A little bit of work

So, I'm still working on "like a lighthouse gone mad from loneliness" and...it's pretty much working out  the way I want. I still feel like I'm missing something in the songs, so I've been thinking about the density and texture of the vocals. I believe that I need a lot more harmonies, which just take a ton of time to do on your own. I'll just try to do a few songs and see whether I like the results.

I was asked to write a piece of music for a dance student at North Port High School. The choreography is based on a poem entitled "Balloon" and I am doing the background music. It ended up being kind of a strange piece; I played acoustic guitar through a reverb unit and doubled that track to make it repeat a few milliseconds after the initial sound. Then I added a woodwind/string sound as a complementary instrument. Very spacey. I may take it and incorporate it into "like a lighthouse...", but I haven't made a decision yet. But I like the piece.

The studio is running pretty well. I've added a second pair of monitors to get a better idea how a mix is working. As it stands, I usually listen to any mix with Sennheiser HD414 headphones (one of the best open air headphones ever made, in my humble opinion), a pair of Klipsch ear buds, Alesis Monitor 1 speakers, JBL Control 1 speakers, the surround system in my house (Sony), and then drive around in my Nissan truck. If a mix works in all of those, you are finished! Since I do my own mastering, I had to find a way to reference a mix. I've used this method for over twenty years. It works for me.

On a totally different subject, I miss painting. I haven't taken the time to do any watercolors in months and it is starting to eat at me. I have to take the time and just do it. Instead of doing other things, like watching movies, or The Gilmore Girls on Netflix. Or playing around on my iPad. Or enjoying a sunset in Key West.

OK, so Summer's over

The Barn

It always seems that Summer goes by so quickly, especially when you are a high school teacher. And the last ten weeks have been great. Lots of bicycling, a family reunion, some house projects here and there…and spending time in The Barn recording music…of course.

The next now that they're here project, "like a lighthouse gone mad from loneliness" is coming along pretty well. Most of the music has been written, basic tracks have essentially been completed on most songs, and now it's time to start fine-tuning everything. This is supposed to be the first project where I play acoustic guitar on some of the songs. Oddly, that has gone very well and I'm amazed at how much fun it has been to start a song on guitar, then build the rest of the song rather than starting with keyboards.

As you can probably ascertain, the Pro Tools issues that I had a few months ago are gone, but not without some pain. The MIDI router I usually use for all of my equipment died, so rather than replace it (it WAS 30 years old) I decided to just rewire my studio as a large daisy chain. Much to my surprise, it worked. So, for most of the Summer sessions I've had, I've been pretty productive.

I had David Alvarez, bassist from the band The Boogiemen, come over and help with a track for the next CD. We had fun getting it together and, hopefully, I didn't scare David off too much by how weird the track was. (For some stupid reason, I interchanged all of the Em chords to G, and vice versa, on the scratch chart we were using for a song. Made for some really confusing rehearsals until I figured out what I did. Duh.)

I also find that I have certain sounds I love using, like choir and mellotron sounds. They are on practically every release I've done and will be on this one also. I have been experimenting with the sound of my voice in trying to not put too many effects on it, but still have it distinctive. No success yet on a winning combination.

As for school, I will have two sections each of Digital Video Production, Electronic Music, and Guitar. REALLY nice schedule, if you ask me.

The Yearly Musical, the next CD, and other things

If you have perused this blog, you will notice that I am the Sound Director for the musical every year at North Port High School. This year the Drama Dept. did "Hairspray" and despite my initial reservations, they did a marvelous job. It was funny and fast-paced, very retro, and cool. For this show, I decided to run the sound board myself, using my intrepid crew of three for running script, comm, and sound effects. All in all, it went pretty well, but I still think we need a new board and cardioid microphones. Maybe next year.

As it stands right now, we are going to have Digital Video Production as a class at NPHS next year. We are supposed to get 20 Macintosh computers with Final Cut Pro X and Adobe Premier. We have been without a class like this for three years, so I'm really excited to have it back. Our goal is have third year students take the certification exam for both editing suites, which would be a first for high schools. More on that when we get started.

