So I have been reading through some message boards and blogs looking for different strategies for micing live acoustic instruments or choir for both reinforcement AND multi-track recording. In one blog, I cam accross a very interesting made-up word... "condenseritis". This is the sickness where the infected engineer continually goes to the condenser mic for every micing task. The cure for this common ailment?... um... NOT using condensers.
All dramatics aside, I did find this idea interesting. Most of my training and experience is in the recording world and in the recording world, it seems to be an unspoken rule that a great condenser mic is always the first choice; and for good reason! Condensers have a larger flatter frequency response and can pick up much softer and more intricate sound sources (especially the good ones!). When you mic a vocalist in a studio, the first choice is usually a large diaphragm condenser with a pop-filter... (although there have been plenty of successful recordings with dynamic mics!).
In a live setting, most often, a vocalist has a handheld dynamic mic (or a specially designed handheld condenser). You wouldn't dream of having a live singer sling around a Neumann TLM 49! So for recording purposes, an SM58 might not be the go-to mic, but it is built for voice and can be mixed effectively for a good live recording. Now as I read articles in Mix and Sound on Sound, I get to read about the top professionals who travel the world with bands and artists working to capture great recording simultaneously with reinforcement. The top-of-the-line gear that they use combined with their expertise produces some of the very best recordings ever made. But for engineers like me, trying to run a business on a budget, I am always looking for ways to use the gear I have available to me to run a live sound event with multi-track recording.
Recently I have been trying to find occasions to use the trusty and affordable SM57 in place of a condenser. An acoustic piano is one place where I have had some great results. I typically like to use a large diaphragm condenser like an AKG 414 on a piano (or I will also sub in a small diaphragm condenser as well) to get that intricate sound. But when that piano is setup near a drum kit, or the pianist is singing, those mics will inevitably pick up EVERYTHING. The SM57's dynamic setup is able to slightly ignore those more distant sound sources while still responding well to the hammers-on-strings of the close piano. While this is a benefit for the recording, this is also a big help in the avoidance of the live sound engineers greatest nemesis... Dr. Feedback. Of course there is still some bleed in the dynamic mic, but it is far less, and the standard SM57 roll-offs on the higher end and boosts in the mids can be altered a bit in post. No it is not as intricate as the condensers, but it certainly is more piano than anything else!
One big issue I am working on now is how to mic a choir (a large gospel choir) with a live band next to them. My first attempt at this used 2 cardioid large diaphragm condensers in a spaced setup left and right along with an adjusted ORTF setup using two cardioid small diaphragm condensers in the middle (a little longer than ORTF). The choir sounded great, but the bleed from the drums and other instruments was very noticable and I wasn't able to boost a great amount without Dr. Feedback peering in his ugly head (making me spend a fair amount of time on EQ for feedback avoidance!). One blogger suggested using a series of SM57s in this setting over the condensers... I'm thinking about trying this to see if it helps contain the bleeding instruments and avoiding feedback while still bringing out the choir in the multi-track and the house mains...
...any other engineers have any thoughts about this?
Friday, December 7, 2012
Monday, November 19, 2012
Excited
I am excited. There are things in the future to be excited about...
Every business has some sort of goal, or driving force that is enabling them to move forward. Depending on what you do and who you are, these goals vary.
For instance, some people are in business strictly to make money. The end goal is just to be as rich as possible... and perhaps they have some very talented people in the company who are good at- Mergers and Acquisition, Sales and Marketing, Research and Development... or some other skilled position and that enables them to make money, but still the end goal is to make money. Most of those types of companies often are very wealthy and yet come across somewhat... oh how do I say this... "jerky"?
Some other businesses I know came into existence not out of some innate desire to package and market ANYTHING in order to make money, but rather because a need was discovered that they could provide, a need that had value, and they sort of "fell" into business because they met that need. These are the businesses that (while they often do become large and wealthy) seem to be the more desirable to work with.
GvG Productions sort of started this way. It was not really my intention to start a business, but rather to just find ways to use my formal education and skill-set to make a living. While I am by no means some business mastermind, I found a way to provide a valued skill where there was a need. Perhaps that won't last, but for now, it seems to be desired. It has never been my goal to be rich and wealthy as a business (although it is hard to avoid the desire when you look at all those rich businessmen!) but just find a way to use my gifts and talents to provide the best service I can.
Recently we have been in talks with a few other friends/businesses about merging into one big company. Most of us already work together a decent amount on a contract to contract basis, but taking the next step into being a major company is a VERY enticing and exciting concept. There are a variety of reasons to make this move: combining resources, offering more services in one place, having multiple income-supporting branches to help the other when one is down... but the most exciting reason has to do with joining with others who formed out of the latter type of business mentioned above.
All of us have that same desire: use the gifts, skills, and resources we have attained and honed over the years to fill a need and make a living. None of us are in this for a "get-rich-quick scheme". We are not here to raise prices and get as much out of a client as we can. We are not trying to screw people over with shoddy work or skipped corners. We are a group of people who want to provide the best services we can so a need can be met, livings can be made, and growth can occur. We are always growing and learning in our crafts to be the best we can be at what we do. We are always working towards the benefit of our clients. We are always looking for new and unique ways to provide services. We are working with friends and partners who have the same ideals. This is the dream... and hopefully this is the future.
I am excited by this prospect. I am also fearful, happy, worried, inspired, questionable, driven, exhausted, hopeful... but I am excited.
Every business has some sort of goal, or driving force that is enabling them to move forward. Depending on what you do and who you are, these goals vary.
For instance, some people are in business strictly to make money. The end goal is just to be as rich as possible... and perhaps they have some very talented people in the company who are good at- Mergers and Acquisition, Sales and Marketing, Research and Development... or some other skilled position and that enables them to make money, but still the end goal is to make money. Most of those types of companies often are very wealthy and yet come across somewhat... oh how do I say this... "jerky"?
Some other businesses I know came into existence not out of some innate desire to package and market ANYTHING in order to make money, but rather because a need was discovered that they could provide, a need that had value, and they sort of "fell" into business because they met that need. These are the businesses that (while they often do become large and wealthy) seem to be the more desirable to work with.
GvG Productions sort of started this way. It was not really my intention to start a business, but rather to just find ways to use my formal education and skill-set to make a living. While I am by no means some business mastermind, I found a way to provide a valued skill where there was a need. Perhaps that won't last, but for now, it seems to be desired. It has never been my goal to be rich and wealthy as a business (although it is hard to avoid the desire when you look at all those rich businessmen!) but just find a way to use my gifts and talents to provide the best service I can.
Recently we have been in talks with a few other friends/businesses about merging into one big company. Most of us already work together a decent amount on a contract to contract basis, but taking the next step into being a major company is a VERY enticing and exciting concept. There are a variety of reasons to make this move: combining resources, offering more services in one place, having multiple income-supporting branches to help the other when one is down... but the most exciting reason has to do with joining with others who formed out of the latter type of business mentioned above.
