[jeaccatty]

Nick
The website you maintain for friend is very nice. I like the cleanness. I’m trying to get a site together specifically for music right now and it is stressing me out.

The Markness
There is a very show-tuney vibe to your performance style. Did/do you sing in a choir? You sound like you’re having quite a bit of fun on the Kate cover.

Recording stuff
I’m actually pretty blown away by the quality of the recordings considering how they were made. I work through my computer too. I use an old Tascam 4-track recorder as an interface and by software is Cool Edit pro2 (I don’t think it is available through for sale anymore under that title. IIRC, Adobe now owns the program and it is called something else. Being completed self learned in this area, I can tell you that after a few days of histrionics over trying to figure certain things out at the beginning of the process, I really, really like it. I’ve hardly mastered every aspect of the program, but every time I’ve had to figure something new out I’ve been able to. Because it’s not available for retail anymore, I bet you could find a super affordable copy on ebay or somewhere similar. I checked about a year ago for a friend and there were a couple copies out there.

So far I’ve only had to concern myself with vocal mics and I’ve yet to invest in the top of the line ones. You can find a really decent quality mic starting at the $90-$120 range, depending on your exact needs. I’m not sure which brands the two mics I use are, but I believe Shure and Neumann are both considered really good.

Cee
There is some interesting stuff going on in both of those pieces, especially for just having been playing around.

Brambles
I like what you’ve got going on there. I don’t think the mix is at all bad, especially for a first attempt. Do you still use GarageBand? How do you like it?

Ebby!
I’m happy you popped in. Yes. Balcony TV. You are just the MOST adorable thing in that clip. Take Me Away is really, really beautiful (and I found Doughnut Song this morning too ) I’m glad to hear you’ll be making some stuff available soon. Are most of your gigs solo these days? Does Husband/Wife still play? Does Rabbit in the Moon Records still exist?

Mr Quinn
I absolutely love No Right to Intervene. It has some traces of early Jefferson Airplane.

It does appear as though everybody’s primary instrument so far is piano, no? Quite an interesting little coinkydink.

[clorkergo]

Thanks; the website took some work as I'm not trained in that regard, but if you need any pointers let me know.

To address an earlier topic/question, I'd also be happy to hear how everyone promotes their stuff. The Midnight Show have probably had their most success by doing shows, including a residency at Rockwood Music Hall last year, and I'd also have to recommend keeping a mailing list. Even just picking up one or two new names a show - even if it seems like too much work to bother with at the time - can add up in the long run. Between shows, the website, album reviews, etc., The Midnight Show can't be far from 1000 members on their mailing list. That can end up being huge when the second album comes out.

The band also competed on http://www.ourstage.com, and actually won a show and website feature/interview during CMJ after coming in first in the Indie Pop genre with All The Water (posted in my original thread). If you really believe in your song and can get a good recording of it, it's definitely worthwhile to let your song hang out for a few months and pick up votes. I think All The Water was in Indie Pop for a good 3 or 4 months before it won.

The band is getting back into the groove after an unfortunate six-month sinus-surgery break, but I have to admit, the loss in momentum sucks. I'd love to hear any other ideas about self-promotion.

[Hervams]

you guys are all doing such nice work - bravo!

i'm a composer of instrumental music, perhaps i'll post midi and pdf (for those who can read music) when i have a few more pieces completed
i also work on computer/electronic music, so once that gets going i'll post something of that as well - working on that stars remix contest at the moment.

[jeaccatty]

^ Yes, please!

Nick, thank you for sharing some insight. My live exposure has been limited so far (due to just not being ready and being a bit panicky about marketing self), so I'm just getting started. I'm just getting ready to integrate more social networking now that I'm ready to get out there again and actually have something to promote but the whole thing kind of freaks me out. I'd love to know how people are experiencing the various networking tools. Is there even a point in having a MySpace account in this day and age? Is one thing more effective than the other? Facebook? Twitter? Eeeek!

I'd also like to know what kind of packages are being presented to club owners in this day and age. Are physical promo packages obsolete?

[jeaccatty]

Nolens Volens - Guinevere's Revenge

[Infiseeenvelp]

Ebby!
I’m happy you popped in. Yes. Balcony TV. You are just the MOST adorable thing in that clip. Take Me Away is really, really beautiful (and I found Doughnut Song this morning too ) I’m glad to hear you’ll be making some stuff available soon. Are most of your gigs solo these days? Does Husband/Wife still play? Does Rabbit in the Moon Records still exist?

Husband|Wife don't play together anymore I'm afraid. Anna went off to Spain about 3 years ago, and since then I played with a great jazz singer called Alex Hahn, and had a trio of girl singers I did covers and originals with too. I've been a stand-in pianist once or twice for the fantastic Cuckoo Savante, which was a brilliant experience (I ended up playing music with them for some Christmas special on one of the tv stations here a year and a half ago or so, which was a random experience to be honest!)

But I've mostly been playing by myself for the last two years, which has actually been wonderful! It's so nice to be able to focus completely on my own music, and do whatever I want with them. Obviously there are limitations to what I can do by myself, but it's different bringing other people into your own music than helping shape someone else's songs.

Yeah, that cover of Doughnut Song was kinda just a little thing I threw together the same night as I was trying out my home set up with a cover of Kate's "Under The Ivy". Heh. It's ok, I guess.

[Infiseeenvelp]

Umm, here's a newer demo of one of the songs i've had on my site for a while. I changed the key I was singing it in, so I wanted to demo it in the current key, which I think works much better for the song, and sits better in my vocal range. This is just a wee demo with piano and voice, so I could sit outside the track and see if the other parts I had in mind will fit in with the two parts I play myself. I'm working out a lovely string part that I might use for this song.



