Check out The Wrecking Crew.
Monday, October 29, 2012
The Wrecking Crew - The Lonely Bull - Herb Alpert
This was a track recorded by the Wrecking Crew by Herb Alpert. When he did the session at Conway Recorders in Hollywood (where I record "Turn To You" with Justin Bieber) 50 years ago on this date, he didn't have a lot of money he paid the sessions musicians $15 each. A few months later when the song had become a big hit, Herb went to the union and paid the fines and paid the musicians full union wages.
Check out The Wrecking Crew.
Check out The Wrecking Crew.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Saturday, October 20, 2012
A Session From a Couple of Years Ago
For the Chilean artist Carlos Grilli...
I played all the guitars on this record.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Cool Site - Indie and Unsigned
Indie and Unsigned
Cool site to help you about the industry. Categories like - Gigging, How To, Interviews, Musician's Tools, Polls, Recording, Royalties and Survival.
Cool site to help you about the industry. Categories like - Gigging, How To, Interviews, Musician's Tools, Polls, Recording, Royalties and Survival.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Twitter as Tool
When Twitter came about I was like, "oh, great the next Myspace/Facebook/Linkedin... can't wait to sign up."
My Twitter.
Then I notice how much time all the record industry people spent on it. In the studio engineers, producers, artists, musicians were all "Tweeting" each other throughout the session. One inside joke after another for all the world to see. I didn't really feel like I was missing any fun, but because I wasn't on Twitter I wasn't able to be tagged as working with any of these amazing people. I was "connected" so to speak, but not so as anyone would know.
So I signed up. It was mildly entertaining to tell people that I was going to the store to get unsalted peanuts. And by "people" I mean my son and a couple people from church. I had less than 100 followers much less.
Being followed is half the equation. Following is the other part. When you follow someone; a friend, Beyonce, Barack Obama or even Fender Guitars, what ever they post appears on your tweet feed. In real time. But you can also go to their tweet list and see all of their tweets, retweets (tweeting someone else's tweet), instagram photos, links, etc. It's kind of like high tech stalking. Want to know what that big producer is up to? Follow him. It's legal. In fact he wants you to.
As you work with people, you follow them and they follow you. Remember to tweet them. Keep it fun. Upbeat. I avoid negativity and politics as a rule.
When Justin Bieber followed me I suddenly got 1200 followers in a 24 hour period. Then later that day I got called in to work with him on another song. It's turned out to be a pretty good tool to stay in touch with people I work with and want to work with.
You can check and see who some producers follow, maybe some up-and-comers, follow them, if they are artists check out their music. Comment on it. Remember be positive. A big time manager I know followed these producers in NYC and so I followed them too. Forgot about it for a while and one of their tweets appeared on my feed and retweeted and then they followed me. Soon we were working together. Me in LA, while they were in London. We've written several songs together.
It still remains to be seen if twitter is a good tool or not. But I think it just might be.
My Twitter.
Then I notice how much time all the record industry people spent on it. In the studio engineers, producers, artists, musicians were all "Tweeting" each other throughout the session. One inside joke after another for all the world to see. I didn't really feel like I was missing any fun, but because I wasn't on Twitter I wasn't able to be tagged as working with any of these amazing people. I was "connected" so to speak, but not so as anyone would know.
So I signed up. It was mildly entertaining to tell people that I was going to the store to get unsalted peanuts. And by "people" I mean my son and a couple people from church. I had less than 100 followers much less.
Being followed is half the equation. Following is the other part. When you follow someone; a friend, Beyonce, Barack Obama or even Fender Guitars, what ever they post appears on your tweet feed. In real time. But you can also go to their tweet list and see all of their tweets, retweets (tweeting someone else's tweet), instagram photos, links, etc. It's kind of like high tech stalking. Want to know what that big producer is up to? Follow him. It's legal. In fact he wants you to.
As you work with people, you follow them and they follow you. Remember to tweet them. Keep it fun. Upbeat. I avoid negativity and politics as a rule.
When Justin Bieber followed me I suddenly got 1200 followers in a 24 hour period. Then later that day I got called in to work with him on another song. It's turned out to be a pretty good tool to stay in touch with people I work with and want to work with.
You can check and see who some producers follow, maybe some up-and-comers, follow them, if they are artists check out their music. Comment on it. Remember be positive. A big time manager I know followed these producers in NYC and so I followed them too. Forgot about it for a while and one of their tweets appeared on my feed and retweeted and then they followed me. Soon we were working together. Me in LA, while they were in London. We've written several songs together.
It still remains to be seen if twitter is a good tool or not. But I think it just might be.
Friday, September 28, 2012
Stay put...
Want to get hit in paintball? Don't move.
What to get busier in the music business? Also don't move.
OK, first move to where you want to be in the biz.
Love Steve Gadd. Don't mind the cold. Have lot's of savings. Happy to use studio amps and sometime studio guitars. Maybe New York is for you.
Love Jeff Porcaro. Don't want to worry about a heat bill. Have some savings. Prefer to use your own gear. Maybe LA is for you.
