Archive for the ‘music’ Category

Sheer Covers Bob Dylan – Tangled Up In Blue

Tuesday, November 22nd, 2022

I have mixed feelings about this but I don’t think it’s going to get any better absent significant work that I don’t currently have time to put into it.

At the moment most of my studio time is being spent either working on Bruce’s album or songwriting for the followup album to BIS – but I do from time to time track a cover just to keep my recording skills fresh. This is the latest. This is definitely in my “Jam band” style.

http://sheer.us/stuff/2022/SheerCoversBobDylan-TangledUpInBlue.mp3

The challenges of ego in tracking

Sunday, September 11th, 2022

So, I’m in the studio this weekend tracking parts for a friend’s concept album – except I’m actually not. What I’m actually doing is providing scratch tracks to allow him to get the timing right, over which we will track better parts later. Which is fine with me. I was running into a weird ego thing where the AE is keeping my parts faded way down – which makes perfect sense, after all mistakes in them don’t even matter – but there was part of me that kept trying to convince me it was because of how much my vocals suck, which may also be a true criticism but I’m pretty sure is not why he’s doing it.

I think I’m on record before as saying that to be a really great musician you have to be able to not let your ego get in the way of the music. THis is definitely one of those moments – I mean, it’s a honor to be considered as a session musician and this is where I want to go and it has been a lot of fun. I’ll go back and track “real” parts with the guitars – for the drums and vocals we’re tracking at Orbit Audio because they have better mics and a better sounding room than I even want to try to have, then for all the line-in type stuff we’re tracking at Sheer Sound (my basement setup, which is still more advanced than most high end studios were in the 90s)

Anyway, I really hope we can get this album shipped without the band falling apart or the originator losing interest. It’s very prog rock and a nice change from my ordinary fare.

Another step on the way to being a professional musician

Tuesday, September 6th, 2022

So, I’ve unlocked another important achievement on the way to being a professional musician – I’ve got my first rejection letter!

This is important – we all know that Pink Floyd, the Beatles, and the Who all received rejection letters, just to name a few of my musical heros. Therefore clearly if I’m getting rejection letters I’m doing something right. (I’m only being somewhat facetious here – immediate acceptance would mean that my music is the same as the current stuff on the radio which I do not think would be very much of a success for where I want to go and what I want to do)

So, I still have to keep working on finding my audience. But.. another step along the way is done.

Sheer Covers VNV Nation – Kingdom

Thursday, July 21st, 2022

What with one thing and another I haven’t gotten any recording that wasn’t either my album or someone else’s done this year – until now. Here is me covering VNV Nation’s “Kingdom” – another song done especially for Chris Mish 😉 But I hope you’ll all enjoy it anyway.

Sheer Covers VNV Nation-Kingdom

This is a cover, so presumably the original is copyright VNV Nation. Here’s the lyrics (and chord chart) anyway:

Verse 1:
========
G#m
Our domain, this kingdom come,
now godless lands whose ways are lost
Without the strength to carry on.
All values lost, all virtue none.

Part II:
========
G#m D#m
Did you think that you’d be saved
C#
by burning flags to cleanse yourselves of shame?
G#m C# D#m
Or are you afraid, as you stare back at your face?
G#m F# C# D#m
Or are you ashamed, are you afraid, by destroying what the gods once gave?

G# F# E C#

G#m
————- Do you think that you’ll be saved?

B F#
And I believe that we’ll conceive
C#m G#m
to make in hell for us a heaven.
B F#
A brave new world, a promised land.
C#m G#m
A fortitude of hearts and minds.
E B
Until I see this kingdom’s mine
F# C#m
I’ll turn the darkness into light.
E B
I’ll guide the blind. My will be done
F# C#m G#m
until the day I say our kingdom has been won.
G#m
No more the servants of the weak
devoid of thought or light to seek.
I’ll leave no walls, no stone unturned.
Every tower must be razed …

Part III:
========
D#m
… to the dust from which it came.
C#
None will be spared, no remnant saved.
G#m F# C# D#min
And are you ashamed, are you afraid of the gods and idols that you have made?
G#m F# C# D#min
Do you think you’ll be saved by the gods and idols that you have made?

G#m F#m E C#
———————- None will be saved.
G#m
None will be saved.

(Chorus)
(Solo)
(Chorus)

700 (ish) hours

Sunday, July 3rd, 2022

I was all absorbed in working on a cover I’m doing of Kingdom and so I didn’t actually catch 700 even, but here’s 700.4
hour meter showing 700.4 hours

Believing Is Seeing, redux

Tuesday, May 24th, 2022

So, this album has easily the most man-hours I’ve ever put into a album, probably by a factor of ten. I’m hoping it’s not my last – I’ve been working my paws off trying to improve my musical skills, as many of you know, and I’ve already started songwriting for the next one. There’s a lot I could say about this one – pretty much every song on it had strong influences and thoughts and reasons for being included. However, I don’t know if there’s a lot of interest in that type of thing or not. I guess I will wait and see if people ask me for such things and then if they do I will publish them.

Believing Is Seeing

Tuesday, May 24th, 2022

Believing Is Seeing

As per usual, I am releasing Believing Is Seeing for download for those of you who wish to do so.

Official URL: https://www.sheer.us/stuff/BelievingIsSeeing2022.












