It’s Here! Buy the new Mike Blair CD Alone Under The Stars. Songs, vocals, and acoustic guitar by Mike Blair. Electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bass, mandolin, percussion, engineering, and production by Carl Strempler. Buy your copy here!
NEW CD RELEASE – Alone Under The Stars
June 5th, 2009The Land That I Love – Part 2
May 18th, 2009
In Part 2 of Land That I Love I took a different approach to the track. I’m facinated by the intermingling of sadness and joy. It’s important to differentiate between happiness and joy. Happiness is a temporary emotional state that focus just on the immediate positive situation. To me, joy is a deeper state that revels in the full range of experiences of life. Regardless of what happens to you, a deep faith in an eternal hope results in joy. In this track I tried to bring the mornfulness of the slide sound evolving into the joy of the hope that stretches before us.
From a musical perspective I was inspired by the Classic Album DVD Queen – The Making Of: A Night A The Opera. The multiple layers of thick singing guitar sounds. I slowly bought in more slide tracks, fitting them together and then building it with more and more tracks with both licks and harmonies. Underneath the track I used the guitar as a percussion device, tuned to open E, hitting harmonics. You can hear more of that as the track fades. All slide was recorded with my Danelectro into an Fulltone OCD (version 1) into a T-Rex Replica and then into the Swart Atomic Space Tone. If you are wondering what the difference between different Fulltone OCD pedals is check out this YouTube clip.
The Land That I Love – Part 1
May 6th, 2009
- Keeley Fuzz Head
It has been a while since my last posting. I’ve been quite busy finishing Mike Blair’s “Alone Under The Stars” album. Last night the “GOLD” master was handed over to him to send to production. This will be available on iTunes and you can get a physical copy from other sources. A CD release party is in the works. Watch for Mike on tour across Western Canada this summer promoting the record.
In the meantime, I thought I would share more from the album to wet your appetite. There are two tracks on the album that I am featuring. In this posting I will focus on “Land That I Love” Part 1. This track touchs a sentiment that many of us who live on the prairies have, the love/hate relationship with our geography. I spend most summers in the Alberta Rockies fly fishing and getting away from our mosquitos. I guess you could say we are looking for “relief” in several ways. The bottom line is that, while we love the mountains, we belong in the prairies.
In Part 1 I would like you to focus on how a simple guitar part, actually just a two note alternating line, played on the Telecaster, really transforms the track. I wanted to get a bright cutting sound with a bit of “jangle” often associated with Vox amplifiers. To achieve this I used the Swart Atomic Space Tone and then used a Keeley Fuzz Head fuzz pedal to had a hint of fuzz using the germanium transistor mode. Germanium transistors are used in pedals like the classic Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face used by Hendrix and others. A reissue of the original Fuzz Face pedal is currently made by Dunlop. Germanium transistors are also used in high end studio preamps to introduce a warmth and body to the tone. Germanium transistors of often criticized for being flakey and inconsistent in their performance. Its just this feature that gives them character. Alternatively fuzz pedals use Silicon transistors which provide much smoother performance. The interesting result is that this creates a harsher fuzz sound.
Inspiring Practice Spaces Make All The Difference
February 21st, 2009
Every artist needs an inspiring place to write and practice. Hal Ryckman came by my office with the idea of renting some space for the various bands we are in. Wanting to really have a place to play were the band could hear itself and nobody would care how late we played had a lot of appeal to me. His son’s band has a practice space in a building near our office downtown. So…off we went to check out what was available. We found this space and knew right away it was perfect. I suggested to Hal that we pickup some fiberglass panels and wrap them in material. One Saturday we headed to Mitchell’s Fabrics in downtown Winnipeg and went straight down to the bargain rack. There we found three colours of the same fabric and right away knew this was the ticket. The next Friday right after work we set out to create 30 panels and mount them on the walls. The spray glue we used was a tad intoxicating and when I went to the bathroom during a break as I stood washing my hands I found that I was literally stuck to the floor. Opps. As I lifted my feet the tiles started to pull from the bathroom floor. I hope the building super doesn’t read this blog!