It's my angsty break-up song, as everyone should have at least one of those in their song arsenal Heh. The demo vocals are a bit shaky at times, but it gives a good idea of what the song is. There's a few lyrics that I'm not the happiest with, but for now they're not getting changed.

[jeaccatty]

Well, I quite like it for being wee. I'll be interested in hearing how it develops.

Your voice sound pretty effortless. Not sure what was going on in your last version, but the voice sounds very comfortable.

[Infiseeenvelp]

Well, I quite like it for being wee. I'll be interested in hearing how it develops.

Your voice sound pretty effortless. Not sure what was going on in your last version, but the voice sounds very comfortable.

Aw thanks. I basically want to fix a few phrasings in the vocals, and there's a string part that I want to add to give it a bit of oomph in certain places.

The previous version was too low in my range (I had written it in G but transposed it up a minor third to have it sit better for me vocally and to give a slightly different feel to the song. I kinda half wrote it on the ukulele, and I only know a handful of chords on that yoke )

[jeaccatty]

Well don't rewrite all the ukulele songs! People just love seeing one whipped out live. Ever heard of Bitch? She is a brilliant electric violin player. I saw her a couple of months ago and when she broke out the ukulele for the encore people went nuts. I think it's just the element of surprise really, but whatever works.

[Infiseeenvelp]

I can play a few songs on ukulele actually, and I find it quite an enjoyable instrument to use. I've had one I borrowed off a friend about 2 years ago, but she's not asked for it back. It's an instrument I can play just simply for pleasure, which is nice.

[jeaccatty]

Very, very nice.

[Reatclaplen]

Some nice stuff here everyone!

I'm always interested in stuff like this. I am going to be nosey and ask some questions - how do you record? What microphones do you use and recording equipment? What type of instruments? Live? Overdubs? etc etc

And for the performers amongst you, how did you start doing that and if it's not too personal do you do paid gigs too?

[nintenda]

Menju, while I'm working on songs at home, I used to just use a tape recorder. I recently discovered the Roland Edirol R-09HR, which is an amazing mp3/Wav recorder. The sound is great, it's easy to catalogue ( yay to no cassette rewinding) and I love being able to upload the files to my computer. Also, for capturing live shows, practice sessions and found sounds, it's immensely easy and VERY impressive.

I've recorded two demos. The song that I posted in this thread was recorded in 2004 at a local studio. We paid ( I had a band at the time) for a day long session and recorded and mixed four songs. With that time and money constraint, we recorded everything live, with the only overdub being the vocals and some minor patch-ins to fix major guitar and bass mistakes.

As far as equipment, I know that both demos ( the last one in 2006, solo) were done in pro-tools. I prefer analog to digital, but again, with time and money constraints, it's just made it easier to go digital. At the studio, I've used various mics, but at home use a Schure SM-58, which I've used since I was a teen. It's cheap and a good mic for general use. Actually, I believe it used to be the industry standard for vocals, but I'm not sure if it is now.

I've been performing since I was a kid in school plays and whatnot. In my early teens I did some local musical theatre and then became the go to wedding guy in my small town. My old band was put together in 97 when I was 17 and we started playing shows in local college towns. In those days, we used to get the door ( tickets sold), but now I'm finding that paying gigs are hard to come by. I did, however, used to play at a steakhouse ( Smith and Wollensky) where I did all of the usual "piano man" songs and was paid 100 bucks for three hours. It was great. But yeah, as far as shows where I'm playing my own material, I've never really made any considerable amount of money. I believe the most I ever made at a gig was 200 bucks.

And thank you for the dot message! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[clorkergo]

The Midnight Show (well minus the Midnight Show, it's a solo show) are playing at Rockwood Music Hall on the Lower East Side this Saturday night. Free to get in, one drink minimum, tip jar. 7:00 P.M. show, Saturday, July 31st. And for kicks, a video from the last solo show...

[Infiseeenvelp]

O hay, I posted some more demos up on soundcloud. They're still quite rough, but i'm trying to get the ideas of the songs down to see if I like them as much when I listen to them as when I imagine how they'll sound.

So, here's Friday Night Friends, which is a song about people who aren't really your friend. The beats are awful and so basic, but y'know, it's a demo and I needed something to play against. The mix is well off, but I'm trying to decide what other instrumentation is needed with it, as my piano playing on it is quite full at times, and I'm keen to not muddy the sound too much.




And here's another piano-ballad, Maria. I have string parts and things for this written, and it's a slightly older song but I still like playing it live. It's just a character piece really. Most of the songs I write aren't about people I know or anything, a lot of them are stories, or come from books, or old poems I wrote or something. In fact there's one song I'm demo-ing at the moment (which is a bit complex to record actually), which was inspired by one tiny scene in a kids movie. Anyways, here's that demo:




(the tracks will be ready to listen to in a few mins )

[Reatclaplen]

What do you record with, ebby? And how do you record the piano? The demo sound quality sounds really good

[IRYzouNv]

I am going to upload some stuff in the next couple weeks. None of it is finished, I am seriously starting to hate all of it, but I have been dragging them around for 6 years now and enough is enough. :P

[Carol]

Newest track;

The Wheel

[Infiseeenvelp]

What do you record with, ebby? And how do you record the piano? The demo sound quality sounds really good

Oh thanks! I know the vocal doesn't sound great, but I have worked out a recording setting that makes my Roland digital piano sound rather decent, and I'm quite happy with that. I just have to work out something similar that will work for my vocals too. I record on my iMac using Logic Express. I have a firewire desk that I use, which is wonderful, and a very cheap microphone that doesn't sound like it was cheap at all. It's fucking awesome. I really love it.


Oh, and here's a piano instrumental, just coz: