Michael Lee MusicMichael Lee Music | Michael Lee Music

So Long, Hollywood Sound Recorder

Michael Lee — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:11:01 +0000

I was on a session yesterday at Hollywood Sound Recorder, and it was more than a little bittersweet. If you aren’t familiar with it, Hollywood Sound Recorder is one of the great old A rooms in Los Angeles, right off of Sunset Blvd. Everyone from The Doors to Jackson Browne made records there. I was playing piano on what will be the final album recorded there; at the end of this week, all the gear is being boxed up and moved out, and the owner of the building is turning it into a strip mall.

In one sense, I get it. The studio is sitting on a prime stake of real estate right near Sunset and Vine, and I’m sure the numbers just don’t add up. The income you can churn at a bodega selling cheap souvenirs to sweaty tourists is certainly more than you can generate by making albums these days.

I also know that I’m part of the problem. Even on projects where I have the budget to track rhythm or overdubs in a big room, the turnaround time is usually so short that I can’t. When you have 36 hours to deliver a 5 minute cue, there’s not enough time to write the piece, book the band, track it, mix it, and deliver it. You have to use samples.

So, it was a good session, but hard to see the brutal reality of the new musical economy. A little bit of history fading into the past, and a handful of people on hand to give one last musical benediction.

Steve Connell – So Much Silence All This Noise Is

Michael Lee — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 02:43:13 +0000

We put this piece together with LA-based poet Steve Connell. I’ve loved his work for years, and it was great to get a chance to collaborate creatively with him, and with Zack Mathers over at Frequent Flyer Productions. I built the sound-design piece for the first half, and the music on the back end was written by Corey Witt.

Pioneer Electronics Ad: MixTrax Global

Michael Lee — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 00:25:33 +0000

Got called in last week to do remix audio on a commercial for the new Pioneer Electronics software MixTrax, and found out from the producer this morning that the commercial was picked up for international markets on 3 continents. Check out the commercial. So much fun to work on this one, and excited to see it go big!

Ignorance Breeds Contempt (or, How I Came To Appreciate Dance Music)

Michael Lee — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:40:22 +0000

Like all good musicians of the world, I hold dance music in special contempt. I mean, it’s just looping somebody else’s work with filters and drum samples, right?

Right. Well, the thing is, it’s easy to dismiss something you don’t know anything about. I should know better – how many times have people assumed that what we do is easy just because they don’t have any clue how to do what we do?

So, I’m in the middle of a series of commercials for Pioneer car audio right now, and one of their new products is an automated DJ mix interface called MixTrax. My end of the gig involved creating some remixes of popular dance tracks, beatmatching the transitions, cut samples, all that stuff I assumed was pretty easy. Turn out, not so much.

So, it’s not like this is a new career path for me, but I am walking away from the gig with a new appreciation for what my fellow musicians on the other side of the digital divide do to make your feet move. Viva la Music, in whatever form it takes!

Twin Primes Conjecture

Michael Lee — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:24:32 +0000

I finally received back some audio from the composition I completed for the Robin Cox Ensemble. The piece is built around sets of twin prime number sets. See how many you can find in the score!

Twin Primes Conjecture – Score

Twin Primes Conjecture

Millionaire Matchmaker

Michael Lee — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 19:07:25 +0000

Had a chance to play with some good friends for an on-camera segment on the Bravo Network show, “Millionaire Matchmaker”. Thanks to Rosy Rosenquist, Dana Decker, and Jeff Askew for pulling this one together. The episode aired on August 29th.

O Say Can You See …

Michael Lee — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 17:07:10 +0000

I just finished a commission to write an arrangement of The Star-Spangled Banner for the National Day of Prayer breakfast this next May. The arrangement will be performed by the 100 men of the APU Men’s Chorale, a fantastic group to write for! The demo is rough – it’s all me with the steroid-like assistance of Melodyne. Enjoy!

The Star-Spangled Banner

Download a reference copy of the score:
The Star-Spangled Banner (no-print score)

Rise Up! from Word Music

Michael Lee — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 19:02:06 +0000

At the start of this summer, did a recording session for Word Choral Music that ended up being one of the fastest, bestest, just all-around amazing sessions ever. The final tracks are done, and the project is up online. You can hear clips by clicking here.

The Star-Spangled Banner

Michael Lee — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 17:17:56 +0000

I’ve been commissioned to write an arrangement of The Star-Spangled Banner for the National Day of Prayer, to be performed by an a capella men’s chorus of about 100 guys. It’s challenging to arrange a piece that’s so well know, to find something new and interesting to do with it, but still maintain the power and integrity of the well-known melody and harmonic structure. My solution is to put it in 6/8, do a key-change every 3 bars, and slang up the lyrics. Should be AWESOME!

An unexpected benefit of writing a piece so well known is that I can cheat off the melody a little bit. I’m passing it between parts, not always sticking it in the prominent voicing, playing with it. I think I can get away with that more than usual on this one; in addition to what they hear coming in their ears, ever person in the audience will hear an extra voice in their own head singing the melody. They’ll supply the through-line even if the chordal movement obscures it a bit.

I’ll post it here when I’m done, and we’ll see if I’m right.

Lobe Den Herren (Praise to The Lord)

Michael Lee — Fri, 27 May 2011 19:03:35 +0000

One of the things I love about leading music at a church is the freedom to bring in great players, then write music specifically for them to perform. This Sunday Joy Song Thomson will be joining me on Cello, so I put together an offertory based on the hymnsong “Lobe Den Herren”, know to most of us as “Praise to The Lord”. If you’re interested in using it, please contact me.

Please excuse the quality of the demo – I bounced it directly from Sibelius.

Lobe Den Herren (Praise to The Lord)