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Online Production Workshop
with Kenny Schick – January 19, 2020

Online Music Production Workshop with Kenny Schick of B3PMusic.com for West Coast Songwriters wcs.org – for members and non members!

 

Kenny Schick will be hosting an Online Production Workshop January 19th from 10am-11am. Only 25 spots available so be sure to sign up! Member price is $50, non-member price is $65. Please be sure your membership is current. Join or renew today! 

Kenny Schick Online Production Workshop WCS

I am looking forward to presenting the music Online Production Workshop on January 19th, and I’m excited to be part of the first online workshop for WCS where I’ll join y’all from my studio in Nashville.

Online Production Workshop

This particular workshop came to be in response to a repeated theme during song screenings. That theme was that production really needs to be considered when pitching songs. High quality production is now expected in all arenas of the music industry, and this even includes demos.

We will be picking 3 songs (maybe more if we have time) from demos you send in to discuss in terms of how I would approach them from a production standpoint: a style I’d imagine the song in, instruments and sounds I’d use, composition, arrangement, etc. Even if we don’t choose your song, there is plenty to learn listening to ideas I might apply to the chosen songs, as the concepts I use that are specific to one song also contain general principles I apply to any song I am working on.

I hope to give you ideas that you can use to better plan end results of your songs as you begin to write them—a mindset of imagining what a song can become, not just what it is in terms of lyrics and chords.

SIGN UP TO WCS OR RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP

SIGN UP HERE:
https://www.westcoastsongwriters.org/store

JOIN OR RENEW HERE:

https://www.westcoastsongwriters.org/become-a-member

 

About KENNY SCHICK

Kenny Schick is a Producer, Recording/Mixing Engineer, Multi-Instrumentalist, Singer Songwriter
& Photographer – Nashville & Bay Area – B3Pmusic.com Kenny specializes in helping solo artists
& singer songwriters create, develop & record fully produced and mastered songs.

Kenny has had decades of recording experience and mastered many instruments. He has a unique and custom approach to every song and works with all types of artists world wide. He writes/produces music for tv & film, and performs live and as a session musician for many well known national and international projects. Kenny has written/produced 5 solo albums, produced 3 albums (latest release 2019) with his duo ArtemesiaBlack, and has produced/co-produced and appeared on hundreds of other albums and songs for other artists. Notable artists he has worked with: Bobby McFerrin, Greg Camp of SmashMouth, GC Cameron – Temptations, Hershel Yatovitz (Chris Isaak band), No Doubt, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Primus, Judy Mowat (Bob Marley band) and countless others.

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Love honestly… Kenny Schick ONE

New Single ONE

It was born quickly from an intense flood of emotions that hit me one day in the early spring (last year) just after our first Tennessee winter… poetically, I was walking through a cemetery… how goth of me.

The new single is called ‘One’, and is the first song I wrote here in Nashville. It is the first piece of solo music I’ve released since my 5th album in 2013.

Since starting Basement3Productions back in 2008, and working pretty much 7 days a week for years producing music for others, I was getting plenty of opportunity to create music (be creative), and I am blessed to be able to make a living in this way. It did dawn on me however that I’d learned the process of recording over many decades with one main goal, and that was simply so I could create my own music—it was my private escape from the world to hull up in my studio making anti-mainstream music—lol.

Being here in Nashville around so many artists perhaps reminded me that there is something fulfilling about creating a song from scratch in your own voice. Music has always been more about art and self-expression to me than a commercial endeavor to create product. I suppose there is a cathartic release in realizing an emotion through a creation, be it a song, a photograph, a painting. I missed that… so here we go!

We even went big and did a video! Thank you to Sabine for the filming and Adapted Creations in Australia for the editing!

I’ll be releasing singles for the time being, as all my song ideas right now are very different… I already have another single complete, and it’s totally different! We are concentrating more on videos and our YouTube channel, so please take a few seconds to go SUBSCRIBE to our channel… we’ll be putting out some cool stuff! Also…if you dig this, please SHARE the video with those you think would dig it… the song is also available on all the streaming places, it’s for sale, etc… sharing, buying, liking, subscribing… it all helps us. I hope you enjoy the music!

This song is available to listen or purchase wherever you like to listen to music LINKS BELOW
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/one-…
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/1mhmwZ…
Amazon Music: https://www.amazon.com/One-kenny-schi…
Pandora: https://www.pandora.com/artist/kenny-…
Google Music: https://play.google.com/store/music/a…
Band Camp: https://kennyschick.bandcamp.com/albu…

Our Production Studio B3PMusic.com
Kenny Schick Music KennySchick.com

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Singer Songwriter and Artist Kurt Gundersen

Releases New Album ‘Wake Up and Fly’

Produced by Kenny Schick

WHAT KENNY HAS TO SAY ABOUT KURT

Kurt Gundersen is one of those artists who really makes me love my job—he writes thoughtful cool songs and has a wide open mind for where they can go. Kurt contacted me just by chance on LinkedIn—it was mid September of 2017, and Sabine and I had just decided we were headed to Nashville, so Kurt was one of the last people I booked while still living in California.

