ASCAP & eSession Member Profile: Philip Lindholm

Seattle based Singer/Songwriter, Philip Lindholm is currently using online technologies to affordably create a world-class album on his own.

http://www.myspace.com/singersongwriter

Philip is an ASCAP member and has been a member of eSession since October of 2007 and has been using the site to produce his forthcoming album entitled "The Open Road".

Philip worked with some of our top session musicians and engineers including Kim Carroll on guitars (http://eSession.com/KimCarroll), Eric Bolvin on trumpet (http://eSession.com/EricBolvin) Scott Koziol on Bass (http://www.esession.com/ScottKoziol) and mixing some of the final tracks will be Grammy™ winning engineer, David Thoener (http://www.esession.com/DavidThoener).

While completing his doctorate in Theology at Oxford, Philip has been writing and producing his album for almost 2 years and performs vocals, guitars, piano, harmonica and "anything that creates a frequency" in his Pro Tools home studio. One song includes the subliminal hum of his refrigerator while another has the accidental chime of a grandfather clock at an appropriate moment that somehow fit into the song.

Half of the album was recorded more conventionally at Seattle's London Bridge Studios (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, etc), while the other half was recorded and produced over the internet with the help of eSession. Philip says, “The only way to economically produce an album on your own is to circumvent the hourly rates at a studio whenever possible. We're discovering as the industry evolves, that physical studios have great advantages but also huge limitations. It's a massive production getting everyone together in the studio, setting up gear, getting sounds, taking beer breaks etc. I just don't have time for that anymore. eSession is filling a much needed gap and is geared toward the 21st century musician who is doing everything on their own and working with the strictest of budgets. “

Philip says, “I love giving my tracks to the players and just letting them have creative freedom. I actually prefer working remotely because with eSession, multiple players can be working on any or many songs simultaneously.”

He continues, “The Negotiation System is great because it gets everything out front and avoids the awkwardness of verbally negotiating fees and deadlines. It can be tricky sometimes with these guy's busy schedules, so it’s invaluable to have someone like Marc Rosenberg who can work around the system. He has been infinitely helpful and always available throughout my entire project.”

Marc Rosenberg is eSession’s Director of Operations and is a brilliant musician, technician and one of the most versatile people I have ever known. Not only does he handle the site’s support and development, but also functions as a kind of talent concierge if eMembers need help choosing and contacting specific musicians.

Philip says, “ I’ll always record with a band in the studio because some songs just call for that kind of production. But, other songs beg for one part at a time and for songs like that, eSession is perfect. There’s a breadth of talent and instrumentation available that is unprecedented anywhere on the internet.”

Philip’s plan is to finish his album in the next few months and sell it at local shows while pursuing major distribution and label interest. He says he won't just release the album independently because “an album is worth a hell of a lot more to a record company if you haven't released it yet”.

“The Open Road” is an edgy blend of rock and folk with strong sense of melody and musical and lyrical sophistication. Philip says, “I just tried to stay true to myself and I’m really excited to say that what came out was a sound that I believe will resonate with people.”

Here is an example of a song that Philip created using eSession.com

Thank you Philip!!!

The Digital Songwriter - Article 2

In this day and age of high tech, low budgets and the increasing green consciousness, the internet provides songwriters and artists with an endless array of creative choices. In this article, I’m going to focus on real-time collaboration and how co-writers can work together without leaving their homes.

The basic ingredients you need are a computer, high speed internet connection and a web cam. While you don’t need a home studio to co-write over the internet, there are huge advantages for those who do use some kind of music software such as Garage Band, Pro Tools, Logic, Cubase etc.

The easiest solution to co-write over the internet is to use a free chat application such as Skype, AIM, Yahoo Messenger etc. While these free applications do allow you to connect and work in real-time, the disadvantage is that you are limited to using your web cam’s microphone and your computer speakers. You also have to deal with the delay between two users over the internet. This delay is called Latency and it makes it impossible to play with or sing with someone at the same time. If you just want to bounce ideas back and forth, a free chat app, will work just fine and it’s very convenient to use the text chatting for co-writing lyrics.

