Fantasy Band “Third Eye Expression”
I chose the Chic rhythm section; the guitarist is Nile Rogers, bassist Bernard Edwards, and drummer Tony Thompson. I chose the Sugar Hill Gang as the main performers with MC Hammer being the vision creator. The reason I chose this group of individuals is to create a funky disco hip-hop album with the songs having a social awareness theme to them. With Chic being in my opinion the disco kings, The Sugar Hill Gang being very familiar with Chic’s musical style, and MC Hammer having already done the social awareness in his music I think they could work wonderfully together.
The song that I would want them to create would be original. I think music is lacking substance in today’s market; so one characteristic of the song would definitely be to have a meaning behind the song that could span across generations. The other characteristic of the song would be to make you feel good and dance while you are listening to a song that is about social awareness. Most songs that I know of that nature are sit down and listen songs, so imagine a song that makes you think about “What’s Going On” and at the same time have you burning it up on the dance floor.
As a producer I am the strongest at getting the vision to work. For years now I have been saying “if you mix those old school lyrics with these new school beats, the song would be off the chats hot”. So what I would do is get The Sugar Hill Gang to dig deep and not be influenced by what’s selling in today’s market and give me some of that old school meaningful lyrical content. I would do the total opposite with Chic, I would have them listen to the new school beats and have them add their legendary flavor to the composition. Then I would have MC Hammer come in and give insight on what formula he used to create his “That’s Why We Pray” song.
The name of the band would be Third Eye Expression. I would first promote the band on every social media site that is in existence. Through social media you can reach a wider audience than through any other medium that I can think of at this time. I would also have a video to promote the band. I think hearing the story is one thing, but once you can put an image with the story you then can relate to it so much more. I think that the videos of today are pretty much the same as the music no substance. So the video that I would have to go along with the song for Third Eye Expression would have to be moving and captivating.
“Let’s Stay Together” The Al Green Story
The topic I chose to do this blog post on is Al Greens’ “Let’s Stay Together”. Al Green wrote the song with Al Jackson Jr. in five minutes after Willie Mitchel gave him a rough mix of the tune. Al Green didn’t want to record the song at first, after arguing with Willie for two days he agreed to record the song. The song “Let’s Stay Together” was the first number one song for Al Green. The song was the turning point of his career, after “Let’s Stay Together” he produced another smash hit “Still In Love With You”. The song “Let’s Stay Together” not only influenced that generation of the 70’s, it has spanned across decades of generations even today’s heavily Pop influenced millenniums. Justin Timberlake, who was influenced by Al Green, performed the song “Let’s Stay Together” with Al Green and Boy’s II Men at the 2009 Grammy awards. The artist Tina Turner did a cover of the song on her “Private Dancer” album after it was suggested that she cover the song by “Heaven 17” members Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh.
The one obvious and most talked about unique characteristic of Al Green is his departure from secular music to devote his self to religion. After his departure from secular music Al Green purchased his own church where he was the pastor and a Gospel singer. Al green would eventually return to secular music in 1993, he recorded a duet with Lyle Lovett called “How Time Slips Away”. Another unique thing about Al Green is that he was burned severely by a pot of grits. In 1974 while exiting his bathtub his girlfriend poured a boiling pot of grits on him causing second degree burns to his back and arms. Although his career suffered a severe setback from this incident, he would eventually recover and record another album “Full Of Fire” in 1976.
The reason why I chose to do this post on “Let’s Stay Together” is because even though it’s not my generational music, I could listen to this song over and over again and love it as much as the first time I heard it. By no means am I a singer, and I usually don’t sing along to songs. Every time that this song is played I get to belting out the lyrics like I was in the studio singing right along with Al Green. As an industry professional, the route Al Green took to carve out his path in the industry inspires me. He just kept pushing on until he discovered whom he was and didn’t get discouraged in the process. To me this speaks volumes to his character; despite the ups and downs he stayed true to his self.
