I implored my PC-using brother to check out if Winter Music was available at Puretracks.com, the Canadian download site for PC users. It is, at over $2 more in price. What's up with that? I assure you I am far, far away from those making this decision, and I can't in good conscience ask people to buy from Puretracks, when iTunes offers it for $3.99.

PC or Mac. Both are supported by iTunes. If you have an mp3 player that isn't an iPod, you'll have to drag-and-drop your mp3 files from your iTunes library onto your player; that's the only catch with the iTunes software.

Anyway, the marketing department here at chriscawthray.com has already devised our slogan for the new WINTER MUSIC download release:

"the sounds of summer: winter music"

catchy, huh?

go here to download the iTunes software

WINTER MUSIC is on iTunes!

FINALLY.

I shouldn't start to get picky since it took almost 6 months, but they listed me under the ROCK genre. Maybe. I don't know, do I rock? That record doesn't, but whatever.

Please, check me out on iTunes. Please. I've waited so long. :)

hey!

Big weekend, the gig in Hamilton was a blast. I'll try finish my studio report this week, and a offer some thoughts on the gig. Stay tuned....

Studio report: part one

Wednesday night was great. Instead of going in and doing the original plan of three songs, we played our entire repertoire, six tunes! While I had hoped to take pictures and video, little of that actually happened. I was busy drumming. I'm going to start making a concrete plan to get a DV/digicam person at sessions and gigs so that good stuff gets documented. At any rate, here's two photos I managed to take:

tim

ed


First of all, I can't speak highly enough of our host and engineer, Pacy Shulman. HILO studios is by far the finest "home" studio (in actuality it's a dedicated, soundproofed, professionally designed building separate from his house) I've ever recorded in. Pacy's skills are complete and efficient. We got great sounds very quickly, and the entire recording experience was seamless, with no delays or breakdowns during the recording (which are far more common than you may think in the recording world). If you are planning to record, call Pacy: 416-399-6567

We recorded to ProTools, and I was able to take a complete copy of all of the files from the session (over 5 gigs) home with me on my iPod. Then, using GarageBand, I was able to reconstruct the session here at home, and in about an hour (time spent importing files, etc.), had useable rough mixes of all six tunes to listen to until Pacy and I can schedule a true mixing session. The basic sounds Pacy put "to tape" are impressive, and other than adding a bit of reverb to the guitar and sax, I didn't have to do anything to get it together. If it sounds this good under my control in GarageBand, the finished product is going to be stellar.

We did six tunes, and one or two takes of each, a few of them were "done in one", usually after a false-start or two. The tunes we did, in order were:

1. megtwo (an original of mine)
2. paper tiger (Beck)
3. tragic magic (NRBQ)
4. caravan (duke ellington)
5. japan (original)
6. good (original)

For myself, I find the actual recording experience to be somewhat disconnected. When playing interactive music with headphones on and the guitar amp in the bathroom (the "porcelain isolation enclosure") and the tenor sax behind baffles, it all gets a bit weird. I don't necessarily think it is detrimental to the music, but I'm much more comfortable assessing what I or we did after the fact, from the recording itself; as opposed to judging it from within the recording environment. Come to think of it, that's what makes a great producer great, I guess. That ability to hear the work in the midst of wires, headphones and baffles. Anyway, I was willing to trust my musicians and myself that we'd get good takes, so I didn't really listen all that critically until I had the rough mixes on CD.

Before I get to that, I'll quickly run down my gear for the session:

I used my trusty Sonor Phonics, 13"tom, 16" floor tom and 22" bass drum. They, as always sounded great (thanks again to the technical support of Paul Fitterer for his care and feeding of my drums a few weeks ago). I used a 6.5x14 Sonor SignatureLite snare drum from most of the tunes, and a 13" Sonor Artist Beech (27plys!) for "japan" and a 6.5x14 Sonor Phonic ferro-manganese steel for "good".

The first two drums had single-ply coated heads for batters and the latter drum has a coated double-ply head. No muffling was used, with the exception of my hand muting the batter head on "japan". The toms had coated 2-ply heads on the batters and were wide-open, except on "japan" where I placed SONOR clip-on mufflers on the toms. The bass drum had a Powerstroke 3 on the batter and my new front-head design (adapted from LA session drummer Russ Miller): a single-ply clear head with 8 -1/2" holes cut around the edge. I have a "banana" shaped muffling pillow (I think the brand name is a "Thumper") attached with velcro to the inner shell, and it rests slightly on the batter head.

