Soul Amp

Friday, July 29, 2005

Soul Amp Pre-Release PodCast

Soul Amp's Debut full length album "Strip Mall Heaven" on Amber Soup Records is soon to be available on various online retailers. Here is "She Slit Her Wrists Again" from the disk offered in our first podcast.

We're new to Podcasting so it is going to take a while to figure this whole thing out. But I suspect we will be offering a interview and other interesting audio tidbits in the future. So subscribe to this Podcast URL:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/SoulAmp

1. She Slit Her Wrists Again
2. Touching in a Modern Way
3. Throwing Rocks at Cars
4. Johnny's Wife
5. Seeing Jimmy
6. Turn Out the Morning
7. Shove
8. She Walks On Up Ahead
9. Flowing On
10. Memory of a Friend
11. Spinning Things
12. Division

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

The State of Rock

This was inspired by some activity on a messege board over at sonicbids.com.....I chimed in on some hard rockers complaining about lack of rock label attention. - Brad

Rock......where to begin...

The big problem as I see it with the state of ROCK in the contemporary music business is the misunderstanding by many bands as to what ROCK is. (...or Rock and ROLL is for that matter.)

Lets ask ourselves why ROCK is overlooked in the forms that those on this thread play. The following might not be answers you want to hear but I press on anyway...I do so because that is how I am...

I am using rock freely here to include multiple genres...

Rock has been and always will be about creativity and self expression...we now have over forty years of rock music to attempt to digest and if you look back you can see that that is indeed the underlying common factor.

Frankly as someone who has been there and seen that nothing is more boring than another Les Paul/Marshall stack combination in a two guitar, bass and drum lineup that for the most part play in unison without dynamics or DRAMA. get on stage and crank the marshalls until you can't hear anything put the ice picks in the ears from 8 12" speakers howling out at the audience...it is not macho or musical...it just comes off as well....dumb...

The new music audience is far more sophisticated than many new rock bands give them credit for...people now have grown up with rock and are quite good at picking out the genuine from the posers.

For me: Bar chords with guitar effect processors, cheesy chorus and flanger effects do not make for very interesting listening. You also have to remember...rock is not JUST heavy metal, or hard rock. A Les Paul, marshall stack and gizmo on the floor does not a rocker make.

But....if that is what you do...that is what you do...expecting anything, I MEAN ANYTHING...from anybody when it comes to original music will leave you only frustrated, angry and gigless...you have to make your own happiness...with lots of HARD WORK.

make no mistake I am not telling anyone to do anything different or play a certain type of music. Do whatever the hell you want. But do so from a stand point of being honest with yourself by asking...

"Is this rock, or is it what I think rock is? Is this me? Or am I presenting myself as something I want to be?"

Do you WANT to be a rocker....or ARE you a rocker?

(interesting questions indeed...)

When you let go what you "THINK" rock is and start to make music without any pre-conceived idea about what rock and roll is then you break through that barrier. Suddenly it isn't just about the music...it is about fulfilling your own need as an artist to reach out to people with your creativity and to touch them. That is what is lacking in HARD ROCK today as it is more about the self flagulation of a adolecent ego than it is about genuine art. Not all the time....just like every other genre...good and bad

You are all pissed off at EMO because they are doing what you don't want to. (that is letting go of the ego and reaching out to people...) Sure some of them are disingenuous sell outs and copy cats but others are not. Just as many hard rock bands are no talent bonehead wanabees and others rock. It is the same in every genre and yet it's "still rock and roll to me".

For the ones that are genuine and true to themselves, flocks of fans will go to see them. That audience will be so into the music they can sing all the damn lyrics to the entire set list. That is because at that point the musicians are touching people with the music. Not bludgeoning them with a self rightous idea of what ROCK is supposed to be.

It is hard lesson to learn and I myself am still learning it after 25 years of playing. I know this time around it feels different and I am not afraid of the work needed to be successful. (And most of all I am having a lot of fun doing so.)

