I worked Monday and gave a lesson to my Decorah student. The song he is working on is continually developing. Brought a little digital recorder this time so we could give a little listen to what we have done so far. Hoping to surprise him with a free recording of his song at Ghost in My House Studio once it is complete.
I worked Tuesday and did an in-depth interview for Song of the Soul out of Eau Claire, WI with Mark Judkins Helpsmeet of Northern Spirit Radio. The interview consists of Mark interviewing me regarding the lyrical and spiritual aspects of seven songs off the recently released Animist double-album. I really enjoyed the content and depth of the interview as Mark asked probing questions that provided an opportunity for deep reflection on the meaning behind the album. Mark is currently editing the 60 minute interview down to 45 minutes and I will let you know when it is available.
I had the day off Wednesday and Michelle Lynn and Adam Ptacek were over to in the early afternoon for another enjoyable rehearsal of Michelle's songs. Practice definitely makes improvement and it is becoming evident that we are getting much more comfortable in our musical interactions which should make for some really fun shows in the upcoming year. Jaran Carson and Joe Dawson were over Wednesday evening for the first rehearsal of the Moth Mountain/WigglePuppy material for our upcoming show at the Root Note on May 7th. I really had fun filling yet another musical role, this time bass. Looking forward to getting a lot more comfortable with the material in the next couple of weeks.
I worked Thursday and enjoyed my brother who made it town from Chicago that evening. The rest of the weekend was spent doing family related events. However, I did have the opportunity, thanks to Adam Wiltgen, to attend the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra's performance at the Ordway Theatre in St. Paul, MN on Saturday night. This was my first time seeing a live orchestral performance and I thoroughly enjoyed it the refreshing musical perspective it provided and it definitely made my rock and roll flailings seem amateur by comparison.
I am a little late in getting this past week's update up. Last week was so busy that it has taken me most of the week this week thus far to catch-up.
I had Monday off and it was pretty relaxing. Michelle was over in the morning for some more tracking on her upcoming album, Twisted Logic. Adam Ptacek was over a bit later in the day to lay down some bass parts. The Studio Projects VTB1 tube preamp I purchased to test out in the studio was terribly disappointing and it looks like the reviews are correct and one would need to spend at least $300 for a single channel pre to notice any improvement over the preamps in my interface.
I worked Tuesday and taught a lesson my Decorah student on the way out of town. We have been hard at work on his first original song and I am continually impressed with how well he is doing. I have also been surprised at how much I am enjoying teaching. I found that when I am up front with people and tell them that "I can't really read music that well and I am not going to teach your son/daughter a bunch of cover songs, but I will teach them how to use the instrument as a creative tool" it sets appropriate expectations and works out really well for all involved. Looking forward to adding more students in the near future.
I worked Wednesday as well and managed to get in a rehearsal with Michelle and Adam after work for our upcoming full show at Del's the following night. Practicing in my tiny basement can be a bit loud overall but I have really been enjoying playing drums with Michelle and Adam.
I worked Thursday and then headed down to Del's bar in La Crosse, WI to play drums for Michelle Lynn. We made it all the way through the 4 hour show without any noticeable mistakes and really had a good time playing. A couple of free Down Town Brown's from the local Pearl Street Brewery never hurts either.
Friday I had the day off and Joe Dawson was over at 10am to start work on the mixing of his 4 song Moth Mountain EP project. It went pretty smoothly but ear fatigue got the better of us by the end of the day and we will probably need to make some final modifications in the next couple of weeks before we release it to the public.
Saturday morning I headed down to the UWL Rec Center to do a Brahman Shaman solo-acoustic set for the annual St. Baldrick's Cancer Benefit. Nothing like singing songs in a gym while people are getting their heads shaved to give you a new perspective on you craft. I also brought a simple drum kit down and ended up playing drums for about three hours backing up Michelle Lynn, DocsFidelics (not sure of the name) and Nick Shattuck.
