Posted by Michael on April 20, 2009 under Articles | 
I’ve been on the hunt for some great albums that I have missed, as I am on a big ALBUM kick with my new Bose headphones…
Someone recommended Terence Trent D’Arby’s 3rd album, “Symphony or Damn”, and I actually remember it, a good friend of mine was a fan of his, and I thought, “Why didn’t I ever get this?”
So I ordered it from Half.com, and put it into my ipod up getting it. Then, track after track, I am wowed by the sound quality, hooks, songwriting and creativity… I’m thinking, “Wow, this could be one of my favorite CD’s EVER… and I missed it!”… even though I knew I had heard it before from my friend.
This went on for the first 7 songs…. then… THUD… track after track of mediocre filler. Read more of this article »
Posted by Michael on April 13, 2009 under Articles |
I know that everyone works in a slightly different manner. So for those of you new to the recording process, or for those of you who want an idea of how I work, I thought I would walk through the whole process, step-by-step, of recording a song.
I wrote an article on recording pop/R&B songs… i.e. songs with predominantly programmed material. However, there are many of you who like to use predominantly live musicians, of course. And, of course, I can accommodate you as well! This article is geared toward artists who like to use a lot of live musicians, but aren’t recording as a band. i.e. most of the musicians will probably be coming in seperately, and probably haven’t been rehearsing the song with you a whole lot, if ever. I will do another walk through for rehearsed bands, as that process is a little bit different.
I also work quickly. Depending on the Client and musician availability, I can usually move through all the steps to completion in 10 days or less. Things move even faster (per song) when working on more than one as I can work in parallel on the songs, and the musicians can lay down on more than one song a session. (This is a whole lot more cost-effective!)
1. Scratch the Song
I listen to the client sing “or play” the song… Then I find the tempo, put in a temporary, unchanging drum beat, and start figuring out the song. We will lay a temporary piano or guitar line that is meant for just figuring out the chord structure of the song. Once this is laid down, the client will lay down a “scratch” vocal for me to use as reference. I don’t spend much time at all on the scratch vocal. (The only people who will ever hear it are myself and the client!) The scratch vocal serves three purposes… Hearing it over and over I can get to know the song better. I will get to know the singers idiosyncrasies and get some ideas of how to coach out an amazing vocal performance later. Most importantly, I can see how the voice fits in the track so I can choose instrumentation that will sound good with and support the most important element of the song. Then I am ready to move on. Read more of this article »
Posted by Michael on April 12, 2009 under Reviews |
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I am hoping to turn people onto easily the most amazing album I have heard in a couple years… Irish Band, The Script’s self-titled debut album.
This is amazing soulful rock, I would classify as a jam session between Maroon 5, The Fray and The Police. There are hard hitting emotions and situations interlocked with some amazing melodies and hooks… and not one ounce of filler on this album. Emotional and energetic (Only one real ballad on this set), they are nonetheless fans of BIG emotion.
If U.S. Radio will be so accommodating, I hear 4 radio mega-hits on this CD… “Breakeven”, “Before the Worst” and “I’m Yours” could all easily follow up their current first single, “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved”… a song so fresh and heartfelt that my eyes inexplicably tear up a little each time I hear it. (I just noticed that two of these were NOT the singles overseas…) Read more of this article »
Posted by Michael on under Reviews |
A little under the weather this week, I was able to give a few close listens to a couple of new albums. While most critics have been giving MPLSound a bigger heads-up in the reviews than Lotusflow3r, I must disagree.
Lotusflow3r: 31 – MPLSound: 22
Yes, “Chocolate Box” on MPLSound is one of the most fun, booty-shakin’ numbers Prince has done in a long time, but LotusFlow3r follows another important trend… Stuff od Prince’s that I don’t like as much as first, often grows on my until I realize it’s pure brilliance. I thought he was insane when I first heard “Gett Off”.. a song that is one of my three favorite songs of his now. Read more of this article »
