UPDATE 10/31/2011: Now available on iTunes! http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/wild-green-life-ep/id477253038 AND Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Green-Life/dp/B0061XC0LW/
UPDATE 7/20/2011: Digital and a limited run of physical copies are now available.
Hey, I’ve released my record!
Hey! I’ve been writing about the album I’m working on over at nightdriverecords.com. Check it out!
I was in St. Augustine’s church last weekend rehearsing for an upcoming wedding, and had a bit of extra time, so I did one take of this Train classic. One mic for vocals, one inside the piano pointed down toward the lower octaves. Vocals are shaky in spots, but what is great about this recording is how little I did to the sound. The combination of a great piano in a great room is noticeable. Enjoy!
Download here (right-click > save link/target as…)
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I did a quick recording of The World Spins Madly On by The Weepies. It was tracked all in one shot, guitar and vocals together (though I added some harmonies toward the end). Setup was as follows..
Studio Projects B3 for vocals
AKG Perception 220 on the soundhole
Shure SM57 on the fingerboard
Enjoy!
Download here (right-click > save link/target as…)
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Firstly, as an fyi, I uploaded most of my old recordings last night. These include the fabled “College Demo Sessions” from way back in high school. I was young then, so go easy on me–two jazz tunes, and two classical pieces.. consume at your own risk. The entire process of putting that demo together undoubtedly planted the right ideas in my head about what I might enjoy down the road. I learned some basic things one doesn’t usually consider going into their first recording experience. The most frustrating of these, is knowing you have a stellar grip on a tune you’re going to record, and when the mic goes in the piano and the red button is pressed, you tense up. It’s crazy–especially if there’s no one else around, but it happens. I’ve learned that piping up the environment to make you feel like a rock star goes a long way–incense/candles lit, dim those lights, stand up, put on the big headphones, and seep it all into the mic.
I’m just about done with a song I’ve been working on for a few weeks. I’d really kill for another verse though, so I’m going to try and make that happen over the next few days. Unfortunately, I’ve been at a loss for inspiration, and have found it difficult to write a song titled “There’ll Be Snow” when it’s been all spring fling this past week. With any luck, we’ll be back to the romance of freezing rain and glassy roads in no time.
Tags: high school, lyrics, recording, snow, writing
I’ve been teaching myself about small-scale recording for just about three years now, and experimenting with all sorts of solutions for an apartment living solo musician. That said, in addition to sharing my present musical exploitations, I think it might be useful to share some past experiences. My hope is this will help someone get some better results quicker — all I wanted to do when I first started was to finish a recording that sounded decent enough to email around to a bunch of friends.
Rewind to Christmas 2006… my first piece of equipment was a Boss Micro BR. This was a great first step because I didn’t need anything but this little journal-sized device (built in mic, 4 tracks, mixing, mastering, etc). I would recommend any device similar to this for beginners on the basis of value, portability and ease of use. At the time, I felt the results I was getting from the BR were extraordinary compared with what I had tried in my very early years (see: using a $40 dynamic mic direct into the sound card on my Pentium 4 with 256mb RAM). The best result I got from the BR was Summer Girl — 2 electric guitar tracks (direct into 1/4″) and 1 vocal track. That said, I began using a nicer separate condenser mic only a few months later, which made the BR’s on-board mic unneeded for me.
The acquisition of a condenser mic really exploded the possibilities of what I could create. I used the BR and the AKG Perception 220 for the next 14 months until I could get my hands on an iMac. They were a busy 14 months… and it wasn’t all about me. We made some solid recordings of the Villanova Pastoral Musicians with that one mic (I haven’t posted that music yet, but anyone who’s interested in it, probably has a copy already).
Through this point, I continued to battle with common beginner problems, such as background noise, ground loop hum, and quiet recordings. More on this later as I gradually figured out what the heck I was doing.