Creative Process

First Look: Universal Audio LUNA

For starters, the system I’m using is a MacBook Pro with macOS Mojave 10.14.6 installed.

The initial download and installation were pretty straight forward compared to most DAW workspaces. The first night, I was able to get as far as basic installation, but getting iLok cloud working was a bit of a challenge (luckily there is step-by-step documentation). I’m not that excited to have to be dealing with iLok again, but iLok cloud worked after tinkering around with it and a few reboots.  

I’m old enough to remember first-generation iLoks, I felt they were undependable and often only a system reboot would get them back in working order. Securing system licenses for a vendor should never impact the use or stability of the system. Their iLok cloud is a vast improvement, I do appreciate the developer focus and seamless integration with such a commonly used licensing system. Moving on.

The first time the license activation kicked in and LUNA launched, it was a beautiful thing. With Universal Audio (UA) plug-ins, I have come to expect high aesthetics on top of powerful, easy to use software that delivers sound consistent with the plug-ins’ analog counterparts. A prompt for an immediate upgrade is available, good we are now in the cloud where all decent software is version-less.

Another nice touch that cannot be overstated is UAs strong documentation and the useful tutorials that load to help provide an overview of the system. I’ve found their support in the past to be robust fast and responsive (reminder, UA is not paying me, I’m, just a happy customer). The Luna Basics videos are a detailed enough walkthrough to get started, with the promise of in-depth tasks and workflows explained in longer videos and tutorials. Remember to RTFM, in this case, the videos.

After watching the videos, I moved on to the remaining tabs (Create, Discover, Manage, Settings) on the left of the LUNA UX. The dashboard is a highly organized front end to plug-ins and extensions. I already own a number of UAD plug-ins, so they are all there active and reference-able when I click on the UAD Plugins tab. I like that there is a search, filtering, with options to show/hide purchased plug-ins. Plug-in lists can be unwieldy. The dashboard has the potential for Universal Audio to deliver tutorials and recording templates as well as the purchase options, thus far I like what I am seeing.

The discover tab is like going into your favorite gear shop, so you’d better watch your tail and buy only essential tools (we all want to get all of them).  Plug-ins are valuable investments, they should be looked at as tools which can increase efficiency, reinforce productivity, creative output, and automate the creative workflow.  Any time you try to put a dollar sign to the value each tool brings to the table, look at the time spent completing your normal tasks.  The time spent manually achieving the sound that the plug-in natively produces with a flip of the switch and a couple adjustments often saves time.  The most useful plug-ins pay for themselves (in time saved) in short order. 

There is a bundle that looks intriguing.  The LUNA Creator Bundle may look like a lot at first glance, but at $549, that’s $149 more than the essential Neve Summing plug-in (a decent value for what it does). I’m going to practice restraint and forgo any purchase until I’ve gotten acclimated to the DAW. I already own the Studer A800 which should get me some mileage on my recording projects this weekend.  On day one of installation and use, I have more than enough to work with with my pre owned plugin library.

Moving onto the Manage tab I see the details of all of the items I own installed, along with available demos. Cool, I can try out the Neve Summing be for I buy it. I appreciate the try before you buy option. It’s a good thing to know the size of the items in the install base, should I need to move anything to an external drive in the future. This is made easy by right-clicking on any item which brings up your base hard Drives for reference. There are two tabs, My Products, and Installed Products at the top of the page. They both seem to do the same thing, assuming they will provide value at a future date.

Anyone who has used the UA Meter and Control Panel or their Console UX should feel at home in the settings tab. It’s nice to have the Hardware, I/O Matrix, and Options all in an organized area for quick changes and review. Another feature that I like might not sound like much but it speaks volumes about what type of company Universal Audio is. Feedback is persistent in the upper right-hand corner of the system, allowing their customer base to help developers deliver a better product.

This is very important to me and this point should be to all of you. To someone that develops software (my day gig is software UX/design), direct customer feedback is a sign of true integrity. This tells me Universal Audio is a customer based company focused on continuous improvement. It tells me that I can trust them as a company and that my investments in their products and services are in good standing. I’ve worked in cloud software since 2007. Leaders in cloud-based software (like Fred Luddy from ServiceNow) built themselves a loyal customer base by empowering the customer with innovative tools and listening to the customer’s voice.  Feedback is about continuous improvement.  It’s really cool to see Universal Audio developers following that tradition as professional recording moves to the cloud. It’s about time, cloud-based software gives customers the opportunity to harness the power of UAs development efforts. If done correctly, its a mutually beneficial partnership of developers and the professional customers they serve.

