The past year has been about discovering various ways to get musical ideas out of my head and into the real world. One of the ways I enjoy is to take an upcoming performance - and write a NEW piece just for that show.

Here's a video from Solo Bass Night 1 in May 2006 called Apotheosis.

This piece was written FOR that performance and this was the only time I played it live.

I wanted to do something a little more aggressive with the fretless than the mellow trippy stuff I had been writing. So I used the "pressure" of an upcoming performance to force me to make quick decisions about the ideas I was playing with - and refine them to the point where I could play them live without sounding like a complete moron.

I never really felt I escaped that last part about being a moron with this piece- which is why this has been sitting on my Hard Drive since August. I bumped into it a few days ago and thought - WTF - it's the only recording of the piece - and I'll probably never play it again - just post it.

This is one of a dozen or so pieces I've "Let Go" over the past year. By "let go" I mean not playing it or "working" on it anymore.

It's getting a little tougher to employ the performance pressure technique of composition the busier I get booking shows. I have to pick my battles - plus I have to realize that moving riffs and short motifs into SONG form that can be performed like this is only the first step.

Going back and "punching it up" to the next level takes another level of discipline and awareness.

I'll hit that topic another time. ,-)

Posted by Jeff Schmidt at 06:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Sometimes, you don't realize how much you've changed until you experience things that haven't.

Posted by Jeff Schmidt at 04:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So says Chris Anderson of Wired magazine and "The Long Tail" fame.

Musicians unfamiliar with "The Long Tail" can get up to date with the basic ideas thru Wikipedia.

Chris says -

Give away the music and sell the show: "

The major labels are freaked out: CD sales are continuing their inexorable decline and iTunes sales aren't making up the difference. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of artists are giving away their music for free on MySpace, their own websites and independent MP3 blogs. This puzzles the labels. Don't these bands want to make money from their art?

Many do, but they're just smarter than most music industry execs. They understand the difference between abundance and scarcity economics. Music as a digital product enjoys near-zero costs of production and distribution--classic abundance economics. When costs are near zero, you might as well make the price zero, too, something thousands of bands have figured out.

Meanwhile, the one thing that you can't digitize and distribute with full fidelity is a live show. That's scarcity economics. No wonder the average price for a ticket was $61 last year, up 8%--in an era when digital products are commodities, there's a premium on experience. No surprise that bands are increasingly giving away their recorded music as marketing for their concerts, which offer something no MP3 can match.

Live performance is the fastest growing part of the music industry (up 16% in 2006 to a record $3.6 billion in North America) and with services such as SonicLiving (brilliantly described as a 'digital-to-analog lifestyle converter') and TourFilter that notify you when some band in your library is coming to town, that's only going to grow more.

So there's big money in live shows (92% of the Rolling Stones' revenues comes from performance, not recorded music). Sadly for the labels, they don't get any of it. No wonder they're so against free music. It only helps the bands (and consumers)!

Here, from Wired's music blog, is a list of the top grossing touring bands of 2006.

1. Rolling Stones $150.6m
2. Tim McGraw and Faith Hill $132m
3. Rascal Flatts $110.5m
4. Madonna $96.8m
5. Barbara Streisand $95.8m
6. Kenny Chesney $90.1m
7. Celine Dion $85.2m
8. Bon Jovi $77.5m
9. Nickelback $74.1m
10. Dave Matthews Band $60.4m

"

(Via The Long Tail.)

I'm not sure the Rolling Stones are giving ANYTHING away - but it's an interesting issue for smaller scale artists and indies.

What Chris doesn't acknowledge is that many indie artists playing shows make as much or even more money from the CDs they sell at shows than they do off ticket prices from the shows themselves.

Plus - having CDs for sale can make the many "free" gigs indies find themselves playing while building a fan base into shows that can at least cover travel expenses.

I think the CD as a medium is slowly on it's way out. I personally don't even like the format anymore. I prefer to have music digitally rather than carry around loads of CDs.

The one thing I do miss with digital music is liner notes - but there are ways around that too.

But nothing beats the immediacy and portability of digital music. I'm obviously in the minority here - but I find myself buying MORE music in the digital domain.

It's so set up for impulse purchases. I've purchased music from more marginal artists in the past few years than I EVER have - because it was EASY. I just Clicked and the music was on my ipod within minutes.

If I had to go to the music store I'd never have bought half the shit I ended up buying.

I personally can't wait for the day when people can walk up after a show, toss me a few bucks - hand me their keychain memory stick and load up my latest music onto it. Even a recording of THAT night's show.

Posted by Jeff Schmidt at 04:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On a scale of 1-10

Gear = 1

Friends & Hang = 10

Posted by Jeff Schmidt at 12:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Yes - I'm actually going to make one.

;-)

Recently I've been feeling pretty ready to let these songs go. It's a difficult feeling to explain. I just get the sense that they are ready, that I'm ready.

In the fall I had tried to record a bunch of them myself. 2 of those efforts are up on the myspace player as "demos".

Technically, I'm perfectly capable of recording myself. I used a really nicely decked out Pro Tools HD recording rig that I' very familiar with. The demos sound fine - but ultimately, it's not what I want my CD to sound like.