So think about what rock really is...because it is so much more than that gizmo on the floor that makes your guitar scream, a black t-shirt and a snotty attitude. (though that can certainly be part of it)

so think about that and "genuinely" Rock on.

Monday, July 25, 2005

Brad and M2 Main Stage July 23

3 Soul Amp Main Stage July 23
Originally uploaded by bodland.

The show was pretty good, actually we kick ass, best Soul Amp show yet....

We rehearsed on Saturday at 5:00 p.m.. The rain stopped just in time to get loaded up and head down to Spizzo for some food. M2 had that ever popular favorite Braunswieger on Toasted focaccia bread....This is really the best damn sandwich...

We hung out for a while I had a double latte to get the blood flowing and we headed over the Main Stage (1/2 a block away to load in)

ON the bill that night was SOuth 15 who turned out to be mostly a cover band and One Shot Mickey from Milwaukee.

We led off the night so we got to set up at a easy pace and get a good sound check in. Quite a few people were on hand to see the cover band. Which were reasonably tight and had a few orginials but didn't say which ones they were. The singer spent most of the his show singing to the drummer.

One Shot Mickey played a good show of quality rock pop songs not unlike Bare Naked Ladies and Jack Johnson. I was a little picky on the guitar tone fo the lead player as he whent through a few stomp boxes and into a small Marshall combo. The lead singer from ONe Shot Mickey played on a few songs a well worn Canadian made Seagull acoustic electric. That sounded quite nice. His electric tone was ok. The bassist though really had some tone. Nice low midrange honk that carried the bottom end with punch.

All in all they did a good job. Only criticisms I would have would be to make the dynamics more extreme and get a lottle more animated on stage.

As for the cover band SOuth 15....that just pissed me off. I know Steve doesn't take to highly to covers so I am sure he probably said something to them, I was surprised they played that many....I am guessing they had about 50% of the tunes were covers.

Soul Amp Main Stage July 23

1 Soul Amp Main Stage July 23
Originally uploaded by bodland.

We cranked up energy at the Main Stage in Waukesha on Saturday July 23rd. We opened up the show at 10:15 and ripped through a set that included FIVE new songs written in the past month and several from the upcoming disk.

The new Soul Amp format of keys, guitar and drums (say minus bass) was a success.

Thanks to Steve at the Main Stage for tweaking the mix for us.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Waukesha Glacial Dome - Brad Standing - Rob Nero photo shoot

Brad Standing on the dome
Originally uploaded by bodland.

The recent entries are photos of another photo shoot we put together as a result of Steve's deaprture. The shots will appear in our disk. last minute stuff and we are scambling to get the art work together. Rob Nero was really digging the shots as we were taking them. The site is a glacial dome in Waukesha. It rises about 15o vertical feet, is native prarie and has a path to the top where a fire pit is. Very cool spot. Western Waukesha is quite pastoral form this vantage point. What it did offer was native grasses and clear blue sky vistas. Perfect for those standing in the field type band shots.

Click here for all the Strip Mall Heaven images and layout artwork that Rob Nero created for us.
Photo taken by Michael Fisk.

Rob Nero - Nero Photos - Milwaukee Photographer directing Soul Amp.

robdirecting
Originally uploaded by bodland.

Rob Nero directing the next shot.

Click here for all the Strip Mall Heaven images and layout artwork that Rob Nero created for us.

Check out his website here.
This photo was taken by Mike Fisk.

What the hell is that....?

What the hell is that....?
Originally uploaded by bodland.

I think we were pointing at another hot air balloon in the distance.

M2 on the Kame in Waukesha

m2smiledome
Originally uploaded by bodland.

We did a photo shoot the other day on the Kame or glacial dome in Waukesha. It was really an amazing place.

Friday, July 15, 2005

Changes....Farewell to Steve....

Yesterday Steve informed me in an amicable talk on my porch that he is leaving Soul Amp.

