musicthom

A wee ressurection for the new members

Recently i was on the lyrics board having a look at some posts Having a look at McNaughton Parks (Welcome To Where You Are) I was ispired so much by the lyrics i sat down with my guitar and put down a tune you can check the topic here > [topic= Topic for me in the set up at the moment i write all the songs in the band although working with the guys is so valuable to help the song evolve also i think for me it opened me up to a new style of writing that i had never explored as this song ended up Celtic in sound (i think ) having a pre written set of lyrics took some of the pressure away of writing a full song So what are the benifits from collaborating with another musician / lyricist ? What are your experiences ?

This is my 2nd try do the images work ? The music (soul on fire ) i had cut and pasted on the clip using movie maker and had the two pieces well put together but after publishing it seems to jump at the joins i may have to consider using Adacity to produce a audio track rather than use the video software to edit the audio ( re did audio ) there is more to this than meets the eye even for a simple 1.5 min slideshow Thank you for being my friend

I see what you are saying there are some minor problems most of the images that are free and royalty free are prytty poor not in quality but in subject but hay that was only a start

Sounds good John i have already done a short slide show i will upload it to my photobucket and put up a link soon [url=http://s129.photobucket.com/albums/p234/musicthom/?action=view&current=val.flv]( image removed )

Ok not one of my better ideas ok start from scratch. I have a song with a video, i want as many hits as can on it, how do i do this? I guess i have to get folk talking about this I have to make it interesting enough that people will pass it on Maby some self marketing looking at the video as it is, it really has nothing unique enough to qualify to be honest, i would be tempted to click away from it unless i was into the band As you say I could make a shorter video with part of the the song as backing maby leading the soul on fire official video . I remembering watching a video that country singer Dave Caroll made about American Airlines damaging his guitar and he wrote a a song and made a video all about it i just went and checked it and to date it has 7,198,672 views Looking at this it has a few qualitys that draw folk to watch it 1. Most of us at some point have been harshly dealt with by some company at some time so we feel empathy on the subject 2. the guy wrote a song about it so the little man gets his own back 3. It's a fun song 4. in the comments it leads to more debate on the subject so people come back to check out progress ok so lets take a look at the song Firstly the song is all about the " Boy meets girl and falls in love scenario " Nothing unique there but attatch it to something that is popular or even diffirent it could be an option attach it to something with that feel good factor it could work and that is where i am at for the moment

Qite a lot of info there John This is just a thought but i had someone come on my youtube page and have a pop at us saying " Comment on your video: Sit Down (cover of the james hit) Now could i use this to my advantage by posting it to my friends and in turn getting them to post it to their friends to up the count making it more popular ? Taking advantage of the fact ok it is a poor version of the song but look how much these guys have improved by compairing it to the soul on fire video

this is a very interesting subject i recently watched a program on this subject, most of the videos had somthing unique about them so i guess point 1 is it has to be different anyone else wanna throw somthing in the pot ?

It is defenately food for thought i wuld love to say they were ment to be random but thats not true to be honest i just pasted together what i had available The idea of having some sort of plan of attack is imperative a storyline would be good a simple sit down and think about the song and what images could be used to show what is being sung, with a vast interest in viral videos on youtube it needs to be somthing special to ddraw attention to it need to get my thinking cap on for my next project but as i said its all valable learning

Thanks for taking a look, I had made Take Control prior to All our yesterdays and you are correct on the types of effects use some folk like it others don't , and i was a little heavy handed with the effects but it was a valuble learning curve one thing although it takes some time to convert, edit, sync, and generally try and sort the whole set of clips out i like doing it, with some proper equipment and editing software anything is possable

Having a look at some of the work i have done with the band one of the ways i looked at was making short videos to promote the songs, not having an endless pot of funds was my first hurdle but no way was i letting that stop me i am placing 3 videos up for feedback and maby some ideas how to develop them more Video 1 Soul on fire: This was recorded by a friend who was looking for a band to do some work with for a University project, lucky enough for us it was free exept for the hire of the rehersal studio Video 2 Take control : This was my 2nd try at making a video, using my mobile phone and widows movie maker i found this easy if not a little time consumming as i had to convert them to avi first, again having to use an online converter Video 3 All our yesterdays : Again the use of a small kodak camera and a mobile phone So how do we develop or even promote them more ? How do we get better quality without spending a fortune ?

yeh they look good gives me some idea of what i should be doing

That makes sense Finn i had the idea that it would need to catch the eye but i suppose simple will catch the eye