The ideal solution for the professional songwriter is an audio/video plug-in called Virtual Glass for those who use some kind of music software. We developed Virtual Glass at eSession.com to allow two people to write, produce and record music over the internet from within their music software. For those who don’t know, a plug-in is a piece of software that plugs into another piece of software. For example, Photoshop has plug-ins that add certain visual effects to photos. All music applications have plug-ins that allow you to add reverbs, delays, compression and even virtual instruments to your songs.

There are two major advantages that Virtual Glass has over the free chat applications. The first advantage is that the instrument you’re playing and/or the music you have recorded in your audio software goes through Virtual Glass directly into your co-writer’s audio software. So, instead of playing your guitar into the web cam’s inferior microphone, you’re sending your co-writer your guitar directly from your music software to theirs. For example, I could be playing guitar in Austin using Pro Tools while my co-writer plays piano in Nashville using Digital Performer. When I hit the spacebar to play my song, he/she hears it from their studio speakers, not their low quality computer speakers.

The other huge advantage is that Virtual Glass allows two people to work in sync. We built the plug-in with Latency Compensation and Rewire Synchronization, so, one user tells Virtual Glass to send sync while the other tells Virtual Glass to receive it. The user who is sending sync can then control the transport and location of both user’s software. For example, my co-writer in Nashville could sit back and play guitar and I could be stopping and starting both of our songs from my computer. I could stop playback if the player makes a mistake and say, “hey, lets take that chorus again” and play from the new location.

The plug-in is designed in 3D to depict a conventional recording studio that has a glass partition between the control room and cutting room. The glass partition in Virtual Glass is the video screen between the two users, so it’s as close to working in the same studio as you can get without the hassle, use of fuel and expense of travel and studio time.

If you’d like a one-on-one training session how to use Virtual Glass, please contact eSession’s Director of Operations, Marc Rosenberg, marc@eSession.com.

Welcome to my blog...

Welcome and thanks for popping by my new Digital Songwriter Blog.

As you may know, the Digital Songwriter is a new workshop series being sponsored by ASCAP and a new column in ASCAP's Playback Magazine.

It's my sincere hope that i can help alleviate any fear or hesitation preventing anyone from creating and recording their own music with today's technology.

I welcome your questions and there are no stupid questions, so please feel free to ask anything.

I will be posting the Playback Magazine articles here as I write them - and you may note that these blog versions have more screenshots and more information than what was printed.

Again, please post any questions or comments here.

Thanks all,

Gina

The Digital Songwriter - Article 1

What happened to the years when I would pack up my Martin acoustic, fly to Nashville and go from writer to writer with my micro cassette in pocket?

And what happened to the years when I would rent a studio and hire the players and we would spend a day recording songs all together in one room?

Well, the industry changed and the budgets dropped and it became no longer feasible for me to keep paying for studio fees, plane tickets, hotels, etc.

I wondered, what if I could get the exact results or better and not spend 1/10th of what I was spending and still create great music? What if I stopped relying on other people and other studios to record my work professionally? What if I invested a small amount of money, for a one time purchase, that would allow me to put together a home studio and start using the Internet to collaborate, produce, hire musicians and even get my work released and licensed?

My curiosity actually became a company called eSession.com that I spent the last three years developing and launching with my partner and Grammy™ winning Producer and Engineer, Kevin Killen and I am proud to say that eSession is now the engine behind ASCAP’s new Collaborator Corner 2.0.

Now with a small home studio and eSession, songwriters can save countless amounts of money and time while creating world-class music without leaving home.