Steve has been playing bass with us for over a year. We all knew that he was pursuing other musical projects and he said he had to make the tough choice to leave Soul Amp at this time. I understood one has to choose where to put time and Soul Amp being what it is, a original act that seems to spend more money than it makes, was understandably the project that had to get set aside.

Add to that scheduling issues and some creeping creative differences that we've discussed over the months it was seemingly a mutually agreed time to make the split.

Interesting thing, when a new original band starts there is no music catalog to point to to select from like in a cover band. Cover bands are able to select from a vast array of songs to satisify all in the band. Original bands I feel have to grow that catalog over a significant amount of time, two years at least. So the direction of a band can turn quickly as the creative energy starts to flow. Sometimes that leaves one or more behind. Not a bad thing it is just one of those things that happens. Balancing the musical needs in a band can be difficult and trying to do so does more harm than good. So one has to just let the music lead. Even if it might end up down a blind ally and one has to turn around and start again.

Steve will be playing three other acts in the Milwaukee area and will also be working with his wife on their creative production project... Avant Guardian.

Mike, Mike and I appreciate all the work Steve and Melissa have put into Soul Amp over the year to help get Soul Amp off the ground. We wish him and Melissa the best of luck in the future.

Moving forward the remainder of Soul Amp, Mike, Mike and myself are continuing without a bass. We will continue to book and play gigs as a trio for the foreseeable future. Hey it worked for the Doors and works for Keane so it probably will work for Soul Amp as well.

So though we are sad to see Steve go we are happy that he is focusing on what matters most for him and his future and again wish him only the best and we are looking forward to the sonic possibilites of a alternative power trio. Expect lots of variety in how we present our shows in the future.

Brad

Thursday, July 14, 2005

More News...and some new tunes...

Been working on landing some gigs...I've got a dialog going with the Fine Line Music Cafe' in Minneapolis, and folks in Aberdeen South Dakota...If we can nab a date in Minneapolis we might truck out to Aberdeen to do a show there the following day. Also I have talked to Rob at the Rave. Diamond Nights is playing a show on Monday , July 25th at the Rave Bar and there is a chance to open for them. (UPDATE: 7/15 Rob informed me via e-mail that he was "declining" Soul Amp for this show)

Also I added a couple of interesting tracks to our SonicBids EPK....click and go to "Audio" and listen to the live tracks. M1, M2 and I tracked these a few weeks ago. We just basically wrote and recorded three tunes in two hours. I think they rock. We'll no doubt be adding these two to the set list for the Main Stage show. Straight up rocking party type songs. A gas to play for sure. We have two others too that I will rotate in in the coming weeks. I'll let you know on the blog when I do.

So I keep plugging away...sending out e-mails making phone calls everyday. The disk artwork is just about done and were looking forward to shipping the master off for duplication.

Lots more stuff on the horizon. It is going to get REALLY interesting....

Monday, July 11, 2005

News, Dead Power Mac....and old friend...

Major computer woe....

The dual processor Power Mac that is at the heart of the CatBox studio....coughed, threw up and died....$1200 dollars turned into a door stop in minutes. The sucker froze while I was transferring analog tape mastered version back to 24/48 digital land. I have just finished with all the songs and was going to export them to AIFF's whent he comuptuer started acting up. It totally died this time.

DOing some trouble shooting it is like likely a logic board and CPU module replacement will be required. That's another 500 or so bucks.....

Bummer.

So now I have the disk drive a HFS+ formatted SCSI drive that I need to attach to another mac. with a SCSI hba to get the projects off. I've been trying to get from Windoze software to work to xtract the data but to no avail. I think the file system got corrupted when the system crashed. I had yet to take a backup of the work I did that day so it may end up being lost.

I do have the tape still with all the songs mastered and mixed. I can bring them back into the Powerbook so all is not lost by any means. Just more work....

That's computers!

ON another note I was able to play the disk to an old high school buddy from my hometown in Aberdeen. He's seen me play in other bands and we've stayed in touch over the years. Well I was playing him some of the songs and after a while he says the singer has this or sounds like that and I looked at him and said..."Dude....that's me...I do the singing on this disk..." He looks at me and says "No fucking way..." I say...."CheeeeYah...it is..." (Wisconsin yah know...)

