Part of what is wrong with so much of the music being played on the radio today, is that it sounds great.
Seriously. I hear this all the time. I ask someone what they think of a song that is playing on the radio. They listen for a second and say "It sounds good". "But do you think it's a good song"? I ask. They don't answer "Yeah, I love that song" or "Yeah this song kicks ass"! Instead they pause for a bit, maybe listen for a few seconds more, and then say something like "I don't know......It sounds good though".
A great song is a great song. No matter how well it is, or isn't recorded. The Beatles recorded most of their albums on 4 track tape machines. They used technology that is considered prehistoric compared to recordings made in today's slick digital audio world of 60 + tracks and up. Yet when you hear a song like Yesterday, it doesn't matter that the technology used to record it was vastly inferior to today's technology, because in the end, a great song (and an equally great performance) shines through all of that. No one has any trouble hearing a great song.
But we live in a world where audio technology can make the mediocre sound great. In today's music world it's about the production. And we can do this in spades. But this doesn't make it a great song. It just makes it "sound" great. Sound being the operative word here. Back in the day, it was about the song. You didn't have the technology to hide behind. The song had to be good. This didn't stop bad songs from being recorded, but I think the lack of technology made it easier for the casual listener to discern the mediocre from the good. A good analogy to this is movies. With today's technology you can create great special effects undreament of 10 years ago. You can color correct your movie to make the cinematography look beautiful. But without a good story it's just empty eye candy.
But if you don't look at it with too critical a mind you might be fooled into thinking it was a good movie, when in actuality it was just a good looking movie. The same holds true for music.
Today's production values will make a mediocre song sound good. And if you don't think about it, you might be fooled into thinking it is a good song. But a good song stays with you. You can remember the melody. A good song can move you across the dance floor but it can also move your soul. For many, music is background noise and you can use good songs for this too, but a good song can also stop you in your tracks. It can stop your train of thought, and make you want to follow that songs musical path/journey from beginning to end. Admit it; it's hard to start "American Pie" by Don Mclean and then turn it off half way through. You have to finish it. So the next time you listen casually the latest flavor of the month, ask yourself: Is this really a good song, or does it just sound good? Does the melody really stay with you? And when you hear it again does it groove and excite you enough that you want to hear it from start to finish?
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Monday, July 9, 2007
TJR Vs Star 98
What is it with contests? Star 98 is having one and I thought I might enter it. So I read their contract/entry rules and this paragraph is in the middle of it.
I understand that by entering and submitting my Entry, I have granted to the Released Parties, a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sub-licensable (through multiple tiers) right and license to use, publish, reproduce, display, perform, adapt, modify, distribute, have distributed and promote such content in any form, in all media now known or hereinafter created, anywhere in the world, for any purpose.
If I read this correctly, It sounds like I am giving away my song to them use in any way they want. I have written a letter to them. It will be interesting to see if they respond.
I understand that by entering and submitting my Entry, I have granted to the Released Parties, a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sub-licensable (through multiple tiers) right and license to use, publish, reproduce, display, perform, adapt, modify, distribute, have distributed and promote such content in any form, in all media now known or hereinafter created, anywhere in the world, for any purpose.
If I read this correctly, It sounds like I am giving away my song to them use in any way they want. I have written a letter to them. It will be interesting to see if they respond.
Monday, April 2, 2007
Why Record Labels Fail
I was browsing the CD racks today when I noticed that Beyonce has released an expanded edition of the same album she released earlier this year. It has 4 new songs on it. Honestly why do they this to the fans? Re-release the same CD that they released 4 months ago with some new songs on it, so that you have to buy it all over again. It's one thing to (years later) re-master and rerelease your CD with some cool bonus tracks on it. But to do it within the same year? Short term greed = Long term failure.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Goodbye Brad Delp
"I looked out this morning and the sun was gone Turned on some music to start my day I lost myself in a familiar song I closed my eyes and I slipped away" Boston - More than a feeling
I was on an online music forum that I read and post on frequently, when I read that Brad Delp, the lead singer of the band Boston had passed away at 55.
