First, Artistdata.com. I spoke to the founder last week- sharing what I love and some things they will be introducing. If nothing else, a way to get your calendar updated across multiple platforms is awesome. But they have more coming down the pipe.

Second, songwriter Lorelei Loveridge has started a facebook group titled, Performing Songwriters (United Worldwide) as a place to share information about building your business and network with other songwriters.

Be careful though.. Lorelei was recently unceremoniously blocked from Facebook. Apparently, using social media to promote social media (she was making friend’s request from the performing songwriter’s group) is a challenge. It’s funny if it weren’t so ridiculous – as she is built a rather thriving group that is, at its heart, exactly what the group should be.

I am sure it will get resolved.

I am about to go off the grid for a few days – but am playing Sunday, June 28th, at the Flagstaff Folk Festival. Then later in Phoenix a few times.

Look for announcements soon on more shows – in various areas.

Read it here

TOUR VIDEO RECAP
Video 1 – Phoenix to Silver City
Video 2 – Silver City to Las Cruces
Video 3 – Las Cruces to Ruidoso
Video 4 – Ruidoso to Albuquerque to Home

Below is a video of me performing on Friday night in Ruidoso, New Mexico. I met the bluesman, Benny B. the day I came into town and Jim the drummer about 40 minutes before my set.

Is It Too Late – an original song performed during my set.
The sound is a bit sketchy at best. I had the video camera setup near a table of 10. Loved the venue though – outdoor, relaxed, very fun.

Is It Too Late
Copyright © 2009 – Matthew Moran

Chorus
Is it too late,  Is it all gone
Or can I pick up the pieces of our broken love
Don’t know what to say, I don’t know what I’d do
If I can’t, write another love song for you

Verse
I know you’re tired of my adolescent ways
My ever changing focus must be driving you insane
But I can make you laugh and sometimes you see the dream
Are we just as hopeless as we seem
(chorus)

Verse
Catch you at your best and we’re like a dream come true
Catch you at some other time, you’re certain that we’re through
Still something about me must get underneath your skin
It’s the passion that we share when you give in
(chorus)

Bridge
These words that I write
They come from my soul
But still you’re not sure what to do
But beyond this veneer of this laughing facade
Is a love that you know must be true

Here is a short video. Leaving Silver City, the Rio Grande, and a short hike above Las Cruces.

Playing the Dreamcatcher/The Courtyard in Ruidoso tonight at 6pm.

And the Next Leg of the Journey. Las Cruces to Ruidoso

But, it did get better.

I played Silver City and last night Old Town Mesilla (Las Cruces). I am going to take a little drive around the city this morning, look for other possible venues and meet some people.

Last night, before my second set, Bugs Salcido showed up. He was dropping in to El Patio to pick up his amp and asked if I wanted him to sit in. Interestingly enough, when I was booking places to play, his name kept coming up.

He went out to see if his girlfriend would mind – and.. well… didn’t come back. But maybe another time.

More video soon.

Southwest Mini-Tour (May 31-June 6) - 2009

I’m planning on uploading videos and images from the road…

Check out my website or my reverbnation page for the specifics on the venues.

Watch the website for the latest news and videos.

If you are in any of the destinations, print a few flyers and pass them along to friends.

May 31st – Silver City, NM June 1st – Las Cruces, NM June 3rd – Ruidoso, NM June 5th – Ruidoso, NM June 6th – Albuquerque, NM

Hope to see you on the road.

With that said, I am booking a variety of shows at formal venues and at coffeehouses, wine bars, and.. well, wherever I show up in New Mexico.

Really looking forward to Ruidoso, NM though. Been watching their weather on Google for 2 years. Phoenix is getting warm.

Look for updates, show dates, etc. You know the routine, twitter, facebook, etc. Well, this website, twitter, and facebook.

New Album Project
Working Title: Where I Belong
10 original songs and I might record a cover from a local songwriter.

My first more fully produced CD is out and I’m selling them at gigs and online but I looked at my song list and low and behold, there are nearly 40 songs sitting there – most of which I really like. So, we have enough material right now for another 4 CDs.

Where I Belong is a song I wrote some time back. I like it but I’ve seldom played it live. Recently I began including it in my sets and getting a great response. The song is a hopeful one – a message of moving on and re-capturing some of the optimism we sometimes lose along the way.

Here are 3 demo (very rough) recordings of songs that will make the album:

Where I Belong

* I’ll be making the addition of percussion and other instrumentation more gradual – but like where it is going.

The One Thing I Can Do

* my vocals were recorded way to hot on this – clipped a bit – but I am not revisiting until I am ready to really record it.

My Song

* I’ve begun closing my shows with this song. A tribute/anthem to life, music, and everything.

Help me record & promote this CD..
donate and get a free download at it’s release.