All of us have that same desire: use the gifts, skills, and resources we have attained and honed over the years to fill a need and make a living. None of us are in this for a "get-rich-quick scheme". We are not here to raise prices and get as much out of a client as we can. We are not trying to screw people over with shoddy work or skipped corners. We are a group of people who want to provide the best services we can so a need can be met, livings can be made, and growth can occur. We are always growing and learning in our crafts to be the best we can be at what we do. We are always working towards the benefit of our clients. We are always looking for new and unique ways to provide services. We are working with friends and partners who have the same ideals. This is the dream... and hopefully this is the future.
I am excited by this prospect. I am also fearful, happy, worried, inspired, questionable, driven, exhausted, hopeful... but I am excited.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Use your ear!
I have had the pleasure to work with and be around some tremendously talented audio technicians in my life. I am constantly gleaning how my mentor engineers are doing things and what makes their work sound so good! One of my first real audio teachers was Loren Barton, a worship leader and recording engineer at my home church growing up. I ate up every little thing he said in regard to audio and media and really got my start trying to emulate him! In college I was fortunate enough to work with some great live engineers who came through- Andy Barker (my first real audio teacher), Cam Drake, Les Batts, and the now famous Brian Farina who continues to work for grammy award winning artists! I was enveloped into the world of studio recording with the amazing kalamazoo engineer/musicians John Campos and Ian Gorman and watched how they were able to capture and create such stunning sound.
Along with working in both volunteer church and amateur production settings, I have gotten to hear and see those who, in my opinion, didn't quite get it right. In my very limited experience, I have been able to watch and see what works and what doesn't in regard to the live sound and recording world. I thought for todays blog, I would offer this list of a few of those things. I hope some of my mentors and friends from the audio world will contribute to this list as most of their experience and brilliance FAR outweighs my own:
1) Use your ear stupid!
This is the title of the blog and I only include the "stupid" here because it is something I say to myself often. I feel like I hear all of my mentors say this in their own way at some point during their processes. You can take measurements, and that is helpful; You can set the "typical" EQ and that too is helpful. You can route and send and process the way you are "supposed" to, but what it all comes down to is, "does it sound good?" USE YOUR EARS. This is something John Campos and other mentors have drilled into me. John listens to mixes, he doesn't watch them on the computer screen! Train your ears to hear what music and audio are supposed to sound like, and then develop the strategies to make it happen. If you are doing a live sound gig, GET OUT OF THE HEADPHONES and listen to the house. The room is what needs to sound good, not your cans. If you are in the studio, listen to whats pumping out those monitors, not to what your preset says is supposed to work. You can buy the best gear in the world and get all the technical training to make it work, but what takes from a simple technician into an artistic contributor is the willingness to use your EAR.
2) For recording, get it right while tracking.
I found in my early recording projects that if spent a lot of time during tracking saying "I will just take care of that in post (production)" things ended up sounding somewhat less that ideal- even so far as "bad". Get it right while tracking. Even if you have to track that line 100 times; even if you have to reset that mic 20 different ways; even if you have to change preamps, mics, cables, locations etc. if you track it right, it will sound the best. I always get frustrated with myself when I ignored a problem or I let a note slip and didn't take the time to track it right. I start adding plugins and software that slowly wear down the sonic integrity and suddenly... it all starts to sound... bad...
3) Good equipment is good, but a good engineer can make bad equipment sound good... (and vise versa).
I see this in a lot of churches. I have learned that one of the biggest spenders on live sound installation is the contemporary Christian church. Churches will spend 1s 10s and 100s of thousands on state-of-the-art audio equipment for their worship center/sanctuary but then will not have anyone who knows how to use it. What you end up having is a bunch of volunteers who know how to make the gear "work" but nobody who goes to the next level in the art and instrument-like skill of being a live sound engineer... and the sound is still lacking. On the contrary, I have been to a few places that had sub-par gear, but have a person in place who makes that gear sound amazing. Don't get me wrong- good gear can make life a WHOLE lot simpler for a volunteer sound team, but that gear is no replacement for training and skills. It doesn't really matter how great your music sounds, if the audio is bad in the house, nobody will know...
4) Cheap doesn't mean terrible.
There are a variety of reasons prices can be high. A Dodge Caravan may sell for $20,000 because it costs a lot of man-hours, and material to fully produce it, but an Aston Martin costs $200,000+ because... better parts... more intricacy and detail... better design... but also the name has built value over the years. An Aston martin may be great, but you can't take the carpool to the soccer game with it! We buy Neve, Neumann, and Meyer because we (and their marketing and sales departments) have come to realize that the parts, skills, and designs associated with them are high in value and will always give the best results. If I see "Neumann" on a mic, I know that I can expect top-notch German engineering from some of the finest minds in audio. However, not all of us can afford a $5000 large-diaphragm tube-powered condenser microphone, but rather only have the cash to purchase an AKG Perception series mic for around $200! Obviously, Neumann mics are going to out-perform a low-end mic in an A/B shootout, but don't poo-poo a cheaper mic just because it isn't expensive. Again, USE YOUR EAR... what sounds can you get with that lower-quality gear? Try it out; listen; experiment; strategize... you may find that you can get some very effective sounds with gear you can afford (until you CAN afford the high-end...). Look at the trusty old SM57... $100 and you can get some wonderful sounds... some groups have even recorded entire albums using ONLY this go-to inexpensive classic!
5) Musical training can go a LONG way.
There are so many idioms for recording in todays world, but a vast amount of them involve music in some capacity. One of the reason many musicians like to come to me for a project is not because of my gear or audio ability (many audio professionals have these) but they know I have a Bachelors and Masters in Music. They know they can ask my opinion about violin performance technique, or the pocket of the rhythm section, or if they played an E-flat or E-natural in the pickup to bar 34. Learning the language of music, being able to speak to a professional musician in their language, and giving honest and knowledgable "musical" feedback (and not just technical feedback), is an invaluable skill in the audio world.
Again, I am young and my experience is VERY limited, but I would LOVE to hear what some of my other audio professionals and mentors have to add to this (or even if they disagree!).
Along with working in both volunteer church and amateur production settings, I have gotten to hear and see those who, in my opinion, didn't quite get it right. In my very limited experience, I have been able to watch and see what works and what doesn't in regard to the live sound and recording world. I thought for todays blog, I would offer this list of a few of those things. I hope some of my mentors and friends from the audio world will contribute to this list as most of their experience and brilliance FAR outweighs my own:
1) Use your ear stupid!
This is the title of the blog and I only include the "stupid" here because it is something I say to myself often. I feel like I hear all of my mentors say this in their own way at some point during their processes. You can take measurements, and that is helpful; You can set the "typical" EQ and that too is helpful. You can route and send and process the way you are "supposed" to, but what it all comes down to is, "does it sound good?" USE YOUR EARS. This is something John Campos and other mentors have drilled into me. John listens to mixes, he doesn't watch them on the computer screen! Train your ears to hear what music and audio are supposed to sound like, and then develop the strategies to make it happen. If you are doing a live sound gig, GET OUT OF THE HEADPHONES and listen to the house. The room is what needs to sound good, not your cans. If you are in the studio, listen to whats pumping out those monitors, not to what your preset says is supposed to work. You can buy the best gear in the world and get all the technical training to make it work, but what takes from a simple technician into an artistic contributor is the willingness to use your EAR.