Conclusion

I’ll work on finishing my first few LUNA projects by the end of April, which gives me about a week. Along with one of the projects, I will write a review of the experience in LUNA compared to Logic Pro X. Judging by what I have seen thus far, this is going to be a fun system to work with and should result in the highest quality output. Quarantine has added some completion obstacles to a current album project, so I’m going to use this as an opportunity to play and compose in the singer-songwriter format. With LUNA, I hope to complete a new set of songs I have written for an album that I just dubbed Canadian Tuxedo. The big challenge is if I need a drum track I may need to import from Logic Pro X’s virtual drummer or another program like Superior Drummer 3.

Canadian Tuxedo Cover

We’ll see how it goes, it’s all about the creative process and if I can stay close to my muse. Here is the album cover, cheers until later. I know, its a shameless nod to Nathanial Rateliff’s album, but I don’t give AF. I love that album and his work as an artist, his latest album is on constant rotation here at the house.

A few Useful Hints…

As Mentioned above, you may want to take a look at some of the tutorials out there.  I’ve viewed a considerable amount of them.  This one is one of my favorite overviews on editing.  This video has a UA developer and designer to describe the backend file system that powers LUNA projects. They go into the flexibility available when importing and exporting projects using mix down commands to move files between your preferred DAWs.

A considerable effort on rethinking complex menu systems for ease of use, search-ability, audio workflow, and visibility into all aspects of the UX. Track editing is intuitive with efficient pitch, gain, fade tools built directly into the clip. The first time I have ever heard of unlimited un-dos in any editing software, especially in auto-saving.  The spill feature easily shows all tracks and sub-mix signal flow of each bus for a highly organized view during the mixing process. powerful.  The midi editing capabilities are gone through. On first glance they look intuitive.

Luna Office Hours

If you have time, the LUNA Office Hours videos provide a casual discovery forum with some of the early adopter power users of the LUNA system.

https://www.youtube.com/user/UniversalAudio/featured

Self Quarantine Stream

In the first 4 episodes, I learned real-time how to stream. This first one was a bit of a technical disaster, but it’s important to show true documentation of the creative process with the goal of continuous improvement. This means posting everything, warts and all, to communicate what went wrong and how the problems that arose were addressed. This way everyone else can learn from my mistakes. Even with the signal cutting out and pixellated video it never gets as bad as Bill O’Reilly’s “We’ll Do It Live” meltdown, so I’m going to chalk it up as a learning experience.

By the fourth episode, I was comfortable using a mix of live and prerecorded content. Which is an important aside, all sorts of things can go wrong, be prepared with a prerecorded backup plan for live content.  For all episodes, I am using restream.io to push to multiple platforms simultaneously. I’m still figuring out how to add Instagram using restream.io and will write a full-featured article on the tools (software & hardware) used.

Episode 04

Episode 03

Episode 02

Episode 01 part B

Episode 01 part A

What I like most about the fourth episode is how naturally I become once I see that I’m playing to my friends who were also on lockdown. Once I see my family and friends are watching, the performance clearly shows. I started to relax a bit, knew my audience, and two hours went by like nothing.

Nothing special about the third episode, it’s a good representation of how I practice in the evenings if the band members are unavailable. I go through my material off the top of my head. Work on clean precise rhythm hem, and use a looper to do a few solo exercises. I’ve used plenty of loopers in the past, but nothing beats the Boomerang 3 Phrase Sampler. It’s easy to use.  Loopers can be trick and although I usually miss a beat, as a piece of hardware it never does.

The electric I play is a Reverend Jetstream 390, I love everything they stand for. A real a-class group of individuals. The reason I like that particular guitar is I am a huge fan of Tony Joe White, solo he played a Strat through a Tweed Deluxe. My God what a tone Tony had. RIP brother.

The catastrophic crashes, disconnections, and failure of my first attempt at streaming, I overcompensated and pre-recorded the entire show. I put everything together in Final cut and streamed using OBS into restream.io. My brother’s footage was just on an iPhone, my footage was through a goPro Hero 7 with the audio adapter plugged into a Bose S1 battery powered PA.

