Mixing of the new cd is complete!

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… or as complete as my wallet will allow. heh. The rest of the session went pretty fast with little fanfare. Paul and I re-tracked more vocals and added a few extra keyboard tracks here and there. ‘Ego’, ‘Sweet Simulacra’ and ‘First Five’ got the treatment they deserved and sound even better with the additional parts. Just some extra junk to push them further along (or off?) the bridges, as if the listener needed to hear more noise in the mix.

Today we’re doing a photo shoot. My friend Amanda kindly offered to take them gratis! She rented a colorful suite at this over-the-top, chic hotel and will be taking individual and group portraits. Should be a fun time. Better than doing the cliche ‘band standing in front of brick wall’ or ‘band standing on railroad tracks’ or ‘band covered in honey, running naked off cliff while being chased by pack of George Rodrigue Blue Dogs’ photos.

I’ll put a few snippets of the new material up this week. So check back soon for some music instead of words.

Marathon Monday

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Don’t you like my smarmy post titles?

The past two days have been long 10-11 hr. sessions. Working early in the morning for my day job, trying to bill for at least 5 hours and then running up to the studio for noon to 10pm mixing is gonna wipe me out by the end of the week. I’m still having a blast. We’ve redone a lot of vocals and tweaked a few more. When I say ‘tweaked’, I should say ‘tuned’. Yes, I will admit to you dear reader, jeff is using pitch correction software here and there instead of re-singing some of the stuff. We’re taking full advantage of the digital age, but not overdoing it. The vocals still sound very natural – not like that Cher song heh. Paul is being extremely careful to keep it all in check.

Yesterday Trey and his bro Chris (The Brothers CaraMichael) stopped by to listen and suggest a few drum enhancements. They also helped rearrange the audio bloodbath ending to ‘Little Doll’. The song had quite a jam session in the rough mix so we trimmed it back a few bars and rearranged some of the parts so they build up nicely to the end. We also discovered and implemented several forgotten Holt keyboard parts that were even better than the original take used in scratch version. ‘So Green’ didn’t need too much help, so that one was done soon afterwards.

Jumping back to Chris, I must thank him for introducing me to Cubase and the wonderful world of computer-based multi-tracking software a few years ago . It has helped me become a better songwriter because I can try out lots of different ideas quickly. I don’t know how I lived without it before. Everything was so painful to get out or maneuver around once it was on a cassette 4-track or even the cheesy digital 8-track with only 100mb of storage. Still, I am far from mastering it in terms of getting quality sounds and mixes, hence-to-for-with the need for Paul and Artisan’s help.

We added a few more surprises to ‘Ego’ and ‘Be Cool’ today. Funny experiments mainly to ‘Ego’. That exercise was just too fun. Tye came in to the control room scratching his head wondering what the hell we were doing. I won’t spoil it for you though. They are tucked deep in the mix – nothing terribly overt. Paul also rendered a version of the song without them in case the rest of the band freaks when they hear it.

Paul has also made instrumental versions of the tunes as well, in case 2 years from now I want to have someone else sing them. Or maybe he is secretly entering the songs in a Dallas Karaoke contest with William Shatner as a guest star. “MY MY MY alchoholicalterego ego E-Go! egough. COMES stumblingintotakethe FAHHHLLL for MEEEE – AND HE’S GONE!!!” Please reference his version of ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ if you don’t understand.

Mixin’ Fun Has Begun

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Friday – GLosers CD release was greatness – lots of new and old faces drinking, listening and buying ‘shuffled’. I’ll post a review of the album later.

Saturday – Back at Artisan. Was nice to see Tye and Paul again. We started late on Saturday afternoon due to technical difficulties but were able to complete ‘Hollywooden Dreams’. I think Paul wanted to get that one out of the way because it was his least favorite track (I am paranoid and making assumptions of course), but when I presented him with the over-hyped string part, he was giddy and provided me with several bursts of praise once he heard it all the way through. Glad I’m shelling out the extra bucks to spend a lot of time with each song’s mix so they’ll be as polished as possible.

