Martin's First February Song: "February Air"
Last night Martin came home late from his night class and ate dinner. Then, from the hours of 11 pm to 3 am, he wrote a song.
Yes, it's that time of year again. February Album Writing Month, or FAWM, encourages participants to write 14 songs in 28 days.
Last February, on sabbatical, Martin wrote eight or nine. Keep in mind that this process does not only include the song-writing itself, but the performance and recording. We have a smart microphone called The Yeti. With this hooked up to his computer, Martin can layer endless tracks--he's incorporated up to 50 in the past--for one song. From everything to a foot thump to a vocal track or an accordion riff, it all mixes to become one fantastic--(let's hope)--song.
This year Martin has got a few new toys for ultimate distraction: an electric guitar, a bass guitar, and (the coup de gras) a brand new, excellent digital piano. I took the plunge this last month and surprised him for his birthday. This piano is a real piano in keyboard size, sound, key-feel and (gulp) price, but it is incredibly slim and it makes recording a relative breeze. (And, pleasantly, endless renditions of "Jolly Old St. Nicholas" as a part of piano practice become bearable with earphones!) Though he can simply plug in a flash drive and play, he prefers to plug in an amp and position the microphone directly in front of the amp.
Anyway, enough of that. Here's Martin's first song for FAWM 2014--in his words--a "kind of a sixties sort of psychedelic blues vibe, kind of a weird hybrid between jazz/blues and Donovan/Zombies/Tommy James thing. . .but it's always dangerous to compare yourself, especially to Crimson in Clover, which is one of the great songs." (For some of us lost now, there is no danger.)
With no more delay, here is February Air:
Yes, it's that time of year again. February Album Writing Month, or FAWM, encourages participants to write 14 songs in 28 days.
Last February, on sabbatical, Martin wrote eight or nine. Keep in mind that this process does not only include the song-writing itself, but the performance and recording. We have a smart microphone called The Yeti. With this hooked up to his computer, Martin can layer endless tracks--he's incorporated up to 50 in the past--for one song. From everything to a foot thump to a vocal track or an accordion riff, it all mixes to become one fantastic--(let's hope)--song.
This year Martin has got a few new toys for ultimate distraction: an electric guitar, a bass guitar, and (the coup de gras) a brand new, excellent digital piano. I took the plunge this last month and surprised him for his birthday. This piano is a real piano in keyboard size, sound, key-feel and (gulp) price, but it is incredibly slim and it makes recording a relative breeze. (And, pleasantly, endless renditions of "Jolly Old St. Nicholas" as a part of piano practice become bearable with earphones!) Though he can simply plug in a flash drive and play, he prefers to plug in an amp and position the microphone directly in front of the amp.
Anyway, enough of that. Here's Martin's first song for FAWM 2014--in his words--a "kind of a sixties sort of psychedelic blues vibe, kind of a weird hybrid between jazz/blues and Donovan/Zombies/Tommy James thing. . .but it's always dangerous to compare yourself, especially to Crimson in Clover, which is one of the great songs." (For some of us lost now, there is no danger.)
With no more delay, here is February Air:
Comments