He was also telling me of a new sexy studio in the Ward Hotel in Downtown Aberdeen.

They have a website too. http://aberdeenrecording.com

Pretty cool....I wonder if I went to high school with those guys....?

Fire at M2's

3 of 4 soulamp
Originally uploaded by bodland.

hanging by the fire pit. M1 played with his digital camera's shutter speed. Weird.

Monday, June 27, 2005

Dithering Tip

Be careful not to "double" dither. I accidentally dithered the master tracks after they had already been dithered. The result was very subtle. It caused a "psychoacoustic" feeling that the CD was running slow.

Additionally... and importantly... don't change the volumes of the audio samples after the dithering step has been completed. This also messes up the quality of the audio... though it appears to not be as bad as double dithering.

Brad is going to give me a new set of 24 bit files and I'll dither down to 16 bit after adjusting the volumes as the final step to creating the CD master.

We are still waiting on the artwork... but we should have something next week...

Friday, June 24, 2005

CD to be released real soon...

We're very close to releasing our first CD, "Strip Mall Heaven". The final product should be completed and in our hands by mid-July.

This week Brad and I completed mastering all of the tunes and I used CD Architect to make the CD master. I went through a number of CD writing/burning applications before I bit the bullet and purchased CD Architect. I highly recommend it. It's a well written application, intuitive and easy to use, and has every feature I can think of that you need to complete that final step of creating a master CD to send off for duplication.

So now we're just waiting on the artwork to get completed and then off to the presses...

Thursday, June 16, 2005

Analog Mastering?

Well after my seeming dismay at the state of digital audio I have started to explore the analog realm a little again.

I've experimented with bouncing down the 24 bit 48 kHz mixes processed through Ozone 3 to the SX-980's AUX input and recording onto the Pioneer RT-707. Funny I have managed to scrounge these two pieces of vintage audio equipment. I had the Reel to Reel for years and M2 broguht the SX-980 by the other day. So I am well on my way of putting together a "silver face" 70's vintage system. I also bought a JVC KD-10 Cassette deck. Not fancy by any means just a solid classic deck and I also have coming a 79' vintage Hitachi turntable. Nothing fancy their but it's direct drive and seems like a solid unit.

Pioneer Model SX-980 Details Page on www.classic-audio.com

Pioneer Model RT-707 Details Page on www.classic-audio.com

I am playing these units through some simple vintage Kenwood two way speakers. they sound surprisingly good. They handle 100 Watts and the SX-980's 80 watts per side send a delightful signal to these low Kenwoods.

Well any way I have some new Qauntegy 456 1/4" tape on the way and I have already did a little repair work on the RT-707. The left recording input RCA jack had broken loose from the PC board. I attempted to solder it back but it failed to fix the issue without wedging a cassette tape case in the back to keep pressure on the jack. So I guess I will try todo a more thorough
fix another time. It works now....so?

I recorded a test track by playing "Shove" on the Mac and running the signal from the MOTU 828 to the AUX input on the SX-980 and recording it with the RT. So far it is quite interesting. I can only think of non-fatiguing. Something has for sure happened to the sound and it is not bad by any meams. The sound though slightly more bassy (the stereo is more bassy as the speakers sit on the hard floor) it is "warm" well defined and actaully quite smooth. Running the tape at 7 ips (the highest speed without changing the speed knob) the songs takes on a classic sound that is quite pleaseing. the next step will be to return that recording back to the Mac as a 24 bit/48 kHz stereo file and do some analysis of the same song . If it not a big hassle and the organic analog tone is acceptable then maybe we'll master all the tracks like that. Hard ot say.

Monday, June 06, 2005

Analog Retreat

Well they went and did it. Jobs drank the kool-aid. Hell has frozen over...

Intel inside....my ass.

