Tag: original

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.

infamous dog picFade Away - FRONT

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.

FerretModelsCroppedChasing-Ghosts-bandcamp (1)

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.

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.

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.

You Don’t Have to Be First

Eddie Van Halen is famous for his tapping technique, but he wasn’t the first to do it.  In fact, hundreds of years before “Eruption,” Niccolò Paganini (1782 – 1840) used a similar technique on his violin.  Jazz guitarists in the 50s and 60s did it, and Italian musician, Victorio Camadese, tapped extensively on his classical.  Van Halen changed the game by applying it to distorted, electric guitar.

Skrillex is often called the inventor of dubstep, but the genre originated in London in the 90s.   Although the style drastically changed later, the characteristic sounds of wobble bass, subs, syncopated rhythms, and drops all pre-date Skrillex.  Skrillex’s flavor of dubstep (sometimes refered to as brostep) favors mid-range frequencies and aggressive rhythms.  This was hugely popular in 2011 and Skrillex’s interpretation of dubstep soon became the standard.

YouTuber, Andrew Huang, is known for found sound sampling.  He records sounds from random objects, processes them in his computer, and uses them to compose music.  He’s made songs from pineapples, Legos, radiators, candy, and lights bulbs.  As you’ve probably guessed, he wasn’t the first to do this.* What made Andrew special was the sheer amount of sampling he did and the absurdity of challenges (my favorite is carrots).

Facebook came after Myspace, the iPhone wasn’t the first smartphone, and Spotify wasn’t the first streaming service.  We get so hung up on the idea that we need to be innovators but the truth is that most of our ideas are not original, and that’s okay.  Working is 95% of it.  Don’t think you need to change the game to win at it.  Sometimes putting your own spin on a great idea is all that’s needed.

 

*I couldn’t find who originated the technique, but I remember seeing it on videos before Andrew Huang’s time.

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.