Despite me taking a course on music production, and doing very well with no prior musical training, I am not interested in producing music. When it comes to the music industry I am an artist down to my soul. While I enjoy all the things I have learned most of it is just more tools that I have in my journey towards my real path, which is a mixing engineer. So after graduating Full Sail I plan on continuing my education and attending a school that focus more on mixing the music so I can become stronger in that aspect of music. In an earlier class I was asked what I really liked about music, my answer to that question was the way that the music is mixed down. The placement of the instruments, and the added effects is what I give the most attention to in any composition. I really don’t hear chords, key signatures and things of that nature, when I listen to music I hear panning, compression, reverb, and those types of things. So down the road I see my self as a mixing engineer with an arsenal of music knowledge to back me up.
Emagic Xtreme Sampler 24 Bit
The Emagic Xtreme Sampler 24 bit widely known as the EXS24 has impacted electronic music in many ways. The use of sampling is a very important part of the electronic music genera. Because of the use of sampling, early electronic music producers didn’t have to by a lot of expensive equipment to create music. The EXS24 can also function as a synthesizer with the use of sound packs, and the synthesizer sounds that comes loaded in the Apple Logic DAW software. Synthesizers were the bread and butter of electronic music, with the EXS24 now you can trigger these sounds with a keystroke.
The sheer versatility of the EXS24 from being able to play a single sample across the keyboard, to being able to play multiple samples across the keys speaks volumes in its self. The EXS24 can also be used a sound design piece of equipment. The EXS24 has the ability to take any piece of audio and manipulate it with all of the extra features such as cut off, LFO, pitch, envelope, and many more functions. And lastly the EXS24 functions as a virtual instrument recreating sounds such as guitars, drums, pianos, brass, strings, woodwinds, and many more.
As a listener I like the sounds that the EXS24 makes. I think that the quality of the sounds are really good considering that you hearing the sounds in a digital format. As an industry professional I must say that the EXS24 is my favorite piece of equipment. In my personal opinion once you have learned to use the EXS24 properly there is no limit to what you can compose using just the EXS24. I have loaded up just all EXS24’s and created just as good of a composition as if I would have used multiple virtual instruments. My experience with working with multiple DAWS’ such as Reasons, Fruity Loops, and Pro Tools, I always want to come back to Logic just because I love the EXS24 so much.
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk are the hands down inventors of electronic music. There music is based on innovative technology and experimental sounds. Kraftwerk used methods that were exclusive to them in the beginning to produce electronic music that was years ahead of what anyone was doing at the time. The image of Kraftwerk was political to non-existent. They had a lot of political themes behind their image but at the same time seemed robotic in the way they presented their music.
Kraftwerk albums released from 1974 trough 1981 were “Autobahn”, “Radio-Activity”, “Trans-Europe Express”, “The Man-Machine”, and “Computer World”. All of these albums in my opinion had wonderful music on them. This time period is considered to be the best of Kraftwerk although the albums didn’t do so well with charting at the time. The reason for this was not that the music wasn’t worth the chart recognition; it was mostly due to the fact that the music was way ahead of its time. When listening to songs from the albums I heard a lot of music that early hip-hop artist sampled from Kraftwerk.
Kraftwerk influence on electronic music artist was apparent due to the fact that no one was creating music using the techniques that they were using prior to hearing their music. They made such a big impact on the European scene; the rock bands of that time period added the electronic sound along with their instruments to create something similar but not quite the same. Kraftwerk production skills were astounding; I was overly impressed when I learned that they had technology custom made to their specs at a time when technology was non-existent. The fact that you had to almost be an electrical engineer to work with some of the equipment that they used was impressive also. To learn how to play some chords and drums grooves just take practice, but to run those patches through those synthesizers from back then was more than practice it was ingenious. Watching the documentary on Kraftwerk and seeing what they were using for instruments, I wondered how is that piece of equipment that looked like nothing I had ever scene is making those wonderfully unique sounds.
As A listener I have always loved Kraftwerk music, it was my breakdancing music. Also coming from a family of DJ’s I have always heard their music is mixes. As an industry professional I aspire to be as innovative as Kraftwerk was. I have always said all of the really good music producers have a signature sound. In my opinion that’s what separate the best from the rest. When I here Kraftwerk music it sounds like Kraftwerk music, so it’s not just the know how that counts you also have to put your own individuality on your productions.
Brian Eno Multimedia Presentation
Brian Eno Multimedia Presentation
The U2 video takes a little bit to load it’s a large file.