I am currently working on the next "now that they're here" music project, tentatively titled "like a lighthouse gone mad from loneliness". I have 8 songs written so far and plan on going into production in June (after school is out.) Looking forward to tracking…and playing rhythm guitar (for once) since I've been teaching myself to play for the past year. Not exactly Jimmy Page, but it works. Still plan on using others for bass and lead guitar.

As usual, I am having issues with Pro Tools. This is a constant in my studio...I have no idea why... but suffice it to say that I'll eventually work out the problems and we will go from there.

Wow, I'm actually updating my blog!

Where have I been? Well, right here, actually.

Back in October, the performance of Alice in Wonderland went pretty well. To me, in retrospect, director Dena Henderson and I should have worked more closely together on integrating the music with the play in the final rehearsals. Sometimes the music just either didn't work, or was too short, or too long. And having the sound crew just stop the music or replay a song didn't work. But, when all was said and done, I still liked the play and the music. I'm still deciding if I'm going to release it commercially on iTunes, just for the heck of it.

And, since then, I've done no music at all. I did produce and edit a ten-minute tribute video for one of our departing assistant principals at North Port High. However, when they played it for the staff at his farewell luncheon, the powers-that-be decided to NOT play it in the Performing Arts Center, but in the cafeteria. Worst acoustics ever. Couldn't hear a thing anyone said on the video. So, once again. another project sabotaged by how it was presented.

I also took a 10-week class on watercolor painting. Truth be told, I've been painting for years, but felt that my technique could use a little updating. I loved the instructor and painted some pretty good scenes (mostly landscapes and flowers.) The painting above is an example of what we did in the class.

There may be some good news on the resurrection of video production at NPHS...but I'm not going to announce that until it is absolutely a sure thing. So, for now, I'm just riding my motorcycle as much as I can and waiting out the winter.

The Brislin Bros.

Just in case you were wondering what we looked like.

Alice in Wonderland

I could have SWORN I updated this blog more recently, but it sure looks like I didn't. So, let's catch up.

First, The Barn has been up and running since June. I installed all new ceiling panels and the dehumidifier works great, so no condensation issues. I reconnected all the equipment (yes, it was an ALL DAY job) and put it into a new configuration so it is easier for me to work alone. Plus I can get out of the way better when I'm recording someone else. The picture shows what it looks like.

Once the studio was up again, I started working on music for a play adapted by my friend and teaching colleague Dena Hendersen. Dena teaches Drama at North Port High School and decided to write her own adaptation of Alice in Wonderland for this year's Fall Play. She also wanted to have a "play with music" and kindly asked me to provide something unique. I ended up writing 22 interstitial pieces; that is, music that either connects scenes or is used to underscore action. Yup, just like a movie, but it's for a play. As far as I know, the play is in rehearsals now and is scheduled for performance on October 4, 5, and 6 at the North Port Performing Arts Center. I'm excited! I'll be taping the Oct. 4th show, so hopefully I can show highlights.

The Brislin Bros. are also working on their next release, which at this point is untitled since Jay and I can't come to an agreement of what to call it. I have about ten songs that I'm thinking of contributing...Jay has two (haha!) Actually, that's an unfair thing to say since Jay doesn't have a back catalog of 400 songs from which to work. However, we have traded some songs already and are working on adding parts. Jay did write an Irish drinking song that is proving to be a bear to work with. We'll see.

Studio update and NPHS Musical

Well, as you can see, The Barn is a little empty. Last month, I removed all of the equipment and took down the ceiling panels due to a condensation problem. The roof is fine and the insulation looks good, so it was just the ceiling panels that were ruined. Since then, I've installed a dehumidifier for use during winter months when the air conditioning isn't really kicking on. There has been no sign of condensation since then. So...all I need to do is get new ceiling panels (seriously thinking about using pegboard to get a weird dotted effect) and install them. Of course, I have no time at all to do that, so the studio looks exactly the same since I started this project. One. Big. Empty.