Love Floyd Cramer. Don't mind developing a southern accent. Have a savings account. Have country chops. Maybe Nashville is for you.
Other towns that tend attract the best and brightest musicians, artists, writers and producers...
Atlanta - Big urban scene.
Miami - Big Latim Music scene.
Austin - Alt. Country and blues.
Chicago - Blues, rock and urban.
Seattle - Rock and arty.
Detroit - Motown.
Boston - Jazz and rock.
These are all generalities. I only really know anything about the LA scene. Do your own research. Having family and/or connections in your final destination doesn't hurt.
Check out the city or cities. Drive/fly there. You're more likely to make the move if you commit to a visit. Once I turned 21 I flew from Indianapolis to LA and stayed with friends of friends in Riverside. Not very close to LA. The reason I waited until I was 21 was so I could go to all the clubs, like the Baked Potato, and see/meet some amazing musicians. Spent an hour talking to Russell Ferrante, met and took a lesson with Carl Verheyen, saw Abraham Laborial, Richard Elliot, among others.
Find an area that you could live in long term. Visualize maybe marriage and kids. Still want to live there? You can always move, it's not a hard and fast rule, but every time you do it tends to cost you money and connections. Also when you stay put you tend to learn your way around. The shortcuts. The good deals. The best eateries.
Now that you've chosen your new home. Get a number. I originally had a 213 number when I moved to LA. Then it became 818. Then 626. Once cell phones came about I stuck with 626. It's Pasadena, where I am, and many points East. However, if I wanted to get producers, etc to think I was in the Record Capital of the World I could've gone with 213. 818 or 323. That's LA (Hollywood), the Valley and the Westside respectively. So chose your prefix carefully if you chose to change your number at all and then stick with it.
Also pick up a map of your chosen city and put it on your wall. Learn it. I did this before moving. Cities I'd never been to, Burbank, Pasadena, Malibu, Santa Monica, sounded familiar and I knew where they were.
We've been in the same place for 25(!) years and we love the area. Our kids were raised here. It's felt like home for a long time.
What to get busier in the music business? Also don't move.
OK, first move to where you want to be in the biz.
Love Steve Gadd. Don't mind the cold. Have lot's of savings. Happy to use studio amps and sometime studio guitars. Maybe New York is for you.
Love Jeff Porcaro. Don't want to worry about a heat bill. Have some savings. Prefer to use your own gear. Maybe LA is for you.
Love Floyd Cramer. Don't mind developing a southern accent. Have a savings account. Have country chops. Maybe Nashville is for you.
Other towns that tend attract the best and brightest musicians, artists, writers and producers...
Atlanta - Big urban scene.
Miami - Big Latim Music scene.
Austin - Alt. Country and blues.
Chicago - Blues, rock and urban.
Seattle - Rock and arty.
Detroit - Motown.
Boston - Jazz and rock.
These are all generalities. I only really know anything about the LA scene. Do your own research. Having family and/or connections in your final destination doesn't hurt.
Check out the city or cities. Drive/fly there. You're more likely to make the move if you commit to a visit. Once I turned 21 I flew from Indianapolis to LA and stayed with friends of friends in Riverside. Not very close to LA. The reason I waited until I was 21 was so I could go to all the clubs, like the Baked Potato, and see/meet some amazing musicians. Spent an hour talking to Russell Ferrante, met and took a lesson with Carl Verheyen, saw Abraham Laborial, Richard Elliot, among others.
Find an area that you could live in long term. Visualize maybe marriage and kids. Still want to live there? You can always move, it's not a hard and fast rule, but every time you do it tends to cost you money and connections. Also when you stay put you tend to learn your way around. The shortcuts. The good deals. The best eateries.
Now that you've chosen your new home. Get a number. I originally had a 213 number when I moved to LA. Then it became 818. Then 626. Once cell phones came about I stuck with 626. It's Pasadena, where I am, and many points East. However, if I wanted to get producers, etc to think I was in the Record Capital of the World I could've gone with 213. 818 or 323. That's LA (Hollywood), the Valley and the Westside respectively. So chose your prefix carefully if you chose to change your number at all and then stick with it.
Also pick up a map of your chosen city and put it on your wall. Learn it. I did this before moving. Cities I'd never been to, Burbank, Pasadena, Malibu, Santa Monica, sounded familiar and I knew where they were.
We've been in the same place for 25(!) years and we love the area. Our kids were raised here. It's felt like home for a long time.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
A Recent Session
I did this one last week. It was fun to get the Beatle bass out, as well as the Epi Casino and my ol Gibson Folksinger to try to replicate the sounds and parts of the original.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Keep Your IMDB Up To Date
See mine here...
Tom Strahle's IMDB Page
Notice I don't just have music credits (scroll to the bottom of the page)
Tom Strahle's IMDB Page
Notice I don't just have music credits (scroll to the bottom of the page)
Monday, September 24, 2012
Here's a song I played on last year for the great singer from Ecuador Paulina Aguirre.
I played my 70's Martin D-35 and my Fender Strat through a Keeley compressor to get that slippery sound on the fills. Also did some Edge type dotted eighth delay at one point.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Electric Grooves Lesson 1
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