After the benefit I had a couple of hours before heading over to Winona to drum for Nick Shattuck at the acoustic cafe. The show went well but I could feel my energy level waning. Unfortunately, after 5 hours of drumming on Saturday I was too tired to make it downtown to the Popcorn Tavern to help one of my local favorite groups, King Everything celebrate the release of their Mermaid Frosting album. Hoping to catch them again soon.
Sunday was spent doing all the chores and errands I didn't have time for during the week. It was a fun week but also exhausting. I only have a couple of shows booked in April and am sort of looking forward to a bit of a break to focus more on studio projects, but I am sure I will end up playing more shows as I have a hard time saying no what I enjoy.
The warm weather definitely has a positive effect on one's mood.
I worked Monday and had a good lesson with my Decorah student. We are continuing work on his first original song and the young writer is getting more comfortable suggesting lyrical ideas and modifying the chord progression. He has also done a great job of mastering the lead guitar lick we came up with for the intro and I am glad to see that songwriting has inspired him to spend more time with his guitar.
I had Tuesday off and Michelle Lynn was back at Ghost in My House Studio continuing work on her new album Twisted Logic. Adam Ptacek was over around lunch time and the three of us spent the next few hours rehearsing songs for the upcoming shows on March 20th at the Root Note and Del's Bar on the 25th. The more I get comfortable with the songs the more fun they are to play. I have really been enjoying having the opportunity to play some drums for other musicians both live and in the studio as it improves my drumming and gives me a much needed new perspective on songwriting in general.
Tuesday night Joe Dawson and Jaran Carson were over for a quick Brahman Shaman rehearsal in preparation for our set at the Root Note on Saturday. I am finally starting to feel comfortable with the trio and feel that we are definitely able to do the recorded versions of the songs justice.
Wednesday was spent working. Thursday I had the day off again and managed to get my drum parts recorded for 8 of the songs on Michelle Lynn's new album. Having recorded the guitar with a click track definitely this process go quicker, although it still took about 5 hours. After that Michelle and Adam were over for another rehearsal. Michelle has also been experimenting with the electric guitar and the handful of FX pedals I have available.
Friday I was up early and headed down to KDEC FM 100.5 studios in Decorah, IA for the weekly Artist Direct radio show. I enjoyed talking with Jeni and Tim and also got a kick out of hearing both Pride and Holy Roller from the recently released Animist album on the radio. I am going to try to get a copy of the show this week and will have it available online soon. I worked the rest of the day Friday. Friday night I headed down to the Bodega in LaCrosse, WI to play drums for Nick Shattuck from 9 to 1. Nick always seems to draw a great crowd and this definitely makes the show more fun.
Saturday night I had the opportunity to participate in a fun show at the Root Note. My good friend and local MC Hyphon opened the show with a great set, even performing our collaborative track "Have it Back". The Brahman Shaman electric trio followed and I can honestly say I had the most fun I have had thus far performing as Brahman Shaman. Driftless Music founder Adam Wiltgen was kind enough to grab some video of one the performance of Spoke of the Wheel, check it out here. Michelle Lynn was the headliner and she played a great set that started with her playing solo-acoustic until Adam and I joined her on bass and drums about halfway through. Adam got a video of a couple of songs available here and here and has also posted a new blog about the performance here.
Sunday was spent running errands, cleaning the house and just relaxing.
This past week was both very busy and very enjoyable. I had a great lesson with my Decorah student Monday. I am helping him write his first original song and it is really a lot of fun. He has already come up with some great ideas for the rhythm of the progression and is playing the lead guitar part we came up with really well. Hopefully we will get a little farther on the melody and lyrics next week.
Tuesday was my 5 year wedding anniversary, so besides working during the day I spent the evening with my wonderful wife.
Wednesday was spent working as well, however did get the chance to do another Brahman Shaman rehearsal with Jaran & Joe at Ghost in My House Studio for our upcoming debut gig as a trio at the Root Note on March 20th w/ Michelle Lynn & Hyphon. My song "Youth" from the recently released Animist double-album was featured on La Crosse's Z93.3 FM's Play it or Hate it radio program. I was surprised to get enough votes for a "Play it" and was pretty fun to hear my song on the radio twice in one hour. Also, really enjoyed hearing the snippets of people calling in and voting.
