Cotton Hill Recording Event

Join us March 14 and 16 for a two-part discussion and demonstration on recording in a professional studio. The Coalition has partnered with Cotton Hill Studios in Albany to put on this unique look into the recording process.

Part One: Discussion

Date: Thursday, March 14

Time: 7:00 pm

Place: Fuzz Records, 209 Lark St, Albany, NY (map)

Ray Rettig and Aaron Scher from Cotton Hill Studios will discuss topics including how to prepare for a studio session, what to expect from a professional studio and the post-production process, with time allotted for questions and answers.

Part Two: Demonstration

Date: Saturday, March 16

Time: 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm

Place: Cotton Hill Studios, 13 Walker Way, Albany, NY (map)

Participants are invited to experience the studio and take part in a more in-depth discussion and demonstration of recording. Rettig and Scher will be joined by local musicians Tom McWatters and Bob Buckley for the demonstration. Due to space constraints, participation in this portion of the event will be very limited. Attendance is free but registration is required. To join us for this session, please fill out the form below:

Registration for this event is closed.

Hope to see you there!

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admin, February 28th 2013 | Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Coalition News, Education, Events

RPM Challenge Kick-Off Party @ Pauly’s Hotel on February 1st!!!

 

Event: 2013 RPM Challenge Kick-Off

Date: Friday, February 1

Time: 8:00 p.m.

Place: Pauly’s Hotel, 337 Central Avenue, Albany, NY 12206

Ages: 21+

 

 

 

 

Bring your voices and instruments and join the Albany Music Coalition for an evening of collaborative, participatory sound as we all come together on February 1 to guarantee RPM success. The evening’s work will be recorded and made available online shortly after the event.
After the recorded portion of the evening, stay to enjoy a performance by Oobleck, a five-piece funk-based instrumental horn band! Other special guests may be announced in coming days.

You can find more information about the RPM Challenge at www.rpmchallenge.com.

This event will be free and open to the public (ages 21+).

 

Check out the facebook event to find out who’s going!

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The RPM Challenge is a national project sponsored by The Wire Magazine that invites musicians to record an album during the month of February each year. The Challenge is a fun, non-competitive creative experience that many area musicians have participated in over the years.

Some participants say the best approach to the RPM Challenge is to record an album’s worth of just about anything on Day 1, to alleviate the pressure to produce and guarantee that, by the end of February, you will have “successfully completed” the Challenge. You will then be liberated to transcend the anxiety related to mere completion, and fully prepared to receive the sublime influence of genuine inspiration (or, at least, free to move on to the anxiety related to putting out a satisfactory performance in 28 days’ time).

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Katie, January 23rd 2013 | Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Coalition News, Events

Deciphering Songs “Instrumentals First”

 

Thursday August 23rd at 6:30pm at Fuzz Records!

 

 

That’s right! We have three talented local musicians joining us at the Albany Music Coalition’s Deciphering Songs series on Thursday  August 23rd at 6:30pm at Fuzz Records.

You will have a chance to hear from Tim Koch of Sgt. Dunbar and The Hobo Banned, Chris Tenerowicz of Aficionado, and newly added Matt Ferguson of Goldtooth. We will be discussing “Instrumentals First.” The act of writing music in a band setting and with instrumentals in mind over lyrics.

See you all there!

 

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Katie, August 19th 2012 | Posted in Events, Series

Deciphering Songs Part 1: Lyrics First — Recap

Full house!

Full house for the first installment of the Deciphering Songs discussion series!

On August 2, the Albany Music Coalition held its first discussion event at Fuzz Records on Lark Street, with a full house for a lively conversation about the process of writing lyrics and putting them to music.  The first installment of the “Deciphering Songs” discussion series focused on “Lyrics First” and featured panelists Eric Margan of the Red Lions and Eric Krans and Jen O’Connor of The Parlor.  Albany Music Coalition co-founder (and musician and songwriter) Katie Hammon moderated the panel.