I also just finished my 8th year of being Sound Director for the North Port High School musical. This year's production, Seussical The Musical, was outstanding on all accounts; sets, singing, acting, dancing, lighting...and maybe sound. With 12 mics and 7 of them changing hands throughout the show, it was one of the most challenging shows I've been involved with. Using omnidirectional mics is a mistake, but the school and theatre just cannot afford to upgrade to cardiods and have enough of them for each performer. In effect, it just makes my job harder. I had two excellent students as assistants and they truly worked their butts off to make everything work as smoothly as possible. So, I guess, you just can't ask for more.

Radio Interview

On Sunday Feb. 17 from 9:30-10:00 pm, I am going to be interviewed (sort of) by a friend of mine, Steve Lemke, on his radio show on WSLR in Sarasota, FL. Probably be discussing the latest release from The Brislin Bros. and maybe past albums from now that they're here. Either way, WSLR streams so anyone, anywhere can tune in at wslr.org and listen live.

294 Scott St. - The Brislin Bros.

The Brislin Bros. first music project together, 294 Scott St., is available at CDBaby for download. You can find it at  http://cdbaby.com/cd/thebrislinbros. You can also find it on iTunes, Rhapsody, Spotify...and I've lost count of the others. You can search and find more, if you're interested.

If you've kept up in this blog, you will see that it took a few years to get this project done. My brother Jay and I live about 1430 miles apart; he's in Massachusetts and I'm in Florida. We have been sending half-completed audio files to each other for months and working on them. Jay wrote five of the nine songs, the best of which (in my humble opinion) is Belladonna, which I made a video for (see previous post.)

We also had one guest musician, bassist David Alvarez. David usually plays with The Boogiemen, a well-known band here in Southwest Florida. David graciously came over to The Barn a few months ago to cut the bass track for the song "Brothers to All" when I got stumped as to how I wanted it to go. His fretless playing is sublime.

All in all, this was a great project. We are both very pleased with the results and want to continue to work together on music. Now, let's see how long it takes to do the next one!

"Belladonna" video on Vimeo

The video for the song "Belladonna" from the upcoming Brislin Bros. release, 294 Scott St., is on Vimeo. You can see it at http://vimeo.com/52586317

The video was shot by both my brother Jay and myself using only iPhone 4's. It's kind of random and weird, but we had a good time putting it together.

The release of the rest of the music from 294 Scott St. should be soon. I am mastering it as fast as I can. Clooose....very, very cloooose.

Music Video in Production

The music video for the song Belladonna on the upcoming release 294 Scott St. by The Brislin Bros. is in post-production editing. All principal video was shot using only an iPhone 4. As usual, I am using Final Cut Pro on a MacBook with an external monitor for my editing station. I am hoping to have the video completed in the next few weeks and will upload it on my Vimeo channel. I'll post the URL here when it is available.

The final mixes for all of the songs for 294 Scott St. are still being worked on. The first set, while OK, just weren't quite there. Since my mastering process requires listening in six different environments (the studio, my truck, my wife's van, the house, high-end headphones, and earbuds), it takes time to evaluate what works and what doesn't. They are getting there and that's all I can say.

Still in the songwriting phase for the next now that they're here release, tentatively titled like a lighthouse gone mad from loneliness. So far I have about 7 songs that I'm considering for inclusion. Tracking hasn't really started, but some of the songs are ones that I have worked on before for other projects, then shelved for one reason or another. This is the most tedious process of all. I'd rather be tracking and mixing.

Whatcha been doing?

Wow, I can't believe how long it's been since I wrote for this blog. Let's catch up, shall we?

Right now, I am working on the final mixes for "294 Scott St.", which will be the first release from The Brislin Bros., which just happens to be a collaboration between myself and my guitarist brother Jay. We have been sending each other music files for almost two years over the Internet since he lives in Massachusetts and I live in Florida. At this point, there are nine songs and it will be released electronically (no CD's...sorry.) The mixes are coming along really well. I just had bassist David Alvarez of The Boogeymen come over to work on one track. All in all, it is going well and I expect to have the mixes completed by August.

