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?
Monday, October 29, 2012
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!
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