We recorded tracks for a few songs, and then I worked on them up until the time we left. Kurt’s initial demos gave me a very acoustic, folky vibe, so that’s what I initially came back with…he liked them, but thought the might be a little too tame…then we talked about his influences more—Tom Petty, Camper Van Beethoven, etc., and I knew then I didn’t have to be conservative in terms of production.  that’s when the fun really started and we both were able to really think of many more possibilities for his songs.

We got the first 2 songs done and then we continued to work after I got to Nashville, passing files back and forth via Dropbox, which is actually mostly how I work. We’d get the basics and feel of the songs dialed in, then on my bi-monthly trips back to California, we’d get into a studio and record his parts. The songs would then be completed and mixed here in my Nashville studio. The process was super fun, and I’m super proud of Kurt and his really great 1st album. I’m really proud of the very cool end product we came up with, and now it’s time for the world to enjoy his great songs!

WHAT KURT HAS TO SAY ABOUT KENNY

Kenny is so awesome to work with! He’s gentle, kind, helpful and supportive. He’s a great musician, singer, and producer and has a ton of creativity and interesting ideas. He can take general ideas I have and run with them. He gets what I mean even if I can’t clearly articulate it – we speak the same language. I think of him as my John, Paul, George, Ringo AND George Martin all rolled into one person! He’s really that talented. No seriously. I can’t say enough about how grateful I am to have found him to help me make music!

MORE ABOUT KURT: https://kurtgundersen.com

MORE ABOUT KENNY SCHICK: https://b3pmusic.com/production-recording

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“How can it have a title when it has so many personalities?”

Photo by Kenny Schick – see more photos

I had the privilege to work on this amazing album by DB Walker and his band, a well known and loved figure in the Bay Area Blues Scene!

Photography by Kenny Schick – Kenny Schick is a Music Producer, engineer, singer songwriter & professional photographer, living in Nashville TN (from the Bay Area CA)  (see more photos here)

It was some time in the early 2000’s when I met David ‘DB’ Walker. I was in the house band for a local Bay Area TV show called ‘Stand Up, It’s Thursday Night’, a comedy sketch/music TV show much like Saturday Night Live. We filmed in front of a live studio audience every Thursday night, first from KRON studios in San Jose, then from UPN studios in San Francisco the following season. 

Upon losing our second guitar player in a fairly short amount of time, we were feeling a bit flustered when our drummer brought along a guitarist he knew named DB Walker. We’d really liked our previous guitarist, so we were not super keen on getting going with yet another new one. DB showed up with his waist long dread locks and a big old massive pedal board…we were intrigued by this character… We started playing and knew quickly we’d finally found the perfect member to round out the band—DB was technically skilled for sure, but more importantly, he was creative and fun with a great sense of adventure musically. Our whole schtick was to take cover songs and play them in unlikely styles, and DB was perfect at helping us down our path of tune-twisting. 

DB was technically skilled for sure, but more importantly, he was creative and fun with a great sense of adventure musically

Photo by Kenny Schick – see more photos

DB Walker, as we came to find out, was also a known figure in the Bay Area blues scene, and I’ve been fortunate enough to be a semi-frequent guest at his shows. Consisting of covers and his really great originals, his sets not only include traditional blues styles and songs, but often float off into all sorts of adventurous directions—it is always super fun to see where he’ll go, and we can find ourselves floating between long atmospheric/psychedelic forays that can lead into a Nine Inch Nails tune, then back to road house blues and other really great blues inspired DB Walker originals.

A few years back now, DB decided it was time to release a new album, and it was to be a whole bunch of his songs—16 as it turns out. The initial idea had been to set up at his home studio, record the basic tracks for all the songs over a couple of weekends, mix the puppy, and be done quickly. It was to be both a digital and vinyl release. DB is a pretty meticulous guy, so the initial plans of moving quickly soon gave way to his perfectionist nature—lots of experimenting with cool overdubs and musical ideas ensued.

DB sent along parts to me as he completed them, and I mixed songs over the next several months. As we got close to completion, new experimental songs came along. The album covers a wide range, starting with a more traditional blues vibe, then moving to spacey psychedelic Pink Floyd-like explorations. 

DB is a pretty meticulous guy, so the initial plans of moving quickly soon gave way to his perfectionist nature—lots of experimenting with cool overdubs and musical ideas ensued.

I finished the mixes and DB had to figure out a few versions of the release due to timing issues that wouldn’t allow all the songs to fit on vinyl in their full versions. This task was finally completed, and the album went off to mastering….the masters came back, but then….radio silence. During the ’silent times,’ I’d relocated from California to Nashville, and just a few months ago, I got a call from DB Walker asking if I’d master the songs—so I mastered, thrilled to hear the amazing songs again, sent the masters back to DB, and waited for instructions in regards to changes or tweaks…I didn’t hear back, and soon I saw his release notice on social media—‘no changes’ was my answer!

http://www.dbwalker.com/

The album is an amazing piece of art—DB Walker’s songs are great, his playing is stellar, and the musicians he plays with are always top notch.

