This all started in 2005. I thought it would be fun to record my father singing a few songs in my recording studio. Although not a professional singer, he has the sound and feel of crooners like Billy Eckstine and Frank Sinatra, the singers of his era. I recorded my dad singing a number of old standards and added some music accompaniment after.

Blue Moon

After hearing these recordings, my father-in-law wanted to get in on the act too! It then became an annual Father’s Day tradition to record them both singing together, and adding the music accompaniment after…

Once In A While

In 2008, my brother-in-laws, wanted to become part of the group and then they were also singing on the Father’s Day recordings for the next few years! The first time I recorded them all, they sang live with a piano accompanist that followed them and then I added a bass part after. A very different recording process.

The Summer Wind

In 2011, I had a new idea. I suggested including the rest of the family (whoever was interested) for the recording. My father-in-law (the official song chooser) chose “Georgia On My Mind” and they all sang “Noah On My Mind” (for my son Noah) instead. I found a great sounding karaoke track and had everyone individually sing the song once through in it’s entirety to the track. A few day’s later I chose the best moments and assembled a very nice vocal arrangement, trying to feature everyone equally. Somehow I was able to create a couple of beautiful moments of overlap and harmony in editing. Last but not least, I overdubbed my wife and kids singing and talking in spots.

Noah On My Mind

Please visit my Family Recordings Service page if you are interested in doing something like this with your family or friends. It’s a lot of fun to do!

I sometimes get complimented on certain aspects of my music production work, like how I arranged or mixed a song, or how I edited something or played an instrument a certain way… But I’m beginning to notice that a number of people are even more appreciative of me because I simply acknowledge them by responding to their emails and phone calls! Apparently, this is a big deal that I do this! A rare behavior someone said recently! What is going on out there? There seems to be a “no reply at all” syndrome going around… I’ve been noticing this a little myself as well. What is most surprising to me, is when I call someone to HIRE them, to pay them MONEY, especially after they stated that they would like me to hire them, and then they do not respond, EVER! OK, no problem, I’ll call someone else.

Recently, some work came in because the person who was called first did not respond, even after numerous attempts to get their attention. I responded right away and so I got the gig. Maybe there should be a tagline on my website: Barry Hartglass Music Composition & Production – I respond to EVERY email and phone call right away! Maybe if I added that I’d have so much work that I wouldn’t be able to respond to everyone’s emails and phone calls…

Perhaps some people are just too busy or overwhelmed with things that they are unable to respond to every email or phone call that comes their way. The problem is that the sender of the message might get insulted when they are not acknowledged, even though it might just be a misunderstanding or something else altogether. They are assuming that they are being ignored whether or not this is actually true. And this is why they appreciate it so much that I actually respond, consistently. It usually only takes me a moment to respond so it’s really no big deal to me. I never thought this was a special feature of mine that I should mention, let alone write an entire blog about, but apparently it is.

I have decided to not take it personally when I am not responded to and I suggest you do the same. You don’t always know the reason why there is no response. It could be technical. Maybe they simply didn’t get the messages. This is very possible and this has happened to me. Or maybe something is going on in their life and they just can’t deal with every little message. Also very possible. Or maybe they are really inundated with messages and never even saw or heard your message. I know some people who are very popular or even somewhat famous and I can only imagine the number of messages they are receiving all day every day. However, there are others like this that always respond no matter what, so it is also very possible, that you are simply being ignored for some reason. You may never know the reason so just forget about it. It doesn’t matter. Let it go.

If you would like to be responded to though, you can always send me an email or call me, even if you don’t know me. Go ahead. It is my personal policy to ALWAYS respond right away. I promise to respond as fast as possible. If you don’t hear from me in 24 hours, then something is wrong. Try again. This has happened before. I’ve been sent emails that never got here, and once someone said they called and left messages that I never received. ??? So try again. I will reply no matter what it is about – personal or business. And not only will I reply, but if you happen to ask me 5 questions, for example, I will respond to EACH one – not just 1 or 2 of your questions, but ALL 5 of them. I will also try to be as clear as possible in my correspondence. I know how frustrating it can be when you don’t understand what someone is talking about. Clarity is important to me.

Or, if you don’t want to email or call me, then I suggest listening to “No Reply At All” by Genesis. You’ll feel better. It’s a fun song and video even though the lyrics are not necessarily so happy… I’ve always liked this song and the clever arrangement. Every instrument has a cool part.

