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Compass Rose

Album Month Day Four

Album Month, News

Today I put a first-pass vocal track on “How It Ends” and did some quick mixing. I kept the tempo the same, but had to raise the key a step to make it work right for my voice. That’s the advantage of all-MIDI instrument tracks–I was able to find the right key in about two minutes without having to re-record anything.

Unfortunately, another hidden disadvantage of keyswitching sampler patches reared its head. Keyswitching is a way of recording alterations in non-note aspects of a MIDI performance–in my case, the articulations of the cello patches. The particular articulation you want a passage to be played in is recorded as a note outside the range of the instrument. This is a lame way to do it for many reasons, but in this case, transposing the MIDI track also transposed the articulation “notes,” making everything sound very strange. Easy to fix, but annoying that it was a problem in the first place.

All that aside, I managed to get a track that I’m reasonably happy with:

Strategery

Deciding what to work on next is interesting at this point. My inclination is to keep working on this song to polish it a bit more. The lead vocal could use some work–the performance in places could be tweaked and tuned; the chorus melody, except for the initial phrase, is in the same range as the prechorus melody which makes it a bit boring; there’s room for some harmonies; the instrumentation could be a bit more lively.

Buuut–in keeping with the spirit of Album Month, I think this is a good stopping place for this song. It’s pretty well represented in its current form and I think I can use the time I would normally spend tweaking better by starting on the next song. If I have time later in the month, I’ll come back and tinker with it.

So… what to work on next? I’ll revisit my candidate pile and see if anything jumps out at me. If not, maybe I’ll work on something brand new.

Waterloo, the Charge of the Guards, 18th June 1815

Album Month Day Three

Album Month, News

Today, I started production on my second song of Album Month. It’s a song that I had mostly written last year, but hadn’t gotten around to producing. So, I spent the lion’s share of today building out the song bed, experimenting with different instrumentation choices and drum beats.

I’m pretty happy with these one-day results. I may work on the production more in the future, but it’s shaping up nicely for a first pass on the song.

alice0022ds

Album Month Day Two

Album Month, News

Yesterday, I discussed the motivation and rationale for Album Month. I was happy with the progress I made on the first song. There’s still a bit of polishing on the lyrics (and, maybe, the melody) to do so today, I spent most of the day organizing and communicating with my fellow writers.

Collaboration

One of the great things about the Internet (and, yes, I’m old enough to capitalize ‘Internet’ and to say things like ‘the great thing about the Internet is…’–as if it wasn’t an ambient part of our civilization that no one needs to comment directly on anymore. “The great thing about electricity is…”) is that it’s trivially easy to collaborate on musical projects. Back in the day, collaboration was done, by necessity, directly with each other in practice rooms, living rooms and studios. Now, though, I have numerous musical collaborators all over the world, some of whom I’ve not actually met in person. But, that hasn’t stopped us from making great music together.
 
Of course, there are more or less successful ways to collaborate remotely and I’ve tried many of them over the years. I tend to have three different modes of remote collaboration, each with their separate set of tools and workflow:
  • Sharing thematic, lyrical and structural ideas in text documents
  • Sharing rendered mp3s of songs in-progress
  • Sharing whole Logic or Pro Tools session files
(Interestingly, all of these methods are asynchronous. I have tried to use tools like FaceTime, but I find that synchronous communication technology is too cumbersome to be effective–in fact, I don’t even like talking on the phone anymore. But, I digress…)
 
What follows are some of my favorite ways and means to collaborate in these different modes.
 

Sharing Text With Google Docs

Pros:
  • Easy sharing of text documents
  • Simultaneous editing and in-document chat
  • Support for annotations and revisions
Cons:
  • Oh my god, I totally can’t find anything in google docs, ever. Google docs defies any kind of reasonable organization.
Even though sharing text files with Google Docs can be frustrating–especially if you tend to work with inherently disorganized and chaotically-minded ADD songwriter types–all other methods of text-based collaboration have proven far more difficult. The worst is collaboration that devolves into long-ass email threads, the least common denominator of all collaboration tools. Email collaboration is a literal f*ckfest of cat-herding, rat-holing, idea-losing madness.

