ClickTrack Review Day 7
The Noise. It’s just what it sounds like… NOISE. Explosions, breaking things, loud stuff! Noise. Why? Noise brings energy. You use noises to bring energy. Your hits and breaks will greatly benefit from a subtle EXPLOSION. How? Your DAW most likely has some sound effects. Find one that doesn’t diminish your sound but rather augments your …
ClickTrack Review Day 6
The Vocals. Recording vocals can beef up you sound more than you can imagine! Why? Back in the day we used split tracks. This was a CD that had the vocals on the left channel and the accompaniment on the right channel. The benefit was that you could put a little vocal in and make …
ClickTrack Review Day 5
The Guitars. Recording your guitar tracks can greatly benefit your sound. Why? A few possible reasons to record guitars: You have no live guitar player. You only have some many, but more needs to happen in the song. You want some backups for when your guitarist is sick. How? Using your DAW, either you or …
ClickTrack Review Day 4
The Synths. Synths are ALL your keyboard sounds. Pads, brass, pianos, rhodes, strings… all of it. Why? A few reasons here: You only have so many (if any) keyboard players. One pad will do more for your thickness than 20 guitars. It is the easiest thing to add to your tracks that is tonal and rhythmic. …
ClickTrack Review Day 3
The Helper. The helper is a track that, like the click, is only heard by those with in-ears or headphones. It is a basic vocal track that guides the song. My helper gives every section of the arrangement saying, “Verse 2 3 4…” keeping us right on track. Why? The helper track is all about …
ClickTrack Review Day 2
The Loop. Step two is adding some kind of percussion loop. This is the easiest and next step. The loop is the only thing you can add to the stems that doesn’t lock you into an arrangement. Why? The loop is a natural step to moving to using full-blown tracks. The loop isn’t always necessary, …
ClickTrack Review Day 1
I want to do a quick series to review clicktracks. Everyday, until finished, we will talk about one of the “stems” that I use in my tracks. The Click… or metronome. Why? Using a metronome is beneficial with or without the rest of the stems. It allows you to lock the tempo in and make …
Music I’ve Been Listening To
Thanks to Back to Bass 2011 I’ve been listening to lots of music lately that is outside of my norm. I thought I’d share a small list of artist/albums that I’ve been listening to and LOVING. Jaco Pastorius – Self Titled Return to Forever – Romantic Warrior Michael McDonald – Take it to Heart Victor …
God of the Living
Matt 22:32 “He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living.” # ways I lead worship in a life-giving and exciting way. One of my core values is the worship should be life giving… When we come together and begin to celebrate in worship, it should make a positive impression …
Favorite Things – Spotify
Spotify is one of newest app additions. It runs on Mac OSX. Basically, it’s like Pandora meets iTunes. You can stream free music, but you choose the actual songs. NOT a genre or artist. Complete control of completely free music. It’s really incredible. How am I using it? Well, you know I’m going back to …
Stock Your Kitchen
On Sunday, I will be flying to Atlanta to work with Tony Sutherland on his live recording that we will be recording on Wednesday. This got me thinking about flowing in worship. Tony has got flow… and I like to think I’ve picked it up from him. Because I’m a planner, I like to have …
Favorite Things – Capo App
Capo is a great tool for changing a songs tempo and key. I have used the app for about a year now, and I thought I’d share my major uses for the app. Transcribing Sometimes I just can’t figure something out, and I need to slow it down and listen closely. The tempo adjustment allows …
LegalSounds.com + iTunes
Last week I spoke with you about using LegalSounds.com – which I think is incredible. Today, I’m going to show you my process for managing the files. 1. Create a specific folder for LegalSounds. (mine is in the music folder) 2. Make sure you have the LegalSounds Download Manager. 3. Change the LegalSounds music folder …
Favorite Things: LegalSounds.com
Two words: CHEAP MUSIC. I need music, but we are pretty frugal around the Mayfield house. (We won’t to be free of all debt.) LegalSounds.com (LS) has been a great way for me to freely spend money on music. (I spend about $30/mo… $25 is my budget, but I’m bad!) It’s a fraction of the …
Communicating with Music Ministry
Communication is one of the most important ingredients in a successful music ministry. Let me share a few things that you ought to be communicating to your music ministry/worship team/whatever you call them… Encouragement Let them know when they do a good job. Find more to encourage than you do the correct. I’m pretty meticulous, so …
Vocal Health
My twitter brotha, @DCBrocker, asked me about vocal health a few weeks ago and suggested that I post a blog on the topic… so here it is! Taking Care of Your Voice Learn to not abuse you voice…. Simple things like not over talking with a dry throat, lots of water and shout don’t scream. These …
Review: Interactive Worship Live
InteractiveWorshipLive.com has become one of the secret weapons in my arsenal. Most of our readers come to jasonmayfield.com as a result of the Creating Click Tracks Series. I am a proponent of making your own tracks. However, the life of the church music director can quickly become bogged down with video, media, meetings and an assortment …
Bassist – Janek Gwizdala
Today’s Saturday fun video… Janek Gwizdala is becoming one of my favorite bassist. He plays a Fodera, which is (in my mind) the greatest bass product line in the world. Check out his review of his new Fodera.
Good Songs make Great Songs
Every artist, band and even church has those great songs. For instance, ZZ Top has tons of songs but they’re not all Sharp Dressed Man, Give Me All Your Lovin’ or Tush. Even our hymnals are full of songs, but probably only contain about 15 songs of the How Great Thou Art caliber. (That’s my …
A little Vic
The musician who has influenced me longer than anyone else (other that Michael Jackson) is Victor Wooten. An incredible bass player. Let me share some Victor love with you this morning.
“Embracing the Next Dimension” – Bishop Paul Morton
It’s Music Monday… ah, the taste of cheese! Seriously though, I wanted to take a few moments and give you some thoughts on this incredible recording from Bishop Paul Morton’s church, The Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship. They’ve taken a few great worship songs and infused them with some incredible feel. And, if you know …
Your Google Toolkit | 1
I’ve been inspired to unpack google through the unknown inspiration of my friend and boss Mike Hernandez. He just bought the new google phone. Now, don’t think anything crazy… I know that the iPhone is the superior of all phones created in the universe. However, the google apps are pretty hot. Last night I started …
Gear I Use/Recommend – ClickTracks
I have some odds and ends that I use to make my click tracks and do some other music ministry things. I’m just gonna share what I use and then what I might recommend instead… recommendations will be [in these bracket things]. Project Studio This is where I make my clicktracks… I actually did Freedom Declaration with this stuff …
Running Click Tracks with Logic (pt 1)
Part 1 In this video you will learn how to create a template to execute your click tracks live.