Category: Music

Katie and I just got back from whirlwind vacation in the Carolinas with Kasha. One of our stops was Charleston South Carolina, which despite its magical beauty also has history of America’s most active port for Slave Trading - this history was something I wasn’t comfortable with and was reluctant to visit the area but Katie pervailed and I’m glad she did.

Charleston was good to us and an eye opener on many levels (note I snapped over 1500 high rez pictures, recorded 8 gigs of audio data from birds to dinner interviews, and shot 1.5 hours of awesome video footage so more on the Carolinas to come).

During our trip, one of my church clients asked me to post the following video clip on their home page. Both Katie and I love Amazing Grace but did not know of the origins or history of this song.

As an aside, I also now love to play just the black keys on the piano which was something I first started doing five years ago when I was in the hospital recovering for three months from nasty car incident on black ice and the black keys were the only ones my fingers could reach and play given that both arms were in casts (as well as host of other broken bones).

Here is the copy that I posted on my client’s site:

Below is a clip from GodTube featuring Wintley Phipps, President of the US Dream Academy - an organization for children of prisoners … “If the mountain was smooth you couldn’t climb it … Five black notes per scale on the piano and you can play almost any Negro Spiritual by playing just the black notes … Slave Ship Captain, John Newtown, penned the words for Amazing Grace after he became a Christian but the melody was based on the West African Sorrow Chant he heard rising from the belly of the slave ships he sailed …”

Earlier today I posted the Elliott Scheiner audio clips and am now in the process of archiving the project files when I came across a handwritten note to myself -

Mono Wins

The note was written in the middle of the night when the computer was busy rendering the master files and was a reminder to me for the next morning as to where to pick-up and which files would ultimately get published and streamed on this web site.

The original recordings were 44.1khz stereo wave files and I did all the editing at this resolution yet knowing I was ultimately going to kick it down and go to the web with mp3 clips. Thus part of the compression issue became one of stereo vs mono and balancing finished compressed file size with server-bandwidth costs and audio-quality.

Consider the fourth clip - Part 4 of 4 - it was the largest master file weighing in at 212 megs as finished stereo wave cd quality. I knew I wanted FM-radio quality for the mp3 versions (not CD but not AM either) thus rendered all four wave files first to stereo 96kbits 44.1khz for a total file weight of 40.9 megs as compressed mp3s … then I rendered separate versions to mono 64kbits 44.1khz for total weight of 26.9 megs.

While the audio quality is slightly inferior, the mono version was the winner because most of the audio is speech - thus the need for preserving sonic spectrum wasn’t truly necessary except for the killer sonic bug at the beginning of each clip that features me on keys, Jeff Wells on Sax, and Kasha (my 19 month old Labrador Retreiver - or perhpas better stated, “my wife’s Lab …”).

Sonic branding is a term I first heard a couple years back when talking to a staff composer for one of the most successful Soap Opera’s on air. We were talking about his business and skills when he said, “You know Chuck, the best shows on TV have Sonic Brands - that signature ditty that you can hear from another room and know that someone in your house just tuned into Cheers, Seinfeld, Taxi, American Idol…”

He went on to add that from his perspective, not enough American corporate managers are even aware of the importance of this branding let alone using or managing it effectively.

Point noted and ever since our discussion, I’ve been mindful about developing and managing my own sonic brands as well as those for clients for whom I’m retained.

Previous to my discussion with composer friend, I had composed a neat ditty for many of the CoolTea and GoBoardRoom audio clips - one which I referred to internally as “Purple Guy” but when I found myself selling a variation of this mix to a client, I was then at a cross roads for developing a new, more updated, more me, kind of signature for ChuckingIt.com and ChuckScott.com branding.

Hence the ditty, aka Sonic Brand, you hear in the Elliott Scheiner clips.

On February 4th 2008, legendary audio recording engineer Elliott Scheiner (Beck, The Eagles, Steely Dan, Van Morrison, Fleetwood Mac, Natalie Cole, Bruce Hornsby, plus others) spoke at East Coast Music Mall about his record producing experience and take on the music industry today.

