Lots to do

by mike ~ September 29, 2008

I finally got a chance last night to go through the drum sessions from NYC the other week and give them a listen.  When we were at the studio, we kept between 3 and 6 takes for each song.  For some songs, we tried a couple different tempos, and for others, Mike or Tom played a section here or there slightly differently, and I didn’t want to spend the time figuring out which version was better (studio time ain’t cheap!), so we just kept them all.  Now I’m starting to really wish I’d made some notes that day.  It’s pretty daunting to work through each song to try to find the “best” takes or sections of takes.  So I decided to just pick a song and start with that one.  Gotta break the big problem down into parts to get through it, right?  So I began on “Fish in the Sea” first. I also started mixing the drums and got a decent-sounding drum mix to start out with.

Of course, before I went to bed, I decided to schedule a chkdsk on each of my computer’s hard drives, just since I haven’t done that in a while and I’ve been moving a lot of files around.  There are 3 drives that I’m using, all said, and they total about 2TB combined.  That’s about 2000GB, for the uninitiated.  It’s been running about 20 hours, and it’s still not done yet.  That’s insane.  I wanted to work on the song more tonight, but it’s not looking good at this point…  And I just read that it’s bad to stop the chkdsk while it’s running, lest data corruption occur.  So it looks like there won’t be much done tonight after all!

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*EDIT* - The chkdsk took about 30 hours, all said.  I think the problem was that I had my 1TB drive hooked up via USB2.0 instead of eSATA.  Too bad you can’t “remove hardware” on eSATA!

Drums halfway done now

by mike ~ September 8, 2008

On Sunday, I was down in Manhattan at Threshold Studios tracking drums with Mike Maenza and Tom Sposato.  Between them, we got 5 more songs’ drum parts recorded.  So that takes the tally up to 6 songs done now on drums: half way there!

Threshold is the studio where The X’s (Maenza’s old band) recorded their (awesome) album a couple years back.  Random tangent: For what it’s worth, I always dug Fuel and Brett’s voice singing with them, but I think the stuff he did with the X’s tops it in a lot of ways.  I was pretty surprised they didn’t take off more than they did.  Part of the draw was John Law’s songwriting (I think he was the main writer), but each of those guys definitely contributed in a big way to their sound.  It’s too bad they didn’t stick around longer.  Luckily, John’s new project Statues of Liberty is still rockin’ out (when he’s not on Fuse TV)!  And Brett got a really sweet gig singing with the freaking Doors, so he’s still doing real well, too.  So anyway, on Sunday, we worked with Alan at Threshold (who, it turns out, is a fellow Five Towns College alum) and the tracks sound great.

It was really cool jamming with Tom again, too.  It’d been a long time since we recorded together; I think the last time was like 12 years ago or so!  He’s still got a great feel.  One of the songs he played on was that old State of Nowhere tune “Too Many Reasons”.  SON released a pretty rough acoustic demo I did of the song at Five Towns as a student in some spare time, but this is the first time the song will sound close to the way we used to play it live, since we never did it in the studio.

One of the other drummers I was hoping to have on the record has unfortunately dropped off due to scheduling conflicts.  So I’ll have to pick someone else (or more likely two someone elses) to cover those songs.  Back to the drawing board there!

Oh, and no trip to NYC would be complete without getting at least a little bit lost.  I’m not sure how, but after the session, I wound up getting on the A train going north instead of south when I was trying to get from the studio back to Penn Station to then go back up to Albany on Amtrak!  I had a LOT of trouble finding the stupid subway entrance that would bring me back south, so I just wound up walking back to 42nd from 50th and trying again!  Talk about frustrating.  And people on the sidewalks in NYC walk way too slowly.  They’re buildings, people; stop gawking and keep walking!!

Valerie Webb’s new song

by mike ~ September 1, 2008

A couple months ago, Valerie Webb (from the band Venomentality) contacted us (The Velmas) with an idea.  She’s putting together a portfolio for college (she’s only 16!) next year, and in general is trying new things and experimenting with her music.  She had this song called “All While Laughing” that she had recorded a quick acoustic demo for, and she wanted us to arrange it as we saw fit.  Then we’d record it in the studio as her backing band.  She sent us the tune, and we quite liked what we heard.