A scratch track is a rough track – guitar (and vocals as we shall see) that you play to your basic drum or click track. You can then use the scratch track to effectively record the rest of your "real" or production tracks.

If you find this helpful, let others know and please provide your feedback. If you have additional tips or questions, let me know as well and I’ll do what I can to answer them.

I’ll make this disclaimer/caveat – again – I’m not a sound engineer or recording engineer and much of what I share is old-hat to the pros but most books I’ve found on the subject were too technical – wave forms, discussions of dB’s, etc.

But some of the basic elements were not there. In prior recording tutorials, I discussed basic gear & experimentation and click tracks and tempo.

I said I would have "recording your scratch" guitar track and then got busy recording – and in doing so, learned a couple things…

Also, this disclaimer: I write this pretty much top to bottom, straight through – so spelling, usage, and grammar are all subject to mistakes..

First step - pre-production:
First, do a little pre-production.  This can be a scratch pad, a word document or notepad file, an excel spreadsheet, etc.  Plan the structure of your song and the elements you want to record.  I won’t go into much detail here but.. even something like the following is helpful.

Intro (4 bars)
Verse | Chorus
Intro (2 bars)
Verse | Chorus
Intro (2 bars)
Bridge
Intro (4 bars – lead break)
Chorus (2 times)
Ending (2 bars)

You can, and should, also have some idea on what additional instrumentation you want added to your song. But you need to have an idea of where your song will go before you record.

Recording is not the same as playing live:
The reason is simple. Recording is not like playing live – particularly as a solo artist.  I can fudge tempo, leave out a lead break, etc. when playing live. Recording – particularly if you are not just recording you and your guitar at the same time, requires a bit more structure. If you wish to add additional instrumentation, even more structure.

My early scratch tracks were difficult
I’ll say again, I didn’t know what I was doing but I was doing it wrong!

When I recorded my scratch track prior, I treated it like recording a regular guitar track. What I mean is that I recorded it while listening to my drum track on headhhones and worked to ensure I did not hear any ambient noise.

But I would often lose my place.  When you play a song live, your vocals, the lyrics, help you know where you are in a song. When you try to play a song without singing, you are left singing inside your head. For me this left me, at times, with jilted playing – a little too driven by the drum’s rhythm, and with little feel for the song in total.

Revelation – a scratch track is not making your final recording:
Of course, I’ve always know this but I suddenly realized, that there is no reason for me not to sing while recording my scratch guitar. In fact, I no longer call it recording a "scratch guitar" but instead recording a "scratch track of the song".

Yep…that’s the big secret.

I know, the pros out there are thinking.. of course, what a doofus. But, I hadn’t read or been told to record this way. I’ve read a lot of articles and heard terms but as with technology, when you have "internal" knowledge, certain words or phrases mean something to you. For us outsiders, they do not.

And so, if you’ve always done your "scratch tracks" with vocals – a scratch version of the song, you are ahead of the game.

Recording your scratch track – guitar (instrument & vocals):
Run your drum track into your headphones, set yourself about 3-4 feet back from any microphone – I have a guitar mic and a vocal/instrument microphone. It doesn’t matter which I use – I don’t really care about tonal quality. I only care that I capture the song – guitar and vocals – to use as a map/guide for recording my real tracks.

While listening to your basic drum beat or click track, record the entire song, following your pre-production map.

Now the real recording begins:
Now, what I do is lower the volume on my scratch track – relative to the drum track and then record my "actual guitar track". The first guitar track. The drums are prominent, so the rhythm is strong in my head/ears. The scratch track – of guitar and vocals is there – I can hear it – but it is more like I am playing along with them.

Of course, I am again listening on headphone, this time recording my guitar using the guitar microphone. My scratch track and my drums are coming through the headphones.

I can play much more easily, no longer thinking about where the verse/chorus/bridge breaks are – or where the song takes on a different feeling. I can concentrate more or less fully on both the technical and ambient quality of that guitar track.

Here is a screen shot of a song, you can see my scratch track muted below my percussion track. The arrow points at the scratch track.

Click image above for larger image

Other tracks – MIDI plus:
If you are adding MIDI elements – drums, percussion, bass, strings, etc. your scratch recording is helpful there as well. It is then easy to create "objects" for each section of the song.

Once your basic real guitar track, drums, and even vocals are laid out, you can mute the "scratch track". It is not longer needed.  I do keep it there – just because I rarely delete any tracks.

Now you can go about "punching in", fixing, re-recording, or adding additional elements.

Conclusion:
Using a scratch recording with vocals will simplify the rest of the recording process.

What tips/strategies do you use to help you record more effectively?

Next Coffee Company 

It was a great show and I sold a few CDs and added to the mailing list.

I’ve included some videos from the performance as well.

The pictures are small because they are screen shots from Microsoft Movie Maker.

