Review: Sam Green & The Time Machine

If you are looking for something completely unique and different, try giving Sam Green & The Time Machine a listen. Here is music that will take you to the fringe. His folky melodies are overlain onto lyrics that actually feel more like poetry. Quirky phrasing adds another dimension. There is an other-worldly, other-time feeling to what Green does, making his group's name an apt choice (along with the fact that the family business is watchmaking and jewelry).

Green, who resides in Melbourne, Australia, considers his music "currency for making good friends" and says that music has been part of his life since he was a young boy. In the early days of the Internet, he would get around 100,000 hits a year on his web site. Somewhere along the way, the Queen of England sent him a letter. Apparently, he's made lots of friends, at least one of them in high places.

Besides music, you'll also find some interesting art and poetry on his site along with some philosophical and social commentary. What you won't see there is news of his latest recording sessions. He plans to release the project sometime in March or April. You'll want to check that out.

I leave you with his comments from a recent email to me: "Life here in Melbourne is sweet. With summer everywhere. In the wind, in the clouds and in my hair. Wishes all the best, Sam Green."

www.MrMusicman.com

(This article also appears on LockerGnome Media Center)

Tip: Computer & Digital Recording

Computers, their operating systems and applications software are complex technologies that are sometimes difficult to fathom, even for geeks like me. I highly recommend that you learn the basics of what a computer is and how it works. Here is one source for training (there are many others, including the "Dummies" and "Complete Idiot" guidebooks):

Basic Computer Training

I also recommend that everyone who is interested in doing their own demo recording check out the Recording Institute of Detroit's Audio Specialist Course. It's free. It will take some of the mystery out of recording. Here are the links:

Recording Insitute of Detroit home page.

Audio Specialist Training Course.

The RID glossary is excellent. Use it to clear up any terms that you are not sure about.

You CAN get high quality sound out of most any PC using any good Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) software package along with a SoundBlaster Live! or equivalent sound card. (And that is the correct term for your recording PC: Digital Audio Workstation.) In fact, if you are still running an old Windows 98 PC, you can get a free copy of Pro Tools to run on it. This will give you 8 tracks to work with - more than enough for an average home demo. Cakewalk ($89.95) is a decent program. So is Sonar ($499). Nuendo is professional studio software, priced out of reach for most home studios ($1,499 to $2,499 depending on version). There are many others out there.

Whatever software you use, there are three key things that can spell the difference between low fidelity (lo-fi) and high fidelity (hi-fi) digital recording: your microphone, your "sampling" rate, and your input level setting. These are the "magic" factors for the most part. Deficiencies in any one of those means a poor recording. Studio Buddy (you do have this, don't you? It's free from TAXI) says a Shure SM-57 mic is a "must have" in your studio; you should probably have a good condenser mic also. Your sampling rate (the number of times per second that your computer stores the sound it "hears") should be at least 44 kHz. Your recording input level meters should always be in the green range, never the red. (Audio tape was somewhat forgiving; you could red-line the meters without distortion. Not so with digital recording where redline = distortion. Always)

Audio recording and production are vast subjects comprising part science, part art form, that require years to master. I have tried to distill my limited knowledge into a few basics that you can use. With these basics attended to, you will achieve acceptable demo sound quality.

Just Starting Out: Jim Gaven

(Just Starting Out focuses on aspiring songwriters and artists who may be new or inexperienced, but whose music, in this writer's opinion, is capable of creating an emotional impact on the listener.)

Jim Gaven is a 20-year old Seton Hall University student and aspiring acoustic Emo singer/songwriter who hails from Hamilton, New Jersey. He has been writing songs and playing live up and down the east coast for close to three years. Songs about breakup, relationships, hardship, and religious experiences showcase his heartfelt writing. If you like groups such as Dashboard Confessional, Bright Eyes, Feeling Left Out, The Spill Canvas and Remember Maine, you'll like Jim Gaven. And I'll make my prediction right now: this guy is going places.

One of his best songs, "On Your Way (To Unhappiness)," starts out with a catchy entreaty, "Hey, there, look over here," and proceeds into an emotional story of a hopefully-amicable-breakup-to-be-turned-unpleasant-parting, if you follow my Emo thought pattern. The singer is deeply hurt, yet puts up the I-couldn't-care-less-if-you-were-dying front before finally baring his soul in the line "the face I can't [bear] seeing." The song shows Gaven's feel for a well-structured lyric and his ability to stir the stew of mixed feelings we have all experienced at one time or another. Moreover, it shows that songwriting is often an inherent talent, considering that Gaven has never taken a songwriting course or attended a songwriting workshop. With a bit of strategic re-writing and smoothing out the phrasing a bit, this song has "hit" written all over it.

Jim contacted me through a listing in the Indie Contact Newsletter and after I had listened to some of his songs, I approached him about an interview for The Singing Songwriter. Here is what he had to say about his music.

Singing Songwriter: When did you realize you had a talent for music?

Jim Gaven: I realized I had a talent for music on my 16th birthday. I had wanted a guitar for about a half a year at this point, and my parents bought me one for my birthday. That was the first time I played an actual note, an actual chord, and I instantly fell in love with the instrument. I knew I could go somewhere with it, so I decided to pursue it. Thanks to my mom and dad for buying me my first guitar on April 7, 2000.

Singing Songwriter: When did you start writing songs?

Jim Gaven: I started writing songs when I was 17. I became tired of learning other bands' songs. I wanted to write my own songs because I feel that there is something very special about being able to write something and call it your own. No one can take that away from you. I want [others] to learn my songs one day.

Singing Songwriter: How long have you been playing music?

Jim Gaven: I have only been playing music for four-and-a-half years. I had no prior guitar experience; I have never had voice lessons. Everything that you hear is raw, which is what I want and what I pride my sound and songwriting on.