If you want to BUSK and get great footage with great audio this is a killer option. I will write up a full article on the Bose S1 and goPro, for now this playlist uses it, sounds good to me.

While I’m getting the hang of the cut screens and working in OBS, I am unaware till its too late how pixellated the output is.

the part that sucks, is I turn off the audio, and never put it back up halfway through. You live and learn.

Oh my god, the system crashed 2 times and apparently, the webcam on the laptop is not high enough resolution. Audio sounds good though.

Boredom into Productivity

One of the byproducts of being stuck at home during lockdown is coming face to face with my own restlessness. I always have to keep myself busy.  We’re not taking about anxiousness and it’s certainly not A.D.D., so there is no need to go there.  A mere observation, not a complaint.  My mental wanderlust is a good thing that I depend on every day as i get up to so my work.  Restlessness begets motion, motion turns the wheels and starts the synapses.  Movement is alert experience of the senses, it my mind working at its best, firing on all cylinders.

 

I’ve Noticed a Few Things…

Books that have been collecting dust for years have now become daily reference materials. I’m writing as fast as my fingers can type or as fast as the graphite lasts in my mechanical pencils.  Different sounding guitars are in a constant cycle, strings are wearing out, not accumulating dust and rust due to inactivity. Music & jazz theory are both part of my daily regimen. Painting, design, art, are all in strong rotation.

 

It’s somehow like I am hungry again.  Once again starved for knowledge, which I must admit is both inspiring and terrifying at once. Have I been dead or checked out for a decade?  What’s the cause of this new urgency?  In admitting I dont know shit, lies the greatest challenge & advantage.

 

Just because I’m over a half-century old, it doesn’t mean I can’t continually improve myself.  Familiarizing myself with the new productivity tools available is extremely important in this day and age, remaining in the dark, is not, and should not be an option in life. I need to learn more than I ever have in my life, from contemporary tech, from the classics, from history, from literature, and from art.  One look with open eyes will see that creatives are living in a Renaissance right now.  There is also a dark underbelly.  Disinformation is real and the con is on in the age of information.  On every corner virtual petty thieves invade our privacy and king makers push their ideologies down our throats, and honestly as for the latter, I want none of it. 

 

It’s nothing short of inspiring.  As for the part that sounds difficult and dangerous, it doesn’t need to be as long as we actively educate ourselves.  Given the tools we have at our disposal, today, there is no compelling reason to sit back as a quiet observer.  Making art and music not only means mastering the instrumentation and the craft of songwriting, it means understanding how to build a brand, a business, a marketing and distribution machine.  If one does take on the Do It Yourself (D.I.Y.) mentality, essentially you are entrusting others to do the work for you.  That will never work.

 

I’m Going to Lean Live Streaming, Learn a New DAW, & Release a Solo Album

Enter live streaming, within a few days it can me demystified with the right tools.  It’s not rocket science.  I, by no means at all, have any business being in front of or behind the camera.  I probably should not have ever picked up a guitar now that I mention it.  Thats the first thought of anyone in the learning process, and it is the very reason that makes it important to continue in their pursuits. If I don’t, or you don’t, then who will?  I think it’s safe to say that at first, everyone feels like a putz when hearing their voice in a recording or seeing themselves in film and photographs. I don’t like having my imperfections right there for view under a microscope. Nobody does. Understanding this is a great equalizer. Anyone can do this. Anyone can write a badass novel (read Keith Richard’s Life immediately), anyone can perform a song that will touch another heart. You just have to work your ass off and refuse to let any obstacle get in your way.  I’ve always been a live and let live person. I’ve always respected those who dare to shut up and lead by example. One’s actions speak volumes. One small action can help others immeasurably.

 

My old man used to tell me, “Skip a few beers, and get that thing down. Nail it down. Then you can go back to business as normal.” He was all about mathematics, calculation, an engineer, a workaholic. God, I miss that sonofabitch and his brother. My heroes, even to this day. When I failed, bloody knees and all, they picked me up. They believed I could do anything. They are the first thing that comes to my mind when facing any challenge.

