Recording and All that Prep!

This is from recording in April...looking forward to tomorrow's session!

Tomorrow we switch gears from mixing to recording!

I've been getting charts ready for months. Tomorrow's session is going to be for a jazz standards album to be released in 2013. Haven't decided on a title yet...but rest assured it will be a good one.

Erik is getting the equipment ready, making sure all of it is in shape for tomorrow. He cleaned his Yamaha M406 mixer with 6 Class-A preamps it was modded and his Gallien-Krueger MB150E bass amp with DeoxIt D5. He also lubed the faders on his Mackie CR1604-BLZ Mixer with DeoxIt F5.

We will be trying out some new mics that Erik borrowed from a friend. Usually I use my Neumann KMS 105, but we thought we might try out the Shure KSM 9 tomorrow, too. I've used it in live performances that were multi-tracked, but never for this kind of recording. Other mics we are trying are the Audix SCX25A and the Audix D6!

Even though normally used for vocal overdubs in a large room or just an untreated room, we're going to try out in a "live" situation our new MXL RF-100 Reflection Filter tomorrow. It may not work, but it's worth a try to help isolate the vocal and drum mics from picking up sounds they shouldn't!

Jesse Quebbeman-Turley is coming by tonight to set up his drums so we are ready to start in the morning!

Zach Wiggins is back on keyboard and we have a new-comer on bass: Josh Larsen! James Archibald has been my loyal bassist for six years, but he is now in Texas after finishing his Master's in Physics. Going to miss you, James, but welcome Josh!

Stay tuned for pictures and audio!

Free T-Shirts...Gear Related are King

Leaving our Projects in Music in Media class...stay tuned to hear clips of our creations!

So anyone who knows me knows that I don't even own a T-shirt (okay, that's an exaggeration, but I am rarely seen in public wearing a T-shirt). So when I won a free T-shirt from Electro-Voice, I got it in a size for my brother, Erik. He's a sound guy, so that made sense!

The first thing Erik said was, "You actually signed up to win?" He knows I'm not a T-shirt person, but really, it was free...and all I had to do was enter on EV's Facebook page. I already "liked" EV's page, so it wasn't that much of a leap for me to enter. Erik won a PL-80a microphone from them a couple years ago on Facebook. How poor could my chances be for winning a free T-shirt?

So what is it about free T-shirts that get even me, a non-T-shirt wearer, excited enough to enter to win one? Maybe it's the fact that it's free. As in FREE! It's like going to Costco on Saturdays even when you don't really need to go and might not buy anything but you go anyway for the free food samples!

Besides, I believe in good sound. Erik "saves the world from bad sound" every day he works at BYU Broadcasting and when he records my music, mixes and masters it!

At any rate, I have used EV products in performances and recordings. I am proud to advertise for them by having Erik wear my free T-shirt!

Oh, and the contest is every Friday, so you can enter to win EV swag, too!

The Joys of Being an Indie Artist, Shrink Wrap Included

I have a "To Do" list that stays the same length, no matter how many things I cross off. I guess that's part of being an Indie Artist. I get one thing done and in the process find another thing to put on the list.

I've been trying to replenish my stock of CDs. The CDs are labeled and have data, the inserts are printed and in the jewel cases. Last step? Shrink wrap!

Done.

Next, check and update all my social networking sites. This got way easier when I started using Hootsuite. I highly recommend it! I can even schedule a few posts to go up when I'm away from the computer.

Done.

Read books. I researched and bought a slew of new and used books on entertainment law, music publishing, rights management, artist management, contracts, music business, social networking, and anything else having to do with music production. Read from The Artist's Guide to Success in the Music Business by Loren Weisman, one of the many for an hour today.

Done. Learned more techniques for easy gigging, more functional practices and maximized recording sessions. Sweet!

Mixing. My brother and I are mixing our next CD Jazzy Christmas To You II! Getting back into the mixing groove after school started was a bit rough, but now we're really moving!

Done. Will do more mixing tomorrow.

Set up practices and recording times with band members. Thanks to technology, this is pretty easy.

Done.

All through that process, I found out I need to get more inserts printed, need to keep up with my social networking, need to read more books, need to research some new music sites, need to check on subscriptions, need to mix more songs, and get all the charts ready for practicing and recording.

Not Done. But that's okay. I love being an Indie Artist!

Mixing for Christmas! (Love it!)

Today we started up again with mixing our next CD, Jazzy Christmas To You II! As you can guess, it is a Christmas CD. I absolutely LOVE Christmas...it's my favorite time of year, I listen to Christmas music almost year-round. I even love snow!

So, the first song we started mixing today is an original written by Justin Jensen and me! It's titled "Santa Blues" and is about Santa and is a blues...hence the title.

I also love the blues. It is my favorite kind of music to sing. I love the freedom blues allow me as a vocalist to really add personality, improv, and growls (my favorite effect to use)! I also use a lot of blue notes. In fact I've been told all of my music utilizes the blues in some way, which I take to be a very high compliment!

So having a Christmas blues is...like an early Christmas! Last year my favorite blues off of Jazzy Christmas To You! was "Merry Christmas, Baby." Sometimes I think I should just sing blues...

FREE SONGS and Labor Day Adventures!

In honor of Labor Day I've put six--yes, SIX--of the songs from my latest album As American As Jazz: A Patriotic Celebration of the USA up for free download! All you have to do is like my Facebook page, click on the My Band tab, and share the music to download SIX FREE SONGS!

What else have I done for Labor Day? Actually, it's been a pretty relaxing day!

I got up and made wheat bread and rosemary focaccia breads with my sister and my mom. We already knew the focaccia would be amazing as we've made it many times before.

The wheat, also amazing, turned out well...even though Amy, my sister, had to mix the wheat dough by hand since we didn't have a bread hook attachment for our mixer!

These amazing recipes came from America's Test Kitchen, my new favorite cooking show! I even have the complete recipe book...an incredible buy!

I also played Ticket to Ride Europe with Amy, I think, a total of five times. As a family, we love Europa board games. They just have so many different elements. Definitely have lots of replay value!

Tomorrow school starts up again. It was nice to have a break...even though I've only been in school for five days. But sometimes that break is still nice when I am longing for the fun of summer!

Actually, the way I relax is to knit. So I also knit a Harry Potter-look-alike scarf!

As you close out your Labor Day, enjoy downloading any or all of the six songs available free to you!