so, last thursday i was given the opportunity to partake in one of the BEST recording experiences of my life...
now, granted, i haven't been involved in too many:
*156 my junior year in high school (the worship team i was on at church)
*chorale (the choir i was in for two years in college)
*random other personal recording done during college
but, all the same, last thursday was too much...partly because of the studio...partly because of the piano...
the studio i worked at is called bassline studio (http://www.basslinestudio.com/studio.asp)
....it was like a trip into the past...into this completely crazy seventies steakhouse/recording studio/house...
the piano i used was a bosendorfer (http://www.boesendorfer.com/index.php?menu=6)
it was like playing butter...if butter could make beautiful music. the keys were loose...but not too loose...and the sound was soo resonant...ahh! wonderful!
so, anywho, i played four songs:
*crying alone (acoustic version)
*why don't you (acoustic version)
*lady monday
*this is love
oh, it was wonderful...we recorded around one o'clock...which was interesting, cause my voice is not really at top quality until around eight at night...but i think things went really well...i played and sang at the same time on all four songs, so as to give them a very live feel. i'm really anxious to see how things turn out.
anywho, all that's left now is guitar (acoustic and electric) on all four band songs, strings on a few songs, and a little bit of fun percussion here and there...oh, and vocals on four of the songs, of course...
so, when it all comes down to it, i'm very excited...very very excited...it's looking like our end of november finish might actually be a possibility...
...well, or maybe sometime during december:)
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Saturday, October 13, 2007
lesson number fourteen...
so...
tonight i played a *short* gig at a place called the manhatten...i kinda opened for another band...(aka the venue double booked)
well, the interesting thing is...the venue was not really my style at all...very large...the crowd wanted to dance...
:::i play music that people want to sit and listen to or slow dance to:::
well, i trucked through my hour and fifteen minutes-due mostly to the fact that i had three friends in the audience...along with my folks...
even covered 'i wanna hold your hand' by the beatles...(i have officially fallen in love with the song)
...lesson learned...it may not be your style of venue...but you're still getting paid...and at the end of the night...you need to deliver...
so deliver (as painful as it was) i did...
(and i made about $75 a hour in the process)
tonight i played a *short* gig at a place called the manhatten...i kinda opened for another band...(aka the venue double booked)
well, the interesting thing is...the venue was not really my style at all...very large...the crowd wanted to dance...
:::i play music that people want to sit and listen to or slow dance to:::
well, i trucked through my hour and fifteen minutes-due mostly to the fact that i had three friends in the audience...along with my folks...
even covered 'i wanna hold your hand' by the beatles...(i have officially fallen in love with the song)
...lesson learned...it may not be your style of venue...but you're still getting paid...and at the end of the night...you need to deliver...
so deliver (as painful as it was) i did...
(and i made about $75 a hour in the process)
Thursday, October 4, 2007
lesson number thirteen.
so, i decided that i'm going to go back and re-look at all of the shows/performances that i've had thus far...
i want to find a lesson from each performance...but for now i'm just going to start with tonight.
so, i performed tonight before stephanie pilypaitis...at a martini bar here in town called myth. it's this adorable place (kinda reminds me of minneapolis) and we had a fairly packed house tonight. the fun thing about it was that we didn't know a whole lot of the people, so some new people got to hear us sing.
well, anyway...i did about an hour set in the beginning...kinda played my best songs. and i just had a great time! i was super relaxed, and just loved it.
while we were setting up, a few people asked why i had my computer with me. (i always perform with my lyrics and set list on my computer) my explanation was that i like to be organized...and save set lists so that i can reference them later.
well, about an hour and fifteen minutes into stephanie's set, a woman approached her and asked if she knew how to play norah jones' "come away with me". stephanie didn't know the song, and so looked at me and i said i would see what i could do. so, i looked up the chords, and decided i would be able to play it. i then found out it was the woman and her husband's anniversary...so i decided to tell them there was room for them to dance up in front. (there really wasn't...but i thought it would be cute) so anyways, i went back up, they came up and danced, and i played the song. it was seriously magical. there were about fifty people in the bar and at that moment, it seemed like it was just me and them. they kept saying, 'oh my gosh, you're so good'...'you're better than norah jones' and all sorts of other things...people were even taking pictures of them dancing and me singing.
after it all, i sat back down, and the woman came up to me and gave me a tip...it was the perfect ending to my playing the evening.
