<![CDATA[Katharine Key Music - Home]]>Sun, 06 May 2012 22:14:21 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[what's goin' on?]]>Sun, 06 May 2012 13:07:51 -0800http://www.justkat.com/1/post/2012/05/whats-goin-on.htmlThis article about a re-mix of Marvin Gaye's classic "What's Goin' On?" Caught my eye the other day.


...but that's really just an excuse for me to share some news, since it's been a while since my last post.  

Picture
I traveled to South Africa for work in March & got to meet the Baha'is in Pretoria and sing at their Naw Ruz (Baha'i New Year) celebration.  Here you can see a picture of me with my fan club at the event.  The smoke in the background is from a barbecue (braai), which seems to be the national sport of South Africa.

Since I returned I've given a few house concerts, performed at a regional musician's gathering in West Virginia, presented a workshop about setting the Baha'i Holy Writings to music at the same gathering, and contributed to Holy Day celebrations and devotional gatherings.  If you go to my videos page, you can see some new videos from one of the house concerts.

Also I've been making good progress toward the album.  I got some upright bass tracks for several of the songs, consulted with my producer, and confirmed with a cellist, djembe player, and graphic designer.  Today I got the fab Kelly Snook's A-mazing arrangement of "doubt."  Things are slowly coming together.

So just because I've been silent doesn't mean I have been neglecting my music!

]]><![CDATA[I heart the Fast]]>Thu, 01 Mar 2012 19:45:06 -0800http://www.justkat.com/1/post/2012/03/i-heart-the-fast.html‎"Blessed is the one who through the heat generated by the Fast increaseth his love, and who, with joy and radiance, ariseth to perform worthy deeds."  --Baha'u'llah

Each year from March 2-20, Baha'is worldwide observe the 19-day Fast, in which healthy adults abstain from food and drink between sunrise and sunset.  This is essentially a period of prayer, meditation, and spiritual rejuvenation and cleansing.  The physical fast is a symbol of the spiritual fast, which is cultivating detachment and refraining from selfish desires.

Although it may seem strange, I look forward to the Fast every year.  Every year the Fast brings with it some special  insight or other gift.  I look forward to pressing the reset button on my spiritual life, re-centering myself and chipping away at bad habits.

Here is a video of one of the songs from my upcoming CD, which seems particularly appropriate for this time of year.  I hope you enjoy it.
]]><![CDATA[videos from birthday concert]]>Fri, 24 Feb 2012 22:39:05 -0800http://www.justkat.com/1/post/2012/02/videos-from-birthday-concert.htmlhey, i'm adding videos from my birthday concert!  here's the first one, plexiglass.  the songs from this concert were all acoustic versions of songs that will be on my upcoming cd, "what the fire is."  i'll upload more to the videos page as they get edited.
]]><![CDATA[what happens in the studio?]]>Sun, 25 Dec 2011 19:27:25 -0800http://www.justkat.com/1/post/2011/12/what-happens-in-the-studio.htmlSo I'm back in the studio again, working on my 2nd album. When I talk with my friends about recording, most of them have no idea what is involved.  They think you go into the recording studio with a full band, play the song once through, and you're done.  Well that may happen sometimes with some bands, but it certainly has nothing to do with my recording process.

First of all, I don't have a band.  The songs are built progressively and often go through several arrangements before they are finalized.  Usually I start by recording ("laying down") "scratch tracks" of the basic vocals and guitar or vocals and piano, and the arrangement is built around this.  I might have someone else re-record the guitar or piano part for me.  As the development of the song progresses, we might add or move around sections, change the chords, change the tempo, change the key of the song.

Each track is usually recorded separately.  That means that the producer is playing the scratch tracks or whatever has been recorded by that time through the musician's headphones, and they play their part along to the recording.  The producer/recording engineer often needs to adjust what the musician hears through their headphones in order to help them get a good recording.  Usually there is a "click track" (like a metronome) that helps the musicians keep in time.  Yesterday I was recording a guitar part and was having trouble locking in to the click during certain parts of the song, even though I had been practicing with the metronome.  So my genius producer created an electronic drum part, which he played along with my scratch vocals.  That helped me to stay in the groove and play in time throughout the song.  A good producer knows how to help musicians get a recordable performance if they are having trouble.

After laying down the basic tracks, we might add other instruments, such as bass, drums, other percussion, cello (I am hoping), flute, electronic instruments, etc.  That means that I have to find someone who plays that instrument, arrange for them to come into the studio, explain what I want, maybe give them the chart (written musical outline of the song), and of course pay them.  I might consult with my producer or with other collaborators about what instruments and players might be the best fit for the song and the sound we are trying to create.  I often lean on my producer to explain to the musician what they need to play and how to get the best recording.  I don't know how to play all those other instruments, so I don't know how to explain to them what they need to do.

