The players – Davis Harwell

The Frontier: The players

Happy release day, everyone! Thrilled that “The Frontier”, my new 3-song EP, is released out into the world for all to hopefully enjoy. You can check it out on iTunes or Amazon Music, and most streaming sites as well. For you filmmakers and video gurus, you can license the music over at The Music Bed! Exciting times!

I wanted to make sure I give credit to the amazing people who made this new music possible. When I look back on how it all came together, I’m really blown away and overwhelmed with gratitude. As discussed in my previous post, music COSTS…and especially in this season of life, every penny counts…so it is really humbling to be able to work with people who give such great care and attention to your music (as well as your budget). Without further adieu, here are the geniuses that made my music so lovely:

Miriam Mayer: violin, viola

Simone Vitucci: cello

Sarah Wilkinson: french horn

Matt Adkins: acoustic guitar

Josef Mirakovits: acoustic guitar engineering

Scott Michael Smith: strings engineering, mixing

Drew Lavyne: mastering

Mary Fortson-Harwell: artwork

The experiment and the process. This EP was always a bit of an experiment, and at times I was very nervous about how it was going to turn out. With our move, my budget for new music was basically cut in half. (I talked a bit about working with the limitations in my last post). I also wanted to use the opportunity to try and start building a bit of a community here in Los Angeles. But where to start? And when every cent counts, it became quite a stressful experience trying to find the right team for this project.

Enter Facebook. Yes, Facebook. I joined a Facebook forum for composers in all stages of their careers (from beginners to Hans Zimmer…yes, THAT Hans Zimmer). I connected with Scott through this forum after he posted offering to give some mix feedback to composers who needed it. We grabbed coffee, talked about my EP and he really helped get the ball rolling. Scott recorded the violin/viola/cello at his house and also mixed the entire EP.

Now to find the players. Again, enter this Facebook forum. Miriam is an administrator of the Facebook group, a prolific film composer, and a wonderful violinist. Through her we were able to figure out that she’d record violin and viola, and recommend a cellist. That cellist happened to be Simone (who you recently heard as a featured soloist on the score for Blade Runner 2049). The sessions went great…we did violin/viola with Miriam one evening, and then cello with Simone the next evening.

For french horns, I turned to Sarah…she’s recorded on several of my previous songs and I’m a huge fan. Fantastic playing and really wonderful to work with. She also played on some Sleeping At Last stuff, so I’m always a bit starstruck when I get to work with her.

At the last minute, I realized that the third song on the record “Sunsets With You” needed a little something extra in the bigger “chorus” sections at the end. Matt and Josef were the answer…they tracked a couple of acoustic guitar takes that are very subtle, and really perfect for the song.

Scott then took all of my stems, and somehow made it all into the wonderful mixes that you hear on the EP. I really can’t believe or describe to you the difference between what I gave him and what he gave back to me…the mixes are perfect.

The glue that ties it all together, and puts the perfect bow on it all, is the mastering. Drew Lavyne for some reason agreed to master it all for me, and he knocked it out of the park.

My lovely and talented wife Mary did the artwork for the album, and it’s so inspiring! The Frontier! Adventure! Let’s do this!

Long story short (if you’re still reading, thank you and I’m sorry)…the team is made up of friends (old and new) who are all completely out of my league, and I’m very grateful. Be sure to give them all some love, and thank you for reading along!

Cheers,

Inside Glow Like Stars in the Midnight Sky

Good Monday morning, everybody!

In this blog I wanted to share a few stories behind the songs on my latest EP “Glow Like Stars In The Midnight Sky“. This record is very special to me, and I’m thrilled that so many of you have written to let me know you’re enjoying the music! Below is a little behind-the-scenes post:

This Will Be Our Reply to Violence: This song was being written at the time of the Sandy Hook school shooting. Such a tragic and despicable act that caused such loss and heartache and sorrow. I believe that aspect comes across in the song, especially in the opening guitar lines. There’s a Leonard Bernstein quote that inspired the track’s title:

“This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.”