so lesson number 13: having your computer with you to look up music can end up making someone's anniversary...so always use it for performances...
jessicalindsey
i want to find a lesson from each performance...but for now i'm just going to start with tonight.
so, i performed tonight before stephanie pilypaitis...at a martini bar here in town called myth. it's this adorable place (kinda reminds me of minneapolis) and we had a fairly packed house tonight. the fun thing about it was that we didn't know a whole lot of the people, so some new people got to hear us sing.
well, anyway...i did about an hour set in the beginning...kinda played my best songs. and i just had a great time! i was super relaxed, and just loved it.
while we were setting up, a few people asked why i had my computer with me. (i always perform with my lyrics and set list on my computer) my explanation was that i like to be organized...and save set lists so that i can reference them later.
well, about an hour and fifteen minutes into stephanie's set, a woman approached her and asked if she knew how to play norah jones' "come away with me". stephanie didn't know the song, and so looked at me and i said i would see what i could do. so, i looked up the chords, and decided i would be able to play it. i then found out it was the woman and her husband's anniversary...so i decided to tell them there was room for them to dance up in front. (there really wasn't...but i thought it would be cute) so anyways, i went back up, they came up and danced, and i played the song. it was seriously magical. there were about fifty people in the bar and at that moment, it seemed like it was just me and them. they kept saying, 'oh my gosh, you're so good'...'you're better than norah jones' and all sorts of other things...people were even taking pictures of them dancing and me singing.
after it all, i sat back down, and the woman came up to me and gave me a tip...it was the perfect ending to my playing the evening.
so lesson number 13: having your computer with you to look up music can end up making someone's anniversary...so always use it for performances...
jessicalindsey
Thursday, September 27, 2007
this is what i'd like to call an update...
it's been a while. so i shall write.
let's see about two weeks ago i had a gig at a place called the "keno cabana". i think i would probably consider it my first real bust of a gig. it was after the husker/usc game (ask me if i really care) and apparently since the huskers lost all of nebraska had to get their prescriptions for anti-depressants refilled. so, after the game, everyone went home leaving me, my dad, my guitar player and his wife and the staff to listen. lame.
none the less, i still got paid...(half the original amount) and got a gig booked for november. (hopefully there won't be a husker game that night)
also, i played again at chilis. this time they called me. it was for their st. jude's all profits day. now here i have a few things to reflect on.
the night started out rough. they were planning on putting us (i'll get to who "us" are in a minute) outside, but it was going to rain...so that was a no go. so we wandered around for about twenty minutes trying to figure something out...i was about ready to leave-thank goodness for my dad who can talk things out much better than i can-they ended up putting us in the bar....and people loved it. we made about $100 for the hospital, and just overall had a great time. now i'll get to the "us".
see, over the past four months i've been having a really hard time meeting friends here in omaha, but lately-i think things are changing. I've been spending some time with a fellow omaha musician, stephanie pilypaitis over the past few weeks, and i am really excited for whats to come in our friendship. she came out and played with me for the chilis event, and in turned asked me to play with her next thursday at this AMAZING martini bar called MYTH. we went tonight and spent about two hours just talking and listening to some music played by chris saub, probably one of the hardest working musicians in omaha. anyways...i'm just really excited, because now not only am i making some friends...but their also musicians...and good ones at that!
other than that, nothing much new in the music realm. the cd's been on hold for about three weeks, scheduling conflicts and business abounds. but...we'll get back in track soon, i hope!
i'll let you know how things go next thursday night!
jessicalindsey
let's see about two weeks ago i had a gig at a place called the "keno cabana". i think i would probably consider it my first real bust of a gig. it was after the husker/usc game (ask me if i really care) and apparently since the huskers lost all of nebraska had to get their prescriptions for anti-depressants refilled. so, after the game, everyone went home leaving me, my dad, my guitar player and his wife and the staff to listen. lame.
none the less, i still got paid...(half the original amount) and got a gig booked for november. (hopefully there won't be a husker game that night)
also, i played again at chilis. this time they called me. it was for their st. jude's all profits day. now here i have a few things to reflect on.
the night started out rough. they were planning on putting us (i'll get to who "us" are in a minute) outside, but it was going to rain...so that was a no go. so we wandered around for about twenty minutes trying to figure something out...i was about ready to leave-thank goodness for my dad who can talk things out much better than i can-they ended up putting us in the bar....and people loved it. we made about $100 for the hospital, and just overall had a great time. now i'll get to the "us".
