The Paint With Sound album came about as an audio painting of a trip through the beautiful Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National parks. Many hundreds of moments were enjoyed through a week of time wandering some of nature's most beautiful accessible lands.
The mountainside condominium in which I was staying was home to a large community of western sparrow birds. These small birds had lovely cheerful songs, and were delicate and light. Interestingly enough, even though condominium management had placed barriers to prevent the birds from nesting under the eaves of the rooftops, the little birds adapted themselves and used the barriers as a means to build stronger, warmer, more expansive nests. Nature always seems to find a way.
The Rooftop Sparrows tune is an impression of sitting out in the clean cool mountain air (on the condo's mountain vista porch) - and watching the sparrows come and go as they live their lives. Truly beautiful sounds and sights shared with them: gorgeous Rocky Mountain ranges, blue skies, and the sweet chirping of little winged wonders.
Rooftop Sparrows was recorded with the single setup of a Shure SM57 dynamic microphone combined with the built-in piezo bridge pickup of a beautiful red Applause Ovation. The Applause was used to record both the "color" sound in the left channel in the left channel and the song-melody in the right channel. The bass part was played with a wonderfully simple and easy-to-own Squier (built by Fender) Jazz electric bass. All parts were recorded via my old M-Audio MobilePre USB computer interface. I used GarageBand on my Macintosh desktop to capture and edit the music as I made it.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
Album: Paint With Sound 2005
The album Paint With Sound was the second album I composed and recorded in my home "studio." A week-long visit to Wyoming and Montana left me breathless and transformed. Even though I've been to the Tetons and Yellowstone area several times, this time I got to share it with my kids.
This time, I had returned to music in my heart and had been playing guitar and recording music for about a year. During the entire stay in the upper west, I did not have access to music or guitars - so I experienced the land and mountains and rivers with a great deal of imagery. I captured as much feeling and impressions as I could - as I experienced the world I stored them in my heart and mind
Paint With Sound is a culmination of the wonderful expressive and vivid impressions I felt while out in the wild country. How do you capture mountains that rise endlessly into a deep azure sky? How do you remember the brightly-colored hot air balloons taking off from a meadow at the foot of the Grand Tetons? What about the wandering tiny roads that go through the hidden recesses of the mountains like Moose-Wilson road? So many wonderful things, from the lake in the mountain to the beautiful Indian Paintbrushes, to the gorgeous Fire Canyon Falls, and even to the old stone gate from the original entrance to the Yellowstone park... How? With an open heart and an eager curiosity towards the nature and intense beauty of a primordial wilderness...
Each piece of music in Paint With Sound represents a significant inspiration, impression, sight, or experience during my journey. The titles of the tunes give a hint as to what the music means. Each piece was lovingly crafted from stored-away memories - wandering trails with the sound of my soul as I did when driving and hiking through the region.
I recorded the entirety of Paint With Sound with a few acoustics, a little electric bass, a Shure SM-57, an M-Audio MobilePre USB interface, my old Macintosh Mini (G4), and a Seymour Duncan Woody soundhole pickup. A unique combination of acoustic (mic'd) recorded sound, analog electronic recording with the Woody (and even a little piezo pickup recording from my Applause Ovation six string) lent themselves to truly unique sound characteristics. My intention was not to record an incredibly life-like guitar sound for the sake of recording guitar sound... It was my intention to literally paint sounds with as many canvases, colors, and brushes to which I had access...
Overall, the album took just a few scant weeks to compose and record, all of which occurred after hours from my full-time job, a small business to run, and raising a couple of awesome kids. There wasn't any time to practice and ultra-refine the technical aspects of the music. The time was only enough to capture the raw impressions of the music in my heart and soul.
I'm very happy with the result. It's my best-selling album to date.
From a gear point of view, I used beginner's instruments to record the album, including an Ibanez exotic wood laminate guitar, an Applause Ovation acoustic, my only bass at the time - a Squier (made by Fender) Affinity Jazz, and a Squier Affinity Stratocaster. The recording equipment and software were a mix of work on my Macintosh with GarageBand, my M-Audio, a microphone and stand, and my Seymour Duncan Woody.
The sounds came not from technical details, but from heart, soul, and hands.
iTunes: Paint With Sound on iTunes
Also available on Rhapsody, Amazon, Spotify, Napster, and so very many more wonderful ways to stream music.
Also available in signed copies directly from Vivid Peace... just click the contact link and send us an email.
