Ayron Jones and The Way & Lukas Nelson

     I had no idea what expect when I went to see Ayron Jones and The Way open for Lukas Nelson (son of Willie) and Promise of the Real last Friday night at the Wild Buffalo in Bellingham.  I wish I had gotten there earlier to see more of the opening set.  I was blown away.  The energy of Ayron Jones and the Way was so amazing, I got lost in it and just had so much fun.  The drummer alone was a spectacle to watch.  It was hip hop meets Jimi Hendrix and it was awesome.  Each of them were such skilled musicians with incredible stage presence and charisma I was worried for Lukas Nelson to have to follow that.
   
     In his own rite Lukas Nelson moved beyond the style of his father into a new realm of cool of his own invention.  If you are an americana hippy like me you'll totally get it. (Even if you are a regular hippy). A beautiful arrangement mixed with acrobatics.  Licks reminiscient of Phillip Sayce, wild yet so controlled and surprisingly touching lyrics that seemed to bare his soul.  It was a little bit country and little bit rock'n roll mixed with a touch of indie style. Powerful performances by both bands that complemented each other so well.
   
     If you have an opportunity, you have to go see these guys.  Both bands are top in their craft, I think you'll regret it if you don't see them perform live.  And I can't tell you how much fun it was to see them in such a small venue, up close.  I have a feeling you won't be able to see them like this for too much longer before people learn who they are and the crowds start pouring in.

Headroom

I want to share with you what my friend Ben Burnes (Abstraction) shared with me this morning, if you too are an indie musician recording your own music and wanting to produce it in the most professional way possible.  Come with me as I document what I learn.  

He said I had a lot of clipping in the recording, both in the vocal and guitar parts. If you have pretty decent music editing software red lines will indicate where the audio clips because it was recorded too loud.

What happens when audio clips is that it is being recorded beyond that capacity of the microphone or computer to properly process the audio signal. The wave generated is too large and the peaks/troughs get "clipped" off, creating audio crackles and other unfriendly artifacts.

Here's a quick example of how clipping looks:

The first line is a normal sine wave. The second line is the sine wave's volume being boosted beyond the limitation of the machine. When the volume is brought back down to normal levels, you can see that the peaks and troughs of the wave have been clipped off creating an entirely different sound.

While he wasn't saying that I needed to go out and re-record everything, it's something that I should keep in mind for the future. The rule of thumb is to turn your microphone sensitivity down to the point where you can sing your loudest and still have space to spare. The traditional space (called "headroom" in the industry) you should give between your loudest singing and the absolute max of the system is -6db. Boosting audio volume is easy, but cleaning up clipped audio is very difficult because in essence part of the wave form is destroyed.

Just so you know Ben is responsible for the piano part in this amazing piece, Drifting, a collaboration with The Reverb Junkie and Genettic.

Seattle Indie Musicians, Radio & Venues

     Here we go local indie musician Seattlites and north Puget Sounders let's keep it local.  Listen to KEXP for great indie music and from Everett, closer to where I'm from, there is KSER and their show Poptopia Parkway Wednesdays at 7pm.  Poptopia Parkway's foundation is power pop, but it's also a showcase for indie rock, oldies, Americana, and contemporary pop singer-songwriters from the 1960s through today.  Lon Palmer is the host. You can contact Lon by email (lon@kser.org) or on his Facebook page to have them play your music.

    I plan to seek out more local venues and include them on this blog.  In Seattle, I've visited the Showbox, the Tractor and the Crocodile.  This Friday I will be going to the Paramount to see Haim.  I'm pretty sure they are not independent, but excited to see them none-the-less. In Mount Vernon up north I've enjoyed going to the Muse, a relatively small venue with a bar and restaurant.  They have three stages on different levels, with shows going on simultaneously, pretty awesome!!

     
     I've discovered some local artists that I really like.  I may have already shared them in previous posts, but I'm going to share them again now.  Eric Miller, Kris Orlowski, Wishbeard, La Luz and my recent discovery through luvindiemusic.com, Mossback and their new song City Lights that you can hear on mixcloud. City Lights is a melodic blend of scintillating guitar riffs, aurally pleasing vocals and a rock solid bass and drums. I hope they will make a lyric video for the song soon. You can follow them on tumblr and twitter, and listen to them for free on jango. 

Visit Grumpy D's in Ballard every Wednesday for a great open mic at 5:30p.

Support local artists :) 

Acoustic Cafe Today

I want this blog to be a resource for other indie musicians so as I learn more I will post more also its great for myself, as well, to look back at information I've gleaned.  Ari Herstand and his blog Ari's Take is a gold mine of information.

Aside from listening to KEXP a local Seattle station, KGUP and NewUSB radio there are millions of internet indie radio stations and podcasts, I'm always discovering more. Wrecking Ball Radio is one of my favorites, the Baub Show which is on daily from Southern California.  I'm always looking for more local stations here in Western Washington, as well as, for good independent venues and artists.

Acoustic cafe is on today, every Tues. on Coastal FM radio which I believe starts around 10 or 11 pacific time, which I will be listening to.

A couple of cool things I have found lately specifically for guitarists this last week is RiffStation and Powertab 1.7.  I think you get a lot more paying for Riffstation. Its great if you can't find the tab you are looking for on UltimateGuitarTab.com. Powertab is a great way to share tab.  There is probably a newer version now, but this is what I've discovered recently.

Josh Doyle is my favorite indie artist today check him out!!