The group Miike Snow (don’t be confused by the singular name that represents the entire group) dazzled at Granada Theater on Monday, June 7, 2010. I was blown away at the energy of the crowd. It felt like a giant dance party. Here’s some video I shot at the event. Shot on a Canon 7D with standard kit zoom lens. Audio recorded using a Zoom H2.

Here’s some initial footage and photos from my work (with Nico) on a music documentary on The King Bucks. I’m excited to work on this project, and I look forward to when we can have enough footage and other materials together to make a story.

I’m helping Nico with a music documentary project. I’m not sure where it’s heading, but I’m sure we will come up with some great material in the end.

Here’s some audio I recorded last night. This is The King Bucks covering Buck Owens (right click, save as to download).

And here’s a snippet of video.

Art Conspiracy was neat. This was my first year to attend, and I was blown away at how many people contributed and how fun this event was. This even gets a strong recommendation from me!

Here’s my first piece made with my new Canon 7D. Audio recorded with a Zoom H2.

Lessons Learned:

• Recording live audio in a warehouse is difficult. Don’t move around because the location change picks up on the recording
• Stabilization is important. Waiting on help from Santa for some reinforcements
• Shooting with a DSLR is a little bit easier than the Canon HF10
• Don’t buy memory for your camera from an overseas vendor. It’s harder to return if you get a crappy dud (shame on you, flahsmemorymall and SanDisk!)
• Zoom H2 doesn’t play nice with final cut. Conversion to AAC format required

Imogen Heap’s concert bordered near-magic status last night. Even though she played to a sold-out crowd at the Granada Theater, her performance was peppered with moments of direct address that helped her achieve a playful, friendly level of intimacy with the audience. Her setup was incredible, and her backing band provided extra “mmph” to her performance. I was amazed to see her mic setup. From what I could see, she had at least three lavalier mic kits on: one for her vocals and two mounted on wrist bands. These wrist mics here helpful for when she played other instruments; they picked up sound directly from the instrument itself.

I included one of the crappy iPhone photos I took at the show. After reading the tour’s camera policy, I decided against taking my nicer camera. In my opinion, artists should be open and welcome to any and all publicity from amateur photographers and video makers.

Here’s a recording I made on my phone. I used the voice memo application, and then pieced the bits together in GarageBand and plopped it in to one file.

Imogen Heap: The Moment I Said It (Live @ Granada Theater, Dallas, TX, November 17, 2009)

This was the last song she did in her encore… you will notice some funky beer bottle noise and talkin’… I was in the back. Yeah, like right next to a trash can.

UPDATE: here’s a nice video from @Got80s of her song “Just for Now” from the Granada show.

So tonight was the guys night hall pass! And my best bud Bill and I put together Eric Clapton’s arrangement (we think) of “Key To The Highway.” So here’s to Friday night!

Guitar: Bill Sinclair
Vocal: Ben Smithson

Download it now!

Key To The Highway (mp3)

Oh Mary Don’t You Weep

Performed by Ben Smithson & Bill Sinclair

Sunday April 26, 2009 at Saint Andrews Christian Church – Carrollton, TX
Recorded on Canon Vixia Hf10 mini shoe-mounted shotgun mic.
Special thanks to Bill Sinclair for accompaniment and vocals help.

Hallelujah (arr. Reeltime Travelers)

Performed by Ben Smithson & Bill Sinclair

Sunday April 26, 2009 at Saint Andrews Christian Church – Carrollton, TX
Recorded on Canon Vixia Hf10 mini shoe-mounted shotgun mic.
Special thanks to Bill Sinclair for accompaniment and vocals help.
(My mic on the sound system was turned off for the first part — oops!)

Listen: Hallelujah

I made some play time for me tonight. It’s my first GarageBand project.

So I sat down with my new mic, cobbled together some chords – a la blues style – and threw some lyrics on it. Total time – from blank page, to lyrics, to guitar chords, to recording, to mix down: 1 hour.

It’s 1-minute something… just testing out the mic I bought. Turn them speakers up. I didn’t mess with levels much.

Listen: Runnin’ All Over This Town

This is a rough edit of a 5-minute (ish) video project for Dean Terry’s video production class at the University of Texas at Dallas.

http://www.neelryantucker.com/

Featured: Neel Ryan Tucker describes his passion, projects, and the obstacles of trying to make it as a photographer.

Shot on Canon Vixia HF10. Audio recorded with camera-mounted shotgun mic and with Sennheiser G2 Evolution wireless lav. Edited with Final Cut Express.