EP – Alternative Student

Making a Lofi EP

This December I graduated college and I celebrated by releasing a lofi EP. I wanted something commemorative of the college experience, and what better way than by making chill beats to study / relax to? Not to mention, I love lofi. I dropped it during finals week in the hopes of attracting more student listeners.

I started the writing process in June. I know firsthand the annoyance of putting together an EP and not liking all of the songs. I usually handle this by releasing fewer songs or by writing more, but this time I tackled the problem upfront. I committed to writing 20 songs and only releasing the best. This helped me relax while writing since each song carried less weight. I wasn’t too hard about whether or not I liked what I had; my goal was to finish two demos a week, good or bad. This gave me more freedom to experiment.

After I had my 20 demos, I found several that I could eliminate instantly. They were good songs that didn’t fit the lofi aesthetic for varying reasons: too exciting, too high energy, too much dynamic range, and a few that I just wanted to develop into hip hop beats. Writing a lot of tracks made it easy to finish these ideas as they came along rather than scrapping them on the spot. Especially after I had a handful I liked, it was nice to write without any sense of needing it to be good or having it fit in a particular way.

I eliminated seven songs for genre reasons and one because it was a remix (Misty by Ella Fitzgerald). I wanted to have five to eight songs. There were some I planned to include from the start (Morning Dew, Breakfast Brew, Halloween Chillin), and for the others I relied on Instagram polls. I had eight songs selected, but as the deadline got closer I narrowed it down to five. I was on the fence about a couple and opted for quality over quantity. The project is only 9 minutes long, but I think I made the right choice.

I’m happy with the outcome and I hope you can enjoy these songs while studying, relaxing, drinking coffee, or watching the snow fall.

Finals Week Available Everywhere.

Songs From Home: Quarantine Collabs

In March I had the idea to make an EP of music in response to the covid-19 pandemic. With the stay-at-home order and social distancing guidelines causing feelings of isolation, I wanted to celebrate what we still have. The idea was to collaborate with artists remotely from the safety of our homes.

When the stay-at-home order was announced, I moved back to Faribault with my family, and it’s there I started writing. I had a workspace, my laptop, headphones, and a MIDI keyboard. In one week I completed six demos, five of which would eventually make it on the EP. From there I announced my plan on Facebook and asked for collaborators. I got a great response!

Starting on April 18th, I released a song a week on Soundcloud. I also made a video to document the making of each song.

Since my instrumentals were done, I mostly needed vocalists, so I wasn’t able to work with everyone, but I’m very grateful for the people I did get to work with. Here’s everyone that helped on the project: Ocho (melody and lyrics for Life on Pause), Jacob Ross (bass for Life on Pause), Luke McGreavey (alto sax for Life on Pause), Anssi Tenhunen (voiceover for Infection Control), SMILEBRO (final drop for Infection Control), Matthew Ruff (melody and lyrics for House Arrest), and Mary Clare Stroh (melody and lyrics for Quarantine). My awesome collaborators made these songs much better than I could have on my own!

The final EP will be released on May 30th with the final song: the long-awaited Covid-19 Rap. For some reason, I got a lot of requests to rap about the virus. If I didn’t do it on this EP, it probably would have never happened. I guess we’ll find out if that’s good or bad.

Pre-save Songs From Home on Spotify.

Spring (2019) – Semester Wrap-up.

This semester I took Songwriting II, Musicianship II, Practicum in Music Industry, private guitar lessons, and Concert Attendance. I had a lot more on my plate this time around, but I only had to commute to school two days a week.

Songwriting II was my favorite class. We learned mixing techniques, made demos, and got lots of feedback. Class was split pretty equally between the classroom and the studio; the main way we learned was from our own projects. A student would bring something in and we would learn to edit, track, or mix whatever it was. I found it helpful because a lot of what I learned was stuff I didn’t know I was doing wrong. For instance, when recording bass, you want the initial sound to be kind of thin and not have a lot of low-end. The reason is that it’s easy to add bass frequencies later, but more difficult to take them out, and once you start taking frequencies out it messes with the tone you had going in. These are things you wouldn’t know unless someone told you.