Next, we began working on ‘So Green/Human Reel’. There was a question with Chris’ piano part in the rough mix, but we determined it was warbly due to 2 takes appearing simultaneously. A quick edit job (mute this here, open this there) did the trick and now it sounds correct. As previously noted, I tortured Chris, one of the best guitarists in town, with this quick piano run-hook that was really easy to program on the computer, but hard to actually play live – hehe.

Perhaps I should compile all of the mixin’ notes and post the highlights at the end – I’m afraid of this blog thingy turning into short posts like:

Got up at 6:21 am
Shaved – but my razor was dull – urgh! I need new razors
Smoked a cigarette outside – it was cold! OMG this weather!!
Decided to telecommute today – but my connection was slower than usual. Oh well. It beats that traffic! LOL!!!
etc. etc. blah blah freakin’ blah.

Anyway – here’s the proposed order of the cd if you care. Chris came up with it and I likey.

1. Sweet Simulacra
2. First Five
3. So Green/Human Reel
4. Ego
5. Little Doll
6. You’ll Come Around
7. The World’s Ventriloquist
8. Anymore
9. Mariner’s Dilemma
10. Hollywooden Dreams
11. Be Cool

Gentlemen, Start Your Losing!

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Friday’s the night of the ‘shuffled’ cd release party for Gentlemen Losers at Elbow Room in Dallas. Drop by and buy the cd for only $5 and then drink ’til you sprawl out on the shuffleboard and start quoting Kierkegaard.

I’ve known Harvey Barham and Chris Cannon – the duo that are Gentlemen Losers – for a long time. Chris and I were friends in high school and Harvey and I became buddies at UT Austin – though I think I had dropped out of college by that time. Chris has been writing and recording for as long as I’ve known him. I remember he came up with this odd tune called ‘purpl brush’ for a high school jazz band project that confounded everyone else who were content to simply re-arrange jazz standards in a more boring format. Cannon was also playing in ‘Caulfield Manifesto’ at the time, writing these unique songs that had his essense stamped all over them. The same essense you hear today in whatever form or format his music takes – it is just ‘Cannon’ to me.

I was out of touch with both of these guys during the mid 90s, so I was shocked when I heard their cd ‘3rd’. Harvey had turned into this accomplished songwriter overnight it seemed. I remebered he played a bit of acoustic guitar but was just starting out when we were in Austin. He found his voice so quickly I suppose because he was always a great storyteller and conversationalist. Still jealous of him as I often feel I’m still searching for my voice.

The two compliment each other nicely and have recorded a ton of stuff together. Some call it lo-fi. I don’t. I think every recording has a charm to it and that it sounds the way it is ‘supposed’ to sound. Some cds are more polished and produced but the songwriting is always top-notch. The music is honest, warm and never boring. Check ’em out and let me know what you think America!

Quick Hits

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Just a few things to report:

Saw a version of The English Beat a week ago at the Granada (I’m going there a lot these days). Songs were good. Show was mediocre. I guess when you only have 1 original member – Dave Wakeling, the performance won’t live up to the memory of the band you’ve romanticized in your head for 20 years. Still, I had forgotten how great those songs were. Oh how I wish David Steele had been there. My 3rd favorite bassist behind Bruce Thomas and Colin Moulding.

Came back to Granada this past Friday for Chris Holt and the Egos, opening for Charlie Sexton. Eric is becoming the fan favorite. He’s definitely a rockin’ dood. Carter Albrecht played in all 3 bands that night, though like a true pro said it wasn’t rigorous at all for him, as he’s been playing 3 hour plus shows on tour for quite a while. Shannon McNally appeared between the Egos and Sexton, with the same lineup as Sexton. Great voice, I just couldn’t hear the lyrics. I need to listen to her cd. Charlie Sexton was pretty damn good. I’ll admit that his music isn’t quite my cup of tea, but the live energy of the band kept me interested throughout the set.