Genesis – No Reply At All by jpdc11ame

A few years ago, I produced Annie Karto‘s CD, “Refuge,” which featured Annie’s “Song For Immaculee.” This song was inspired by Immaculee Ilibagiza‘s incredible book, “Left to Tell.” Annie has since become friends with Immaculee and there is a VIDEO of Annie singing her song live, with Immaculee in the audience. The emotional hug at the end of the video is a very touching moment. Because of this new friendship, I had the honor of meeting Immaculee and also producing a new CD for her as well. The CD is called “Let Your Will Be Done” and I am very proud to add this title to my Discography. Reading Immaculee’s remarkable story is life changing in her books “Left To Tell” and also “Led By Faith.” These books should be required reading for the entire world!

Immaculee, who loves to sing, liked the work I did on Annie’s ‘Refuge” CD and asked me to help her create this special new CD. Her 12 minute song, “Let Your Will Be Done” is a very simple, but beautiful song. Since it is supposed to be a meditation, it repeats the same verse and chorus melody many times. My concept was to have the musical arrangement gradually develop over the length of the song to keep it building and interesting throughout. First, I created a basic track with music for one verse and one chorus. Among other things, I used some sounds from Spectrasonics‘ “Heart of Africa” sample CDs, Volume 1 & Volume 2, and also “Symphony of Voices.”

Immaculee came to my studio and sang all of her many verses and a couple of choruses over my basic track. It was interesting recording her. Here in my studio, singing into my microphone was the inspiring woman from those life changing books I read. Immaculee miraculously survived the 1994 Rwandan genocide by hiding in a tiny bathroom for 91 days with 7 other women, and now tells her amazing story to large audiences all over the world. But I tried not to think about all of that. Like on all vocal recording sessions, I was focused on making sure her performance was the best it could be – in tune, in time and with clear, understandable English, making the most of her beautiful Rwandan accent and rich singing tone.

The next step for me, on another day, was to edit Immaculee’s singing and create a developing music arrangement that was emotional, inspiring and interesting to listen to over the course of 12 minutes! I did this by slowly building up the instrumentation and singing and then starting over again small and building it up again. To do this I arranged a piano part that starts the song and gradually added in elements from my previously created basic track and adding some new sounds as well. Immaculee asked me to include some type of “high pitched” instrument. I showed her some of the instruments I had and she seemed to like everything! I decided to use my soprano saxophone and this instrument became a very important and featured element in the arrangement, especially during the interludes in between sung sections and at the end where the chorus repeats numerous times. I improvised melodies on the soprano saxophone throughout much of the song. During some of the interludes I used Gregorian Chant samples (from “Symphony of Voices”) of men singing “Amen.” I thought that was not only a beautiful and lyrical musical addition but it was also fitting to sing “Amen” in response to all of Immaculee’s simple but profound lyrics. To build up the arrangement some more I sang along with Immaculee on later choruses and sang in harmony with some of her phrases in the later verses.

This was a fun project for me. I don’t think I ever featured my soprano saxophone as much as I did on this recording. And I almost never sing! I love incorporating world music elements in my arrangements and this was a perfect opportunity to use some of my African sounds. When I finished recording and mixing the song, Immaculee’s only comment in an email was, “I love it.”

Immaculee mentioned recording an album of Rwandan music sometime in the future, and I hope that I get to do that with her as it was a great experience for me to work with her on this CD. Wayne Dyer, in his foreword to Immaculee’s NY Times bestseller,”Left to Tell,” wrote: “Her story will touch you deeply.” That is most certainly true. On this CD, there are 3 tracks. Immaculee first tells her story and how her song came to be. Then there is the song, and then there is a meditation prayer. The story and the meditation have an instrumental version of the song playing in the background. Unlike my earlier blogs (scroll down) that describe the 12 recordings on my SoundCloud Playlist, there is no recording of this song for me to share other than the 30 second sample on Immaculee’s website store. I would encourage you to buy this CD in order to hear it. A portion of the profits are donated to charities that are close to Immaculée’s heart, including the Left To Tell Charitable Fund.

For more info about Immaculee please visit her website: Immaculee Ilibagiza

CLICK TO LEARN ABOUT MORE INSPIRING RECORDINGS PRODUCED BY BARRY

Everyone always loves this story, so I thought I would post it here.  My sister, Caryn Hartglass, recently wrote about it on her facebook page:

Here’s the story about my dad, Harold Hartglass who was a great bowler in his younger days, bowling 3 nights a week. He competed in the 1968 Pro Am Madison Square Garden National Championship. Later all his bowling shirts, including the one from Madison Square Garden, were donated to a neighbor collecting clothes to send to Poland. Somehow it got into the hands of rock star Freddie Mercury and it was reportedly one of his favorites. We found it via an accidental google search around my dad’s 75th birthday when it was hanging in the Hard Rock Cafe in Shanghai. Now it hangs in Bahrain.  Unfortunately, Freddie Mercury is no longer with us, but my dad, now 84, recently joined a new league and bowled a 217!

