Dec. 8, 2011
Over on Page 2 of our Audio Gallery, hidden from most listeners, you'll find "A House Divided." I thought a little information about it was merited. I was messing with the B7 guitar chord, moving it up and down the neck, and found I could actually construct a song with only ONE chord shape.
Interesting. Those finger squeaks are a result of this continuous movement utilizing the same chord shape.

But I didn't have any lyrics written for such a song. Hmmm. What topic would fit a finger-picked song that sounded like this? I am currently upset with our politics in America, the fact that nothing much is accomplished in Congress. This is due to the parties putting themselves first and the public's welfare last.
It's gotten so bad that I avoid all talk about politics simply because so many people are polarized in their views, mirroring what we see in Washington.
Around Oct. 1, 2011, the Associated Press ran a piece titled "Congress' Dysfunction Long In the Making." In it are five reasons why our political system is in a state of inertia right now.
I will copy parts of this until I'm told to remove it, not wanting my paraphrasing to misrepresent anyone's logic:

1. The 1994 Republican revolution- Newt Ginrich of Georgia increased the party-verses-party polarization when his GOP ended four decades of House minority status. They simply wouldn't let the Democrats offer any alternative bills, as was done before. They refused all compromises!
2. Cultural shifts- lawmakers rarely reside in Washington anymore, but commute long distances back home often. Democrats and Republicans do not socialize, eat, drink, have parties together like they used to. This further discourages any compromises. They used to be friends!
3. The US media has changed- from straight news outlets to opinioniated blogs, "news" pieces, tv shows, and talk radio. Republicans live in mortal fear of Rush Limbaugh outing anyone for being insufficiently conservative. Social media has popularized NONfact based reality. (This scares me!)
4. Unrestrained use of partisian tools- Until the mid-1990s the House Majority often let the other party offer legislation, debates, and votes. Compromise sometimes happened. This rarely happens now. The filibuster tool was rarely used throughout most of the 20th century. But both parties routinely employ it, enabling the Minority to block almost any bill if its members stick together.
5. Money's role in polarization- New laws and tactics have steered millions of campaign dollars to interest groups on the far left and right and they spend it to defeat candidates they oppose. Most of the money is now not with the parties. The money has moved to the expremes.

Let's face it: Politically we are in bad shape because of polarization- the refusal to even hear another side's point of view. That's the theme I chose for my song. Let's just hope we don't end up like the two brothers in the song who couldn't compromise.

Aug. 8, 2011
If a fella loves J.J. Cale's music, he's got something!
(see t-shirt logo) My whole family loves Cale's music.
 
Michael John (M.J.) visited us again a short while ago and asked to record some drums for us. Since I had three songs started, I put him to it on the Yamaha Maple Custom kit. He averaged about an hour per song, retuning the snare, listening, discussing what to play, and then going at it. When done, we had some nice tracks to work with: "Hold On Tight," "Everyone Is Weird," and "Hard Times." His playing has gotten stronger and tighter, and I was pleased to see he had developed his listening skills further. (You would be amazed at how many musicians can play but can't listen well!) During this session I repositioned the Shure kick drum mic from three inches outside the front drum head port to two inches inside the hole. What a huge difference in clarity, tightness, and power! A brief listen to those three songs above will show what I mean, especially when compared to anything below them on the Audio Gallery page.
The broadband absorber "drum cloud" above and next to the kit is doing its job of absorbing reflections that used to muddy-up performances. I can even hear a real difference when speaking while standing under them!
M.J. has grown weary of the Texas heat and drought, and he has decided to try and return to the east coast sometime in the future, if he can find work in the renewable energy field near us. We wish him good luck, especially in these economic times.
I've added instruments and vocals, along with Debbie's keyboard and back-up vocals, to those three songs, edited, remixed and posted them on the Audio Gallery page. Hope you enjoy them.

 STUDIO "CLOUDS" MADE OF OC-703

 I have finally fully retired from "school teaching"- but I teach guitar now. More about that later. I have found more time to concentrate on using my little music studio. Lately I researched budget sound absorbtion methods, found the materials (Owens-Corning 703 specialty fiberglass, etc.,) wrapped six multifrequency absorbtion panels with speaker grill cloth and hung them in strategic places- namely over the vocal recording microphone, over the drums, and placed one panel in the corner to absorb bass buildup there. They function just as well as their expensive brethern with wood frames, but at a LOT less cost. I'm proud of them.

Jan. 19, 2011

It's a new year for The Wavemakers, and we're starting it off with a new drummer, Frank Howell, a fine "in the pocket" style drummer, a new studio quality vocal microphone, and four songs soon to be released!

