I think it's safe to say this year has flown by! Hows about a quick and dirty update!
I've been doing this "music thing" for 15 or 16 years, and I've noticed I have a pretty consistent tendency to not work on music when I'm either in a good mood or when it's nice outside. This summer has been a happy combination of both, aaaaaaaaand I have been off doing non-music stuff for the most part.
The good news is several new songs have managed to demo themselves out over the last few months and although I've been "bandless" since May or so, I've still managed to get a bunch of drum practice in this summer (much to Hector's dismay). Gotta keep those chops solid!
Now that it's getting cold and dark again, it's definitely time to get back in the studio and get some real work done. I've started on the second piano song and am making it a goal to get that and the third recorded and released in the next few months.( Something has to be done about the website too, lol.)
Real Life Update:
Why was this summer awesome? Well, this weekend I'll reach my 100 miles of races goal I set as a New Year's resolution for 2012. Not too shabby for someone who detests running! I'll wrap up a year chock full of zombie runs and trail runs and mud races and half marathons and 5ks in December at the Santa Hustle here in Indy. Next year? Same mileage goal, but will focus more on nutrition and race prep. I have no ambition of being a world beater, but I'm liking this "do something you hate that's good for you to make up for all the stuff you like that's bad for you" trade off. And reaching goals is always a nice little boost. Running has also helped my double pedal feet. Blast beats, here we come!
I also just got back from a week in Hawaii. All I have to say is that it was worth every penny. If you ever get a chance, go. I think I tried a Mai Tai in every restaurant that I went into. Good times and sunburns!
Hector Update:
Hector (my ever faithful mutt) is great. He still can't stand drum practice or "music time" and he's been doing some crazy, weird things with his food and water bowls during the day, but he's still the world's coolest dog.
So, I'm off to knock out some new covers on the kit. After a 5k on Saturday and a 15k on Sunday, I'll be ready for sittin' at work on Monday!
Peace and cheers!
Friday, November 2, 2012
Friday, March 2, 2012
Tempest Fare | The Gorgeous Down | CD Baby
Tempest Fare | The Gorgeous Down | CD Baby
"The Gorgeous Down" now available on CD Baby, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and everywhere else.
Thanks for listening!
"The Gorgeous Down" now available on CD Baby, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and everywhere else.
Thanks for listening!
Friday, February 3, 2012
Friends, New and Old
So February is off to a great start, musically.
After releasing my first single, "The Gorgeous Down," last week, it's been well received. Or at least people are being really nice to me when they talk about it. ;-) Either way, I'm just glad people are listening. I'd also like to go on record and thank Tim Brouk of the Lafayette Journal and Courier for doing a cool write up on Tempest Fare. Tim's always been a big supporter of the Lafayette, Indiana music scene and taken great care of the musicians in it, even when we move away it turns out. Check out the article, here: Rock It: Drummer puts down sticks for new project and show Tim some love if you get a chance.
In other news, I've officially decided it's time to get back out and contribute drumming loudness to the rock 'n roll world once again as a member of the Indianapolis-based group, Rotovox. After some much needed time away from the stage (and Jager bombs) to have a personal life for a minute, the "bug" is back. My new bandmates, Aaron and Weston, are cool dudes and killer musicians. I'm excited to be in a group with those guys and can't wait to get back out and tearing it up live. The music is different from anything I've done in the past, a little more progressive, and it's been a welcome challenge brushing up on odd time signatures and music theory to keep up.
Real Life Update:
Working in downtown Indianapolis while the city hosts its first Super Bowl a couple blocks away has been an experience. I think we Hoosiers are putting on one hell of a party down here and these east coast kids are going to have a good old time this week. More on that in "My Blog of Awesome 101," but it's been a very cool.
I survived my first run of the year, all thanks to my ninja hat keeping me warm. Last weekend I ran what was supposed to be a quarter marathon night trail race at Eagle Creek State Park. Since the group I was with got a little lost, I think we ended up running a little more than the 6.55 miles we signed up for, but it was a blast none the less. I'm sure not everyone is into trudging miles and muddy miles through the cold and dark woods with just your little headlamp (and cool ninja hat) for company, but it was a good kick off for my "Year of Trying to Undo All the Unhealthy Crap I've Been Doing for the Last Decade." Even with the extra mileage, I still beat my goal time. I had a hard time walking for a few days after, but it was worth it.
