Music – Page 2 – Alternative Student

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.

Deciding is Creating

I’m the type of person who wants to do a lot of creative projects, so many in fact, that the vast majority never get done. A lot of times I just don’t know where to start, so I don’t. What I’m learning again and again is that you need to be decisive to be creative. Creating involves making a choice, and if we find ourselves unable to choose, we’re unable to create.

In my Music Promotion class, we were given a video assignment. We had to make weekly videos, three to five minutes long, based on a prompt. The prompts were short and open for interpretation. I was excited to make some videos, but wasn’t quite sure where to begin.

If this had been a self-imposed project – like writing a song – I would have procrastinated and taken a lot of time to get the “best idea.” Since this was for class, I had a deadline. It forced me to make a decision and run with it. It wasn’t so important what I chose, so long as I chose. This resulted in me actually finishing projects in a timely manner. As the saying goes, “Done is better than perfect.”

One of the best parts about music school is having assignments that push you to create. Being graded is a great incentive, and you’re left with a product you’re happy you made. Unfortunately, we don’t have similar incentives for projects outside of school, so we’re left to our own devices.

I wrote before that I have a lot of ideas, but it’s easy to have a lot of ideas and do nothing. It’s the easiest thing in the world. You get a false sense of satisfaction, thinking of all the great things you will do – someday. In his book Anything You Want, Derek Sivers writes “To me, ideas are worth nothing unless executed.” I have more unfinished songs than I can count, but when I do finish one, it’s always a win. Whether or not the song is good is less important than the fact that I’m finishing songs. It’s practice for creative decision making.

This is something I’m still working on, but if you want to write more songs, pick one tune and finish it. It doesn’t matter which one, what genre, or whatever. Make a decision, then it’s easy.

Getting Back Momentum

I haven’t posted in a hot minute, and it’s pretty clear I’ve lost traction. I used to post once a week, but it’s been months since I’ve done anything consistent. I’d like to put the blame on the fact that I’m taking a heavier load this semester, but the simple fact is I could be doing better.

One of the reasons I’ve failed is because I broke out of my routine. Last semester I had a large amount of free time every Tuesday, and I spent it in the library working on my blog. It wasn’t hard work – I liked writing and looked forward to it. I would fill up my tumbler from Jazzman’s Cafe, find a lo-fi playlist, and hide away in a corner of the library. I’d do my best to articulate my latest discovery or inspiration, and in doing so better understand it.

It’s hard to know why we stop doing things that make us happy. You’d think we wouldn’t need to worry about it, but we do. There will always be days where it’s easier to watch Netflix than work on a song, and even though songwriting will bring you joy, Netflix is easier in the moment. In the short term it’s inconsequential, but in the long term it makes you miserable. When I go a long time without creating, I’m just not as happy. Sometimes that unhappiness can cause me to sink into the things that caused it in the first place, but the cure requires an effort on my part. I have to get to work.

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.

Is The Song Even Good?

It’s a good question to ask, and the answer isn’t always obvious. When compiling songs for Chasing Ghosts, I was constantly changing my mind about which songs to include. I had about ten songs I liked, but wanted to release five. One of these songs was “Maybe Next Time.”

When my roommates heard it for the first time, it instantly became their favorite. They regularly requested it at shows and were very encouraging, so I decided to record it. When I released the EP, a lot of people mentioned that one, and it became my most played song on Spotify. And to think it was almost a reject!

This lesson is this, we’re not always the best judge of our own content. We see our art in a way no one else does, and what might seem to us like a lame idea could resonate with others.

Did you know that Slash from Guns ‘n Roses originally didn’t like “Sweet Child ‘O Mine”? In an interview with Loudwire, Slash says, “I didn’t hate it, but I wasn’t fond of ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine.’ And that gives you a good idea of how credible my opinion is…” When Ed Sheeran wrote “Shape of You” – currently the most streamed song on Spotify, ever – he wanted to pitch it to Rhianna. It was the head of his record label who convinced him to keep it. “I don’t know what it’s like to choose a hit,” Sheeran said during an interview, “I just like writing songs.”

Basically, our job as songwriters isn’t to judge art, it’s to create it. There’s going to be a certain amount of self critique and creative decisions on our own, but we can’t neglect the importance of community. I can become biased for or against a song based on the amount of time I spend on it, how musically complex it is, and how personal the lyrics are. A person giving me feedback won’t have these biases and can give me a different perspective.

At the end of the day, we are the artist and we make the final decisions, but getting outside viewpoints is useful. Sometimes we need a kick in the pants that the house track we produced is actually pretty bad and a cheap imitation. Other times we get the good news that someone connected with our lyrics in an unexpected way. Whatever it is, take the note and keep working.

Works Cited

Childers, Chad. “Slash ‘Wasn’t Fond of’ Guns N’ Roses ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’.” Loudwire, 15 Apr. 2014, loudwire.com/slash-initially-not-fan-guns-n-roses-sweet-child-o-mine/.

New York Times. “Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’: Making 2017’s Biggest Track | Diary of a Song,” YouTube, 20 December 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpMNJbt3QDE.

Krishna, S. (2019). Spotify reveals its most-played music for its 10th anniversary. [online] Engadget.com. Available at: https://www.engadget.com/2018/10/10/spotify-10th-anniversary-decade-of-discovery/ [Accessed 2019].

Why You Should Make To-do Lists

I’m a big fan of to-do lists, making a list of what needs to be done on a daily basis and holding myself accountable. It does wonders for my productivity and stops projects from falling through the cracks.