We're excited to be playing with vetern drummer, Frank Howell. Frank auditioned along with four others for the job. The combination of his talent on drums and warm personality won out over the others. I also love the fact that Frank lives just down the road from us and likes to come to practice! A big Wavemaker Welcome to Frank!

I've been fighting with my main vocal studio microphone (an AKG C-3000) for the past year. It is bright and tends to creat sibilence (pronounced emphasis of the singer's "S" and "CH" sounds.) So I started researching studio vocal mics that copy the famous ( $5000+) Neumann U87's characteristics, but without the huge price tag. There are LOTS of choices out there, all with their enthusiastic admirers and their detractors. I won't bore you with the multiple mics I considered, but will tell that just yesterday I ordered a Kel Audio HM2D from the factory. This Canadian company sells direct to customers to cut the expense of a "middleman." They are known for intensive research into their products, and ship their mics in an inexpensive box with styrofoam packing to further reduce costs. (Most of the "big" microphone companies ship their nicer mics in fancy wood boxes- impressive looking but adding to the cost.) I plan on putting this new microphone on its stand, ready for use and not in some fancy storage box!

When the new mic arrives I may be very tempted to retrack the lead vocals on the four songs just done in the studio. If that's the case, please be patient while I rerecord vocals for the acoustic remake of "I Need You," plus the new releases: "A Boat Blowin' Nowhere," "Everyone Is Weird," and "I Want You to Stay."

It's a new year, and I hope it is filled with happiness for you and yours.

Oct. 15, 2010

I found myself with time on my hands, what with the Great Recession and the subsequent cutback of my hours teaching at S_____. So I launched into recording three songs at once, just getting the rhythm guitar and lead vocal tracks down. I really liked the fact that I found myself listening to different sounds instead of the same song over and over. Adding parts to each song came almost effortlessly because of this variety. You'd have to focus on just one song for a few weeks to know exactly what I mean. If possible, I plan on doing this again.

I chose these three songs simply on the basis of their placement in our songbooks. They were there and needed recording. What seems to shock a few folks is there are a couple country tunes there.

I wrote "Lovin' Again" long ago, back around 1982 after my divorce when I thought I had lost everything, including my two lovely children. (I later won half custody of them. Whew! Best decision I ever made.) I never set out to write a country song. It just happened. Sometimes a bit of country comes out of me in my writing and I've learned to not stop it, to just let it happen. Over the years I've gotten very good crowd reactions to this song.

Same thing with "Trouble (Just Finds Its Own Way.)" It is much newer and incorporates some of my thoughts about a newer marriage/relationship. Let's face it: if you put two thinking people in the same room, they are bound to clash on a few issues if they have a mind at all! Only the extremely subservient have no clashes, I've seen. After finishing the tracks I listened and knew it needed something else, some "ear candy." I tried electric lead, and it wasn't cutting it. Then I got the idea of slide guitar, almost a dobro sound might work there. I went to my nearest pawn shop and asked for their cheapest electric guitars. I chose a $35 one with one pickup, took it home, raised the strings, and recorded it, my first slide playing in 15 years. Some listeners like it! Well, it at least filled that void the song had.

On the third song, "To Be Done" I found myself going for an island feel in what probably ended up being a pseudo-reggae tune I wrote not too long ago. To do the congas I had to go watch a couple instructional videos on YouTube. My original playing just sounded too unauthentic to record. Glad I "researched" it some, but I know I'm far from a good conga player.

Time to go teach a couple guitar lessons in the studio. Teaching guitar has proven itself to be a good choice, a good fit for me and my skills as a school teacher. Plus it's profitable!

Until later-

Mike

11-4-10 UPDATE:

The guitar teaching has worked out so well that I resigned from Sylvan to teach guitar more. It's very nice being totally self-employed for the first time in my life!

8-12-10

Michael John left his home in Austin and drove with mom all the way from San Antonio to here for a nice visit. Packed tightly in his car was a full 8 piece Yamaha Maple Custom drum kit. He swapped it for the beautiful Drum Workshop kit in the studio. Seems MJ wanted a smaller, lighter kit since he has to lug them around so much playing gigs. I ended up with the better sounding, bigger set, played and (at one time) signed by Dave Weckl, the famous drummer. When new, these were taken into a professional recording studio in King, NC, and used there for a year. MJ got them as a high school graduation present and has played them lovingly ever since. His loss is my gain. I love their look and sound.

MJ played this kit on the song he inspired when he wrote on FaceBook, "I found myself stopped at a green light." Then he laid down tracks on "Livin' in the U.S. of A." on this kit. It was fun working in the studio with MJ. We were a regular father/ son team again. It's been a few years. Hope we do it again soon! We miss the feller.