Thursday I spent most of the day helping Michelle Lynn record her new album, Twisted Logic, at Ghost in My House Studio. Michelle was a quick study with the click and we spent the day recording rhythm guitar tracks and scratch vocals. Thursday night Joe Dawson was in the studio to finalize overdubs for his 4 EP solo project, Moth Mountain. We are hoping to get it mixed and available online in within the next couple of weeks. Later Thursday night I enjoyed listening to Michelle Lynn on La Crosse's 95.7 The Rock Local Lixx radio program. She did a great interview and they even spun our collaborative effort, Death By Fear, from her recently released album, Pre Echoes for the Post Modern.
Friday I got some time in the morning to experiment with the new compressor I got for the studio before Michelle was back in the studio finishing up the the rhythm guitar tracks and scratch vocals on the 13 songs that will make up her upcoming release, Twisted Logic. Her partner and my close friend Adam Ptacek (Rearview Mirror, Objective Subject) was over in the afternoon and we had a fun rehearsal as a three-piece. Hopefully we will get a few more of those in before the Root Note show on the 20th, where we will be playing a few songs together and Del's Bar on the 25th where we will be playing 10pm - 2am.
Saturday night my friend and amazing bass player Pat Longmire picked me up and we headed to Tomah to play with Nick Shattuck at the Gas Alley Pub. We had a great time and really enjoyed performing as a three-piece.
Sunday I had another good lesson with local student. He is getting his fingerings in order and we will be hitting some right-hand rhythm techniques harder in the next couple of weeks.
In other news Ghost in My House Studio is now fully operational and available for bookings at a flat rate of $20/hr for tracking, mixing and mastering. Spring dates are already filling up so if you are interested in doing some recording just click here.
What is audio-mastering, what does it do, is it necessary, and most importantly, why is audio-mastering important to an independent musician? Before mastering my new double-album Animist, I spent a lot of time trying to answer these questions.
Simply put, audio-mastering makes your music louder. In other words, mastering is the difference between the volume level of (insert any major commercially released album here) vs. the volume of the album you recorded on your laptop or 4-track recorder. If you are not sure what I mean, just compare the volume of your favorite major label CD vs. the volume of a CD you recorded yourself.
Although the subject of mastering is much more complex than this, volume level is good place to start. Volume, or how loud a CD sounds is directly tied to the dynamic range of the recorded audio. Dynamic range is simply the range in decibels between the softest and loudest parts of a recording. However, it is important to remember that dynamic range is measured in the aggregate, i.e the dynamic range of a particular recording is based on a collection of the peaks and valleys of the audio signal as opposed to anyone particular peak or valley.
This past week was a very enjoyable one. The weather stayed consistently mild, alluding to the approaching spring. I also had the chance to play music with a variety of people in a variety of ways which is my favorite thing to do.
Monday was spent working and scheduling conflicts prevented me from teaching my Decorah student. Tuesday was also spent working, however I did have time to release a free Animist 5 Song Sampler.
Wednesday I had the day off and despite sleeping in a little longer than I had planned I had time to record a basic electric guitar track for one song and drums tracks for two new songs I am working on before I accompanied Michelle Lynn and Adam Ptacek to the Dave's guitar shop to help Michelle pick out her first electric. She ended up picking out a cool Danelectro re-issue and I was so enamored with the guitar that I ended up buying one for myself. After the shopping trip, the three of us headed back to Ghost in My House Studio and experimented playing a variety of new and old Michelle Lynn songs as a three-piece with Adam on bass and me on drums. We had a blast and are looking forward to working up a good collection of songs to play together for some potential live shows.
Wednesday evening Jaran and Joe were over for another Brahman Shaman rehearsal. This was a lot of fun as usual and now that we are starting to feel more comfortable with the ten songs we have been focusing on we may try to add some more songs at the next rehearsal.
