mankato – 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.

Covid-Class

I am in my final semester of college, and what a semester to go out on. I keep thinking that if I had graduated in the spring, I would have avoided a lot of hassle. At the same time, it’s a unique experience not everyone goes through. I have mixed feelings.

I’m a senior in the Music Industry program at MSU Mankato, and a lot has changed. Some classes are online, others in-person, but most are “Hyflex,” meaning students can decide whether to attend online or on campus. There are signs everywhere with slogans like “Maskup Mavs,” and reminders to social distance. It reminds me of propaganda from Fall Out or Bioshock (which makes it kind of fun).

Strangely enough, these guidelines are actually making my final semester easier. Because so many of my classes are online, I’m only on campus one day a week. This has allowed me to temporarily move back to Faribault. My expenses are down, so I can work less and focus on school.

While in Mankato I was working 30 hours a week and taking 17 credits. I didn’t have the time or energy for personal projects, so my creative pursuits took a backseat. Now that I have more free time, I can do well in classes and be creative. I know this year has been hard for most people, but for me it’s been a blessing in disguise. Since June, I have written more songs than I had in the past year, and this extra time has really forced me to prioritized what I want. There’s no excuses left for me, it’s either do the work or don’t.

I’m looking forward to what this final semester brings, and what adventures await me. I’m grateful to be where I am and I have a lot of hope for the future.

Beat Station EP

My creative projects fell through the cracks during my Fall semester. Understandably, I was busy with work and school. Over break I knew I’d have a lot more free time to make music, but I also knew I’d waste that time without a plan. Thus, the Beat Station was born. My guidelines were simple: I had to write an EP of electronic music, but I could only write songs while at the Fillin’ Station Coffeehouse. I could do mixing, layering, and tweaking at home, but not songwriting.

The main reason for this project was to help me finish songs. I’ve mentioned before that one of my struggles is indecision in songwriting. Only being able to write at a specific place helped me to hunker down and make decisions. A lot of times I’d be working and think, “Oh crap, they’re closing in an hour and I won’t be able to come here for a few days. I need to finish this.” When a song is coming along, you want to finish it, but being able to work on it whenever you want makes it easy to procrastinate.

This was also a great excuse for me to document something. My teachers always talk about the importance of documenting, but I never really did it. Suddenly I had a story to tell about my songwriting challenge, and lots of opportunities for pictures and footage in the coffee shop. I made three videos about the experience and lots of social media posts.

In retrospect, this challenge wasn’t ideal for my songwriting goals. Since I was releasing an EP, not only did I need to finish four songs, I had to produce, mix, and master them. That takes a ton of time, and I wanted to focus more on songwriting. Typically when I write an EP, I write more songs than will actually be included. That way I can pick the best ones to release. In this project I wrote four songs and released four songs, so I didn’t have room to curate. Going forward, I may do something similar, but with the goal of finishing demos. At the end of the writing phase, I can pick the best ones to produce and release.

I went into this knowing I wouldn’t do it perfectly, but that I would learn what to work on for next time, not from YouTube videos or by sitting around thinking, but by doing it and seeing the results. This turned out better than I hoped, and now I know how to improve.

Now available everywhere.

I Moved to Mankato

As many of you know, I’ve been going to MSU Mankato since January of 2018. I’ve been living and working in Faribault: making the drive to class a few days each week. I started slow with just Music Theory II, then took Activities in Music Industry and Songwriting 1 the following semester. I liked my classes a lot and felt I was learning exactly what I needed to. My last semester was three classes plus guitar lessons, and I was happy to hear some major improvements in my songs.

Because of the commute and my work schedule, I haven’t been able to take a full load. This has been frustrating to say the least, and the lengthy commute – made longer by the Minnesota blizzards – meant more time on the road and less time making music. Because of this, and wanting to be more engaged in the community, I decided to move.

It wasn’t an easy decision. I actually tried really hard to find a schedule that would make staying in Faribault sensible, but I couldn’t find one. I’d been living with two guys that were good friends, the rent was cheap, and my family was a two minute drive away. I was pretty sad about moving to be honest, but now that I’m here I know it was the right choice. Let me tell you some things I like about Mankato (so far).

I live two blocks from a coffee shop and a used book store! Well, I live near downtown so there’s lots of places I could mention, but those two I was most excited about. I’m probably just romanticizing the idea that I can walk over and get a cup of coffee and smell old books whenever I want, but it’s always been a dream of mine. What’s more relevant to this blog is that I’m within walking distance of Pub 500, and they host an open mic night. I’ve only been once, but I’ve already met some cool, local musicians.

I’m also excited to be able to go to shows without having to drive forty five minutes. The Coffee Hag hosts singer-songwriters, and the What’s Up Lounge a variety of acts including rock, indie, and hip-hop. And for bigger artists, there’s the Mankato Civic Center. I’m sure there’s other venues and events as well that I haven’t discovered yet, but I’m hoping to learn it all. I want to meet more people, make more music, and be part of a great musical community.

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.

MSU Mankato, Songwriter Showcase. Spring Semester, 2019.

On April 2nd, MSU Mankato’s department of Music hosted a songwriter showcase. It took place at the Halling Recital Hall of the Earley Center for Performing Arts and featured five songwriters. I had gone to the last showcase in October, and was impressed by the talent. This year was even better, and I want to share the music with you.

Starting out the night was Alec John and the Sky Surfers, an Indie Surf band. Their brand of surf rock is mellow and groovy, with influences like Hippo Campus. They wear bright Hawaiian shirts and perform shoeless. They’re the kind of band you want to hear outdoors on a nice day, beer in hand.

After that, solo performer, Noah Battles, took the stage armed with an acoustic guitar and a loop pedal. His voice is mellow and fits well with his folk rock playing. His style is similar to Neil Young. Using his loop pedal, Noah peppered in some solos. The guy can play.

Brandon and the Clubs is a solo pop artist in the style of Lady GaGa. Brandon dresses in sparkling clothing, and performs with backing tracks. He is one of those performers who is fearless onstage: dancing and interacting with the audience. His songs are about self love and acceptance. He didn’t play this, but his song “Love Club” is really catchy.

Second to last was Anastasia Ellis who took her place at the piano. Ana writes lyrical pop music and is influenced by Rhianna. She performed two songs from her new album, Love & Attention. They were both emotional and raw, in particular her song “Battered Skin.”

Matt Ruff closed out the night. He plays piano and has a powerful voice, with songs reminiscent of Sam Smith. Like Ana, his music is emotional and full of stories. He absolutely kills it at singing, and can play a mean piano, too. Overall, a great night of music.

I realize this is different from my normal posts, but I’m trying to get away from my blog being all about me and my thoughts. There’s a lot of great music happening locally that I want to highlight and share. Please check out any of the above artists that catch your fancy. You might be surprised at what you hear.

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.