Like many pro drummers, MJ has been a part of numerous bands. He is now freelancing, playing with country and more contemporary music groups in Austin. Power and expression define his style.

Check out "Livin' in the U.S. of A." It flat out rocks! That and "Stopped at a Green Light" are on our Audio Gallery page.

Mike

5-11-10

Most discerning lovers of music can tell whether they are hearing real instruments of "loops" and "samples" of previously recorded music with only a real human voice added. BUT the general public simply doesn't know the difference. The simple truth is that 90+% of the music you hear is full of samples and loops of drums, synthesizers, even bass and guitar sounds! That only leaves the addition of the vocals and the song is basically complete. 

Deb and I sat in Applebyes Restaurant (misspelling intentional- the worst steak I've had in 6 years!) last night and listened to one song after another that are current hits on the radio. Every song had one thing in common: Not one had a real musician playing the instrument at the time of the original recording of that sound! Many songs had so many effects applied to the vocals that it was hard to discern a human quality in them. They sounded like robots! Is this what "The People" really want?

Now, there are three distinct schools of thought on this subject of honesty in music. The first is the "Purists" who believe all the sounds in the song should be by real musicians playing the original instrument. They believe what the listener purchases should be exactly what the band is CAPABLE of producing in a live music show. These folks are extremely rare.

On the other extreme are the Synthesists that ascribe to the (profitable) theory that "The only thing that matters is the music! And to hell with HOW that music is made." Got to admit that 99+% of the listening public simply DOES NOT CARE how the sounds were recorded. All they care about is having the best sounds for the song. At first glance that belief seems hard to argue against.

The third school of thought on this subject is the middle-ground of compromising musicians who are using some samples (of other sounds) out of necessity, usually in their keyboards. Let's face it- a purist hauls around a heavy piano and pays roadies to load and unload it it, but the compromising musician has a 25 pound keyboard that plays MANY sounds needed for the performance- like piano, organs, and strings, etc. The Purist plugs his guitar into effects boxes, then into his amp. The Compromiser plugs into one box- a collection of many effects- then into his amp. (I predict the gradual decline in guitarists owning amps and effects boxes of ANY sort with the rise in quality software that does the sounds of the effects AND the variety of amplifiers played through a computer plugged into the sound system or P.A. These may be the new synthesists of the guitar world. Let's face it: a laptop computer is lighter than a guitar amp and effects boxes.)

Right now I have the choice of using the incredible studio-generated drum sounds in Sonar Producer software, or using real drums played by a our drummer. I have had to make a decision here and have decided to go with the real drums, knowing the sounds won't be as marketable as the software sounds. All the EQing, compressing, and limiting of these drums will never be as good as those software versions, and I don't care. I've decided to go with our REAL drum sounds. I did so knowing our drummer can recreate those sounds in a live music situation with no worries about disappointing our audience. Sometimes honesty wins.

Sometimes it loses. I play a guitar plugged into a computerized effects box. Oh well. But, generally speaking, when you hear us you will hear us fighting the urge to become Synthesists.

Later-

Mike
 

Feb. 21. 2010

"Three in the can" is an old audio engineer's way of saying he had three songs completed and put in their protective steel "cans" or flat, 2-inch thick disks that sealed to keep air out. One great advantage of digital recording is the ability to go back anytime and add or delete any material. We've got three songs up on the Audio Gallery page now. They haven't had mastering done to polish them, etc. But they're 90% done.

One thing I've learned in the past couple months is that the actual recording of voices and instruments is easy,  compared to the hours spent mixing and editing the music. I know I'll only get faster at mixing a song, but it ain't easy. Tons of variables present themselves in audio editing and mixing. Tons of choices.

I'd be ashamed to admit how many hours I've worked on these three songs. I wouldn't be shocked if it was in the triple digits.

 Another thing I've learned is to NOT fully trust my control room speakers. These are self-amplified, Alesis M1 Powered monitors. And they lie about bass sounds. By this I mean those speakers just don't have enough bass output, so I push the bass frequencies in different instruments a bit harder to get the bass sounds I like from my monitors. Since most folks actually USE their bass boost buttons on home stereos and even MP3 players, this causes my mixes to be too bassy in most other systems. Thus, I've learned to not trust my monitors' bass output and to keep the bass way down in my mixes.

Moreover, I've learned that folks like to hear a rise in the upper frequencies that I admit adds presence or even "air" to a sound, but that can be a bit harsh to my ears. So I've removed some bass and boosted some upper frequencies.