My Favorite Top 3 Recordings of 2008 – #1
February 7th, 2009Sometimes its worth picking up those little free download cards from Starbucks. I happened upon the song “Asking for Flowers” by just such a download. As soon as I heard the song I knew there was something very special going on with this record.
My favorite recording for 2008 is Kathleen Edwards, “Asking for Flowers”.
Song writing, perfect guitar tones, compelling and unique vocals. I just keep playing this record. You know you have something special when a record sounds better and better to you with every listening. Perhaps I’m just a sucker for sad songs. Perhaps I’m just a sucker for broken and evocative vocals. But listen to those guitar sounds, semi-distorted, layered, and throbbing with lush tremolo . Fantastic!
There is nothing flashy about his record. If you are looking for shredding, you are not going to find any here just beautifully composed, recorded, and executed parts and counter melodies. Colin Cripps, who has worked with Bryan Adams and Sarah McLaughlin, shows how its done. It doesn’t hurt that Benmont Tench (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) plays organ or Greg Leisz (Wilco, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Sheryl Crow) play pedal steel.
The record opens with “Buffalo”. I love how you can hear the creaking of the piano and the squeak of the pedals. From the opening bar you know this is not going to not be the usual sanitized pop album. The vocals haven’t been tuned to death and the raw emotion comes through.
The title track “Asking For Flowers” is a brilliantly crafted tune. The guitar solos have this scratchy bite that captures the frustration and anger of the tune perfectly. “Alicia Ross” is the true story of the murder of a young women in Markham, Ontario, one of the saddest songs I’ve ever heard.
“I Make The Dough, You Get The Glory” with lines like “Your the Great One, I’m Marty McSorley” this is a piece of true Canadiana. Great pedal steel playing on that cut. Every tune on this record is strong ending with the atmospheric “Goodnight, California”.
Great music moves you and this record moves me every time I listen to it. The palpable mornfullness of these songs make this my #1 pick for 2008.
My Favorite Top 3 Recordings of 2008 – #2
January 28th, 2009If you have never paid attention to Ry Cooder it is well past time you did. A quick browse on YouTube will show you evidence of his pure artistry. One of the greatest perveyors of slide guitar that has ever walk the face of the earth. He’s the hidden man. He’s the seminal figure in roots rock music. Follow this link on Ry Cooder and read up on his exploits in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and beyond. He has been a pioneer recording one of the first all digital recordings “Bop Till You Drop”. That recording demonstrated his deep gospel influences. On Mavis Staples’ 2007 recording ”We’ll Never Turn Back”, Ry produced the record and again showed his deep understanding of earthy black gospel music. Ry’s playing has always had a roughness about it. Like hands that have worked a hoe. This deep connection with nuance and regional music has always drawn me to his playing. It’s never about flash. It’s always about substance…and humour. He plays all styles of music with an heir of respect.
And so I come to my #2 favorite recording of 2008. Ry Cooder’s, “I, Flathead”. This is the third in Ry’s California Trilogy of concept records. Ry uses the backstory of drag racing culture on the salt flats of California to explore Bakersfield influences, Bob Wills and the Texas Cowboys,
The hilarious tune, “Spayed Kooley”, is about a dog that will attack you if you sing out of tune. This is a not so subtle reference to Spade Cooley the notorious (for good reason, read his wiki profile) fiddle playing band leader. Steel Guitar Heaven harkens back to Bob Wills and the Texas Cowboys. Interestly, Spade Cooley didn’t make it to Steel Guitar Heaven. It is easy to think about music as fitting into clear catagories, such as Rock, Country, Blues, Jazz, and Bluegrass. This is not how music evolved in North America. This is a oversimplification designed to help marketing. It has nothing to do with how musicians play music or how the music of today has evolved. North America is a melting pot of influences. Musicians play all styles. Check out the jazz influences on ”My Dwarf is Getting Tired”. In fact, just check out this whole recording. It is my #2 pick for 2008.