We are also in pre-production for a planned video for one of the songs from the above-mentioned project. Right now, we are looking at doing a stop-motion video with cutout characters. Hence the "planned" part of this. If it looks like we will be in production for 6 months or more, then forget it. But if we can pull this off in two to three months, then I'd like to continue. We should start production in a few weeks, but right now we are still planning.

I've also started pulling together the music for the fourth release for now that they're here. If you thought Pacific Radio Fire was eclectic, just wait until you hear the music for the new release. Right now, it's all just random tracks that are half put together. I had a slew of tech issues in The Barn that are now all settled. Added some new equipment and am about to sell a lot of my older stuff that needs to be culled out.

On a final note, the Lighthouse Trike Tour documentary is on permanent hiatus. The Kickstarter campaign did not pan out, so that was twice in one year that I tried to get that particular project rolling. I have no plans at this time to continue trying to do this and, it seems, I have no Plan C. So until I get some brainstorm on how to do this in a reasonable fashion, I'm holding off.

Maintaining Two Blogs

It seems that my life has been usurped by lighthousetriketour.blogspot.com, my other blog outlining my pending trip around Florida as I visit all 30 lighthouses this summer. It has taken months to organize everything and I still don't feel that I have a strong handle on all the details. Suffice it to say that, ready or not, I start this full throttle in three weeks.

This involves deep kimchee since I am producing a multi-episode webcast documentary of the entire trip once it is completed. I want to be able to do 20-minute segments of the trip showing the highlights of the ride and the lighthouses. When the whole thing has aired, then I plan on making it available on DVD. One of the elements of the trip is that I want to compose a theme for each lighthouse that captures what each one felt like when I visited it. This set of music will eventually end up as a CD release when completed. I am also soliciting music from other Florida musicians for the documentary and, hopefully, will be able to offer it as well.

My brother Jay and I are kind of taking a short hiatus from our project together simply because I'm dropping the ball. The Barn is having air-conditioning problems (again) and until it is sorted out it is impossible to record in the building. However, we both have been working with Dr. Cor Mulhern (whom past readers may know is not only our aunt, but a hypnotherapist whom I've produced in the past.) She is currently retired, but has written a small book entitled "Parable of the Cats" that we are editing and prepping for print. More on that when we get closer to the publication date.

I did get to do sound production again for North Port High School's musical, which this year was the extremely difficult "Into The Woods" by Stephen Sondheim. A great production that was a challenge to get right since there were so many mikes and so many singers.

In any event, if it seems a little quiet here, just check out the other blog in my life...I'm sure I'll be there.

Plans within plans within...

So, the school year at NPHS started with a BANG and I just looked up to see that it is November. And what have we been doing? Let's see...

For Kaleidoscope this year, we are producing a lip dub video based on the Billy Idol song "Dancing With Myself." We've been in pre-production since September and it has taken a long time to get organized. For those that don't know, a lip dub is a music video that is lip synced in one take and taped backwards. Also, in the last week, we decided that we are going to produce an original science fiction movie. That is being written at this point and we don't expect to be in production until February. I am looking forward to writing the score for this one, so let's see how that goes.

My big project for 2011 is going to be to create a video documentary about the Lighthouses of Florida. I plan on visiting all the lighthouses in the state while I am on a bike tour. Well, actually a trike tour since I've purchased a Terra Trike Path 8 recumbent (see the picture? Isn't it cute? Like the Tibetan prayer flag?) So, in between planning that trip and looking for corporate sponsors and training for the ride...could be busy.

Musically, I'm still working on songs for The Brislin Bros. project and that's about all. Sales for Pacific Radio Fire haven't been bad at all; got a royalty check from cdBaby!! Income is always good, ya know?