In honor of his 84th birthday, which was on February 2nd, we are all going bowling today with my dad!

I should also mention, that like Freddie Mercury, my dad also sings…  Well, not really like Freddie Mercury, but maybe more like Billy Eckstine or Frank Sinatra.  I recorded dad singing a few times in my studio and then my father-in-law wanted to get in on the act too.  It became a Father’s Day tradition to record “The Grandfathers” singing together. Soon after, my brother-in-laws, became part of the group and they were singing on the Father’s Day recordings also.  Last year, I included almost the whole family singing together on a recording on Father’s Day…  A very musical family!

Take a listen to the recording that started it all – my dad singing the classic song, “All The Things You Are.”  He starts off by saying “This is for you Sugar.”  Sugar, of course, is what he calls my mom…  He ends by saying “Well,” which is his tribute to Billy Eckstine.  Upon first hearing this recording, my friend Claudia Martin (one of my favorite singers!), wrote “Who needs Sinatra?”  Of course, my dad loved that.

In my last blog, Everybody Else Is Wrong, I had a quote from Abraham-Hicks, a Dr. Seuss story and a Todd Rundgren/Utopia song. Everybody Else Is Right has nothing to do with any of that even though the title sounds similar…

The other day, someone was complaining to me that their client made them make a lot of changes to a project, and in his opinion, those changes made the project worse.  Of course, he made the changes anyway and the client was then happy!  And that’s how it’s supposed to be.

When I am providing any kind of creative service, like producing a recording or composing custom music for a marketing video, for example, the client (singer/songwriter, musician, video producer, advertising executive, etc.) is always right, even if they are wrong! And of course, there is really no such thing as wrong.  With creative projects, everything is entirely subjective.

In the end, it is their project and they have to love it.  It’s all about what they want, whether good or bad in my opinion.  It’s never about what I want.  However, if someone wants me to change something after I’ve put a lot of time and effort into creating a certain result, usually based on what they asked me to do, if I think their revision request might make the project worse, I will explain my point of view one time.  And if they still want me to change things than I will do my best to see things their way and try to make it work.  Ultimately there is no right or wrong, good or bad, better or worse, only preferences and opinions.

Using whatever skills, abilities, instruments and equipment I have,  I will do my best to achieve the desired result. I will try to figure out what the client wants in order to make them happy with their project.  When it’s all over, they have to live with it while I move on to the next project… Sometimes, many years later, a client could still be selling, and even performing with, a recording that I produced for them. It became a significant part of their life.  So what they want matters the most.

Different things are important to different people.  For instance, with my arrangements or mixing, some people love everything right away and don’t ask for any changes at all.  I do what I do and then it’s done.  Easy.  But some people are very particular.  They have something very specific in mind and will ask me to redo things, sometimes several times, until I get it right.  And the tiniest, most microscopic details can be of major importance to some people.  But that’s OK.  Let’s get it right, whatever that is.  At a certain point though it is time for me to mention one of my favorite quotes from Julia Cameron‘s wonderful book “The Artist’s Way“:

A painting is never finished.  It simply stops in interesting places.  - Paul Gardener

Sooner or later, we all have to let it go and call it done otherwise we will keep finding things to change forever! Next!!

Some singers I work with sing one or two takes and that’s it.  Good enough for them.  Done!  Some even ask me NOT to fix anything and to leave it raw, as is.  If something is a little out of tune, late or early, so be it.  They want it to sound honest and natural.  In complete contrast to that, some singers are seeking the ultimate perfection in their performance and require many takes, editing, tuning, tweaking, expression scaling, vibrato modifying, and then, after all of that, rerecording everything, and then going through the whole editing process all over again!  A lot of this may seem obsessive and ridiculous while it’s happening, but in the end, it’s good that we went through this tedious process.  All artists have a vision and I’m here to help them achieve it.  They may be planning on manufacturing thousands of CDs that contain their performance and their music and so it needs to be the best it can be. I will do it their way, whatever that is.  Everybody else is right.

In recent years I have become a big fan of Esther Hicks and the teachings of Abraham.  I like receiving their Daily Law of Attraction Quotation in my email every morning.  Today’s was particularly interesting:

Physical man gets into an uncomfortable place when he concludes, “I and those like me have come to the right decisions, and everybody that’s living outside of these right decisions is wrong.” And then he spends his life pushing against all those “wrong” decisions and cutting himself off from the Life Force that would help him have joy in his, what he concludes to be, right decisions. There is no one right path. There are endless paths, and the differences in the paths are what make them more and more, and more, perfect. The same old path no longer serves.  — Abraham

This reminded me of one of my favorite Dr. Seuss stories, The Zax, a typically silly Seuss rhyme, but also profound in it’s lesson about pride and compromise.