Boston was one of my favorite bands. And Brad Delp was one of my favorite Rock Singers. He had one of those rare amazing voices (not to mention ranges) that few male singers can ever attain.
I read once where someone mentioned that he would have been a great replacement for Freddie Mercury of Queen (Another one of those rare and amazing rock vocalists to be sure). I couldn't have agreed more.
I know that Boston was not just Brad Delp, but I would guess that his contribution was was close to 50% of it. The other 50% being Tom Sholz. The bands lead guitarist, whose guitar sound and playing had a huge influence on my own.
Their first 3 albums (Boston, Don't Look Back, and Third Stage), are three albums that I never tire of. Their first album is still considered to be one of the best Rock albums ever recorded and (for me) the latter "3rd Stage" reaches near sonic perfection. It's one of those albums where: The more I listen to it, the more there is to hear.
Brad left the group after "Third Stage". The bands 4th album "Walk On" featured Fran Cosmo on lead vocals. I bought the CD; I liked a lot of the songs on it. Fran is an excellent singer, but (for me) it wasn't the same band anymore. When I read about his death, the first thing that entered my mind was "How"?
A few days later the news would come out that it was suicide. This is unfathomable to me. I struggle in relative obscurity trying to get my music out there. Working against a system that doesn't care about new music. I have no large Machine in place and have to do the work myself. I still have to work a part time day job to support myself, and every day I think to myself, if music was full time I would be the happiest person on earth.
I don't know why Brad Delp killed himself. And I don't want to come off as judgmental about his suicide either, because I don't know the man. There must have been some other greater pain in his life, or maybe he suffered from something uncontrollable like clinical depression....who knows? I just find it sad to think that someone who got to do what he wanted to do with his life, would also have to end it.
Brad Delp came back for Boston's 5th album and word was, that he and Tom Sholz where working on the 6th. That 5th album "Corporate America" was a mixed bag of 10 songs. In my review of it I said that half the songs where Awesome! And the other half Crap! But I still wanted to hear that 6th album.
I was at that dreaded day job, when I read the posting. After I got off work, I turned on my ipod and played those first three albums and listened to that amazing sound.
R.I.P. Brad Delp.
"So many people have come and gone Their faces fade as the years go by Yet I still recall as I wander on As clear as the sun in the summer sky"
I was on an online music forum that I read and post on frequently, when I read that Brad Delp, the lead singer of the band Boston had passed away at 55.
Boston was one of my favorite bands. And Brad Delp was one of my favorite Rock Singers. He had one of those rare amazing voices (not to mention ranges) that few male singers can ever attain.
I read once where someone mentioned that he would have been a great replacement for Freddie Mercury of Queen (Another one of those rare and amazing rock vocalists to be sure). I couldn't have agreed more.
I know that Boston was not just Brad Delp, but I would guess that his contribution was was close to 50% of it. The other 50% being Tom Sholz. The bands lead guitarist, whose guitar sound and playing had a huge influence on my own.
Their first 3 albums (Boston, Don't Look Back, and Third Stage), are three albums that I never tire of. Their first album is still considered to be one of the best Rock albums ever recorded and (for me) the latter "3rd Stage" reaches near sonic perfection. It's one of those albums where: The more I listen to it, the more there is to hear.
Brad left the group after "Third Stage". The bands 4th album "Walk On" featured Fran Cosmo on lead vocals. I bought the CD; I liked a lot of the songs on it. Fran is an excellent singer, but (for me) it wasn't the same band anymore. When I read about his death, the first thing that entered my mind was "How"?
A few days later the news would come out that it was suicide. This is unfathomable to me. I struggle in relative obscurity trying to get my music out there. Working against a system that doesn't care about new music. I have no large Machine in place and have to do the work myself. I still have to work a part time day job to support myself, and every day I think to myself, if music was full time I would be the happiest person on earth.
