In a new place with noisy, noisy streets, I decided to break myself in by just plugging my loop pedal into my computer to avoid any frustrations attempting to quiet my room or dragging my stuff out into the kitchen. I really don’t like this method strictly because the sound quality of the stringed instrument is so nasally and whiney. I’m feeling that way: maybe it’s appropriate.
What you are hearing: This is an F major scale played standing up (not my preferred method playing the cello at all as you can hear) into a loop pedal many, many times. Scales are incredible. I don’t play them nearly as much as I should. As far as rhythm goes, you can hear it change from one thing to another by the end of it. It changes for you (intentionally) like an illusion. I love stuff like that.
You can either use a loop pedal or abuse a loop pedal (sonically). They are delicate machines: you can really, really overuse them and they have a potential to bore (or at least bore me…). I decided to over use it and not get bored. And you?
Finding myself tired and busy, and have been sick for the past 4 days but feeling better. All these things can be dealt without much trouble but not while all holding hands within the same person. Hope you have found a delicious treat for yourself today. Me? I will try to track down some delicious something whilst on the road…
This is Rotten. It’s not about Johnny Rotten, but it’s a funny link, no?
Guy and I did this while we were in Keene, New Hampshire last Thursday (?), and I have a back log of songs we did that day, so I’ll be seeping them in a few at a time. We were waiting for Anna to get out of the shower and just kept doing song after song very quickly. Guy would record them on this iPhone, so I apologize for the lack of complete clarity. (I also had left my computer in Portsmouth so I couldn’t record anything anyway.) This is a loop I had on my pedal from some where and some time. The words are based on something Guy said to me right before we recorded and are im…pro…vised! We were hanging out in the venue the morning after the show and this was recorded over the sound system… just playing around for the 365. Perhaps this has potential?
Good morning, 365. It’s 2 am. Looks like we might be back on schedule…
I had to show you this picture. Pearl and the Beard did a show in Brooklyn a few weeks ago, and I'm finally up loading it today. Next door to the venue was a mediterranean restaurant with this huge poster presenting all the food they offer inside. Luckily, they sell BLUBBERY Muffins. Unfortunately, they frightened Jocelyn a bit while I just wanted to bit right into one.
This is another part of the Cello Works installments related to yesterday’s posting. I’m experimenting with looping of my voice through mic today instead of the pick up as I tried yesterday. I have acquired a new-to-me mic from a friend, so I’m putting it to use.
Recording:
Breath recorded into a mic, moving it back and forth then reversed
Cello pizz, improvised
Vocals, improvised
A personal note on loop pedals: I have such a love/hate relationship with my pedal. I’ve formed very opinionated views on the use of loop pedals specifically. Man, they can be so lame but so awesome! I get super bored seeing a show of all loop songs. After about the fourth piece I’m thinking, “Okay, I get it… it repeats…”. It’s hard. I love the possibility of its sound and direction, but it’s also hard to create enough variation that it’s exciting each time without tiring of the idea of things repeating over and over. Andrew Bird, primarily known as a violinist, but is also a multi-instrumentalist, lyricist and whistler, is a good example of someone who uses the loop pedal successfully (in my humble opinion…). Part of his success, however, is that he is a multi-instrumentalist throughout each song… it’s not just a loop of a violin or guitar. His website.
Today’s post was recorded live with a room mic, like yesterday’s set up, with the loop pedal going straight to the computer. It was the first of the day, and I didn’t revisit it after wards or try to do it over. The breath beat ends up much too loud, which I find is one of the main limiting aspects of my loop pedal (the Boss RX-20): You can’t control volumes of each single track. I know a live performance computer program would make this possible, but don’t try to convert me to Live or Performer or any of the other programs. Though a loop pedal is an electronic device, a computer on stage with me creates an invisible wall for the audience to me. Maybe I’m the only one that feels it, but it’s there for me as a performer. It’s important for me that the sounds on stage come out organically and, if I was watching myself perform as an audience member, I could see and experience the origin of the sounds that were being created, even if I didn’t understand them completely. Now, if I was playing and someone else was doing the computer aspects of it, I would feel totally different. Maybe it sounds strange to avoid one but not the other, but I really feel like there’s a difference if I was up there alone messing around with buttons staring at as screen.
