2005-07-03 - 8:00 p.m.
Return to RobinFrederick.com
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STRATEGY FOR THE DAY: say goodnight, gracie
I really haven't vanished off the face of the earth. It just feels that way. Sorry to be silent for so long.
I've had a wonderful bunch of songwriting students at Culver City Adult School. They took the basic 4-meeting course and went on to the intermediate level. When we reached the end of that, they wanted to keep on going. I spoke to the school administration and they agreed to add another 4 meetings so we could continue. There are 10 of them in the group with a wide range of songwriting experience but they are all dedicated, mutually supportive, and willing to do whatever it takes. I love 'em.
I have been doing a lot of song screening for various record labels and producers over at Taxi.com. Giving critiques, listening and analyzing what works and what doesn't has made me rethink a couple of songs of my own. I did some remixing and editing over the past couple weeks and am pleased with the changes. New versions of "Feel Your Way" and "Sleeping In Byron's Bed" are posted in the Listening Room at my web site RobinFrederick.com.
I've been taking a few private students. A couple of them have been doing rough demos in my studio. I use Band In A Box for basic tracks in the Country genre; it's easy to create drum and bass tracks. I've been recommending this software in my classes as a good songwriting tool, too. I've started working with it regularly to get myself back up to speed. It's really a kick. The default settings and pre-programmed songs are really cheesy sounding but with some nudging and pushing and kneading, you can do some outstanding things with it. It's cheap - under $100 for the basic software - and has a lot of depth once you start digging into it. (More info is available at http://www.pgmusic.com) A couple of my students have done some great things with Garageband, too. I'm looking forward to checking that out.
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Read A Brief History Of Love Songs by Robin Frederick at the Sound Experience Music web site.
Copyright 2005 Robin Frederick. All rights reserved.