For cymbals, all PAISTE, of course. I used 13" Signature Medium HiHats throughout, and an 18" Traditionals thin crash above on my left. I had a double-cymbal stand on my right that hosted various combinations:

megtwo: 20" Signature Rough Ride (left) and 20" Dark Energy Mark I Ride (right)
paper tiger: 20" Rough Ride (left) and 6" FO602 Bell (right)

for "good", "tragic magic" and caravan, I used just the Dark Energy Ride, and no 2nd cymbal on the stand. for "japan" I used no cymbals at all.

next post: rough mix rundown....

I'm home from setting up at HILO studio, sounds good, feels good, tonight should be fun.

Here's a few pics so far:

the exterior

my drums

a mic and engineer Pacy Shulman bending over, working hard


more photos tomorrow

TimP and I have been "telerehearsing" last night and tonight over email and phone. One of my charts for tomorrow's session was written wrong (damn interns.....), and Tim has been trying to solve the riddle. He did valiantly, and as of now I think we have a corrected chart for tomorrow. I can see it now from Apple: "iRehearsal"

...you heard it here first!

I've just posted some photos over at cc.com that Christopher Stott took on May 14. Here's one:



The rest are here

The photos from last week at Pepperjack's are starting to email in.... here's one:

Last night we went to see a performance of Ukranian dance. A very good friend, and a number of my students @ ESA are in the company; I say this because without this connection, an event like this would probably pass under my radar. The last time I saw this company was a few years ago, and while the style of dance is very much historical/storytelling with a lot of miming, the athleticism and accuracy is stunning. What struck me most though was the power of the cultural statement. This company tours the world and has so for many years. Their schedule has been a way in which my friend in the company has been able to travel to places that she's never been (nor have I for that matter). Anyway, all of this is happening due to the efforts of a displaced community of Ukranians living here in Toronto. I am not sure to what degree, if any, they are funded by government arts money (my guess is ZERO). They exist because of the passion of those involved (including their local audience).

That, to me, is culture. In my opinion, the model of Canadian artists relying on government subsidies generates "subsidized" work that makes no impact on the people who funded it (Canadian citizens). I'm not suggesting that Ukranian dance is on the cutting edge of contemporary dance, far from it. But, it thrives because of a shared passion between performers and audiences, and that is priceless.

Mike and I played with David Patterson last night at Canyon Creek, Dave sounded great, and he brought 2 amps so he could play in stereo (he said it wasn't for volume as much as being able "move more air" at a lower volume), which sounded great. Next week is Martin Aucoin, and then with only one or two exceptions it will be Eric Boucher with us all summer on Thursdays. When our Tuesdays start Mike and I will be playing with the great guitarist Anesti Karantakis for most of those dates this summer.
I've enjoyed having the rotating "third man" situation, but it does mean alot of extra work for me, booking players, finding subs when one cancels, etc. I have less time to bring new charts of music to the band when I'm busy on the phone. I don't necessarily think the music has suffered (each new "third" brings in his own music, so cc3's repertoire stays fresh), but I'd like to be able to bring in more stuff.

Hopefully we'll see you this summer at one of our gigs!

I'm just getting home from rehearsal. Tim and Ed sound great, and the drummer had fun, to say the least. We're all pretty excited to be recording and gigging next week; there's a great energy in this trio. Ed's tone is simply too big to begin to describe, it just cuts through the cymbal wash and the guitar. So nice. I can't wait to post up an mp3 on the website, but it'll have to wait. Our rehearsal recordings, while exciting, are full of starts and stops; not the best representation of the tunes (but a good representation of the rehearsal!). In a good way, everything has been left unfinished in some way, so there'll be some element of surprise during the recording session, and then presumably, new loose ends will be discovered and resolved on the gig.

Overall, it's a bit more "out" than I'd originally conceived, but I'm pleasantly surprised. Plus, I'm now singing one tune, which is a challenge for me, but I have the support of my band mates, and it will open the door to a whole other avenue of repertoire.

It's a very healthy diversion from the current web-wrangling I'm doing with the M4M site, which is better left not talked about. If you really want to know, log in the to M4M blog here.

cover for the May 27 show has been set: $10

We rehearse tomorrow and record next week, I'm quite excited about it all, quite frankly.

We're opening for the fabulous Kevin Breit, so it's gonna be a great night of music.

The HBS concert was a big success yesterday, and a good start to HBS's summer schedule. The band now has a blog site that i am running, click here to see it.

Now my focus shifts to the new band with Tim and Ed (who sat in yesterday with HBS and nailed it!), I'll be doing a poster for the may 27 gig, that'll be up soon. Stay tuned!

Today's the Day!

Please come on out to the Hot Buttered Soul NICU Benefit Concert, it's from 2pm to 5pm @ Pepperjack Cafe, Hamilton:

LET'S FIX Let's Fix Cancon

I've been sent a few emails telling me to check out this website, so I did. It doesn't make sense to me. (Go read it, and then read my comments, or if you're already familiar with it, read on...).