 

Getting webcams to work, coding for browsers, and understanding audio and video recording is not rocket science. Realize that to learn, you need to start with a small project, complete it. Learn and repeat until you get it right. That’s it. Start with a smartphone, a single streaming platform, and next thing you know you will be broadcasting like the networks of old. The technology literally is right in front of you.[/vc_column_text]

 

Looking back at 2019, last spring I shot my first music video.

 

 

Yes, it’s bad, but I challenge you now to go back and look at some of the videos from the 80s on MTV.  We loved it and it was campy AF.  The Keep Warm video was not so bad that I need to burry it. More importantly, it’s me, it’s a real unfiltered snapshot into my life. It tells my story.  The beard and bandanna is a look I’ll probably never return to, but you never know with this quarantine.  There was a version that I buried, but that is another story.

 

Forward to the last music video from the album “To Love a Wild Fire”, I think its badass.

 

 

 

My point is that by the end of the year, with a bit of persistence, 7 of the 10 songs from my album had music videos. Each video was completely D.I.Y. and quality and progress can be seen across the collective timeline.  Make a commitment, and follow through with it.  Streaming is no different. Crashing computers is part of the fun. Having a feed so pixelated that it looks like Super Mario is singing is a hard-earned badge. If the audio is good I am good.

 

Here is the “Support Local Music & Art” project I kicked off this week to help promote locals in North County San Diego. 

 

 

Here is my latest “Quarantine Stream Episode”, three weeks in I finally got a handle on the system crashes.

 

So if you’re trying to stream to share with your loved ones.  You can do it.  Dont take no for an answer.  Dont throw your laptop of phone out the window after the first failed attempt.  If I can do it, you can. 

 

Communication is the most important name of the game now, it will keep our hearts in the right place.  Take it from me.  This old dog can learn new tricks. For now, I’m going to learn to do something that I don’t know how to do. Work on it until it looks like a professional’s work. The old insult, “Jack of All Trades, Master of None” is nothing more than a cop-out if you take the time to think about it.  Just stream.

 

Introducing LUNA, Time to Learn a New DAW

As for the DAW I’m learning, it’s a system called LUNA that was just released this week by a company named Universal Audio. In January, I was able to see some demos around the system at NAMM in Anaheim, CA.  I left feeling like I had just seen Steve Jobs unveil the first iPhone. Invoking the spirit of Steve Jobs, may sounds a bit over stated or over-hyped, but what I’ve seen thus far was impressive, and recording interfaces were due for a quantum leap and I think UA is just the company to succeed.

I have a series of articles I am beginning to write so there is no need to linger on this topic, it will be discussed in detail shortly in several articles starting with the installation.

 

 

Canadian Tuxedo

Im going to use this as an opportunity to play and compose in the singer-songwriter format.  With LUNA, I hope to complete a new set of songs I have written for an album that I just dubbed Canadian Tuxedo.  We’ll see how it goes, it’s all about the creative process. Here is the album cover, cheers until later.  I know, its a shameless nod to Nathanial Rateliff’s album, but I dont give AF.  I love that album and his work as an artist, his latest album is on constant rotation here at the house.

 

 

Live From Oceanside, CA

Percussion Tutor

2019 Year in Review

In retrospect, 2019 has been one of the hardest working years of my life. A culmination of 20 years of home recordings, learning as I went, and the buildout of a makeshift home studio. My goals were ambitious, my timelines were unreasonable, and my understanding of just about everything involved was nonexistent. In other words, it was a tremendous learning experience.

 

I’m in the final stretch before my first independent studio album release, and it feels good AF. It felt like I’ve spent forever paralyzed by the thought of mixing and mastering my recorded demos. Having that obstacle cleared has returned healthy blood flow to the heart of my songwriting. When I began exploring mixing and mastering it was all-consuming, so there was no time for writing if I was going to stick to the schedule and make the deadline.

 

Music production IS precision-based work, and it takes a tremendous amount of discipline to do this right. The experience has left me with a tremendous appreciation for the value that mixing and mastering engineers bring to the equation because I could not have succeeded alone. Along with appreciation comes a thirst to understand the technical nuances of an ever-expanding universe of audio hardware and software. I feel like I set myself up with a decade of learning ahead.

 

All of this kind of reminds me of when I began learning how to code to browsers, then later to mobile devices when the iPhone ushered in a new era of technology. The first dot-com boom, the second, and the mobile revolution. Fuck it’s good to be alive in this day and age. It also reminds me of my pops. Buzz ODonnell.