My Favorite Top 3 Recordings of 2008 – #3
January 19th, 2009Being in a retrospective mood I thought I might share my top 3 favorite recordings of 2008. These are albums that I’ve found hard to take off of my MP3 player and keep going back to for inspiration. The choices may surprise you.
#3 Al Green – Lay It Down
The Reverend brings it on this album. Sure his instrument isn’t what it used to be but true artistry is about getting the most out of what you’ve got. The mellow thick guitar tones bring to mind Eric Gale’s guitar work in the late 70’s and early 80’s when he held court in New York’s session scene (check out Paul Simon’s One-Trick Pony). Rich grooving bass lines throughout. The drum sounds are played with nothing but feel, then run through outboard analog compressors, amp farm (on the hats believe it or not), and then compressed again. This combination forms a subtle backdrop keeping your focus on one of the greatest voices in R&B. Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson produced this great example of how an album can take on distinctive analog sound in this modern age of pristine recording techniques. Recorded direct off the floor with the song writers, band, and vocalists all in the room together give this record a vibe somewhere between Memphis and Motown.
Many guitar players listen to guitar players for inspiration. For me its Ray Charles, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, and Al Green. If you can capture just a bit of that soul in your playing you’ve got something worth listening to.
Moonlight Ride
November 3rd, 2008
Moonlight Ride is a song that will preceed Alone Under The Stars on Mike Blair’s CD. Here I’ve posted the rough backing tracks without the vocal. Final vocals need to be recorded for the tune. In this tune I’ve used a very Brad Paisley like approach. Telecaster tones feature throughout. The use of tremolo on guitar has become very popular. It has replaced the Chorus pedal as a popular treatment for the guitar to add an element of motion to the guitar sound. The rhythm guitar track was originally only a Telecaster through an compressor into the Swart. I added a second track using a P-90 equipped Paul Reed Smith McCarty. The lead is just the Telecaster into the Keeley Compressor into the Swart turned up. Pick with authority and that’s all it takes to get that Nashville sound.
Ride This Train
October 27th, 2008
Inspired by seeing Willie, Mike went home from the concert and wrote this tune. Friday night Mike played the tune for me and we recorded the acoustic rhythm and vocals. Then Mike said, “hey, it’s just like Good Hearted Woman”. Off to iTunes to find Good Hearted Woman. How many versions of Good Hearted Woman do you think there are? Well there are over 80 versions on sale on iTunes alone. So I suggested that Mike consider creating an all Good Hearted Woman double CD compilation from iTunes. If you get one from him for Christmas feel free to blame me. Go check out Willie’s version (Nelson or Boxcar) and then check out the Belligerent 86 version. I guarantee you will laugh when you hear those side by side. Inspired by Willie’s version I set out to create a similar overall feeling. The mandolin is such a happy sound juxtaposed to the rich tones of the Colling acoustic fills. Saturday morning I tracked the bass part. Sunday I tracked mandolin, percussion, and acoustic guitar fills. By Sunday night the tune’s tracks were complete. This is a rough mix with the fills up a bit higher than what the final mix will have. I’ve found that you can’t frown while playing mandolin. See if you can find the parallels between this tune and Willie’s Good Hearted Woman and drop me comments on what you discover.
Quin McAdam – October 23 – Vocal Compression and Acoustic Guitars Added
October 23rd, 2008
To add some more character the vocal track I selected a compressor plug-in that emulates a vintage analog compressor. It adds a little bit of grind or distortion to the signal which has the effect of creating a bit more warmth in the vocal. Compressors bring out more of the sound between the notes as they amplify the lower volume points and reduce the volume on the peaks.
In this version the acoustic guitars have been replaced. Micing of the guitar is done with an Audio Technica 4041 and a Shure KSM32. The track is coming together now and is ready for a final mix down. I like to do that at a local studio where they have a number of speaker configurations including a big blaster.