Sharing Stereo Files With SoundCloud

I’ve tried many different ways to share stereo files, usually bounces of productions that are in-progress to garner comments or as stems for others to record their own parts against. Most notably, I’ve tried Box, Dropbox and SoundCloud. SoundCloud wins, hands down.
 
Pros:
  • Stream-based organization means you don’t lose things buried in oddly named folders
  • Playlists let you lasso related items together, but no nesting means you can’t go totally crazy
  • Inline comments (awesome feature)
  • Easily shared via email/text/whatever as well as embeddable in websites all using the same tool
  • Best online audio player out there
  • Decent privacy settings
  • Social networking capabilities for when you want to actually publish stuff
Cons:
  • There’s a limited number of minutes of music before you have to start paying extra… but, whatever. That’s true of everything. You don’t get something for nothing.

Sharing Project/Session Files

I have to say, I don’t have a perfect solution for this one. The problem is that projects/sessions, with their gigabytes of audio data, are so large that they push the boundaries of the sweet-spot use case for cloud storage and sharing. I used to use DropBox for it, but many of my collaborators were too frugal to pay for the extra storage they’d need. I would really like to use Gobbler. Their functionality is great, but their price point doesn’t really provide enough value to justify it. I’m already paying DropBox for extra storage *and* I’m getting close to my data caps on iCloud and SoundCloud. I don’t want to have to pay to cross another, very use case specific data threshold. Cloud storage is just like physical storage–there’s almost nothing that you store in there that’s actually worth the lifetime cost of renting the space.
 
For now, what I tend to do is nominate one person as the producer and that person keeps the project file locally and does all the modifications. All of the different contributors work with rendered stereo files and send stems (see above) back to the producer for final mixing. It’s not perfect, but it works well enough.
 
One thing I might try for this is BitTorrent Sync which works similarly to DropBox, but is peer-to-peer sharing. There’s no third party “in the cloud” to charge you a fee. But, you do have to contend with the unreliability of peer-to-peer communication with other people and their varying levels of connectivity and technical competence.
 

Results

I didn’t get any actual new work done today, but I did do a bunch of organizing and handed off the song from yesterday to my writing partner. I’ll circle back with her in a few days to see what she’s come up with. In the meantime, I have a new song waiting for me to tackle it tomorrow.
Graphophone1901

Album Month Day 1

Album Month, News

Today is the first day of Album Month proof of concept, wherein I attempt to write and record a ten-song album in thirty days.

The Goal

To write and record at least ten songs in thirty days. They don’t have to be perfect, but you should be proud enough of them to play them for your fans at your next show.

Motivation

Songwriting and music production is hard. It’s even harder when psychological and technical difficulties get in the way. Some of the biggest hurdles are:
  • Preciousness–getting stuck on a song (sometimes for weeks or years) because aspects of it aren’t perfect.
  • Procrastination–songwriting is uncomfortable sometimes because it requires a great deal of effort. Many songs don’t get written because you don’t sit down and actually write them.
  • Not the right gear syndrome–there’s a prevailing myth that you need expensive hardware, studio time, and software to make good recordings. While it’s true that those things can lead to spectacular results, they are by no means a requirement. It’s possible to make great sounding music with a laptop and a few hundred dollars worth of equipment (see below).