I was lucky enough to attend this free recording workshop and had my trusty portable recorder with me hence the following four clips from that evening - enjoy!

Part 1 - The Music Business Industry and Trends

This audio clip is 10 minutes in length and 4.9 meg mp3 file - click here to download the clip … Some of the points Elliott discusses in this clip include: How he got started as New York’s first freelance recording engineer; Where to find the most work; Why The Eagles did not release their album on iTunes but went with Walmart instead; The reality of copy protection; Radio Head’s experience selling albums; and, How our culture has completely failed musicians and artists.

Part 2 - Working with Recording Artists

This audio clip is 12 minutes in length and 5.7 meg mp3 file - click here to download the clip … Some of the points Elliott discusses in this clip include: Common denominator in working with great artists; Getting the unique piano sound for Bruce Hornsby; Tracking vocals for Toto and how technology has made artist lazy; Crazy guitar players and their signature sounds; and, Getting work that is just fine vs good or great.

In my opinion, the story Elliott shares about Bruce Hornsby is really powerful lesson for all business people - it is one about the power of creative-tension, working with people who don’t get along, and the difficulty in selling something new - in this case, a new piano sound - and one that would go on to break the charts!

Part 3 - Mixing, Mastering and Surround Sound

This audio clip is 14 minutes in length and 6.8 meg mp3 file - click here to download the clip … Some of the points Elliott discusses in this clip include: The amount of time it takes to mix a record; Working with samples; Mixing Steely Dan’s Gaucho in surround sound; Mixing with satellite speakers; XM and Sirius codecs changing the surround mix changes the copyright; Monitoring levels and speakers; Kids and bass today; Loudness wars; Getting country music to sound great; Order of mixing instruments; and, the importance of hiring mastering engineers.

Part 4 - Audio Recording Tools, Technology and Techniques

This audio clip is 20 minutes in length and 9.5 meg mp3 file - click here to download the clip … Some of the points Elliott discusses in this clip include: Going digital vs analog; Software effects and EQ vs their hardware equivalents; Being a minimalist and using mics properly; Not depending on compressors and having the artist work the mic; Salvaging old reel-to-reel tape recordings; Consoles; Tips for people running project studios; Watching the levels in a mix; Cost of building analog room vs digital room; and, the cost and risks when working in new rooms.

The other day I was talking to Frankie, and when we got to the part about CoolTea’s upcoming Blog and Dine networking event at Chocopologie, Frankie said, “You know Chuck, a couple of years back I co-wrote* a song about chocolate.”

What followed our conversation was permission for me to include his song here on this blog and podcast for your personal enjoyment. I also am thrilled to announce a special deal for audio chocolate lovers which I’ll explain shortly.

In addition to writing multi-platinum hit songs for people like Tim McGraw, Frankie is also a seasoned jingle writer with credits that include: CBS, CMT, Fox, MTV, USA and others (e.g., Frankie’s CBS Football of the Week TV theme aired for over 12 years and during 5 SuperBowls).

Just because one does audio work in the major leagues doesn’t mean they charge outrageous fees. “A lot of local business people would be surprised to learn just how reasonable a custom jingle can be created by top writers like myself.” said Frankie.

Custom jingles are great for your next CDROM, DVD, and/or Video project. They can make your web site sing and add to your sonic branding.

So in honor of Frankie’s song and chocolate sensibilities, if you mention “I Like Chocolate” between now and November 30th, 2006, Frankie will give you a 10% discount on your next audio project you commission him on.

For more information and samples, see Frankie’s websites -
www.frankievinci.com … www.myspace.com/frankievinci … or call his studio at 203.790.7120

*I Like Chocolate - Co-Written by Frankie Vinci and Jimmy Santis; Produced/Arranged and Music Tracks Performed by Frankie Vinci - Multi-Platinum Award Winning Songwriter (Tim McGraw) who has Written/Arranged/Produced and Sung on countless number of National Jingles and TV Themes in the span of his 20 year career in the Advertising business - e.g., brands such as: Diet Coke, Duncan Hines, 7up, Bounty, Nestles Crunch, CBS sports, NFL Football, Superbowl Themes, Nashville Star, MTV, just to name a few