2) For recording, get it right while tracking.
I found in my early recording projects that if spent a lot of time during tracking saying "I will just take care of that in post (production)" things ended up sounding somewhat less that ideal- even so far as "bad". Get it right while tracking. Even if you have to track that line 100 times; even if you have to reset that mic 20 different ways; even if you have to change preamps, mics, cables, locations etc. if you track it right, it will sound the best. I always get frustrated with myself when I ignored a problem or I let a note slip and didn't take the time to track it right. I start adding plugins and software that slowly wear down the sonic integrity and suddenly... it all starts to sound... bad...
3) Good equipment is good, but a good engineer can make bad equipment sound good... (and vise versa).
I see this in a lot of churches. I have learned that one of the biggest spenders on live sound installation is the contemporary Christian church. Churches will spend 1s 10s and 100s of thousands on state-of-the-art audio equipment for their worship center/sanctuary but then will not have anyone who knows how to use it. What you end up having is a bunch of volunteers who know how to make the gear "work" but nobody who goes to the next level in the art and instrument-like skill of being a live sound engineer... and the sound is still lacking. On the contrary, I have been to a few places that had sub-par gear, but have a person in place who makes that gear sound amazing. Don't get me wrong- good gear can make life a WHOLE lot simpler for a volunteer sound team, but that gear is no replacement for training and skills. It doesn't really matter how great your music sounds, if the audio is bad in the house, nobody will know...
4) Cheap doesn't mean terrible.
There are a variety of reasons prices can be high. A Dodge Caravan may sell for $20,000 because it costs a lot of man-hours, and material to fully produce it, but an Aston Martin costs $200,000+ because... better parts... more intricacy and detail... better design... but also the name has built value over the years. An Aston martin may be great, but you can't take the carpool to the soccer game with it! We buy Neve, Neumann, and Meyer because we (and their marketing and sales departments) have come to realize that the parts, skills, and designs associated with them are high in value and will always give the best results. If I see "Neumann" on a mic, I know that I can expect top-notch German engineering from some of the finest minds in audio. However, not all of us can afford a $5000 large-diaphragm tube-powered condenser microphone, but rather only have the cash to purchase an AKG Perception series mic for around $200! Obviously, Neumann mics are going to out-perform a low-end mic in an A/B shootout, but don't poo-poo a cheaper mic just because it isn't expensive. Again, USE YOUR EAR... what sounds can you get with that lower-quality gear? Try it out; listen; experiment; strategize... you may find that you can get some very effective sounds with gear you can afford (until you CAN afford the high-end...). Look at the trusty old SM57... $100 and you can get some wonderful sounds... some groups have even recorded entire albums using ONLY this go-to inexpensive classic!
5) Musical training can go a LONG way.
There are so many idioms for recording in todays world, but a vast amount of them involve music in some capacity. One of the reason many musicians like to come to me for a project is not because of my gear or audio ability (many audio professionals have these) but they know I have a Bachelors and Masters in Music. They know they can ask my opinion about violin performance technique, or the pocket of the rhythm section, or if they played an E-flat or E-natural in the pickup to bar 34. Learning the language of music, being able to speak to a professional musician in their language, and giving honest and knowledgable "musical" feedback (and not just technical feedback), is an invaluable skill in the audio world.
Again, I am young and my experience is VERY limited, but I would LOVE to hear what some of my other audio professionals and mentors have to add to this (or even if they disagree!).
Monday, November 5, 2012
Sync Contacts and Calendars between iPhone, iPad, Gmail/Google Calendar, and Apple Address Book/Mail
Over the past few months, I have oddly enough been asked to organize contacts and calendars between internet email, computer email, ipads, and iphones. As people seem to like what I setup and I know it can be very helpful, I thought I would share what I did to keep things organized across devices.
I personally have 4 places I need my contacts and calendars to be synced and I always prefer to not have to worry about any missing data, contacts, events. A while back, Apple and Google seemed to have a bit of a falling out and my iCal on my macbook pro would no longer delete any dates. So when I scheduled something and then needed to move it to a new time, when I moved it, instead of deleting the previous entry and making a new one, the old one would come back on along with the new one. Needless to say this became very frustrating. On top of this, when I began using the new iCloud service, I began having all sorts of duplicated contacts appearing in my gmail and phone. After sitting down and researching, here was my solutions:
Now you need to know I currently have/run:
-Macbook Pro (2 years old) running Snow Leopard (I haven't upgraded for certain compatibility reasons with some of the programing I run)
-iPad 2 16GB running iOS6
-iPhone 4S 16 GB running iOS6
-Gmail for my personal email which I do NOT sync with my apple Mail service using an IMAP setup
-Business email setup on Apple Mail using IMAP setup. Service through GoDaddy.com
CALENDARS
First of all my calendars I setup all through Google Calendars. The reason I chose this over Apple's setup through iCloud is that I use a few shared calendars that I share with some people who don't use Apple products. While iCloud is very cool for personal use, if you ever want to share anything with anyone else, they have to be apple users. In contrast, google calendars require a free google account. I share the tech schedule with our technicians so they are able to see what gigs are available and they have the ability to sign up for them. I daresay that google has a stranglehold on the calendar service.
On my snow leopard computer, I login to google via a browser to adjust calendar settings.
On my phone and ipad, however, don't use the gmail setting to get your calendars on your phone. For your email, go ahead and setup the standard gmail account but in the settings make sure Calendars is set to off. Instead:
1- Create a Microsoft Exchange account
2- Use your full gmail address and credentials for both the email and username.
3- Type your password in and for the server type in: m.google.com
4- Turn SSL on and feel free to rename the account to something other than exchange.
5- In Safari or another browser on your phone go to m.google.com
6- Choose the "sync" option in the icon list.
7- On the next page, click "Sign in with your google account" and use your google credentials to sign in
8- Next you should see a list of devices associated with your account (at least you should see the one you just setup) Select the device
9- Skip the Mail options and scroll down tot he section with "My Calendars". Select all the calendars you want to be able to see on your phone (You will be able to tell your phone to show or hide those calendars later so be sure to choose all that you MAY want to see and edit at some point.
10- When you are done push save and in a few minutes, your calendars should appear in your iOS calendar, fully editable and changeable!
CONTACTS
The contacts thing is a bit more interesting. I decided after much research again to sync everything through google as the central hub of information. While iCloud is great, my gmail is my primary personal email and I have about a decade of contacts in there as I have used gmail since it was in Beta. Again, while if all you use is apple products, then iCloud is fine, but iCloud won't sync with google...
I have 3 places that have stored contacts: My gmail contacts list, my Apple Address book (for business) and my cell phone (with many many years worth of phone numbers) My ipad only has info from one of the other three so nothing special was in there. What was driving me crazy is I had no access to any of the other devices contact info between my devices, OR, I had 2 or more entries for each person (needless to say, this made using Siri to do things very difficult as she often was confused as to who I was asking for!). Here is what I did to solve these issues.
1- First of all you need to export all o your contacts to vCards.
-In Apple Address book, select ALL your contacts and then go to file->Export->Export vCard (don't forget where you put it!).