I don't know why Brad Delp killed himself. And I don't want to come off as judgmental about his suicide either, because I don't know the man. There must have been some other greater pain in his life, or maybe he suffered from something uncontrollable like clinical depression....who knows? I just find it sad to think that someone who got to do what he wanted to do with his life, would also have to end it.
Brad Delp came back for Boston's 5th album and word was, that he and Tom Sholz where working on the 6th. That 5th album "Corporate America" was a mixed bag of 10 songs. In my review of it I said that half the songs where Awesome! And the other half Crap! But I still wanted to hear that 6th album.
I was at that dreaded day job, when I read the posting. After I got off work, I turned on my ipod and played those first three albums and listened to that amazing sound.
R.I.P. Brad Delp.
"So many people have come and gone Their faces fade as the years go by Yet I still recall as I wander on As clear as the sun in the summer sky"
Monday, February 5, 2007
Singing with Justin Timberlake
Not long ago I got an email telling me about a great opportunity for unsigned artists from the Grammy's. The email goes on to tell me that this year the Grammy's will select 1 unsigned artist to perform with Justin Timberlake at this years Grammy awards telecast. It then goes on to tell me that in order enter into this contest I need to send a video of myself singing from a (provided) list of previous Grammy winning songs.
Most all of them are R&B songs. I showed this email to Kathy (whom I write songs with). She read it and said "Basically they want an R&B singer to perform with Justin Timberlake". Then she added: "Basically this is Grammy Idol".
It's not surprising that the Grammy's are going to attempt their own version of A.I. since American Idol keeps beating the Grammy's in the ratings each year. Now there's nothing wrong with finding an unknown R&B singer to perform with Justin, but wouldn't it have been awesome if they had found an unknown artist instead. Someone who is a great songwriter, a great musician, a great performer, and just let them showcase their talent to the world? Imagine if they had decided to discover and present us with what could potentially be the next Bruce Springsteen, or U2, or Beck?
But that would be to innovative. Of course now the real kicker to all of this is that the real news about this years Grammy's is not going to be about an unknown singer performing with Justin. Instead it's (the recently revealed) fact that The Police are re-uniting and will be performing at this years Grammy telecast! I have long since stopped caring who wins these things but the live performances have always knocked me out year after year. But this year......This year The Police are getting back together! Nuff said.
Most all of them are R&B songs. I showed this email to Kathy (whom I write songs with). She read it and said "Basically they want an R&B singer to perform with Justin Timberlake". Then she added: "Basically this is Grammy Idol".
It's not surprising that the Grammy's are going to attempt their own version of A.I. since American Idol keeps beating the Grammy's in the ratings each year. Now there's nothing wrong with finding an unknown R&B singer to perform with Justin, but wouldn't it have been awesome if they had found an unknown artist instead. Someone who is a great songwriter, a great musician, a great performer, and just let them showcase their talent to the world? Imagine if they had decided to discover and present us with what could potentially be the next Bruce Springsteen, or U2, or Beck?
But that would be to innovative. Of course now the real kicker to all of this is that the real news about this years Grammy's is not going to be about an unknown singer performing with Justin. Instead it's (the recently revealed) fact that The Police are re-uniting and will be performing at this years Grammy telecast! I have long since stopped caring who wins these things but the live performances have always knocked me out year after year. But this year......This year The Police are getting back together! Nuff said.
Sunday, May 14, 2006
TJR's Advance Single featured on Melodic.net
My Advance Single "Peace Love And Don't Trust MTV" has received press on the Melodic.net website. You can read the whole story here
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Singing with Neil Young
On April 6th 2006 I did a recording session with Neil Young. I thought I would write about this...in detail.
*****************************
It was wed night at 11:30 pm. I was brushing my teeth getting ready for bed when the call came in. A friend of mine, a professional singer and Emmy award winning songwriter calls me. She asks me if I can be available at 10 am the next day for a recording session that will be held at Capital Records. The project is a new album being recorded by Neil Young. I take about 1 second to think.. "Is it April Fools day"?....and say "yes".