Constraints

I propose an intensive, one-month challenge with purposeful constraints designed to factor out these hurdles. The constraints are:
  • Time–you’ve only got three days to write and record each song. You’ve given yourself the gift of this dedicated time to work on writing and recording. Whatever else you *could* that you don’t absolutely have to gets put off until after album month. So, no procrastination. And, because you don’t have time to be precious and obsessive about each detail–don’t be. You know how when you’re taking a test and you only have a few minutes per question? If you don’t know the answer right away, move on to the next one and circle back to what you’re stuck on later. The same holds true with album month. If you’re stuck on an aspect of a song, move on to another one. Come back to it later. As the end of the month nears and you are ready to revisit your sticking points, you’ll have explored many other possibly fruitful avenues of writing instead of wasting time being stuck. And, when you do address the problem areas, the compressed time frame will force you to make decisions and take action that may not be perfect, but it at least it will be something. At the end of Album Month, you may not have ten perfect songs, but you *will* have a significant body of work that you may further polish and refine until you’re happy with it.
  • Equipment–there’s a minimum amount of equipment (and knowledge to use that equipment) that you need to record anything. But, the minimum bar is quite small to get decent sounding recordings. If you already have a computer, some recording software, and a microphone (if you want to record yourself or other singing–which, of course, you don’t need if you want to produce instrumental music), you don’t need to buy or upgrade anything. If you have that stuff, but don’t know how to use it like a pro, that’s ok. You don’t need to be an expert to get your songs recorded in a simple, effective way. If you don’t have any of that equipment, you can get it all for a few hundred dollars plus the cost of a computer–or, if you don’t have a computer, you can use your iPad or iPhone. The music production tools for mobile devices are seriously awesome these days.

Tools

I’ve been doing home recording for a while, so I have a fair amount of gear. Here’s my main rig:
  • Apple MacBook Pro 15″ w/ 8 GB RAM
  • Apple Mac Pro w/ 6 GB RAM
  • Avid MBox Pro 3 (audio interface)
  • Midiman Oxygen 8 MIDI keyboard (discontinued)
  • Nektar Impact LX49 MIDI keyboard
  • Microphone & cable
  • Logic Pro X
  • GarageBand for Mac OS and iOS
  • Avid Pro Tools 9
  • Propellerheads Reason 6
However, you don’t need all of that to have a fruitful Album Month. Here are a few sample rigs you could use to get great results. (Note, my suggestions are all Apple hardware based because the Apple ecosystem is fantastic for music production. I will endeavor to update these recommendations with non-Apple alternatives in the future.)

The Laptop Solution

  • Any macbook–more RAM is better, but if you’ve already got a macbook, use it.
  • An audio interface (the thing that gets audio in and out of your computer).  Here are some good ones for under $500:
    • PreSonus AudioBox USB–$99. This might be the best value out there for Windows users, considering it comes with the very usable PreSonus StudioOne software.
    • Focusrite Scarlet 2i2–$149. Focusrite makes great hardware–their preamplifiers are legendary.
    • Apogee One–$249. Apogee is the gold-standard for analog-to-digital converters (the things that convert sound waves into digital audio and back). The Apogee One is a slick package with nice meters. But, a little more expensive than other quite good options.
    • Apogee One for iPad and Mac–$349. This is a good option if you plan to record on a Mac *and* an iPad or iPhone.
  • A MIDI keyboard or other controller (optional). You don’t actually *need* a MIDI keyboard or controller to record stuff. I do a lot of composing on-the-go without one (like in cafes and hotels and stuff), but if you are comfortable playing keyboards or drum pads and you don’t need to be especially mobile, it can make things go a lot faster. There are *many* options to choose from, each tailored for a specific purpose. Here are a couple that are very portable and work well with mobile, laptop-style recording:
  • Recording software. If you already have recording software you like, use it. If not, I highly recommend GarageBand (or, Logic Pro, if you don’t mind a steeper learning curve). GarageBand is insanely cheap, quick to learn and easy to use, and comes with great built-in sounds. Perhaps the *biggest* reason to use GarageBand, though, is the Drummer feature. If you make music that uses acoustic drums, Drummer may be your new best friend. Drummer lets you pick a drummer with a particular style (as of this writing there are more than 16 different drummers, each with their own personality and playing style) and start with some basic beat patterns by that drummer. You can then adjust how complex and how loud you want a particular section to be and the drummer automatically alters his/her playing accordingly. I’ve tried many different ways to get reasonable sounding drums in my productions, but nothing sounds as convincingly human as GarageBand and Logic’s Drummer feature. Of course, recording a great drummer on a well-tuned, well mic’ed kit in a good-sounding room is great, but if you don’t have the time or resources to do that, Drummer is an awesome alternative.

