I would like to take a moment and discuss the possibilities of performance with a story. Many artists of all kinds capture the audience very well but do they show their vision and place a strong mindset or imagery for the listener? I would like to share this short 4-minute video with you about Mr. Dolby. His inspiration can be shown here along with his strong ability to entertain the audience. Pay attention to how he captures the crowd. We can all take lessons here. Click here to view Mr. Dolby's website.

How amazing is it to hear a song that is set up by a story. I came across this song from TED.com when Mr. Dolby captures the crowd from the idea of writing a song from his boat the Nutmeg. He explains how he rarely plays songs of his own because there wasn’t any. His conversation started out talking about this project of restoring the Nutmeg and how if the polar ice caps where to melt his boat would rise up like an ark. This boat is where his recording creation station lies. What amazing humor and creativity from Mr. Dolby.

Setting up this story for the song by leading us into his life and existence of the Nutmeg is a clever way to help others understand how to tell a story. He talks about the solar panel/turbine this boat is being electrified with and how he stays up into the early morning writing new songs. Mr. Dolby has inspired me to look deeper within myself to create ideas and capture the story by using humor and creativity. Images are a wonderful thing when explaining an idea or song. What a wonderful and humorous listen. Thank you Mr. Dolby for the wonderful song. I really liked how you set us up on your vision before the performance.

Slate Pro Raven MTX

Hello recording engineers & studios,

How interesting is it to think about the future of mixing consoles and recording devices. We live in an ever changing world of technology were anything is possible. It is very exciting to see this all-new innovative product in motion. We can now move faders and adjust our sessions much faster and smoother with the touchscreen Raven MTX. Let me give you a better understanding over the unit and what it is exactly that I like about this product.

When I was first starting out as a recording engineer it was easy to get confused and lost within the DAW and everything seemed so difficult. After months of learning and reading books about Pro Tools and other DAWs I thought how unique would it be if I could simply move the controls with my fingers like one would do with a physical console. With the Raven MTX there are many wonderful shortcuts and commands that are only a finger push away.

Here we are with the first of its kind and it too looks a little daunting. However, after watching some of the tutorials from NAMM 2013 I feel that making this transition would be good in the long run. It looks as if the options here are limitless. I feel that Slate Pro has redefined the world of recording and believe that the studio is on its way to new curves and innovating designs. I like the sleek look and its capability of integration on a large scale in regards to consumers with many different DAWs and software. I would have to say that my favorite thing about the Raven MTX is the hotkeys commands and how easy it is to use. Instead of clicking Shift-Command-N one can simply store this 3 key command as one button push on the screen.

I hope you enjoyed my short overview of the all-new Slate Pro Raven MTX.

Cheers, Joshua

Independent Research Entry – Brian Eno

Interesting to think of the world without Brian Eno. What a wonderful and brilliant mind. Crazy how in 1975 he was plowed into by a Taxi cab moving 40mph. It seemed to put him at rest long enough for him to capture the ambience sound coming from one speaker due to the music being too low.

After being exposed to conceptual painting from art school in 1965 and not able to play traditional instruments Eno began to build sound sculptures and spent days on creating collages of sonically sound. Brian would speed up and down the sound and was amazed by the possibilities he could create. Most believe he is pop’s most influential artist! Eno has stamped his techniques and sound on a number of projects and artist alike. Some artist include The Velvet Underground, Maxwell Demon, Merchant Taylor’s Simultaneous Cabinet etc… Eno changed the way music was produced, mixed, approached, performed and you name it. I like how Brian collaborated with art and made it come to life. I find it very interesting that Mr. Eno calls himself a non-musician. Yet he was sitting in his Drake Hotel suite playing a lineup of glasses filled with liquids of varying degrees. (According to www.enoweb.co.uk )

As a professional in the industry I think Brian Eno’s role, as producer was incredibly needed. It takes a special person to jump out of the box to make a change and create something… That’s right, I said, “CREATE.” So many try to imitate something that’s already being done. Here we have someone that said, “Ok, I may not be able to play an instrument but it doesn’t mean that I can’t get involved and CREATE music.” I wonder, “what if everybody sat down for one minute a day and thought about something they could do or CREATE that would change the world forever.” – Our world might be in better shape!