Every week I’ve been trying to post a video and a blog post. Since school ended, I’ve been missing weeks. Somehow, with more free time, I’m getting less done. I attribute this to the illusion of more time phenomenon, a phrase I just made up. Basically, when you have a ton of free time, you don’t think you need to plan things out because you assume what needs to be done will happen eventually, given all the available hours. But time has a way of slipping through our fingers, and only in retrospect do we notice it was wasted.

When I’m working on a project, I break down what little bit I can do each day. For instance, when planning a video for a song I already know, all I have to do is practice it a few times daily. It’s the same when I’m planning to record. I just practice my part to a metronome every day leading up to the day I record. It’s incredibly easy to do, but greatly improves the outcome.

In his book, Keep Going, Austin Kleon writes, “A little imprisonment – if it’s of your own making – can set you free. Rather than restricting your freedom, a routine gives you freedom by protecting you from the ups and downs of life…” (20). My advice to anyone starting a to-do list, start small. It can feel great to write a bunch of stuff down – imaging yourself as an unstoppable, productivity machine – but don’t overdue it. It’s better to have a small, completed list than a large, unfinished one.

That being said, don’t be discouraged when you fail. You may find that you “weren’t modest enough in your estimation,” to steal a line from Jordan Peterson. A good strategy for me is to put down the bare minimum of what needs to be done, but then make a secondary “If there’s time” list. Anything on the “If there’s time” list is strictly optional, and considered extra. That way, I accomplish more if I’m able to, but if I’m not, I won’t lose momentum.

Making lists, modifying them over time, and finding what works is helping me know myself. I’m not great at it, but I’m getting better. Even when I fail miserably, I still get more done than I otherwise would have. Failure is a part of the process, and shouldn’t be discouraging. We are still moving forward.

Works Cited

Kleon, Austin. Keep Going : 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad. New York, Workman Publishing, 2019, p. 20.

The Importance of Making Demos

When I thought about demos, I used to imagine a shittier version of the final song: badly recorded, unedited, and with a sub-par performance. I used to label tracks “demo” when they weren’t up to snuff. It was never planned; f I was embarrassed to share something I made, I used “demo” as a qualifier, thereby excusing all mistakes.

Nowadays I have a better grasp of what a demo is. It’s a rough take of the finished song, not intended as a final product, but a necessary step in the creative process. All the essential elements are there, and the arrangement is done (to the best of your ability). When you listen to the demo, you’ll hear how all the parts work (or don’t work). You’ll discover what sections feel too long or too short, if the drums are meshing with your guitar, if there’s enough contrast from verse to chorus, if the bass guitar is boring, or any number of issues.

There are some things you simply won’t know until you hear them in context. These are changes you want to identify before final tracking. When making a demo, you’re not concerned with guitar tones, what the best mic is, getting great takes to edit, or editing at all. Your goal is to get the idea down, have it sound good enough, and learn from it. How will the final song sound? Once you have a better vision of what the song is about, going into the studio is fun because you know exactly what you’re going to do. It takes a load off your mind, and then you can spend more time experimenting with tone, knowing you won’t need to come back and re-record.

Even if the song is just guitar and vocals, I still recommend making a demo. You’ll be surprised at what you hear when it’s playing back. It’s counter intuitive, but while you’re playing you don’t notice everything, and the demo can reveal what to fix.

I’ve recorded songs with and without demoing first, and I highly recommend it. There’s always the occasion where my original demo was spot on and I don’t need to change anything, but that’s usually not the case. Most of my demos have been pretty bare bones, but I’ve found that the better the demo, the more you learn from it. That being said, don’t be a perfectionist. Make the demo, make it pretty good, and move on. Keep finishing.

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.

Dave Simonett (of Trampled by Turtles) came to my school!

If you’re savvy to Minnesota music, chances are you’ve heard of Trampled by Turtles. Hailing from Duluth, this blue-grass and folk band has released 8 albums and 7 music videos. They’ve played countless festivals, performed on David Letterman (twice), and held a Top 10 spot on the bluegrass charts for 52 weeks. David Simonett, guitarist and vocalist for the group, visited MSU Mankato and sat down with some classes.

I hadn’t heard of Martin Zellar before he came to school, but I’ve been a Trampled by Turtles fan for awhile now. I forget when I first came across them, but I remember “Wait So Long” being their smash at the time, so it was after 2010. I’m mostly familiar with their work after Palomino, my favorite album being Stars and Satellites.

I was fortunate to get one of my songs played for Simonett. This version is pretty bare, but I’m planning on adding more instrumentation.

Simonett liked it! He said I have a “beautiful, unique voice.” I could hardly believe getting that kind of praise from someone who’s made multiple albums that I own. It felt great. He had kind things to say about my classmates, too. I guess we’re a pretty talented bunch.

Unfortunately, Dave Simonett’s concert for the Minnesota Story Tellers Series sold out, so I wasn’t able to attend, but I can offer some insights he shared in class. One thing I found interesting was what he said about collaboration: “I’m limited by my own imagination… Get someone else in there.” I’ve talked about the importance of collaboration before, but I never thought of myself as being restricted when I write alone. He talked a lot about the importance of other people’s input.

When asked how often he plays shows with bluegrass bands, he said, “Almost never.” That came as a surprise. I assumed that most shows or festivals they play would be very genre-specific. He said, “We spent most of our time touring with friends, because we have more fun with friends.” That ties in well with the theme of community championed by my teachers. Who do people want to work with? Not the most talented or the most similar, but people they get along with.

Although I only saw him for the one class, Dave Simonett attended several, played a show at the performing arts building, and was part of Minnesota Story Tellers where he spoke about his songwriting process. This was really cool and informative. I hope we host more artists in the future.