I love this quote, because oftentimes when a tragedy occurs I feel paralyzed and helpless. There’s so much I WANT to do for those affected, and usually there’s very little that I can ACTUALLY do. But Bernstein gives us all power in these circumstances. Whether you’re a creative person or not, what the world needs in those moments is a little more beauty, and we can all contribute to that.

Our Broken Pieces Will Fit Together Again: This is also a very special song to me. As you can tell from the title, it’s written with a longing for myself and the world to be whole. I realize that sounds a little “fluffy”, but I love the image of all of us carrying around these pieces to a jigsaw puzzle and it all slowly starts getting put back together. I also love this one because of some of the sounds. The pads/textures you hear in the beginning and throughout were recorded using the Gwinnett Church keyboard rig that I helped put together. The piano that comes in at 1:35 is really washed out with reverb and it reminds me of some of the piano work in Hammock‘s music (a couple of my heroes!). And, of course, in the big section at 3:43 and again at the end is a trombone quartet that I wrote for the song. Basically, it was a lot of fun recording this one!

Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid: Most of the songs on this record have some sort of connection with something bad or wrong happening, and a desire for those things to be corrected. For this song, I just wanted it to be over-the-top hopeful. I loved the song from the very beginning (which doesn’t always happen), but when Matt Adkins tracked guitar for it he took it to a whole new level. It wouldn’t be the same without his amazing guitar work! Along the same lines, Ryan Harvey wrote those amazing drum parts. He tracked drums and then Jacob Arnold tracked and added some pretty ridiculous fills, etc. I’m real happy about all of those things!

Two Hearts Becoming One (for Mary): This song speaks for itself, really. It’s a love song I wrote to my amazing and beautiful wife! We’ve all heard the idea of two people becoming one when they get married (and it’s so true!), and I wanted to try to get that concept down musically. So you’ll notice throughout the whole piece the piano melody alternates between notes (a low one and a high one), dancing around each other. That’s Mary and me! At 1:55 they start speeding up and then you hear them come together at 2:08. The two-note motif continues through the “big” section, and you can hear the real high floaty stuff come back in at 2:41!

So, there’s just a little extra explanation of a few of the songs on the new EP. I hope you’ve been enjoying it! A HUGE THANK YOU to all who made this record possible:

Ryan Harvey: drums

Jacob Arnold: drums

Matt Adkins: guitars

Tim Gibson: bass

Josef Mirakovits: additional engineering

Stephen Bailey: mixing and mastering and magical musical genius

Mary Harwell: album artwork and design

Hope y’all have a wonderful week!

Look At All The Colors: The Players

Happy Labor Day, everyone! Here’s hoping it’s a peaceful and relaxing holiday for you!

The last couple of posts have been stories behind songs on the new record, Look At All The Colors. While I’ve enjoyed sharing those with you all (and more are coming in the near future), I wanted to take a break and recognize the amazingly talented people who gave their time and talent to the record! So, without further adieu:

Joe Thibodeau: Drums and Programming

Elliott Moon: Programming

Matt Adkins: Electric Guitar (Welcome and Bring Me The Horizon)

Matt Melton: Electric Guitar (Look At All The Colors and A Tiny Speck of Light)

Brian Carl: Electric Guitar (At the End of the Sadness, While These Bells Ring, The Passing)

Tim Gibson: Bass Guitar

Davis Harwell: Vocals, Keys, Guitar, Programming, String Arrangements

Jeff Sandstrom: Mixing

Elliott Moon: Mastering

Mary Harwell: Album Photography

Phil Rogers: Art Direction and Design

I love this list of people because it not only represents some of the most talented individuals on the planet, but also very dear friends. I’m so thankful that they worked on this project with me, and I am positive you’ll appreciate their contributions once you hear the record! Hope you have a wonderful Labor Day and a great week! Check back soon for some more really awesome blog posts!

Until next time!