When I was younger, I used to listen to every Todd Rundgren and Utopia record over and over after my friend Kim turned me onto them in high school.  One of my favorite songs was “Everybody Else Is Wrong” by Utopia from their Deface the Music album (1980).  The title and the sound of it, a sort of comical homage to The Beatles, always made me laugh.  If you don’t like this song, you are WRONG and I will spend my life pushing against you!

Over the years, I’ve produced and arranged numerous recordings for songwriters with various levels of music training.  Sometimes I am presented with songs that are very complete with lyrics, melody and chords.  I am initially given a lyric sheet that may have chord symbols over the words, and maybe a demo recording so I can learn the melody, or the melody will be sung to me in person or over the phone. Whenever I start an arrangement, I always write out the melody and chords using music notation as a first step.  I like having a sheet I can refer to.  Notated music is my language.

But sometimes I am presented with songs that are not as complete.  The songwriter may have minimal or no “academic” music background and therefore, does not know how to harmonize their melody by adding chords to it.  They sing their melody to me in person or over the phone and tell me what the lyrics are or send them to me.  In this scenario, it is up to me to “create” the chords.  It is usually obvious to me what the chords should be after hearing the melody, but sometimes, if it is not so obvious, I’ll present a few choices to the songwriter.  In either case, I never consider myself a co-writer by simply adding chords to existing words and melody.  I’m just the arranger.

There have been times though, when a songwriter has added words and melody to a music arrangement or chord progression that I created first.  I have a lot of unfinished ideas in my music “pile” that I look through from time to time when someone wants to collaborate with me.  In this case, I am considered a co-writer because the new melody was created using the music that I started.  In a scenario like this, I usually have a lot to say about the new melody and help to refine it.  At this point, there is no question that I am a co-writer as I am actively involved with crafting the melody in addition to the chords.  I may have something to say about the lyrics too, but I am more of a composer than a lyricist.

With some of my arrangements, I have practically rewritten entire songs to make them into what the songwriter really intended.  Even if I am offered writing credit for this I do not accept it.  As explained above, if I did not write the words or melody, I am not the songwriter, just the arranger.

There have also been times when I have composed original sections of music as long introductions to a song or significant interludes and did not take writing credit.  In this type of situation, if a new melody was introduced by me, I could technically be considered a co-writer.  But in most cases, I don’t make a big deal out of it and I’m happy to contribute whatever I can in the arrangement to make the song the best it can be.

When producing CDs involving previously recorded music (cover songs), if I am put in charge of “copyright clearance,” I always try to find the copyright owners in order to pay them their mechanical license royalties, no matter how small. The first place I look is on the Harry Fox website.  Limelight is a newer site that makes things very easy as well.  But sometimes, if songs have been previously recorded but not published, it is unlikely that they will appear on either site. In this case I will do research on the internet, make phone calls and do whatever I can in order to track down the copyright owner!  Sometimes this requires significant detective work.  Once I find them, I send them their royalty check along with the appropriate legal document: Notice of Intention to Obtain Compulsory License for Making and Distributing Sound Recordings.

People generally appreciate it when you track them down in order to give them money!  One time after I paid an unpublished songwriter, a few months went by and he did not cash his royalty check. When I called him to find out why, he said he wanted to keep the check so he could show it to other producers he knew to teach them how things are supposed to be done!

Awhile ago, I produced a CD every year for a school where the students would include an alma mater song. They would sing about their school, sung to the tune of a very popular song.  Changing lyrics for a recording requires the permission of a publisher and so I always wrote a letter requesting permission. Here’s an informative site: Copyright: Changing Lyrics

In my role as the producer of a music recording, I always do my best to respect another’s copyright.

I’ve always had pretty good relative pitch and consider this an important skill to have if you are a musician or a singer. When I’m learning to play a song or composing, I try to use my ear only (not an instrument) and write down what I hear with a pencil using music notation. Once you know what the first note is, if you have good relative pitch you should be able to tell what the next note is and the note after that also, by recognizing the intervals between the notes.  If you have very good relative pitch, you should also be able to recognize the sound of combinations of notes, or chords, as well.  If you can’t identify these things by ear, then you must guess by noodling on your instrument until you find the note or chord that sounds the same as on the recording you are learning or what you hear in your head, if composing.  It takes much longer if you have to guess so it is advisable to learn the sounds of intervals and chords!  I highly recommend the The Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse by David L. Burge. He drills you until you really know each interval or chord.  You only move on to whatever is next in the course after you’ve mastered what came before it.  So take your time and get the sounds into your ear.