Musicianship II was an ear training and sight singing class. We learned to sight sing solfege in major, minor, melodic minor, and harmonic minor. If you don’t know what solfege is, it’s a system of syllables relating to scale degrees. You’ve probably heard this song from the Sound of Music that explains it. Class was okay, but our time wasn’t utilized all that well. It felt like we didn’t have a lot to go through, so about half the class was the teacher joking around. I’m not criticizing him necessarily, we were well prepared for finals and all that, it’s just that the curriculum wasn’t demanding so we had time to kill. The most useful part for me was getting a better understanding of modes and how to use them.

Practicum in Music Industry was like a weekly TED talk. My professor was always enthusiastic; he talked about current trends, music news, and volunteer opportunities. He is a firecracker of optimism, and has the stories to back it. He’s worked with Prince and has taught countless successful students, so his fervor is earned. This class wasn’t hard, but it was uplifting and I looked forward to it. The only assignments we had was to usher two times, and volunteer for 16 hours. The volunteering could be done with more ushering or with other music events.

My private lessons were all right. Not very challenging, but still useful. Concert Attendance was kind of a hassle to get done, but that’s mainly because I live out of town. All in all, a pretty good semester. Here’s my final EP for Songwriting II.

I’m having a bit of an identity crisis with my music, so I decided to write two electronic songs and two singer-songwriter tracks. I’m happy with how these turned out, but since this was finished around the same time as Chasing Ghosts, I haven’t been promoting it. These songs are more about exploring sounds and finding out what I want to be musically, whereas Chasing Ghosts was a defined statement. That being said, I like these songs, and I’m happy to share my journey through them. I titled it Mankato Tapes, Vol. 1, and I plan on making successive volumes.

Luke Smith – Chasing Ghosts (New EP!)

When compiling songs for this EP, I wasn’t only looking for songs I liked. I wanted the songs to have a central theme. I’ve said before that albums are like a time-stamp of when they’re made, and I wanted to document a lot of the positive change that’s been happening to me over the last two years. Together, these songs chronicle positive experiences and lessons from a specific time in my life.

Originally, I had a picture of just the piano and guitar for my album art, but for the final version I added the ferret. Why a ferret? Well, my previous CD had a picture of a dog on it, which was based on this picture of my friend’s dog smiling at the camera while I performed.

One of my other friends owns ferrets, and she always said I should put her ferret on an album. I wasn’t going to initially, but since she’s moved back to town, she’s been to just about every one of my shows, so she’s earned it. I’m actually really happy with how it turned out. Her ferrets are pretty photogenic, and they even have an Instagram.

My previous EP was professionally printed using Copycats, a media duplication company in Minneapolis, but this time around I decided to go the home-made route. I burned the CDs from my laptop, and for the artwork I used this company called Avery. They allow you to upload your design onto their template, and with their custom printing paper I made CD stickers and CD inserts. This was perfect for me because I knew that most people wouldn’t buy CDs, but a few people would love them. I could accommodate those few without having to order a lot of product I didn’t need, and I can always make more later.

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This is my third independently released singer-songwriter EP, and I’m always trying to improve. I had these songs professionally mastered by a friend of mine, and distributed through CDBaby. That means they are available on Spotify and iTunes as well. I hope you enjoy this.

All songs written, produced, and performed by Luke Smith.
Mastered by Anssi Tenhunen.
Artwork by Phillip Lasfroh.

Planting a Tree

My original plan was to release a singer-songwriter EP every year. I succeeded in 2015 and 2016, but in 2017 I procrastinated. I kept giving myself excuses and putting it off. Other projects took priority and after missing my self imposed deadline, I lost motivation. I’m just releasing it now in 2019, and although that makes me happy, I wish I had done it earlier.

