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This is my home now. #recording #mixing #winning View high resolution

This is my home now. #recording #mixing #winning

The secret ingredient of our recording session is a flammable waste container. #recording#hot#sick#beats View high resolution

The secret ingredient of our recording session is a flammable waste container. #recording#hot#sick#beats

View high resolution

(Source: fuckanimals)

(Reblogged from ahomeboyslife)
Recording piano tonight for 5 brand new songs! Super excited for you to hear them. View high resolution

Recording piano tonight for 5 brand new songs! Super excited for you to hear them.

Amie and I are very classy. View high resolution

Amie and I are very classy.

Hey guys I found a red carpet so I thought I better practice being famous, you know? View high resolution

Hey guys I found a red carpet so I thought I better practice being famous, you know?

You Could Have Told Me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGFXzp1gACg&feature=plcp

This song came about super fast, and I think it sounds the best out of anything I’ve done before. I wrote it in one night, recorded it the next night, and mixed and edited the video the night after that. Basically, three sessions to create a recording that looks and sounds finished. Why I haven’t done this before is a mystery. I think this fast process really contributed to the freshness of the recording. Often, I’ll mix and redo things so much that it sounds boring when they’re finished. This recording was pretty spontaneous, and so was the songwriting. This is only the second song I’ve written this semester (the other demands some more instrumentation than this one did) so I was pretty psyched to get it recorded and released. It’s usually pretty tough for me to get inspired to just sit down and write a song (usually because it’s hard to know what to write about) but this one just kinda happened.

Out of every recording I’ve put up so far, this sounds the most like me. It takes an artist a long time to find their “sound” and this is definitely approaching where I want to be. I think the difference between originals and covers is that it’s a lot easier to sound like yourself when it’s something you’ve wrote. That said, I think I’ll be recording a lot more originals and a lot less covers. They were kinda cool (they sucked), but they were mostly so that people could find my music from other videos, and that hasn’t been working anyway, so I may as well record my own songs.

I’m not particularly happy with the vocals, but I recorded them at 2AM so I guess that might be why. Also I can’t sing, so that might also be why. In previous recordings, I would do a lot of layering and harmonies to try and disguise how my voice sounds, cause I’m not a huge fan. It’s pretty honest in this recording, I barely did anything to it, so if it’s not pleasing you, I doubt my future videos will. hahaha. I’m going to try and be a lot more minimal in future songs, which means less tracks and less effects and more skill and musicality in the instruments I’m using. If you’re a musician/songwriter, here’s some advice. Good songwriting makes good songs. Don’t worry too much about recording and crazy gadgets. Write good songs and play them well and you’ll be all set.

Four last points:

1. I need to learn to play bass. Keyboard bass is wicked lame.

2. I appreciate you. Thanks for being interested.

3. I need a haircut. Bad.

4. You can download this song for free or pay-what-you-want at http://benknightlife.bandcamp.com/

Lyrics:

baby I’ve been tryna move on, you do it well

and baby you know know something’s wrong, it’s not hard to tell

when you told me, that you were moving on

I said that’s fine, and then I tried to walk along

but you can bet that I’m a wreck when I’m walking by myself

girl I won’t act like this some shit that ain’t gone down before

and I ain’t down to try and get even or settle up the score

but you said that we were moving way too fast

then there you go, cutting all that class

no need to hold me- you could of told me you didn’t love me anymore

and I’ll admit it was a stupid thing I done

chasing you round with no intent of ever being the one

and now i’m thinking that if I really tried

maybe you wouldn’t have traded me for some other guy

but it’s still incredible we were regrettable before we even begun

Equipment Used:

Yamaha Grand Piano

70’s Gretsch Drums/Sabian Cymbals

Casio Privia PX310

Mobile Pre USB

MXL V63M

ATHM45 AudioTechnica Headphones

Macbook Pro: Logic/Final Cut

Canon t2i

Me on the Internet:

http://benknightlife.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/benknightmusic

https://twitter.com/benknightlife

http://benknightlife.tumblr.com/

http://www.youtube.com/benknightlife

amandapalmer: AMANDA PALMER & EMILY WHITE. my favorite worlds-collide of the week: @emwhitenoise, an intern at @NPR, reading my letter/response to amy-the-violinist before it went out.                                                           we were backstage at an NPR @allsongs-considered event called “listening room” (which was, by the way, EXTREMELY fun and awesome. everybody sat around listening to and discussing songs and music of all genres. lots of fun arguing about what makes a good song good. then me & the grand theft orchestra played 4 songs acoustic and made everybody jump around and clap. good times.) i couldn’t have been surrounded by a more benevolent group of folks that day, given what was going on. if anybody understands my philosophy and the complicated collision of art, commerce and asking for help…it’s the folks at National Public Radio. they got it. there were lots of jokes and hugs.  my band was paid for the gig in beer….and also paid in the chance to play our music for a bunch of smart music listeners in DC, who will hopefully go out and spread the word about our band. worth it. if you haven’t heard of her, emily white (no relation to the emily white that used to work for me) is an intern at NPR’s “all songs considered” who found herself smack-dab in the middle of her own kerfuffle a few months ago when she posted a blog on the NPR site called “I never owned any music to begin with…”. david lowery then posted a long letter/response on the trichordist, in which he scolds her for downloading music and putting musicians out of work:   http://thetrichordist.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/letter-to-emily-white-at-npr-all-songs-considered/ …which, as you may remember, started a FULL-BLOWN MOTHERFUCKIN’ BATTLE between the old school (people must pay for digital content or musicians will starve and die!!!!) and the new school (digital content cannot be locked, the floodgates are open, let’s figure out a new creative solution!!!)  and emily, who probably never imagined that she’d be a symbolic poster-child/whipping-post in a huge cultural argument, had to stand in the field and feel the arrows fly.  and goddamn….i couldn’t have run into a better person. we went to a bar after the show and got to talk a little. no doubt about it: my band has hit a DEEP, PAINFUL cultural nerve. many musicians and artists are SCARED right now. the economy is sucking. traditional record sales are plummeting. digital content is rampantly freely shared (and many artists like me are encouraging people to share and copy). big, previously untouchable musical institutions and symphony halls are shutting down. a lot of musicians fear for their livelihoods…and fear often breeds hate and anger. a lot of musicians really don’t know where their next paychecks are going to be coming from.  and everyone has a different approach. this is the nerve we’ve struck. and i am a really convenient target at the moment.  i got an email a few days that was so profoundly nasty it took my breath away. it was from one of the erstwhile violinists from a big, legit-as-fuck orchestra i’ve played with (about as PRO and UNION as it gets in music world, and they’re a really wonderful orchestra who i was honored to play with).  it began:  “dear amanda, you ignorant slut…” i sat there staring at the screen, almost unable to believe what i was seeing. a professional, symphony-hall-level violinist? was starting an email to me like THAT? no FUCKING way. saturday-night-live reference aside, his email went on to tell me that i should have fun with the amateurs and generally go fuck myself. i checked in with my old contact at the orchestra to see if his email was legit and she confirmed it - this was for real. wow. she also told me that dude has lost his marbles since leaving the organization (phew) and also told me she’s been following the kerfuffle and she sympathized (yay), and reminded me that a lot of pro musicians, especially classical ones, ARE freaking out right now….and not to take it personally.  i talked with emily white over our beer about how she felt, being the living symbol in a giant cultural battle. as you would expect, it sucks the life out of you a little. it happened right before she turned 21 and at her birthday party she said her friends kept stealing her phone away so she couldn’t follow the controversy and the shit being thrown left and right. i feel that. this is always the problem….can the world remember that the human beings behind the issues are not the issues themselves, and restrain themselves from making it personal? I can’t tell you how many “you’re such a stupid cunt” and “i’d pay to travel just to fuck up your gig…if i played violin” tweets i’ve seen in the past few days, and emily had to field similar trolls who weren’t interesting in actually talking but more interesting in just being dicks. even neil, my husband who has NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS, has been fielding hate and anger from people who just see him as a fun target because he’s high-profile. i promise i won’t feed the trolls. but it still hurts, a lot. how could it not? i’m a human. stay with us.  and do me a favor….keep talking about the music. love, AFP View high resolution

amandapalmer:

AMANDA PALMER & EMILY WHITE.

my favorite worlds-collide of the week: @emwhitenoise, an intern at @NPR, reading my letter/response to amy-the-violinist before it went out.                                                          

we were backstage at an NPR @allsongs-considered event called “listening room” (which was, by the way, EXTREMELY fun and awesome. everybody sat around listening to and discussing songs and music of all genres. lots of fun arguing about what makes a good song good. then me & the grand theft orchestra played 4 songs acoustic and made everybody jump around and clap. good times.)

i couldn’t have been surrounded by a more benevolent group of folks that day, given what was going on. if anybody understands my philosophy and the complicated collision of art, commerce and asking for help…it’s the folks at National Public Radio. they got it. there were lots of jokes and hugs. 

my band was paid for the gig in beer….and also paid in the chance to play our music for a bunch of smart music listeners in DC, who will hopefully go out and spread the word about our band. worth it.

if you haven’t heard of her, emily white (no relation to the emily white that used to work for me) is an intern at NPR’s “all songs considered” who found herself smack-dab in the middle of her own kerfuffle a few months ago when she posted a blog on the NPR site called “I never owned any music to begin with…”. david lowery then posted a long letter/response on the trichordist, in which he scolds her for downloading music and putting musicians out of work: 

 http://thetrichordist.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/letter-to-emily-white-at-npr-all-songs-considered/

…which, as you may remember, started a FULL-BLOWN MOTHERFUCKIN’ BATTLE between the old school (people must pay for digital content or musicians will starve and die!!!!) and the new school (digital content cannot be locked, the floodgates are open, let’s figure out a new creative solution!!!) 

and emily, who probably never imagined that she’d be a symbolic poster-child/whipping-post in a huge cultural argument, had to stand in the field and feel the arrows fly. 

and goddamn….i couldn’t have run into a better person. we went to a bar after the show and got to talk a little.

no doubt about it: my band has hit a DEEP, PAINFUL cultural nerve.

many musicians and artists are SCARED right now. the economy is sucking. traditional record sales are plummeting. digital content is rampantly freely shared (and many artists like me are encouraging people to share and copy). big, previously untouchable musical institutions and symphony halls are shutting down. a lot of musicians fear for their livelihoods…and fear often breeds hate and anger. a lot of musicians really don’t know where their next paychecks are going to be coming from. 

and everyone has a different approach.

this is the nerve we’ve struck. and i am a really convenient target at the moment. 

i got an email a few days that was so profoundly nasty it took my breath away. it was from one of the erstwhile violinists from a big, legit-as-fuck orchestra i’ve played with (about as PRO and UNION as it gets in music world, and they’re a really wonderful orchestra who i was honored to play with). 

it began: 

“dear amanda, you ignorant slut…”

i sat there staring at the screen, almost unable to believe what i was seeing. a professional, symphony-hall-level violinist? was starting an email to me like THAT? no FUCKING way.

saturday-night-live reference aside, his email went on to tell me that i should have fun with the amateurs and generally go fuck myself. i checked in with my old contact at the orchestra to see if his email was legit and she confirmed it - this was for real. wow. she also told me that dude has lost his marbles since leaving the organization (phew) and also told me she’s been following the kerfuffle and she sympathized (yay), and reminded me that a lot of pro musicians, especially classical ones, ARE freaking out right now….and not to take it personally. 