Here are DB’s notes for the album and personnel:
“This Record Album Has No Title” Because its more like 3 records in one. It begins with some driving Blues, then edges more into Classic Rock/Blues, takes a stop in Americana then shifts into pounding Hendrix inspired psychedelia before it floats off into a Post Rock/Pink Floyd haze. 
How can it have a title when it has so many personalities? 

Recorded at Bella Sounds in San Jose
Additional tracking at Basment3Productions Studios 
Mixed at Basement3Productions studios 
All music written by The D.B. Walker Band (Walker, Falzone, Oliver, Kane) (c) 2017 A Wraparound Records Production released November 23, 2018

D.B. Walker: Vocals, Guitar
David Falzone: Bass
Lachlann Kane: Keyboards
Michael Oliver: Drums
Kenny Schick: Producer / Engineering / Mixing / Horns / Guitar / Vocals

Additional Musicians: 
Mumbling Blues; Kenny Schick-Horns 
Wear me down; Kenny Schick-Horns 
Nothings Left; Hershel Yatovitz-Lead Guitar, Kenny Schick-Baritone Guitar, Sabiné Heusler Schick-Background Vocals 
Drive; Kenny Schick, Background Vocals 
A place to rest; Ryan Krage-Drums, Davon Whitehead-Keys 
Coming Down; Sabiné Heusler Schick-Additional voice

Photo by Kenny Schick – see more photos
Photo by Kenny Schick – see more photos

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A year ago today, we arrived in Nashville.

Though we’d talked about it a bit over the last several years, it was actually a pretty spontaneous move—a decision made just a little more than 2 months before our departure.

Photography by Kenny Schick – Kenny Schick is a Music Producer, engineer, singer songwriter & professional photographer, living in Nashville TN (from the Bay Area CA)  (see more photos here)

A stressful year in California and ever rising rent costs in the Bay Area, an exodus of musicians and artists, and a desire to be around people, who like us, make their living creating music in one form or another, all pointed us out of town. Along with an accident that resulted in us replacing our old Honda Civic with 300,000 on it with a newer, bigger car that would actually make it to Tennessee, and our amazing friend Chris who let us store our stuff in an empty building at his new place, we found ourselves in a position to make a big decision to give Nashville a shot.

Since Sabine and I met online in 2006 discussing music on what is now the ghost town called MySpace, our lives have been about big decisions: from my move to Australia after 8 months of emails and phone calls resulted in us falling in love, to her move to the US in 2008  to continue our relationship, to our 2 month drive/tour across the US immediately upon her arrival (interestingly centered around a gig I got at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville), to our deciding to use my decades of experience as a musician/producer to start our own business, Basement 3 Productions.  Sabine has been an essential ingredient in helping me take thoughts and ideas that might otherwise remain in my head and make them reality. As such, she made me realize that making this big move, like most  big moves, was totally doable.

So on December 2nd, 2017, we packed up our car and left California, and on December 5th, we arrived at our first place in South Nashville near Berry Hill. We’d found it online, and the pictures were quite a glamorized version of what we actually moved into—LOL. We stayed there for the terms of our 6 month lease, and we enjoyed the urban meets rural neighborhood, but we made the move to the ‘hip’ part of town, East Nashville, as soon as our lease allowed, upon finding a house with a separate building for our studio.

I’m proud that we were brave enough to just go for it, especially given we are not 20 something, or 30 something…or….. well…. we did it!

 

Everyone asks what I think of Nashville. I have enjoyed that it is indeed music-centric. We’ve seen a ton of amazing music, eaten great food and made wonderful new friends. I am intrigued by the weather – how cold it gets in the winter, and how hot and humid it gets in the summer. I love all the summer wild life—lightning bugs, tons of butterflies and other big flying critters, and plant growth like I’ve never seen—it is literally a giant green house. I adore the summer lightning storms. Unlike California, there is no watering lawns—just fighting them back—there is visual growth within one day. Nonetheless, I still miss the even, mild temperatures of the Bay Area, of course.

I have surely had an adjustment period, all the while keeping super busy with all my fabulous California artists. I am thoroughly enjoying working and creating music in my East Nashville studio and am excited to dig deeper into the scene here. We’ve really enjoyed hosting California artists and our home/studio is always open to out-of-towners as well as locals! I am eager to keep my focus and see what this musical jewel called Nashville has to offer, and equally, what I have to offer Nashville.

We’ve met some amazing musicians here and try to incorporate as many as possible into our work. Sabine and I are immersing ourselves in the culture and the music of Nashville. We are about to release a new album as our Duo ArtemesiaBlack called Gravity – some songs inspired by our new city – and are curious to see what our second year in Music City will bring. All in all, I’m proud that we were brave enough to just go for it, especially given we are not 20 something, or 30 something…or….. well…. we did it! It’s quite an amazing adventure. We are very excited about the artists we will be working with in the coming year!