Track IDNameWAV linkMP3 link
1Believing Is Seeing2496mp3
2Any Better2496mp3
3Holes2496mp3
4The other side of me2496mp3
5House Of the Rising Sun2496mp3
6High Grade Ore2496mp3
7This Too Shall Pass2496mp3
8Pride And Conviction2496mp3
9History Of Modern2496mp3

Album credits:

Entire album produced by Sheer
Mix and engineering by Sheer
Mastering by Bob Ohlson
Vocals for all but “Believing is Seeing” recorded at Orbit Audio and engineered by Joe Reinke, performed by Sheer
Vocals for “Believing is Seeing” recorded at Sheer Sound Studios East by Arthur St James, performed by Arthur St James
Executive Mix Engineer and Associate Audio Engineer Arthur St James
Lead guitar for “This Too Shall Pass” performed by Gabriel Smith
Drums for “Any Better” and “Believing Is Seeing” recorded at Orbit audio and engineered by Joe Reinke, performed by Bruce DeGrado
Percussion for “Holes” recorded at Sheer Sound Studios West and performed by Bruce DeGrado
Additional drum and synth programming for “Pride & Conviction” by Tory True
12-string guitar for “The Other Side Of Me” performed by Art Day
All parts not mentioned above performed by Sheer

Songwriting:

“Believing Is Seeing” words and music by Sheer
“Any Better” words and music by Sheer
“Holes” words and music by Sheer
“The Other Side Of Me” words and music by Sheer
“House Of The Rising Sun” – traditional
“High Grade Ore” words by Lee Hart, music by Sheer
“This Too Shall Pass” – words and music by Sheer
“Pride & Conviction” – words aand music by Sheer
“History Of Modern” – written by Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark, used with permission obtained via Easy Song Licensing.

600 hours

Friday, March 25th, 2022

hour meter showing 600 hours

I continue to chip away. I’ll have to have some kind of celebration at 1000.

None Of Us Are Free

Monday, November 22nd, 2021

Without getting into a rant about recent events, which I am sure I will do elsewhere, here’s a song that keeps getting more topical every day..

None Of Us Are Free

(I didn’t write this.. it’s a traditional spiritual. The arrangement is mine and I played all parts in this recording. Mix assistance / exec audio engineer provided by Arthur St James as usual)

High Grade Ore

Wednesday, October 27th, 2021

So, this track marks my first collaboration with the incredibly talented wordsmith Lee Hart (who some of you may know as the mastermind behind things like the 1802 Altoids tin computer and the Sunrise EV). A friend of mine described this as “The wreck of the edmund fitzgerald – in space!.” (Note – the lyrics have evolved slightly in different directions – Lee’s official version is found at this address)

High Grade Ore

Lyrics (by Lee Hart):

Now Murphy was a working man ; a miner, nothing more.
A bit of human jetsam lost in night’s Plutonian shore.
Until he found that asteroid, and entered into lore;
Him and 40 kilotons of high grade ore.

He’d manned his tiny ship alone, a year or maybe more.
A flea among the asteroids; homeless, starving, poor.
Each rock had only traces of what he searched ’em for.
Hunting for his holy grail of high grade ore.

The radar caught his vector, heading for L4.
With delta-V a little high, but fusion drive full bore.
“Cap’n Murphy callin’ in this day of August 4.
‘A claimin’ 40 kilotons of high grade ore.”

The base assayer radioed, “You’ve heard the rules before.
Your claim’s no good until you land that worthless hunk of ore.
And then I’ll have to analyze its purity before
You own that 40 kilotons of high grade ore.”

“Jesus, what you burning there?”, the port controller swore.
“There’s colors there in your exhaust flume I’ve never seen before”.
“Just gum’ment forms”, said Murphy, “and rulebooks by the score”.
“To help me trim this delta-V, that’s all I kept ’em for”.

“Murphy, there’s a lawyer here, from Cheatham, Ripp, and Gore.
He says your bills are way behind, a year or maybe more.”
“Jes’ stand him on me landin’ pad, I’ll pay him off for sure.
And drop him 40 kilotons of high grade ore.”

The radar station checked the course, then checked it even more.
It seemed that Murphy’d land a thousand yards below the floor.
The operator called it in, then headed out the door.
“I’ll take my last vacation day, that’s what I saved it for!”.

“Veer off, ya goddam lunatic!”, the base commander swore.
“That rock’ll smash a hole in us a mile wide or more!”
“Now don’t you worry”, Murphy said, “I’ve done this thing before.
It’s only 40 kilotons of high grade ore.”

And then the fusion drive waxed bright, full thrust or maybe more.
The tiny ship, it floated down; the rock, it towered o’er
Straining every rivet with a load like Atlas bore.
To stop that 40 kilotons of high grade ore.

The falling mountain slowed, then crawled, then gently kissed the floor.
The fusion drive ran out of fuel in just a second more.
And as the engines died away, the scale of Smelter 4
Was reading 40 kilotons of high grade ore.

A mob raced to the landing pit, there must have been a score
To cheer the god, or curse the fool who’d shown them all death’s door.
They found no man, they found no ship; an engine, little more
Beneath that 40 kilotons of high grade ore.

The cold equations do not lie, nor cheat like some old whore.
He knew them better than his wife (who’d left the year before).
Murphy didn’t have the fuel to make the dock secure
While pushing 40 kilotons of high grade ore.

A fusion drive burns anything; that’s what we use ’em for.
So piece by piece, his ship he fed the grim reactor core.
And when it all was not enough, he entered through that door
To stop his 40 kilotons of high grade ore.

The assay team reported something odd about this ore.
They saw where Murphy’d tried to cut; that hadn’t worked for sure.
They tried to chisel, burn, and blast, and finally they tore
A bit off 40 kilotons of high grade ore.

The chief assayer checked it out, and tallied up the score.
The density was very high; few elements are more.
Its hue, its malleability; its carats — 24!
My God, it’s 40 kilotons of pure gold ore!

No one has yet discovered just where he found that ore.
But Murphy’s gold put us in space; a million men and more.
The future destiny of man, now it is secure.
Thanks to a lonely miner and his load of high grade ore.

Note this later appeared on Believing Is Seeing.