-With your phone/ipad, backup your entire contact list to icloud. You can do this by going to Settings->iCloud. make sure "contacts" is set to "on. Then go to "Storage and backup" at the bottom and then down to "backup now". Once backed up, in a browser, go to icloud.com and login. Go to your address book and in the actions menu near the bottom, choose "select all" and then go back to the actions menu and select "export vCard. Don't forget when you saved it!
2- login to gmail on your browser.
3- on the left where it says "gmail" click and a drop-down should appear. Choose "contacts"
From here you can make a master "my contacts" list if you like or you can edit all your contacts in the master list (this may be a LARGE list though).
4- Either way, go to "more" and go to "import"
5- Using the popup interface, find your exported vCard file and import them into google (repeat for each export you did
6- ALL of your contacts should now be in google contacts including all your phone numbers and emails and whatever else you imported from anywhere else. Now the tedious part
7-Spend a few hours and go through deleting contacts you don't want (I would recommend doing this first. you can select a bunch at a time and then go to "delete selected contacts" in the menu.
8-After the hours it takes to do that, take a few more hours to merge duplicates. There is an option in googles menu to do this for you, however, I did it manually only because a lot of the email addresses didn't have names associated with them so google wouldn't have combined them. Nevertheless, if you take the tedious time it takes to do this once, you should never have to do it again. you can select a few different contacts at once and merge them. Also feel free to add addresses as it comes in handy when asking Siri to guide you somewhere from your phone or ipad. When you google contacts are PERFECT with numbers and emails etc, now we want to clear and sync our other devices:
9. On your iPhone/iPad, go to Settings->Mail Contacts and Calendars->iCloud. Turn the contacts option to "off". The phone will ask you if you want to delete all contacts from your phone. YOU ARE ABOUT TO ERASE YOUR PHONES CONTACT LIST but as long as you backed it up and set it up in google, you don't need to worry. Go ahead and select Delete contacts. Go to your contact list on your phone all contacts should be gone. If there are any contacts left, go back to the settings and do the same "off" setting for contacts in your other mail accounts.
10. When all your contacts are gone, go back to the Mail Contacts and Calendars and set the Exchange we have set for the calendars to "on" and magically (over a few minutes) your contacts you setup in google will import to your phone
11. To get synced with your Apple Address book on the macbook pro, open the address book, select all and push delete (BE SURE YOU BACKED IT UP EARLIER!)
12. Once all your contacts are gone, go to Address Book->Preferences.
13. In the new window select "accounts"
14. Check the "synchronize with google" option and then click "configure". Put in your credentials and save.
15. When you are done, close the preferences window and at the TOP of your screen in the system bar should be a two-arrowed circle. Click this and go to "sync now" once you do that, your contacts should all import from google and you are all set!
It may take some time to remake any groups and whatnot, but I can't tell you what a great help this has been to my productivity. I hope this helps someone else just as much! (Sorry this is so unedited, just didn't want to go back and read it all again!)
I personally have 4 places I need my contacts and calendars to be synced and I always prefer to not have to worry about any missing data, contacts, events. A while back, Apple and Google seemed to have a bit of a falling out and my iCal on my macbook pro would no longer delete any dates. So when I scheduled something and then needed to move it to a new time, when I moved it, instead of deleting the previous entry and making a new one, the old one would come back on along with the new one. Needless to say this became very frustrating. On top of this, when I began using the new iCloud service, I began having all sorts of duplicated contacts appearing in my gmail and phone. After sitting down and researching, here was my solutions:
Now you need to know I currently have/run:
-Macbook Pro (2 years old) running Snow Leopard (I haven't upgraded for certain compatibility reasons with some of the programing I run)
-iPad 2 16GB running iOS6
-iPhone 4S 16 GB running iOS6
-Gmail for my personal email which I do NOT sync with my apple Mail service using an IMAP setup
-Business email setup on Apple Mail using IMAP setup. Service through GoDaddy.com
CALENDARS
First of all my calendars I setup all through Google Calendars. The reason I chose this over Apple's setup through iCloud is that I use a few shared calendars that I share with some people who don't use Apple products. While iCloud is very cool for personal use, if you ever want to share anything with anyone else, they have to be apple users. In contrast, google calendars require a free google account. I share the tech schedule with our technicians so they are able to see what gigs are available and they have the ability to sign up for them. I daresay that google has a stranglehold on the calendar service.
On my snow leopard computer, I login to google via a browser to adjust calendar settings.
On my phone and ipad, however, don't use the gmail setting to get your calendars on your phone. For your email, go ahead and setup the standard gmail account but in the settings make sure Calendars is set to off. Instead:
1- Create a Microsoft Exchange account
2- Use your full gmail address and credentials for both the email and username.
3- Type your password in and for the server type in: m.google.com
4- Turn SSL on and feel free to rename the account to something other than exchange.
5- In Safari or another browser on your phone go to m.google.com
6- Choose the "sync" option in the icon list.
7- On the next page, click "Sign in with your google account" and use your google credentials to sign in
8- Next you should see a list of devices associated with your account (at least you should see the one you just setup) Select the device
9- Skip the Mail options and scroll down tot he section with "My Calendars". Select all the calendars you want to be able to see on your phone (You will be able to tell your phone to show or hide those calendars later so be sure to choose all that you MAY want to see and edit at some point.
10- When you are done push save and in a few minutes, your calendars should appear in your iOS calendar, fully editable and changeable!
CONTACTS
The contacts thing is a bit more interesting. I decided after much research again to sync everything through google as the central hub of information. While iCloud is great, my gmail is my primary personal email and I have about a decade of contacts in there as I have used gmail since it was in Beta. Again, while if all you use is apple products, then iCloud is fine, but iCloud won't sync with google...
I have 3 places that have stored contacts: My gmail contacts list, my Apple Address book (for business) and my cell phone (with many many years worth of phone numbers) My ipad only has info from one of the other three so nothing special was in there. What was driving me crazy is I had no access to any of the other devices contact info between my devices, OR, I had 2 or more entries for each person (needless to say, this made using Siri to do things very difficult as she often was confused as to who I was asking for!). Here is what I did to solve these issues.
1- First of all you need to export all o your contacts to vCards.
-In Apple Address book, select ALL your contacts and then go to file->Export->Export vCard (don't forget where you put it!).
-With your phone/ipad, backup your entire contact list to icloud. You can do this by going to Settings->iCloud. make sure "contacts" is set to "on. Then go to "Storage and backup" at the bottom and then down to "backup now". Once backed up, in a browser, go to icloud.com and login. Go to your address book and in the actions menu near the bottom, choose "select all" and then go back to the actions menu and select "export vCard. Don't forget when you saved it!
2- login to gmail on your browser.
3- on the left where it says "gmail" click and a drop-down should appear. Choose "contacts"
From here you can make a master "my contacts" list if you like or you can edit all your contacts in the master list (this may be a LARGE list though).
4- Either way, go to "more" and go to "import"
5- Using the popup interface, find your exported vCard file and import them into google (repeat for each export you did
6- ALL of your contacts should now be in google contacts including all your phone numbers and emails and whatever else you imported from anywhere else. Now the tedious part
7-Spend a few hours and go through deleting contacts you don't want (I would recommend doing this first. you can select a bunch at a time and then go to "delete selected contacts" in the menu.
