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Quote of the Day:

Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars.
- Henry Van Dyke
May 11

Over My Head (The Fray)

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May as well put the other great cut by The Fray up. This is the video for Over My Head (Cable Car) by The Fray. Another great song. Isaac Slade, the lead singer, pianist and songwriter is a talented guy and for a band that just formed in 2002 they are tight.

The song “Over My Head (Cable Car)” was written about Isaac’s brother Caleb (whose nickname is “Cable Car”) who had been the first bassist for the band. Feeling Caleb was not helping them reach success, the band asked him to leave. In the music video for the song, Isaac’s youngest brother Micah was cast as a childhood version of Isaac. Isaac Slade went to Faith Christian Academy with Joe King

Another interesting note – this video was made on their own before they were signed by a record label.

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May 11

Songcrafter’s Coloring Book by Bill Pere

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I thought I would take a moment to make songwriters aware of an amazing resource available on Bill Pere’s web site. Bill Pere is an internationally published songwriter, recording artist and songwriting coach. He has had 13 top-ten songs on various Indie charts for more than 120 consecutive weeks. He has been included on soundtracks and podcasts on college and satellite radio – quite simply, he has been extremely successful and knows exactly what he is doing. We learn from those who are successful and understand the craft, plain and simple.

What he has created, for all of us to learn from, is something called “The Songcrafter’s Coloring Book”. It is absolutely amazing. The links to the PDFs that make up the Coloring Book can be found on the link to his site above. It is worth pointing out, however, that in my opinion one of the most interesting resources here is a diagram called “The Anatomy of a Song”. Basically, he has taken the process that we all go through (if done correctly) in crafting a song and boiled it down into a flow chart type of diagram. It is an interesting study to say the least.

I would encourage anyone who is serious about their songwriting and wants to improve their craft to study what he has put together from A-Z. What Bill has put together for all of us to access is such an amazing tool – and he has done so freely which is just as amazing in this day and age. I would like to give Bill credit here for doing this. It obviously took him a tremendous amount of time and as I’m sure he utilizes this in his coaching, for him to place this on his site for access by songwriters like you and I is so very nice of him.

Kudos to Bill – and to the songwriters out there, again, you are missing out if you don’t study this in great detail.

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May 10

Studio Rig

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For more detailed information related to my studio, check out the My Studio page.

I figured that I’d post some information pertaining to my home studio where I do all of my production. It consists of an array of tools all centered around a digital audio workstation. As with most home studios, the DAW is the centerpiece. I run Cakewalk Sonar Producer Edition, mainly because I have been using it for 15 years since it was a DOS-based program Those were the days!

The computer system I run is based on an AMD Athlon 3200 CPU. 4GB of RAM with 6 hard drives. The digital audio interface, the most important piece is an EMU 1820M. It has the same exact preamps as a ProToolssetup and it sounds just great. This coupled with a StudioProjects C1 Condenser Mic provide great vocal tracks. The primary hard drives that I write all of the music to (the recording drives) are based on a RAID architecture – striped and are 500GB. There is always much discussion about hard drives and the configuration. RAID seems to be the standard but there are many schools of thought – more than I’d care to get into here!

I have a StudioLogic 88-Key keyboard w/weighted keys, a Les Paul quilt-top and a Stellar Acoustic-Electric (very similar to an Ovation Celebrity, sounds amazing). As mentioned in another post, I’m a pianist/keyboard player first so I write on the piano almost exclusively. On board the computer I have an array of soft synths and samples that I use that are all triggered using the keys. I use FxPansion BFD which has amazing drum samples and a Roland Octapad to trigger them. Some other key tools are there for whatever else I need including full orchestral suites. I have some mainstay digital audio plug-ins and a mastering environment when I’m finished with a piece.

A more technical post if you’re without a DAW and do straight analog recording…

Cheers,

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May 08

Welcome to Blogging in B Minor…

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Welcome to Blogging in B Minor. Hey, it’s just another blog, right – with a name that sounded catchy to me. You’re here, right? Well, perhaps because you found my site first. Good thing B minor is not the only chord I can play. With regard to a blog, doesn’t everyone have one these days? I figured as much so why not me.  What I plan to do here is post thoughts, information, discussion and, well – some rants here and there regarding music-making.  I have been producing an album over the past 6 months.  It’s based on a trial I have been going through with my health since December.  We’re not completely sure yet what it is but are starting to get a fairly clear picture that I might be dealing with a primary brain tumor.  My album deals with this journey.  I plan to release it in the June time-frame.  Please visit the About Me page to learn more about me and more about this trial.  You can also visit the Album Review page to learn about the upcoming album, the My Studio page to learn about my home studio and finally, the Contact Me page if you’d like to contact me.

The entire industry is something I am personally interested in and have been connected to in one form or another over the past 25 years – whether it be the craft of songwriting, collaborating with an entire band, the business end of the music industry, musical equipment and today’s (world of using a digital audio workstation), various software, computer platforms, etc.

I can’t be sure how much I will really be able to dedicate to a blog frankly. With my need to balance family and pursuits of music and other obligations, it’s something that I view as a lofty goal so I’m going to take it as it comes. However, I am and always have been very dedicated to music which is a labor of love for me. So, posts may be few and far between but it will be something that will evolve over time. The blogroll in the left sidebar contains some great resources for songwriters and musicians in general as well as some personal web destinations that I frequent. It will also evolve over time. I’ve only placed a few in there for the time being as of May 2007.

Cheers,

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