So, a rehearsal and a month or so later, this past Saturday we headed down to Coxsackie, NY (what a great name for a town, eh?) and laid down some tracks at Easter Island Studios with Chris Fisher.  Bruce and Fig rocked out their parts in no time, and then left the rest of the session to me and Val to finish up with Chris (who, incidentally, used to be in Conehead Buddha).  I did my guitar part, and Val did her guitar part.  She sang the lead vocals and I sang the harmonies I came up with.  We left with a really good-sounding rough mix.  Can’t wait to hear the final mix Chris comes up with.  The guy’s got a great ear and is super-fast in the studio (and I mean that in a good way).

Token photo:

The Velmas with Valerie Webb outside Easter Island Studios

One down, too many to go

by mike ~ August 25, 2008

On vacation (”holiday” for you crazy Brits and Canadians out there) 2 weeks ago out in Chautauqua, I was able to write 4 new songs.  Just the music, no lyrics just yet, though I’ve at least got vocal melodies figured out for most of them. That’s easily one of my favorite things to do in the world…  Just to sit on a bench in Bestor Plaza there with my acoustic and see what comes to me though my fingers.  I miss that.

So, yesterday, after sleeping in til about 1pm (The Velmas had a show in Syracuse Sat. night and I didn’t get to bed til about 7am Sun. morning), I got to work on demo’ing one of them.  It was between working on the song and mowing the lawn.  The grass will live to grow another day.  Five hours later, I’ve got a fairly good-sounding demo on my hands. This is one of the poppier tunes I’ve written in a few years, and I’m planning on doing this one with The Velmas.  I’m pretty psyched about it.  Maybe once I get lyrics done I’ll throw it up on Myspace.  (You know, regurgitate it, or something.)

So in the combined 3 weeks over the last 3 summers I’ve spent in Chautauqua, I’ve come up with a total of 13 new songs.  Of those, I think I’ve been able to complete (i.e. with lyrics and everything) maybe 4 of them.  A couple are gonna be on my upcoming solo CD, and the others on the next Velmas album.  But the others are languishing on my hard drive and iphone (I record quick demos “in the field”, as it were, so I don’t forget them), waiting for me to find the time to work on them and bring them to fruition.  What I’d give to be able to spend as much time as I wanted doing just that…  As it is, I’ll keep spending my free Sundays and odd hours on weeknights, I guess.  In between recording the solo CD and doing Velmas stuff, that is.  And you know, mowing the lawn, doing laundry, eating, sleeping…

First drum tracks done!

by mike ~ August 6, 2008

For those keeping track (i.e. me), I’ve now rehearsed with four drummers for my new CD.  The newest addition is the multi-talented Melanie Krahmer from Sirsy.  She’s helping me out with drums on the song “Florida”.  You might recall that as one of the tracks on my second acoustic demo CD “Wrote Myself“.  Now I’m finally going to give that song its proper dues. (If you haven’t heard the acoustic version before, it’s up on my myspace page and iTunes.)

So, last night we both rehearsed and recorded the drum tracks for “Florida” in her home studio.  Melanie was always the singer and flautist for Sirsy, but recently has taken on drumming as well for the group.  And impressively enough, she’s also quite the drummer!  So I was psyched when she said she’d be interested in playing on a tune for me.

Unlike the other songs I’ll be doing for this project, I didn’t put together a full demo with drums, bass, guitars, etc. beforehand.  Since I already had the acoustic demo, I just gave that to Melanie to learn the song and let her come up with a drum part.  I quite like the groove she gave it.  So now I can come up with the bass part (and whatever other stuff I decide to throw in this song) right in the “real” version, which will be nice.  I hate redoing work more than almost anything…

I’ve got studio time booked in NYC in early September to do drums with Maenza and Sposato, too.  Progress!

Self-Duet: “Saw Red”

by mike ~ July 31, 2008

I played a duet last night with my favorite musician: me!  