She tells me that I am going to be part of singing group that will sing back up vocals for Neil Young's next album. We will be in the studio from 10 AM to 10 PM. She gives me the name and number of the woman named Rosemary who is putting together singers for the session and tells me to tell her that Faith referred me.
The next day I am up early and driving to Capital Records in Hollywood. I have seen this building a million times driving through the area but I have never been inside of it. On the way I wonder, Will I get to meet Neil Young?....Will he even be there?
When I get there I am asked by security what session I am there for? I tell them, and I am issued a badge to wear and told to go to Studio A. Once inside the studio I find my friend Faith along with a bunch of other professional singers.
I very quickly have to fill out some paperwork along with all the other singers, and then we start working. We are told that we are going to be working on 10 songs. None of us have ever heard these songs before. There is a huge monitor screen that will project the lyrics for us so we aren't stumbling on words. The band tracks for this album (Guitar, Bass, Drums and lead vocals) are already done (Or at least done enough to serve as a guide for us to follow). In the recording studio is the album's producer, he is also running the board. We have two people who are there to conduct the singing group that I am part of (One of them is Rosemary). It is a 100 voice choir.
The Album is going to be entitled "Living With War". It is going to be a very political album. There where two people in charge of conducting us. But Mr. Young would take a huge hand in shaping how and what we would sing (Yes, he was there, and for the entire session). We are learning these songs as we are recording them. In most cases one line at a time. When we are singing along word for word with Neil's vocal, we have to match his every inflection. If he sings the first chorus one way and the second chorus slightly different we have to match his vocal each time. Sometimes this process goes quickly and we get it in the first take. Some lines are difficult and we have to do them over and over, in some case 10 or more times in a row. At other times we simply have to sing Ooohs and Ahhhs and this part goes quickly.
Throughout the day Neil Young moves back and forth from listening to playback inside the control booth to listening to us sing and making suggestions and asking us to try multiple variations on the same theme.
One thing that struck me about Neil Young: I am a fan, and have a lot of his albums. But I have talked to plenty of people, and read plenty of critics who say that they just can't listen to him because of his voice, saying that he can't sing.
For someone who is accused of not knowing how to sing, he sure knew a lot about how to direct our singing. He knew how to arrange our voices, who should sing the melody and who should sing the harmony. He knew all the technical terms.
Sometimes he would play the parts that he wanted us to sing on the piano and other times He would just sing the notes he wanted us to hit. Sometimes he would even stand with us and sing along too. There was never a time in the session when he asked us to hit a note that he couldn't hit himself.
All in all it was quickest 12 hr work day I have experienced so far. I met a lot of different people.
At lunch I sat and talked with a girl who had sung back ups for Celine Dion and Christina Aguilera. Earlier in the day I got the chance to talk to a woman who places musicians in film and TV (She asked for my card, which was cool). I also recognized a lot of my other fellow indie artists including Dan Navarro of Lowen and Navarro (http://www.lownav.com/), Faith Rivera (http://www.faithrivera.com) and Ali Handel (http://www.alihandel.com).
After we finished singing on the 10 orignal songs for the album, we where asked to sing "America the Beautiful". the conductor told us that he would not give us any direction. We where each to sing the song in unison the best way we knew how.
We sang it once with a live piano accompaning us. Then we sang it again accapella (That means without the piano or any instrument backing us up). I can't speak for anyone else, but for me, singing America the Beautiful with this group of singers ended up being one of the most unexpectedly spiritual experiences I have had in a long time.
When the session was over I found myself walking around taking one last look at the studio. It would be a long drive home and I hadn't gotten to much sleep the night before (to excited the night before to sleep well LOL). I am looking forward to hearing this album when it comes out. Later in the week I will be at another studio but to work on MY ALBUM (Which I'm also looking forward to hearing LOL).
*****************************
It was wed night at 11:30 pm. I was brushing my teeth getting ready for bed when the call came in. A friend of mine, a professional singer and Emmy award winning songwriter calls me. She asks me if I can be available at 10 am the next day for a recording session that will be held at Capital Records. The project is a new album being recorded by Neil Young. I take about 1 second to think.. "Is it April Fools day"?....and say "yes".