8-After the hours it takes to do that, take a few more hours to merge duplicates. There is an option in googles menu to do this for you, however, I did it manually only because a lot of the email addresses didn't have names associated with them so google wouldn't have combined them. Nevertheless, if you take the tedious time it takes to do this once, you should never have to do it again. you can select a few different contacts at once and merge them. Also feel free to add addresses as it comes in handy when asking Siri to guide you somewhere from your phone or ipad. When you google contacts are PERFECT with numbers and emails etc, now we want to clear and sync our other devices:
9. On your iPhone/iPad, go to Settings->Mail Contacts and Calendars->iCloud. Turn the contacts option to "off". The phone will ask you if you want to delete all contacts from your phone. YOU ARE ABOUT TO ERASE YOUR PHONES CONTACT LIST but as long as you backed it up and set it up in google, you don't need to worry. Go ahead and select Delete contacts. Go to your contact list on your phone all contacts should be gone. If there are any contacts left, go back to the settings and do the same "off" setting for contacts in your other mail accounts.
10. When all your contacts are gone, go back to the Mail Contacts and Calendars and set the Exchange we have set for the calendars to "on" and magically (over a few minutes) your contacts you setup in google will import to your phone
11. To get synced with your Apple Address book on the macbook pro, open the address book, select all and push delete (BE SURE YOU BACKED IT UP EARLIER!)
12. Once all your contacts are gone, go to Address Book->Preferences.
13. In the new window select "accounts"
14. Check the "synchronize with google" option and then click "configure". Put in your credentials and save.
15. When you are done, close the preferences window and at the TOP of your screen in the system bar should be a two-arrowed circle. Click this and go to "sync now" once you do that, your contacts should all import from google and you are all set!
It may take some time to remake any groups and whatnot, but I can't tell you what a great help this has been to my productivity. I hope this helps someone else just as much! (Sorry this is so unedited, just didn't want to go back and read it all again!)
Monday, October 29, 2012
Recording: The Performance Killer!
The recording process is a very unique one. There are few TRUE studio musicians out there as most craft their ability for performance and thrive on being in front of an audience. But when put in an empty room and asked to play with passion and perfection, even the greatest artists falter. Part of our job as the engineers and producers is to try and help our performers "manufacture" or "create" that same live energy. In one recent session with a group of vocalists from a high-energy performance group, the producer and I were tracking a section repeatedly attempting to get the sound we wanted. About half-way through the session, a group of guests there to learn from the recording ensemble came in to watch them work in the studio. Once the ensemble knew they had an audience in the control room, the energy level went through the roof (and so did my pre-amps for that matter...) and we were able to get a great recording.
Solo is often the hardest. Sitting there. All alone. In a stuffy studio or on a lonely stage. A pair of headphones with a nerdy voice telling you "ok we are rolling". Knowing that each little move, each little mistake, each tiny sound will be forever saved.. It is quite unnerving! Any performer who is new to the world of recording will likely find a new respect for the studio musicians of the world after the fact. Finding a way to harness the same energy, ability, and creativity of live performance and transferring it to your little world in the studio is the goal of any studio artist or producer. Some strategies that have worked in the past have been:
-Giving a vocalist a prop mic to hold while they track
-Turning out the lights or dimming the room to give an intimate feel
-Bringing in people to act as an audience
-Giving HONEST feedback (like an instructor)
-Recording tunes one section at a time so they can be focused on
-Playing along with a previous take
-Telling them to just do a practice take and that we won't record (even though I ALWAYS record.... muhaha!)
One of our most common clients is that of demo and competition recordings for both video and audio. As both me (Gordon) and Erik are alums of the music department at Western Michigan University, we have a fair amount of upper (and lower) class-men who are looking to capture their best sound and performance to use for competitive auditions and award-based competitions. We have had the privilege to work with some of the finest young talent in the country in a variety of styles of music and, we are happy to report, many of our recordings have gone on to win their artists awards and placement. Getting these incredible performers to play their best EVEN in the recording setting is something we take pride in.
I would love to hear how other artists and/or engineers find ways to get the best performance in the studio? Any unique strategies? Anything you do to calm and focus yourself and your ensemble?
Solo is often the hardest. Sitting there. All alone. In a stuffy studio or on a lonely stage. A pair of headphones with a nerdy voice telling you "ok we are rolling". Knowing that each little move, each little mistake, each tiny sound will be forever saved.. It is quite unnerving! Any performer who is new to the world of recording will likely find a new respect for the studio musicians of the world after the fact. Finding a way to harness the same energy, ability, and creativity of live performance and transferring it to your little world in the studio is the goal of any studio artist or producer. Some strategies that have worked in the past have been:
-Giving a vocalist a prop mic to hold while they track
-Turning out the lights or dimming the room to give an intimate feel
-Bringing in people to act as an audience
-Giving HONEST feedback (like an instructor)
-Recording tunes one section at a time so they can be focused on
-Playing along with a previous take
-Telling them to just do a practice take and that we won't record (even though I ALWAYS record.... muhaha!)
One of our most common clients is that of demo and competition recordings for both video and audio. As both me (Gordon) and Erik are alums of the music department at Western Michigan University, we have a fair amount of upper (and lower) class-men who are looking to capture their best sound and performance to use for competitive auditions and award-based competitions. We have had the privilege to work with some of the finest young talent in the country in a variety of styles of music and, we are happy to report, many of our recordings have gone on to win their artists awards and placement. Getting these incredible performers to play their best EVEN in the recording setting is something we take pride in.
I would love to hear how other artists and/or engineers find ways to get the best performance in the studio? Any unique strategies? Anything you do to calm and focus yourself and your ensemble?
Monday, October 22, 2012
The Composer/Songwriter Creative Process
I've been paying attention to songwriting and composition lately and I am always curious as to how music comes about. I myself am a bit of a songwriter/composer so I have experienced the exhilaration of having a concept, developing that concept, and watching the song take shape into final form. Themes formulate, ideas develop, and pretty soon you have a concerto or a love song or dance music. While the end result is music, the process is VERY different for each person who composes.
Sometimes when I write I will have a chorus that will come first. Some kind of primary concept that sparks in my musical right-brain and from there is put together by my left-brain. Verses are developed to surround and emphasize this chorus and then a song is formed. Sometimes it is the other way arround. The very beginning of a thought comes first and is developed as a verse... and then the conclusion is the chorus. Other times it may be a simple poem that I want to set to music so lyrics come before any type of melody or harmony. Often times these songs don't rhyme or have asymmetrical verses or an ambiguous chorus. Then of course there are those tunes that start with melodies or harmonies or chords first and lyrics are almost a by-product of the aesthetic influence of the music.
I like to imagine how the various songwriters whom I have listened to over the years developed their songs. One my favorite songwriters, Jon Foreman (lead singer of the band Switchfoot but with some really great solo music) seems to vary with how he writes. It seems some of his start with a chorus concept that he wraps beautifully with verses that decorate and emphasize the primary theme (see: Your Love Is Strong, Gravity, Learning How To Die). Other times I notice some songs were reflective concepts that likely came out of a developing verse (see: Southbound Train, Revenge, Daisy). Then there are those that are based on poetry (see: House of God Forever, Again).