 

I appreciate my father’s influence and work ethic, his ability to troubleshoot farm machinery to get it running and operational for the start of whatever season we found ourselves in. He was an engineer, he was a student of people and life, a hacker, he spent all of his spare time reading, troubleshooting, and problem-solving. Regardless of my pursuits in higher education, I consider myself self-taught. University only gets you so far. It’s true I have 2 degrees, a Bachelors and Masters in Fine Arts, neither of which address the day in and day out tasks I need to take care of in music, or in maintaining my day gig. They do however speak volumes to who I am as a human being and what path I have chosen to pursue.

 

Art is about finding your own voice and path in the world. It’s about being told you are wrong by critics and having a mindset hell-bent on proving those in doubt of your abilities wrong. As 2019 was about willing an album to existence, 2020 will be about working to breathe life back into all of the songs already written while clearing the way to any new ideas that come down the pike. It’s going to be a fucking good year people, and I’m glad to be sharing this news with you on such a fine Sunday afternoon which commences the close of the year.

Giant Earth Press Art

This is going to sound funny, but it took me time to work up the courage to ask my friend to create designs for my upcoming album. The first, most obvious question is why wouldn’t I do it my self? I am after all a trained seasoned visual artist, I’ll start there.

 

Music is raw emotion, instinct, revelation, & mystery. The musicians I’ve studied are larger than life, titans, heroes straight out of a greek epic. Their music, along with our ancestry lives & breathes in our DNA & speaks to us if we have the balls to listen. When I hear people say that a soul lives in each of us, I’m not sure they truly believe it.  Music is the very definition of a soul.  Instinct and immortality are real, & becoming a hero or legend is a conscious choice down a disciplined path to a longterm vision or goal.  Real men and women, flesh and blood.  Any time a human tries to master something he/she enters the arena. When you enter this arena, you need to be prepared.  Only a fool would take on such an endeavor without a support system.  Alone.

 

Enter Charles Fetherolf, my secret weapon.  I’ve worked, collaborated, exhibited, shared studios with countless artists over the years.  Entrusting my vision to an artist of his caliber was an obvious choice, he was the first person that came to mind who could bring ideas to the table that were out of my reach.  My goals were ambitious and beyond my own skillset.  Creating a visual language to explore & extend the music, performance, & poetry of the Ram stage name us so open-ended it can go anywhere.  Knowing that is a beautiful thing.  To be productive in the journey, an artist that has a track record of executing above & beyond expectations has to be involved. I mean, what the F is the Ram anyway? I actually don’t know. Just saying I’m a bad-ass singer-songwriter isn’t enough. Sometimes names are just given to us and they stick, and on the lighter side, I know I’ve been called a hell of a lot worse. I knew Charlie could build the foundation of a visual language while I focused on all the other moving parts around me.

 

This is where my first point comes in. Knowing when to ask for help can be tough. I love being a DIY artist, but running everything; digital design, content, social media, film, & recording is a massive undertaking. Asking for help, and budgeting for professionals to add their magic to the mix is as important as the act of writing songs because at the end of the day it’s about maintaining the creative process, performing, getting the songs out there to the people, and moving on. Everything needs to fall in line to keep the machine going and firing on all cylinders.

 

Had I taken on the responsibility of making all of my tour posters, album art, and the visual language I would not have been able to push the needle as forward as I have in 2020. Today, I am surrounded by capable musicians that I want to collaborate with. Charlie’s visuals have my imagination reeling and are the beginnings of some concept poems and full albums. I’m swimming in inspiration.

Creativity & Objectivity

Pushing through objectivity in the mixing and mastering process to maintain your voice & vision.

I’m going to say something, many will disagree.

“Everybody has an opinion, but when it comes to art only the artist’s opinion matters.”  

Cue mass discord and bellowing boos. Bring it on bitches. As if I’ve never faced criticism or had to handle a naysayer. I’ve spent the better part of my life active in visual & performing arts, the other half on various day gigs that involve problem-solving. One thing we can all agree on is everyone has an opinion. Unless someone’s opinion is hidden deep within a good story, I could care less. My interests lie in the inspiration and the story locked within the song itself, the rest is noise.

