deeje: Gallery

vocal chest muscles

Mon, 09 Feb 2004 00:04:21 GMT

I had my first recording session yesterday morning, a small window of opportunity while P & J were at swimming class. It felt incredibly good to just let it out. GarageBand continues to amaze with its simplicity and correctness. What I mean by that is, what it does it does really well. I can create a new track, turn on the monitor, then just let it record while I experiment with some vocalizations.

At some point yesterday, I realized that I wasn't really singing to my fullest potential, and so I kicked it up a notch, and could immediately feel it in my chest and in my headphones. After about a dozen repeats of this chorus I have in mind, I listened to it again, and was amazed at the difference between before and after I exercised my chest. It is somewhat like lifting heavy objects with your back versus your knees: a wrong way and a right way. I think I'm finally beginning to "feel" the right way to sing.

Now I just need to practice more. Finding these windows of opportunity is difficult however, since the house is rarely empty. On the other hand, later in the day my chest felt like I had been hit by a truck, so a slower ramp up is probably in order.

Studying Song Structure: Powder Cruise

Sun, 01 Feb 2004 00:24:13 GMT

Back in 2001, I wrote a few songs in Reason, and posted it on mp3.com. Since that site is no longer available, I thought I should find my old songs and re-post them somewhere. I was able to recover one called Powder Cruise.

My focus in music over the last few years has been increasingly on song structure. Reason has a great interface for building songs out of blocks of sound or midi. Here's the song map for Powder Cruise:

As you may notice, I was building the song with the intention of adding lyrics, but alas Reason has no audio support. Here's the mp3 playing in QuickTime.

I know there are a few musicians reading this, and I'd very much like to hear your thoughts on how you approach song structure (send me email). Also, now that I'm working with GarageBand, I'm eager to find a way to bring the core blocks of Powder Cruise in, and then work on some lyrics and vocal hooks. ...of course, this means lots of grunt work exporting loops as AIFF files and converting them into AppleLoops.

Budding Rockstar

Fri, 30 Jan 2004 19:49:28 GMT

This morning, Jackson came into my office while I was gathering things for work, and started playing with the keyboard. I set him up on my knees, and he sat still while I placed the headphones over his ears. Then he played with a bunch of instruments, and kept looking at me with glee and wonderment whenever the instrument/sounds would change. Perhaps one day he'll use the picture above as an album cover ;-)

Recording studio, kinda

Fri, 30 Jan 2004 19:48:50 GMT

I set up a bunch of my musical equipment last night. Got my Mackie mixer plugged into the Line In on my PowerBook, and got my mic and Prophecy hooked into the mixer. The Prophecy is also sending MIDI data to the PowerBook, so in GarageBand, I can either control a software instrument, or record Prophecy instruments into an audio channel. I also discovered that the Prophecy, while being a monophonic instrument, sends polyphonic MIDI data.

My ultimate goal is to start recording some vocals and songs that I've been developing over the last year or so. I've got the ability, but I'm woefully out of vocal shape, and the office isn't very conducive to vocal recordings. Besides the constant grind of the iMac server fan, there are precious few times when the house is empty enough for me to belt out some lyrics. On the other hand, I don't have the budget to rent a practice space.

Top 5 runner-up

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 19:36:36 GMT

Hey, I made the Runner-Up list for a Top 5!

November 4, 2003 - The Top 16 Movies Starring Dogs (Part II)
5> Spay Misty for Me
4> A Leash of Their Own
3> Hounddog Day
2> Looking for Mr. Goodbutt
1> Carface
The Runners Up & Honorable Mention submissions

The Bitches of Eastwick

(Cheri Yannuzzi, Drums, PA)
(Curtis Stoddard, Milwaukie, OR)
(Deeje Cooley, San Francisco, CA)
(Jason Bayne, San Antonio, TX)
(Mike Klauss, Richmond Heights, OH)
(Steve Stermer, Colorado Springs, CO)
(Matt Larson, Beaverton, OR)

Apparently, I was in good company :-)

Lookin for a new song

Wed, 26 Mar 2003 19:13:06 GMT

Lookin for a new song lookin for the words lookin for a new song lookin for the words

look inside look inside see my world today look inside deep inside what things have come my way

look at me look at them wage our war today

Gallery will open soon

Wed, 12 Feb 2003 02:07:00 GMT

In this channel, I will post new posters and music files...