One Man's One Man Band

Helter Skelter

I am excited to have completed my first full video in my new studio!

Today was a drum test in my new studio. It's been a while since I recorded with my acoustic drums, and I am having fun!

(There was blood by the end!)

But, Honestly (Foo Fighters)

Here's a little something so you can blast into your weekend! If you don't have patience, then just start at 2:26. This is one of the most underrated Foo Fighters songs.

Just a simple jam over a 5-measure chord progression.

"Black, White, and Other Colors"

Drums came first. I then noodled on the guitar until I found something that fit. Bass came third. With those three, it still didn't sound quite right, so I threw in some organ from the B9.

It's rough in a lot of parts, but my philosophy is to just finish and then make the next one better.

Hanging out with a buddy, and we decided to try laying something down.

Just a little experiment. I hope you enjoy!

(See first comment for YouTube link. See second comment for details.)

Happy Sunday! Please enjoy this choir piece I put together with some other members of my church.

(If it sounds like there are more people there, it's because many of us sang multiple parts. There are actually over 20 voices, in all.)

YouTube link in the comments.

I made a quick video this morning.

Please enjoy this unlikely collaboration! I came across the left video a couple of years ago. At the time, I really liked it, and I saved it to my saved videos. I figured I would try to jam along with it someday. A few days ago, I came across my saved videos (which I had forgotten were a thing), and I rediscovered that video. It was then that I got inspired not only to play along, but to record it, too. Here is the product of that.

To me, this guy is "Random Facebook Guy." To him, that's who I am!

Shared with permission from the original video's copyright holder.

Were You There on That Christmas Night

This was my first time making a video with multiple of me in the same shot. It seemed to work!

Saint Cecilia (Foo Fighters)

This song by the Foo Fighters is one of my favorites. I woke up last weekend and just knew I had to give it a shot. This video didn't take me anywhere near as long as my others, but it is one of my favorites.

It might sound clickbaitey, but the roar at 2:22 is otherworldly and is perhaps my favorite moment of music I have ever created!

Electric guitars were recorded through a Blues Jr. (left) and a Vox AC-15 (with Celestion Blue) (right) or a Marshall DSL40C. Each amp was miced with a Sennheiser e906 and sent to Reaper via a Focusrite Clarett 8 Pre USB interface. Vocals were done on a Shure SM58. The drums were from a Roland TD-30. The bass was direct via a head. The audio was mixed in Reaper. All video was recorded on an iPhone X selfie cam and edited in Premiere.

Here is a video I produced with my group. The audio and video were done by me remotely, without any in-person contact. It was an exciting challenge, and I hope you enjoy!

The song itself was written about my group's former drummer, who passed away unexpectedly a few years ago. He will always be our beloved Astro Boy!

「アメリカの音楽」を聞くと、何を連想しますか？ロック音楽でしょうか。それともヒップホップでしょうか。それともジャズでしょうか。教会の賛美歌は多分連想しないでしょう。

Just had an idea this morning on guitar, so I figured I would try laying something down.

Peacekeeper (Fleetwood Mac)

I heard this song for the first time recently, and I immediately fell in love with it when I heard the Cm7 chord in the first chorus. I soon decided I had to try my hand at recording it. As I got into it, I realized there was way more to it that I had originally thought, but with lots of listening and a few dozen takes on certain parts, I was able to make it happen.

Electric guitars were recorded through a Blues Jr. (left) and a Vox AC-15 (with Celestion Blue) (right). Each amp was miced slightly off axis with a Sennheiser e906 and sent to the DAW via a Focusrite Clarett 8 Pre USB interface. Vocals were done on a Shure SM58. The drums were from a Roland TD-30. The Martin guitar was sent direct and also miced with an MXL 603S condenser. The resonator was miced with an MXL 603S condenser. The bass was direct via a head. The audio was mixed in Reaper. All video was recorded on an iPhone X selfie cam and edited in Premiere.

Thank you for watching, and I hope you enjoy!

Stronger (John Mullins and Brittany Blaire Andersen)

STRONGER CHALLENGE - Today, Jon Mullins posted himself singing this gorgeous and powerful song (written w/ Brittany Blaire Andersen). He dedicated it to a friend that’s going through an unspoken tragedy. I have several friends going through a variety of tragedies right now, and I send all my love to them and to anyone else who might need it right now.

All singers, I’m hoping you’ll watch Jon’s short verse & chorus on JonMullinsOfficial page and then record yourself doing your own version (a capella is fine) to help make his friend stronger! Singers, let’s send some musical prayers & hope!