Singing Songwriter: Do you consider yourself more a writer or performer?

Jim Gaven: I consider myself more of a writer, because my lyrics are what I like to pride myself on. I don’t have a light show or anything fancy to add to my live performance, so it is strictly how I deliver it to the audience through my words and how I say those words.

Singing Songwriter: Do you ever co-write with other writers?

Jim Gaven: No, I have not co-written anything with other writers. I’m not sure if I like the idea of not being the sole creator of the music I am putting out.

Singing Songwriter: Describe your songwriting process.

Jim Gaven: Usually, when I [want] to write a song, I go to some place really remote (my basement, my car, or this park near me called Sayen Gardens) and just put all my attention and focus on the song. I try to block out all distractions [and put myself] totally [into] to the song. I don’t like leaving songs unfinished. When I start writing a song, I want to finish it right then and there. I know that I won’t feel the same about the topic a week, a day, or even an hour after I put it down. Most of the time I’ll just start jamming on my guitar until I find a solid chord progression and tune. When I get that solid progression, I’ll start writing words to the melody, and hopefully something sparks from there. After this, I just keep on playing the song over and over again until I feel totally confident with how everything sounds. I go to my mother and ask her to sit down and listen to it. She’s the first person to hear all my songs, and let’s me know what needs work or what I should definitely keep in the song. From then, I go and play it to my friends and then test it out live at one of the open mic nights or shows I perform at.

Singing Songwriter: How has the Internet affected music?

Jim Gaven: The internet has affected music in both positive and negative ways. It really helps underground artists trying to promote their music, because they most likely don’t have a distributor or promoter doing it for them on a mass scale. At the same time, it can hurt major label acts that depend on CD sales as their primary source of keeping their spot on the label. Overall, I think that the internet is a positive way to get your music out to a worldwide community at lightning-fast rates. I’m glad that we have it to work with.

For more information on Jim Gaven and to buy his music, check out these sites:

http://www.purevolume.com/jimgaven
http://www.jimgaven.com
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/2/jimgavenmusic.htm
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/jimgaven

Songwriting Tip: Focus on Your Vision

You got this great idea for a song; it's so good that you can't get it out of your head. You hear every note clearly. Every line flows perfectly into the next one. Your story unfolds and reaches a climax that leaves the listeners awestruck at the beauty of your creation. So, you write the song only to find that the notes sound a little muddy. A few of the lines run off in unexpected directions. Your story never makes it to the emotional payoff and leaves your listeners wondering what you meant. And you wondering what happened. How did such a great idea end up as such a mediocre song? It didn't. What happened is you wrote a different song than the one you envisioned; your original great idea is still there, waiting to be made into a great song. But first, you have to take that idea and flesh it out, give it some real substance.

Think of it as a makeover. You see the "before" and "after" pictures for these things all the time in magazines and those TV shows. (Welcome to Extreme Makover: Song Edition!?) Your song vision is that beautiful "after" picture: the end result you're aiming for. And you have to keep that picture right in front of you as you go through this process. At the moment, though, you're starting with the "before" picture: your hook, melody idea, or story line. As in Extreme Makeover, there's a lot of work to be done to get from "before" to "after."

Leonard Cohen ("Suzanne," "Hallelujah") reportedly once said that when he's working on a lyric he might spend the whole day filling a notebook and end up with only one line that makes it into the song; and he considers that a good day! I can identify with Cohen: I spent the better part of eight months working on the lyric for "Prisoners of Time." There were days when I would write 15 or 20 lines before I got a good one that fit my vision. But, I don't always use this approach.

For "Visiting Day," my vision started out as a 250-word short short story about a daughter who visits her Alzheimer's-stricken father in a nursing home. I rewrote the original story nine times, paring it down each time until I was left with a single, specific scene that said it all. When I realized I had a strong song idea, I created two scenes and brought them both together into a third to fit the song structure. I rewrote the lyric several times until every line fit the story. This story-telling method won't work for a "feeling of the moment" song, though.

"If My Heart Had Wings" is a good example of a feeling-of-the-moment vision. It expresses longing for someone who is far away. This type of song, for me, is one of the most difficult because there is no real story. Nothing actually moves. You have a single moment in time. When I write this type of song, I usually rely on making every line complete the title. Here is a graphic example of exactly what I mean:

If My Heart Had Wings,
You'd never be alone.
[If my heart had wings] Your bed would not be empty
When I am far from home.
[If my heart had wings] I'd ride the wind and
[If my heart had wings] chase the sun across the azure sky and
[If my heart had wings] I'd spend every night lying by your side.

You see? This is an excellent way to construct a lyric when your title or hook permits. The vision is restated in every line. Try it yourself with this title: "Never In My Wildest Dreams." Start off by completing the thought and then say what you feel or what happens. Here are the first two "A" sections from my AABA song, annotated to show the technique:

Never in my wildest dreams
Have I seen eyes so blue [the completed thought]
My knees get weak and I can't speak [here is the effect]
Every time I look at you. [when the effect occurs]

Never in my wildest dreams
Have I seen a smile so sweet [the completed thought]
My heart flies, it makes me sigh [here is the effect]
Every time you smile at me. [when the effect occurs]

Focusing on the vision will help you turn your great idea into a great song with real substance where every line flows perfectly into the next one. Your stories will unfold flawlessly. Your listeners won't be able to get your song out of their heads. If you work hard at it, you may never again write another mediocre song.

Happy New Year!

Now that the holiday rush is over, I finally found a few minutes to post my wishes to everyone for a Happy & Prosperous 2005. If you haven't already done so, take a few minutes yourself to think about your goals for the coming year. Whatever they may be, I wish you success in achieving them.