Back in July I wrote about recording violin and I’ve been talking about working on a track for Meeting In the Aisle since I started this blog. If you didn’t put 2 and 2 together with that first sentence, the violin I recorded was used on the MItA project. I finished working on all of that about a month or two ago and I feel that now is a good time to let you hear the finished song and explain how it came to be.
A very good friend of mine and the drummer in Life Slides Down, as well as MItA and Laura Shay’s band, Michael Litt was preparing to get married, and as such he and his fiancé were sorting out the details of the event. One such detail was what song Jill (Mike’s then fiancé and also good friend of mine) was going to walk down the aisle to. This wedding was not to be traditional in a lot of ways, and this was one of them. Mike informed me that Jill wanted to walk down the aisle to a song called “4 Minute Warning.” It’s the last song on the second disc of Radiohead’s latest album, In Rainbows. It’s a great song, but the lyrics are definitely not uplifting or wedding appropriate. So, instead of simply walking down the aisle to that song, we decided to record a brand new version using the members of MItA and have Laine Walker Hughes replace the lyrics with violin.
After months of recording, editing and mixing (this isn’t my day job, you know), and with the help of Karl K of MItA getting a great guitar sound, and mixing tips from Ted of Cedar St, the song was ready. On October 3rd I hit play on my iPod and Jill walked down the aisle. It was a beautiful moment and I am extremely pleased with the end result (best wedding ever too I may add).
Now that you know all about the song, I’m pleased to present to you “4 Minute Warning”:
Me and my band Life Slides Down played a show at Dr. Watson’s Pub in Philly back in September. I recorded the audio (with a little help from Rob of Meeting In the Aisle) and my friend Sean Brady videotaped it. I combined the audio and the video and the result is pretty cool! Here’s a clip from the show:
It’s business as usual in my world right now. If you’ve read the first two blog entries, then you have a pretty good idea of what’s going on. I’m slowly finishing that track for Meeting In the Aisle as well as preparing to DJ the event at which the song will be publicly premiered. Life Slides Down is also still cracking away at new material (HUGE show September 15th, please check the site). I’m also prepping to start work with Laura Shay on some new material. But, in addition to all of that really cool stuff, I wanted to let you know about a fantastic event that is going down soon.
On September 12th from 10 AM to 8 PM, Cedar Street Studios is holding the Bang For The Buck Bazaar and All-Day Concert! There will be 10 hours of music, artists and DJs on all three floors of the Atlas Casket Factory in Port Richmond, as well as local food and beverage vendors all for a meager $5 entry. Not too shabby, huh? I just think it’s a great opportunity for a mostly unaware public to check out Cedar Street Studios and see what they’re all about. It’s a wonderful place to work and create, and Ted and Jessica are lovely people. If you’re a vendor (or maybe even a musician) that would like to be involved, swing by the Cedar Street website and give them a shout. And just to show you I’m not just full of hot air, I will be there all day recording the live performances from the Studio Stage. If you see me, say hi!
This past Sunday, I did something I haven’t done before: I recorded violin. I worked with stringed instruments and small string sections while studying under Jeff Hiatt at Turtle Studios, but I haven’t had the opportunity to work with a violinist on my own until recently. It was a great experience! While it was something new for me, it drove home the point that it’s always important to remember the basics and to listen; the rest will (usually) just fall into place. The violinist I worked with was the very talented Laine Walker Hughes. She’s a member of the Irish-Folk band Paddy’s Well and she has performed with my friend Laura Shay once or twice (they’ll be playing together again July 31st at Burlap and Bean Coffee). It was a pleasure to work with Laine and hopefully we can collaborate together again in the future. Speaking of the future, I’m sure I’ll post the fruits of that session…then.
I also had the opportunity to do some field recording at the North Star Bar a couple of Thursdays ago. Ted from Cedar Street asked me to come out and record his band Ritual (a Jane’s Addiction tribute) and I was more than happy to oblige. Those guys are great and it was a lot of fun! I also had the chance to meet with and record another band that evening; a Tool tribute band by the name of Undertow. Look for that ish in the future as well (hopefully sooner rather than later, right Keith?).
I subscribe to a bunch of RSS feeds, and until recently it was part of my daily routine to check each feed for new updates. That is until I downloaded and installed the Brief Firefox add-on. Now, my feeds come to me! If you’re like me (use Firefox, subscribe to RSS feeds), you should check it out.
Oh, and if you’re not up to anything tonight, you should check out the Living Sample’s EP Release show at the Barbary. It’s free and they’re a great band. You’re welcome.
That’s me, John Baker, enjoying myself at my cousin’s wedding celebration. I try not to take myself too seriously, but that may be hard to tell after reading what I’m sure will become a bunch of dry ramblings of some product of the MTV Generation.
If you take a gander to the right, you’ll learn that I’m a music maker that has been involved in various recording projects over the past five years or so. As such, the main focus of this site will be to help me “get out there” more so I can continue to take on new and exciting projects. With that being said, I’m sure I’ll veer away from this main focus time and time again. I just hope you find it enjoyable.
Right now, I’m really enthusiastic about music; well, I probably always am. I just think this period of time is an exciting one to be making music because there are so many uncertainties. The huge companies that have been feeding us recorded music for years and years and years are falling apart and the little guys have more power than they ever had before. Fortunately or unfortunately, we haven’t learned how to harness that power. But, that breeds tons of creativity and you never know what’s going to happen next. I’m sure I’ll end up talking about stuff like this fairly often.
As for me personally, I’m involved in a few ongoing projects. My band, Life Slides Down is currently writing a lot of new material that we’re trying to push in a different direction than our debut album. I’m also working with Meeting In the Aisle, a Radiohead tribute band, as we record a new version of an In Rainbows b-side for private use. Also, the sound reinforcement company I work for, Airport Circle is about to take on a big expansion project that will involve us opening a new recording studio/rehearsal space. So, yeah, I’m feeling good about what I do these days!
Since this is the first post on Audible Vim, I wanted to give you a little something to listen to. It’s one of the first music recordings I finished. I worked with my friend Ed Young over a scorching weekend in August of 2005. This track, entitled “Shadow In Your Mind,” was one of the songs we tracked. I recently remixed it and I think it sounds better than ever.
Audible Vim is John Baker, a music maker based out of Philadelphia, PA. While I've been experimenting with capturing sound all my life, I've been professionally recording for about five years. Let's make music together!
