Jody Whitesides

Month: January 2013

The NAMM Experience

You might be asking yourself, why the hell hasn’t Jody posted anything about the last four songs?!? It’s a very valid question and my response would be: The NAMM Experience.

In January of each year there’s a rather large convention that happens in Anaheim California (a majority of the time). That convention is known to the outside world as: NAMM. To us musicians it’s known as “The Giant Candy Store.” Meaning it’s like being a kid in the world’s largest candy store of musical gear. It’s a great place to geek out. If you’re into musical gear stuff that is. I am.

The other plus to NAMM is it’s a bit like a huge family reunion. Where many of us who are busy creating music often don’t get to see each other until NAMM. Yikes. My buddy Robert Navarro said in passing this year: “I know a lot of people. But Jody seems to know everyone.” It’s a bit of an overstatement. However it was funny to hear.

Let’s dive in to a little picture recount of some of it.

The pic is from a solo performance by a Doobie Brothers member doing great renditions of their songs in the Taylor Booth.

The show can’t be complete without posing with the BadCat freak of the year.

This is by far the greatest tremolo system ever invented for guitar. I’m not kidding – it’s perfect.

The mandatory badge shot…

For the inner child of mixing engineers everywhere: The Raven by Slate Audio. The coolest touchscreen mixing console.

Wanna know where audio recording is heading? To smaller devices. Namely iOS devices. Apogee is leading the charge with their mobile lines and the new king of that is: The Quartet.

The award for most unique instrument of the show is: The Wheel Harp. I can’t even explain it. But it’s very cool, with a very distinct sound.

Essentially we all hit it. The NAMM wall. Wherein you’re tired and somehow I managed to get a shot where there were relatively few people around. Feet hurt from being walked on for hours on end.

There is the little slice of what has kept me from getting to the rest of the songs. I will be diving right back in extremely soon after I finish up another interim song and a couple of things for some placements. Stay tuned.

Here’s my parting shot:

2013-01-31
Fourteenth Song Finalized Is "Things We Left Unsaid"

Gandolf the White has struck! Apparently the Weather Channel decided to start naming winter snow storms. The humor is, this one hasn’t been all that insane and yet it has a name, Gandolf. I didn’t even get to see the start of the snowing as I was holed up in the den working so I could write this: the fourteenth song finalized is “Things We Left Unsaid”. That’s right, another song into the fire from the frying pan.

This song is one of those songs that underwent a rather strong amount of changes, comparatively speaking. It got a major facelift on the lyrics so that the words were more focused. Especially the Verses. The tone of it changed from a protagonist and antagonist switch in the Verses to simply a one point of view – that really helped the focus. The Pre Chorus then got a rewrite to make that transition work going into the slightly tweaked Chorus. Mostly because the Chorus had to reflect the change coming from the verse. The other change in the Chorus came from a slight rewrite of the title. Coming from “Things Left Unsaid” going to “Things We Left Unsaid”.

Musically speaking, I decided to down-step the song a full two semitones. What brought this part of the rewrite? Well… The Verses stayed the same melodically. The Pre Chorus stayed nearly the same, there was a slight adjustment to the melody and rhythm based on the new words and wanted a better swing into the Chorus. The Chorus ended up getting an entire facelift melodically. The main reason for it was two fold. One, I wanted a way for it to stand out more from the Verses. The original version had some interesting lines but they didn’t stand too far apart from the Verses rhythmically. Now, the melody is fashioned to have a much much stronger hook. Not only rhythmically but also melodically. This is where the key change had to happen for the song. Where I took the Chorus melodically was becoming a tad to straining to sound powerful in a full voice fashion. Thus stepping the song down two semitones put it back into a range that gives the Chorus full power.

The added bonus of bringing the key down of the song is that now the guitar parts sound beefier! That helps the vibe of the groove too. I can’t explain why, but it feels way better now. Thus the fact that people liked it enough before to vote the song into the final round, now it’s become a real contender to make the final cut and be a bonafide hit.

I’m much happier with the overall state of the song. Arrangement-wise the song a way more traditional in it’s situation. However, I think once in the studio it will get a little extra window dressing. Though that comes down to how it’s reflecting once it’s finally re-recorded.

To close out for this update, I’d like to happily send you on a merry way – hopefully you’ll be one of the people to enjoy the snow, especially if you’re headed to Sundance! Until the next update (coming soon) be in-the-know that the fourteenth song to get finalized is “Things We Left Unsaid”.

2013-01-11
Thirteenth Song Finalized Is "Jupiter Bowl"

Cue the twilight zone theme… Cause if you’re superstitious, then today is the kind of announcement you might not want to hear. However, I am not superstitious. Thus I’m A. O.K. with writing that the thirteenth song finalized is “Jupiter Bowl”.

The song is my first co-write with a musician by the name of Mark Luna. An absolutely fantastic singer and amazing writer. When we first met and chatted on the phone Mark wanted to hear some of my music before agreeing to pen a song with me. After hearing some of my original work his response was: “We could do some serious musical damage together.” That phrase sticks with me. What a compliment coming from such a talent like him.

Jupiter Bowl is not about the planet. Nor is it about a bowling alley. No. It’s about the place located atop the Park City Ski Resort.

The goal in writing the song was to capture the vibe of Jupiter in the summer. The off-season. What strikes me about this song is that Mark and I discussed every detail in the lyrics, the tempo, and the concept of the arrangement. Way more so than any other co-write I’ve ever done. It was magical. Much like my early memories of hiking up to Jupiter Bowl.

For the most part I’m sticking pretty strong to the original demo version we did. It’s so powerful despite it’s lazy acoustic nature. Then again, isn’t that what nature is? Powerful with such beauty. Again it’s another song that I can’t wait to fully realize in the studio with a group of players. Anticipation is the word!

One funny thing I can think of right now, is there there is going to be that “What the hell did he sing?” type of thing that will happen with this song. Much Like “Blinded By The Light” where people think it’s saying wrapped up like a douche, when it’s actually deuce. I know this because a couple of peeps have already said it. While I understand where they’re coming from – I do believe it’s going to be alright and I’m going to let it slide. Create the controversy!

Rounding out the beginning of the teens is the thirteenth song finalized, “Jupiter Bowl”. Until tomorrow or the next day – Stay tuned.

2013-01-09

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