If you are learning a song, how do you figure out what the first note is?  I usually try to guess that and sometimes I’m right but not always.  I don’t have perfect pitch, so I’ll play the beginning of a recording that I know how to play and then I’ll have that first note in my ear.  Or, I’ll walk over to guitar or bass hanging on the wall in my studio and pluck a note.  I’ll find the interval between that note and the first note I’m trying to hear in the song I’m learning and then I know what it is because of relative pitch. Several years ago I was working on the The Perfect Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse, also by David L. Burge, and experienced some success with it, but I was more interested in strengthening my relative pitch, which to me is more practical, so I focused more on that instead.

Having good relative pitch is useful for not only learning songs and composing, but also for improvising and singing.  Background vocalists, in particular, benefit from having good relative pitch so they can hear the lines they need to sing in the middle of the music.  Whenever I record Donna Cori Gibson singing her background vocal parts it is interesting to see how she notates them.  Even though she can read and write music notation, her vocal arrangements usually consist of numbers written over the lyrics.  These numbers refer to the 7 scale degrees of the key.  For example, in the key of C major, the notes are C D E F G A B.  C is 1, D is 2 and so on.  Donna sings her numbers.  She is able to hear and sing the intervals from one note to another even with everything else going on in the music.  This is very good relative pitch…

Shortly after I graduated from college, I started working with Mike Costanzo at his recording studio in midtown Manhattan, MPC Productions.  Mike, a very talented producer, engineer and musician, is a very good friend of mine from high school, and it was great to be working with him at his studio.  I learned a lot, especially about house music, which I had never heard of before working at MPC.  I thought, “We are in an apartment building in the city and there was no house so why is this called house music?”

Anyway, at the beginning of one session that I was engineering, one of the faders on the mixing console did not seem to be working.  I shouted to Mike who was in the office down the hall, “Hey Mike, how come there’s no signal on channel 1?”  Mike immediately shouted back, “1 is 7!”  Apparently, something happened to the channel earlier and Mike had to switch a wire to go to another channel to get things working on a previous session.  It’s a good thing he was there to tell me this otherwise I probably wouldn’t have been able to figure it out.  To do this day, “1 is 7″ is one of those unforgettable phrases that Mike and I still use with each other.  There is something really funny about it to me…

One of the reasons that I like working at commercial recording studios is that they all provide a staff assistant engineer who knows not only how to use all of the equipment, but also knows if anything is broken or if there are any “1 is 7″ types of technical things going on that only someone on staff would know about.  Some of the studios I’ve worked at in recent years with great, very helpful assistants (and/or owners) include:

• Avatar Studios
• The Barber Shop Studios
• Bennett Recording Studios - Recently closed, unfortunately!
• BiCoastal Music
• MSR Studios
• Skyline Recording Studios
• Spin Recording Studios
• Systems Two Recording Studios – Amazing studio, but no website!  The Steinway D is fantastic.

Fast forward to Halloween, 2011…

I was doing a live mix for Tom Nazziola and The BQE Project at a theater in Manhattan.  BQE was performing Tom’s brilliant score to the classic film, Frankenstein.  A few weeks before the event, Tom sent me the list of the equipment that the theater had and said that there will be no one there to assist me.  OK, no problem.  Doing a live mix is simple and involves much less equipment than recording in a studio.  No problem.  However, the mixer that was listed was an older Yamaha digital mixer that I never used before. I asked some engineering friends about it.  One said not to worry about it and I’ll be able to figure it out and another said that I should definitely download the manual and learn about it…  I didn’t have much time to read the 150+ page manual and I figured since there was no assistant, the mixer probably wasn’t too complicated.

I decided to get there really early the day of the event and I brought all of my own mics and mic cables.  I remember reading Don Aslett’s book, “How To Have a 48 Hour Day” and he talked a lot about the magic of EARLY.  Really good advice, especially for this day!

The first thing I did was look in the very small and very cluttered control room in the back of the theater.  Wires and other things were tangled up everywhere and the digital mixing console I was concerned about on the equipment list was not there!  There was a very simple, easy to use, small mixer instead.  Good.  Sigh of relief.  But where do I plug in my mics?  I looked around for awhile and eventually found an input panel on the wall to the side of the stage in a dark area.  But the musicians were set up all the way on the other side.  My 30′ cables were not long enough to reach the input panel so I had to go through the tangled pile of  miscellaneous cables in the control room in search of more mic cables to extend the length of my mic cables.  Eventually, I found enough extra cables.  It’s good that I got there really early!

