music is people

Shelf yourself!

There's this scene in the music-nut film High Fidelity where John Cusack's character has his entire record collection sprawled on his apartment floor. He's re-organizing easily hundreds of recordings when a record-store employee drops by for a visit. Like any collector of great art, he discerns a challenge in the way the LPs on the floor have been arranged. "What is this - chronological?" "No." "Not alpabetical..." "Nope. Autobiographical." Cussack's protagonist has ordered his entire collection of albums, not according to any to any attributes of the recordings themselves, but according to the way they've fit into his own life. I love the idea because it speaks so much to what music is about - it's about people. The Music Genome Project may have the corner on the technical classification of music, but there's a point at which the notes and rhythms transcend the page they're written on and become something much tougher to classify - individual experience. Music becomes music when it does something to the listener. What it does can be different for each of us. And yet it can bring people together as few things can. We saw that firsthand at The Guild again last week. But I'm not ready for the conversation to end. And so I'm wondering - when you listen, what do you listen for? What are the attributes you consider to be most important in discovering music? How do you sort your own record collection? Ordering your records autobiographically may be great therapy, but it's hardly practical. Neither, by the way, is sorting your albums according to record label - something I tried on a lark about 5 years ago. I learned a ton about the industry. But I could never find a thing. So now I'm sorting CDs by genre: classic rock on the left, modern rock on the right, and - ironically - progressive rock somewhere in the middle. Jazz gets a separate shelf. And the stuff I'm embarassed to own - that's on the bottom, at foot-level, where most folks won't notice it but I can still find it if I need a fix. What about you? How do you classify and sort the music you own? And, while we're at it - how do you classify the music you make? When it's time to put a genre label on the stuff you do, what shelf do you go on?

The Backthird Audio Christmas show

We're working on a tradition at Backthird Audio. In 2005, and again in 2006, my sister, her husband and I shut up this studio to the public for a night in December and invited a small group of friends over for an intimate evening of music and fellowship. These first Christmas shows, which we announced with a simple postcard with a picture of a tiny candle, have a really special place in my heart. If you've ever been to a show here you know it's about much more than great music in a great studio. It's about people. We put on the best show we could those first two years in the hopes of honoring the one we believe this season is about - and the precious people who had chosen to join us for it. But when the music ended, the people stayed,We had cookies and coffee and cider, and we laughed late into the night.

Those nights immediately became some of my favorites of the season. So when my sister's band - now known as Willowfair - released an album in 2007 and we had to let the Chrismas show - well, it simply wasn't the same.

I'm simply thrilled to announce that the tradition is back. This year we're broadening the circle - I hope this place can be about community, after all, and we've met too many friends with incredible talent not to share the love. So we'll be joined on December 12 and 13 by Andrea Dawn, Ben Thomas and Jeremy Keen. This will be small. It will be special. And we hope you'll choose to join us. You can reserve your seats and get more information here.

Who's happier?

Yes, these are Rock Guy happy faces. And why not? The Drunken Skunk Band got a free two-song demo - and my Sound Foundations students got a full - if condensed - recording experience.

Last Wednesday was the Three Hour Record, the last night of our Studio Sound class - and a fitting finale to what's been a great course. I'll be putting up some samples of in-class recordings on the Sound Foundations page soon, so check there for a taste. And if you're thinking you could use some ground-up audio instruction and hands-on experience - classes start again in January.

The sound of a dozen people listening

One of the best things about running a recording studio is that it makes you a better listener - you develop a knack for picking apart recordings and appreciate things most people wouldn't. Of course, the same can be said for anyone who does music regularly - which is why last night's Guild get-together was so insanely fun for me. A hearty crew of us regulars gathered round the speakers to listen in complete silence (how often do you do that?) to songs for which we'd be given little or no prior explanation.

Then we responded. What makes a song sound "80s"? When is recording "live" a good idea? What's the place of ambient sound? Should music be categorized? Who does and does not have business trying to sing gospel?

For those keeping track, below is a list of the recordings we enjoyed. But as I've said before, if you missed it - you missed out. You'll have to join us next time.

Speaking of which - in light of the holidays and various other impending obligations (translation: I'm getting married!), the Guild won't meet in November or December. There will be other opportunities to connect at Backthird Audio, so stay tuned - and plan on joining us when we resume in January.

Last night's music:
1. "Spiralling" by Keane from the album Perfect Symmetry
2. "Those Who Trust" by Waterdeep and 100 Portraits from the album Enter the Worship Circle
3. "Moving Mountains" by Thrice from the album The Alchemy Index Vol. 4: Earth
4. Track 2 (sorry, I didn't get the name!) from the album Diplomat VI by Diplomat VI
5. "Blue Ridge Mountains" by Fleet Foxes from the album Fleet Foxes
6. "Hide and Seek" by Imogen Heap from the album Speak for Yourself (find the video here)

Mic vs Mic

Benzie Badlaw played the role of guest artists for Wednesday's Sound Foundations class in recording studio techniques - and boy, did we hear 'em! Students set up a dozen or so different microphones on the acoustic duo for an old-fashioned mic shootout, allowing us to hear the difference between ribbons and condsensers and compare one pickup pattern to another. Every microhphone is good for something - but sometimes you don't know what until you try.