i talked with emily white over our beer about how she felt, being the living symbol in a giant cultural battle. as you would expect, it sucks the life out of you a little. it happened right before she turned 21 and at her birthday party she said her friends kept stealing her phone away so she couldn’t follow the controversy and the shit being thrown left and right. i feel that.

this is always the problem….can the world remember that the human beings behind the issues are not the issues themselves, and restrain themselves from making it personal? I can’t tell you how many “you’re such a stupid cunt” and “i’d pay to travel just to fuck up your gig…if i played violin” tweets i’ve seen in the past few days, and emily had to field similar trolls who weren’t interesting in actually talking but more interesting in just being dicks. even neil, my husband who has NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS, has been fielding hate and anger from people who just see him as a fun target because he’s high-profile.

i promise i won’t feed the trolls.

but it still hurts, a lot. how could it not? i’m a human.

stay with us. 

and do me a favor….keep talking about the music.

love,

AFP

(Reblogged from amandapalmer)
Because I know that wall photos generate more traffic than links do, I’m including this irrelevant picture of myself. THE POINT OF THIS MESSAGE IS THAT I RELEASED A NEW SONG AND YOU CAN LISTEN AND DOWNLOAD IT FOR FREE HERE:http://benknightlife.bandcamp.com/ View high resolution

Because I know that wall photos generate more traffic than links do, I’m including this irrelevant picture of myself. THE POINT OF THIS MESSAGE IS THAT I RELEASED A NEW SONG AND YOU CAN LISTEN AND DOWNLOAD IT FOR FREE HERE:http://benknightlife.bandcamp.com/

oldbestfriend: For all you Spotify fans (I know I’m one): Just got my sales reports for the year so far. The section in the picture of above details my revenue from Spotify streams. 270 plays = $0.80 That’s .00296 dollars per play. Almost three-tenths of a cent. My roommate Sam asked a valid question: “Why don’t they just round that to zero?” Projecting that playing my own song 1,000 times would earn me $2.96, Sam pointed out that I could earn that quicker by collecting bottles in the trash. I don’t know what fair pay should be for streaming music, and I also recognize that I’m pretty late to this party/discussion/argument. Sam’s comment just tickled me, that’s all. My thanks to those of you who contributed to those 270 streams. I’m gonna go stream Arcade Fire’s entire discography for free, net them 10 cents. Cheers, Spotify.

oldbestfriend:

For all you Spotify fans (I know I’m one):

Just got my sales reports for the year so far. The section in the picture of above details my revenue from Spotify streams.

270 plays = $0.80

That’s .00296 dollars per play. Almost three-tenths of a cent.

My roommate Sam asked a valid question: “Why don’t they just round that to zero?”

Projecting that playing my own song 1,000 times would earn me $2.96, Sam pointed out that I could earn that quicker by collecting bottles in the trash.

I don’t know what fair pay should be for streaming music, and I also recognize that I’m pretty late to this party/discussion/argument. Sam’s comment just tickled me, that’s all.

My thanks to those of you who contributed to those 270 streams. I’m gonna go stream Arcade Fire’s entire discography for free, net them 10 cents.

Cheers, Spotify.

(Reblogged from oldbestfriend)
I love bones. We all have them. View high resolution

I love bones. We all have them.

I’ve had this skull since I was a little kid. It used to live in my aunt’s fish tank, but now it lives on my desk. View high resolution

I’ve had this skull since I was a little kid. It used to live in my aunt’s fish tank, but now it lives on my desk.

This is what I look like. View high resolution

This is what I look like.

Colorado gas station. View high resolution

Colorado gas station.

These are the items I carry with me daily. This is a self portrait. Look guys, I can be a tumblr hipster too! Wow! View high resolution

These are the items I carry with me daily. This is a self portrait. Look guys, I can be a tumblr hipster too! Wow!