It's Bringing music back to the grassroots
Home of the organicgravymix : 'aural explorer' and total soundbite junky.
Music
insight's
'found audio', various samples and my imagination . All the tracks are created using
a MacPro / Logic Studio and a Kawai mother keyboard .
The Funtony music is 100% 'real' and was all recorded as single 'takes'on 8 tracks ...
in an afternoon at a closed 'Hannahs Bar' in Liverpool ( no repairs , 2 vocal overdubs )
Marcus Bonfanti is the songwriter
: www.myspace.com/marcusbonfantimusic & www.marcusbonfanti.com ,
if you want to find out more about him ..... he's been here before for sure !
Also in the band that day were myself on percussion , Mike 'Ginger' Smith on Sax n Keys
J.J. Rio on Bass and Craig Connet on Kit .. just one afternoon of musical magic .
I have been a musician for ** years , have mostly been a singer & percussionist
in lots of band's some of which were signed some not .. The last band I was signed with
allowed the label ( RCA )to "can my ass" just before a major 58 date European tour ..
So at that point .. I drew a line in the sand and 'retired hurt' from performance
and spent the next 25 years working as a live sound engineer and PA contractor .
( and making some money ! )
About 12 years ago I was assaulted , seriously injured and was 'left for dead' by my assailants ..
4 months after that .. friends of mine , including my 'righthand man' Craig were involved in
a serious road accident which left 4 people dead including Craig and much less importantly
totalled the vast majority of the PA . Suffering from clinical depression and PTSD
( un-surprisingly ) I became a total recluse for the next 8 years .
One day a friend called by and gave me a copy of the Reason software ..
which he thought I may enjoy and if nothing else would be good mental exercise
to get my engineering skills up to speed ... and maybe might give me a Reason to live !
Within a year , I was back out working and became the engineer for a young band called
'The Breakmakers' with whom I worked several major gigs and that re-awoke my career ...
Two of these 'young guns' , Craig Connet and Marcus Bonfanti ran an open mic night
as members of the house band and when they found out I was a conga player asked me
to play percussion with them .. after months of prevarication and self doubt I took myself to the bar ..
had a blast and the end result 7 months later , was the Funtony recording ..
& if I never record anthing ever again I'm happy with it ... and would play it to anyone .
Tim 'tbone' Tapling's Blog
Davey Graham : Acoustic Genius .
and was the most experimental acoustic guitarist
of his generation , passed away .
He travelled the world , steeping himself and his music
with influences from Indian Raga to Sufi grooves ..
his compositions were sprawling ,
musically & spiritually fascinating .
His concerts were ambient & world music years before
the genre was coined, way before synth and keyboard players
even got there ..Davey was already there an aural traveller ,
who w… Continue
Posted on December 16, 2008 at 11:30am — 1 Comment
A new way to soundcheck and the reasons behind it .
who are all friends . the house engineer appears to have decided
that they were a full on ... indie 'rock' band not a semi-acoustic ,
vocal based , folky pop group.
I watched .. with increasing incredulity ..
the whole set up from soundcheck to gig .
He made a series of classic mistakes :
Not helped by Sandi who 'doesn't do soundchecks' ?!
You couldn't define the lyrics or the backing vocals ,
nor her acoustic guitar ...
the piano and… Continue
Posted on November 26, 2008 at 12:00pm —
Review of Martin Stevenson at Debees by myself and DJ Buddha . 30th July : Winsford .
Debees is and proved to be a spot on well organised venue ,
easy to find and easier still to like .
The venue provided a warm atmosphere on a balmy evening
of good company , good beer ( I'm told ) and peerless music !
It was great to put faces to names and dodgy profile pics ,
I'm sure that the Scot's contingent felt , that their journey down
the car park ( M6 ) was well worthwhile ?
What a vibe there was and how deep the spell , Martin Stephenson's music wove .… Continue
Posted on August 1, 2008 at 10:30am — 3 Comments
If it was easy, everyone would be a 'star' !
who posts a blog every day or so on Myspazz .
He's a major player in record production , artist development in the USA and a fine musician .
I thought some of you might find it interesting and his URL's are at the base of the blog .
~
I am not sure how many musicians out there have noticed
that working in the music industry is not easy.
You know, all that practicing, creation of music, then playing it out.
