Well 2011 was not as productive as I had hoped. I was hoping to have my side project "States in Mind" finished by now. However it looks like I have confirmed a drummer for the project (So things should start to move forward a bit faster now)
I am close to finishing up the remake of Bei Mir Bis Du Shoen that I have been working on with Kassandra Gr
uszkowski. Biggest hold up with this is that we are not sure what name to release the song under.
On a final note, I am hoping to do a few shows and release some new Material with Aesma Daeva in 2012.
11-11-2011
In the past I would go to the MIA and look at their permanent collection. One of the paintings is Lucretia by Rembrandt painted in 1666. I was not involved with photography at the time, but the lighting in that painting helped form who I am as a musician. In one form or another I knew that I loved the contrast and drama in that painting and I wanted to incorporate that into my music. As I slowly starting to learn about photography on the side and I am finding I have all of the same influences just learning new ways of expressing them with photographs.
I still have not bought a calibration system - so it is a bit hard to say if the saturation is to high low etc since it varies monitor to monitor. Non the less the light was a step forward for me in this photo.
11-08-2011
I have not had a lot of time for photography lately. A friend who I have been waiting to take photo's of had some free time this last weekend. So I stopped by and we caught up on life etc. Hard to tell if this photo is over saturated or not (depends on the monitor) and I do not have any suction cups on my monitor to calibrate it. Non the less the lighting is a big step forward for me.
10-23-2011
Finished up some recording with Meliesa McDonnell last weekend. Before she left for the airport I had some time to take a few photo's.
10-21-2011
A few weeks ago I spoke with Kassy about cover songs. Out of no where she said to me. I have always wanted to remake a song called bei mir bist du schon by the Andrew Sisters. Except I want it to be much slower. The post at the top is just a sample with vocals recorded on her lap top at home so the quality is not amazing, but I can hear that this will turn out fantastic and suprisingly this has been way more fun than I ever expected it to be.
10-03-2011
Finished up some recording with Kassandra Gruszkowski last weekend. Also been going outside as much as possible to enjoy the last month or 2 of good weather. Hopefully will find time to take some nice photo's of the leaves turning colors.
09-17-2011
Going through some old mix CD's that I made for myself. Old Memories,but also old influences. This is one of my favorites. I took it off of a record that I bought in the $1 bin at Root Cellar Records - where I met Earl Root. This track was recorded in the USSR in 1970. I think it... is called IavNana..
09-14-2011
Editing some more photo's from my last trip to Greece
09-13-2011
A
few years ago I was asked by Martin of Attrition to do a remake for his upcoming remix album. I finished the remake/remix but never found / put the time into finding the right vocalist to record the song. So here it is with snippets of the original song as the vocal. May be something to put time into finding the right vocalist to record it? Martin says the original vocal track is long gone.
09-04-2011
Sunsets have been very warm for the past few weeks
09-02-2011
I have not been to good about updated the web sites lately. Mainly because I have been so focused on finishing up the new album I am working on. It is tenatively titled "States in Mind"
This is part of the intro to the album. This album will not be released under Aesma Daeva - but it will have a few members from Aesma Daeva (past and present involved in it)
08-14-2011
I would put this photo with this piece of music that I am working on
The Three Spirits
06-25-2011
Experimenting with the idea of manipulating photo's into forms similar to Japanese Calligraphy.
06-21-2011
06-17-2011
Sun was setting and the humidity was so high that some fog started to show up in the valley I was walking through. I put a bunch of filters on and made a 30 second exposure. While I moved the camera side to side.
06-18-2011
Some of the tones in this remind me of rembrandt
06-18-2011
Realized summer was slowly passing me by so I went out side and took some photo's
06-01-2011
I took this photo on a very foggy day in Feb
02-10-2011
Recently I got a chance to start demoing a song with Matt of Gracepoint.
