Grammy award winning “Ambient Americana” producer and recording artist Eric Tingstad is interviewed by SiS Organizer Chris Klimecky. Their conversation follows Eric’s extensive songwriting and recording career as well as the future of his art. A beautiful live version of “The Boot Whisperer” finishes the musical selections.
It’s time for the Spring cleaning edition of the Songwriters in Seattle podcast! Out with the old, in with the new – you’ll be happy to know we did something a little bit different this podcast. My guest, David Guilbault, did such a cool experimental project recently, we centered the entire discussion around 4 recordings of his songs. The idea for his project was to give songs to 4 different producers and, only using his vocal, see what they would come up with. It was an idea that yielded some great results and you get to hear the stories behind them!
Classic Americana singer/songwriter David Guilbault is interviewed by SiS Organizer Chris Klimecky. David & Chris go in-depth about David’s latest experimental project: Giving his songs to 4 different producers to let them do what they will.
The summer has officially ended. I held on for as long as I could, but the kids are in school, the sweatshirts are on, and the clouds and rain have returned. My self-imposed end of August deadline has past and my new album This Journey has not been released. In fact, one could say it’s gone backwards. But before I tell you that story, I have to tell you this story…
The monthly Songwriters in Seattle podcast continues to fascinate and inspire me with the variety of talent and level of musicianship we have in the group. This month symphonic rock pianist Thom Schroeder gives us insight into his classical approach to composition which combines epic forms, extreme dynamics, and modern textures to create a unique sound. Emotional performance and technical virtuosity make for an intense listening experience – you’ve got to hear this!
During our discussion, Thom talks about how he came to this genre, his search for a vocalist, and thinking big! It was a pleasure to have Thom in the studio and thank him for coming by for our 10th podcast to share his music and personal story.
It’s been a busy month for Jean Mann: preparing the release of a new album (Dream of Goats), a new tour, promotions and an interview schedule, she is gathering momentum on this 4th release that will surely propel her to new heights and popularity both locally and far beyond. I feel extremely lucky and honored to have gotten a slice of her time to discuss her background, her songwriting, and this bit of a whirlwind she’s creating! Not only did we have a great conversation, she brought her ukelele as well as her regular 6-string and played a few songs for us live. Awesome!
So you’ll hear “Memory’s Dusty Road” from the new disc, a solo uke and vocal live version of “Sweet Peas on the Vine” (also fully arranged on the new disc), and a live version of the beautiful “Blue Sky” from her 3rd album Daisies and Fire. Jean has a warmth and sweetness that I know you’ll enjoy, as well as an honest, artistic, and organic songwriting style that has a lot of heart. As she puts it, “…part poetry set to music…storytelling, and a little bit of journal…”
This is an exciting week for spreading the music – for the next few days I’ll be a featured artist on ReverbNation! They get 15 million+ visitors per month and 75 million+ page views per month so this is an opportunity I’m very thankful for. I also want to thank anyone visiting for the first time – I hope you take a few minutes to listen to some of the variety of songs and videos I have on ReverbNation, then drop me a note or a comment. I love meeting new artists and fans through RN – there is a great musicial connection we all have there which I have not found anywhere else on the web. BTW – they rotate 10 featured artists into 4 slots every few minutes, so if you don’t see me up there, it’s just a matter of timing.
For the indie artists reading this, what has been your biggest single promotional push and how did it come about? I’ve got my fingers crossed that this will be a biggie for me and help get that snowball rolling downhill! I’ll report back on that next week. 🙂
Originally video killed the radio star – yes, they’ve been popular since the 80’s but the category of “music video” has changed greatly since then. Especially with the advent of YouTube and the proliferation of high speed internet connections, the idea of making and distributing videos of a variety of musical endeavors is as wide and personal as one’s imagination. In fact, I have yet to make a “traditional” music video, but I find myself spending more and more time sitting in front of Adobe Premiere making videos of one sort or another. More time than I’m spending songwriting and recording, even. Call me crazy, but I find video editing to be fun and addicting!