This time, I had returned to music in my heart and had been playing guitar and recording music for about a year. During the entire stay in the upper west, I did not have access to music or guitars - so I experienced the land and mountains and rivers with a great deal of imagery. I captured as much feeling and impressions as I could - as I experienced the world I stored them in my heart and mind
Paint With Sound is a culmination of the wonderful expressive and vivid impressions I felt while out in the wild country. How do you capture mountains that rise endlessly into a deep azure sky? How do you remember the brightly-colored hot air balloons taking off from a meadow at the foot of the Grand Tetons? What about the wandering tiny roads that go through the hidden recesses of the mountains like Moose-Wilson road? So many wonderful things, from the lake in the mountain to the beautiful Indian Paintbrushes, to the gorgeous Fire Canyon Falls, and even to the old stone gate from the original entrance to the Yellowstone park... How? With an open heart and an eager curiosity towards the nature and intense beauty of a primordial wilderness...
Each piece of music in Paint With Sound represents a significant inspiration, impression, sight, or experience during my journey. The titles of the tunes give a hint as to what the music means. Each piece was lovingly crafted from stored-away memories - wandering trails with the sound of my soul as I did when driving and hiking through the region.
I recorded the entirety of Paint With Sound with a few acoustics, a little electric bass, a Shure SM-57, an M-Audio MobilePre USB interface, my old Macintosh Mini (G4), and a Seymour Duncan Woody soundhole pickup. A unique combination of acoustic (mic'd) recorded sound, analog electronic recording with the Woody (and even a little piezo pickup recording from my Applause Ovation six string) lent themselves to truly unique sound characteristics. My intention was not to record an incredibly life-like guitar sound for the sake of recording guitar sound... It was my intention to literally paint sounds with as many canvases, colors, and brushes to which I had access...
Overall, the album took just a few scant weeks to compose and record, all of which occurred after hours from my full-time job, a small business to run, and raising a couple of awesome kids. There wasn't any time to practice and ultra-refine the technical aspects of the music. The time was only enough to capture the raw impressions of the music in my heart and soul.
I'm very happy with the result. It's my best-selling album to date.
From a gear point of view, I used beginner's instruments to record the album, including an Ibanez exotic wood laminate guitar, an Applause Ovation acoustic, my only bass at the time - a Squier (made by Fender) Affinity Jazz, and a Squier Affinity Stratocaster. The recording equipment and software were a mix of work on my Macintosh with GarageBand, my M-Audio, a microphone and stand, and my Seymour Duncan Woody.
The sounds came not from technical details, but from heart, soul, and hands.
iTunes: Paint With Sound on iTunes
Also available on Rhapsody, Amazon, Spotify, Napster, and so very many more wonderful ways to stream music.
Also available in signed copies directly from Vivid Peace... just click the contact link and send us an email.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Understanding the music of Vivid Peace (and formerly Jimmy Bear Pearson) Music
In this blog, I will archive, catalog, and paint the pictures (with words) embodied by and inspired in my music.
Here, I will list the music and give descriptions of the sound, the meanings, and even sometimes the gear I used or made to create the music.
There are more than 10 albums now, all since 2005. There are several on my disks for future release. Generally, I keep music and listen to it for quite a time, share with my family, let it grow on me (or, not), and decide whether it represents the imagery and impressions I'm trying to portray.
I think it is important to write for a moment about how my music (and that of Vivid Peace with Margaret) is made.
Each piece of music is hand-crafted in my home. Each album is progressively improved in quality and depth as I learn more and more how to shape the sounds I make and the equipment with which I compose and record. I'm not overly concerned about the popularity of my music (although, having thousands of listens is wonderful!) - I enjoy creating music, recording it, and sharing it.
I make the music because it is the laughter, the tears, the colors, and the sound of my heart and soul.
Each and every recording is not practiced to the nth degree - it is played as it is felt, and (with the exception of technical mistakes) is largely unedited and largely improvised from deep within me. Each piece is either inspired by something I've seen or heard (impressionistic) or is the result of feeling something very deeply. As I comp my music, I tend to let the music tell me what it is and how it sounds. Imagining, creating, playing, and recording sound is a journey, not the destination. This journey lives on in the ears of the listener - in the mind of the imaginer.
It is my hope that I can share descriptions and thoughts about the music - and that someone will find the music and the description (together) to be something that they enjoy for years to come.
Music is the laughter of the soul. May there always be laughter in your heart and home.
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