I know that so many of you are intimidated by technology and think you have to be an MIT graduate to set-up a home studio, record your own music and collaborate over the Internet. But I’m here to tell you that it’s not true and if you can put your clothes in a washing machine and know what temperature and cycle to choose, then you are beyond capable of using today’s technology. Didn’t some of your household appliances also look a bit intimidating at one time in your life? Think of digital recording and collaboration as the exact same thing and bite the bullet and just do it. It will change your life and I am not exaggerating.

A small home recording set-up combined with a high speed Internet connection will take your music and your career farther than you could ever imagine.

For those without home studios, I have helped put together hundreds of songwriter studios and my personal advice would be to get a Macbook laptop ($1299) and a Digidesign Pro Tools Personal Studio ($495). This small bundle gives you a great, easy-to-use computer, a Pro Tools interface to record with, the software you need, speakers and a microphone. The only other thing you would need is an external hard drive to record all of your music onto and some headphones. So, for a one-time investment of around $2,000, you could have an incredible, portable studio.

It’s been my personal mission in my career to help songwriters move into the digital age without the intimidation factor of technology. I wrote a book for Peachpit Press called Pro Tools for Musicians and Songwriters that explains how to use all of this stuff without knowing anything at all about computers or recording. I am proud to say that my book just went into it’s 2nd printing and is the #1 selling audio book at Amazon. I don’t mean to be plugging my book, I simply want you guys to know that it is possible to learn this stuff without wanting to take a sledgehammer to the computer.

Lets start slowly just by looking at the new Collaborator Corner 2.0 and I’ll show you how simple it is to find collaborators. In each ASCAP Playback edition, I’ll be running this monthly column and keep teaching you more and more about how to use the Internet to collaborate. I will also be posting these articles online and I’ve created this blog for answering any questions you may have.

So, get in front of your computer and follow these simple instructions:

1. Go to ASCAP.com and you’ll see the eSession Collaborator Corner 2.0 button.

This button takes you to another page that tells you more about eSession.

From this page click on the blue button on the right that says Search for Talent. This takes you to eSession’s talent search engine.
FYI - eSession has over 6000 members and 1000 of those are top session musicians, engineers and producers. We have musicians who record with Sting, John Mayer, Faith Hill, David Bowie, etc etc etc. Let me show you how to find people.

2. In the Search Fields of eSession, choose these Search Parameters:

“I am looking for: Musician”
(Notice the number of Matching Profiles on the Green Button.)

Now choose, “Whose expertise is: Strings”

“Whose instrument or Status is: Cello”

“Who specializes in: Country”

“Who has worked with: Madonna”

“Whose minimum rate is less than: $250.00”

Check “Only Show:”

“Pros with 15 + major label credits”
and also check “Profiles with Audio Samples”

The more you filter your search criteria, the fewer search results you get. This search shows you Stevie Blacke, an incredibly creative and versatile string player and arranger, and a multi-instrumentalist who layers violin, cello and viola from his own studio. You can see that Stevie has worked with everyone from Madonna to Beck to Timbaland.
You should notice from this page that you can Hire Stevie or send any professional eTalent member what we call a Mentor Request that allows you to contact our professional database for industry advice, mentoring or even real-time music lessons.

The eSession Search Engine allows you to search for songwriters, musicians, engineers and producers.

Everyone on eSession is working in their own studios saving you time and money and the site handles all of the communication, negotiation, financial transactions, drag and drop file transfers and even real-time collaboration with our Virtual Glass™ plug-in.
ASCAP members receive 1GB of Song Storage Space and FREE access to our professional talent database which costs regular members $25 per Work Request.

It’s easy to sign-up, just go to eSession.com and click on the Sign-up Free button or the Sign-up link at the top right. You will need your ASCAP member number in order to receive the special discounts.

After you sign-up, you’re taken to the eSession Dashboard. The first thing you’ll want to do is create and edit a profile. There is a large button in the Dashboard called “Tweak Your Profiles”. Click on that to get started.
If you chose a Primary Profile in the Sign-up Form, you will want to click the tiny EDIT button to the right of your profile.

Please post any questions here.