Project Manifesto:
Let’s face it, as we get older it is hard, hard to balance the demands of work, life and family. Where we suffer is that we loose the connection to the formative communities that helped shape us by finding our place, our voice and people.
When I moved to Wisconsin in 2001 from the bay area, I struggled to connect with the community, and found solace in recording solo projects. When I moved to Washington in 2005 I encountered the same constraints and in the 20 plus years since I have continued to write, record and produce by myself.
Listen to the album while reading the text.
As I advance into my life, I realize that being an adult is lonely. Now don’t get me wrong, I have always embraced the solitary path I have chosen as freedom, and in many ways I still do. But, the more I have learned about making music it become clearer to me that it is about connecting and collaborating to cultivate a spirit – or magic that happens when a group of people gather to create vibrations that synthesize to fill a space – be it personal or shared energy with a crowd is amazing.
In 2023, a good friend and musician I collaborated with for almost a decade reached out and invited me to visit and jam. He dubbed this Summer bandcamp! In the middle of the summer, I went down to the Bay Area and we jammed in his practice space. It was the first time in almost 20 years I had consciously created analogue frequencies with an adult musician. It felt great!
Inspired, I invited Joe to my home the next summer to shape our jams into ideas into recordings. There were many things to learn – like how to communicate, how to share, how to collaborate and most importantly remove ego from the experience and focus on finding joy in the process of creation.
What for me was most exciting was to hear another voice and appreciate a different approach to ideas – inspired, I think we created something to be proud of.
Can’t wait for Session #2!
Participant Requirements:
- Having a basic recording setup – including a mic, preamp and GarageBand – when I come and visit for the initial pre-production trip – we will listen and come up with some pet songs, figure our roles and timelines and I will get you set up with a working signal chain and teach you how to record and share stems!
- Willingness to have a creation trip – where you come visit me, we will hang out, enjoy the Washington Summer and create the basic track and templates at Normieville Studios and we record.
- Being a Teacher helps but not required – I do have time and space in the summer!