I don't have to be there when the other instrumentalists are recording their parts.  If it's someone I know and trust, I can just describe for them what I want and leave it to them to create and record the part.  They don't even have to be in the local area.  They can go into a recording studio anywhere (or record at home if they have the capability) and play along to an mp3 of what we have recorded so far, and send me or my producer a digital file containing the track or tracks they have recorded.  This is one of the best parts of the recording process, getting a wonderful present of a new part for a song, and adding it in to the mix.

Sometimes we try something with a song & it isn't really working, so we need to figure out how to change the song to get the sound and feel we are looking for.  On one of my songs I recorded the scratch tracks, and then we decided that it needed to be sped up considerably, so we had to start over.  On another, we recorded vocals, guitar, bass, and drums, but it wasn't sounding right.  I decided to junk the arrangement and start over from scratch.

One thing that's funny when people listen to my recordings is that, since they think you record everything at the same time with a band, they think all the vocal tracks have to be done by different people.  They ask me who is singing with me.  They don't understand that in a single song, I might have 10 different vocal tracks layered together, and I'm singing every one of them.  As I mentioned before, usually we are recording only one track at a time and layering them on top of each other.

When recording a track, it's rare to sing or play it straight through without any mistakes.  Because people will listen to the same recording over and over again, it's important to fix even small glitches and make sure that the musical expression is just right.  There are a number of ways that mistakes can be fixed.  You can re-record one section of a song.  Or you can record several takes and cut and paste sections from the different takes.  In some cases the producer/engineer can actually edit the digital file to move a note so that it is played in time, or even correct the pitch.  It is important to have a producer/recording engineer with a critical ear, so that he/she will have you fix parts of the recording that are problematic.  It is best to fix things on the same day, because otherwise the recording setup might be slightly different and not fit with the track you recorded previously.  There are also variations from day to day in the quality of the voice and the tone of instruments.  

Depending on how difficult and how long the part is, it usually takes me anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours to record a single part, with all the setup, various takes, fixing issues, etc.  So when you are listening to a final recording of a 3-minute song with, say, 4 instruments and lead and backup vocals, remember that the recording alone probably took 6-10 hours, and that's assuming we didn't go through various versions of one or more of the parts.  And sometimes the fewer parts there are in each song, the longer it takes to record each part, since each part is more exposed and therefore there is less tolerance for irregularities in the recording.

Once all the parts are recorded, the producer goes through a process of mixing and editing the tracks.  They will adjust the equalization, add effects that change the quality of the sound, edit out extraneous noises, fix timing and pitch issues, and adjust the balance and placement of the parts. This process can have a big effect on how the music sounds, not just whether it's "good" or "bad," but also whether it sounds big or small, romantic or dry, cheesy and dated or fresh and new.

After the mixing and editing is finalized, there is a process called "mastering," which adjusts the levels of the songs on an album in relation to each other, adds compression, and adjusts the equalization so that the music will sound good whether played on your alarm clock radio or your home stereo.  

A word about $$.  Another misconception people have is that the investment in making a CD is mostly in the cost of making physical copies of the CD and CD cover.  As you now are aware, the process of recording itself is very involved, and every step of the way costs money (unless you are doing everything yourself, in which case it costs time).  The bulk of the cost in making an album is actually in the recording and production, more so than the actual physical manufacturing of a CD.  Some recordings are more simple than others, and some people record themselves rather than working with producers and engineers.  I am not a recording engineer, and I can hear the difference between something I record at home and something I have worked with my producer on, so I prefer to work with a good producer.  And if I want other people to play instrumental parts on my songs, which I often do, I usually have to pay them.  I have been fortunate to work with excellent producers with very reasonable rates and instrumentalists who have charged me less than they fairly should, but it does add up.  As an indie musician, this is all coming out of my own pocket.

So now you hopefully have a better idea of what is going into making my new album.  And maybe you'll understand when you ask me when it will be finished, and I say "I don't know."  And maybe you'll know why I'm so exhausted after a recording session.  And when you hear the final product, you'll have a little better sense of what it took to get those 3 minutes recorded and sounding just right.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed creating it!  What a privilege it is to be able to make music, and to collaborate with other talented musicians on a project that is close to my heart, and then to be able to share it with others around the world. ]]><![CDATA[Meet Dimitri Tishler]]>Thu, 13 Oct 2011 20:29:33 -0800http://www.justkat.com/1/post/2011/10/meet-dimitri-tishler.htmlI have.  By email anyway.  I love that people contact me through this website.  I answer every one of them, except of course, the ones who claim they can raise my search engine ratings, blah blah.

