musician/pederson/steve

On Wednesday, September 23, 2009 Digidesign introduced Eleven Rack™, which is, according to the Digidesign website, “a revolutionary new guitar recording and effects processing solution designed to eliminate the challenges that guitarists have faced in the studio and on stage.”

Let me first clarify before you read any further that I HAVE NOT ACTUALLY TRIED THIS UNIT, but, from what I’ve seen and heard and read about it from the Digidesign website, it is really amazing.

I am a Pro Tools guy. More specifically, I am a guitar-as-a-first-instrument, Pro Tools LE using guy. I am also a real purist when it comes to producing music and tones on a guitar, so I am not easily impressed when it comes to amp simulation. However, as of late, I have really had a lot of fun playing around with the free amp simulation plug-ins that have come with ProTools: Amplitube LE, SansAmp and Eleven Free.

After watching all the promo videos and listening to the demo clips on the Digidesign website, I am blown away and impressed by this new product. Once you check out the site, I’m sure you’ll be convinced that you need one too. It really is the first of it’s kind and I think it has a tremendous amount of potential. If you are 1) a guitar player, 2) use Pro Tools and 3) have $900 burning a hole in your pocket, I would say this is a no-brainer. Get one!

A couple of things that really impressed me upon first look is 1) that you can actually use it live as an amp head – with or without cabinet simulation – and run the output through a real cabinet and 2) in one of the video demonstrations they were actually able to get feedback while playing through a real cabinet – a feature I’ve never been able to get inside my computer. There are a ton of cool features that can better be described by the website, so check it out! The only thing it’s missing is tubes!

Another thing I appreciate about this product is the innovation that went in to developing it. To me, that’s what creativity is all about – pushing the envelope.

One cool possibility I can see coming from this, provided every studio is eventually equipped with an Eleven Rack (and Pro Tools), is that a guitarist could work on tracks in his or her home studio with an Eleven Rack, get all the settings saved in a Pro Tools session, email the session over to the other studio, and then go record in another studio, getting the exact same sounds, without having to bring another piece of equipment along. Just show up with a guitar! Eleven Racks for everyone!

Imagine – maybe there will be an iPhone app where you can download the Eleven Rack settings of your favorite guitar hero – say at a gig – and, provided there is a way for your iPhone or iPod touch to interface with the Eleven Rack, then you could be playing with some new settings that were created by your favorite artist!

What is this going to mean for the competition? I just received an email that IK Multimedia is running a promotion where, if enough people take advantage, you’ll be able to buy one product and get 2 free. Are they shaking in their boots? Obviously you can get their plug-ins for a lot less than $900, so they got that goin’ for ‘em.

Before making a purchase, however, there are a few things to consider, especially considering the fact that this would be a costly investment (and that’s just for the rack unit.) Let’s take a look at the entire investment. If you don’t already own a cabinet, you’ll definitely want one for playing live – or even for recording for that matter. You can get a decent 4×12 cabinet starting around $300. Of course you’re not going to want to have your rack just laying around on the floor, so you’ll need either a rack case or a stand for the Eleven Rack – or both. I dunno, maybe tack on another $100 each for those. In addition, you’ll need to pick up a suitable MIDI floor board controller to have volume, wah and preset accessibility. Now, you gotta start lugging all this gear around to all your shows. Who you going to pay to do that for you?

In any case, go out and try one!

One of my biggest struggles as a musician has been writing meaningful lyrics. My lyrics tend to be forced, cliche and trite. The song I’ve written that has gotten the most enthusiastic response has been Christmas Rap by my alias, the Soul Cowboy. It’s just a non-sensical silly song. When it comes to the lyric, I’ve usually left it up to another.

Typically what happens is that I wake up with some line going through my head – both the lyric and the melody. When I come to and realize I’ve got a line going through my head, I analyze it a bit to see if it’s something I’ve heard before, or if this is something unique. If it’s unique, I’ll grab my hand-held recorder and record the line and then try to go back to sleep. For a while, I’ve looked at these as gifts. However, I’m beginning to realize that nothing has ever really come from them ultimately, and, if they really were gifts, it would be an entire song, and not just a phrase that doesn’t make any sense all by itself.

Well, I may be wrong about all that, but one thing I have come to the realization of is that I need help writing lyrics! I’m probably not the only one. I haven’t really dedicated much time to honing the craft of writing lyrics. So, I went to my local library and checked out a couple of books on the topic of lyric writing. I made sure they were on lyric writing as opposed to song writing. There is a HUGE difference. I picked up a copy of Writing Better Lyrics by Pat Pattison and The Craft of Lyric Writing by Sheila Davis.

After having read just a couple of chapters in each book, I’ve been tremendously enlightened. What I really liked about Writing Better Lyrics is that it gets you writing right off the bat with some really interesting and fun exercises. It challenges you to dig deep into your senses and to pick an object and write about it for 10 minutes. Each morning you should set a timer and write for 10 minutes. When the 10 minutes is up, stop. Don’t burn out. Don’t try to do it all in one day. Make it enjoyable, and you’ll want to keep on doing it. When you write early in the day, it puts you in the mindset to be more aware of your surroundings all throughout the day. And, you don’t have to write lyrics. Just write out your thoughts.

