Arthur Schopenhauer revered music as the highest art form. The Beastie Boys said that a "good mix tape will put me the right mood" and often the soundtrack to a movie makes the movie much like the aroma and sense of smell has more to do with taste than our taste buds. Music is a universal language. Minor chords sound sad in all cultures in all times. Major chords sound happy and uplifting. Music affects the spirit of man more so than any other form of art. Regardless of all this, I have always found myself involved with music in some way or another. I play the drums, I DJ, I record and mix music and I help promote it. Here is where I'll share with you my musical endeavors and projects.
Be sure to check out the Memphis Crawl official website for the latest news and gigs.
And Here is a pretty good show: guitars are a bit low but… http://www.mikevincenti.com/021911.mp3
Gig: 9/2/2011
Memphis Crawl is performing live at The Velvet Lounge in Setauket. Take Nicoll's Road all the way north and at the end, make a right. The Velvet Lounge will be immediately on your right. Don't miss it. This is going to be our first gig in a little over a month! Should be killer!
Memphis Crawl at Mulcahy's
It was the band's first time at Mulcahy's in Centereach. It was my first time their since Mulcahy's took over what once was The King's Club. When I first entered the place, I was immediately impressed by a few things. First of all, the place is pretty big (but this I knew). The whole venue was given a real nice facelift. It now looks like a nice venue and not a country western hole-in-the-wall. Though, the mechanical bull was cool, I didn't miss it one bit. And most importantly, the sound was terrific. It was exactly as you'd expect it to be and it was surprisingly very well controlled. The room was so big that there was plenty of space for the music to go at a decent volume but it didn't sound too loud. It was great.
We had a great show. We (surprisingly) didn't play any of our new songs but we did introduce a new cover to the mix. We are covering The Beatles', "Don't Let Me Down." It definitely went over well. However, we did suffer one small casualty. Nick's amp decided not to work for the last 3 songs (starting with "Don't Let Me Down"). So that sucked but other than that, the show went really well. We opened with Free To Love and that, as it often does, sets the mood for the rest of the night. Holy Ghost and Wintertime were among my favorites for the night.
Multi-Track Recording
There are so many ways to get a "good" recording. Most Macs even come with multitrack recording software. It is possible to make a recording using only what comes with your Mac but ideally, you'd want to buy a good audio interface and some decent software to help facilitate the session. However, Garageband is rather impressive for a program that comes bundled with your Mac.
I'm not going to get into too many details here. I could go on and on about the importance of good pre-amps. Equipment is definitely a significant factor in the recording process but if you are making a recording on a budget, you can certainly impress yourself and others with easily available gear. I love to remind people that one of the greatest albums every produced, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band by The Beatles was recorded on a 4 track. True, there was genius in the studio with that piece of equipment but nonetheless, it was a 4 track that recorded the album! There are many other bands that have accomplished complete high quality albums on limited equipment. So I stress, it isn't equipment that limits the artist- it's equipment that provides the mediocre with an excuse.
Memphis Crawl
As this is just the first entry within my music blog, I thought I'd waste no time telling you about my most significant project. I've been playing drums with Memphis Crawl a little over a year now and in that time, we've accumulated about 20 original songs, recorded a demo at Sabella Recording Studios, played a gig in LA at the Whiskey A G0 Go and are scheduled to go into the studio again at the end of April to record our first album. It is a rock n roll band that revives the spirit of the 60s. Though we love the retro inspirations, we really love making music that is timely and that will change the world today. We rehearse 3 times a week, gig regularly and will be offering more swag by summer.