MovieMaker has a feature to create an image from any frame in a movie you are editing.

VIDEOS: (more on youtube)

I’ll be uploading more from this show, although I messed up and did not start the camera on the first set… Second time that has happened.

American Dream – which is on the new CD

Gathering Feathers – also on the new CD

Enjoy!

I played a house concert a few weeks ago and did a few last year.  Now I am speaking with several listeners and friends, each in different cities around the US, about playing in their home.

One thing I can tell you… it beats playing a bar and competing with the 3 drunks at the table in front of the stage.

Kevin writes about the current economic concerns being a potential boost to the house concert idea. He’s right on this.

Also, when people understand that you don’t have to spend a bunch of money or lots of time/effort to put one on – and it is an amazing and unique evening – they become very interested.

I created my own free guide to house concerts for this reason.  Currently I am updating it with more detailed explanation of how to use evites and eventbrite.com to notify and register attendees.

Last year I wanted to host a house concert with Kevin – either in Arizona or in California – but life did not cooperate ("nuf said"). This year I plan on touring a lot but might still see what I can put together.

If you are interested in finding out more about house concerts, do not hesitate to contact me. Or keep searching online – a lot of performers and hosts write about them.

print and distribute

Friday, May 15th, 8-10PM
Next Coffee Company
19420 N. 59th Ave, Glendale, AZ (map)

_________________________

I’ll have copies of the new CD:
Girls, Songs, And Other Delusions

Plus debuting 2 new songs and performing my duet, How It Goes, with Hannah from Next Coffee

Click on the album cover to read about and listen to the tracks.

The latest newsletter was sent out. If you are not on the list, you can read it here.

I don’t have much time for this post as I am going to be heading down to the radio studios (KKNT 960) to take part in The Arizona Music Cafe with Erich Seilaff.

In the most recent newsletter, I discuss the CD, why I write songs, and upcoming tour information.

Look for information soon about workshops on video editing and publishing, the truth about social media, and other technologies and tools that are available to both the songwriter/performer and business community.

Debi Brady completed the CD design. The images and audio masters have been, reviewed, and approved by the CD duplicator.

Here are some images…

Front & Back of CD inset (4 flap) booklet

Inside – left & right of CD inset (4 flap) booklet
 

I’ve been telling people that I dislike recording – but the truth is, I’ve been fascinated with the process – with both the science (technology) of it and the experimentation it has led me to.

It has improved my skills as a player, singer, and performer – causing me to analyze how I perform a song and it’s arrangement.

I owe everyone some more tutorials on the recording process.

Currently, I am preparing for a house concert on Saturday, May 2nd in the Scottsdale/Cave Creek area and then a show at Next Coffee Company on May 15th.

The folks at Sonic Underground arranged this and at various times there were between 8 and 10 people online watching Joe perform.  Here is their UStream channel. And here is a link to the recorded broadcast.

They had some openers, including Lucky 13.

What was kind of fun was sending messages in the chat window and Joe and the other performers (and the audience) interacting with the online audience.

Also, hearing the keyboard was pretty funny. I’m not making fun, it is great to watch a grass roots use of technology being put into place.

Kudoes to Sonic Underground & Joe… nice work!

In it I discuss why/how house concerts are such effective venues for the songwriter. I’ll be covering this in more detail in the very near future.

I also discuss social media and the songwriter – both how it can be effective and why it is often a distraction.

And I explain what constitutes a "good venue" for a songwriter. (think listeners).

What I don’t discuss is the new CD – which I should have in my hands this week.

Why? Because until it is in my hands, we are not really talking about it.  Look for a future announcement.

Also, of special note.. I’ve been updating my website – with more changes coming this week. The overhaul is aesthetic (cleaner design), functionality, and organization. Let me know what you think.

Tour bus? Not quite..

I have used Google Maps to plan trips but the other morning, in a blinding flash of the obvious, realized you could really use Google Maps to plan a tour.

When I say plan a tour, I am using it to create a speculative route; to see possible towns to play in.  Later I’ll discuss how I find venues in those towns to turn my speculative route into a specific route and tour.

Here is the process.

First, Go to Google Maps:
http://maps.google.com

Assuming you want to do a mini-Southwest tour (I want to do several and since I am in Phoenix, that is where I will start).

I put Anthem, AZ or Phoenix, AZ into my Google Map Search bar and allow it to bring up a map of Phoenix.  Then, I zoom back to get a broader picture of Arizona and the surrounding states.

Looking at the map, I look for major cities in the general area; major being a relative term – I’ll play places with 2 stop lights or more..

I am going to play down in Tucson on May 2nd - so this might be a bit too late for a start of May tour but.. we’ll see.

From Tucson I see the Las Cruces, New Mexico - with El Paso a short trip away.
I click on the "Get Directions" link and a box comes up with my "A" - starting point and "B" - destination.

