5 posts tagged “music”

Some of you have heard that Jon Stanka and I have started a production company called Soundgruve.  I'll expand a bit more on the company in the next few weeks, but here's a quick overview: we're going to be a full-fledged music production company, with services ranging from actual in-studio recording and production all the way to photography and web development. The concept for the company is to provide artists and bands with a one-stop solution to recording, releasing and marketing an album. Instead of building our own studio, we made an arrangement with my Dad (and Faith West Church) to take over the current studio there. We are keeping virtually none of the gear they've got and are replacing it with some incredible, incredible gear, and that process has currently started.

So, here's an update on how things are going with the company.

Jon and Tiffany are painting the studio this week.  We've been using this studio for several years now, but since we were just guests, we always used it as it was. Now that we're running it and are going to be spending a large part of our daily lives in there, we took a long, hard look at everything that needed to be improved upon, fixed, abandoned or built. Painting the rooms was the most obvious choice outside of gear; the walls were painted with a bright white, which, while cheap, certainly doesn't make it easier on the musicians who have to spend hours upon hours laying down tracks in there.  We opted for a really awesome combo of a muted, earthy green, a vibrant dark red and a neutral tan color. The green and red are used for accent walls while the tan color takes up most of the space.

I've seen a few pictures Jon took from his cameraphone, and the place looks incredible. Jon's supposed to be sending me a few better-quality pictures tonight when they get done working, so I'll post them on here whenever they come in.

We're also re-doing most of the lighting, opting to use lamps with soft bulbs instead of the current brilliant white overhead lights. We'll keep the overhead fixtures in place for load-in and setup times, but I have a feeling that most musicians (if they're anything like me, at least) will want to use the ambient lighting we'll provide.

So, the studio is coming along nicely. We purchased our webserver from Media Temple yesterday as well, so we'll begin the process of moving the official Soundgruve site (along with our personal sites) to that server tomorrow.  I think Jon is planning on picking up our console desk on Friday, and our first client sessions begin on Saturday.  Things are moving right along; we haven't even started advertising Soundgruve yet (outside of friends and family) and we're already getting bookings, so things look to be moving about like we thought they would.  Given that I'll be making the jump from the Army to a job where I'm helping run the company and can mostly set my own hours, everything looks exciting.

I've told some of you about another job I'll be holding down come January as well.  I can't reveal details just yet, but I can tell you that a major blog network has hired me to become the Managing Editor of a new music blog focused on up and coming bands. I'll be on salary and bonus incentives, but I'll be writing about music for a living and that's a pretty amazing feeling.  Not only will I be writing about it, but I'll be producing it as well, and it feels like I'm living a dream come through.

Asking a music snob to talk about what song was #1 on their day of birth is a really bad idea.

For the record, it was "You Light Up My Life" by Debbie Boone. How appropriate. And the #1 song on my 21st birthday was some song by a singer named Monica. Don't these people have last names anymore?

I'll be reviewing all of these for Inside Pulse in the next few weeks.

Dusk and Summer

I never really liked Dashboard Confessional. Chris Carraba was emo before emo was cool, back when it was an actual music genre instead of a lifestyle.  I never liked emo all that much, either.  I love it when a band driven by acoustic guitar makes it big, but Chris always whined too much for me to ever enjoy it. It's funny, then, that I started liking the band more and more when they ditched the acoustic sound for a pop rock onslaught with "Vindicated".  With Dusk and Summer, Chris completes the trade-in of his old sound for a rock sound that, while not altogether groundbreaking, is still fresh enough to score huge at radio. Daniel Lanois (the famed U2 producer and collaborator) produced the band for this album, and you know what?  THIS ALBUM FREAKING RULES.  Seriously. It's going to end up in my Top Five for the year, and it's a big contender for #1. Carraba has absolutely gorgeous vocal melodies and harmonies on here, and the overwrought lyrical nonsense of his past work has been pared down to the absolute nessecities.  This is the hallmark album for the career of Chris Carraba, and I find it hard to believe he'll ever top it. Stick with Lanois, Chris -- he's done you right

Black Holes & Revelations

I saw Muse last year at Austic City Limits, and they were freaking incredible. They're surely an aquired taste, but I love the roaming soundscapes they created on previous albums.  The newest one, Black Holes & Revelations, is much more of the same stuff I love while expanding those soundscapes I mentioned to an even larger degree. It's an album that you can't just pick songs from; you have to listen to the entire album, almost like a great symphonic score or opera.

News and Tributes

I've gotta be honest: I absolutely HATED the first Futureheads album. The vocals annoyed me to no end, and while they did have a few cool loops and neat production, it just seemed like an album that hadn't reached maturity.  Luckily, The Futureheads have improved in leaps and bounds since the first record came out, and this album is a huge step forward. I can't say that I'm thrilled with it, but it's definitely an album that makes a statement.  Fans of the first record won't be happy, because it's a huge shift in the sound of the band, but it's definitely a lot more mature as a whole.

If I were creating a soundtrack to my life, I'd have to approach it chronologically. I think that adding songs, in order,  that have played a huge part in my life throughout the years would give someone a better indication of the phases I went through than trying to do something like "these songs have meant a lot to me".  It would just end up a mish-mash if I were to do anything but chronological.

So, let's see here.  Ten songs is a normal album, so here's ten songs, in chronological order, with some descriptions on why they were chosen.

Where Could I Go (But To The Lord)

This gospel standard was the first song I ever learned to play on a musical instrument. I was roughly five years old, and I learned it on the bass guitar while attending the Gospel Singers of America school in Pass Christian, Mississippi. The guy teaching me was named Randy, and he had three fingers.  It might have been four. But all guitarists will understand that not having full use of all ten digits could make a career in music extremely difficult, but Randy is one of the most amazing guitarists I have ever heard. And no, I'm not just saying that because it was twenty three years ago and my memories are rose-tinted by time. My dad grew up with Randy, and he'll tell you straight up that Randy was one of the most talented guitarists and overall musicians that he'd ever met.

Nirvana -- Smells Like Teen Spirit

Again, this song makes the cut because it was another musical first for me.  This time, it was the first song I learned on electric guitar. I'd been training as a bassist since kindergarden, so making the switch to a full six string axe was daunting.  My buddy Eric taught me the song, and I played it for months, despite not ever really liking Nirvana all that much.  Hindsight is 20/20, of course, and nowadays I can see why Nirvana made it as big as they did, but I still don't think they were all that talented.  They were in the right place at the right time.

I don't feel like typing any more descriptions.  So here's the rest of the soundtrack.

DC Talk -- Nu Thang
Jars Of Clay -- Fade To Grey
Caedmon's Call -- Center Aisle
Moriah -- Someday
Delirious -- Obsession
Lonestar -- Amazed
Coldplay -- The Scientist
Radiant -- Way You Make Me Feel

Actually, this only takes me up to pre-Army times, but the special edition comes with FIVE BONUS TRACKS!

Derek Webb -- I Want A Broken Heart
Coldplay -- Gravity
Sam Jackson -- Stand In Wonder
Pearl Jam -- Marker In The Sand
Miracle Drug -- If She Makes You Smile