Limitations/Adjustments:
As mentioned above, volumes of each track can’t be controlled individually (breath is too loud).
Get quicker with the turnover. I spent a lot of time listening and getting from one place to another physically and technically: this comes with practice.
I’m not sure I totally like the breath. It gets monotonous for me.
Work on some damn lyrics already, Lazy Bones!
I’ve felt melodically stuck in one world lately: using the same kind of melodic patterns and phrases. In talking with a friend, she suggested I listen to some Fado which is a super intense and an incredibly interesting style of singing. It’s fascinating to listen to, and I would recommend taking a listen yourself.
Stephen Bailey Illustration
What’s been going on with you? You busy? I hope things have been going well for you the past few weeks. I treated myself to a Creamsicle the other day. It was good. Real Good.
I have been working on several pieces that I can perform entirely live without the addition of several tracks. I find many of these 365 songs of a particular genre have been over-dubbed in a way that make the more bigger sounding works hard to perform live without a parade of musicians and a computer in front of me. I have been experimenting with the pick-up on my cello to do live vocal looping using the f-holes in my cello. I am including one of them as a 365 song. I have made several attempts at it in the past never being happy with the result at all, however, I really feel it’s getting close. There are a lot of kinks, but I wanted to show you the idea before it’s even really processed.
Writing: It’s a mix of prepared ideas and literal improvisation actually. The chord changes are prepared, the number of times it passes is prepared, but everything else is improvisation.
Recording: I have a live mic in the room and my loop pedal is plugged directly into the computer which results in a slightly cleaner sound than recording it live from my little practice amp.
The first vocal with improvised words is sung into the room mic, but all the remaining chorus vocals are looped through lifting my cello up and singing straight into the f-holes of the cello, letting the pick-up get what it wants, not what I want it to get. I also experimented with different vocal dynamics: how does it react when softer? Louder? I’ve tried this idea out a few times in the practice room, only in principle, but never really applied it in real time. I think it has potential. This is a posted exercise song. I’d like to break something much more polished very soon at a live show and see how it goes.
A word on lyrics: I’ve had a real block lately. Some will say that writer’s block is all in your head, that it doesn’t really exist. I don’t know. There are a lot of lyric exercises one can do to push through it. To be frank, I’ve been a bit lazy. Lyrics take a lot of energy out of me… and I’ve wanted to watch movies (The Saint is on instant play on NetFlix! Yesss! Best acting ever!)
Disclaimer: This song is a posting of a sketch. My silent ego shudders at the vocal performance of this song, but I have confidence that you will hear what you need to get out of it, as have I!
Live at Webster Hall (Photo credits Isaac Gillepsie)
I should thank my lucky stars that this is only (formally) improvisation number three, when I’ve had many occasions to do many more than that.
Someone noted the other day that I don’t really have a huge amount of new loop songs. This is true partially because I find the loop pedal a bit limiting. Without proper equipment, you’re obligated to stick to the line you created in the very beginning unless you’re sneaky or not-so-sneaky. I had been tuned down for a different new acoustic song I was working on and decided to include a loop song today for the 365. This is recorded live (obviously: as you hear human coughing and dog breathing throughout). I generally don’t go back and critique any improvisations I do, which is a shame mainly because I can learn a lot of things I can improve or change. In this case, this particular improvisation isn’t particularly graceful, but I took tiny risks vocally I think. Didn’t over think anything. I’ve decided to be braver and attempt to post it without hesitation. I will do it here, feeling like I’m exposing too much of the muck I normally wade through and cast aside in order to post. But, the more I create, the more I appreciate pieces I hesitate to show you. It’s a way of exploring different insecurities: Why don’t I want to post something I feel is sub-par? Why don’t artists put demos on their CDs? There are many reasons, I’m sure, but I would wonder if one of them is to keep you, the listener, from questioning the artists’ ability or skill. That’s why we put forth our best face or sound, as the case may be. Someone said it this way, I’ve mentioned this before: There are going to be 365 songs. Ten of these pieces might be formal CD worthy. The rest? Trials, bad days, uninspired days, unappreciated gems even, etc., etc. I’m just showing you everything before it even hits the ground running. I have days where I question my decision to do it this way. But I’ll trod on.