That is the fun stuff, right?… Continue
Posted on July 13, 2008 at 10:30am — 2 Comments
Hints on setting up the mix for live performance(s) .
both as the band and as an engineer .
Experience tells me ...
You simply can't trust .. most .. venue engineers to mix your band ..
they will often have entrenched formulae and idea's about of what the 'venue sound' is ..
and how to acheive it .
And I can tell you ... 90% of the time it most certainly won't get anywhere near to being
'your' ideal sound .. it will be all about ..... 'this is what we do' and making… Continue
Posted on July 3, 2008 at 11:30am — 10 Comments
The Role of the Sound Engineer
Many Artists / Bands , maybe , because they don't know any better ..
Really believe that it doesn't matter what they play or how they perform .
They suffer from the illusion that it's the sound engineers job and responsibility
to read their thoughts and to telepathically understand exactly their overall vision ,
of precisely how they want their music to sound .
It's often because as an Artist / B… Continue
Posted on July 2, 2008 at 11:30am — 2 Comments
Engineering & some Values for Music & Musicians .
the greatest expression of humanity on the planet ,
at its most sublime it can reduce you to tears or create euphoria ,
make you angry or happy , it can express all of the innermost fears
& desires of the human condition .
It can be poetic or ranting and can provide the engine of change for a generation ;
The glory of music is that it respects no boundaries & is a universal language
that transcends & refuses to be dictated to and manipulated by political… Continue
Posted on June 22, 2008 at 4:06pm — 5 Comments
Thinking about running a Gathering ? Then here's some Professional insight !!
A 24Kw system , 4 full time crew , 4 / 6 desks and all the usual toys ( £180K's worth )
I've seen gig organizers demo a thousand ways of 'blowing your brains out' financially .
The number one method of choice is being wildly over ambitious
( e.g. trying to book Eric Clapton for the village fete ) ,
Number 2 / Having a closed mind , being arrogant & rude ,
combined with a poor grip on the technical aspe… Continue
Posted on June 19, 2008 at 6:30pm — 3 Comments
More on sponsorship .. & the realities at the sharp end !
we have what was described in 2007 by ( the ) John Williams as being
"Simply the best and most diverse Guitar Festival on the Planet" ..
Despite that , sponsors are hard to find and only about 10% of the gigs
are funded by individual sponsors .. that's after 20 years !!
Those sponsors are asked which of the gigs in the program they would like to sponsor and host ;
Also they have VIP access and private bar .. and… Continue
Posted on June 19, 2008 at 5:39pm —
AFC the way forward ??
Where next for the AFC ?
It seems sponsorship is a thorny issue for many people and as the AFC
it seems is mainly composed of folks ,who like me , are totally opposed
to the premise that music making is an industry rather an ART FORM ;
Therefore ... In my eyes the whole idea of seeking Corporate sponsorship
is somewhat of an anathema and is diametrically opposed to the aims &
ideals of many AFC "friends" and Artists , who want nothing t… Continue
Posted on June 18, 2008 at 4:09pm — 1 Comment
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Jay.
long time since I've had the chance to surf a few sites and listen to the sounds. I love the tracks you've got on here. Pity I'm not doing my Radio Show any more, cos they're all great and I'd have played them ALL at some point! Mind you I can't say I miss the hassle of doing the Show, so I certainly won't be starting it again! lol
Just listening to 'Latino' as I type this.. WOW!!!! It's sooooo my kind of music! Well Arabian Nights is starting now so I'll just leave it playing as I check my emails. Who does the guitar and keys on your tracks? Tasty!
Right catch ya around sometime.
Peace,
Maria : ))
-Nancy Micciulla
I wrote and performed them.
Thanks anywayz its alright i dont mind being called jenny, its all good dude.
Alan
I had joined the site just a couple days before my new little girl was born and things have been...well...sleepless haha. It has been a lot of fun so far though.
Thank you for welcoming me to the site. :)
I haven't been looking for a deal as I don't have a full band for my original songs yet. I have started putting one together.
Sometimes I need a point in the right direction as I am one of those musicians that doesn't know much about how to go about getting publishing / recording deals.
It's hard enough trying to get gigs at the moment.
I think my music may be too depressing for some venues. lol.
I'll get they tracks posted to you soon. Can't wait to hear what you'll do with them.
All the best.
Jay.
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