I got there right before the group was about to rehearse and set up my 5 mics and all the cables.

• Audio Technica AT4047/SV over the drums/percussion
• AKG C414B-ULS in front of the double bass
• AKG C414B ULS in front of the cello
• AKG C451B over the violin
• AKG C451B pointing at the back of the upright piano
• The guitar amp didn’t need a mic…

During the rehearsal, while testing my mics, I wasn’t getting any signal from some of them.  Uh oh!  Once again, good thing I got there early!  Did I say that enough yet?  Time to troubleshoot the problem!  Whenever I do that, I start from the beginning of the signal chain.  In this case, the mics.  Some of the mics were definitely working, so I plugged the mics that seemed to not be working into the cables of the definitely working mics.  All 5 mics were good.  The next thing to check was the cables.  I plugged the cables that seemed to not be working into the inputs that had cables that were definitely working. All of the cables were good.  At this point, a lot of time went by and I still haven’t figured out the problem.  There was no way for me to test the input panel or the wires in the wall/ceiling that went up to the control room and into the mixer.  So I decided to test the mixer by plugging directly into it, bypassing the input panel.  Maybe there were some bad channels.  I connected a bunch of cables together making a very long cable and ran it from the stage up to the control room.  I tested each channel by plugging the cable into every channel, one at a time.  All of the channels on the mixer worked fine.  And then, a very clear vision appeared in my mind, I saw and heard Mike Costanzo in his old office at MPC Productions from years ago.  And of course, he said:

1 is 7!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I looked behind the mixer and noticed that the wires that were connected to the mixer had tiny, and very faded out stickers with numbers on them, numbers that were apparently corresponding with the mixer channels.  I assumed that all of the wires would be plugged into the correct channels.  But I was wrong!  Wire 1 went to mixer channel 1.  Wire 2 went to mixer channel 2. But wire 13 went to mixer channel 3 and wire 14 went to mixer channel 4… Aha!  Someone switched the wires and didn’t put them back, or at least leave a note anywhere for the next person (me).  Or maybe there was a note somewhere buried in the clutter everywhere.  If it was there, I didn’t see it.  Luckily, I figured this out. I found the wires with numbers 3 and 4.  I plugged wire 3 into mixer channel 3 and wire 4 into mixer channel 4, tested the mics and everything was finally working.  I was able to mix both shows that night with no problems.

Thanks Mike!  I’m going to put on some house music, in my house…

For more info about Michael Costanzo and MPC Recordings, now located in Long Island: MPC Recordings

More often than not, when someone calls me in a panic to save their studio in the middle of a session, the solution is simple.  But sometimes problems are more complicated.  If I can’t figure out what’s going on over the phone, I may need to visit their studio in person.  Once I’m there I can usually figure out what happened.  In some situations it may be best to call a software company’s technical support line.  Below are a few solutions to typical home studio computer problems.  Since I use a Mac, some of this may not apply to PCs.  A lot of it will though…

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Restart the computer

Simply quitting the program being used and restarting the computer solves most problems!  That’s it.  End of phone call. Session resumes. So if something strange is going on and you don’t know what’s wrong, try that first.  It also might be a good idea to restart in safe mode.  Safe mode is intended to fix most, if not all problems within an operating system. After restarting in safe mode, restart again the normal way and then see if your software is working better now.

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Trash preferences

If restarting the computer does not solve the problem, than perhaps something got corrupted…  One way to find out is to delete preferences files.  A corrupt preferences file can cause a program to behave erratically. It can, for example, cause crashes when the program opens or when a document needs to be saved. Deleting a preferences file can thus be used to troubleshoot an application. Over the years, “trash the preferences” has been the advice that I typically got from tech support people over the phone.

A great, free, simple utility to help in debugging Pro Tools is ProTools Prefs & Database Helper.  This program makes it easy to fix Pro Tools.  It deletes preferences and other files that might be messing things up for you.  Simply select what you want to delete or use the default selections and click the big trash in the middle.  Restart and everything should be back to normal.  Simple!

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Leave some room on your hard drive

A full hard drive slows down your computer.  Leave some room on it.  It’s a good idea to always leave at least 10-15% free on your hard drives to avoid problems like fragmentation or even drive failure!  Always monitor how much available space you have on your hard drives.

