Tag: production

I didn't have an idea for my 2019 holiday song until early November. The catalyst was watching two movies in two days: Joker, and then The Big Short. Both movies focused on the 1% vs the 99%; the have's vs the have-not's. There was also a lot of news at the time about youth climate [...]

This is the fourth year in a row that I’ve written an original holiday song. Previously, the songs were funny or cynical, or took a stab at conventional holiday sentiments like peace and love. Immediately after finishing last year’s song (perhaps the most scathing holiday song of the three) I decided to write my next [...]

I was privileged to work with Ashley Braga on her debut album of children's music, Ladder to the Moon. Ashley is a talented singer-songwriter and music educator with an incredible gift for melody and a beautiful voice. Ashley wrote several original songs for the album, and put her own special twists on classic children's song [...]

I worked closely with electro-pop / dance songwriter Dokter Nomi for another catchy and cool track. Nomi sent me a scratch vocal sung to a beat. I expanded his melody to make it, well, more melodic, and laid down a chord progression on the piano to carry it. While Nomi’s melody suggested a clear I [...]

Beige Shelter had the pleasure of being interviewed on Passion Projects TV. I'm the percussionist, occasional songwriter, and producer for the band. Our host was journalism student Kayla Douglas. We talked about: the band name and where it came from our debut album, Rumours We Make, Paths We Take songwriting and collaborating performing cover songs [...]

I’ve written and recorded a Christmas song for three years in a row – I feel like I’m on a roll. This year, I didn’t have an idea for a new song until I fired up Spotify one day and saw their new Holiday playlists. Front and centre was the 1994 Mariah Carey hit, All [...]

Following news of sexual misconduct allegations against Hollywood heavyweight Harvey Weinstein, many of my female friends posted “#MeToo” on social media. Some of them even shared their own harrowing stories of sexual assault. Their courage and vulnerability really got to me. It’s one thing to hear about famous people who live a world away, but [...]

This week, I had the privilege of once again being the guest on Song Talk Radio, where I talked about my current songwriting and recording project of progressive electro-pop songs. For this project, I'm abiding by three self-imposed creative parameters: I'm not allowed to use the 4/4 time signature All my lyrics are stream of consciousness, [...]

The volumes of your recordings are of utmost importance while you are recording, mixing, and mastering. In other words, it really matters how loud your stuff is. This affects the quality of your finished product and the ease by which you can manage multiple tracks and get the best sonic results. The trouble is, it [...]