audiotthoughts on music

do you guys know “Anvil”? the band? rings a bell? nope? that’s not surprising, although i heard of them in my late teenage years – but they were already far below the radar then.

so here’s a preview of their story. for some reason i missed it when it came out but i’ll watch this as soon as possible…

check it out

so, now he has completely lost his mind, right?

well, of course i have….to a certain degree – why else would i prefer music to a 9 to 5 job? but this idea really makes sense, apart from many others i come up with on a minutely basis. however, i can’t take any credit for this one, it’s out of a book (this one to be precise). although i can’t recommend this book, because i haven’t read it, the idea behind this is really cool. i was told about this and the person who told me had this idea from the book – that’s my story and i’m sticking to it.

now, what’s it about? in a nutshell, it’s about idea-pregnancies. meaning, once you have an idea, you need to let it rest inside of you, it needs to ripen like a fruit until it’s ready to be picked (if those are the correct terms in english…). your subconscious works on it, even if you’re not aware of that, and – as soon as it has something of value to offer – it’ll bubble into your thoughts, seemingly out of thin air. did you ever forget someone’s name and just couldn’t remember it, no matter how hard you tried? but as soon as you thought of something else for a few moments, it suddenly popped up? that’s what this is about…

so once you’re stuck with something, like me right now for instance, just do something else and try not to think about it at all. believe it or not, this will work! as i said, i haven’t read the book, so it might be about becoming rich and famous without doing anything – and that would be bogus of course. but nevertheless, we can use this basic principle to our advantage and become way more creative, productive etc. by just adding pauses. and for a musician, such a pause can be to work on another song for example. it’s like i mentioned before, when i’m stuck with one song, i start another one. but since i’m already up to 15 songs for “traitor”, it’s about time to finish some of them. so i’m taking the rest of the day off, since it’s sunday and sunny outside, and go for a walk. i’m coming out of the closet with this and i don’t care how boring it sounds – i just love to walk. i’m thinking about a 5 hour march through the beautiful hills around here, maybe about 25 kilometers – it’s not about speed, it’s about being pregnant, remember?

anyway, this should take care of beingstuckness and get me home again before sunset. i just hope my back can take this – some of those wombsongs are pretty heavy…

now we’re getting somewhere :-)

i just finished another recording session and am now up to 15 song-construction-sites. and since i’m still in da zone, this will be a really short entry (once again…). sorry for spending so much time making music, but i can’t help it – it’s what i do…

anyhoo, today was all guitars so far and if you’ve ever tried to record electric guitar, here’s the mother of all advice from me to you: less gain! stop mocking me! i know this is no bloody Richard-Friggin’-Feynman-Flash-Of-Genius-Idea but it helped me a lot. set up your sound the way you like it and then turn the gain-knob down by maybe 20% or the sound will suck big time on the recording. i have no idea why, this came out of experience, lots of swings-and-misses and running up and down the street, waving my arms like crazy screaming out “serenity now!” at the top of my lungs. so better take this advice before your neighbors call the lunatic-patrol-guys who will come into your home and kidnap you away from your compu

maybe i should post an update of what’s happening right now.

actually it’s lots of recording. in the last few days i have been working on “traitor” (the working title for my second album) and am now up to 11 songs – or should i say construction sites… well, a few of them are done so far, awaiting the vocals. the others are kind of idea-keepers. whenever i work on something and it’s not going too well – lack of ideas to continue on that song for instance – i start a new one. oddly enough, i can always come up with something new. the problems usually start when i’m about halfway through a song. maybe i should put out an album with just songparts on it, there’s hundreds…

so that’s where my time goes at the moment, all of it, and that’s what’s keeping my from writing more or even eating on a regular basis. i lost weight since i started this album, no kidding. hopefully there’ll be a few pounds left of me when it’s finished…

wooooooo, check out this guy

yeah, i stole this line from Billy Ward, an awesome drummer and producer – go check him out! his stuff’s unreal!

since i’ve just returned from an off-weekend and am already about to record some vocals, i have little time to write. when inspiration hits, you gotta run, so here’s just a quick tip for you guys.

microphones are NOT ears! sounds like a no-brainer, right? but it isn’t. we tend to believe that what gets in (and therefore out) of a microphone is the same as what our ears would hear. but that’s not the case. and i’m not even talking about the fact that lots of mics color the sound, so what goes in is not necessarily what comes out. mics work a lot different than our ears, so don’t be fooled by the fact that both pick up sound. there is a lot of trial-and-error involved before your mic spits out exactly what your ear would pick up – and to make matters worse, to your ear it might sound very unnatural at that moment. i hope i haven’t lost you – it’s a bit difficult to explain. imagine a gun that’s not perfectly “adjusted” and therefore shoots to the right. you could either set it right or aim to the left to hit your target. now, you can’t tweak a mic until it is an ear – but you can change your “aim” until you hit the right sound. and once you have, you might just think “hey, that’s exactly how it should not work at all” – but it does. like aiming to the left and still hit the middle.

so there is logic involved, but then again there isn’t. messing around might be as good as any other approach, but it surely helps to know a bit about mics and placement alternatives – as long as you keep in mind that mics are just stupid. good luck…

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• song no. 7 (audiot.eu)
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so, it now seems to seem that it was my own stupidity after all that drove me to write this entry. either that or it was my coming forward ranting around like crazy that started all this new stuff i’m about to mention. well, actually i’m quite sure it was the latter, because the earth moves around me – hey, i am a singer after all….