Three down, about fifty more to go. LOL I've been saving them up for forty years. We'll try and record about fourteen or fifteen more songs, then select the best ten or so for an album. I don't see what's stopping us from putting together a three to five song demo CD for promotional purposes, something we could do quickly.

These three songs available now for downloading need "Mastering"- the fine tune-up given to a song for sale in retail. That's down the road for us. We'll get there, if we have to walk!

Peace

Update- March 27

I just posted an updated version of song four, "I Need You" to the audio page. Guess it's "four in the can" now.

January 13. 2010

Although "Brices Creek Blues" is far from completed, work has to go on. In this case it's laying down tracks for "Row Me Away," a sweet story about a sailor drawn to mix with the local islanders, and never leaving. So far I have the guitars, a "scratch" vocal, conga, and a "scratch" bass track done. It is going a lot easier than my first Sonar software song. Haven't yet made the first phone call to tech support for this tune!

I like most of what I'm hearing, but have to admit that when recording any song it tends to evolve. It changes somewhat, hopefully for the better. You start thinking about its possibilities in different ways that might help the song as a whole, make it more sonically interesting.

Another reality that might sound like common sense to some, but frankly has never been a problem until recently, is the fact that the song under construction becomes fixed in my head, playing on an endless loop, sometimes to the point of distraction. I find myself purposefully putting other songs into my conscious mind in hopes those songs will nudge the previous song aside for awhile and give me a break from it. I know this is to be expected when you work with the same song for two to four hours a day, but jeeesh!

I like my lyrics in "Row Me Away."  Check them out on our Song Lyrics page.

November 14. 2009

It finally happened: All the components to the studio arrived. I spent two weeks registering products, getting the latest drivers, and trying to figure out Sonar, the software that runs my DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) studio. I was on the phone to Sonar technical support almost daily for two weeks. Got to say those three fellas that man the phones there were great in helping me solve my "crisis of the day."

Frustration was the dominant emotion for me during those two weeks. Then I had a breakthrough and recorded an experimental rhythm guitar track successfully. I followed this with laying down a lead guitar track to go with it. Eureka! I decided not to sell my copy of Sonar on eBay.

Next I got busy doing a more serious track. I chose "Brices Creek Blues" because it is a simple blues tune and because it is currently song number one of set 1 in our songbooks. I tried my old Martin D35 with stereo micing and strumming, my newer Martin acoustic-electric plugged directly into the interface, and tried taking a line out from its Fender Acoustiasonic Pro amp. Then I just put a condenser mic up and recorded the old D35 with a finger picking style. Next, I sat back and listened, comparing what I had so far. I only needed one rhythm guitar and the fingerpicked Martin won this first compitition.

Then I sang the song's usual vocal track, but tried using a bass voice instead of my usual tenor. It worked, once I got over the shock of hearing myself sing so low. I went ahead and did a tenor vocal version and compared them. The bass version seems to match the blusy song better.

It took me about eight tries to get the lead guitar part right. I nailed it right before Randy came over last night to try adding his bass to the mix. Randy had never recorded before- a virgin! He quickly got the hang of it by using the Tranzport remote control to start recording while listening to the other three tracks I had earlier recorded. If he screwed up he hit the stop button on the remote, then hit "undo" and tried it again. Within minutes he was in charge of recording his bass line. I liked that I didn't have to run the software for him using a mouse. I watched in amazement that he was easily doing what just one week ago I was struggling to get done. Randy was having a great time, alternately stressing over a flubbed fingering of a note, and enjoyment over his first serious study of this song and his learning of better ways of representing it on the bass guitar. Quite a few takes later he got it 99% right!

It was nice sitting back and listening to those first four tracks, adjusting volume between them, adding reverb, changing EQ, etc. We could hear the song taking shape, and sounding better than it ever had before! Recording can be both frustrating and enlightening as you delve into the complexities of a song. We're just gettin' started here, but still having a little fun.

This first album is going to take some serious time, I can tell. I think it'll be worth it.

Until later- Mike

12-12-09 UPDATE: WE JUST FINISHED OUR FIRST SONG, "BRICES CREEK BLUES"- AN ACOUSTIC BLUES ORIGINAL BY ME. IT TOOK 4 WEEKS JUST TO RECORD THIS SONG, WHAT WITH DAILY PHONE CALLS TO SONAR'S SOFTWARE SUPPORT,  BUT I ANTICIPATE THE REST SHOULD GO A BIT FASTER. I STILL HAVE TO TRY AND MASTER THESE SONGS, BUT MIGHT PAY A PROFESSIONAL TO DO IT RIGHT, AS I'VE LEARNED IT TAKES EXPENSIVE OUTBOARD EQUIPMENT I DON'T HAVE AND BETTER EARS THAN MINE!