Its just a demo but the character in the song is truly starting to
come alive with his voice. Matt is great at singing straight tone
(no vibrato) and hitting the notes pretty much dead on. (not an easy
thing to do when it comes to certain vowels)
11-28-2010
I assembled
all of my time lapse photos and video footage from this year. Looks
like it will be another year (maybe less who knows) before I have
enough quality
footage to make a full video. Anyways here is an unfinished video
with some good parts. Far from finished though.
Album is pretty much done (writing wise). Now recording and producing
etc from start to finish. This is part of the intro.
10-01-2010
Assembling all my photos, and time lapse photos from this summer.
HopefullyI will have enough for a full length video at some point.
08-28-2010
Getting closer and closer to finishing this next album. One goal
of mine was to have more than just Metal guitar tones.
06-07-2010
Finally getting closer to finishing this next album. Very depressing
that it has taken so long - Had to work through a lot of things though.
I am working with a few different singers. Here is a sample of one
of the acoustic tracks.
03/06/2010
I have just updated the online bonus content for "The Thalassa
Mixes" I put up 2 new instrumental tracks.
Tisza's Child - Instrumental Mix
The Camp of Souls - Instrumental Mix.
Not sure what to title either of them. The Camp of Souls reminds
me of this quote by Joseph Campbell:
Moyers: What's the mythological significance of the belly?
Campbell: The belly is the dark place where digestion takes place
and new energy is created. The story of Jonah in the whale is an example
of a mythic theme that is practically universal, of the hero going
into a fish's belly and ultimately coming out again, transformed.
Moyers: Why must the hero do that?
Campbell: It's a descent into the dark. Psychologically, the whale
represents the power of life locked in the unconscious. Metaphorically,
water is the unconscious, and the creature in the water is the life
or energy of the unconscious, which has overwhelmed the conscious
personality and must be disempowered, overcome and controlled.personality
and must be disempowered, overcome and controlled.
I will have a 5.1 mix of Tisza's Child done by the end of this year
- just in time for the repressing of the album. Along with a few other
tracks. Including Edwards remix that he started of the Loon, and hopefully
a full setting of the "The Camp of Souls"
I am putting it in writing so hopefully someone will hold me to it
if I do not come through. ;)
02-02-2009
And the start
of another remix Fox is working on - Once again very good.
01-22-2009
Fox
IV - just sent me a remake he did of Disdain. I was very
surprised with his approach. I'm really enjoying it!
12-16-2009
It has been 2
months of recording writing and recording.
Stefan of Grace
point stopped by and we recorded some guitar parts from
11 am till Midnight. We still have more to do but so far things are
turning out very nicely. (just a pod guitar tone at the moment)
On the non-electric side of things I have been recording a lot of
acoustic instruments. I had a hell of a time getting this Banjolin of mine to stay in tune with the mandolin and 12 string guitars.
- Reason being it is old, and I had it tuned down an octave.
11-02-2009
About 6 months
ago my friend Edward asked if he could have the vocals and backing
to "The Loon" for a remix idea that he had. I said
"ok - but what kind of remix just out of curiosity". He
then told it was for a dance remix idea. I was not sure if I was insulted
or confused when he said that. How is he going to make a song in 5/4
into a 4/4 on the floor song? Yesterday he showed me what he began
working on - It is just a start but it is actually pretty cool. My
plan is to make this one of the online bonus tracks for The Thalassa
Mixes
10-22-2009
Just got done uploading some photos of my trip to Arches,Grand
Canyon and Vegas. We were going to go to badlands and visit
some friends in Montana as well but it started snowing really early
this year.
10-01-2009
Just got back
from a short trip to the boundary
waters. I went at a very ruff time of year. 35 mph gusts
of wind is not fun in a canoe, along with below freezing at night.
On the other hand no lights, and complete silence made it worth it
for me. I also got the final master of Running up that Hill. Here
lies one is now being sent off to press.
08-21-2009
last week I got the mastered bonus material for here
lies one. Running up that Hill did not sound to good.
(cymbols sounded like trash can lids)
I usually mix with a C4 or other mastering compressor on the bus so I know what things will
sound like after mastering. So I went back and remixed the song with
the C4 on the master bus. I am glad I did it sounds much better on
my part. Hopefully mastering will not take to long and the album will
be pressed and out to people soon.