Recently we started to design and distribute posters also we have taken to making up small flyers to place in the venues. the flyers have our web site adresses and a smal bio of the band and how we sound so it got me thinking . what makes a good poster, is it a personal thing or should we really be looking at whats popular ? here are some examples . .

i try as much as possable to warm up in some way before i gig, there are many techniques out there finding the right one can be tricky i suppose there comes a time when you either want to protect what you have vocally or improve i myself will be attending a vocal coach this weekend just try and see what i need or maby dont need to do,

I still believe that the way the track was got to the no1 slot is not any diffirent than that of Mr Cowels way so what is the diffirence between that or the birdie song getting to the top? i think none! anyway most decent artists never get to a high chart position there are hundreds great musicians who never get any position on the charts

I have to say i really struggle with the techy side of things so i don't own a copy of any recording software

Thats really cool must have taken a lot of time and effort well done

Thank god for that thought you were trying it on lol

I was joking

Ok you win go ahead and market me

I don't think it matters how you look at it, the Rage Against the Machine single only got to No1 because people wanted to stick 2 fingers up at Simon Cowell it never reached no1 for its musical merit , to be honest i dont think the song deserved to get a chart position never mind no1 there are better songs on here lets just get one thing straight the manufacture of music/ artist is not a new thing from as far back as the Monkeys bands have been put together just to sell an image or style I put a band together to promote my songs so in essence it was manafactured by me to try sell my songs, so if i wrote a great song would it be ok to just get behind another song because i manafactured my band so many great bands have bit the dust simply because someone somwhere deemed them not the product that should be "IN"

Good stuff John maby just what i need at the moment

Is it me ?………………..Is it age ?……………….What is going on ? There are strange forces around & strange things going on and I want answers NOW!　I know it may appear to be an angry rant but it is more of a fear-filled ramble You see things are disappearing in my house firstly went my ears (my name for my hands free kit ) Then went the charger for my phone In addition, today I notice that the master recording of nobody makes me feel like you do has miraculously gone There could be several explanations for this phenomenon 1. Could aliens have visited my home and taken what they think are curious objects? 2. Am I sleepwalking during the night and burying these items? 3. Is this a big dream and have I just imagined the last few years?Who knows 　Well it's that time again this time next week all the worry, stress will be gone Why is buying people presents such a stress filled activity? Although I have to admit it was a stress free shopping experience for me this year, I think we put ourselves under so much pressure to please the people we care for that we lose sight of the most important thing Just to love and care for our family and friends a better present you could not have. Strangetouch are playing their last gig of 2009 at Maggie May's on boxing day and we hope to finish the year off with a bang To all who confirmed they will be there we thank you from the bottom of our hearts and thank you all for the support and encouragement you have given us over the year Tonight Neil and I will be attending Kincaid Lives Christmas jamboree and we are looking forward to it we hope to have some good photos to show you next week. Its really difficult to chose a highlight for our year but if I had to for me it would have to be when Music news Scotland picked our debut EP as top 4 to listen to in November We were delighted that others thought what we had created something worthy of listening to So for now its bye and be good 　Thomas x

Hello what a very foggy cold afternoon it was and more to come me thinks What do you know I actually managed to get most of my Christmas shopping , in one day Oh! and yes before Christmas eve Result!!!!!!! Mind you I still have some stalking fillers to get Its so funny why does it always lead to thoughts of past Christmas's, were the presents really huge? Was the turkey better ? Was that Santa I really heard in the room ?Who knows As I write this blog my mind suddenly shot back to the firs time I ever sang a song as a performance If I remember correctly it was a party at my grandmother's house I must have been around twelve years old My choice of song was "Rhinestone Cowboy" sung by John Denver and I believe written by Larry Weiss I knew every word…………… Ah happy days Last week you all know we recorded four new demos I always try and make things visual so I generaly make a video to go with the song and post it on you tube . . This took some time but I did post two This Time and Just not there (Jac's song )And the feedback was good but I wasn't prepared for what happened next I posted it on a few networking sites and my inbox went nuts I still can't believe the comments, this song although it is a very personal song I didn't actually think was really that good ! I love the song but I thought that because it was my baby that I was more than a little bias The fact that we recorded it in a very basic way, well lets just say it was more of a song for me seemingly not It came about over 2 years ago when I wrote this and we had a little time left in the recording time so myself and Jackie sat down with three microphones and did the song together in one take I really wasn't expecting this kind of reaction I may have to look at a full production on this song So tell me what are you all up to for the festive period we have a gig at Maggie May's on boxing day we would really appreciate it if you could make it After that we have a slot in MaCsorleys 3rd jan Anyhow time I was on the promotion trail so for now be good and I will speak to you all next week Thomas x