise, or as in-tune, haha. There’s a million guitars, amps, picks, pedals…….. ahem… cables. You name it. I’m not a guitar guy, but I’m sure Carl can elaborate regarding the session setup for us. We had Laura Gow assisting, and I’m determined to show her everything I know regarding music production (actually I don’t know much about anything else..).
You may not be aware, but the tortoise has had a bit of a rough ride throughout the last few hundred years. According to one of my favorite shows, QI, it didn’t even get a proper Latin name because they were, well, so delicious. And now Carl’s using picks made from the shell. Alas.
But this tune’s coming along, time to mix soon…
Greg Sczebel Juno Win!
March 31st, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Juno win!
Anywho, Greg’s album sounds great, he got a lot of people involved in the project, and it got the recognition it deserved. Way to go man.
One Day Bass
March 15th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Working on a new Kat Penfold tune, “One Day”, with Julian. Brian showed up near the end to grab his amp “Paul”. We’re drinking regular green tea, not the super awesome kind you can find at the Canister or Davids Tea.
Michael Peters – New Album Out
March 14th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
This summer I had the privilege of working with this fine bearded-fellow, Mr Michael Peters. Julian was in the studio one day I think laying down some bass line for a cover tune, and he mentioned that he’d like his friend to come down and chat about a recording. I don’t do a lot of engineering gigs these days, but I liked the idea of tracking some real players in a real room, and also got to really delve into dynamic mic technique. Gotta love the dynamics. Keith Price produced with Michael, and I actually think he managed to avoid playing anything… ah yes, he hummed a few bars on mic. Oh, and the whale noises! The combination of the two, both probers, meant long and fascinating conversations between the two about where the tunes could go. I’m prone to leap out of my chair and not eat or sleep till the song’s done, once I get an idea in my head, and this was quite refreshing sitting back and dialoging instead of pulling all-nighters. There’s a lesson in there for me, somewhere…. oh well time to finish another idea….
Anyhow, good times were had by all. I think Michael has written one of the saddest songs of all, “Ain’t None But Jesus”. He tells the story, in classic fashion, and we accept it as fatalistically as it’s told. These are the moments I look for in music; they touch something I can’t explain, and therein lies their virtue. If the message penetrates and garners a reaction before I can even finish lyrics, and by the time I do I realize what’s happening, well, that’s just great storytelling: Michael’s magic. A varied setlist, and not every song/lyric will be everyone’s cup of tea, but a man who cares about what he says.
Lots of good stories and shenanigans, including the infamous whammy-bar-tuning-infinity-loop, the double-pick solo, and my favorite phrase over the sessions, “Ya now that we’ve recorded it I have a great idea for the arrangement.” Classic!
Beds were done with all 3 players, Curtis Nowosad on drums, Michael on various instruments and vocals for the scratch guitars, and Julian Bradford on a few basses. Overdubs were guitars, vocals, pianos, percussion etc… I think mostly dynamics on everything, maybe U67′s on overheads and vocals. The solo ballads, we’d create an array of mics around Michael at various distances, and let him do his thing. I’m pretty sure we didn’t even take the cover off the piano… Michael was partial to Fury guitars, brought some neat pedals, and I think Mr Carl Strempler loaned us his pedalboard for an afternoon as well. Which was good, because it took us the whole afternoon to figure out the thing!
If he ever manages to get the thing onto iTunes, I’ll post a link. Until then, try here for more info.
Thanks for the fun, Michael!
Sounds n Sample Search
March 5th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
I’m just about done the outlines and script for the upcoming MakeProMusic production tutorial series, and the last bit deals with programming, sounds, sample arsenal, anything and everything to do with how we make noise and turn it into music. Pretty chaotic and personal stuff, so there’s bound to be some strong opinions.
I’ve been typing all week and working on new Kat Penfold stuff, and starting a whole new (and involved!) section on a Friday, especially since it’s also ‘eat-anything-i-like-day’ (diet described here by these fine folk), and after that much sugar I kinda keel over every hour or so.
So it turned into a creative day, looking over and finding new sounds to play with. I haven’t had this much fun (and sugar) in a while (week)!
I first dove into all the cool user-made libraries for one of my favorite synths, Reaktor. There was all sorts of cool stuff, a lot of synths expanding on some of my favorite patches will lots of options (some still pretty lame). My only complaint is that I wish they’d clean up all the dead links from some libraries. I’d get all excited seeing the title “Super accurate vintage Prophet 5 Emulator” and of course, dead link. Still, this should cram all sorts of FM, Subtractive and Granular synthesis down my clients’ ears for years to come. A healthy refresh.
What excited me even more, though, was finding samples people had made for my main sampler Kontakt. Soooo inspiring. I think back and give thanks for all the hard work my Japanese friends put into at Korg with their old M1 series. Those patches kept me going for years. And now, the whole world is contributing to an online synthesis database giving people access to their own inspiration. The things people will do with these rad sounds!
One thing I love is that I have access to a big ol studio, so getting ‘big, awesome’ sounds is a fairly regular affair, and manipulating those samples is easy and happens all the time. But unlike back in the day when I’d carry a laundry basket full of gear from studio to studio, getting unique, organic sounds depends entirely on getting unique, organically dressed hobo music dudes in with their unique, organic-looking instruments. And that doesn’t happen often. Well actually, it does, but getting all that organic-ness to align with whatever organic-ness I need at the time, is, well, tough. Plus coordinating all those outfits.
Anyway turns out people are really passionate about sampling their own instruments, kitchenware, pets, you name it. And it all has that pleasant charm of not sounding like a slick, corporate studio. Cause I’ve already got piles of those.
To be honest, I did spend some money on ‘official and pro’ sample libraries, but those were on super expensive vintage instruments and sounded nothing like a studio session of today. I’m really digging Yamaha CP70s right now, and Fairlight CMI samples.
I got ridiculously excited when I was suddenly playing patches used on old Peter Gabriel records, I even found the patch used on Sledgehammer! Such a treat. Turns out angels didn’t descend and make those flutey-sounds for the solo section, after all. It was a patch. Well stay tuned for those sounds, bound to sneak in there somewhere. The design effort put into the pads and string sounds back then are absolutely unmatched. All the patches from the top stuff these days only manage to match how well they sit, and even then that’s a rarity. I just wanna call up a pad, and have it sit well in the track! Well now, guess I can.
Well, back to finding more sounds! I hope I can take some mics this summer and sample everything I see, to give back to this awesome online community that spreads inspiration.