I am sick of relying on computers for EVERYTHING....I mean blogs and the internet is one thing but to have to record music with a computer is almost too much. It was bad enough to have to buy new hardware and revamp software because of innovation, but to have to do so because of changes to hardware based on dollar signs and someones pending retirement...that just sucks.

Jobs has sold out. Oh sure I won't have to to change any hardware for a year or two. I was planning on a Dual G5 if this CD is succesful for the next project. Now I don't think so for the same amount I could get a 8 or 16 track recorder and a nice 1/4 mastering deck. then plop any old crap computer and interface to read in the analog for 16 bit/44.1 kh...CD mastering.

the learning curve is almost to much....each new multi track software version is like tearing your entire studio out and replacing it. All the controls are complely different and the behavior changes. Features are buried and and become more and more complex.

got it right the first time

for ages you could walk into a studio in in a few minutes be comfy with the console and controls because the controls have changed little. EQ is EQ. A fader is a fader and pan knob is a pan knob. Compression, pre-amps all work relativly the same. The digital realm has caused and explosion of processing and editing that before was unheard of. And bizzare interfaces are par for the course.

Now musicians can focus less on the content and tone as they can always "fix" in the mix.

retro heaven...that 70's stereo

Digital, what a crutch....I know there will always be the need for digital processing. It does one thing really well....keeps the noise down...that was tape's biggest flaw....and best attribute. That noise and overhead is warm, natural and extremely musical.

I've just been listening to some old cassettes on a JVC deck I picked up a rummage sale, that are frankly a pure joy to listen to...

the big analog meters are bouncing...The natural cassette compression and the natural EQ "scoop" of vintage 70's stereo equipment made my weekend. I listend to Dinosaur Jr. and Firehose, both commercial Cro2 tapes on a JVC deck through a Pioneer SX-980 receiver and vintage kenwood speakers. What a treat.

I dug out my old reel to reel tapes from the early ninties. Mostly me and guitar writing songs. I used a Pioneer RT-707 deck with two mics via small mixer. I could slam the meters into the wall and no clipping or distortion....just saturation and natural compression...I had not heard these tapes I anything other than headphones...I was floored.

connecting the dots

I was relaxed like I've never been for a long time listening to music.

I am sure it is because I was listening to real sine waves...not a digital approximation of tone. The dots just aren't connected....My brain wasn't exhausted at glazing over the 44.1khz steps and it wasn't stressed with coping with the 17th bit being lopped off...Even though it is beyond human hearing the brain must still be registering something...and it is cut off....that is the only way I can describe it. It "feels" different to listen to non-digital music sources.

Maybe that is the key. Our lives are so stressed and we surround ourselves with the cacaphony of fraudulant sound. Stuttering digital shrieking enters our brain and assaults our audio center of the brain. It challenges our complex audio processing centers to convert the broken, stuttering into a seemingly solid and continuous tone.

I would like to see some brain scans of cortex activity when listening to a digital source and a analog source. Just how much more work is the brain doing to smooth over the sound.

What happens when you stop the smoothing...? When suddenly you can hear the digital steps in the sound...?

I think I've found out.

More shoot shots

More shoot shots
Originally uploaded by bodland.

M1 shutterbug

More shoot shots

More shoot shots
Originally uploaded by bodland.

M1 shutterbug

More shoot shots

More shoot shots
Originally uploaded by bodland.

M1 shutterbug

More photos of photo shoot

More photos of photo shoot
Originally uploaded by bodland.

Stuff was falling from the ceiling....little chunks of asbestos no doubt...

Another part of the building had PCB's spray painted on the wall...probably a good reason why this place was boarded up...(I feel woozy)

More photos of photo shoot

More photos of photo shoot
Originally uploaded by bodland.

M1 took the snaps...

More photos of photo shoot

More photos of photo shoot
Originally uploaded by bodland.

M1 took the snaps...

Nero Photo Shoot

Photo Shoot
Originally uploaded by bodland.

Rob and Trisha. Check out Rob Nero's website here.

