Live production and my first release

Music in the ears of summer

Last week, talented members of the Songwriter Circle Heidelberg gathered for a summerfest at Café Leitstelle. Taking advantage of the warm summer evening, we set up a live stage outdoors, where we relaxed in comfy deck chairs while enjoying snacks and drinks.

In true Songwriter Circle style, the event featured a variety of songwriters, each performing 20-minute sets in different styles. I've always been curious about how my songs would feel on stage, so I took this opportunity to experiment.

Naturally, I played a song on the piano. "Feels like Home" is a piece about that one person who helps you stay grounded when life's storms create chaos in your mind. It's a bluesy piano song, and I felt right at home with my piano playing. But more on that later.

Another exciting debut on stage was my Telecaster, paired with a Fender Deluxe Reverb amp. I'd been eager to bring my electric guitar into a live setting to see how it would hold up. I learned I could be bolder with the amp gain, and I absolutely loved the clean Fender sound!

I played a new song (for now, let's call it "Tired Waves") on the electric guitar, despite the recorded version featuring an acoustic guitar and an orchestral track. It worked surprisingly well live. I'm currently in the final production stages for this song, including vocal recordings, mixing, and mastering. However, performing a song live always offers a different experience than studio work, so it was great to get some practice in this setting.

For the last part of my performance, I brought my home studio EDM jams to the stage for the first time. I was really happy with my setup, using a mixer and Launchkey to record and trigger loops. I’m eager to explore more in this genre, especially when combined with physical instruments.

Setup for EDM live jam

Overall, the event was a wonderful reminder of how warm and vibrant the songwriter community in Heidelberg is. Thank you to everyone who came out!

Release The Kraken!

My first release is on its way! Just last week, I hit the button and uploaded my first single to a distribution service.

Finishing a song feels not only exciting but also quite liberating. Before this, I found myself constantly analyzing the track. Does the snare have enough 200Hz? How's the vocal reverb-delay blend? Does it fit in the mix? Should I keep the guitar solo? Do the drums need more saturation? It's easy to get lost in the technical details.

But that's also what I love about music production. There are so many fascinating elements to explore, and each song is a unique experience!

Image from the music video "A Flock of Light"

You can listen to the full song on August 9th. A small teaser, which is also the intro of the song, and a preview of the music video are available on my website.

I’m looking forward to sharing some behind-the-scenes details about the song and video production in a future post.

See you there!