This week I’m going to be working sessions during the day with my good friend Jason Poe.  We already tracked and mixed one song today- we have about seven more to go.  Working with Jason is going to be the perfect project for this break.  He’s laid back, simple in his approach, a good communicator, but most of all- a great songwriter.  I had a blast working with him today, it really feels like a vacation.  I’m a very lucky guy to get to work with him.

The lesson from today:

Less is more- but sometimes you have to add more to get less.  Wait, wha?  Let me explain.  Let’s say you have your acoustic and vocal track, and you want to avoid them getting crowded in the mix by other instruments.  Here’s a little trick we did today.  We tried adding a very reverby shaker panned right,  and a cymbal (played lightly with a mallet) panned left.  Then we added an occasional floor tom (also very reverby) panned center.  These were all on a group channel.  I pulled the volume on them down so low, it was almost subliminal.  Suddenly, the mix seemed wider, and the vocal and guitar seemed almost more alone in a big space.  I think it turned out great.

Thanks for reading.
Jeremy

Thanks for reading!

Jeremy

PS.  Once you have watched the video, simply refresh the page to keep the commercials from playing on repeat.

Dear Sound Men (or Women) of America,

We have an awkward relationship don’t we?  I try so hard to make you like me.  I’m kind to you and address you as “sir”.  But in this moment of honesty, I’ll confess that my kindness is coming from a place of selfishness.  I do not actually care if you like me or my music, but my livelihood depends on you whether I like it or not.  You see, you hold all of the power in a live show.  Or at least, you control two very important aspects of it.  1.  You control the way the band feels while they are performing.  and 2.  You control the way the audience hears the music.  That’s a lot of power, and frankly, that’s almost more power than I have as a performer.  And it seems as though you could not care less about your job.  I hate that.

I certainly understand that there is a certain repetitiveness to your job- every night it’s a different band and everybody has an opinion of how you should do your job.  One person wants the vocal louder, another wants the guitar louder, and everyone thinks they could do your job better.  I get that, and I’m sorry for that.  I don’t envy that position.

However-

I would make one tiny suggestion- and this gets to the heart of what this letter is about.  If dealing with bands every night wears you out, and you dread going to the venue you work at, and you dream of doing other things with your Friday nights, and you’ve lost interest in what anyone else thinks about your mixes- then do me one favor.

Find a new damn job.

But is a rude sound man really that common some people might ask?  It’s so common they have a name for it.  It’s called the “Sound Man Spirit”.   It’s the roll of the eyes, the “Yes, can I help you?!?” when someone in the band approaches your area, it’s the showing up an hour late, it’s the “Sorry, that’s just the way this room is”, it’s the “You wanna mix this yourself?!?”, and it’s the look of longing for death when you show up to work- that is the “Sound Man Spirit”.

And venue owners, if this describes your sound man, you need to fire him yesterday.  We bring in the customers.  Without the bands, you are just a bar.  You need to know your sound man and know how he interacts with the bands.  He will leave a lasting impression on the acts that you bring in that they will not soon forget.  I’ve officially started blacklisting venues that have rude staff and sound men.  Yeah, you probably won’t miss me, but you will soon miss the masses of bands that join together in boycotting you for your neglect in keeping an eye on your staff.  There is no shortage of venues in any given town.

I’m sorry to be so abrasive here, but it’s for the best.  Thank you for your time.

Jeremy

Today we are in San Francisco taking some time off before our show in Sacramento tonight.

Thanks for reading.
Jeremy

We were also rehearsing for a short live video performance for Invisible Children.   We took a short hike up into the hills and filmed an acoustic version of When We Were Young.

Hope to see you tomorrow night!  Thanks for reading.

Jeremy

Moving right along…

I thought I’d share our show poster that Elsie’s brother Doren made for our Hotel Cafe show (tickets available here).

I love it.  Doren is one talented guy!  Anyone coming out to the Denver show tonight?  Hope to see you there!  Thanks for reading.

Jeremy

I feel like at this point, I should tell you all how amazing the MUTEMATH production team has been to us.  Typically, one of the roles of the production team is to keep the opening act from touching anything, and making sure they feel as small as possible.  However, the team that MUTEMATH has put together for this tour, seems to be determined to make this the easiest tour we’ve ever been a part of.  I truly am amazed every day at the kindness of these guys.  So, a HUGE thank you to MUTEMATH and their team for making things so much fun!

Thanks for reading.

Jeremy

PS. There seems to be a minor issue with my blog archives, and we are on it!  Should be up and running again soon.

One show down, about 29 to go.  We had a great time in Houston last night!  MUTEMATH put on a KILLER 2 hour set.  Thanks to everyone that came out.  Tonight we’re gonna be in Austin.  Any of you planning on coming?

Thanks for reading.

Thanks for reading.

Jeremy