The Desktop Solution

  • Any Mac–more RAM is better. iMacs are great because they’re not too expensive, they’ve got room for enough RAM, and they have a built-in monitor.
  • An audio interface. Any of the suggestions from the laptop solution above will work well, but if you want to invest in more features, it’s nice to have more inputs and outputs, good input/output meters, separately controllable headphone and monitor speaker volumes, and high-quality preamps and converters. I would recommend anything from Apogee or Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU). I have converters and audio interfaces from both companies that have worked well for over a decade in constant service. Other good options (that I don’t have person experience with, but know people who do) are offerings from Focusrite, PreSonus, Metric Halo, and RME.
  • A MIDI interface. Again, you don’t *need* one, but if you’re investing in a higher-end solution, you’ll probably want one. There are many options depending on if you want weighted keys, performance pads, parameter controllers–the list goes on. Go to your favorite music store and try a bunch of them to see what you like. I’m pretty happy with my Nektar Impact LX 49. I’ve also got an M-Audio keyboard with weighted keys that I don’t use much because the keys are too stiff for me. If you’re a keyboard player, this is a highly personal decision.
  • Recording software. See the recording software recommendations in the laptop solution above.

The Mobile Solution

It turns out that GarageBand for iOS is *fantastic*, given the limitations of the user interface. It’s great for recording basic ideas. There are also incredibly cheap and really excellent audio tools for iOS. If you play guitar, check out JamUp and Bias from Positive Grid. Bias is a *great* sounding amp simulator that allows you to swap out individual components (like different tube types, transformers, tone networks) as well as cabinets and microphones. You can export your custom amp designs into JamUp to mate them with effects simulators, play along with recordings in your iTunes library, or record ideas into its built-in 8-track recorder.
Part of the proof of concept for Album Month is to see if the constraint of this minimum set of equipment and insanely cheap software is a boon or a bane to the spirit of getting songs made with as few obstacles as possible. More on this section to come.

Preparation

There’s nothing stopping you starting from scratch, but if you’re like me, you have a lot of ideas and song starts rumbling around in the attic of your mind (and lying around all over the place on your computer). I decided to prep for Album Month by doing two things:
  1. Fine-tuning my production workflow so that I could get a production complete from start to finish in 24 hours or less. This includes figuring out exactly which software I was going to use, what recording processes I’m going to use, and working out all of the hardware and software issues.
  2. Gathering up and reviewing all the song starts I’ve recorded over the years that have some promise of developing into something cool. I used Gobbler to find all of the song files hiding in the nooks and crannies of all of my disks. Then, I listened to everything and collected the ones I considered as contenders into one folder. I also set up a syncing process to keep my laptop and my desktop in sync with each other. I’m using Unison, but if you want a very easy to use solution that doesn’t cost anything and doesn’t have any storage caps (like Dropbox), you might try BitTorrent Sync.

Process

My workflow process is now pretty straightforward:
  • I start by getting the chords, lyrics and melody to at least the first verse and chorus sorted out. Once I have that, I can start blocking it out on my computer.
  • In Logic, I create arrangement sections for the intro, and first and second verse and chorus. If I have a bridge and the final chorus/outro done, I add that too.
  • Then I use a simple chord instrument (like a Rhodes or Wurlitzer stage piano) to block out the chord changes.
  • Once the chords are blocked out, I create a Drummer track and go through the different drummers and patterns to find the right beat.
  • Now that the backbone of the song is ready, I start filling it in with different instruments. A tried and true combo is piano and/or stage piano, B3 organ, bass and drums. I start by using only MIDI-based software instruments (including a MIDI-based bass instrument) rather than recording any audio. This way, I can easily play around with the tempo and the key without re-recording anything.
  • Once I’ve got the right key and tempo, I back-fill any acoustic (or outboard electric/electronic) instruments–including the bass and any guitar.
  • Then, I put the vocals down and do a rough mix.