Spent yesterday in front of the computer, writing a string arrangement for this song called ‘Hollywooden Dreams’ . I was in a foul mood beforehand and that tiny bit of writing killed a lot of the negativity. Songwritin’s fun PeeWee. The tune is meant to be a kind of supermarket shopping song, so the keyboardy strings sounded perfect alongside the goofy organ part I had written earlier in the year. Gonna edit the hell out of it today. Its easy to go overboard and keep adding parts to a song until you’re left with this miasma of crap and the original ‘good’ idea is nowhere to be found. So no horn parts ok?

The rest of this week should be kinda mindless, but I know Friday night at the Elbow Room will be a lot of fun – A new cd called ‘shuffled’ by my old pals Gentlemen Losers will be released along with several crates of free beer. Can’t wait to hear the new stuff. I’m sure I will love it like all previous albums. Two great songwriters that always manage to release a cd every year. More on Gentlemen Losers later in the week.

No Sleep ‘Til Brooklyn

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Hey, another music rant since there is no new band news to report – Mixing starts December 3rd.

I reside in Oak Cliff, one of the oldest suburbs of Dallas. If you are a native North Texan you may automatically conjure images of poverty, crime, gangs and general seediness when you hear the words ‘Oak Cliff’. While parts of the town do contain these things, the majority does not. I live in a nice big ’20s Craftsman house I could never afford anywhere else. The neighbors are friendly, there are trees everywhere and I’m only 5 minutes away from downtown Dallas with no need to get on a freeway if I so choose.

Oak Cliff is undergoing something of a renaissance these days and actually has a hip area called Bishop Arts District. Its contains wannabe-chic restaurants, nightclubs and shops. One of my favorite clubs is called Brooklyn. Unfortunately due to ‘noise complaints’ (READ: subtle racism) Brooklyn will be moving soon and I’ll be left without a cool place to relax nearby. Brooklyn’s patrons are mostly affluent or middle-class blacks. OMG there are Black people ruining our nice white pseudo-cool area. Vomit. I’ve stepped outside for a smoke on numerous occasions when things are in full swing and can’t hear a thing 20 paces from the club. Hell, there are 2 businesses open only during the day on either side that pad them from the two restaurants that complained about the noise. I’ve been in both restaurants and could never hear a thing. Urgh, what stupidity.

While Brooklyn was voted ‘Best Jazz Club’ by the Dallas Observer and the club is always packed with people, it is still widely overlooked by the mainstream. Maybe this is good, but what surprises me is that not many really know just how great the musical talent this club brings in – for free – each weekend.

My favorite act, Martha Burks and Her Band is a staple each friday night and I’ve seen her several times. Simply mind-blowing yet unrecognized talent. Oh, she’s known in the jazz circles I’m sure, but sheesh – she should be a mega-star in Dallas or nationwide for that matter. The band usually starts off with some warm up standards, and then Martha steps in to finish out the first set. By the second set she’s wailing or scatting with such precision and passion I usually just stare with mouth agape. Seriously the woman could sing without a mic and everyone would hear her. I’m not enough of an aficionado to properly compare her to other jazz vocalists. She’s a mix of Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday IMO. You simply have to see her (2nd set for sure) and you’ll agree, she’s the best in town. She’s incredibly friendly and has the audience going crazy by the third set.

Her rotating backing band, usually consists of Lawrence Robinson on Trumpet,
Jerome Allen on bass, James Kings on Keys and Eric Morgan on drums. Eric’s drumming just wows me. He sounds like he’s banging the shit out of his kit, but makes it look like its completely effortless, which I’m sure it is. I asked him how he gets such a loud, tight snare sound and he shrugged and said ‘Heavy hands I guess’. Too modest.

Since Brooklyn usually fills up fast, you always end up sharing a table with someone, which is great. I’ve met the nicest folks this way. More clubs should do this – force you to interact with people outside of your party. But be sure to get there by 8pm (yes, very early) or you’ll just be standing at the bar. Perhaps when they move to their new digs on the southside, this won’t be a problem. I just hope they still fill the place up enough to pair up strangers. God, I feel like Marge Simpson in ‘Oh, Streetcar’. “A stranger’s just a friend you haven’t met”. Ok not that cheesy, but you get the gist.