Micah Taylor

If Jesus was a rock star he sure wouldn’t get put on the radio

Micah — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:49:42 +0000

Welaware played a city picnic recently and man did we melt people’s faces off with summertime rock n’ roll. We hadn’t played in a while, which isn’t always a bad thing. Songs were new again. And since Nate let his 4-year-old daughter pick the set list many of the songs were new again for the first time. But Justin and I straped on out thinking boots (like Matt Marohl) and got to rocking.

The highlight for me was the large turn out of (what I assume are) homeless folks. They were a blast. One guy, with just one tooth, kept raving how great we were. Another guy (a Kenny Rogers look a like) told me I was the best drummer he ever saw… and no, he wasn’t drunk. But my favorite one was a lady (I’ll call her wolf shirt) couldn’t stop dancing and always yelled for more at the end of every song. But the best part about wolfie was she would grab people from the audience and get them to dance with her. At one point she had about 15 high school kids dancing with her and later 5, or so, elderly folks. I’ll admit I was slightly uncomfortable when she started doing Uma-Thurman-like moves in our very close proximity, but all in all it was awesome to have folks generally loving us and our music. I think Welaware has discovered our target audience.

Spring brings pedals

Micah — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:44:41 +0000

Springtime is for lovers and I am in love. Sure with my wife, child, and Creator but now I’m adding guitar pedals to the list. Being a predominantly acoustic player I rarely get a chance to use effect pedals except when I tune my guitar. However, on a Friday afternoon I found myself in the studio and inspired. I am working on a mix for a full band Jonathan Rundman song and he gave me carte blanc to add some tracks. At first I went down my obvious road of mandolin and I got slightly risky with a wierd motorized harmonium thing that a buddy gave me.

But then Jonathan left an email asking me to incorporate “some of those boops and beeps sounds” I got when Welaware backed him up at one of his gigs (at aforementioned gig, I had brought my laptop as Jonathan’s drummer Troy was playing the skins and is a much better drummer than I am). So I began exploring what boops and beeps were needed for the JR the tune. I didn’t have the same plugin I had used before so I dug up some samples and turned to one of the greatest effects pedals ever made… the Line6 DL4.

I started with a turntable scratch sample (which you can hear at the beginning or the upcoming mp3) and ran it through the pedals and ended up with one of the most entrancing things I think I’ve ever created.

Listen for yourself. The first thing you hear is the turntable scratch sample slightly effected then, after a slight pause, you hear the end result.

Record Scratch Line6 effect

Man, I could listen to that cricket-like sound at the end for days. I think I actually get a little sad when it stops. Move over folk I’m headed to trance music.

Free Jonathan Rundman mp3!

Micah — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:49:37 +0000

I’ve been working with Jonathan Rundman updating his mailing delivery list to avoid the treacherous spam filled waters using PHPlist. He was nice enough to ask me to mix a couple of his tunes. The first of which he released as a free download on his site. Go grab it for yourself. And if you haven’t heard his album Public Library then buy it today… seriously it’s one of the few albums my wife and I both love… and that’s saying something.

How music videos should be.

Micah — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:22:10 +0000

I remember being in middle school and dreaming up band names with my good friend Brent. We were both guitar players and could pull out some sweet Skid Row and Motley Crue (sorry no umlaut) licks and I could screech our some glam-rock high pitched vocals whenever the ladies were around.

Eventually our imaginary band (I think we settled on Aqua Net) of course made it onto MTV and our video was grand. Due to the amount of lady-fans we had to take to the trees and perform our latest smash single - Stick To Me - whilst suspended among the California redwoods. AWESOME!

Well MTV has changed, it’s been a long time since the Headbangers Ball and I’m not sure I’d even watch it now anyway. My glam days turned to folk days and my idea of what is cool has (thankfully) changed significantly. Less Poision and White Lion and more Ray LaMontagne and Vigilantes of Love.

Today I stumbled across a video on a design website. I wish I saw on MTV but since it has nothing to do with someone turing sixteen or Flavor-Flav finding a wife I don’t think it will ever make it on “music television”… and that’s not really a bad thing.

This is what I think music videos should look like. Oh and on a side note, this is also a decent study on reverb and how spaces should sound.

Fionn Regan - this guy is new to me but I like him. More good stuff on www.myspace.com/fionnregan

I hacked my camera!

Micah — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 19:32:34 +0000

Okay, I know, I’m a nerd but hear me out. I came across an article on Wired and discovered that I could accomplish the firmware hack with my Canon A630 point-and-shoot camera.

So, what’s so great about that? Well, the long and short of it is that it allows my $200 P&S to perform functions that DSLR cameras (priced at least 2, 3, heck even 10 times as much) can. Such functions as RAW, freakishly long and short exposures, bracketing, etc.

Below are 2 examples. The first was a approximately a 100 second exposure and shot RAW. The second was approximately a 1/10000 of a second exposure which allowed me to stop the rain drops in their tracks.

This will allow me to fight off the DSLR gear lust a little longer… hooray for contentment!

Shakin’ off the dust

Micah — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:53:00 +0000

Well, the hair is growing out and I’m getting my large rear in gear. I’ve updated the site with a new look, started using twitter more often, posting more pictures to flickr, and have even dusted off the bicycle. Well, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.

The haircut

Micah — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 15:45:21 +0000

Yup. I finally did it! After nearly 20 years on having long hair and almost 15 years with a beard, I decided to go the the opposite
extreme on my 33 birthday. It feels liberating!

To catch a couple of questions up front:

Yes, I am donating my hair to Locks of Love.
Yes, I will grow back the beard in a month after I’ve enjoyed the shock value of not having it.
No, I’m not sure if I’ll let my hair grow long again. it’s just getting too thin up there.
No, my 4-month-old son and dog didn’t notice a thing.
Yes, I recorded video. Enjoy!

The video is 20 minutes long so feel free to fast forward. Also, here are some pictures that the wife took.

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The big haircut from Micah Taylor on Vimeo.

Wiggles

Micah — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 20:13:17 +0000

2 months ago my life slowed down. I find myself watching tv shows I could care less about, sitting on the couch, and getting fatter. Why haven’t I used this time to write, play out in support of my album “Build to Suit”, or record anything that makes sound. One word. Wiggles.

He was born on a beauitful August day shortly after the stroke of noon in Saint Paul. And since then my life has revolved around him.

I’ll get back to writing, recording, and playing but right now it’s the wife, me, and him… and that’s just fine by me.

Photoblogin’ and lovin’ it

Micah — Tue, 01 May 2007 15:44:39 +0000

A new page has been added and you can see at least one picture uploaded daily to the site. I’ve been really loving flickr lately and thought I’d share some more pictures.

MT.com Updated

Micah — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 00:20:59 +0000

Hey folks! As promised micahtaylor.com has been given a face lift.

Make sure to check out the News section for more updates and shows.

Also, you can see various pictures from the studio, home, travels and life as well as pictures from the CD Release show.

Speaking of the CD Release show, you can download mp3s on the music page as well as order a copy of “Build to Suit”