“STRONGER” LYRICS
Left alone in the dark
And you feel like there’s
No light to be found
In an instant your whole life
Changed and it all came
Crashing down
Crashing down, down, down

There’s no escaping
This battle that’s raging
There’s so much left to lose
So a quick talk with Jesus
You put on your armor
‘Cause the only way out is through

You are stronger
Stronger than you know
‘Cause you’re a fighter
You believe in what
You’re fighting for
Survivor
There’s nothing
That you can’t endure
‘Cause you are
Stronger

Thanks to Jim Huish and Dustin Kyle Kenyon for inspiring me to participate.

Lake Massawippi (Tim Blais (music and lyrics) and Reuben War (music))

This beautiful song is by Tim Blais (music and lyrics) and Reuben War (music) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtPRZ4h7SmM). I stumbled onto Tim's video years ago, and it is hauntingly beautiful. To be honest, I was terrified that someday Tim might take it down, and that was part of the motivation for making this video.

(Mr. Blais, if you happen to see this, I hope you will forgive me for making this without having first obtained your permission! Please know that I am not in this to make money or to increase my reputation. I just sometimes record as a hobby only.)

You may know Tim Blais from his creation Bohemian Gravity (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rjbtsX7twc), which predated the Bohemian Rhapsody craze by many years. I have spent years watching episodes of PBS Space Time (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7_gcs09iThXybpVgjHZ_7g), so that I might someday understand that video a bit more.

You can buy Tim Blais's version of this song here:
http://timblais.bandcamp.com
Other of Tim's relevant links are as follows:
http://www.youtube.com/TimblaisMusic
http://www.youtube.com/acapellascience
http://www.youtube.com/cabin9music
http://www.myspace.com/nintendor

All vocals were recorded through an SM58 into a Focusrite Clarett 8Pre interface. The guitar is a 2018 Gibson R8 run through a Klon KTR and a JHS Bonsai into a Fender Blues Jr. The amp was miced with a Sennheiser e906, and the signal was sent to the Focusrite. The audio was mixed in Reaper. The video was done in Adobe Premiere. (Incidentally, getting a 68bpm looped video to display correctly in a 29.97fps video format was the stuff of nightmares. I spent perhaps 20 hours trying to figure it out. Then, after inadvertently deleting the entire video, I restarted and was done within about 8 hours. Laying down the vocal tracks took only about 2 hours.)

Enjoy!

Fix You (Coldplay)

I spent about 50 hours on this one. Much of that time was spent figuring out how to use Reaper, but I think I learned a lot.

I first captured the drums and bass on a Zoom R16. Drums were done with an SM57 on each tom and on the snare. The bass drum was done with a Beta 52A lying on a blanket inside. Overheads were cheap MXL 603s condensers. The bass guitar was an 18V active signal straight into the board. I then realized that the 9-year-old Zoom's preamps weren't going to be quiet enough to do everything I needed them to, so I upgraded to a Focusrite Clarett 8Pre (USB). It was an expensive decision, but I think it will be worth it in the long run. Vocals were done on an SM58. Guitars (Gibson ES-335 and Epiphone Nighthawk) were recorded through a Fender Blues Jr. into a Sennheizer e906. Guitar signal chain was Wampler Ego Compressor, Keeley D&M Drive, Rowin delay, amp. The "organ" was done on an Epiphone Wildkat. That signal chain was Dyna Comp, EHX B9 Organ Machine, Boss GE-7 Equalizer, Focusrite. Everything was mixed in Reaper. Video was done on the selfie camera on an iPhone X.

And if you have made it this far in the comments, I'll just say thanks for watching, and I hope you enjoy!

And yes, I did mean to troll Dave Grohl!

Remedy (Black Crowes)

That took a lot longer than I thought it would (114 takes and about 25 hours of video editing production)! The signal chain was as follows:

Vocals were all done with a Shure SM58.
Guitars and piano were done with a Sennheiser e906.
Bass is an 18V active signal directly into the mixer.
Drums were done with a Shure Beta 52A placed on top of the blanket inside the bass drum. There was also a Shure SM57 on the hi-hat and another on the snare and another as an overhead. I originally tried using condensers, but they were giving too many untamed highs, and I decided to simplify and just go dynamic.
The acoustic guitar had an active Fishman piezo, under-bridge pickup that I sent straight into the board.
Everything went directly into a Zoom R16.
All audio mixing was done on the R16.

Video was taken with the selfie camera on an iPhone X.

Video production was done on Adobe Premiere Pro CC. This was my first project on Premiere, and it took some getting used to, for sure.

Thanks for watching!

Original Song with No Name

First test of the new software. Things are starting to get more sophisticated.

2018.12.26

Proud Mary (John Fogerty)

2018.01.31

Cherub Rock (Smashing Pumpkins)

One of my favorite songs to play on drums. Given the limitations of the software used to create this, I wasn't able to fix all of the multifarious mistakes. My motto is to finish and then make the next one better. (The next one is better!)

2018.01.31

Back in Black (AC/DC)

My first attempt at making a video where I did all the parts.

2016.12.21