Click here for all the Strip Mall Heaven images and layout artwork that Rob Nero created for us.

This photo taken by Michael Fisk.

Rob Nero Photography - Photo Shoot

Photo Shoot
Originally uploaded by bodland.

We did a photo shoot with Rob Nero this weekend. Pics

will be used for CD and website which is slated for redo..

Check Rob Nero's his website here.

Click here for all the Strip Mall Heaven images and layout artwork that Rob Nero created for us.

This photo was taken by Mike Fisk.

Thursday, June 02, 2005

News

Well the mixing continues. Just about reaching the end.....of my rope... :>P

We've started looking for gigs to supprt the upcoming release. I've sent feelers out to Chicago with submissions to The Double Door, Beat Kitchen and Schuba's.

In Milwaukee we're working on gigs at Onopa, Pointes East Pub and Vnuk's as well as another Main Stage appearance.

We are still on "Standby" for Summerfest and we're yet to hear on MOBFest in Chicago.

So we've got a lot in the hopper and hopefully a ferw dates will pop in the next few days so we can get some stuff on the books.

I've started to provide specific dates to booking agents to select. Plan is to play 2 or so gigs per month while the disk is gathering college, internet and community radio play around the midwest and reviews start to filter in. To set for a SXSW submission for next year.

We have the cover art for the CD and it is looking excellent the guy who did Temper Temper's latest disk handled the photo work...most exciting.

Friday, May 20, 2005

Summerfest Update and other NEWS...

We've been put on "standby" for Summerfest.

If other acts on the "accepted" list can't make the gig or get a suitable slot then we could the nod.

Not that I am hoping any singers choke on their barf, or a drummer loses an arm or guitarist racks up their Lamborghini on a beer run, but if they do they can rest assured that the show will go on....and we'll be playing it.

As for all the Listening Room pix, we sat down and listened to the tracks for the upcoming CD and each took notes and critiqued the mix. So starting next week the mixing will begin.

Keep you posted....

Listening Room

"Yah hey dare...PBR, Packers, Chuck Ts and Soul Amp...it's freakin' Wisconsin Nirvana...!!"

Listening Room

I didn't know they made Chuck Taylors for gunboats...

Listening Room

Acoustic treatment...foam in the corner and trade show booth panel...

Listening Room

"Hey...a PBR...how quaint...I haven't drank this since 9th grade..."

Sprizzo Gig Pix

SPrizzo May 14th, 2005

Mary plays air piano....go Mary go...

Sprizzo Gig Pix

SPrizzo May 14th, 2005

Sprizzo Gig Pix

SPrizzo May 14th, 2005

Sprizzo Gig Pix

SPrizzo May 14th, 2005

Sprizzo Gig Pix

SPrizzo May 14th, 2005

Sprizzo Gig Pix

SPrizzo May 14th, 2005

Sprizzo Gig Pix

SPrizzo May 14th, 2005

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Long Trip

Well I was thinking the other day about what it has takes to put together a decent album starting from scratch. Without any label or producer we have as many have and went the DIY route. Basically building a project studio from scratch from used, scrounged and shared audio and computer equipment....plus a fair amount of money and time. (The biggie. If you don't have them your screwed)

Over the past year I am not sure exactly how many man hours have been put into our first disk but it is going on an estimated 1560 hours (65 - 24 hour days) now. That includes time spent songwriting, rehearsing, personal practice, gigging. I based that on about an average of ten hours per week for M1 and myself and five hours per week for M2 and Steve. (that is a low estimate)
In the past few months though I have been hitting upwards of 20-30 hours per week as we are finishing up the last bits of recording and are starting to mix. Where did all that time come from? Well it came from not watching television for one. Getting off the butt and getting to work....it is a lot of work but it also is a lot of fun. (one "plays" music while working on music...)