I put "Anthem, AZ" (or my address to be more specific) in "A" and "Tucson, AZ" in "B" - and press the "Get Directions" button.

This results in a map from my starting destination to the ending destination.  Cool - that’s pretty straight-forward.

But here is where things get fun and fancy.

The next stop in my "Southwest Cactus Tour" is "Las Cruces, NM".  I select the "Add Destination" link below the text box with "Tucson, AZ" and type "Las Cruces, NM".

I click "Get Destination" and voila!!!  Now Las Cruces has been added.
\

Next I add "El Paso, TX" because it is about 45 minutes South of Las Cruces.  Again, clicking "Get Destination" adds this destination to my map.  Which, by the way, is showing my driving distance and times – which we can use for budgeting our trip.

I was given a tip for a house concert in Alamogordo, NM, so I add that to my list and then add Albuquerque, NM.  I add Santa Fe, and then Flagstaff and Sedona in Arizona.  From Sedona, I head back home to Anthem.

Here is my list of destinations:

Note: It includes a driving time estimate and miles…

Here is the map:

Now I can use Google, facebook, myspace, etc. to find and contact venues in those areas.  That’s another topic but there is another little bit of magic with google maps.  As with most of life, you plan and plan and then, about the time you are getting started, things change.

Making Changes:
What happens when discover that your house concert in Alamogordo actually takes place before you play in El Paso, TX?

In the list of destinations above, simply click and drag the Alamogordo destination box above the El Paso box.

Your map will adjust automatically and you will see that your total miles increases from 1,332 to 1,408.

Adding a new destination is as simple as using the "Add Destination" button as before and then dragging it into your route list at the appropriate spot.  If the map does not re-calculate, simply choose the "Get Directions" button.

Saving Your Map
To save your map for future retrieval, select the "Link" link at the right top of your map.

This gives you a box with embed code and a link.  Copy the link and store it in a text document – or, my preferred method, a google document with notes about the proposed tour.

Collaborate
Using a google document allows you to store the link and tour notes with Street Team members or a manager.

Editing Your Map
Simple grab the link and paste it into a new browser window.  Google maps will recreate the map and all the destination points.  You can then refine your map by adding specific addresses to venues in each city.

As you do so, remember to grab the most current link and paste it back into your document.

NOTE: DO NOT SAVE YOUR MAP USING GOOGLE’S MY MAPS
Google has a way of saving created maps, called My Maps.  Unfortunately, it does not maintain place to place directions, distances, or let you add/move/delete destinations.

Here is a link to the above map:

The Cactus Tour Map

Soon I’ll include my method for locating and contacting venues and how it relates to using Google maps in this way.

Also in the newsletter, information about recording a the lack of scheduled performances.

It took me awhile to get this newsletter out.  In part because I had to get some consulting work going but more because I was focused on finalizing some recording.

On Sunday, I had Bill Dutcher out – laying down some guitar work – and he can play!

Plus, grab a graphic or music widget and add it to your site.  I’d, of course, greatly appreciate it.  You can find the embed code and graphics right here.

More music and news soon.

Shawn pretty much sums it up. . .

I play tonight..

Friday, March 27th, 2009 8pm-11pm
Ground Control Coffee in Goodyear, AZ (map)
14140 W. Indian School Rd.,  Goodyear, AZ 85395

and tomorrow night

Saturday, March 28th, 2009 – 8:30pm-10:30pm (or so)
The Mighty Cup n Spoon in Historic Glendale, AZ (map)
7021 N. 57th Ave., Glendale, AZ

I’ve played the Mighty Cup n Spoon before.  It is an outdoor venue.  At least each time I’ve played it.  Grass area in the front, nice front porch.

Ground Control is new for me and I am looking forward to playing there tonight.

If you are in the area, come on out!!

However, I’ll be the first to admit that I am a poster child for the proverbial cobbler’s children and their shoes – or lack thereof.

What I mean is that while I had dabbled with and around a variety of technologies – primarily for online promotion & exposure for music, I let other priorities take me away from any concentrated effort in this area.

Over the past couple of months, I have been making an effort and strides in remedying that.  If you are a songwriter/performer, maybe you are in a similar boat. Using technology is not just about editing and publishing songs or videos – although those are important technologies.  I’m going to introduce you to technologies and tools I use or want to use.

Improving Your Live Performances:
First, the most important thing you can do as a performer is… perform… well!!!  There is no real substitute for getting out and playing.  You need to visit open mics and showcases – and fear/intimidation not-withstanding, you need to get behind the mic.

AZOpenMic.com has Arizona specific open mics several listed.  Openmikes.org has a state by state calendar of open mics.  This is nice if you are out of town and want to find a place to play.  When I visited Portland, I found the Portland Songwriter’s Association and played 2 nights out of 3 that I was there – and via Facebook, reconnected with a friend from high-school.