It was back to work on Thursday but afterwards Joe Dawson came over and finalized another vocal track as well as laying down a 2nd guitar on one of the songs. We also did some synth experimentation with a borrowed Roland Juno, but used up most of our time messing with the sounds. I think there are only a couple more overdubs left before we can start mixing and hopefully the whole project will be done within a couple of weeks.
I had work off Friday and got a little time in the morning to work on some bass lines for a new song. Michelle Lynn came over at 10am and we started work on the recording of her 4th album, Twisted Logic. Michelle played through all the songs for me and we did a quick live recording of them for reference and to figure out tempos. Michelle definitely seems more interested in tracking the songs with the click track this time which will make adding additional instrumentation that much easier. In the afternoon Adam came over to the studio as well and the three of us spent an hour or two trying out some more of Michelle's songs as a three piece.
Saturday was mostly spent doing errands and chores around the house. Saturday night I loaded up the drums and headed down to the Root Note to drum for Nick Shattuck's all ages CD release party. Nick drew a great crowd and we pretty much just played the album from start to finish and had a good time doing it. You can check out some of the videos of the performance by clicking here.
Sunday I had fun giving another guitar lesson and I find that it really helps to play drums with the student when we are focusing on rhythm aspects of guitar playing.
This coming week on Wednesday the song "Youth" from the recently released Animist double-album will be featured on Z93.3's "Play it or Hate it". For more info click here. This coming Saturday I will be heading to the Gas Alley Pub in Tomah, WI to drum for Nick Shattuck.
This past week proved to be a musically diverse one and I can't help but enjoy the wide variety of musical adventures I get to have each week.
I worked Monday and taught a lesson to my Decorah student on my way home. We started work on his first song with a basic progression. After that we are planning to add some lead guitar licks to the intro and then we can start brainstorming vocal melodies. The more I give lessons, the more I enjoy them.
Tuesday I worked and did not get much time for music besides some vocal practice in the car on my afternoon commute and some brief drumming when I got home.
Wednesday I had the day off and spent a good portion of the day working on a new song entitled "The Will of the People" that is slowly but surely coming together, although I am still struggling with the timing changes between the sections. Wednesday evening was the second rehearsal with the full Brahman Shaman electric trio with Jaran Carson on drums and Joe Dawson on bass. It has been a lot of fun to play with these guys. We are just focusing on ten songs for now for our first official performance as the trio March 20th at the Root Note with Michelle Lynn & Hyphon.
Thursday I worked, but Joe Dawson was over at about 5 and finished up main vocal tracks for another of the 4 songs he is working, as well as adding more background vocals to "Of Devil's & Beasts". The material is really starting to sound good as Joe has a really cool voice that blends nicely with some great chord progressions. Hopefully a couple more sessions of tracking and we should be close to the mixing stage. After Joe left I headed down to Del's to play drums for Nick Shattuck's "Chorus & Verse" CD release party. The show was a lot of fun and the 4 hours of playing flew by much quicker than expected. Having recorded and produced "Chorus & Verse" at Ghost in My House Studio it was pretty cool to see the finished product and I am definitely glad both Nick and his fans are digging the sound of the record.
I tried to sleep in Friday after a late night on Thursday, but couldn't make it much past 8AM. Spent most of the day in Ghost in My House Studio doing more reorganizing and arranging of gear as well as doing some experiments that involve me singing and playing guitar while playing drums. This proves to be very difficult but also very rewarding when you can get a good kick/hi-hat groove going.
Saturday was again mostly spent running errands and doing home improvement projects... I also found out that "Youth", a Brahman Shaman song from the second disc of the recently released Animist double-album will be featured on La Crosse's own Z93.3 radio station as part of their weekly "Play it or Hate it" radio show. I should have more info for you on that soon.
Sunday was mostly spent cleaning and relaxing before the next week. However, I did teach a fun lesson around noon.
Until next time, check out www.brahmanshaman.com for the lastest news and upcoming shows!