During that time I rebuilt a new used G4, added a SCSI disk RAID array, tuned and polished and cleaned up over 20 gigs of AudioDesk 2.03 projects and creating a backup routine. Even though some songs we nailed the tone and performance we wanted on the initial scratch tracks other songs have been reworked some what to bring out "Soul Amp" in them. Meaning we are still finding our own "sound" and some songs we would go "oh hey that sounds like so and so..." well we want it to sound like us...at least that is what we hope for anyway, Vaugely familiar yet...different...of the 14 tunes bound for the disk....we wrote about 30.

There has been a lot of reading of manuals and internet articles, In particular for the mastering software we are using. Izotope's Ozone3. As well as AudioDesk's fat manual.

The great thing is that we have our technique down. Which was 3/4 of the battle. We had to figure out how to make our recordings sound the way we wanted them to. There was a lot of experimentation with mic placement and mic selection, drum heads, amplifiers, etc...so going into the NEXT disk....it is going to be a lot easier and I think it will really free up the creativity.

We were careful not to get too bogged down in technology as we went this first time. We played some gigs to break up the routine and get out of the basement....and feel like a "band".

Any folks reading this who are thinking about recording on their own...it is very doable with a minimal amount of expense and a lot of software tech savvy. (three of the four members of Soul Amp are IT workers by day)

But I would make sure you set reachable goals and a plan with obtainable short term goals from week to week. Keep everybody informed and communicate as much as possible in what every way you can. Be flexible but also learn to say "when" on songs. If it sounds bad it probably is. If it sounds good it probably is. Garbage in - garbage out.

Get good tone and use the right microphones. Keep it natural as much as possible. Get solid performances on scratch tracks....because they might end up being "the" tracks. Get your head into the songs and play it through. Punch in only as a last resort. Particularly on vocals. Finish one song at a time. If you have tracks to done on one song get them all done. Coming back a day or week later you might have to take that time to get your head into the song again. And that is wasted time. Plus the tone may be different and getting the same tone will be difficult.

Plan your studio time as much as you can. And communicate how the recording is going to proceed.

Above all focus on the songs, write them and record them as soon as you can to keep that "just baked" freshness...

Thursday, May 12, 2005

How Soul Amp got started...(M1 speaks)

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Sprizzo Saturday May 14th, 2005 8-10

Soul Amp plays Sprizzo Cafe Gallery slightly "unplugged" May
14th, 2005 8-10 p.m. - Downtown Waukesha $4 cover

Yerkes 'goyle

"In our time the battle's on.
A soldier's blood
runs in the sand.
A child's hand
gathers in a fist,
It's another stab..." - Division

Photo by M2

tubular images

"We live in a tube shaped life...waiting for our strip
mall heaven to arrive" - Throwing Rocks at Cars

Photos by M2

Friday, April 29, 2005

News of Late...

Well stuff has been coming together with the album. We have basically got the drums "in the can" as of last night. M1, M2 and I (Brad) tracked "Throwing Rocks at Cars" and I recorded the vocals. We really kicked it in the ass compraed to the first recording. We have 14 tracks for the disk. INcluding one spoken word piece penned by M2.

Aftger listening to the disk (though not in it's final mix and mastered version) I am pretty pleased. People have had comments like it is Elvis Costello or a dark Dave Mathews not bad examples from lay-folk so to speak.

The disk is dark in mood. And certainly there is a theme threading throught it, which was a goal from the onset. Now we have some last bits to do including bass tracks for about half yet to do. We are laying down another bass track with a miced amp this time. Seems to provide a tighter more focused bass sound. We are micing a small practice bass amp with a dynamic kick drum mic in foam. Very little EQing is required....and the bass is much easier to move around in the mix.

M1 has a few tracks to try some stuff on I have some more sigining to do and Steve the bass tracks. We should be done with all recording sometime next week and then we start the mixing.

It has been a long 8 months in the CatBox recording. Lots of frustration and expense with computer hardware but it has been worth it.

The latest mixes will be on our sonicbids site.

(Only three....)

Thanks for reading.

BRad

P.S. May 15th Sprizzo....come down and celebrate us getting the recording portion of the album finished...

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

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