She tells me that I am going to be part of singing group that will sing back up vocals for Neil Young's next album. We will be in the studio from 10 AM to 10 PM. She gives me the name and number of the woman named Rosemary who is putting together singers for the session and tells me to tell her that Faith referred me.
The next day I am up early and driving to Capital Records in Hollywood. I have seen this building a million times driving through the area but I have never been inside of it. On the way I wonder, Will I get to meet Neil Young?....Will he even be there?
When I get there I am asked by security what session I am there for? I tell them, and I am issued a badge to wear and told to go to Studio A. Once inside the studio I find my friend Faith along with a bunch of other professional singers.
I very quickly have to fill out some paperwork along with all the other singers, and then we start working. We are told that we are going to be working on 10 songs. None of us have ever heard these songs before. There is a huge monitor screen that will project the lyrics for us so we aren't stumbling on words. The band tracks for this album (Guitar, Bass, Drums and lead vocals) are already done (Or at least done enough to serve as a guide for us to follow). In the recording studio is the album's producer, he is also running the board. We have two people who are there to conduct the singing group that I am part of (One of them is Rosemary). It is a 100 voice choir.
The Album is going to be entitled "Living With War". It is going to be a very political album. There where two people in charge of conducting us. But Mr. Young would take a huge hand in shaping how and what we would sing (Yes, he was there, and for the entire session). We are learning these songs as we are recording them. In most cases one line at a time. When we are singing along word for word with Neil's vocal, we have to match his every inflection. If he sings the first chorus one way and the second chorus slightly different we have to match his vocal each time. Sometimes this process goes quickly and we get it in the first take. Some lines are difficult and we have to do them over and over, in some case 10 or more times in a row. At other times we simply have to sing Ooohs and Ahhhs and this part goes quickly.
Throughout the day Neil Young moves back and forth from listening to playback inside the control booth to listening to us sing and making suggestions and asking us to try multiple variations on the same theme.
One thing that struck me about Neil Young: I am a fan, and have a lot of his albums. But I have talked to plenty of people, and read plenty of critics who say that they just can't listen to him because of his voice, saying that he can't sing.
For someone who is accused of not knowing how to sing, he sure knew a lot about how to direct our singing. He knew how to arrange our voices, who should sing the melody and who should sing the harmony. He knew all the technical terms.
Sometimes he would play the parts that he wanted us to sing on the piano and other times He would just sing the notes he wanted us to hit. Sometimes he would even stand with us and sing along too. There was never a time in the session when he asked us to hit a note that he couldn't hit himself.
All in all it was quickest 12 hr work day I have experienced so far. I met a lot of different people.
At lunch I sat and talked with a girl who had sung back ups for Celine Dion and Christina Aguilera. Earlier in the day I got the chance to talk to a woman who places musicians in film and TV (She asked for my card, which was cool). I also recognized a lot of my other fellow indie artists including Dan Navarro of Lowen and Navarro (http://www.lownav.com/), Faith Rivera (http://www.faithrivera.com) and Ali Handel (http://www.alihandel.com).
After we finished singing on the 10 orignal songs for the album, we where asked to sing "America the Beautiful". the conductor told us that he would not give us any direction. We where each to sing the song in unison the best way we knew how.
We sang it once with a live piano accompaning us. Then we sang it again accapella (That means without the piano or any instrument backing us up). I can't speak for anyone else, but for me, singing America the Beautiful with this group of singers ended up being one of the most unexpectedly spiritual experiences I have had in a long time.
When the session was over I found myself walking around taking one last look at the studio. It would be a long drive home and I hadn't gotten to much sleep the night before (to excited the night before to sleep well LOL). I am looking forward to hearing this album when it comes out. Later in the week I will be at another studio but to work on MY ALBUM (Which I'm also looking forward to hearing LOL).
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