I recorded this song live in 2008 at Sidewalk Cafe. Funny enough, it was recorded by Bryan Speaker, the very same friend who inspired the 365 project. I re-edited it and sold it on a live EP for about two seconds and then took it off because I thought it was a horrible performance of it. A photographer friend of mine used it on a video she did which I will try to find for you to see; it’s really moving.
It is all done with a single Boss loop station. In the middle of it, once the loop is set up, I got up from my chair (I sat and played then), and used another vocal mic that was set up with a bunch of reverb. Listening back to it, it’s not nearly as awful as I thought it was, and I’m actually surprised it worked as well as it did. Many good thoughts to you on this very cold March day. Good will and good thoughts.
Anyway… well, Jonathan and I have had a long few days. I just returned home from driving him to the airport. While he was still at work today I bought him a ticket to San Diego where his dad is in the hospital in the ICU hooked up to a ventilator. It’s all very sudden and worrisome. I hope you understand me being so late in the posting today… Some things take a back seat when things like this happen. I have never purchased a plane ticket on the day the flight was to take off: what an exciting purchase… if you can call it “exciting”. I packed him a bag, he rushed home from work, and we were off. Luckily, the cheapest ticket to San Diego was leaving from Westchester Airport: a very clean, tiny, tiny, tiny, airport with absolutely no traffic. So, now, I am home. With Lacey. Thinking. Trying to work. We have just eaten turkey sandwiches and a black and white cookie. I concentrate on why the white icing on the cookie is so hard and the black icing is so soft…
This is a song from the RPM Challenge I did with Guy. I spent a ton of time working on a song-study on rhythm and perfect fifths, and then this whole thing kind of collapsed on us. I will finished that song today and get it ready to post: on time! I have the whole weekend alone with Lacey. I will get her to help me on a song, too.
Pearl and the Beard have a show tomorrow night at Webster Hall and then we leave for tour on Monday! Jonathan will still be gone…I will keep you updated on life’s progress as I post…
Oh, Life: you are a cruel, yet tempting mistress.
Recording: I made 2 tracks of cello loops and sent them to Guy and Mike. Guys lyrics are always so appropriate and haunting. I like them. Mike’s piano is perfect… I mixed this one because I initiated it. I wanted to bring Guy’s voice up front: he has a tiny insecurity about his voice and usually pulls it back, but I love it, and think it’s right where it should be. Thanks Guy and Mike!
I Miss The Snow
Down here the trees look weird
And the leaves don’t turn to copper and then fall
I put whiskey in my coffee
Just to take the edge off
Because around here the days are sharp enough to cut you
On Sundays I feel so listless
Cause no one here prays the way we did
Though I don’t know your phone number
I still dial to hear them talk the way we do
If I could just hear even a moment
Of you breathing I might somehow be all right
I miss the snow and I miss Melissa
I miss her sister who screams in her sleep
I recorded these loops I created for Guy when I was visiting Portsmouth, New Hampshire in mid-January, and he sent me the result of the collaboration today. I love it, and I hope you do, too.
“It is tonight that I remain thoughtful about the future, as my past has been reflected back at me suddenly if not even a little sadly.” -A.E.H.
Ohio -
Guy Capecelatro (producer, engineer, vocals, everything) EHP: cello loop
I like saying the word Ohio she said
Ohio Ohio Ohio
I just don’t’ think I could live here
The light was just getting witchy
As the sun dangled barely above the line of trees
That speckled the horizon
It won’t be long he said
Head resting on the headrest
We just need to get her healthy again
Stay with me
I hope we’re friends. Would you understand me if I told you I’ve kind of lost my marbles? Would you forgive me after I lost them and then got them back? Would you believe me if I told you this doesn’t happen all the time, just on those occasions that I have a solo show at the Knitting Factory falling on February 4th?
