Indian Paintbrush from Paint With Sound (Jimmy Bear Pearson)

An indian paintbrush is a beautiful yet resilient splash of life. Wanderings through the west and northwest areas of Wyoming and Montana brought chilly weather with clear blue skies. Even though some places in our walks were stony or were devoid of larger plants, the Indian Paintbrush would pop its head up in the most interesting of places - even when weather is harsh or conditions are less-than-favorable.

Indian Paintbrush was a piece of music I performed and recorded just after my return from a Wyoming/Montana trip. The little colorful and lively flowers made an indelible and lasting impression on me. I was in a wonderful place sitting and watching them sway in the breeze - almost in awe. They are an inspiration and a beautiful remind of what is right in the world.

Indian Paintbrush was recorded with an Ibanez Artwood AW40 acoustic, an Ibanez ExoticWood EW20 acoustic, and a Fender standard fretless electric bass. The acoustics were recorded with a Shure SM57 dyanmic microphone with no dedicated preamp, direct into my M-Audio MobilePre computer interface. The bass was recorded by direct-instrument-jack to the MobilePre.

Indian Paintbrush was donated as openly available in the Wikimedia Commons here.

Hot Air Balloons from Paint With Sound (Jimmy Bear Pearson)

Hot Air Balloons is lilting comfortable acoustic piece that describes a beautiful and serene experience: I was sitting on the condo's porch during the vacation to the Grand Tetons, a cool (almost chilly) fresh morning. Sitting in a rocking chair and just breathing and being... no hurries, no cell phone, no electronics, just the sky and gorgeous mountain ranges spilling around in front of the view.

Some time during that restful moment, extremely bright and colorful hot air balloons were being inflated and were flying away from the beautiful valley below. The balloons could be seen close enough to see the people in the baskets, but far enough way to take in the vista in awe. The whole family had the luck of watching a hot air balloon festival take place - as if for us and us alone. Tears came to my eyes while recording this music and remembering those moments.

Hot Air Balloons was recorded with my Seymour Duncan Woody soundhole pickup in my Ibanez Exotic Wood acoustic, the existing electronic pickup in the Applause Ovation acoustic, and Ruby - the Squier Affinity Jazz bass (complete with new strings and a new strap!) All the parts were not mic'd or processed in the recording software in any way. The combination of the sounds were "as played," with no refinement.

The Old Stone Gate from Paint With Sound (Jimmy Bear Pearson)

The Old Stone Gate is a peaceful trio. The fretless Fender Jazz bass adds some nice smoothness to the underpinnings of the piece. This was a nice, sit-down-and-record-it-in-one-session tune.

The story of the tune tells about standing near the beautiful stone structure of the gate - looking in towards the part at mountains, crisp air, and blue skies with puffy white clouds. It was an inspirational moment. The entire family had just walked by resident deer standing nearby (unconcerned about our presence, even unconcerned about the car I was in).

Although the piece is a trio, four instruments were used to create the sound: Polar the white Fretless Fender Jazz, Mountain the cedar-topped Takamine GS330s for the later center channel guitar, Buffalo the Ibanez Exotic Wood guitar for the right-side color guitar, and finally the Applause Ovation for the left-side melody guitar at the beginning of the piece. The acoustics were mic'd with a dynamic Shure SM57 at extremely close range (so the kids weren't in the recording as they ran through the house! :-)). The Jazz bass was recorded directly into the piece through the M-Audio MobilePre with no pre-amp.

The inspiration for The Old Stone Gate was the result of a short trip to the far north entrance to Yellowstone National park.

(The excellent stone gate image is copied from user "yunner" in Wikipedia.org page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Yellowstone_North_Gate.jpg)