August 18, 2009

It may seem trivial to some, but the decision to add ten to twelve new songs to our play lists was not one to be taken lightly. This entailed choosing the songs based on the purpose for doing them, finding the lyrics and music for them, trying them out to see how they sounded, weeding out the unacceptable ones, printing copies for band members, transcribing the music onto the lyric sheets, and lastly rehearsing them. Add to that the normal trial and error that accompanies putting together any set of songs, adding replacements that sound better, deleting the ones to be dropped, and there's work involved in this decision.

So just why was this decision made? A few years ago Debbie and I (in a band calling itself The Final Fling) did a show for a group of folks here in New Bern. The audience consisted of mostly silver haired people who were eating a dinner and talking among themselves. Within the first ten minutes we heard the first request to please turn down the level of music we were doing. I had already set our volume pretty low, after looking over the situation before starting. But we turned down further to please them. A couple songs later and here came the second request. We turned down further, this time to the point of my being able to actually hear my guitar pick hitting the strings. That's pretty low volume! You guessed it: Ten minutes later came the third request. Now I got a little angry. We already had the drummer using brushes instead of sticks, and we were about as low as we could get. During the band's break I almost started packing up the equipment. Our bass player talked me out of it. The rest of the night got better because they had finished eating and talking and were ready to dance a little. We got the usual compliments when the show was done.

I talked with the band later at a rehearsal and told them I was going to do the first set on my Martin acoustic-electric plugged into a Fender Acoustisonic Pro amplifier- but turned down low. This was done in an attempt to circumvent such problems in the future. We rehearsed this way and were ready for the next time we needed soft "dinner music." Or so we thought. The next time came with the exact same group of folks a year later. I pulled out my Martin and we did two songs before the request to play softer came. I was mad. There was the drummer using brushes instead of sticks, I was playing my acoustic plugged into an acoustic guitar amp turned down low, and everyone else was as soft as possible. Still we managed to soften it some (with only one more request to play softer.)

I decided it was time to try an "unplugged" set of music with no microphones, songs designed to allow the audience a chance to almost ignore us, talk amongst themselves if they so chose, songs they could even sing along with if they wanted. This was going to be litererally "back porch music." My goal is to actually have people ask us to TURN IT UP!

Here is the first round of song choices for our unplugged set: (We will be trying new choices and adding a few as time goes on.)

The Weight- by The Band

Bad, Bad Leroy Brown- by Jim Croche

Knockin' on Heaven's Door- by Bob Dylan

Teach Your Children- by Crosby, Stills, and Nash

City of New Orleans- by Arlo Guthrie

Paradise- by John Prine

Seven Bridges Road- by The Eagles

I'll Fly Away- traditional gospel

Will the Circle Be Unbroken- by A.P. Carter and later done by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

Layla- Eric Clapton's Unplugged album version

Amie- Pure Prarie League

It should be noted that at this time Debbie will have to remain plugged into the PA system with her keyboard. We've searched for alternatives without luck. Maybe we'll find a military "Field Organ" designed for portability in doing religious services during times of conflict with men and women out in the field of combat. I found one recently on eBay, but it was for local pick-up only in the Detroit area. Let us know if you hear of a small, wood pump-organ that folds itself into a big suitcase sized box. They're ultra cool!

And our bass player, Randy, will likely remain plugged in, but will likely play an acoustic-electric Hofner bass (Beatle Bass) known for its blend of acoustic and electric bass sounds, or he'll find an acoustic bass guitar. Tom, our drummer, will either play a snare and high-hat with brushes, or he'll get a drumming "box" called a cajon. At any rate, we're now ready to do a very soft ten to twelve song set of music for any audience that needs to talk during the show! Wish us luck with this.

Until next time- Mike

Sept. 29, 2009

I ordered the computer today. The 'Bad Boy" ought to be here in a week. Lots of research, investigation, emailing, phone calling, and worrying went into choosing the Reniers Audio Computer. I'm glad that's over! Mr."Woot" Ranier is good to talk to and can be proud of his web site and products!

Already arrived is the used computer desk, a duplicate flat screen monitor from eBay, twin Karma K-10 condenser overhead drum mics, a Yamaha subwoofer, a cool Frontier Design Tranzport remote control (from 30 feet away!) for the computer recording software, an inexpensive 8 channel software control surface- the Behringer BCF2000 with flying faders, my first online only book Killer Home Recording by Brandon Drury- harder to read than it should be, near impossible to write notes on or even print out. Don't think I care for online books. Next up- the preamplifier interface, and the Sonar software, and a book to explain how to operate it- Sonar Power!