Understanding what you don’t want is as important as knowing exactly what you want in just about every situation. In this case, I had no idea how important my involvement was during this phase of production. Now I know. Just like in the visual arts, the final steps to completion during the creative process are the most important. I’d venture to say this is true when creating any work of art. The final finishing touches are the defining steps, it’s what separates the men from the boys. Where some are comfortable with handing it off, I am not. For starters, it’s way too personal, and secondly, it’s hands down the best part of creating. 

Mistakes can often be our best instructors.  It’s all right to admit you don’t know something. To find yourself in the wrong. It’s how we learn. Continuous improvement.   I now find myself mixing and mastering with the help of Universal Audio’s Apollo x8p system. The plugins at my disposal are some of the most powerful in the history of recording. I may be naive and stupid for trying, but this same self-awareness and confidence were what helped me pick up the guitar in the first place. It’s the same gut feeling that gave me the balls to step up to a mic and sing my first original. This feeling tells me to go for it, and learn. If the first release doesn’t work, then there will be others. Thousands of more to come.

When you get to the heart of it, this conversation is not about opinions. It’s about maintaining needed control throughout the creative process. Hearing an off mix was the catalyst that helped me embark on a road to demystify the mixing & mastering process. I’m learning and improving output daily. I’m way better off than I was a month ago, many assumptions have been replaced with hard research and action.  

From where I’m sitting in my mix room, the road ahead looks damn good.

Frustration Turns to Productivity

Burnout & exhaustion are as much a regular part of the do-it-yourself (DIY) era, as making a strong cup of coffee each morning. Right about the time it feels like it can’t get any worst, it’s important to remember not to give up. Push through. More often than not trying is enough to shed some light on the subject.

Before I get into the problem, let me backtrack a bit to provide context.  

I’ve been writing songs for roughly 30 years in such an unorganized fashion, I have little to show for it. Much of the work, for better or worse, has passed back into the ether it originated from. What remains is only what has been tracked, written down, or recorded as audio or video. Over time, the reservoir of ideas is overflowing but the ability to arrange & record is a challenge.

When I compare my songwriting with my efforts in visual arts (http://art.odsoul.com/) I can see how disciplined I have been with the latter. I’ve archived everything, sketchbooks, notebooks, studies leading up to finished works, and the original works themselves, all cataloged and on record. Having such a record allows me to look back to a specific timeframe to track artistic evolution.

My songwriting workflow looks something like this…

• Inspiration calls, pick up the guitar, hash out BPM, rhythm, chord changes, melody
• Videotape a reference performance to remember neck voicings
• Build arrangement track and chord changes in Logic & iRealPro
• Use virtual drummer to dial in basic beat and feel as close to rhythm guitar as possible
• Laydown rhythm guitar 2 outs: 1 mic guitar/1 midi in
• Skat vocal track focusing on vowels, no need for words yet.
• If needed cut a vocal track and harmony tracks
• Track until completion, do best to get the mix near perfect.

I can get my mixes 99.9% there to my ears, and bounce a strong reference track for a pro mix & mastering handoff. Everything is buttery smooth up until I export to Pro Tools, all around the task of exporting and multi-tracking the drums generated by the virtual drummer. I didn’t know where to start, so I had to stop and figure it out.  At this point, my ability to proceed any further is at a standstill until I solve this problem properly. 

Recognizing that there is a problem is the first step to progress. Logic Pro X’s virtual drummer is hands down one of the most powerful songwriting tools ever created; knowing this gave me confidence. After a bit of research, trial & error, and googling the topic, the workflow was surprisingly easy and was a built-in feature of Logic Pro X’s virtual Drummer.  

All I had to do was to… 

• Change over to the producer version of the kit I was using. Drum Kits > Producer Kits > Current Kit with “+” plus sign
• Copy the track into the Overheads Channel at the top of the stack, which will convert to MIDI
• Bounce Tack in Place
• File > Bounce > Track In Place
• Make sure to select “Include Instrument Multi-Outputs” and “As Aditional Tracks”. Normalize should be off.
• All tracks should be populated with audio when this task cycles.
• Keep or remove unused tracks, up to you
• here is a video

Done, my friend with ProTools is happy and off to work.