I’ll be bringing with me only 20 of some new 365 EPs I’ve put together that have 5 songs from The Project. They’ll probably be buried in the lining of a chair soon enough, so get them while you can still find them!
Today, in light of my show tomorrow night, and the fact that I’ve been completely looney and sensitive today, I thought I might test my own patience, and yours as well. Rick Gribenas, my teacher and friend I talked about in song #1, made a comment about the final piece I did for his class. I had the entire class sit in a circle and I surrounded them with tape recorders. Each tape recorder had the same recording on it, but each played at a different time. The sounds contained thereon started as pops, scratches, etc., but gradually moved to a Bach Prelude toward the end. Each sound had it’s own moment and then faded away. He made an interesting comment to me about each section, “The second I thought I was going to get bored and start tuning it out, it changed and I was brought in again.” I think about this comment all the time. Rick had an amazing ear and patience for sound that I don’t think I’ve seen on very many people.
Given this information about patience, I will now tell you a short story about what happened to me today:
I got my cello bow rehaired, and I left to pick it up this morning. On my way home, I saw a guy sitting in his car with his windows rolled down. With music blasting, I heard vocals rising from the CD that was playing in his car. The man started to sing along completely off key. What a cool sonic experience for me today. I heard a recording with instruments and a vocal melody line, and this guy is just sitting in his car having a good time and singing a melody that is completely unrelated tonally. It was such a cool sound that I wanted to recreate it somewhat today.
Another part of this entry is this: I was listening to a friend’s song recently, and I realized that the main harmony in the bass was just a tritone repeated over and over again. Tritones are so cool (A tritone is an interval that spans three whole tones.) Want to sing a tritone? Are you a West Side Story fan? Remember the song Maria? The first two notes of the word “Maria” are a tritone.
Okay, so today’s song:
It is eleven different tones cut up and repeated for about 2 and a half minutes. The first tone is a tritone, then an interval of a minor second (think Jaws Theme) on top of that and so on. Basically playing with as many dissonances as the memory in garageband would let me. It crapped out at 11. The last track I added was a “I’m feeling totally weird today and feel like a total idiot in general,” kind of track- arbitrary information set just underneath the dissonances- a huge weight crushing it. *Shows are a cause of great happiness and complete anxiety for me both at the same time. But all will be well. And then I will have a cookie.
I understand that this might be a little out there. So, because I love you- I really do- I am including a live version (newly re-mixed!) of a song I wrote called War. It’s tonal, loud, and I use the backwards option on my loop pedal. I’ll be performing this song tomorrow (War, not today’s posting…)
I guess today’s point is the idea that we keep our ears open as much as possible without immediately judging and assigning a quality. (I’m totally guilty of this…)
As my bow repair guy, Tom Barilla (who is moving to Pennsylvania in March! Saddness!) always says right as I walk out the door: Be well!
EHP
Study on Imperfect Dissonances
War – Live at WhySound, August 6, 2009
Start a war
Brain on Fire
And the tide comes in from the north
Break the skin
Burning through
And I feel the fire
You
Righteous hands
Solid ground
And these bones they’ve thinned
These bones they’ve thinned this skin I’m in
You
Start a war
Brain on fire
And these bones, they’ve thinned
These bones, they feel the fire.
**GLORIA RE-RECORDING:
**I have re-recorded and posted a new version of Gloria (day 3) for you to hear. The live one has great moments, but the quality wasn’t superb, and I needed a better version. Happy Listening! -ehp
I’ve hit the two-week mark. It’s the little victories, you know?