Hector Update:
Hector isn't quite sure about band practices but he approves of my new bandmates. Now, if I could just teach him to wipe his own feet, my carpet might not look like a mud pit.
Peace and cheers til next time.
After releasing my first single, "The Gorgeous Down," last week, it's been well received. Or at least people are being really nice to me when they talk about it. ;-) Either way, I'm just glad people are listening. I'd also like to go on record and thank Tim Brouk of the Lafayette Journal and Courier for doing a cool write up on Tempest Fare. Tim's always been a big supporter of the Lafayette, Indiana music scene and taken great care of the musicians in it, even when we move away it turns out. Check out the article, here: Rock It: Drummer puts down sticks for new project and show Tim some love if you get a chance.
In other news, I've officially decided it's time to get back out and contribute drumming loudness to the rock 'n roll world once again as a member of the Indianapolis-based group, Rotovox. After some much needed time away from the stage (and Jager bombs) to have a personal life for a minute, the "bug" is back. My new bandmates, Aaron and Weston, are cool dudes and killer musicians. I'm excited to be in a group with those guys and can't wait to get back out and tearing it up live. The music is different from anything I've done in the past, a little more progressive, and it's been a welcome challenge brushing up on odd time signatures and music theory to keep up.
Real Life Update:
Working in downtown Indianapolis while the city hosts its first Super Bowl a couple blocks away has been an experience. I think we Hoosiers are putting on one hell of a party down here and these east coast kids are going to have a good old time this week. More on that in "My Blog of Awesome 101," but it's been a very cool.
I survived my first run of the year, all thanks to my ninja hat keeping me warm. Last weekend I ran what was supposed to be a quarter marathon night trail race at Eagle Creek State Park. Since the group I was with got a little lost, I think we ended up running a little more than the 6.55 miles we signed up for, but it was a blast none the less. I'm sure not everyone is into trudging miles and muddy miles through the cold and dark woods with just your little headlamp (and cool ninja hat) for company, but it was a good kick off for my "Year of Trying to Undo All the Unhealthy Crap I've Been Doing for the Last Decade." Even with the extra mileage, I still beat my goal time. I had a hard time walking for a few days after, but it was worth it.
Hector Update:
Hector isn't quite sure about band practices but he approves of my new bandmates. Now, if I could just teach him to wipe his own feet, my carpet might not look like a mud pit.
Peace and cheers til next time.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
"The Gorgeous Down"
Song: The Gorgeous Down
Album: The Shade- EP
Release Date: January 24, 2012
This is the very first song I ever wrote on my own. And it's really old.
Since this song has been in my life for a looooong time, it's been retracked pretty much every time I upgraded my gear or needed something to practice my recording "skills" on, so this is about the 50th version of it.
The original song had five verses. Way too many. Thankfully those got chopped down over the years and it's a little more to the point. I got a wild hair several years back to try and turn it into a full on rock song, but that never quite worked out. For some reason, this song never really lent itself well to having a chorus either and I finally gave up trying to force one. I like the piano hook and I think the key change in the bridge, which was a total accident, works out really nicely.
The harmonies were another wild hair. Wanted to practice vocal arrangements and mixing and ended up with some pretty cool ideas. I thinned them out for the final version though because they were a little overboard the first few times around. The bluesy high line was the last element added to this song. I'm glad it happened.
The sequencing in the background is nothing too fancy. Just some textural stuff to make it more interesting (and to force me to learn how to use MIDI plugins in Pro Tools). Again, I had to make myself chop some stuff out, including some really silly drum loops, and fight my ever-present urge to add a full orchestra to everything.
When I tracked the "final" vocals for this, I used two different mics to test and see which one I liked better. Of course, I then ended up needing to retrack the main vocal line because that mic turned out to be the wrong one. In the process of doing that, I blew up the headphone outs on my recording interface. I'm not sure how you blow up headphone jacks with an acoustic piano song, but I did. Like I said, I don't really know what I'm doing.
Most of this was tracked in the attic of the house where I lived in Lafayette, Indiana. It was not a climate controlled environment so there's some sweat and frostbite in this recording. I finished it up in Indianapolis in late 2011. All in all, for my first real attempt at mixing and mastering, I think it's a good, healthy start.