see, over the past four months i've been having a really hard time meeting friends here in omaha, but lately-i think things are changing. I've been spending some time with a fellow omaha musician, stephanie pilypaitis over the past few weeks, and i am really excited for whats to come in our friendship. she came out and played with me for the chilis event, and in turned asked me to play with her next thursday at this AMAZING martini bar called MYTH. we went tonight and spent about two hours just talking and listening to some music played by chris saub, probably one of the hardest working musicians in omaha. anyways...i'm just really excited, because now not only am i making some friends...but their also musicians...and good ones at that!
other than that, nothing much new in the music realm. the cd's been on hold for about three weeks, scheduling conflicts and business abounds. but...we'll get back in track soon, i hope!
i'll let you know how things go next thursday night!
jessicalindsey
Thursday, September 13, 2007
tonight was....cold...
something ineteresting happened today...
i had a gig...
an outdoor gig to raise money for st. jude's children's hospital at chili's...
...and it was sixty degrees out with blowing wind...
...i played for a total of six people plus a couple of wait staff people...no one wanted to sit outside...
cold + outside = stopping an hour early cause my fingers were shaking
i had a gig...
an outdoor gig to raise money for st. jude's children's hospital at chili's...
...and it was sixty degrees out with blowing wind...
...i played for a total of six people plus a couple of wait staff people...no one wanted to sit outside...
cold + outside = stopping an hour early cause my fingers were shaking
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
it's what they call a 'scratch'
so...tuesday was officially day...let's call it day six of actually being in the studio....
(i have to pause for a moment to say that in the midst of feeling quite possibly the most alone i've ever felt in my entire life...i
know now more than ever that this is exactly where i am supposed to be right now)
so..tuesday.
we showed up to the studio around nine at night...afterall, what good musician ever records a minute before then anyways. tuesday night was the night for me to lay down piano tracks to (what we thought would be) four of the six main songs. started with 'crying alone'. it's an easy enough song for piano...nice 6/8 feel...pretty straight forward. it took me a take or two...but we got it. then we moved on to 'why don't you'. let me just say that this song is turing into something i never ever expected it to turn into. the bass line is absolutely phenomenal. it's kinda got a life of it's own. so, the piano playing was again pretty straight forward (so as to not take away from that the bass and lead guitar would be doing).
two songs down. two more to go....
and this is where i got scared.
see, i would never really consider myself a 'piano player'. i play the piano. i can easily accompany myself while i sing. but...playing lead keys really isn't my strength. so...the next song we took on was 'before'. matt (my producer) and i wanted to come up with some great coldplay-esque piano lick that would kind of work as a hook for the song. (something that when you hear it you know exactly what song is playing) well, we thought about it for a good twenty minutes or so...and then decided...this is not for me to play. i'm not a fill player...at all....which is totally ok...but...at the moment seemed kinda disappointing. plus, it didn't really make sense to try and put in a piano hook with only bass and drums laid down....since 'before' isn't really a piano driven song. so we put it on hold.
then we came to 'johnny'...and thankfully it didn't take us more than say, ten minutes, to realize....there most likely won't be piano on this song either. (at least not any played by myself)
so...then we moved on to me laying down some scratch vocals for the lead guitar player and strings guy to hear while they are laying down their tracks...it was fun...except that i am in the middle of an allergy thing...so...at times...well, let's just say those vocal tracks will be deleted someday...
...so...for now...things are looking like the end of november...hopefully...we have a lot of outside people that have to do stuff with the album (mastering, strings, artwork) so...it kind of depends on their schedules...
...i am so loving this...