In 2007 I stepped it up – both in songwriting quantity and in working on my stage presence and performance.  In many ways, this is similar to being a public speaker.  You never see gradual improvement unless you have a record – video of your performances.

In 2008 I started to videotape some of my performances and also started watching videos of live performances on YouTube.  I wanted to see what I liked and what I didn’t.  More importantly, I asked for and accepted feedback from friends and peers.

I can tell you, I am a much better performer today than I was in 2008.  I was better in 2008 than I was in 2007.  In fact, one friend saw me play a venue and 7 weeks later I played the same venue.  They said the enjoyed my first performance but in between playing the second performance they saw, I played 12 open mics and 3 forty-five to two hour sets.  They said the second performance was night and day – greatly improved.

Summary: use open mic and songwriter organizations to get involved and find places to play – especially where you get to see and meet other performers.   Use Youtube and other video services to watch other performers and video your self to see how you perform (presence).

Get out and perform, perform, perform!

Next –> Collaboration Websites

Maybe I’ll write about the publishing industry and why I believe it is the least creative business for a creative endeavor.  But I digress…

I was recently reading MandyThompson’s blog – where she posted a rhetorical question, "Can I Be A Songwriter?"  I say rhetorical because she is, in fact, a songwriter.  I can say this with confidence because she has exposed herself.

I know, can you believe it?  What kind of women do they allow to be church worship leaders?

Okay, get it together, she exposed herself as a songwriter because she wrote songs…

When I wrote about being a writer (read: Writer-Defined), I mentioned that to be the thing (the noun), you must do the things/perform the actions (the verb) that the thing (songwriter, writer, dancer, business owner, etc.) does.  You see, the noun is wrapped up in the verb. 

The same is true for songwriting.

I started writing songs because I loved the freedom of expression it offered.  I loved that Jonathan Edwards allowed me, as a 7 or 8 year old kid, to say the word damned ("if he can’t even run his own life I’ll be damned if he’ll run mine") without getting in trouble.

"I was just singing mom."

It became a way for me to explore sides of myself I would never otherwise allow out or to express emotions or life I had never really experienced.  It allows me to process events that occur and explore both the light and dark of those experiences.

This morning I woke at 2AM – which is interesting as that is the title of the song I performed in church a few weeks back – with the Worship Team.  For all my years of playing and writing, that was actually the first time I had played in church.

I woke up, as I describe it – anxious and angry.  That anger is directed at some things I cannot control but are causing me to have to "wait" and at those things I had control over that I let slip out of control.  Anxiety in much the same way.

I have made great strides in using some of the tools available to me as a songwriter/performer to book and promote my performances and music – but feel as though there is a huge gap to still overcome.  Patience and allowing things to pan out with the somewhat natural – albeit pokey – ebb and flow that life sometimes follows, are not my areas of strength.

When I wrote 2AM – I remember feeling alone with my thoughts.  Alone with my feelings of inferiority or feelings of failure.  However, later, when I mentioned this to someone, they indicated that they felt that way too – more often then they cared to admit.  Several others expressed similar 2AM moments…

It explains the line in my song..

"And I know you’re the same as me… at 2AM"

Which is really why I write songs…. because, while I may be egotistical enough to believe that I am the only person experiencing something, the fact is, when I write a song that connects with me I invariably find others who connect with it – and hence connect with me.

Songwriting connects me to my life, to my emotions, to the world, to you!

My newsletter announcement

Playing after Carrie Lynn – part of Arizona Chicks with Picks.

Take some time and come out!!  This is an outdoor show in Historic Downtown Glendale. ]]> http://www.matthewmoranonline.com/2009/03/11/songwriter-matthew-moran-playing-tonight-glendale-az/feed/ http://www.matthewmoranonline.com/2009/03/10/recording-songs-at-home-click-tracks-and-tempo/ http://www.matthewmoranonline.com/2009/03/10/recording-songs-at-home-click-tracks-and-tempo/#comments Tue, 10 Mar 2009 12:39:38 +0000 Matt Moran http://www.matthewmoranonline.com/2009/03/10/recording-songs-at-home-click-tracks-and-tempo/ I mentioned in my prior tutorial that I am using Samplitude SE (Magix Music Studio Pro v 14) for recording and MIDI instrumentation.  However, I recently downloaded Reaper and am playing with that a little.

If you are recording yourself simply playing guitar and accompanying yourself on guitar, perfect tempo may or may not be important to you.  However, if you plan to add (now or later) drums or want to do MIDI instruments, perfect tempo is going to be much more important.

This tutorial explains what I do about this.

Based on what I’ve read, it is pretty close to what many others do as well.

If you have never done this, this might seem complicated.  Once you learn how to do this in your software, however, it takes only a couple of minutes to setup.