Thanks for listening.
Cheers,
Emily
Album: The Shade- EP
Release Date: January 24, 2012
This is the very first song I ever wrote on my own. And it's really old.
So what's it about?
I usually think my lyrics are either pretty self-explanatory or don't want to ruin it for people if they find their own meaning, but this song will always be pretty special to me because it represents an epiphany for me about discovering the beauty in sadness. And that in turn became an epiphany of sorts about life being what you make of it. I think I started to figure out around the time I wrote this song that things aren't ever as dire as they seem and that keeping your chin up is half the battle, but it might be a stretch to say that idea comes across in this version of it.Any interesting FYIs?
When I originally wrote this song, the only musical instrument I owned was a Casio keyboard that I'd bought from the toy department at Target. (You know, the kind that plays "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain" and "Happy Birthday" and 97 other songs at the push of a button.) I've since moved on to bigger and better, but I'm keeping that keyboard for nostalgic purposes. How did recording go?
First of all, while I am amazed at how much I've learned (and retained) about recording music over the last several years, I don't really know what I'm doing. So just keep that in mind...Since this song has been in my life for a looooong time, it's been retracked pretty much every time I upgraded my gear or needed something to practice my recording "skills" on, so this is about the 50th version of it.
The original song had five verses. Way too many. Thankfully those got chopped down over the years and it's a little more to the point. I got a wild hair several years back to try and turn it into a full on rock song, but that never quite worked out. For some reason, this song never really lent itself well to having a chorus either and I finally gave up trying to force one. I like the piano hook and I think the key change in the bridge, which was a total accident, works out really nicely.
The harmonies were another wild hair. Wanted to practice vocal arrangements and mixing and ended up with some pretty cool ideas. I thinned them out for the final version though because they were a little overboard the first few times around. The bluesy high line was the last element added to this song. I'm glad it happened.
The sequencing in the background is nothing too fancy. Just some textural stuff to make it more interesting (and to force me to learn how to use MIDI plugins in Pro Tools). Again, I had to make myself chop some stuff out, including some really silly drum loops, and fight my ever-present urge to add a full orchestra to everything.
When I tracked the "final" vocals for this, I used two different mics to test and see which one I liked better. Of course, I then ended up needing to retrack the main vocal line because that mic turned out to be the wrong one. In the process of doing that, I blew up the headphone outs on my recording interface. I'm not sure how you blow up headphone jacks with an acoustic piano song, but I did. Like I said, I don't really know what I'm doing.
Most of this was tracked in the attic of the house where I lived in Lafayette, Indiana. It was not a climate controlled environment so there's some sweat and frostbite in this recording. I finished it up in Indianapolis in late 2011. All in all, for my first real attempt at mixing and mastering, I think it's a good, healthy start.
Thanks for listening.
Cheers,
Emily
Friday, January 27, 2012
2012- Start Your Engines.
Man, the holidays went by fast. But 2012, the year of the (next) apocalypse off to a stellar start.
It's official. I finally released a song.
All by my little self.
And finally updated the website.
And finally started telling people I am working on this.
*crosses fingers*
In other music news, I jammed around with a couple of cool dudes the other night. I've been (finally) missing band stuff the last month or so and it was a lot of fun to cut loose and rock out with someone other than my laptop. They kept me on my toes, fo sho. I felt a -little- exposed without my click track woobie, but it turns out momma can still keep time. Even when she doesn't know the song and is totally winging it. Enough on that for now though. I'm sure you'll hear all about it if I end up melting some faces in a venue near you sometime soon. :-)
Life Update:
I'm finally settled in to my new place. It's funny how long it takes to adjust to a new house and new routine, but I think it's starting to feel like home.
It's been very cool having my own studio and practice space. It's something I've really wanted for ten years or so and finally have it. So you can imagine the cussing that ensues when my basement springs a leak. (Drums are not water proof.) No matter. It's a battle I don't intend on losing and bought a really nice mop instead of some other fun stuff to prove it. And the neighbors haven't called the cops on me for making too much racket just yet.