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Know where you save things

It’s important to be organized and know where your stuff is.  Applications go in the applications folder, documents go in the documents folder, etc.  And put all files related to whatever project you are working on in the same folder.  Right? I’ve seen computer desktops and external drives with loads of random files and folders everywhere. I’ve also seen some people not being mindful when saving new sessions.  In a mad rush, they click OK without even looking where their file is being saved.  No wonder why everything is all over the place and why there is confusion and frustration when I show up to solve the problem…  Take your time and pay attention to what you are doing.  Don’t hit OK or click on anything if you don’t know what’s going on.  Slow down!  Make sure things get saved where you want them to be saved…  Perhaps now would be a good time to take a few minutes and organize your desktop.  Copy files and folders to where they should be and get rid of anything you don’t need anymore.  This frees up space and unclutters your life a little. Just a suggestion…

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Backup your data

There is no better computer advice then this:  BACKUP YOUR DATA!!!!!!!!!!  Even though this is so obvious, a lot of people do not regularly backup files.  You should always have at least one backup of your files.  More is better.  You never know what might happen.  Hard drives fail.  Not only do I backup EVERY project I’m working on to multiple drives, I also backup my system and all my applications too using Carbon Copy Cloner.  Very important!

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Call Technical Support

Sometimes a computer problem is just user error.  Maybe you did something by accident or you don’t understand how to do something with the software you are using.  Call technical support.  Below are a few phone numbers for companies that have helped me solve computer related problems over the years.

Apple 800-MY-APPLE

Applied Acoustics Systems 888-441–8277

AVID 650-731-6100

East West 323-957-6969

Finale 952-937-9703

Glyph 607-873-2832

MOTU 617-576-3066

Native Instruments 323-467-2693

Spectrasonics 888-870-4223

Waves 865-909-9200 ext. 1

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Overwhelmed by technology?

Visit this website often: Do nothing for 2 minutes

Welcome 2012!

I have a very compelling vision and strong reasons why I am determined to make it all happen. I have a number of big goals. One of them is to be more consistent with practicing skills that I would like to not only maintain, but also improve. So I have decided to commit to the daily practice of yoga, musical instruments (saxophone, bass, guitar and piano), and composing, all for at least 20 minutes each, and hopefully for much longer on some days! And if I’m really busy, even practicing these things for 5 minutes each will be better than not doing anything at all. One of my favorite authors, Dan Millman, in many of his books, wrote that “a little bit of something is better than a lot of nothing.”

You may be thinking that this is all too much and maybe it is, but this is what I want to do!

Yoga

I’ve tried a number of different exercise systems over the years and for me, yoga seems to be the best.  When I practice regularly I feel better, have more energy and focus, and can breathe deeper.   I have a number of yoga videos that I practice with and one that always makes me feel great is “Flexibility Yoga” by Patricia Walden, especially after doing the challenging backbends.  In the introduction she says:

Consistency of practice makes yoga a part of your daily life. When you plan your practice, remember, it’s not the amount of time you put in, but the consistency and quality of time. Twenty to thirty minutes a day will do more for you than an hour or two, every now and then. Practicing yoga is a choice you make, it’s not something that just happens to you. The more you integrate yoga into your daily life, the more you’ll look forward to doing it.

The same advice applies to the practice of anything else, especially musical instruments…  I need to maintain a certain skill level on all my instruments because I usually have to record myself playing them on the projects that I am producing.  When I’m in shape and my skills are fine tuned, recordings come out better and take less time.  Having to rely on editing to create an acceptable performance is tedious and time consuming.  I would like to avoid that whenever possible.  Even if I am composing or arranging a part for someone else to play, it helps that I can play my instruments really well.  I use improvisation a lot when composing or arranging, so daily practice is really important for my work.

Saxophone

I play the soprano saxophone.  I’m currently working on some classical music that I played a long time ago on tenor saxophone – pieces by Bozza, Villa-Lobos, Karg-Elert and Lacour.  For jazz, I am practicing with Andy Middleton‘s great book “Melodic Improvising.”

Bass

I play electric and fretless bass.  In college, I use to play Bach cello suites and Dotzauer cello studies on the bass.  I’ll be working on those again!  I also like practicing with funk books like Slap It! by Tony Oppenheim and The Slap Bass Bible by Anthony Vitti as well as transcribing music by Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller and Jaco Pastorius.

Guitar

More than anything else, I need to be better at fingerpicking!  This comes up so often with recordings that I really need to be good at this.  I’m practicing with Mark Hanson’s “Fingerstyle Guitar” and Ralph Towner’s “Improvisation and Performance Techniques for Classical and Acoustic Guitar.”

Piano

I loved taking classical piano lessons with Lawrence Schubert in the mid 1990′s. Larry was one of the best music teachers I ever had.  So of course, I will continue to work on classical piano music.  There are so many great pieces…  And for jazz, I like Mark Levine’s “The Jazz Piano Book.”