08-27-2009
Was thinking
to make this A.D. Riff into a Finger Style guitar piece. It would
just need a few more sections and bunch of practice.
08-20-2009
Which one? A-Major
Ending (their is hope)
No A Major Ending
I am thinking A Major ending. Here is the full track
07-26-2009
I am currently getting graphics and bonus material ready for the repressing
of here
lies one. The album is going to be almost 90 minutes
of music.
I am starting to like Edwards voice on Stay more than the original. (I have been listening
to the original for 10 years now)
07-18-2009
I never thought insomnia would haunt me. I love to sleep. This melody
always comes into my mind when I am trying to sleep. Maybe if I finish
this piece I will move onto another melody that does not remind me
of not being able to sleep. - What I should do is stop obsessing about
not sleeping.
06-25-2009
Been working
on music a little bit. Doctor gave me flonase for allergies and I went crazy (hard to say if it was the cause but
something happened). I am kind of back to myself and working on a
few different things. Mainly an instrumental of Tisza's Child.
06-01-2009
If I only was done mixing this song, if I only was done mixing
this song.do do do do
05-23-2009
Just got back from a short vacation to the Greek island of Milos.
- you can view pictures and read about it here.
05-01-2009
I have
been staying up late this week recording acoustic guitar. I live in
a neighborhood where it seems like everyone knows I am recording so
they floor it while driving past my home. The only solution to this
is to record late at night and maybe rising gas prices.
04-17-2009
Worked on redesigning the media section of the A.D. web page.
04-15-2009
If I only was done mixin this song, If I only was done mixin this
song. Need to record Bass and Lead Guitar then I'm done.
04-08-2009
Almost finished recording, and re-amping guitars for "Running
up that Hill" I have a few small fixes - but for whatever
reason small fixes stress me out. I think because I hate switching
from guitar player mode to recording engineer and back to guitar player.
Early this morning/late last night. I went through some tracks that
I want to finish up and listen to with fresh ears. I found a remake
of a traditional called Gianni
Mou To.Originally I wanted to combine delta blues with
greek traditional singing. (I was told the song is about a man who
travels many places) The openning riff sounds really lame on a 6 string
verses a 12 string, otherwise ,,, Ya it has potential, hopefully it
will won't take years to finish.
(Click the play button to listen)
04-04-2009
I spent most
of the evening recording guitars for the A.D. remake of "Running
up that Hill" I wish I could have released this back when I arranged
it but the song fits with Josephs lead playing style and Alberts drums
so I guess the wait is worth it.
Originally I
had thought about giving the song away. However with a compulsory
licences you have to pay every time the cover song is downloaded.
- payed for or not.
04-03-2009
Just got some
demo's of bonus content Albert is going to record for "Here Lies One" - Albert is so metal! It's just fabulous.
04-02-2009
Here lies one is out of stock again. I am going to repress it with new graphics
but first I wanted to try and gather some opinions.
Do you prefer Digipacks, Ecowallets, or Jewelcases?
Finished up recording most of my ideas for an acoustic guitar piece.
(the openinging melody is based off of the camp of souls. (click
the play button to listen)
I have some ideas on where to take it next but for now I am going
to just put it aside rather than be a masochist and work on it until
it is done.
I have a lot of other things I need work on anyways like lyrics for
songs based off of 1984.
I also need to practice for some recording I am doing with Albert.
03-27-2009
I took a break from working on music and lyrics for 1984 and did some recording of an instrumental version of "The Camp
of Souls" (click play button for sample)
03-23-2009
Kick ass! I am going to be working with Albert
Born again. We are going to record some songs for the online
bonus content of "Here
Lies One"
03-20-2009
Working on Digi Pack packaging for 10 year anniversary edition of
"Here
lies one"
02-28-2009
Uploaded some Visual
Evidence from 2008 performing Aesma Daeva songs and parts
of the rock opera 1984