I’ve been listening to a lot of Sublime lately, and so decided to learn this song. Then I thought this would be a good tune to try this “self-accompanying” video idea out on (that I’ve been meaning to do for some time now).

As evidenced by the mic stands and pop filters in the video, I had big plans to record each part in Pro Tools and use that audio to make it sound better than the camera mic. I spent a couple hours mixing it, and it sounded pretty great. But it wound up looking/sounding “fake” when I put it with the video, so I just went with the audio from my little camera instead. Ugh!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dBQ54ikRSY&fmt=18[/youtube]

(If you like this, please visit the video page on youtube and give it a 5 star rating?)

“Blue Skies Black” posted on myspace

by mike ~ July 24, 2008

so, i decided to lay it all out there and show people what i’ve been talking about all this time. i’ve uploaded to myspace one of the new songs that will be on my upcoming solo cd. it’s called “blue skies black”.

this is just the demo that i recorded in my home bedroom studio, all by myself; mike maenza (from the x’s) will be gracing this track on drums for the real deal.

there’s a bit more happening in this demo than on my old acoustic demos, that’s for sure. drums, bass, guitars, vocals, tambourine, even some sitar on this one! pro tools is great. i’ll be re-recording all of this from scratch for the album.

so anyway, please check it out, and let me know what you think!

listen to “blue skies black”:
myspace.com/mikegrosshandler.com

Things are progressing, slowly.

by mike ~ July 17, 2008

I suppose now that I’ve rehearsed with 3 of the drummers who will be playing on my upcoming solo album/side project, I can start talking about it in more definite terms. This past weekend found me down in NYC and up in Johnstown, NY.  Or is it Gloversville.  One of those.

Saturday afternoon I met up with Mike Maenza (who has drummed for The X’s, among many others) in Manhattan.  I was super-impressed with Mike’s drumming with the X’s, so I asked him to play on a few songs.   He was up for it, and so he’ll be doing 3 songs with me for this.  This weekend we got some tempos mapped out and generally kicked some ass at a rehearsal studio down on 36th.  Mike can beat the ever-loving crap out of his drums, and I love it.  But he also has a sensitive side, and he’ll be showing off both sides on this project. He’s playing on “Blue Skies Black”, “Drops” (working title), and “Fish in the Sea”.

Later that evening, I found myself in Brooklyn with my good friend Tom Sposato.  Tom was the drummer in my first band, State of Nowhere, and we’ve jammed on and off throughout the years since.  One of the songs he’s playing on was actually a SON tune back in the day:  “Too Many Reasons”.  We released a fairly rough acoustic demo of it like 12 years ago (it’s on iTunes if you want to check it out!), and performed it live a few times, but this will be the first time that song gets the recording treatment it deserves.  That song rocks in a big way.  The other tune he’ll be playing on is a more sensitive song called “Nothing Much”.

Sunday, I drove out west to meet up with Rick Little in the Gloversville/Johnstown area for our second rehearsal.  I met Rick when he played with the Flying Bobbz a few years ago and The Velmas played a bunch of shows with them.  He is now the drummer for Split 2nd Alibi (who will be playing with Godsmack at SPAC this summer at Edgefest!).  Rick’s a real solid and versatile drummer, not to mention a real nice guy.  He’s playing on “Status Quo” and “Drive Me”.

That’s all the drummers I’ve been able to get together with so far, but there are at least 3 more I’m hoping to schedule something with soon.  I’ll post more about them once that happens.

I need to think of a “band name” and an album title for this thing still…

Music Video: Tell Her I Love Her

by mike ~ April 15, 2008

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSWRTnapOXs&fmt=18

after much ado, the velmas are proud to announce our first music video! it’s for the song ‘tell her i love her’ from our city canyons records debut, “Station”.

enjoy!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSWRTnapOXs&fmt=18[/youtube]

benefit show at lark tavern - on the news!

by mike ~ April 2, 2008

http://capitalnews9.com/Default.aspx?ArID=113274

this is cool - capital news 9 did a story about the benefit show i was part of this weekend at lark tavern to help the clearview health art program.

there’s a video clip up there, check it out!