I've also totally lost my mind. This weekend is my first "race" of the year. (I say "race" because I really doubt I'm going to beat anyone and timing this misery will probably be all too humbling.) For some reason, I signed up for a ton of these things this year. I'm either going to need new clothes or new knees by July. Or maybe both. Wish me luck that trudging through 6.55 miles of muddy trails in the dark on Saturday turns out to be a blast.
Hector Update:
Hector, the smartest and most patient dog on the planet, is doing fantastic. He's ready for me to quit being such a wuss about the weather (and it being dark when I get home) so he can work off the few extra pounds the vet gave him a hard time for having. He's also not thrilled about the drumset in the basement or the fact that I'm using it with regularity, but he'll live. A quick trip to visit his cousin Gunny for a round of pony chasing and all is forgiven. He has also taken to (again) waking me up in the morning so I'm not late for work. Now if I could just get him to make my coffee without getting hair in it...
Peas and carrots, luvs. Till next time...
It's official. I finally released a song.
All by my little self.
And finally updated the website.
And finally started telling people I am working on this.
*crosses fingers*
In other music news, I jammed around with a couple of cool dudes the other night. I've been (finally) missing band stuff the last month or so and it was a lot of fun to cut loose and rock out with someone other than my laptop. They kept me on my toes, fo sho. I felt a -little- exposed without my click track woobie, but it turns out momma can still keep time. Even when she doesn't know the song and is totally winging it. Enough on that for now though. I'm sure you'll hear all about it if I end up melting some faces in a venue near you sometime soon. :-)
Life Update:
I'm finally settled in to my new place. It's funny how long it takes to adjust to a new house and new routine, but I think it's starting to feel like home.
It's been very cool having my own studio and practice space. It's something I've really wanted for ten years or so and finally have it. So you can imagine the cussing that ensues when my basement springs a leak. (Drums are not water proof.) No matter. It's a battle I don't intend on losing and bought a really nice mop instead of some other fun stuff to prove it. And the neighbors haven't called the cops on me for making too much racket just yet.
I've also totally lost my mind. This weekend is my first "race" of the year. (I say "race" because I really doubt I'm going to beat anyone and timing this misery will probably be all too humbling.) For some reason, I signed up for a ton of these things this year. I'm either going to need new clothes or new knees by July. Or maybe both. Wish me luck that trudging through 6.55 miles of muddy trails in the dark on Saturday turns out to be a blast.
Hector Update:
Hector, the smartest and most patient dog on the planet, is doing fantastic. He's ready for me to quit being such a wuss about the weather (and it being dark when I get home) so he can work off the few extra pounds the vet gave him a hard time for having. He's also not thrilled about the drumset in the basement or the fact that I'm using it with regularity, but he'll live. A quick trip to visit his cousin Gunny for a round of pony chasing and all is forgiven. He has also taken to (again) waking me up in the morning so I'm not late for work. Now if I could just get him to make my coffee without getting hair in it...
Peas and carrots, luvs. Till next time...
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
My bad. I don't really like making websites.
The flood gates have officially opened...
While not much progress is making its way up onto the interwebs, I've been all kinds of busy behind the scenes. After trying for a couple of weeks to talk myself out of it, I've decided to retrack the vocals for my first little ditty. Since I blew up the headphone outs on my 410 (the thingy that makes all the sounds go in and out of the computer, for the non-music techie gear peeps), that should be interesting.
I also got very, very sidetracked over the last couple of weekends working on new songs and trying hard to not getting sucked into start reworking old songs. Trying to do one thing at a time is sometimes harder than just doing it all at once.
And I've been working on the artwork for the website and single releases. It's amazing how a few minutes into working in Illustrator turns into a pseudo-productive three hour time warp of perfectionism. To cap off a decent evening of avoiding my shiny new television, the web host for my site decided to go to bed before I did. I'm not too happy that it posted a home page with broken links but there's nothing I can do about it until it gets its beauty rest.That's alright. I'm remembering now how much I'm not a fan of creating and/or maintaining websites. (Guess I'll cross that off my "if I ever need more money someday" potential jobs list.)
-Hector update:
Turns out, he despises "work on music time" more than my ex-roommate (which I wouldn't have thought possible). He's been sighing and yawning loudly for the last four hours. Guess I should take him on a run tomorrow while I'm still pretending that running the mini-marathon next spring is a good idea.
Hope everyone had a happy Halloween.