The math is flawed (assuming the goal is to bring more Canadian music to Canadian commercial radio). It actually proposes to have LESS total Canadian music on the radio, which is silly. I personally don't think something should be played simply because it is Canadian anyway. Commercial radio stations are private businesses, they can play what they want to keep their advertisers happy, and we're not forced to listen to them (I don't).

That website proposes that if each current Cancon track is valued at "1" point, bigger artists should receive .75 of a point for their track and smaller artists should get 1.50 points. The end result is that a radio station would technically have to play LESS Canadian music to meet the quota if they played smaller artists. So, presumably they could play people like myself at 3:00am and then all Bon Jovi during their peak times. This ghetto-izes Canadian music even more than before in the commercial radio world. (Again, I am not in support of any kind of nationalist protection system for Canadian music. I have no doubt that program directors for major radio corporations don't care where the song is from, Canada, Mars, wherever; they're just looking for that hit that will draw listeners and ad revenues up.)

I tend to think that the bigger artists have a trickle-down effect, and actually HELP smaller artists more than most think. Celine Dion sings songs written by Canadian songwriters who otherwise may not get their songs heard down in LA or New York or Nashville by major record producers. She hires many Canadian musicians, etc. She makes lots of money for her record company, which in turn (in theory) can invest that in new artists. Kenny G sells more records than any ten "jazz" musicians combined, and like it or not, his profits keep his label's "real jazz" dept. running.

The bottom line (to me) is that as an artist you have to be clear about where you are going. If your "artistic" goal is to provide content for commerical radio, then make music that fits their mandate (remember, they have NO obligation whatsoever to play any certain artist, and CANCON itself is technically a restriction on the free-market, which may have in fact negative effects on the radio business as a whole). It is simply not reasonable that a commercial radio station (privately owned by shareholders) MUST play anything by anyone. It's no more reasonable than telling an original "indie" artist who has invested his own finances in his music that he MUST play a certain type of music.

There are so many avenues for getting your music heard beyond commerical radio playlists, and many of them are likely far more suited to your music than a big corporate radio station. Use them, let commerical radio do what it wants. And while they're doing what they want, you go make music, instead of legislation.

What up this week:

The week has begun with me cleaning-out and re-assembling my home office. It's a project still very much underway. Things have been piling up, literally. There's got to be 35 CDs on one chair alone... Anyway, the means will be justified by the end (provided the end is increased productivity). I am hoping to, once re-organized, create a small area for my drumKat to be set up permanently so I can practice and compose with it whenever the mood strikes me.

Gigs this week:

cc3 with Eric Boucher in Burlington on thursday
Hot Buttered Soul benefit concert for the McMaster Childrens Hospital NICU on saturday

Other than that I am playing some dance classes and writing charts for next week's rehearsal with Tim and Ed. That project took a turn last week when it became possible for us to schedule ourselves into a "real" studio to do our recording. We were set to record in the very capable hands (and ears) of Kevin Cooke at his North-Eastern Utility Muffin Research Outpost but it would have possibly required us to be isolated in separate rooms during the actual playing of the music. (Kevin's studio is in his home and he doesn't really have a "live room" for the trio to set up in). This could have proved problematic, so I've been musing loudly about how to solve this. Enter Pacy Shulman, also highly capable, and it turns out, vastly generous. He has a dedicated studio on his property, with a real "live room" and glassed-in control room. He's offered up his studio (HILO Studio) and his time, and he was able to do it on our previously scheduled date! So, all is well.

I had a great time playing last night with Marcel Aucoin. We did a short set (we didn't do all the songs he'd prepped me on, and unfortunately, we didn't get to play one or two of his really cool ones), and I didn't make any mistakes, well, I mean, I played the music that he'd written properly. Whether the way I chose to play it was appropriate, I don't know. That's the tricky thing about subbing into an original band, I brought my vibe to the music, and I can only hope that it was what Marcel wanted. The bass player, Wes Neal, was strong, and he's a great listener. I'd love to play with them again, though, I was only subbing, so it may be a while till I do that again.

My newly tech'd toms sounded fantastic, thanks Paul!

As for the rest of the evening, I didn't get to stay for the final set (which included my friend Deb Sinha on percussion, but Jean Derome played in the first and third sets. Other than a brief TV thing I'd seen him on, Derome's playing was new to me. He's very impressive. He played flute, alto, and a suitcase full of whistles and oddities, in addition to using his voice. He improvises with conviction and a real sense of clarity. I could have listened to him all night. Maybe I should have, but it was late by the time the third set started, and I had a set of drums to lug down two flights of stairs and a gig this morning.....