Composing

I need to finish a number of chamber music and orchestral pieces that I started awhile ago.  They’ve been sitting in the “pile” for way too long.  I must complete the very contemporary brass quintet piece that I started over 10 years ago first!   This is priority.  I also have plans to write a number of contemporary jazz pieces, some of which are already in progress and some are just ideas in my head at this point…

So that is my plan for 2012.  I know it is a lot to do.  If you happen to be reading this, give me a call or send me an email to hold me accountable for my progress with these things!  Let me know what you want to achieve and I’ll do the same for you.  We all could use some encouragement and support.  Below is some advice and motivation from the always inspirational Tony Robbins.  Happy New Year!

The twelfth track on my SoundCloud Playlist is “Float” from the Spirit Trainers’ Companion Music CD to the DVD “Practical Yoga for Everyday People.”

After composing all of the music for their 2005 TV series, “Guru2Go” (15 episodes on Discovery’s FitTV), I was asked to compose the music for the Spirit Trainers’ yoga DVD a year later.  To create the Companion Music CD, I selected my favorite compositions from the DVD, extending a few of them, and then re-mastering all of the recordings.  I was asked to make up titles for the compositions for the CD.   To do this, I tried to find interesting words said by Bill Donnelly or Jeff Bader (the Spirit Trainers) during their instructions for each yoga pose that my music accompanied.

The DVD features 3 Kundalini Yoga workouts. In Set 3, “7 Chakra Workout,” one of the poses taught is “Neck Turns.”  The instructions go something like this:

On an inhale, let the head gently turn to the left. and then exhale, letting it turn all the way around to the right…  Let the head float on the top of the spine… Keeping the breath steady as if you are saying “No” to anything you no longer need in your life.  This is a great exercise to do when we want to say “No” to our addictions; “No” to old habits that no longer serve us; “No” to any unhealthy relationships that are in our lives.  As you are doing this wonderful neck stretch, say “No thank you” to the old patterns that no longer serve you.

“Float” seemed a good way to describe the music so it became the title of my composition.  The music was composed to go with the video.  I created it while watching the video.  The style of the music is based on what I was writing for the Guru2Go shows.

“Float” features modified loops of drums, percussion and other unusual things from Spectrasonics’ Stylus RMX.  The recurring 3 note motif was played with Applied Acoustics Systems’ Lounge Lizard EP-3.  All of the other synthesizer sounds, including the lead synth playing the melody are from Spectrasonics’ Atmosphere.  In addition, I also played the melody with an electric guitar – a Fender Stratocaster through a Line 6 Pod Pro.  The music was recorded, mixed and mastered using MOTU‘s Digital Performer software.

A few years later, Bill commented on the music:

It is interesting how your music really goes deep.  Particularly in “Float,” the sounds seem to really engage the brain and penetrate deeply – I always get really “high” when I do the meditations where I have used this track. 

For more info about the Spirit Trainers, please visit their website: Spirit Trainers

The eleventh track on my SoundCloud Playlist is “Venus Lock” from the Spirit Trainers’ Companion Music CD to the DVD “Practical Yoga for Everyday People.”

After composing all of the music for their 2005 TV series, “Guru2Go” (15 episodes on Discovery’s FitTV), I was asked to compose the music for the Spirit Trainers’ yoga DVD a year later.  To create the Companion Music CD, I selected my favorite compositions from the DVD, extending a few of them, and then re-mastering all of the recordings.  I was asked to make up titles for the compositions for the CD.   To do this, I tried to find interesting words said by Bill Donnelly or Jeff Bader (the Spirit Trainers) during their instructions for each yoga pose that my music accompanied.

The DVD features 3 Kundalini Yoga workouts. In Set 2, “Strengthen and Energize,” one of the poses taught is “Half Plank Pose.”  The instructions go something like this:

Bring your elbows underneath your shoulders and then interlace your fingers in Venus Lock. Come up into half plank, a great posture for strengthening the torso, the navel center… Cross your hands, curl your toes under and lift yourself up. Work to make sure your body is as straight as a plank.

Clearly, “Venus Lock” is the most interesting sounding set of words and so they became the title of my composition.  The music was composed to go with the video.  I created it while watching the video.  The style of the music is based on what I was writing for the Guru2Go shows.

“Venus Lock” features modified loops of drums, percussion and other unusual things from Spectrasonics’ Stylus RMX.  Most of the synthesizer sounds, including the lead synth playing the melody are from Spectrasonics’ Atmosphere. I also played the melody with a Yamaha WX11 MIDI Wind Instrument triggering a sound called “Eastern” from a Yamaha VL70-m synthesizer.  The music was recorded, mixed and mastered using MOTU‘s Digital Performer software.

For more info about the Spirit Trainers, please visit their website: Spirit Trainers