Composing instrumental music can have similar processes even without the lyrics. The standard practice was to start with an initial theme and then a counter-theme and then allow those themes to interplay before they resolve at the end (see anything classical: Haydn, Mozart). Then there were those who took those rules and purposefully broke them to create something new and different (see: Beethoven, Stravinsky, Wagner). Then there are also those who write as through composed. I wrote a piece like this a few years back for solo cello. It was based on the five stages of grief and each stage was a self-contained reflection; no themes came back or resolved. This of course is similar to writing a song based on poetry.
Those of you who know me know that I have a bit of an addiction, both musically and philosophically, to Michael Gungor (and the musical collective known as Güngör). Gungor has the ability to write songs like an instrumental composer while also taking the typical songwriting box and tearing it apart, and reshaping it into something completely different like a fully functional hot air balloon and fire-breathing dragon! Songs that should be over suddenly continue in what might be thought of as a "cadenza" (see: You Are The Beauty, Brother Moon, We Will Run). Songs that use simple chord progression with standard verse/chorus format are altered in time and harmonic structure (see: Ezekiel, Crags and Clay). And then happy, upbeat, even silly songs often have the most profound lyrics with large implications (see: White Man, Heaven, Friend of God).
I am always curious about people's songwriting process. Any songwriters or composers out there? Let me know how you form your music! Melodies first? Lyric concepts? A hook or chorus first? Based on poetry? There really is no wrong answer, just different ways to get to the same destination: a fully composed piece of music.
Sometimes when I write I will have a chorus that will come first. Some kind of primary concept that sparks in my musical right-brain and from there is put together by my left-brain. Verses are developed to surround and emphasize this chorus and then a song is formed. Sometimes it is the other way arround. The very beginning of a thought comes first and is developed as a verse... and then the conclusion is the chorus. Other times it may be a simple poem that I want to set to music so lyrics come before any type of melody or harmony. Often times these songs don't rhyme or have asymmetrical verses or an ambiguous chorus. Then of course there are those tunes that start with melodies or harmonies or chords first and lyrics are almost a by-product of the aesthetic influence of the music.
I like to imagine how the various songwriters whom I have listened to over the years developed their songs. One my favorite songwriters, Jon Foreman (lead singer of the band Switchfoot but with some really great solo music) seems to vary with how he writes. It seems some of his start with a chorus concept that he wraps beautifully with verses that decorate and emphasize the primary theme (see: Your Love Is Strong, Gravity, Learning How To Die). Other times I notice some songs were reflective concepts that likely came out of a developing verse (see: Southbound Train, Revenge, Daisy). Then there are those that are based on poetry (see: House of God Forever, Again).
Composing instrumental music can have similar processes even without the lyrics. The standard practice was to start with an initial theme and then a counter-theme and then allow those themes to interplay before they resolve at the end (see anything classical: Haydn, Mozart). Then there were those who took those rules and purposefully broke them to create something new and different (see: Beethoven, Stravinsky, Wagner). Then there are also those who write as through composed. I wrote a piece like this a few years back for solo cello. It was based on the five stages of grief and each stage was a self-contained reflection; no themes came back or resolved. This of course is similar to writing a song based on poetry.
Those of you who know me know that I have a bit of an addiction, both musically and philosophically, to Michael Gungor (and the musical collective known as Güngör). Gungor has the ability to write songs like an instrumental composer while also taking the typical songwriting box and tearing it apart, and reshaping it into something completely different like a fully functional hot air balloon and fire-breathing dragon! Songs that should be over suddenly continue in what might be thought of as a "cadenza" (see: You Are The Beauty, Brother Moon, We Will Run). Songs that use simple chord progression with standard verse/chorus format are altered in time and harmonic structure (see: Ezekiel, Crags and Clay). And then happy, upbeat, even silly songs often have the most profound lyrics with large implications (see: White Man, Heaven, Friend of God).
I am always curious about people's songwriting process. Any songwriters or composers out there? Let me know how you form your music! Melodies first? Lyric concepts? A hook or chorus first? Based on poetry? There really is no wrong answer, just different ways to get to the same destination: a fully composed piece of music.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Should we pay artists/musicians?
I have noticed in my years of playing and booking music and musical services that, other than those who have worked or are currently working in the music industry, people don't often want to pay for any type of music service. Or to take it a step further... people don't really want to pay for any type of artistic service.
A good friend of mine Bette Dickinson is a TREMENDOUS artist, most specifically as a painter. She has presented her work for various galleries including Art Prize in Grand Rapids, MI and Art Hop here in Kalamazoo, MI. She has a bachelors degree with a major in Art from Western Michigan University and considers herself (as do those who know her) a professional artist. Despite this, people are often surprised that she charges for her paintings, or if nothing else, that she charges more than a few dollars or a nice hot meal or the opportunity to get some "experience"!
As I have worked in professional music, I too have noticed this. Many people have friends or family that play music for fun and will often entertain at gatherings and special occasions. This of course is a GREAT thing and I hope people learn and practice art for the fun of it for the rest of time. However, there are those who have worked their whole lives to be professional in their artistic skills. While most of us in the music/art world are aware of and OK with the fact that many of us may have to work a 9-5 job to pay the bills so we can afford to make our music, we have to put a high value on the skills we have, and have paid a high cost to get where we are.
Just like every other profession, artists have taken a great deal of time and effort to hone their gift and use their skill to the best of their ability. However, other industries have not had to deal with (or at least not as prevalently) the ease of intellectual property theft that is available on the internet. Napster kick-started the music sharing world and suddenly the sale of music dropped dramatically. Google came out with their image search and suddenly photo's with copyright protections were everywhere. Torrenting spawned an era of downloading whole movies and seasons of TV shows without paying a dime. While it would be easy to blame "the man" for this problem as production companies and record labels insist on charging for art, the biggest issue is that we as humans (myself included as I have done ALL of these illegal things at some point) have not felt any sort of moral dilemma when participating in these thefts. We have built into our culture that art should be free and that those who create art should not charge for it.
So when someone asks me to play for their special event, and they find out I want more than a free dinner, they are often appalled! At the same time, we as artists need to be aware that, for many people, art may not be the most important thing in life (I know, how can this be possible?)! So a balance has to be struck. We have to find a value on our art that is both reasonable for the time and effort we put into it but affordable to those who may LOVE music and art, but can't afford to hire Yo Yo Ma for their wedding or ask Steven Spielberg to run video for their concert.
We are constantly trying to walk this line with GvG Productions. How can we offer a product that is affordable to the average consumer of music and media services, while at the same time being able to pay our musicians and professionals well enough to have the best in our stable of artists (not to mention to be able to pay ourselves for the work we do!). Value is a tricky thing, and we all (both consumer and producer) have to be willing to find that perfect place where price is equal to services rendered.