A click track or playing to a click is typically a 4 count per measure (for your basic 4/4 beat) click with an emphasis on beat 1.

1-2-3-4 - 1-2-3-4  - 1-2-3-4

It is a digital metronome.

In Samplitude, you find the tempo and click settings on the "Transport Control".

It shows that this project currently is set to 120bpm (beats per minute) and a 4/4 beat.

Prior to recording any tracks, I figure out basically what the tempo is by selecting "Click" on the transport control and pressing the play button.  You then hear the click and can play along to determine the basic tempo.  Adjust the beats per minute accordingly.

However, recording to a 4 count click is a bit tedious.  If your playing includes any 8th notes, 16th notes or other off tempo stylings, you will find that you are either ahead – needing to slow down - or catching up at the end of your 4 count beat.

This can result in a choppy and odd sounding recording.  It will be often by on tempo for 1 or 2 out of 4 beats but then have several off-tempo moments.

Instead of recording to the click track, I will put a basic drum or more "full" click track on the song.  I do this by adding a MIDI drum track to the project.  With a MIDI drum track, I can add 8th or 16th notes and create a more smooth "scratch track" to record to.

To really make this work in Samplitude I take a couple setup steps prior to adding my MIDI drums.

Under the view menu I…

Set the Units of Measurement to Bars/Beats

Set Snap to Grid on and set it to Snap to Bars.

Set "Show Grid" on.

These items are going to ensure that my MIDI drum object can easily be set to 4 or 8 measures and then duplicated across my project for recording.

Here is what the blank track looks like:

You can see the lines at each beat.

Add your MIDI drums

Next I add a MIDI object to the track.

Samplitude adds a 16 count of synthesizers.  The track will look something like this.

Okay, here is where things get interesting.

This is a pre-built, default object with some synthesizer melody.  I imagine there is a way for me to change the default to something else – another instrument – who knows.  But I need to change it from the melody they have provided to a drum track.  Here is what I do.

Double Click on the object and open the MIDI editor.

First – this is really cool!  Yes, you can score music here – adding notes to the music register or you can drag and drop notes, with their duration, right on the beat desired using the piano keys at the left.  You can also set things like the "Velocity" and other elements for each note.

But, we don’t want "notes" on a music register, we want drum beats.  In order to edit drums we need to first, clear all the notes and change the MIDI instrument in use.

As with most Windows Programs, simply press <Ctrl + A> to highlight everything.  This will highlight all the notes.  The press the <Del> key.

Next, we will select a new MIDI instrument for this object.  In the upper right hand corner of the MIDI editor, you will see VST1: Revolta (this is the instrument samples for Samplitude).  Your software might have a different method of selecting the instruments.

From the drop down list I have hundreds of grouped instruments.  Guitar, Bass, Strings, Drums, etc.  From the drums group, I simply select one of the drum kids.  In this case, I selected "Pop Drums".

At the top of the menu, there is a button to switch to a drum editor.

It looks like this.

Clicking on it changes the piano keyboard on the left to a drum selection list.

By changing my view settings, I can remove the score editor and see the various drums available.  Also, note that each beat has 4 beats within it – 16th beats.  This can be changed to 32nds, 64ths, etc.  But for now, 16th beats are plenty.

Adding drums to our track is as simple as clicking on a line (the particular drum) and setting its velocity (how hard the drum is hit).

I am going to add a very basic drum track – mostly because that’s what I know how to do.  There are tutorials online to help you with more advanced drums.

I am going to place a bass drum on the 1st and 3rd beats.  I am going to put a double bass drum on the 3rd however.

I also put a snare on the 2nd and 4th beats and a closed high hat as an 8th note.

Here is what it looks like – zoomed in

Listen to it here (download):

While it may lack any creativity, it is much easier to record to.  Of course, depending on your song, you may need to add, subtract, or adjust which drums you use.

Remember, however, this is not your final drum track.  This is simply a way to have something a little more tempo ready to record to.

Normally, in a song, you will have drums that are pretty much the same for the verses, a slight variation on the choruses, and something else on the bridge.  Not to mention any fills or transitions.  But for recording, I typically use the same drum track all the way through.

Once i have 8 or 16 beats accounted for, I simply copy that object across my project.  Samplitude provides a menu option
Object –> Cutting Ojbect –> Duplicated Multiple Objects – so I can add 20, 30, 40, or 50 of them one after the other.

If you have set the snap to grid properly, it will place the objects one after the other maintaining the tempo.

Later, if you decide the tempo is not right – let’s say you determine that you need 110 beats per minute rather than the 120 select, you simply select the new tempo and Samplitude will adjust your drum track accordingly.

I hope this was helpful.

Next –> recording your scratch guitar track.