The first couple chapters of The Craft of Lyric Writing has really shed some light on things. It talks about how songs speak for us, the necessity of the listener being able to identify with the singer and the difference between a poem and a lyric and the fact that they are not the same. Chapter 3 talks about the features of a winning lyric, some sources for lyric ideas, titles and source ideas for titles…and I’m only half way through that chapter!

Of course, probably the best piece of advice I’ve every received when it comes to writing any kind of music was from a text book I read in college which said, “That which does not come from the heart does not easily reach the heart.”

The bottom line is that, I knew I had no idea what I was doing. Now, I have a little better understanding as to why I had no idea. I think it’s a good idea for anyone who wants to write a meaningful lyric to spend some time learning how to better their craft. There are a lot of sources out there to help. If you haven’t written a grammy-winner lately, maybe you should take some time and invest in this time well spent.

I was fortunate enough to be able to see U2 on the opening night of their 360 Tour in the US – in Chicago at Soldier Field on Saturday, September 12. This was the first time I’d seen U2 live and the first time I’d seen a concert at Soldier Field. I guess I need to get out more.

I commented to a friend of mine who had got me the ticket that I never realized how much of a U2 fan I really am. It was so much fun jumping up and down – in my 11th row, upper level seat – and screaming out the songs along with the band and 65,000 other fans. What an amazing and unifying sensation.

I’m sure everyone had their own experience and their own story to tell, but I will tell you one thing, in addition to several other things – this concert renewed my faith in Rock ‘N’ Roll. How? How indeed! When you see/hear something done right, it inspires you. When you see something done by a legendary band that has enough money and creativity to pull off a show like that, it makes you a believer in…possibilities.

There were a number of things I loved about the show; singing, nay shall I say screaming, along with the song Elevation, watching Bono swing around on a microphone suspended from a cable, watching the screen expand down to the stage like a big monster and on and on…for 3 hours. Lots and lots of ear and eye candy. It was a riot.

I think the biggest thing that impacted me, though, was just what a difference it makes listening to a band live with thousands of other people. That’s a dynamic you just can’t get from an iPod. I mean, just try singing along with your iPod when you’re on the train. People will – at best – look at you strange. When you’re alone at home or in your car you can crank it up and sing along – and know that there are fans out there who are singing along with you in spirit, but hey…there’s nothing better than the real thing. And this really borders on the spiritual. I only knew a handful of people in that congregation of 65,000, but when we were all there together singing along, we were a brotherhood. There was a connection. That is the power of music.

One of the things that contributes to this for U2 is that their music is very easy to sing along to. If you don’t know the words, it’s okay. You know at some point in the song there’s going to be a bunch of “Oohs”, “Ah-ahs” or “Ho-ohs”! It’s like everybody’s hanging out in a pub with a pint raised up high in one hand and their other arm around the next person. It’s community.

What does all this mean for me as a musician?

It means I have a greater appreciation for the power of live music. It means that, as much as I love to sit in my studio and practice or work on sequencing some new material until it’s “perfect”, at some point I’ve got to get out amongst people and play live, because that’s where music really lives. It means that, eventhough I have a CD, and people could just buy that and listen to it at home and in their car – which I hope we’re all doing – I have to make it real. The only way to do that, and really connect with others, is to play live. It’s good for you and it’s good for me. There’s nothing like real-time feedback. I know when a song is really connecting with people when I’m there to experience your response. I can’t do that when you’re listening to a CD and I’m taking a nap at home. Of course, you could always send me an email or write a review and let me know what my music means to you – which happens and is very encouraging as well.

Lastly, I will say that if you’re looking for ways to make extra income as a musician – don’t forget to sell a bunch of over-priced tour paraphenalia at your gigs!

Chances are, if you’re reading this article a year after its original post date, that the following web bot playlist will not be active. When you publish an iMix on iTunes, it’s only good for 1 year. In any case, here is a iMix that I just created that I call Xtreme Workout.

(I don’t know why it doesn’t display correctly.)

How can you publish your own iMix? How does it work?

1. Assuming you already have the free iTunes application installed on your computer, which is available for both mac and PC, you create a new playlist (File > New Playlist) and drag all the songs you want from your library to your playlist. Warning: iTunes will only create an iMix with songs that they currently have in their library. If you didn’t buy it from iTunes, chances are it may not show up in your final iMix.
2. Once you have your playlist assembled, highlight that playlist and go to Store > Create an iMix…
3. In the dialog box that pops up, click Create.
4. You will probably be asked to log in. I’m assuming you already have an iTunes account.
5. Once you’re logged in you’ll have a chance to review your submission and add a description. At this point you’ll find out which songs iTunes will actually publish in your iMix. When you’re finished, click the Publish button.
6. Your iMix will be submitted to iTunes. You should receive an email within a few hours with a link to your iMix, which will open up in your iTunes application.
7. From there you can email friends, or create a nifty web-ready application like the one above with just a couple of clicks.
8. Rock on!