The Linear Canvas

I originally wrote a lot of Bridge To Cross many years ago. I always thought it was too big for any of the tragedies I had known up till that point in my life. I had only recorded a rough guitar and vocal and that was as much work as I ever did on it.

A month after I broke my ankle in 2010, my mother had a stroke. I was lucky enough to spend a lot of the next year with her. As I sat in the nursing home with her one day, I realized I had been writing this song about her for some time and didn’t know it. I knew how this song ended and I hoped it wasn’t true.

Bridge To Cross

After mom’s death, I finished the words and tightened up the pauses some. Basically I used what I had recorded some time ago, with the latest digital retrofit. It sounded OK, but I thought I could do better.

I re-recorded the song in its entirety. I did it all in the last week and tried to do as fresh of an arrangement as I could. Regardless of how many times I had heard it the same way before.

I actually see images of the lyrics in my head as they happened in real life. I suppose that should make me sad. But I still feel lucky that I was able to spend so much time with her at the end. I call it my blessing.

I recorded Bridge To Cross using my Takamine acoustic guitar, Fender Stratocaster, Rickenbacker 4001 bass, Carl’s Roland Octapad, Roland MIDI slave keyboard, Line 6 POD 2.0, on Cakewalk Sonar v8.5 and Sony Sound Forge v9 using my PreSonus Firebox interface. Jill added the groovy vibes. Did I leave anything out?

I am not a big karaoke fan, although I certainly see the value in using it to have a little fun.

I decided to record me singing another favorite song of mine from a karaoke disc. I just recorded The Middle using a karaoke disc that I had, last night. There are many more songs on these discs, but I am not sure I am going to record anymore of them. I probably could’ve performed the music on this real fast and ended up with approximately the same song. But when I say “real fast”, I doubt if I could have done it in less than forty-eight hours. This I did in three. Only focusing on the vocals makes things go a lot faster and I still have a bunch of fun.

Sex and Candy has been a favorite song of mine for several years. I have the band Marcy Playground’s, album with Sex and Candy on it. I think I have another Marcy Playground CD too. I like their lyrics and the coolness of the over all sound. The rest of this particular CD has that same slow burn. I am not sure about the other CD. Sometimes I buy CD’s by bands I like, but never get around to listening to them.

Sex and Candy

[audio:http://www.linearcanvas.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Sex and Candy_m.mp3]

When I was organizing my CD’s, I found a karaoke disc that I bought several years ago. It was made by/for M-TV and has many  songs on it that I like. I guess that’s why I bought it. I hadn’t done anything with it until tonight.

As I was looking at the contents I noticed it had the song The Middle which was originally recorded by the band Jimmy Eats World. I have their CD that contains The Middle and it is one of my favorite songs. I decided to play around with it and ended up recording me singing it.

I didn’t play any instruments on this recording and there is also a back ground vocal in it that’s not me. Otherwise all the vocals are mine. I started on this really late (it’s 1:30 AM right now) and I didn’t warm up my voice at all. I also didn’t have enough water while I was singing. I hope I can talk tomorrow. As the song got near the end, I was losing my voice. Oh well, I think it came out pretty good anyway. Who needs to talk?

The Middle

[audio:http://www.linearcanvas.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/The Middle 20120125_1729m.mp3]

I bought my PreSonus FaderPort about two years ago. It is a USB controller for use with digital audio workstation (DAW) software like Sonar, Cubase, or Pro Tools. I am generally satisfied with it. It works mostly as advertised.

I recently reinstalled my Cakewalk Sonar v8.5 Producer on a different computer. Initially I had trouble getting the FaderPort to show up in the Controller/Surface list. But copying the correct 32 or 64 bit FaderPort.dll file to the proper Shared Surfaces folder in the Programs Files/Cakewalk folder, then registering the file with REGSVR32, does the trick. But that was the easy part. I couldn’t remember how to program the key mappings for my life.

One of the main selling points of the FaderPort was that five of its keys could be customized to the user’s needs. These Custom Key Mappings were prominent in the ad for the device, but nothing on the web site mentioned the mappings at all. And if it was in the manual, I couldn’t find it. I searched everywhere for an hour, trying to remind myself how I’d accomplished it last time, two years ago.

I decided to just play around with the controller options in Sonar. I finally looked at the Controller/Surfaces toolbar and then I remembered there was a properties button on it. I pressed the button and there were the key map settings I had spent way too much time looking for.

If I were going to change the FaderPort in any way, besides mentioning the properties page that the installation includes with the FaderPort driver in the manual, it would to be able to switch to Track View using one of the customizable buttons. For whatever reason that option has been left out of the key mapping list, while a plethora of other useless objects were included. There are even mappings for other views. Including a mapping for the console view which already is a permanent map on another key.

I wrote PreSonus and told them that once, and I got no response. It was probably because I use the FaderPort on Sonar instead of their DAW software, Studio One. That’s OK. I am just glad it works as well as it does. Next time at least I can find the answer to this problem on my own web site. Too bad PreSonus doesn’t have it on theirs.

I wrote Wipe Away the Tears back in 1994. My mother-in-law, Martha Fuller, had just passed away and I realized some lyrics I had written a few years before would be perfect for what I was getting ready to create. If I could find the original lyric sheet, it would have tear stains on it, I know.

A man from Germany e-mailed me a few years ago and told me Wipe Away the Tears was the greatest song he had ever heard. It may or may not be great, but I know it’s pretty special to me.

Wipe Away The Tears

I decided to remix the digital tracks I had recorded a few years ago as I am planning a new album release including this song and felt the previous mix was just not good enough. I’m not even sure this mix is the one, but it’s getting better.