So Dimitri Tishler is a fascinating person.  A Baha'i writer, artist, and composer.  Missing an eye.  (Important?  Poetic?  Irrelevant?)  You should check out his blog and browse around his website.  Why?  Because your interest might be piqued.  And because the arts have the power to penetrate the spirit so much more deeply and directly than simple prose. ]]><![CDATA[The Dream Must Never Die]]>Mon, 22 Aug 2011 19:55:54 -0800http://www.justkat.com/1/post/2011/08/the-dream-must-never-die.htmlI am so excited to share with you that I have an opportunity to contribute to the festivities this week celebrating the unveiling of the new MLK Memorial on the National Mall.  At 5:45 p.m. this Thursday I will be singing an original tribute to MLK by Phil Morrison and Ron Zack at the DC Convention Center Exhibit Hall Stage, Exhibit Hall A.  I also plan to sing "Rose of Love," a song I wrote based on two quotations from the Hidden Words of Baha'u'llah.  It is such a special honor to be a part of these events, even for only a few minutes, and I am thrilled to have been invited to sing this beautiful song.  I hope that you will be able to come and share this historic moment with me.

8/25/2011

Here's a video of the performance:

]]><![CDATA[Atlanta here I come!]]>Sun, 07 Aug 2011 18:40:14 -0800http://www.justkat.com/1/post/2011/08/atlanta-here-i-come.htmlI can't wait to see my Atlanta peeps!  I'll be in town August 13-18.  Check my "shows" page for info on where I'll be playing.  There may be more shows coming!  Go to my contact page if you want to get in touch with me directly about my visit.

I've been in the studio working on my second album, and I'm jazzed to share some of the new material with you! ]]><![CDATA[created noble]]>Thu, 31 Mar 2011 17:10:09 -0800http://www.justkat.com/1/post/2011/03/created-noble.htmlThe other day I was talking with a friend who is in recovery from drug addiction.  In the course of the conversation, he mentioned all kinds of things that had happened to his family and friends, like his sister getting pushed out of a window to her death, and his friends being shot in drug-related skirmishes.  And I thought, so many people don't even know who they really are.  Baha'u'llah tells us that each and every one of us was created noble. What if we all got that as a fact of life?  Really got it? What would we do with our lives if we were truly conscious of our innate nobility?  How would your life be different if you got that about yourself?

Through his recovery process and his study of the Baha'i Faith, my friend is gradually coming to know who he really is and what he is capable of in this life.  My prayer and my work is for more and more people in the world to see this in themselves and act on it.  How are you working to help others to see their own nobility and their capacity?


~
Here's a song sketch that came out of these ruminations.



amnesia

i found my sister
in an old apartment
lying on the floor
beaten to the core

i said sister, do you remember me?
do you even remember you?
don't you know you're the daughter of a king?
why are you here? are you listening?
you're the daughter of a king.

i found my brother
in an old apartment
brandishing his fist
how did it come to this?

i said brother, do you remember me?
do you even remember you?
don't you know your father is a king?
why are you here? are you listening?
your father is a king.

beloved sister, beloved brother,
here's a message from our father
it says, "noble have I created thee
noble have I created thee
...yet thou has abased thyself."

He wants you to
"rise then unto that for which thou wast created."

you don't even know who you are
you were created noble
you've got to know who you are
you are noble, noble

a princess would never put up with this
a prince would never raise his fist
you've got amnesia
you're noble, noble

]]><![CDATA[pure joy]]>Mon, 21 Mar 2011 10:06:11 -0800http://www.justkat.com/1/post/2011/03/pure-joy.htmlBaha'is just concluded a 19-day period of fasting from sunrise to sunset. For me, every year brings a special gift or instructive test. This year my gift has been pure joy. As I was reflecting on why I should receive such a sweet gift, I realized that today is my 15th Baha'i birthday. :-) My Baha'i friends, what has been your gift from the Fast this year?
]]><![CDATA[song in process stage 2]]>Mon, 21 Feb 2011 12:38:31 -0800http://www.justkat.com/1/post/2011/02/song-in-process-stage-2.htmljotting down a few more ideas for this song - will still need reworking, particularly for meter



my past came knocking
with a ridiculous joke
oh, God
if You're laughing with me
i should be laughing too

God, why are you taunting me?
God, are you mocking me?

Rumi says, "Don't grieve.
Anything you lose comes round
In another form."

i wish i knew what that form could be. 
that's the maddening part for me.
oh, God
if You're laughing with me
i should be laughing too

if in every test there's a gift
i can't wait to unwrap this
what on earth could it be?
don't keep it veiled to me

until then it's let go and love
let go and love
let go...and love
nothing else to do
but let go and love

oh God, if You're laughing with me
let me laugh with You

desire is a fire
desire is a fire
let me sink in that deep healing sleep
oh come, my Beloved, and hold me ]]>