i spent a little more time on reverbnation and found a bunch of other bands that struck my interest. when i’m looking around like this, i usually try to avoid bands with too many fans, visits, plays, whatever. because of the sheer mass of music, i try to focus on those who need the attention most to get started rather than those who already are on their way. and by the way, this seems like a nice way to discover some gems every now and then.

so go to my page there and give those in my favorites tab a listen, will ya? the link should get you there directly, if it doesn’t, just click on ‘favorites’ in the middle of the page. oh, and should you choose to become a fan of mine, i won’t complain :-) and i’d also appreciate any recommendation you could give me – i love to hear new stuff…

there you go. because of the pauses in between here are the links to the original article as well as the first three parts of what i wrote about it. you may skip the link to part 1, because that was just me presenting the link to you:

• original article
• recording vocals (part 1)
• recording vocals (part 2)
• recording vocals (part 3)

ok, now what’s left are points 5, 6 and 7. and they are more or less about the image people seem to have of singers everywhere. i can’t say i blame them, singers often are a real pain. and that’s what makes things a little hard for the “normal” ones sometimes. on the other hand, sometimes it’s just necessary for a singer to stand his/her ground and demand things others might find weird or wrong. i’m not going to start a philosophical debate here, but let’s just say, the voice is a unique instrument because it’s a part of our body. it’s easily harmed or even destroyed and one needs to take great care of it in order to keep it functional at peak efficiency. now, instrumentalists often just don’t get it. if they have troubles, they can simply change the strings or the heads, a screw or whatever else to fix it. but this isn’t the case with the voice. so singers have to be a bit overprotective, while others need to understand why.

that being said, there is of course no use in singers being bitchy and behaving like little princesses and even i threw out singers myself because of this. by the way, there are guitarists out there, known to be quite bitchy themselves, but let’s not go there…

now, there is certainly nothing wrong with making the vocalist comfortable. so be sure to have some hookers and lots of pizza standing by :-) as for the extra people, don’t ever let someone in who has nothing to do with the recording. i don’t care how good a friend he/she is to you, do you go to work with your friends? sitting on their desk while they’re in their office? i thought so. you’re there to work, easy as that. so throw ‘em out. and this goes for every recording session, not just vocals. bringing extra people just screams out “i’m not taking this seriously at all!”

as a singer, i’m happy if the studio people have water etc. for me, but i always bring my own, because you can just not count on it. it’s the same as with the lyrics. make sure you bring everything you need yourself. if you don’t need it, fine. you can leave it in the car, but you can always get it should the need arise. there’s nothing worse than a cancelled session, or one with less than good results, because of nothing to drink or something similarly stupid. so just be prepared for everything. and to get back to the “be professional” aspect: be able to do your job no matter what the circumstances are. even if there are morons lurking around, you might just not be in the position to do anything about it – if you’re there as a hired gun for instance. so hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

the practice aspect is worth mentioning as well. a singer needs to warm up, for everything. no matter if it’s rehearsals, a live gig or a recording session, warming up is critical. not just to keep the voice healthy and intact but also to make it sound better on the recording. a warmed-up voice sounds different and can be controlled a lot better, so warming up is important. but don’t go over the top with this. it’s a warm up, nothing more. the actual performance is what you need to focus on, so don’t let the warming up eat up your resources. by the way, this is not the time to practice. you should know what you’re doing by now. and, again, be professional. time is of the essence here. depending on the singing-style and the genre of the music you might be able to sing for hours without any problem OR you might have only 15 minutes before the voice sounds less than perfect! so make the best of it, take breaks whenever necessary and drink a lot. you’ll regret it big time if you settle for a crappy take because there was not enough time and you couldn’t do it any better at that very moment.

wow, here’s my favorite: never give negative feedback to the singer. that’s bullsh!t, at least in my book. if your singer can’t handle feedback (that includes both positive and negative), get rid of him/her. that same thing goes for any other musician you’re dealing with. now, i know it’s not that easy, although it should be. chances are you’re stuck with li’l princess, so well, be diplomatic if you have to. you should know who you’re dealing with before the session – know your enemy :-) so be aware if this person can handle feedback or not. everyone involved in the recording process should be on the same side, so if the performance was not good, the performer should be able to hear about it, because it’s for the greater good (now you have to mumble “the greater good” – anyone seen “Hot Fuzz”?). can you imagine a bad sounding recording because noone told the singer he/she was off? there’s too much at stake here. so this goes out to all singers: be able to handle feedback, if it’s constructive of course. if you’re off, deal with it! know your limits, accept your mistakes and do it better next time. closing your eyes and ears won’t do anyone any good, especially yourself. but for the non-singers who are stuck with such an idiot: do what you have to, to get through this. but now might be a good time to start secretly plotting against your singer, so you can have a real one by the time the next session is at hand…

good luck

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• Vocal Tips for Recording and Performing (datamusicata.com)

and it goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on………..

after browsing a little longer through reverbnationland i really have found something that i’d like to recommend as an out of the ordinary listening experience. check out “Veronique Chevalier”, i have only listened to 2-3 songs yet but it’s really worth checking out – love it! there’s a few more recommendations on my profile page over there, but this freaky polka stuff just rocks!

and speaking of which – try to find a band called “The Mollies” (maybe “The Mollys“), i couldn’t find their site or anything related to them right now – found them years ago through CD Baby, but the site is down for maintenance. i’ll provide you with some link as soon as i have something. back then, i bought their album “Moon Over The Interstate” and it’s unreal! although i have no idea why i like it….and it kinda scares the hell outta me….

p.s. just added their last.fm link…