And realized virtually immediately that I had a typo!!!  I guess I am comfortable for now trading grammatical and usage accuracy to get something out!!

Tonight: March 4th, 2009
I’m playing the Glendale Public Library Coffeehouse at 7pm.
- 30 minutes, all acoustic (no amps, no mics, just me and my guitar)

Friday: March 6th, 2009
I’m playing Fiddler’s Dream at 9:45pm.
- 45 minutes, all acoustic (no amps, no mics, just me and my guitar)

 
Samplitude SE screen

My limited gear list
(needs updating but good enough)

Someone asked me recently how I go about recording my songs. This is going to be the start of a tutorial of sorts.  However, keep this in mind, there is a lot of great info out there and people far more knowledgeable than I when it comes to recording and mixing.

In fact, if you read this and want to chime in, correct me, add to the conversation, point at your own tutorial or resource, be my guest.

In the process of doing this, I hope I can help someone with questions I had and questions I didn’t even know I had.  I’ll try also to explain some of the terms or ideas that are, at times, confusing.

First, a good sound/recording engineer, is probably worth their weight in platinum – maybe even diamonds.  I’m not one – I’m a hack…  I’m not ashamed to admit it either.  I can also admit that recording is not my favorite activity … but it has become more fun with experience and experimentation.

You will find that experimentation is a critical element in recording.

But, if you want to get your songs down – can’t afford studio time, don’t want to spend money on tons of equipment, there are things you can do to make that happen.

Also, for these tutorials, I am assuming we are recording digitally on your home computer.  I record on my laptop.

Also, we are going to be looking at recording tracks independently.  The basic idea is that we will record, in order:

1. Basic drums or a click track (for rhythm)
2. Instrumentation (in my case, guitar)
3. Vocals (in my case, flat)
4. Other stuff (in my case, other stuff)

Let’s start with some basics – the must haves

A song
I know this sounds kind of foolish but select one thing you want to record.  Simple to start is fine.  Could be a cover, could be an original.  And to be honest, you might record just a riff and some practice vocals to practice a few things.  I have a few "projects" in my DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) that are called "AudioTest01" and "AudioTest02" and I use them to..well… test audio.

Testing audio might just be recording me strumming the guitar or finger picking to test levels and see how it sounds.  I read about but mostly discarded the idea that mic position, angle of the instrument towards the mic, distance, etc. – had a huge difference on the recorded sound.

Any sound engineer reading that knows I was an idiot!  Test different angles of your guitar, your mic, your vocals.  Sing up to the mic, sing down to the mic, sing across the mic from the side.  Sing or record 6 inches away, 12 inches away, 4 feet away, etc.  It’s interesting if nothing else.

Recording device:
We are recording directly into the PC, so we need a way to connect our microphone to our PC.  There are condenser mics that connect directly to your PC via USB cable – and that is cool – but I want a device that lets me monitor mic input and also when recording a second track, lets me monitor the previously recorded tracks in headphones while recording the new track.

I use an M-Audio Firewire Solo
 
$100 or so…

It connects to my PC via firewire and has a variety of inputs.  I mostly use the XLR (mic) and 1/4" (instrument) on the front and the headphone jack.

Most condenser mics require "phantom power" – power from the device they are plugged into – and this device has it.

M-Audio has a variety of devices, firewire or USB.  Variation in features.  But, if you can record microphone and instrument, set levels, and monitor your mix, the device should suffice (nice rhyme Matt).

Microphones
I bought those MXL mics at Guitar Center for $100 bucks.  The kit has a guitar mic and a vocal/instrument mic.  They work well-enough for what I am doing.  One day I might upgrade – but then again – one day I want a sound engineer to record me and let me concentrate solely on playing and listening to their magic.

A Pop-Filter
Unless you write songs with no hard consonants, you will need a pop-filter.  When you sing the letter "P" or "B" for instance, you express a lot of air (you airbag!) and it hits the mic causing a noticeable pounding sound called a "’Plosive" – and you can’t remove them from the recording once they’re there.

DAW Software
You need software that allows you to record independent tracks.  Pro-Tools, GarageBand, even Audacity will work.  I use a product called Samplitude SE (Music Studio 14).  I upgraded recently because their MIDI programming is much improved over the version 10 I was using before.  In fact, it was unusable in version 10 for me.

Audacity is a free multi-track recording software.  I have it and sometimes use it – but I have never really done any of my recordings on it.  I might, in the future, record a song on it just for the sake of doing it – then again, time is a bit crunched right now.

Recording space
This is going to make you sound engineers crazy but..   You need a recording space that is good enough.  But if you cannot sound proof the room, just make every effort to dampen what sound you can.  Dampening sound is simply not having highly reflective (sound reflective like tile in a bathroom) surfaces that can impact sound.  You can often just toss some blankets over walls or do nothing – experiment and see if the sound your getting is "good enough".