Day One Results

I started Day One with a song that my co-writing partner Heather and I had worked on about a year ago. We had a first verse and chorus, but only a very rough scratch recording.
In the morning, I blocked out the song on my laptop in bed as I drank my coffee. When the basics were done, I moved downstairs to my studio and started working at my desktop. By the early afternoon, I had most of the instrumentation done and figured out the right key and tempo. When everything sounded right, I fleshed out the lyrics of the second verse very quickly (20 minutes) and recorded a first pass of the vocals.
Here are my Day One results–

September 18, Stork Club, Oakland

News

What

An evening with four of the Bay Area’s best folk-Americana song crafting outfits.

Who

Trebuchet—Sonoma County indie folk-rock quartet fires salvos of meandering melodies and intricate harmonies into. From the bouncy strum of the ukulele to the determined, relentless thumping of the kick drum, from the wailing cry of the mandolin to the sudden, crisp four-part harmonies, and from the intense, sorrowful phrases to the perpetual, dulcet tones of the piano, Trebuchet’s songs are sure to wash over you and leave a lasting impression.

Grow and Twine—Dreamy Nashville-San Francisco folk quartet weaves together romance and remorse, hope and loss, and a spirit that never dies with a trap set, telecaster, pedal steel, sweet harmonies and insanely beautiful clothes. Here are storied romances, both dark and hopeful; here are love songs, aching with pleas; here are sweet ballads, crooned with soul where the Southern charm of Nashville meets the sun-speckled, free-spirited coast of California.

animal-hours-logo-transparentAnimal Hours— “makes darkly enticing pop music with hints of folk and Americana skirting around the edges… [Music] you listen to with the lights off, just you and the contemplative melody, wholly embracing that sadly-sweet darkness and letting the music lead you through it.” –Nicholas Schneider, The Bay Bridged

adrianne-logo-transparentAdrianne Serna—Adrianne’s infectious vocals and her wonderfully catchy songwriting have been featured on commercials for both IKEA  and Kellog’s, as well as NBC’s “Minute to Win It”, ABC Family’s “Jane by Design”, MTV’s “Friendzone” and “Jersey Shore”, The CW Network’s “The Beautiful Life”, and the “Greening of Whitney Brown” (a feature film starring Brooke Shields and Kris Kristofferson).

When, Where and Why

9:30 p.m., September 18th at The Stork Club in Oakland’s Uptown, the district that the New York Times calls Oakland’s new ‘There’. Uptown has seen an incredible renaissance in recent years, developing a vibrant gastronomy and night life anchored around the Fox Theater, the New Parish and restaurants like Flora and Doña Thomas’s Xolo Taqueria.

Come early for an exquisite dinner that fits your budget and stay late for an evening of tunes, tones, tales and tipple.

Animal Hours Reviewed on The Bay Bridged

News, Press

starfish-with-light-leak-664

“Darkly enticing pop music with hints of folk and Americana skirting around the edges. Take ‘Submarine,’ a track off their debut album Do Over: gorgeous harmonies bolstering a haunting chorus, swooning strings and a lachrymose guitar line that’s sure to pull at the heartstrings.  It’s a song you listen to with the lights off, just you and the contemplative melody, wholly embracing that sadly-sweet darkness and letting the music lead you through it.”

— Nicholas Schneider, The Bay Bridged

Animal Hours Live on KSRO

Events, News

clos-cristal-barrels-664

I represented Animal Hours live on Steve Jaxon’s show The Drive on KSRO last week with Daedalus Howell. Because it was Wine Wednesday, we drank some wine and I played “Truly Sorry” (because there’s a part in the bridge that serves as a great conversation hook–and a good opportunity to show off). Singing live on the radio is pretty awesome––especially to 200,000 listeners.

The good folks at  Foppiano Vinyards (one of whom sports a righteously long and regal, chest-grazing beard) brought some excellent 2011 vintage libations to share. After the show, we decamped to do the only sensible thing: drink more wine… and talk about playing music really loud.

In the haze of smoke and good spirits, Steve asked me to come back and bring the whole band (Kevin “MF” Weber, Andrew Lion, Matt Baxter, and Ruthie Dineen) to play live on the show. I did a quick poll of the band and the consensus was, “FUCK YEAH!”

So—look for us live on The Drive in the coming weeks!

Early Comments

News

Post by Jason Carmer.

Post by Arion Salazar.