Live at Marty's (and My First Recording)
I did my first real gig on Saturday, May 3rd at Marty's.
It was wonderful! It was all part of Lance Ehrecke's (sp?) senior project. He gathered a group of fellow Luther students to put together a compilation CD. He would produce the recordings and we would perform. The recording sessions were free of course (as he was getting credit for it) and the gig was part of a release party for the Record.
The Songs: The song I chose to record for Lance's record was "Nobody Left To Hurt," a bluesy tune I began writing in 2005 and finished a few months ago (maybe March). It's probably the darkest song I've ever written. I originally wrote it with the intention of having it be more heavy and intense musically--like a lot of my other music. But since I already have a few of those, and the lyrical content of "Nobody Left To Hurt" is so dark, I decided that it would be more interesting (and palatable) if I converted it into a blues song. This meant a re-write of the lyrics (I've posted the original version on this blog previously, but not the new ones). I had to make them a little more old fashioned. Basically, I took a piece that would be suitable for Amy Lee or Josie Scott and attempted to make it more suitable for a Johnny Winter or Janis Joplin (hey, I can dream--maybe I'll meet a vocalist like her someday). The lyrics stem from a feeling that I am a danger to those around me--a source of pain. the song expresses a desire to be cast aside to protect the world from my mistakes.
The strange thing is, the second song I played is basically the answer to the feelings expressed in "NLTH." The second song (which doesn't have a title yet) is a song of comfort to an individual who is in a time of grief and pain (maybe self-loathing like in NLTH?). It's basically God telling us that we can move on, we're meant to push on, that our struggles are not in vain. We've been placed in our places in life equipped to fight our way through. That said, the song also says there's a time to weep but then we move on, there's a time to rest in God's hands and just be. Musically, the song is what I call my "smokey bar" song. It's mellow, and suitable for any kind of instrumentation. The way it's recorded live, I tried to keep it intimate so people could hear the words.
The Recording:
The song I recorded was "NLTH." All together I spent probably 8 hours plus in the studio with Lance chugging this song out. I didn't have a real handle on the structure of the song or transitions or anything like that, so mapping out the song for the record allowed me to finally settle on the layout of the song. The recording is really fun for a number of reasons. First, I recorded it with an electric which adds a special flavor. I was able to layer the song extensively which means I got to solo during the bridge (which I hum in the live recording). Plus I got to lay out a bass track. Ideally speaking, there should be a full band with drums and phat B3 organs added in, and someday there will be. We got to mess with some stereo effects which was pretty cool. The highlights of this track are firstly: the bridge. The bridges leading out of all three of the choruses are just sweet. Lance thought I should do a little more than play the riff--that I should add some rhythm to it too. I just did this simple chugging thing and now it sounds super cool. The solo bridge has at least five tracks going at once which makes it really rich. The solo-bridge is my proudest moment on the whole track. The second highlight is the vinyl scratches in the beginning. We took Bob Marley's "Legend" album and captured the scratches in the feed and looped it during the whole song. It's just a little louder in the beginning. So, in a way, Bob Marley is on my track!
The downside to the record: THE VOCALS!! I was singing in a key that really is too high for me, and ultimately, I just don't like the way my voice sounds with blues music. Very disappointing. But wait...
The Gig:
I wasn't sure I was going to play the gig ultimately. I was so unhappy with my vocal performance on the record that I didn't want to augment it with an equally bad live performance. But, I decided to do two things: play the song a step lower, and shed my self-consciousness. I try to remember that God is supposed to get the glory so my personal opinions about myself are really irrelevant. Playing in a lower key allowed my voice some room to add color to it that doesn't exist on the record. Basically, I sound semi good on the live performance. I was one of maybe eight people who played that night. My parents were there as well as our friends Jackie and Steve (my parents filmed it). By the time I got up there, I wasn't nervous anymore. I "hammed" it up a bit as my dad says (a little pre-song banter). The songs ultimately sounded really good and the audience seemed to enjoy them as well. Fortunately, I asked Lance to record the performance for me (just in case its better). It turns out, it is much better! The downside: he wasn't there to record, so he let the songs clip a bunch while he was monitoring the live sound. But it doesn't make a huge sound problem.
Later that night I got back up and did some impromptu time killers until the post-opera crowd made their way to Marty's (there was an opera performance that night). I sang Across The Universe (Beatles) with a girl from the audience (she was gracious enough to accompany me while I attempted to harmonize with disastrous results). It was a lot of fun. Then I did Sad Clown by Jars of Clay which is from their "If I Left The Zoo" album for which, there is a gold plaque hanging on the wall at Marty's. It's my understanding that Jars were in Decorah when they wrote that album, and that they must have played at Marty's. By then, there were probably only 13 people left in the place and we closed it up.
I'm happy and I feel blessed that God gave me this opportunity that stretched me a bit and caused me to have to trust him. I hope that with his will, I will be able to do more.