Marvin Gaye
Prior to releasing the iconic song and album “What’s Going On” Marvin Gaye’s music was sexy music. Marvin Gaye did a lot love songs and sexually suggestive music. Marvin Gay was considered a sex symbol of his era therefore making him a pop icon, as a pop icon you’re not expected to be as socially conscience as he was. From my personal research the man wasn’t reflected in the music that he was delivering before “What’s Going On”.
A big influence on the creating of what’s going on was the Vietnam War. But expanding on the meaning felt behind the whole song concept was social injustice. Marvin Gaye speaking to his brother about issues, that his brother Frankie Gaye had during his participation in the war weighed heavily on Marvin Gaye. But the real song inspiration was Renaldo Benson seeing kids being beating by the police.
The four tops member Renaldo Benson Came up with the original idea for the song. While walking he witnessed people getting beat by the police and said to his self what’s going on. After collaborating with Al Cleveland and writing the lyrics he presented it to his group who wanted nothing to do with it. His group believed it was to much of a socially conscience song and didn’t fit there groups image. Renaldo Benson shopped the song around until it ended up in the hands of Marvin Gaye who took the song and shaped a little to fit what was happening in the neighborhoods of black Americans.
Getting the song released was a whole different challenge in it’s self. Marvin Gaye’s Berry Gordy wasn’t a fan of the new image Marvin was trying to portray. Believing that Marvin was purely a sex symbol Berry Gordy refused to release the album. Marvin Gaye then proceeds to protest the label and his career, saying that he had had a successful career and was of to pursue other dreams. Marvin Gaye then try’s out for the Detroit Lions Football team where by the end of the tryouts he was doing pretty well. Awhile later after the Album had been sitting with the help of Harry Balk Marvin released the album.
One thing that set the album apart from the typical album that was being released at the time was the lyrical content. While everyone else was doing love music Marvin stepped out of the box and released a whole album of meaningful music. The album showed that the man behind all of the sexiness really had something more to say. Another thing that set it apart from the music of the time would have to be the production. From my research I found that a lot of thought process went into producing the album. One thing I found really impressive is that the sax player hit on the mark with a warm up session. I found myself wondering what was he thinking when Marvin said ok you can go now.
The impression that that album had on me as an industry professional was extraordinary. That was the album that got me into wanting to be a musician. I remember listening to the album and saying as a youngster that this guy is singing about everything that I am thinking about. As a listener the album is just so inspirational, I still listen to it and think that it stands the test of time. It amazing how the album is still relevant to what’s going on in today’s society, as a listener I wonder why doesn’t it get through to people so we change our ways. If I had to pick a greatest album ever made it would be this one.
Brian Eno
One of Brian Eno’s early musical influences was American rock and roll. He had a sitter that use to come back with records that he would listen to and was amazed by the sound. Another influence was 40’s big band jazz music. He had an uncle that use to listen to that kind of music and Brian was particularly into a group called Ray Conniff Singers. In my personal opinion I would say that Brian Eno was influenced by the art that went into the making of this music. It seemed like from my reading that he liked how certain things sounded.
Listening to “Music For Films”, and “LUX” I expected to hear something totally different being that the years were so far apart. To my surprise it wasn’t that very different at all. In the “Music For Film” album it seemed to me that Brian Eno experimented with a lot of sounds that I wasn’t familiar with. While I recognized the instrumentation in the “LUX” album I think Brian Eno stayed true to the core of his sound throughout his musical career. Because of the similarities in Eno’s music I went to listen to something that I hadn’t heard and that was “Talking Heads” “Fear Of Music”. You can here the influence that Eno has on the production; it is like some funky music with Brian’s ambient influence going on in the background giving the music a distinctive sound. I think while you can hear the influence of Brian Eno it’s not quite the same as listening to Brian Eno’s personal music.
I think the sounds that Brian was creating set his music apart from other recordings. Brian Eno used sounds in his music that I never would have thought would work. The way he pairs the ambient sounds with the pop music is just unbelievable to me. I also think the production qualities were clean and cohesive, you here every little piece even though in some of his productions there is a lot going on. In the reading material it was said that he favored using a synthesizer, I never knew that you could do so much with a synthesizer. Some of the sound that I heard seemed like they came way out of left field, and made me wonders what was the guy thinking to come up with this.