Peer Review – William Rivera

 I think it is great that you choose Dr. Dre for your final blog in MHII. I had no idea that the Dr. had produced that many successful artist. I feel that music, if produced the right way can touch the hearts of millions. In my personal opinion most artist come to the table with an idea but don’t know how to achieve the impact without a producer around. Just like Lennon always did with producer George Martin. Dr. Dre played a very important role in many lives and will continue to touch people world over through his image and understanding on an ever-demanding industry. Thanks for the wonderful read!

Your Pal, Joshua

Double Trouble Reunion, May 25th 2012

Double Trouble Reunion

May 25^th at 3^rd & Lindsley, Nashville TN.

It is May 25^th, 2012. A packed house ready to receive what most would consider a powerhouse of the best electric blues Nashville TN has ever heard. Walking in from the front of the club you would give your ticket to the guy at the door and pass through the open bar onto the main seating area lined with tables. All of the lights are dim looking up at the balcony and wrapping my head around amazed at the atmosphere. Here it is going on to 7:00 P.M. the musicians take the stage and the crowd cheers.

“For the lineup tonight we have the Original Double Trouble featuring Chris 'Whipper' Layton, Tommy Shannon, Reese Wynans, Jack Pearson, Mike Farris, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Dave Perkins, Tom Britt, Bart Walker, Rob McNally, Tom Bukovac, Gary Nicholson, James Pennebaker and a few guest.”

The crowd cheers some more!

I noticed several electric guitar sounds played through amps with pedals and ‘mic’ed for perfection. Off to the left of the stage you had Double Trouble’s keyboard/organist player Reese Wynans. In the middle there was Chris ‘Whipper’ on this nice candy apple red drum set with a sparkle no one could miss, bearing the clubs name in black literature on the front of the kick drum. To the right of the drums opposite side of Reese is the bassist Tommy Shannon on his Fender electric. These guys played throughout the show for two 70-minute sets.

The sound was amazing! Several floor monitors and speakers hanging from trusses and chained from the ceiling. There was never any raw sounds or annoying static. I was very pleased with the overall show. I enjoyed that every member improvised the whole show with very little practice… One could tell that the blues was apart of them and the audience as well! I could feel the universal circle of energy between the artist and me. Being in front of the stage versus the recorded versions gave the best experience one could ever understand.

Double Trouble started out as the band Triple Threat Revue created by Stevie Ray Vaughan in 1978 with an all-star cast consisting of Lou Ann Barton (Vocals), Fredde Walden (Drums), Jackie Newhouse (Bass), and Johnny Reno (Saxophone). The name Double Trouble came from a song done by Otis Rush. In 1985 the final group consisted of Chris Layton (Drums), Tommy Shannon (bass), and Reese Wynans (Keyboards).

I had the luxury of meeting the band and was able to ask them a few questions. I wanted to know what their reaction was to the success of technology and how they feel it has changed for better or worse. To sum it up they all felt the same about the question. 

Before the digital age life was expensive and it took forever to send mail and communicate. (The manager/coordinator had $900.00 a month payments on phone bills and faxes) It cost money to send press releases and information. Now with the ever-growing Internet/technology the group was able to send emails much faster and locate potential clients etc… Even though this reduced the high-end monthly payment, the band itself had more responsibilities. With this they talk about 1000’s of emails, non-stop questions and the “I know you, how are things going” questions. The stress can put a strain on not just the band but all other musicians/artist alike. (If you don’t say something at all, or if you say the wrong thing, people can get confused, upset and angry) With the rise of Facebook, Twitter and all other mainstream social networks life on the road can get crazy… (All they want to do is entertain)

“Its tuff out there for a bluesman!” – Reese Wynans

“It’s not like it used to be. You gotta bite the bullet, it’s something that just evolved… It evolved.” – Tommy Shannon

“It sounds great on the stage!” – Reese Wynans

Josh Knight on Stevie Ray Vaughan

This is my podcast on Artist Stevie Ray Vaughan... I hope you like it. Thanks for watching.

http://youtu.be/QYifcxSn2f0

Peer Comment

Matt Murray,

Kraftwerk was such a wonderful phenomenon. I really liked the earlier albums Kraftwerk 1 and 2. I too feel the same way about this group. Without Kraftwerk electronic music might not ever be the same. It takes a rare breed of individuals to step out into the open and take a leap into a new direction. As you talk about the album Autobahn, we both notice a huge difference and change from the groups first two albums mentioned above. Adding new members to the group outside of Ralph and Florian contributed in a big way. I really appreciate the read and I look forward to future blogs.

Regards, Joshua