I realize I’m a bit behind the curve here – just as I have only recently gotten on the blogging and Twitter bandwagons, I’ve only begun to post videos to my YouTube channel. But I do have a vision for what I want that channel to look like and I’m beginning to populate it with some content I’m proud of. I would like it to end up as a tasty mix of live show recordings, in-studio performances, vlogs, uStream performance recordings, and at some point hopefully a good old fashioned music video or two. Any other ideas that you’d like to see? Or something you’ve seen someone else do that you liked?
An artist’s original vision for his/her own works can be an interesting thing. Especially when collaboration is involved, the vision can evolve, shift, even become something almost entirely different, but in the artist’s mind, there is always the memory of that original intent. When I first heard David Rix play “Carry On” I knew it was a great song that had lots of arrangement potential. Over time I formed my own vision for the song and put that into production. David was very happy with that end product, but something was bugging him. His original vision…
He had always thought of the song as a male/female duet where the couple is “discussing” their hard times but pushing through knowing they were meant for each other. Though our Traveling Wilburys-style first arrangement was buttery smooth, it didn’t capture some of the emotional resonance that the presentation of a couple in a longterm relationship would have. So with the help of our local Spiritual Cowgirl Jessica Lynne, I proudly present a re-mix of “Carry On” that more closely resembles David’s original vision. I hope you enjoy it and I welcome your thoughts on how the two arrangements affect you differently. Also make sure you check out my video blog for a quick behind-the-scenes comparison of the two.
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! I hope you are feeling loved ’cause I’m sharing the love today with the release of a new song, “Water Colors”. This is the fourth preview from my upcoming album due in the Fall of 2011, This Journey, and the last you’ll hear from that for a while. Sure, I’ve got other songs in production for other folks that I’ll be releasing in between, but as far as the rock tunes for my own album, there will be a few months break.
So, what’s with “Water Colors”? It’s a slight change of pace, a little longer form, and a little more complex arrangement that I’m quite pleased with how it turned out. A guest vocal on the bridge from the lovely and talented Adena Atkins puts this one in a category of its own: the first rock song I’ve ever recorded with a female voice as part of the arrangement! I’m thrilled she agreed to do it as I believe the tone and quality of her voice fits perfectly as a sort of ethereal distant “siren song”. It serves the lyric/traditional phrase well as a reminder that the seductive beauty of life holds both joy and peril.
I’ve been doing a lot of mixing recently, and that tends to get my head in a very detailed listening mode. So when I hear other home recordings, lots of things stick out to me and I thought I’d list a few items here that might help you improve your home recordings.
Before we dive in, though, remember that of the 4 stages of recording (pre-production, source recording, mixing, mastering), what I’m touching on is only the tip of the iceberg on the 3rd stage. So by the time you get this far you’re already in the deep end. These tips aren’t going to make a bad song good or save a poor instrument tone (“you can’t polish a turd”). But if you’ve got your parts recorded well already, these should at least remind you not to make the most common mistakes when actively listening to your mixes.
I wanted to give you a heads up on two songs coming down the pipeline. They’re both very close and should be finished and released over the next few weeks. Although it can be an arduous process, mixing and mastering is ultimately so rewarding that it’s worth the pain and fine details work that goes into it. There is nothing better than pushing play on the final test CD that sounds fantastic blasted out of the home stereo system!
Anyway, the two songs are: 1. Water Colors, the latest from my upcoming album, and 2. A re-mix of David Rix’s Carry On with Jessica Lynne sharing vocal duties. Here’s a little more detail on each of these…
Just a quick note about the new posting of my alt-country/Americana duet “Colored Life” now featuring Jessica Lynne on vocals. Jessica and I have been working together a lot lately and I thought it a fitting opportunity to go back and try to improve on this song. I’m thankful to Jessica for doing it (and even coming back for a second shot at the middle break to put it over the top!) and I think it turned out great.
A little note about Jessica, she’s only been in the US and Seattle for a few months now, but is already tearing up the country/Americana scene out here. Don’t ask me how someone from Denmark ends up singing with a southern twang, but here’s the evidence it can happen! She’s working on an EP now and I’m helping her develop some songs and backing her up live. Always nice to work with great up and coming talent from any genre and Jessica’s about as friendly and straightforward as you can get – just my style! She also knows the amount of work it takes to make it in music and I love supporting that kind of effort. So please wish her good luck and if you’re into that style of music, please keep an ear out for her new recordings – I’m sure they’re going to be fantastic!