I was trying to think of a better way to phrase this without using the old cliche, but better late than never. This phrase applies to many things in my life: quitting a bad job, losing weight, going back to school, and learning piano. These are all things I could have done a long time ago. Once I finally took action, that was clear, but just because you didn’t start when you should have is no excuse not to start at all.

Take it from me. If you sit around thinking about something you wish you had done, and every year is another year you wish you had already done it, do it. Don’t give into the lie that there was a perfect time to do something and now it’s too late. The only cure to the regret you feel is to do what you should have been doing all along. As the Chinese proverb says, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

I’ll leave you with the long-awaited EP.

Releasing Original Music: My History

My first EP was released in 2015. I recorded it in my parents’ basement with affordable equipment and my own limited tracking skills. It’s not great, but I have a fondness for it. It’s a timestamp of my skill level at the time, both in writing and producing. The album art is a shot of me playing at the Contented Cow, a bar in Northfield I frequented. It’s a perfect cover because back then I was playing at the Cow about twice a month and the regulars were constantly subjected to my originals.

My second singer-songwriter release was in 2016. I wanted to expand on the sounds of the original so I added MIDI piano and strings. I also layered in electric guitar and harmonica. I was happy with the outcome and decided the artwork should be more professional. I got in touch with an artist I know and gave him a picture to work off.

infamous dog pic — Performing at the Contented Cow with Cody (2015).

I was very pleased with the outcome. High & Dry was sold on homemade CDs, but for Fade Away I got them professionally printed. I used CopyCats, a CD and DVD duplication company in Minneapolis. I opted for the cheaper, paper sleeves rather than jewel cases.

fade away print — Original paper sleeve for Fade Away (2016).

The sales have not been great. It took over a year for me to break even on the cost of printing and artwork, but I think it was worth it. The important part for me is that I created a piece of art I’m proud of and have a tangible way of sharing with others.

I’m currently working on a new EP and will be releasing it in two parts. Part one will be available digitally on January 18th, and part two later in March. It’s being recorded in my home studio, and I’m utilizing musical skills and production techniques I learned in school. Here is the first single:

If you’re looking to record and release your own music, I highly encourage you to do so. It’s incredibly gratifying, and it doesn’t matter if your first recordings aren’t great. You’ll get better as you practice, just like with your instrument. And it’s okay if the first song you publish song doesn’t get a lot of traction. Take it from someone who’s released albums on Facebook with only two likes, the joy is in the making.

Semester Wrap Up – Final EP

Well, this semester is coming to a close. Although I was only in three classes this year, I’ve grown a lot. I have an arsenal of new writing techniques, a better knowledge of production, and a higher standard for my own material. The greatest change in my writing is the increased use of layers, both for instruments and vocals. I always knew about the importance of instrument layers, but I never applied them as much as I could. Layering instruments can really fill a track out and bring it to life. Vocal layering is another great tool I hadn’t been utilizing. Because of my own struggles performing and recording, I shied away from it. I’ve found that simply adding a unison vocal or singing up an octave can do wonders and is well worth the effort.

My industry class was a one hour a week lecture. It focused on current trends in the industry, music news, and other things we should be excited about. The big take away from class was to pay attention: follow successful people on Twitter, read the news, and keep yourself informed. Solid advice, and if the class itself wasn’t all that informative on it it’s own, it sure was a nice pick-me-up. Professor LeGere’s enthusiasm is contagious, and hearing his lectures made you share his optimism.

Here is my final EP submission for Songwriting 1. Originally, three songs were required, but that was later changed to two. According to the teacher, this was because some people had submitted “dumpster fires” as their first songs. I wish I had re-recorded the vocals for “Lights,” but I had a cold and ran out of time.

“Let Go” was recorded at the school’s studio, but “Lights” was recorded at home. The guitar and bass in “Lights” were recorded directly into my interface and processed using Guitar Rig. The solo for “Let Go” was recorded using a Stratocaster into a tube amp.