I just got an email from Bret reminding me and all of us NMP Members to log in and check in and stay active.  Guilty as charged!  It made me think about myself, the State of the Music Business, Social Networking sites in general and this one in particular.

This is different from Facebook, MySpace (aka Free Band Webpage Space), Linked In, etc.  This is for all of us in the Nashville Music Industry.  I don't know about you guys, but it's been getting a little lonely out there and gigs…

Have you ever been told (or noticed yourself) that you have a numb or lifeless singing voice? Getting to the cause is the only way to change ineffective, lifeless vocal performance into a voice that is understood at an emotional…

CHARILE WALKER 

  NOVEMBER 26, 1926 – SEPTEMBER 12, 2008

LUNCH WITH CHARLIE WALKER

In 1983 I received a call from a producer looking for the song:  Little League In Heaven for Charlie Walker.  Wayne said he had heard the song a few years back after Orval

Prophet, the Canadian Hall of…

The Night Before Christmas - In the Studio - Adapted by Peter Kendall Warren

T'was the night before Christmas, when all through the studio

Not an engineer was mixing, not clicking mouse.

The cables were hung by the headphones with care,

In hopes that the paychecks soon would be there.



The microphones were nestled all snug in their foam beds,

While visions of re-ribbon jobs danced in their shiny…

I got a great question about allergies through my Facebook page (and if you're on FB, pls join me there!)



Rita asked about warding off allergies before a singing engagement. Of course it's best to deal with the allergens before they can trip the inflammation trigger. Here are some tips I've found helpful:



[Medical disclaimer... I am most decidedly not a doctor.…

Come on "Friends of Delgado Guitars". I need your help to spread the word on this. Would you like to make a real difference in one family's life? Would you like a chance to win a handcrafted, custom ukelele? Well... UKE can make a difference!

  We're looking for 25 donors to take part AND/OR be willing to post the link on their wall for a day or two. Would you consider helping the cause?…

I don't know about you, but the recent advertizements for Black Friday shopping (having to compete with  Black Friday Ninjas?!!) leaves me... well... afraid! I decided to stay home, play with my…

Well, Since I am mentally challenged this morning about where to enter a song for contest,  I added "Overdrawn Over Christmass" . Artist ~ Tony Joe White  ~ Written by Don Goodman, Amy Jack and yours truly. Ditty below ! 

Mitch Ham | 11.01.11



Do we conduct ourselves in a way that Jesus would? Do we have compassion the way He would have compassion? Have we made up our own definition of compassion? Are we just religious? The fact is, we may have all failed in these areas at times. Before we go any further, let me add when I say religious, I am not discounting pure religion as mentioned in James 1:27 which says: “RELIGION that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans…

http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2011/Dec/How_To_Install_A_Replacement_Pickup.aspx

 This song was written with one of the best friends I have ever known: Chip Story. In the early 90's we formed a metal band called EXIT PLAN with our new found friend Greg Manuel. We were the three piece from hell. We wrote this song to counteract everything else we were grinding out (oh yes,, and we were grinding). We were a family! As the date of Chip's death is upon me, I decided to track this epic song as some sort of spiritual upheaval to honor a fallen friend. A man I…

Did you know that talking on the phone for any extended length of time can sabotage your singing voice? Yep, it's absolutely true. Why? No one can see you. Therefore, you don't use the same kind of facial and body language that you would if communicating visually.

Here's the typical phone talker:

• Your face upper face goes inactive. When you don't use your eyes, eyebrows and mask area while sounding your voice, your vocal ceiling (soft palate, back of nasal…

http://blog.gbase.com/2009/08/tips-and-tone-maximizing-your-tone/

This is simple...

I regularly participate in a monthly meeting, first tuesday of every month, in a meeting of writers called "the writers' guild" that is hosted by David Hampton at Christ Community Church.  It's not intended to be a meeting of songwriters focused on sacred music because of where it meets.  It's just hosted there because the arts are integral to the community, and it's a central place to do it.  Simple enough.  I often attend to listen and offer thoughts, not…

In these strange days I find I am a ghost in my own life. Can I forgive these blood stained hands and heal the scares that have slid outta sight. As our audience has come to know,, I suffered in the Great Nashville Flood and lost things that money could never dream…

Check out my article on tuning & intonation.

Let me know what you think.

http://blog.gbase.com/2011/06/tips-and-tone-tuning-war/

The Roz Brown and Bobby Rush Records are both officially on the Ballots for Grammy considerations in the following catagories:

ROZ BROWN -A COWBOY AND HIS SWEETHEART

Album of the Year

Best Folk Album

Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) The Rose  

Best Engineered Album Paul Brown, engineer; Kevin Nix, mastering engineer (Roz Brown)

Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical A Cowboy And His Sweetheart…

In part 3 of Behind the Gear at The Record Shop, we take a look at the Tube-Tech CL1B Opto Compressor; a device that has become a studio standard since its release in 1987. The CL1B was developed by Tube-Tech founder, John Peterson. John began his career as a maintenance engineer at the Danish…

I've been working on a project for a while now that I've truly enjoyed working on.  It's full of imperfection.  I've felt so free as I've done it.  It's simply a joy to work on. One of the best parts of it has been cutting backing vocals.  As I've had various singers come in to cut parts, I've chosen more mature singers that remember what it was like before auto-tune and melodyne came into being.  These folks are one-take wonders due to their experience and maturity.  They actually take the…