On a separate note, GvG Productions offers a wide array of live, original, recording, and video services... :-)
A good friend of mine Bette Dickinson is a TREMENDOUS artist, most specifically as a painter. She has presented her work for various galleries including Art Prize in Grand Rapids, MI and Art Hop here in Kalamazoo, MI. She has a bachelors degree with a major in Art from Western Michigan University and considers herself (as do those who know her) a professional artist. Despite this, people are often surprised that she charges for her paintings, or if nothing else, that she charges more than a few dollars or a nice hot meal or the opportunity to get some "experience"!
As I have worked in professional music, I too have noticed this. Many people have friends or family that play music for fun and will often entertain at gatherings and special occasions. This of course is a GREAT thing and I hope people learn and practice art for the fun of it for the rest of time. However, there are those who have worked their whole lives to be professional in their artistic skills. While most of us in the music/art world are aware of and OK with the fact that many of us may have to work a 9-5 job to pay the bills so we can afford to make our music, we have to put a high value on the skills we have, and have paid a high cost to get where we are.
Just like every other profession, artists have taken a great deal of time and effort to hone their gift and use their skill to the best of their ability. However, other industries have not had to deal with (or at least not as prevalently) the ease of intellectual property theft that is available on the internet. Napster kick-started the music sharing world and suddenly the sale of music dropped dramatically. Google came out with their image search and suddenly photo's with copyright protections were everywhere. Torrenting spawned an era of downloading whole movies and seasons of TV shows without paying a dime. While it would be easy to blame "the man" for this problem as production companies and record labels insist on charging for art, the biggest issue is that we as humans (myself included as I have done ALL of these illegal things at some point) have not felt any sort of moral dilemma when participating in these thefts. We have built into our culture that art should be free and that those who create art should not charge for it.
So when someone asks me to play for their special event, and they find out I want more than a free dinner, they are often appalled! At the same time, we as artists need to be aware that, for many people, art may not be the most important thing in life (I know, how can this be possible?)! So a balance has to be struck. We have to find a value on our art that is both reasonable for the time and effort we put into it but affordable to those who may LOVE music and art, but can't afford to hire Yo Yo Ma for their wedding or ask Steven Spielberg to run video for their concert.
We are constantly trying to walk this line with GvG Productions. How can we offer a product that is affordable to the average consumer of music and media services, while at the same time being able to pay our musicians and professionals well enough to have the best in our stable of artists (not to mention to be able to pay ourselves for the work we do!). Value is a tricky thing, and we all (both consumer and producer) have to be willing to find that perfect place where price is equal to services rendered.
On a separate note, GvG Productions offers a wide array of live, original, recording, and video services... :-)
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Scam and Cheese Sandwich...
So a few weeks back someone tried to scam us.
Erik - our baseball playin', tenor singin', music recordin', choir directin' (and darn good-lookin') director of sales and marketing - signed us up for an advertising service that posts us on a bunch of "Craig's-list-like" online pages (including Craig's list). A few days later, he was contacted about booking GvG to provide a live band for a wedding ceremony and dance reception. The English in the email was broken and the details were very vague. Still, we always want to believe the best in people and we moved forward with booking the date.
The man said his name was George Benson (yea... not the guitar player) and told us his wedding was going to be in Kalamazoo at a location YET to be determined. When we asked him what type of music he wanted for his ceremony, he simply said "music that would be good for my wedding". When we asked what type of music he wanted for his reception, he simply said "music that would be good for my wedding". Yes- perhaps the suspicions should have started here... but again... believe the best in people. So I began to book a very standard ensemble using a book of music we had put together for a wedding earlier that summer.
Mr. Benson then said that he was out of the country and would be until very close to the wedding. He said he wanted to pay us and take care of the money WELL in advance (which of course is fine with us!) However, he did have one strange request... apparently his "cake-baker" was from England (which seemed reasonable for this world-traveler) and he really needed to pay him at the same time as he paid us. He kept insisting that "business is all about trust" and then sent us a cashiers check for well over double the amount we had quoted. At this point we had no contract for services yet, and no music selected... He told us to take out what we needed from this check including a large extra amount and wire the rest to a random address in London. Erik went back and forth with him about our policy for not handling anyone else's money and for not being willing to wire money at all. But again, believing the best of people, trying to please a client, taking "every gig you can", we decided we would try... but only if the check he sent us cleared!
The check cleared... so the next day, Erik sent out a check to the address given for the remainder amount. We had to pay a bit for the overseas certified mailing, but not much. When we told Mr. Benson, he was very polite but said it MUST be wire transfer and that overseas checks take too long to clear and that he didn't want to push the wedding back! We stuck to our guns and told him that the check was gone and that he would get it soon. He still kept insisting we stop payment on the check and wire the money. Well after a few days, the check that had cleared had a "hold" put on it... and sure enough... it was a fake. The scam was to have us wire money to the thief before the bank noticed the fake check! We stopped all payments and our bank took VERY good care of us. By sticking to our guns, we were able to avoid a BIG loss, a fraud investigation, and major embarrassment.
I have noticed lately ALOT of scamming going on. Really well crafted fake emails. Fake IT companies to fix computer errors. Hacking of Facebook and Twitter with spam messages! Has anyone else noticed this sudden spike of sliminess in the online community? Keep your guard up and stick to your guns. Remember... if you won a bunch of money from something you have never heard of before... you probably didn't... don't click on links that take you to free ipads... and always copy a hyperlink into another window and LOOK at it first, before clicking on it and destroying the universe. Practice safe surfing!
Erik - our baseball playin', tenor singin', music recordin', choir directin' (and darn good-lookin') director of sales and marketing - signed us up for an advertising service that posts us on a bunch of "Craig's-list-like" online pages (including Craig's list). A few days later, he was contacted about booking GvG to provide a live band for a wedding ceremony and dance reception. The English in the email was broken and the details were very vague. Still, we always want to believe the best in people and we moved forward with booking the date.
The man said his name was George Benson (yea... not the guitar player) and told us his wedding was going to be in Kalamazoo at a location YET to be determined. When we asked him what type of music he wanted for his ceremony, he simply said "music that would be good for my wedding". When we asked what type of music he wanted for his reception, he simply said "music that would be good for my wedding". Yes- perhaps the suspicions should have started here... but again... believe the best in people. So I began to book a very standard ensemble using a book of music we had put together for a wedding earlier that summer.
Mr. Benson then said that he was out of the country and would be until very close to the wedding. He said he wanted to pay us and take care of the money WELL in advance (which of course is fine with us!) However, he did have one strange request... apparently his "cake-baker" was from England (which seemed reasonable for this world-traveler) and he really needed to pay him at the same time as he paid us. He kept insisting that "business is all about trust" and then sent us a cashiers check for well over double the amount we had quoted. At this point we had no contract for services yet, and no music selected... He told us to take out what we needed from this check including a large extra amount and wire the rest to a random address in London. Erik went back and forth with him about our policy for not handling anyone else's money and for not being willing to wire money at all. But again, believing the best of people, trying to please a client, taking "every gig you can", we decided we would try... but only if the check he sent us cleared!