I wrote the music and lyrics. I performed all the musical and vocal parts.  I played my Fender Stratocaster electric guitar and a Takamine acoustic guitar on the recording. I played bass guitar on my Rickenbacker 4001. The drums are my Ludwig’s. I played the tambourine as well.

I recorded this song on my Fostex VF16 digital multi-track a few years back. I mixed and mastered this song more recently on my desktop computer using Cakewalk Sonar v8.5 Producer and Sony Sound Forge v9 software.

 

The Old Prisoner isn’t really a new recording or even a remix. It is just one of my favorite songs that I’ve written. I decided to re-post it because I think it kicks butt. It’s a little bit outlaw southern rock, folk rock and hard rock. That kind of sums me up as a musician really.

I wrote it thinking about my uncle, Hurshel Kelly and his life growing up in eastern Kentucky. It’s about needing to escape from a reality that can become a confinement to some, but liberation for many others. The prisons that I refer to are more a metaphor for the chains and shackles that we constrain ourselves and others with. Sometimes the same prisons become very comfortable and we long to return to them, regardless of the reasons we are driven from them originally.

The Old Prisoner

My brother in law Ron Fuller from West Jefferson, Ohio brought over an audio CD made from an LP record that was created by the West Jefferson High School Choir in 1968-69 that he was a part of. There are several good songs on it, but as it is Christmas I thought I’d post this song from that recording, Do You Hear What I Hear?

I think the recording seems professionally done and the performance is top notch. Much better than I’d expect for any high school choir. I believe Ron said his cousin Jeff Fuller was involved in that process. Except for some crackling from the LP surface and 40 plus years of wear, I think it sounds pretty good. I ran it through a pop and crackle filter and did a volume maximization. It does sound a little bit better.

Do You Hear What I Hear? by the West Jefferson (Ohio) High School Choir, 1968-69

[audio:http://www.linearcanvas.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Do You Hear What I Hear-WJHS Choir.mp3]

I wrote and recorded Why Do I Have To Leave This Place back in November of 2009. I had gotten laid off from my job as a cable TV construction supervisor and was rehired a month later as a field tech. This song was completed in between those two events. At the time I felt like the world was caving in on me, and was wondering what I was going to possibly do next? I was glad to get a good song out of the experience and also to not lose my job after all. It was the same pay, so what could possibly go wrong?

Fast Forward nearly two years and three surgeries later…

Why Do I Have To Leave This Place

When I recorded this song I was still using my old recording system. I really hadn’t quite figured it out yet, although most of it was in place by then.

I was listening to the previous mix of this song and I realized it needed a remix. I removed some effects, I found audio that could be deleted and I also tried to spread the stereo image out a little more. But the major problem with Why Do I Have To Leave This Place was several of the original recordings were digitally saturated, i.e. distorted. I don’t know why, but for some reason I had the recorder’s inputs set too high and the result were snaps and pops in the original tracks. Using computer software I was able to eliminate many of the problems. I can still hear a few pops here and there, but considering what it sounded like before, it is a major improvement.

I am going to re-release the best of my last two CD’s on the internet. I am working with an online service called ReverbNation to market my music to radio and internet music stations. I assume that means iTunes  too, but I won’t hold my breath until I see it with my own eyes. I will have to start working on new cover art. I have a possible new title already and I have an idea for the cover too. All the rest of the songs had been mixed with my more up to date techniques. Now this one has been too. I think it sounds better. It always rocked. It just rocks without the crackles and pops now.

I wrote and performed Why Do I Have To Leave This Place. I used my Fender Stratocaster electric guitar, a Rickenbacker 4001 bass, and my Ludwig drums. It was originally recorded on my Fostex VF-16 digital multi-track. It was most recently processed using Cakewalk Sonar v8.5 Producer and Sony Sound Forge 9.

 

I said I was going to record Snowblind , a song written and originally recorded by the band Black Sabbath,  a few weeks ago. The song first appears on their “Vol 4”  album which in my opinion is the greatest Black Sabbath album. I wasn’t sure if I’d manage to get it done, but I’m here to tell you that it is nearly done, almost nearly done at that. All I need is to add some strings starting at the last verse and record the ending guitar solo.

I should say I need to learn the ending guitar solo. I had never played that deep into this song before to ever need the ending. So yesterday was the first time I ever looked at the sheet music for it. I think I can do it, but it is a lot of string bending and hammer-ons. The tuning on this song is 1.5 steps down from normal anyway and that makes the strings so loose that I swear you can see your breath moving them.

I just fade this recording out near the end. The finished total song length will be nearly seven minutes and the final solo is about one minute itself. With the holidays upon us, I hope I can finish it soon, but two weeks may be the best guess. It depends on how obsessed with it I become.

Snowblind (v0.93b)

[audio:http://www.linearcanvas.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Snowblind BS 20111122_1153 beta_mcd24.mp3]

If The Above Player Does Not Appear Or Does Not Work, Click Here

If there is one thing I regret in recording this song, is using the the same key that Black Sabbath played it in. My fingertips are intact and I think my vocals could have benefitted from a step or two higher in key. Also I used my Stratocaster. Tony Iommi used a Gibson SG guitar, which I think has a much fatter sound. My Strat has a humbucker pickup like an SG, but I still think the sound is slightly thinner.

There are some other things in the song that I will probably change too when I finish it. I think the bass guitar is too loud in this mix, for one. Some other things I notice I may just live with, making the American Idol excuse that I’m making it my own. I love that.

When I finish the song I will repost it. As I said, It’ll probably take me a week or two before I’m confortable recording the ending solo. I just thought that I wanted to share it now, because it rocks. Really.

I was looking at my web site and I realized I had never posted my most recent music video. I posted it everywhere else except my own site. How’d I forget that?

I used Sony Vegas Movie Producer to create the video. It is shot entirely with my digital 8mm Sony camcorder using green screen technology.