It was wonderful! It was all part of Lance Ehrecke's (sp?) senior project. He gathered a group of fellow Luther students to put together a compilation CD. He would produce the recordings and we would perform. The recording sessions were free of course (as he was getting credit for it) and the gig was part of a release party for the Record.
The Songs: The song I chose to record for Lance's record was "Nobody Left To Hurt," a bluesy tune I began writing in 2005 and finished a few months ago (maybe March). It's probably the darkest song I've ever written. I originally wrote it with the intention of having it be more heavy and intense musically--like a lot of my other music. But since I already have a few of those, and the lyrical content of "Nobody Left To Hurt" is so dark, I decided that it would be more interesting (and palatable) if I converted it into a blues song. This meant a re-write of the lyrics (I've posted the original version on this blog previously, but not the new ones). I had to make them a little more old fashioned. Basically, I took a piece that would be suitable for Amy Lee or Josie Scott and attempted to make it more suitable for a Johnny Winter or Janis Joplin (hey, I can dream--maybe I'll meet a vocalist like her someday). The lyrics stem from a feeling that I am a danger to those around me--a source of pain. the song expresses a desire to be cast aside to protect the world from my mistakes.
The strange thing is, the second song I played is basically the answer to the feelings expressed in "NLTH." The second song (which doesn't have a title yet) is a song of comfort to an individual who is in a time of grief and pain (maybe self-loathing like in NLTH?). It's basically God telling us that we can move on, we're meant to push on, that our struggles are not in vain. We've been placed in our places in life equipped to fight our way through. That said, the song also says there's a time to weep but then we move on, there's a time to rest in God's hands and just be. Musically, the song is what I call my "smokey bar" song. It's mellow, and suitable for any kind of instrumentation. The way it's recorded live, I tried to keep it intimate so people could hear the words.
The Recording:
The song I recorded was "NLTH." All together I spent probably 8 hours plus in the studio with Lance chugging this song out. I didn't have a real handle on the structure of the song or transitions or anything like that, so mapping out the song for the record allowed me to finally settle on the layout of the song. The recording is really fun for a number of reasons. First, I recorded it with an electric which adds a special flavor. I was able to layer the song extensively which means I got to solo during the bridge (which I hum in the live recording). Plus I got to lay out a bass track. Ideally speaking, there should be a full band with drums and phat B3 organs added in, and someday there will be. We got to mess with some stereo effects which was pretty cool. The highlights of this track are firstly: the bridge. The bridges leading out of all three of the choruses are just sweet. Lance thought I should do a little more than play the riff--that I should add some rhythm to it too. I just did this simple chugging thing and now it sounds super cool. The solo bridge has at least five tracks going at once which makes it really rich. The solo-bridge is my proudest moment on the whole track. The second highlight is the vinyl scratches in the beginning. We took Bob Marley's "Legend" album and captured the scratches in the feed and looped it during the whole song. It's just a little louder in the beginning. So, in a way, Bob Marley is on my track!
The downside to the record: THE VOCALS!! I was singing in a key that really is too high for me, and ultimately, I just don't like the way my voice sounds with blues music. Very disappointing. But wait...
The Gig:
I wasn't sure I was going to play the gig ultimately. I was so unhappy with my vocal performance on the record that I didn't want to augment it with an equally bad live performance. But, I decided to do two things: play the song a step lower, and shed my self-consciousness. I try to remember that God is supposed to get the glory so my personal opinions about myself are really irrelevant. Playing in a lower key allowed my voice some room to add color to it that doesn't exist on the record. Basically, I sound semi good on the live performance. I was one of maybe eight people who played that night. My parents were there as well as our friends Jackie and Steve (my parents filmed it). By the time I got up there, I wasn't nervous anymore. I "hammed" it up a bit as my dad says (a little pre-song banter). The songs ultimately sounded really good and the audience seemed to enjoy them as well. Fortunately, I asked Lance to record the performance for me (just in case its better). It turns out, it is much better! The downside: he wasn't there to record, so he let the songs clip a bunch while he was monitoring the live sound. But it doesn't make a huge sound problem.
Later that night I got back up and did some impromptu time killers until the post-opera crowd made their way to Marty's (there was an opera performance that night). I sang Across The Universe (Beatles) with a girl from the audience (she was gracious enough to accompany me while I attempted to harmonize with disastrous results). It was a lot of fun. Then I did Sad Clown by Jars of Clay which is from their "If I Left The Zoo" album for which, there is a gold plaque hanging on the wall at Marty's. It's my understanding that Jars were in Decorah when they wrote that album, and that they must have played at Marty's. By then, there were probably only 13 people left in the place and we closed it up.
I'm happy and I feel blessed that God gave me this opportunity that stretched me a bit and caused me to have to trust him. I hope that with his will, I will be able to do more.
posted by Your humble servant at 12:43 PM
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