The check cleared... so the next day, Erik sent out a check to the address given for the remainder amount. We had to pay a bit for the overseas certified mailing, but not much. When we told Mr. Benson, he was very polite but said it MUST be wire transfer and that overseas checks take too long to clear and that he didn't want to push the wedding back! We stuck to our guns and told him that the check was gone and that he would get it soon. He still kept insisting we stop payment on the check and wire the money. Well after a few days, the check that had cleared had a "hold" put on it... and sure enough... it was a fake. The scam was to have us wire money to the thief before the bank noticed the fake check! We stopped all payments and our bank took VERY good care of us. By sticking to our guns, we were able to avoid a BIG loss, a fraud investigation, and major embarrassment.
I have noticed lately ALOT of scamming going on. Really well crafted fake emails. Fake IT companies to fix computer errors. Hacking of Facebook and Twitter with spam messages! Has anyone else noticed this sudden spike of sliminess in the online community? Keep your guard up and stick to your guns. Remember... if you won a bunch of money from something you have never heard of before... you probably didn't... don't click on links that take you to free ipads... and always copy a hyperlink into another window and LOOK at it first, before clicking on it and destroying the universe. Practice safe surfing!
Monday, October 1, 2012
Fall Recording- Beth Rowsey!
So I am sitting here at a coffee shop with my good friend and videographer Drew Raklovits and racking my brain for what our first blog post should be about. All weekend I was looking forward to grabbing my iPad, driving over to Biggby Coffee on West Main, getting a coffee from Maddi and Katie on the morning shift, and just sitting and writing this blog. I had so many ideas this week on what to write about but of course I knew that I would remember them all come Monday (like ya do...)
So since my memory is failing me and my ADD mind keeps jumping from one idea to the next, I thought I would talk about an upcoming recording project I will be recording with my good friend Beth. I met Beth Rowsey as I was finishing up my graduate work at WMU. I had known her sister in the Gold Company program earlier in my college career and really enjoyed making music with her so I knew that I would get along great with Beth. After working with her in Gold Company, and having her as a leader in a campus ministry, I had the pleasure of having Beth as an intern while I was the Worship Leader for a local ministry called The Bridge. For a full summer, I got to work with Beth on a variety of music/ministry related projects. While I would love to geek out on the coolness of projects like effective rotation scheduling and recruiting of volunteer worship teams or which way batteries go into wireless microphones (that's right Beth... I said it... ) the best project of the summer was the songwriting project.
Now, I had heard Beth's original music a few times already and I already knew her vocal performance talent was off the charts, but the song she produced from this project took it all to the next level. Beth used the book of Psalms for her inspiration and wrote a completely personal yet utterly relatable song called "Mightier" reminiscent of Bethany Dillon. The song uses sometimes unexpected harmonic progressions matched with powerful lyrics while still remaining accessible to the listener. The lyrics weave the often cryptic and metaphorical lines of the Psalms into a beautiful and inspiring reminder of the "bigness" of God amidst our seemingly complex lives.
Over the next year, Beth has written and collaborated more and more and now (at the begging of the masses) is finally going to release an album of her music. The album will feature a variety of other collaborative artists in the Kalamazoo area and I am honored and excited to have the privilege of being the recording engineer for what I'm sure will be a masterpeice.
So today I wanted to tell my vast audience of readers (hi mom!) about this great upcoming project. Believe me that I will post when it's ready to be released and demand that each of my readers buys a copy so the album goes platinum.... then I will ask you to ask 1,000,000 more people to read my blog to make good on some claims I may have made...
Happy October!
So since my memory is failing me and my ADD mind keeps jumping from one idea to the next, I thought I would talk about an upcoming recording project I will be recording with my good friend Beth. I met Beth Rowsey as I was finishing up my graduate work at WMU. I had known her sister in the Gold Company program earlier in my college career and really enjoyed making music with her so I knew that I would get along great with Beth. After working with her in Gold Company, and having her as a leader in a campus ministry, I had the pleasure of having Beth as an intern while I was the Worship Leader for a local ministry called The Bridge. For a full summer, I got to work with Beth on a variety of music/ministry related projects. While I would love to geek out on the coolness of projects like effective rotation scheduling and recruiting of volunteer worship teams or which way batteries go into wireless microphones (that's right Beth... I said it... ) the best project of the summer was the songwriting project.
Now, I had heard Beth's original music a few times already and I already knew her vocal performance talent was off the charts, but the song she produced from this project took it all to the next level. Beth used the book of Psalms for her inspiration and wrote a completely personal yet utterly relatable song called "Mightier" reminiscent of Bethany Dillon. The song uses sometimes unexpected harmonic progressions matched with powerful lyrics while still remaining accessible to the listener. The lyrics weave the often cryptic and metaphorical lines of the Psalms into a beautiful and inspiring reminder of the "bigness" of God amidst our seemingly complex lives.
Over the next year, Beth has written and collaborated more and more and now (at the begging of the masses) is finally going to release an album of her music. The album will feature a variety of other collaborative artists in the Kalamazoo area and I am honored and excited to have the privilege of being the recording engineer for what I'm sure will be a masterpeice.
So today I wanted to tell my vast audience of readers (hi mom!) about this great upcoming project. Believe me that I will post when it's ready to be released and demand that each of my readers buys a copy so the album goes platinum.... then I will ask you to ask 1,000,000 more people to read my blog to make good on some claims I may have made...
Happy October!
Friday, September 28, 2012
Blogging is SOOO 10 minutes ago...
So we are jumping back into the blog world again. We decided to spend some time each week talking about issues that matter to us here at GvG Productions. Obviously this includes, but is not limited to- parody songs specifically designed for sporting events, the effect of high decibel levels on the midwest economy, and obviously, the ongoing tally of how many times we have played/heard "Call Me Maybe" this year.
Needless to say (or perhaps needFULL to say), we offer a WIDE range of services. The original idea was to say YES to pretty much any possible music idea we were asked about. Diversify! Say yes to every gig! So in the course of the two years we have been a small business, after saying yes to EVERYTHING we are learning what people in our area want, what we can offer, and where we can expand. All this to say, that the topics of this blog are going to be very multi-faceted. For instance, this first blog topic is all about... blog topics; which is really interesting to nobody... except me.
Hopefully each week, I will think of something so compelling and interesting that you will be forced to abandon the endless refreshing of updates on your Facebook newsfeed, put down your Biggby skinny-skinng pumpkin spice latte, and stare longingly at the barrage of fascinating information being thrown at you from the GvG Productions blog. Sounds wonderful doesn't it?
In the meantime, enjoy the last weekend of September. October is almost here...
Needless to say (or perhaps needFULL to say), we offer a WIDE range of services. The original idea was to say YES to pretty much any possible music idea we were asked about. Diversify! Say yes to every gig! So in the course of the two years we have been a small business, after saying yes to EVERYTHING we are learning what people in our area want, what we can offer, and where we can expand. All this to say, that the topics of this blog are going to be very multi-faceted. For instance, this first blog topic is all about... blog topics; which is really interesting to nobody... except me.
Hopefully each week, I will think of something so compelling and interesting that you will be forced to abandon the endless refreshing of updates on your Facebook newsfeed, put down your Biggby skinny-skinng pumpkin spice latte, and stare longingly at the barrage of fascinating information being thrown at you from the GvG Productions blog. Sounds wonderful doesn't it?
In the meantime, enjoy the last weekend of September. October is almost here...
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