While not much progress is making its way up onto the interwebs, I've been all kinds of busy behind the scenes. After trying for a couple of weeks to talk myself out of it, I've decided to retrack the vocals for my first little ditty. Since I blew up the headphone outs on my 410 (the thingy that makes all the sounds go in and out of the computer, for the non-music techie gear peeps), that should be interesting.
I also got very, very sidetracked over the last couple of weekends working on new songs and trying hard to not getting sucked into start reworking old songs. Trying to do one thing at a time is sometimes harder than just doing it all at once.
And I've been working on the artwork for the website and single releases. It's amazing how a few minutes into working in Illustrator turns into a pseudo-productive three hour time warp of perfectionism. To cap off a decent evening of avoiding my shiny new television, the web host for my site decided to go to bed before I did. I'm not too happy that it posted a home page with broken links but there's nothing I can do about it until it gets its beauty rest.That's alright. I'm remembering now how much I'm not a fan of creating and/or maintaining websites. (Guess I'll cross that off my "if I ever need more money someday" potential jobs list.)
-Hector update:
Turns out, he despises "work on music time" more than my ex-roommate (which I wouldn't have thought possible). He's been sighing and yawning loudly for the last four hours. Guess I should take him on a run tomorrow while I'm still pretending that running the mini-marathon next spring is a good idea.
Hope everyone had a happy Halloween.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Fresh paint, fresh start.
So, I guess it turns out I wasn't lying when I said I was leaving Lafayette. It's a bittersweet breakup but a necessary one all the same. I have some great friends and talented music buddies up there that I shall miss and hope to see again soon, but the commute was slowly killing me (and quickly killing my car). After making up my mind, bumming a room from my 7 year old niece for a month (thanks Pick!), driving around some of the worst parts of Indy trying to find an affordable rental and moving ALL my stuff twice (most of it is still in one piece), here I am.
First post from the new office studio. :-)
**I'm telling my self that this is a guilt-free way to put off unpacking the rest of the stuff that I have no idea where I'm gonna put yet.**
I'm excited to get back to working on music again since it's been a while. And for the first time in, uh, ever I have my own little space to do it that won't get the neighbors seriously contemplating (or actually) calling the cops on me. The next door neighbor has a wood shop in his garage. I'm pretty sure power tools are louder and less entertaining than MIDI programming and badly sung scratch vocal tracks so we can probably come to a compromise about noise levels, lol.
So I guess it's time to actually get down to work since I'm running out of reasonable excuses to continue putting off releasing the first song. Once the updates and installs are ready to go, Ima start peeling the fresh paint off this new place.
~Hector update: (Yes, I talk about my dog more than most people talk about their kids.)
He's learning to like it here. Although I'm pretty sure he thinks heaven is a five acre slice of fenced property that comes equipped with pony studs to play chase with and a side-kick pup that shares his disdain for squirrels. And cool kids that like to dance and "accidentally" drop people food treats for him. Fortunately there is a very nice park a few blocks away to visit and his mom *might* have just signed him up for a doggy meet-up group. He's spoiled, but he ain't rotten.
First post from the new office studio. :-)
**I'm telling my self that this is a guilt-free way to put off unpacking the rest of the stuff that I have no idea where I'm gonna put yet.**
I'm excited to get back to working on music again since it's been a while. And for the first time in, uh, ever I have my own little space to do it that won't get the neighbors seriously contemplating (or actually) calling the cops on me. The next door neighbor has a wood shop in his garage. I'm pretty sure power tools are louder and less entertaining than MIDI programming and badly sung scratch vocal tracks so we can probably come to a compromise about noise levels, lol.
So I guess it's time to actually get down to work since I'm running out of reasonable excuses to continue putting off releasing the first song. Once the updates and installs are ready to go, Ima start peeling the fresh paint off this new place.
~Hector update: (Yes, I talk about my dog more than most people talk about their kids.)
He's learning to like it here. Although I'm pretty sure he thinks heaven is a five acre slice of fenced property that comes equipped with pony studs to play chase with and a side-kick pup that shares his disdain for squirrels. And cool kids that like to dance and "accidentally" drop people food treats for him. Fortunately there is a very nice park a few blocks away to visit and his mom *might* have just signed him up for a doggy meet-up group. He's spoiled, but he ain't rotten.
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