An Inert Summer, of sorts

One would think that if one has a recording studio that one would be in it constantly. Well...not this year. After practically living in The Barn last summer mastering Pacific Radio Fire, and then spending a lot of time recording stuff for Kaleidoscope this year, and working on the music and producing 8 self-hypnosis projects...it was time to cool the jets a bit.

So far this summer I've been editing a short book by Cor Mulhern and I reconfigured the equipment in The Barn to make it easier to work. But, other than that, I haven't done much music. My brother and I have worked on three songs for The Brislin Brothers CD, but not much else. It has been feet up, go visit relatives...and chill.

Kaleidoscope, The Beatles, and other random stuff

OK, as usual it has been awhile since I've updated this, but that doesn't mean that it hasn't been busy. The North Port High School Performing Arts SLC annual performance, Kaleidoscope, was last week. We had two days of rehearsals and two days of performances. Everything went very well this year. The theme was The Beatles, so we had thirteen different songs being performed by Dance, Concert Band, String Orchestra, TV Production, Chorus, and Theatre. We had our largest audience yet on the last night and had a great time with them. All in all, one of our more successful shows.

(The picture above shows us during the video taping of "Dig A Pony" on the roof of North Port High School as we recreate the roof top concert from the movie "Let It Be".)

To prepare for the final editions of the three songs my TV Production classes created videos for, we spent a large amount of time in The Barn recording studio mixing the final tracks. Of the three songs (If I Fell, Help, and Dig A Pony), the latter was the most successful as a mix. Students Christian Beam (lead guitar) and Brittany White (rhythm and bass guitars) were outstanding on the recording; I played drums and did the vocals. Eventually it will make it out somwhere to be heard, just not here.

In other areas, Dr. George Kenney dropped by The Barn to record three additional self-hypnosis scripts related to sports performance. His original series of self-hypnosis CD's (which I produced and created the background music for) are available at amazon.com. This is a great project, one that I've enjoyed being involved with immensely.

And, in other areas of music, I've (oddly and sadly) begun work on the music for the fourth release by now that they're here. There are certain songs that I came across that I forgot about in the last year while working on Pacific Radio Fire. When reviewing them, I really liked them...and realized they'd be perfect for the next CD. So, while I didn't exactly expect to immediately be working on the next CD...looks like I am.

Review in Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Dawn Scire from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune interviewed me last week about the release of Pacific Radio Fire. It was a great conversation since Dawn is articulate and funny.

You can read the review here - http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20100311/ARTICLE/3111031.

BTW, the fish is just a random shot we took in Jamaica last year. I love koi.

Adventures in The Barn

Happy New Year!!!

Since I'm out of school for a few more days for break, I decided to try to fix some problems that I was having in the studio...and, again, had it cosmically pointed out to me that some solutions just lead to more questions.

Like trying to get the dbx 386 tube pre-amp to work with the Digi003 interface. I was sending the digital out signal from the dbx (SPDIF) to the 003...and it wasn't being recognized. After spending too much time swapping out cables and testing every component, the only thing it could be was some setting in ProTools. So, just on a whim, I changed the digital setting from SPDIF to ADAT...and it suddenly started working. I have no idea why since I'm going from an SPDIF out to an SPDIF in, but I'm not going to argue with success. It works...next problem?

I have been having issues with my KAT DK10 drum pads...three of the pads are dead and to have the sensor array replaced (again) just isn't going to happen. Last year I bought a cheapy little Ion electronic drum set. It works in the studio pretty well, but I wanted to have more than the five pads it came with. After a lot of trial and error, I've been able to integrate the DK10 through MIDI into my venerable Alesis D4 drum brain, then plug the Ion pads into the trigger inputs of the D4 to supplement (and replace) the pads on the DK10. By doing this, I now have a 14-pad electronic drum system and I can ignore the Alesis SR16 knockoff that Ion included with the pads (it doesn't have a MIDI-In port, which was essential to integrating the two systems.) For now, it all works and serves my needs, although I needed to buy 1/8" TS to 1/4" TS cables for it to work elegantly. (Thanks Sweetwater Sound for the help, as always!)