In closing, my point is that old dogs steeped in their ways can learn to adapt and thrive with the tools available to us. As creatives, we have supercomputers at our fingertips & an audience that spans across the entire globe. Not embracing tools that make us more efficient, is foolishness. Giving up should never be an option as it places you squarely back at the starting point of your efforts.

That is of course unless its time to reinvent, then placing yourself back at square one is a conscious creative choice. I commend that as long as it’s not a cop-out.

Ireland or Busk

The Ram & The Wolf

Motor Kine: Oceanside, CA

Open Mic: Oceanside, CA

A funny thing happened last night when I played open mic at a friends wine tasting room, I fell back in love with local music.   It’s a place I’ve been absent from for a few years.

While learning to trust my own voice, I’ve met musicians from all sorts of backgrounds; from seasoned older jazz statesmen like Milt Hinton, Barry Harris, Curtis Fuller, Frank Foster, Milt Jackson and so many others that used to teach through NYC’s Jazz Mobile project. That’s just one small pocket of players. Many other country, rock, and folk legends, but I digress. One consistent trait across the broad range of people playing to countless genres in music is a humble approach to the disciplines which surround music. 

It’s a brotherhood & sisterhood where arrogance leaves the room and acceptance and encouragement welcomes all. It’s funny, but being an arrogant prick or a dickhead in music is usually a true sign of amateur hour.

Now that I think of it, that truth is consistent across all industries. Another truth is how music thrives in tight knight communities. Go watch “Echo in the Canyon“.

For a Tuesday night, there was a good crowd that was building at Coomber Family Wines, O-Side. A local hero was ripping it on acoustic, which is always a good sign. I ordered a glass of Pinot at the bar, signed up, waited my turn until I was called up after a few jams.

Next up Ron…. Is there a Ron here?” Silence. A couple of awkward minutes. I raised my hand, “I’m the Ram bro.” “Correction, is there a Ram in the audience? You’re up!” Fuck yeah! Unpack my National steel, tuned it up and lay down a trusted original. 

I started with “Do It Right” an older composition that was a 2 chord jam with a simple chorus & bridge. The guy running the event agreed to sit in and holy shit, what a badass. His name is Marco Savoia, check him out! His double-bass backbeat just about blew me off the stage, a veritable powerhouse of foot-stomping and string slapping. I felt super loose, and extended the song out in a manner that you do when you are enjoying the simple act of playing, I also was listening to the bassman add intricate runs that have never been put to my song in the bast. A bass solo, HOLY FUCK!

Overflowing with confidence now, the second song I chose was fresh off the notebook. I’d recorded a demo and a shitty music video of it but had yet to play it in front of anybody but fellow musicians at the home studio. “Keep Warm” was exactly what I wanted for the next song. The only problem came when I forgot my lyrics and chords. 

Now we’ve all done it and know how badly it sucks, but it’s all how well you recover from the situation. Some people exit stage left never to perform again. I flubbed a couple of chords then said to the audience,

“Hey everyone, you know what, FUCK IT, I’m going to try this one more time with feeling.”

It came like a warm breeze. All the chord changes, the lyrics, the intensity of the first time I penned it to paper. There you have it hero to zero in two songs. I needed a closer. “Motor Kine” was a song that fit that bill. I also just noticed the place was filling in with some of the local music heroes. All the members of Shane Hall’s band were there along with Shane himself. 

On the beach a few days earlier I was talking to a surfing buddy who is starting the trials for the Baja 1000, he was just starting to get back into it and I asked if I could make a music video to his racing footage. So “Motor Kine” was fresh on my mind and I let it rip. That’s when my mind transported me to the outer reaches of the Baja Peninsula all along the Pacific Ocean. The heart & the inspiration for the song.

Race down the Pacific Ocean. 

Run down that Mexico sand. 

Just for nothing babe,

 just cause I want to…

Gonna fly all across this land.

That felt good, we locked into a nice groove feel and jammed that shit out. Got loose enough to put in a guitar solo with the bass was locked in so well. Damn, hand my guitar off for Shane to use and I’m done. Time to listen and take it in.

The real reason I felt compelled to write about the experience was the discussions that took place after everyone played. I’d never met Kaleo Wassman before, he was one of the warmest souls I’ve ever met. When I apologized for forgetting my lyrics, he told me how cool it was and that forgetting lyrics is a true sign of an artist. This was a place where a songwriter could share his new material in the company of friends.

This was heaven.