A few months ago I began having thoughts of hooking up with a producer of some kind. Another set of ears that could help with the recording process. Someone to to whom I can describe a sound - and they KNOW how to produce it.

My issue is I really want to overcome that "direct to board" sound you get when you plug your electric bass directly into the board.

I want to put the bass into a space. A live space. I want it to take on a sense of existence, a realism, an authenticity and intimacy. I want it to sound alive.

I played with reverbs & delays, and while they can do wonderful things, I still couldn't accomplish what I wanted. It always sounded fake to me.

I had no idea how to find a producer who would "get" what I was trying to do. Most producers have a "FENDER" setting on their LA-2A. That's about as deep as they go with bass sounds. I needed ears, skills and an imagination. Not just a person to press "record".

Just before the holiday - purely on a whim, I scrolled thru the musician ads on craigslist. There was an ad for "ACOUSTIC MUSICIAN RECORDING" For some reason I clicked on it. Actually, I think subconsciously I knew I wanted to treat the recording of my electric bass as an acoustic recording.

It turned out to be an ad for a local producer with some very impressive credits. Her name is Cookie Marenco.

Just a few credits - Max Roach, Charlie Haden, Tony Levin, Steve Rodby, Buckethead, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Brad Mehldau, Alex De Grassi, Rudresh Mahanthappa & Vijay Iyer (one of my favorite jazz records of 2006)

Cookie is an audiophile with a new high-fi acoustic music label and she pioneered an advanced recording technique for surround called ESE (Extended Sound Environment) and is particularly interested and adept at creating realistic life like recordings.

After speaking with Cookie about my project & ideas for over an hour - I really felt that she has the perspective & skills I needed in a producer for this project.

Cookie prefers to work analog - to tape. It's an essential part of getting the "true" and "alive" sound I want.

I have 15 pieces I want to get recorded - from which I'll pick the best 9-11 for official release. The rest may eventually show up online - or as an extra EP or something like that. Who knows.

I begin recording in Cookie's Bay Area studio sometime in mid-late March. It's all paid for so . . . no backing out now.

I'd also like to chronicle some of the recording process & techniques via podcast - hopfully some simple video. Don't hold me to that part - but it's something I'd like to try if possible.

Yeah!

Posted by Jeff Schmidt at 10:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

That time of year again - NAMM - the annual music industry trade show in Anahiem CA.

Music gear manufacturers, wholesalers & retailers display all the latest & greatest new toys. It's a strange world of business people, sales people and musicians gathered together in a huge convention center for a few days & nights of shmoozing, gear porn and sonic wank-fest.

Unlike many of the artists that will be there - I'm going on my own dime.

Since it's not open to the public my good friend Mark Wright from AccuGroove cabs hooked me up with a vendor's pass so I can get in.

I don't have official "booth duty" anywhere so I'll be bopping around - if you see me - please say hello!

Posted by Jeff Schmidt at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This post is really a test of new blog posting software I'm playing with.

I hate the web-based interface of Moveable Type (the software that powers this blog) so I'm playing around with MarsEdit - which also works with my RSS reader NetNewsWire.

This is potentially cool because it let's me blog on stuff I'm reading on any of the many blogs and feeds I keep up with. If posting is easier I'll be less likely to blow it off when I find stuff that's interesting.

So - what follows was posted directly from another blog - and all I had to do was push a little button to get the content on my blog.

It just so happens to cover a subject I'm beginning to realize is fundamental to my music creation - deadlines.

From the "Creative Think" blog comes these ideas on the power of deadlines -

Strict limits can be a powerful stimulant to the creative process. If you've ever been asked to solve a challenging problem with a small budget or a tight deadline, you've probably found that you were much more resourceful than if you had been granted a ton of money and time. As architect Frank Lloyd Wright repeatedly told his students,

'Limits are an
artist's best friend.'

Over the years, I've asked many, many people when they get their ideas. The answers I've received run pretty much along these lines:

• 'When I'm just playing around.'
• 'When I'm faced with a problem.'
• 'When I'm doing something else.'
• 'When I'm not taking myself too seriously.''
• 'When things break down and I have to fix them.'

However, the one comment I've heard more than any other is:

'The ultimate inspiration is the deadline.'

Thus, having limited time is a constraint that seems to goad lots of people's creativity.

I admit that I don't like pressure. But I have to also admit the pressure does get results.

I always question the balance - or the ratio of pressure to the result achieved. Too often - particularly in business - pressure is viewed as productive in any - even excessive amounts. I disagree with that. Having a deadline when nothing serious is at stake can be quite productive. I've finished writing a few pieces by planning on playing them live at an upcoming gig.

Recently I finished such a piece in 2 weeks using this method. It works. It works by forcing me to accept things that I might question and debate if I had more time.

For me - time is the ultimate pressure creator. If I have to have something ready by a certain day - I allocate a certain amount of time to exploration - but when that time is up - I have to go with what I've got - regardless.

Without the time pressure - I've found I let pieces lay around for too long - and they often don't get finished and I lose interest in them.

Deadlines are a tool. They don't always work for every creative effort. Learning to know when a deadline is the most effective tool is something I'm still working on.

Posted by Jeff Schmidt at 11:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Age old question - selling out - or buying in?

Posted by Jeff Schmidt at 01:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)