The other problem I was having was with playing audio through the Digi003 to the monitors. You can't do it unless you are in ProTools...no other application (like iTunes) will work. After verifying this on the Internet in about five different places, I was left with the yucky solution of taking audio out of the side of my 13" MacBook to the Aux. Input of the Digi003...thereby adding another source of coloration by having to do another D/A conversion. Oh well, at least I can now switch between ProTools and other audio fairly quickly, which I could not do before.

I also hung a few more pictures in the studio, filed away some CD's (copies of my first two releases that I still haven't sold...c'mon people, Papa needs some more closet space!), and generally tried to make The Barn a bit more comfortable for me and the clients.

All in all, a fairly productive time in The Barn.

Pacific Radio Fire - PRESS RELEASE

After seven long years, the third CD release of the group now that they're here is finally available!

Pacific Radio Fire is a collection of twelve songs that range in style from techno to alt rock to classically-inspired music, and cover themes such as the writings of Richard Brautigan and Ray Bradbury, Buddhism, war, death...you know, simple subjects.

This release involves the talents of three guitarists - Fred Nowicki (who was with the group for the sophomore release Auschwitz Bound and appears on the song Far Away, Gone), Glenn Banish (lead guitar on Pacific Radio Fire), and Nate Russell (rhythm guitar and cowriter on So It Goes). Also, bassist Pax Helgesen cowrote and played on So It Goes.

The cover of the CD was designed by Chelsea Dorato, a high school senior at North Port High in North Port, FL. Chelsea won a design competition with her cover submission. This will be her first commercial work.

Pacific Radio Fire is available at cdbaby.com, iTunes, Rhapsody, walmart.com, and 30 other online sites. Just search for "now that they're here".

Endings and Beginnings

I'm abandoning the more formal "press release" style of this blog since it just doesn't suit me or this site. Since all things "deep kimchee" are also all things "Kevin Brislin", there really is no point in trying to separate the two. So much for formality.

In no particular order, here's what's been up since last June.

1. Pacific Radio Fire: The next now that they're here CD is in it's final stages of mastering. This process has been particularly grueling, for some odd reason. I seem to be second-guessing myself on the mixes constantly. One day, they sound fine, the next I'm dissatisfied with some aspect of what I've mixed. However, the twelve songs are almost all at a point where I'm changing things just to change them....and that's when I know I'm done.

The cover for the CD has an interesting story. I decided to have a competition at North Port High School with two graphic arts classes to design the cover. Altogether, there was about 20 to 25 entrants. The winning design was made by Chelsea Dorato and was done in a very cool way. Each letter for the title was "drawn" in a darkened room by a Cyalume light stick, then put together in Photoshop. I thought the process was fascinating and choose her design as the winner.

So, the CD is almost done, the cover is almost done...all that's left is for me to hurry the hell up.

2. Alternative Music Education video: At long last, after almost three years of work, my Masters of Fine Arts degree is completed. It took a year's worth of work to have my thesis video accepted; it took four submissions to have it finally approved by my thesis committee at National University in Los Angeles, CA. The video is 15 minutes long and is an educational look at what constitutes alternative music education and how it can be achieved. Due to the constraints of size for video on blogspot, I will have to put it on vimeo.com. You can see it at vimeo.com/7132012.

3. Hypnosis for Education: An odd project that came up this year from Dr. George Kenney, who is creating a series of self-hypnosis CD's for students to help them with such problems as test anxiety, sports performance issues, etc. There are five CD's to be released. I was hired to do the background music and produce the project. This has been fun to work on. It will be released on amazon.com, so look for this there soon.

4. Kaleidoscope 2010: For the next Kaleidoscope performance at North Port High School. we are doing a Beatles-themed show. In my TV Production III-IV classes, we are re-enacting three music videos from the films A Hard Day's Night, Help, and Let It Be. We are in pre-production at this point, but we have our cast and the shoot dates for at least two of the videos. We will also be using our own renditions of the music, so recording dates for that will be coming soon and will involve students from three of my classes. More news on this as it progresses.