Down to the last few days in January, already? Wow, it’s been a productive start to 2011 and I hope you’ve enjoyed some of the fruits of that labor. There have been two major song releases, a podcast, a start at Twitter and YouTube, my regular blog, and then lots of behind the scenes effort to get all of my web presence pages looking consistent, easy to use, and packed with as much content as the various sites will allow!
There’s still lots more to do and tons of content in the pipeline for February. Here’s a glance at my upcoming “to do” list:
– The third major song release for this early group of new recordings, “Water Colors”: It’s another with lyrics passed to me by Cait Rosellini. It’s got a different feel that I am really digging – those who have heard it think it has a David Bowie sound. I’m a bad judge of these things, but perhaps because of the metaphor-style storytelling? Anyway, I’m excited to have you listen and tell me what you think of it yourself.
– Two new recordings with Americana singer Jessica Lynne: I’ve got two recordings coming with her that are cool variations on already released songs. One is a version of “Colored Life” – you can hear a preview of that from the (horrible visual quality!) live video that was taken of us performing the song together. Jessica has a great voice that fits the song perfectly and I’m very happy to have a fully produced version of the song with her. We also got her recorded on a version of David Rix’s “Carry On” which takes the song in an interesting duet direction.
What does “polish” mean to you in a recording? And is it even something you want more of, especially in a rock setting? Can you have a polished recording of an unpolished sound? In my mind, everyone should want a polished recording – this would represent their sound in the best, most appealing way possible. To me it’s about clear translation of the artistic vision, no matter how sloppy or gritty that vision is.
So there are certainly ways that you can spend lots of money to get better recordings (equipment, studio time, engineering & mastering help, etc.) and lots of sound engineer techie ways to improve your sound. Those tips are for another blog post! Let’s start with what you can do using what you have already.
1. Pre-Production – Start with disciplined practice, lots of practice. Practice with a metronome so you can be consistent in tempo. Record rough versions of the song so you can hear it back and start to think more about arrangements. Make your song better – really evaluate it and refine it. A great recording of a so-so song is a lost cause. Does it need an extra chorus? Can you cut an interlude or long intro? Cutting is usually better than adding, and this is your time to be brutal. For example, I’ll often cut a verse during pre-production if I have any sense that it’s getting too long. Make your decisions now, before you start recording in earnest, because the farther down the road you are, the harder it is to make significant shifts. You’ll still have plenty of opportunity to be creative – in fact, you’ll be more free to be creative since the basic decisions are confidently locked in.
Have you ever wished upon a star? I’m proud to present to you the first song I wrote with lyrics from Cait Rosellini, “The Age Old Story.” I was inspired by the different thematic material and sense of wonder in the words. This was a fun one as it just came out so smoothly and naturally – I’m very excited about this song. I hope you enjoy it and share the link with friends. Thank you for your support! Here are the full lyrics:
All right, folks, it’s time to start showing off the new songs!!! I’m very excited to have the first of this group to be posted be “This Journey” which is in fact my newest song at this point. It was only written last month and went through full production exceptionally fast. It shows off a different side of me, not only from a songwriting point of view, but vocally as well. Split into two unique sections, no guitar solos or thick harmonies are employed in this arrangement. I hope you find it to be as refreshing a track from some of my usual productions as I have. It has been a lot of fun to put it together!
A little bit more background on this song. It is my fourth collaboration with lyricist Cait Rosellini, whose name you’ll be hearing a lot more of as these songs get released.
I’m excited to announce that I’m putting the finishing touches on the production of three new songs of mine, to be released early in 2011. These songs were all co-written with a new lyric writing partner Caitlyn Rosellini, so they all have a fresh sound and a different perspective. Being recorded in with my new home studio setup also gives them an upgraded quality in the production I am thrilled about. So far only Energy and Carry On have been released using this studio configuration, so producing more at that level is something I want to get out as soon as I can.
The three songs, in the order I will likely release them, are called This Journey (just need a final mix & master), Age Old Story (a guitar solo away), and Water Colors. Each has unique qualities and each rocks in its own way – no acoustic numbers in this group. I’ll give more detail as each song is released, so for now have a very Merry Christmas – musical presents from me are coming soon!
