Brian Casel from Serve The Song posted a great little reminder to musicians: dig through your old material and try a new approach. This past week I reorganized my iTunes library, making sure I kept all of my own recordings. It was really fun seeing how far I have come in terms of writing and production and it really got me in a good mood for the entire week. Please check out the post.
Just a quick update of some studio projects I’ve been working on.
I’m still working on an untitled release for Alexander. His first release of 2009, Concrete And Steeples should be out soon.
I have started tracking for the second Buffalo Gun album, The Bad, which will be another 5-song EP.
I am producing/engineering/programming a score written by Jason Gaskin, singer from Lonely Heroes, for a short film project. I will link a copy to the video when it’s complete.
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Last night on Wednesday, March 25, “Fight What” by Alexander was featured on an episode of The Real World Brooklyn. The electronic music in the first half of the clip is the end of “Fight What” and the intro for “Trust Me On This One.” This was a very exciting moment for both me and Ryan (Alexander). You can see the clip below or download the Quicktime file here. Note: I do not claim ownership or rights to this clip, which belong to MTV Networks/Viacom/Paramount.
Cliff Goldmacher over at Serve The Song recently posted a great article called Recording Your Indie Album: a Pre-Production Checklist. This is a blog I read frequently and would encourage all songwriters, band members and alike to check out. You can read the article here.
Here’s an interview Ryan did over the phone during our last recording sessions. He talks about writing, recording, distribution, touring and of course, starving children.
It’s a great interview, but I thought I would point out that I completely disagree with him when he says “I know that anytime I try to raise my voice in any capacity to yell, I sound like I’m telling my dog to get off the couch.” There were a few times in the recording sessions when he would start to get really loud, and I thought, “this is what was missing from the last record.” I’m really glad we got some of that recorded.
I just wanted to give a big shout out to Guerilla Drum Making. Thanks to them I made a custom snare drum with fantastic results for just the cost of the parts. I am not good with crafts or handiwork, so if I can do it, anyone can. The DVD should not be your only source for advice, but the DVD’s companion website gives plenty of helpful links that nearly guarantee your success.
It was a scary but rewarding process. I’m not rushing into the custom drum-making business, so I don’t know when I’ll make another drum, but for a $40 DVD, I saved hundreds from ordering a custom drum.
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