As a listener I was impressed with the way that Brian Eno was able to incorporate his sound with pop music and not lose his sound in the process. I am not a big fan of the Brian Eno solo projects myself, but the work hid did with others infusing his sound with theirs have my attention. As an industry professional Brian Eno makes me want to dig into the synthesizer more and really unleash the power behind it. I mostly just work with the stock sounds in a synthesiser, now I want to go play around and see what sounds I could create with one.
The Beatles
The Beatles music before the Revolver album was mainly focused on girls, and love that seemed to be the popular theme for that time period. The non-musical interest that influenced The Revolver album was drugs. The beetles started to experiment with LSD and pot, and that’s where all the imagination that went into the album came from.
The Beatles did some groundbreaking things when it came to recording their music. One of the things that really impressed me was the use of the Leslie Rotating Speaker to turn the studio into an instrument. John Lennon had his producers take the speaker out of the piano and hook it to his microphone, effectively bouncing his voice all around the studio. The use of compression on the drums was innovative, nothing like that was done until the recording of Revolver. The use of compression on the drums made them stand out and hit harder, that process is still used to this day by composers across all genres.
Also the use of automatic doubling of the vocals was a very impressive thing for the Beatles to come up with. With the use of automatic doubling the studio sessions ran smoother, being that they no longer had to try and match the first vocal to get that thick rich vocal sound. By just using a slight delay on the vocal, the delay followed the vocal and gave it the same affect as if it were recorded twice.
As a listener I think all of the Beatles music is agonizing to listen to, especially the Revolver album. I never did and still don’t get all of the hype behind the Beatles; in my opinion I thought the Beach Boys were a better group. As a music industry professional I use some of the technics that they invented when making my music. Before reading about the Beatles I had no idea they were the first to do some of the things that they did, with that said I couldn’t really say that the Beatles music has too much of any influence on me. The things that I have learned to do with music came from other influences’ even though the Beatles may have invented them. I really respect the guys for some of the groundbreaking thing that they did, but the fastest way to chase me out of a room is to play a Beatles song.
The Beach Boys
Before making the Pet Sounds album the Beach Boys music and image was fun, sun, and surf. Their music was considered “pop” in the sense that it was popular for the time period. The music that was doing the most selling was songs about love, dancing, and just having fun, and that is why it was considered pop music. The album Pet Sounds was an attempt at breaking away from that image.
Brian Wilson was a very imaginative person with creating music. His role with the Beach Boys was singer, songwriter and producer. He was also the groups’ manager after the breakaway from his controlling father. At one point due to a fear of flying, Brian Wilson was strictly the behind the scene guy for the Beach Boys.
Brian Wilson was inspired by the Beatles album Rubber Soul to create his Pet Sounds album. He heard the Beatles album and wanted to do something outside of what the Beach Boys were doing at the time. Another influence on the album Pet Sounds was the Wall Of Sound production of another young producer Phil Specter. After hearing Be My Baby by the Ronettes’ on the radio, Brian Wilson went and bought ten copies of the song. Brian Wilson began to study the way Phil Spector combined instruments on the song and was awed. That changed the way Brian Wilson approached his productions.
Some of the instrumentation used on the album Pet Sounds was like nothing that was being done at the time. Brian Wilson experimented with sounds that were outside of the box like bicycle bells, and overturned water bottles. The lyrical theme of Pet Sounds made it stand out from anything the Beach Boys had ever done. The lyrical theme was so different from the normal that some of the guys from the band, and the label weren’t sure that it was the right thing to do. As great as the production on the album was, to Brian Wilson’s surprise it didn’t go as well as anticipated.
To be honest, I personally only like one song off the album as a listener. When it comes to the Beach Boys music, I prefer to listen to the fun in the sun surfer music. As a industry professional the album pet sounds inspires me with the stereo mix down, and the lyrical content. Even though that type of music is not my favorite to listen to, I can really respect the thought process behind writing the songs. The way the album was mixed down had me saying wow, everything fit in the pocket just right.
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