Jody Whitesides

Tag: Guitar

  • Touch In The Studio

    Touch In The Studio

    Come in the studio with me as I work with George Leger III at his Utopia Parkway studio to record the final vocals on my upcoming new single “Touch”. Get a sneak peek of what it’s like in the studio and working with a good friend from Canada who helps create some awesome magic.

    Find out who I got one of the guitars used on the song from. Figure out a particular guitar riff I play while waiting for George. Hint, it’s from an amazing guitarist out of Texas.

    Enjoy the video:

    YouTube player
    Transcript:
    We’re in Los Angeles. Taking off in a moment in the car. To get over to the studio. Time to start recording some vocals.
    Ok, here’s the humor. I’ve just rolled up to the parking lot of the studio where I’m recording with George Leger, over here, the third. He’s got sore feet. So, we’re walking in. About to get started with doing some recording and having some fun. Of course I’ve got to have some tea before I start yodeling out of my mouth. [yodel yodel] But it will be an awesome day of having fun in the studio. Enjoy. See you soon.
    Currently we’re working through some issues that George has with playing the mix back, before we get into the concept of me actually opening my mouth and making some more vocals. That are not just demo vocals.
    Bonus points to YouTubers who can figure out where that riff comes from.
    We got the mics all set up and what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna test out this particular setup to make sure it sounds, fucking brilliant. [fucking brilliant].
    Turn back the click on?
    Don’t you love that? That’s George’s dyslexia in action, right there.
    That’s Canadian speak isn’t it?
    Canadian speak, ha ha ha.
    Eh?
    Just for those out in YouTube land. This is a Parker Fly guitar.
    Yes, very nice guitar. Wish I had one actually.
    It was given to me by somebody that is very big in the independent music world. Or at least was at one point in time. He’s now kind of retired. His name is Mr. Derek Sivers.
    Derek Sivers, thank you very much for your contribution to this song. That we’re using with your Parker Fly, that is, well apparently it’s now my Parker Fly.
    We’re doing a little production work at this point. We’ve decided to nix the pre chorus, which you’ve already found out. And we’ve decided to nix some vocals in the chorus there were, uh, filling too many holes. After we do a bit more production work, we’re going to ad some ad libbers. Ad libbies. No? We’re not, we’re not doing any? Oh, cause there’s not enough holes. Not enough room. So much for ad libs.
    You know what they say about ad libs? Fuck ad libs.
    You say you want to try another octave higher. I’m not sure that’ll be overkill, but I’m certainly willing to try.
    Well then, shall I double the other choruses first?
    Ah, no. I’m just going to use this part for all of them.
    No, no, no.
    Yes, yes, yes.
    No, no, no.
    Yes, yes, yes.
    I don’t like cut and paste.
    Dude. I don’t care. This is not really that important.
    It is.
    fuckin prima donnas.
    I don’t feel like a prima donna, but thank you.
    You’re a fucking leo, what are you talking about.
    That doesn’t make me a prima donna.
    Yes it does.
    No, it just makes me king of the jungle. Or my jungle anyway.
    It has been an awesome trip. The vocals are done. It’s time to do the mix. Back to the studio. So long LA, it’s been fun being back. It feels like a slice of home. See ya on the flip side.
  • Fourteenth Song Finalized Is "Things We Left Unsaid"

    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”.

  • Going To GDC SF

    Monday will mark my first journey to an event known as the Game Developers Conference. As a musician making his way in the world, I’ve had an agent for video game work for a little over a year. That has led me to work on several games so far. A wonderful experience. The best way to expand on that network for spreading the music is to go where the business is. Which means I’m going to gdc sf (GDC SF) for the 2012 experience. I can’t wait to find out what I’ll learn and who I’ll meet.

    Already a contact from my NAMM journey earlier this year, I’ve been granted a pass to attend the San Francisco event. Gotta love that. I can sense that it will be a fantastic relationship with a new company. That makes it more exciting already. Knowing that someone is going to be there that I can be introduced to others via. The bigger bonus is one of my reps from SESAC will be there for a few days. Then my agent will be there too. Lots of people to meet. Lots of new relationships to make.

    Two days ago, I was put in touch with another composer out of Salt Lake City, or rather south of there. He’s also working on heading there. Because of that contact, with him (Brady Ellis), I’ve already been hired to work on one of his projects as a guitar player. Good things are afoot even before the event happens. I’ll be playing guitar on nine tracks for Brady.

    I have other music projects I’m putting some finishing touches on. I’ll have to announce them in some different posts as it’s probably not wise to cross my new wires too much in single posts.

    The last bonus is that I’ll get to hang with my sister a little bit during the week. She lives not far from San Francisco. Additionally I’m going to reach out to another recent NAMM contact who works for Sound On Sound.

    It’ll be a fun filled week of games, games, games, and more games. Plus, and I’ve witnessed this as well, I’ve heard that game developers party hard. There’s no doubt some late nights are ahead. More to come in a little over a week when I get back.

    In the meantime. Spend some time listening to my music <- click there. If you’re going to gdc sf (GDC SF), contact me and lets meet up.

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