Also, you might try recording in a tile room – because, well, it produces the sound you want.  One thing about sound engineering, there is certain a science to sound – but if Bob Dylan’s vocals are any indication, beauty is in the ear of the listener.

Also, expect to listen to your early recordings in horror!!!!  I do – even what I did last week.  But, I’m enjoying the experiment more and learning a lot.

Time
I wrote a blog post on my career blog about being organized.  Other than that, I can’t help you with time.  However, American Idol, Lost, Scrubs (the only show I watch), House, CNN, VH1, the video you’ve watched 10 times already, etc. They are time-stealers.  And they really aren’t as fun as you thought they were.  I like Scrubs but I don’t think I’ve seen an entire episode in 2 months.

You are going to sacrifice somewhere – and when you have that first recording done – with you playing backup instrument and singing a couple backup harmonies to your lead vocals – and you think, "Wow!! That sounds pretty cool!", you will appreciate the sacrifice.

Next:->starting your project

This morning, I set up my iLike profile and added it and my ReverbNation profile to my menu above.  I was showing this to Becky and she asked, "How do you keep up with it?"

"Pretty poorly to be honest," I replied.

I rarely log into MySpace – it’s almost irrelevant these days. I had signed up for iLike quite some time ago because it allowed a listener to add a song to their Facebook profile.  ReverbNation also integrates with Facebook – which, for now, is the only real "social networking" site I can be found on consistently.

But Becky’s question is one that any songwriter who is responsible for their own updates and social/new media marketing plan should be asking.

The fact is, there are so many ways to attempt to connect with fans and peers that it can seem overwhelming.

Yesterday I had a conversation with Brian Offenberger of RSS RAy radio.  I was a guest host on his program a couple weeks back and he took me to lunch.  We talked about variety of online marketing topics and I got some great insight from him.

One of the points of our conversation was the misconception by many – even large companies with dedicated marketing departments – that social media is marketing.  Performers are particularly confused in this area.

A few signs that this is true are:

1. They have no website (their own domain) or their domain redirects to a MySpace page; Seriously, and sorry to offend (not really) but this is just stupid – stop it!
2. They believe posting show dates on MySpace, ReverbNation, or any other site is an effective way to promote their event; Unless you already have a huge following, you are little more than noise in the cluttered din that assaulting those you wish to reach.
3. They offer no direct contact method for fans – particularly a way to get on an email list;

Will there be people who are successful without any direct or guided marketing?

Sure… people win the lottery every day too but I’m not banking on it as a strategy.

Social Media is a tool and a potentially powerful one at that.  But, to maximize its potential and effectiveness, you had better have some type of plan.

For me, right now, I will update events on:

Google Calendar, ReverbNation, iLike, MySpace, and Facebook.
but I’m fast at this – I have a method.  It takes me a minute or so to update all calendars for an event. Hint: I put all event info in a text file, with links, addresses, etc. – and then cut and paste (and I don’t use my mouse).

I’ll update music and videos regularly on:

YouTube, ReverbNation, iLike, and Facebook
See speed above (text files with all pertinent info are your friend)

Myspace may eventually just have a blurb and link back to my website.

iLike and Reverbnation both have "widgets" that I can add to my website – MySpace is a closed system and therefore does not maximize my time and effort.

Eventually, I might settle on single platform for updating all of this information and periodically post information on the other platforms that are less flexible or cumbersome – that link back to my platform of choice.

But in the end, the real goal – no big secret here – is to direct people to my site.

Because ultimately, regardless of which social media platform(s) I find useful, my site (Me, yes wonderful me) will be the focus of my music and writing world.

Also, in the end, I am largely disinterested in social media for social media’s sake.  In the context of promoting myself, and other artists, I am interested in social media as a vehicle for effective exposure.

And in that context, I am much more interested in writing, playing, & performing my music than I am in writing, talking, and ultimately promoting my music.  When social media or any strategy or tool begins to take so much time and effort away from that thing that you are trying to advance – you are quickly falling down a dangerous rabbit hole.

However, Trent Reznor seems pretty bright and those of us trying to monetize the current music market as independents might learn from his "experiments."

This case-study was presented at MIDEM and is, if nothing else, interesting.

This was brought to my attention on a Retweet by Travis – who is working on some music related venture I know very little about.

My question to him, and to you, is how does the fledgling, resource (time, money, technical skill) strapped performer begin.  I’ll admit, I have some advantage over others – I have the technical talent.  Time and cash on hand, slightly more difficult issue.

And I am developing ideas but am curious about others take on this subject.

How do you Connect with Fans and create a Reason to Buy?

1. I’ll start by saying you have to write good songs and perform well.

FYI: While writing this, I did listen to a couple songs – hmmm… still not a fan (I’m not that angry) but impressed as all heck with what they are doing on the web.