(i have to pause for a moment to say that in the midst of feeling quite possibly the most alone i've ever felt in my entire life...i
know now more than ever that this is exactly where i am supposed to be right now)
so..tuesday.
we showed up to the studio around nine at night...afterall, what good musician ever records a minute before then anyways. tuesday night was the night for me to lay down piano tracks to (what we thought would be) four of the six main songs. started with 'crying alone'. it's an easy enough song for piano...nice 6/8 feel...pretty straight forward. it took me a take or two...but we got it. then we moved on to 'why don't you'. let me just say that this song is turing into something i never ever expected it to turn into. the bass line is absolutely phenomenal. it's kinda got a life of it's own. so, the piano playing was again pretty straight forward (so as to not take away from that the bass and lead guitar would be doing).
two songs down. two more to go....
and this is where i got scared.
see, i would never really consider myself a 'piano player'. i play the piano. i can easily accompany myself while i sing. but...playing lead keys really isn't my strength. so...the next song we took on was 'before'. matt (my producer) and i wanted to come up with some great coldplay-esque piano lick that would kind of work as a hook for the song. (something that when you hear it you know exactly what song is playing) well, we thought about it for a good twenty minutes or so...and then decided...this is not for me to play. i'm not a fill player...at all....which is totally ok...but...at the moment seemed kinda disappointing. plus, it didn't really make sense to try and put in a piano hook with only bass and drums laid down....since 'before' isn't really a piano driven song. so we put it on hold.
then we came to 'johnny'...and thankfully it didn't take us more than say, ten minutes, to realize....there most likely won't be piano on this song either. (at least not any played by myself)
so...then we moved on to me laying down some scratch vocals for the lead guitar player and strings guy to hear while they are laying down their tracks...it was fun...except that i am in the middle of an allergy thing...so...at times...well, let's just say those vocal tracks will be deleted someday...
...so...for now...things are looking like the end of november...hopefully...we have a lot of outside people that have to do stuff with the album (mastering, strings, artwork) so...it kind of depends on their schedules...
...i am so loving this...
Sunday, September 2, 2007
part deux of the state fair....
i'm going to take a second and explain the title of this blog to you, whoever you are...
'the one that got away' is *potentially* going to be the name of my project when it comes out (which will hopefully be by late october/early november) i got the idea for the name from one of my dad's friends and at first, i didn't really like it at all. to be honest, i wasn't totally sure if i even wanted to title the album, thought i might just call it, 'jessica lindsey' or something original like that. well, i talked with my producer and he said it is totally normal for people to title and ep...so, i started thinking up some titles and the one that just kept coming back was 'the one that got away'. i couldn't shake it.
so i started thinking about it more....and i fell in love with it for so many reasons.
not to sound proud...but i think it's a great way to look at situations when they don't quite go your way...
take the state fair talent show for example. today was, by far, not my best performance...i got ambitious and walked off stage and into the audience while i was singing...which kinda slipped me up a little...but besides that my vocals were strong. i had really great stage presence...and had a loud cheer from the audience when i was done...and yet, the judges didn't like me...i guess i wasn't their style....i sang 'we belong' by pat benatar...maybe they don't like pat benatar...
WHO DOESN'T LIKE PAT BENATAR THOUGH???
anyways...so back to 'the one that got away' so i think that i have found myself feeling a little like i am the one that "gets" away in a lot of circumstances...maybe it's a good thing...i always learn from every experience. but...well...it's hard to be "let go"....
so...what do you think of it for a title of an album? if the cover had catchy artwork on it...would you buy it?
'the one that got away' is *potentially* going to be the name of my project when it comes out (which will hopefully be by late october/early november) i got the idea for the name from one of my dad's friends and at first, i didn't really like it at all. to be honest, i wasn't totally sure if i even wanted to title the album, thought i might just call it, 'jessica lindsey' or something original like that. well, i talked with my producer and he said it is totally normal for people to title and ep...so, i started thinking up some titles and the one that just kept coming back was 'the one that got away'. i couldn't shake it.
so i started thinking about it more....and i fell in love with it for so many reasons.
not to sound proud...but i think it's a great way to look at situations when they don't quite go your way...
take the state fair talent show for example. today was, by far, not my best performance...i got ambitious and walked off stage and into the audience while i was singing...which kinda slipped me up a little...but besides that my vocals were strong. i had really great stage presence...and had a loud cheer from the audience when i was done...and yet, the judges didn't like me...i guess i wasn't their style....i sang 'we belong' by pat benatar...maybe they don't like pat benatar...
WHO DOESN'T LIKE PAT BENATAR THOUGH???
anyways...so back to 'the one that got away' so i think that i have found myself feeling a little like i am the one that "gets" away in a lot of circumstances...maybe it's a good thing...i always learn from every experience. but...well...it's hard to be "let go"....
so...what do you think of it for a title of an album? if the cover had catchy artwork on it...would you buy it?
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