But wait! There's more! The audience itself, while small, was perhaps just as impressive (if not more) than the performers in that it included legendary sound poet/vocalist Paul Dutton and sax/plunderphonicizer John Oswald, among others. While packing up my drums I couldn't help but listen in on Dutton's conversation with Scott Thomson (who played some fine trombone in the first set, and is also one of the concert organizers, and a member of AIMT, the improv collective that presented the show), as they discussed the various "scenes" improvisers in this city. There really is alot going on, and to me, so much of it has been way under my radar. I'm excited to be connecting with it now, and I hope I can keep finding the time to do it (and I hope they will still be interested in having me!).

Ok, here's the info on my gig tonight. I am a sub for Marcel's trio, so my name may not be on there:

click here

The kit for tonight:

Phonic 13 and 16 toms (first gig with them since they were tech'd back to perfection by Paul Fitterer
Phonic 18 bass drum
Signature Lite 6.5x14 snare drum

Paistes: 13" sig med hats, 16" Sound Formula crystal crash, 20" Dark Energy Mark I ride, two 6"bell cymbals that I'll place inverted on the floor tom for some tunes

also some shakers.

See you there! 9pm start, my set is second.

I met with Marcel Aucoin yesterday, and listened to (and played--I brought a cymbal and a middle-eastern tambourine) his music. Great stuff. He's playing alot of organ, a 60s combo organ. It has this nasal tone, so cool, I'm going to have fun playing with him tonight. The drummer on his CD, Joe Poole, sounds great, and he's new to me.

Anyway, Marcel gave me charts and his CD, so I'll be putting some time in today so I don't embarass myself tonight. :)

We hit @ Canyon Creek with Bruno Ierullo last night. I thought the first set never really got going, and the audience seemed indifferent to it as well. The second set was good, and the listeners seemed more captivated by it too. Eric Boucher is with us next week.

Gig!

My solo set at Leftover Daylight (DVD available here) has yeilded me a gig this Friday with players all new to me.

I'm doing a set at the Arraymusic studios with the Marcel Aucoin Trio (not be confused with pianist MARTIN Aucoin), Marcel plays piano and Wes Neal is on bass. Me on drums. I meet and greet today with Marcel. I have no idea what the music is like, but the whole evening sounds like a good concert. Here are the details:

may 06
. jean derome/ christine duncan/ tiina kiik
. the marcel aucoin trio
(w/ wes neal, chris cawthray)
. lina allemano/ jean derome/ ben grossman/ debashis sinha

weblink here

Tonight, it's cc3 w/ Bruno Ierullo in Burlington...

So, my new trio project (not to be confused with cc3, my "working band") with Tim Posgate and Ed Zankowski is gearing up. This is something I'm very excited about, and luckily we have our first gig within days of our demo recording session (May 27 @ pepperjack cafe in hamilton), so we'll get a chance to really test-drive it. At this point, we're going to be doing 3 originals (of mine) and 3 covers. From there, I hope to be adding more originals. I haven't actually written any new material yet (we're doing 2 of my older tunes, re-worked); I will, but the reality is that I have a surplus of what I think are great songs that have either been under-heard or were never realized properly in previous groups. At any rate, given my current experience with Indie Pool, I'm just going to give the stuff away for a while, so there will be new music for download @ chriscawthray.com in June.

In the meantime, you can listen to what's there

And, don't forget about my new DVD! BUY IT HERE

(yes, I am plugging the new DVD every day)

I'm quite frustrated with IndiePool. I have been waiting almost 3 months to see any kind of action on "winter music" getting added to the major downloading sites (Puretracks, iTunes, etc.). To their credit, they've been great about answering my calls and emails, but they don't seem to have the answers I want. To that end, I have re-posted the audio files of "winter music" on the BUY MUSIC page of my site. You can still order the CD for only $5 too if you like what you hear. If my stuff ever comes out for sale where it's supposed to, I'll remove those files, but for now, go get 'em if you want 'em.

AND:

Don't forget about the new DVD! chris cawthray solodrums 4.29.05 BUY IT HERE

Ok, a little bit of messing around with iMovie has yeilded the first ever DVD release by musicformovement!

chris cawthray solodrums 4.29.05 is M4Mdvd001, the first in a series of hand-made/home-made DVD documents of my work. To see an excerpt click here (currently the excerpts are only available as Quicktime .mov files)

The idea behind this series will be to make available DV recordings of gigs and whatever else appears necessary to release. Thanks to contemporary computing, I'm able to produce and create these DVDs very efficiently and thus, can sell them quite cheap. This first DVD is about 30 minutes in length and will sell for $6USD + shipping. Each DVD will be hand-signed and numbered by me.

The image for the cover can be seen at chriscawthray .com here

TO BUY THE DVD CLICK HERE

my friend Ed Pas has made an iPod Shuffle out of sushi, he calls it the sushiPod Shuffle