After Friday night’s show in Maine at Hog Farm, I stayed on at Guy Capecelatro‘s house in Portsmouth to do another song with him because he’s so freaking awesome. This song has a history- the first thing you hear is a loop I created months and months ago. Sometimes I’ll take my loop pedal out and just improvise, saving it on the machine if I like it, dumping it if I don’t. In this case, I had just received my black violin from my dad, changed the tuning and was totally just messing around. I liked it, saved it, and played it for Guy today. It ended up the starting point for this song. (Before we worked on this song, I pulled out some improv on the pedal for a few loops he will hopefully use later, so I’m excited to hear what he does with them.)
(Guy can remember everything.) I'm dumb and didn't get a picture of Guy today. Lame. Here's Google's offering of G. Capecelatro.
As I listened to the loop, I had a general melody run through my mind. The cool idea Guy had was to each record vocals independently, neither one being privy to the other’s melodic idea. After we both recorded the vocals by ourselves in his little studio, we came together and listened to them fall into one another, I think, quite nicely. I improvised the second voice under my main vocal, experimenting with my higher, (more falsetto) register, which I don’t get the opportunity to do very often. I like the effect. I always listen to the song of the day on repeat as I write about it here. And the more I listen to this song, the more I love it. Guy’s influence is so good for me; freeing and lovely.
The reason I love Guy so much is his total willingness to try anything. I think this is what makes him such a great artist and musician. He is literally not afraid to try something (or at least, that’s my take on it…), and it was infectious. I was able to begin teaching myself how to let go, which is why when I hear the character of my vocal, though I wish would have allowed for a little space for silence (as Guy did), I hear some things I really like and wouldn’t have done otherwise.
Examples of Guy’s awesomeness for this song: beautiful lyrics, two tracks of electric guitar, thumb piano, and “Hey“s at the end (with Jonathan, too!) that I love. (I will later address my secret wish that as many songs as possible contain “Hey!”, “Yeah!” or “Woo!”. We’ll talk about it soon…) My contributions? A little cello pizz, the loop, lyrics, a want for hey’s!, and a fast hand with a tiny music box. I wrote some of my lyrics on a bus at 2 am coming back from DC to New York just a few days ago.
I’m quite sad to leave Portsmouth and Hog Farm. The more I collaborate with people on these songs, the more I believe the world really is an amazing place full of stunning, beautiful, and talented people, all with experiences to share. It’s so easy to take people for granted, and it’s sharing these experiences with others that I hope will engrave gratitude upon my mind forever.
Guy and I worked on this from about maybe 12-2:30 pm. Not long after we had finished, Aly Spaltro, or Lady Lamb the Beekeeper as most know her, came down to Guy’s home with dear friend Maisie to collaborate. A full day of writing and recording for the 365! It was awesome! Lady Lamb the Beekeeper played the Hog Farm show with me last Friday night and is an unbelievably captivating performer and wonderful writer with an unbelievable voice (more on that tomorrow). Based out of Portland, Maine, she drove an hour to record a song with me today in a cemetery in the middle of winter in New Hampshire. I love her, love her, love her. That post will show up tomorrow, so please visit to hear it! (We took a video of it, too. Oh! Technology!)
Are you thinking, “Wait. Two songs in one day? That means you’ll be ahead tomorrow. Will you write a song tomorrow?” True, and yes! It will even out at some point, to be sure!
Bird in Girl’s Clothing
instrumentation: pre-prepared loop, electric guitar, thumb piano, music box, cello, Jonathan Clark, Guy Capecelatro III
(Jan. 21: I had Guy remix this because I, frankly, did a crappy job. So up loaded the new version today.)
Are you making a nest up in that treeOr are you spying on me?Are you some bird in girl’s clothing?Can you sing something soothing?I’ve sometimes likened myself to a squirrelFurtive, nervous and furryWill you be there as I come awake?And head into a brand new day
You are five, five miles wide (Going home)
Stay the entire night
Sad boy with wings to come
To this house you brought me home
Clothed you are but nigh forsaking
You, some sweet, worth the taking
Will you be there as I dream?
When I awake to some new day.
All at once, a sweet second and gone
Yet still living
Did you fly away when I wasn’t looking?I thought you were some kind of something.