Eric, Eric and Jen started off by discussing their personal experiences with songwriting and how their approaches have developed over time, and eased into what became a more informal conversation with the audience, who also had many thoughtful questions and contributions.  In addition to sharing their thoughts on technical issues like song structure, the panelists were also incredibly candid about their writing processes, capturing and maintaining the emotion that inspired a song, their successful and less-successful experiences and their approaches to revision and collaboration.  They also touched on miscellaneous issues including concept albums, the RPM Challenge, and even their preferences for writing on a computer versus longhand — with Eric Margan saying that he might reconsider his tendency to draft lyrics electronically after hearing about Jen and Eric’s commitment to pen and paper, with what they described as hundreds of notebooks and single sheets of lyrics populating their home.

The panelists also provided some of their lyrics as examples in handouts for the audience, and discussed their development and meaning in detail. Jen and Eric’s discussion of their song “O Albany We Hope” took the audience on a sometimes emotional journey through their personal lives and their travels, and made for some memorable moments.

The Coalition is so grateful to Eric, Eric and Jen for being so extraordinarily generous with the time and energy they put into the discussion, and the great audience participation really made the event a success.  We received some thoughtful feedback and we’re already working to make the next workshop even better — the next discussion, “Instrumentals First,” will take place on August 23, again at Fuzz Records (the awesome new record shop on Lark Street, which has been kind enough to host the entire series).

Thank you, Fuzz Records!

Thanks again to Fuzz Records for hosting the series!

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Andria, August 4th 2012 | Posted in Events, Series, Uncategorized

Deciphering Songs

3 Comments

Katie, July 25th 2012 | Posted in Events, Series, Uncategorized

We Are Launched!

Michael Eck by Sebastien Barre

Michael Eck performing at the Launch Party, by Sebastien Barre

Many thanks to all those who came out last Friday to help us inaugurate the Albany Music Coalition! The show was a great success, a load of fun, and a great opportunity to chat with some more members of the community about our goals and how everyone can get involved.

A few specific thanks are in order. First and foremost, thank you so much to Matthew Carefully, Michael Eck, and Tom McWatters and the Philo Beddoe Band for performing. They have all been involved, to varying degrees, with the Coalition during our establishment and preparations for launch, and we are deeply appreciative of all their support.

Matthew Carefully by Sebastien Barre

Matthew Carefully performing at the Launch Party, by Sebastien Barre

Also, a great deal of thanks must go to Howard Glassman, who has been in on the planning of the Coalition literally since the moment we had the idea for it, and who has been endlessly accommodating, and to the amazing staff at Valentine’s who kept everything running smoothly. And last but not least, thanks to WEXT for co-sponsoring the event.

If you were at the show, and took pictures, we would love to see them! Add them to our brand-shining-new Flickr Group, Facebook, or send us a link to where we can find them.

Tom McWatters by Sebastien Barre

Tom McWatters and Scott Smith, by Sebastien Barre

So, what next? There is of course no rest for the weary — we are hard at work on launching a series of events for this summer, which we hope to be announcing soon. As always, you can remain informed about our activities and learn how to become involved by signing up for our mailing list. You’ll find the form to the right of this post, or by clicking here.

All photos in this post by Sebastien Barre. Check out his blog here.

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Harith, April 17th 2012 | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Coalition News, Events

TONIGHT!!

The Albany Music Coalition Launch Party is TONIGHT!!

Co-sponsored by EXIT 97.7 WEXT

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7:30 PM - Seven Dollars

Valentines Upstairs (17 New Scotland Ave. Albany NY 12208)

Come prepared to hear some wonderful local musicians 

MATTHEW CAREFULLY / MICHAEL ECK / TOM MCWATTERS and the PHILO BEDDOE BAND

________________________________________________________________________

Many Thanks to EXIT 97.7 WEXT

 

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Katie, April 13th 2012 | Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Events

Launch Party Set for April 13

Launch Party Flier

We’ve been working hard for the last few months to get the Coalition ready to go, so we’re anxious to actually get out into the community and get started. Luckily, the wait is over: our official launch is Friday, April 13, at Valentine’s in Albany. Performing will be the outstanding local musicians Michael Eck, Matthew Carefully, and Tom McWatters and the Philo Beddoe Band. The event is co-sponsored by WEXT.

Aside from seeing some really great performances, this will be our chance to start talking to members of the music community about setting up some of our activities. The idea of the Coalition is to foster communication among everyone involved in music in the Capital Region, so there is no better way than to get as many people involved as possible. I personally can’t wait to start getting people on board for some of the great events and programs we’re hoping to launch over the next year.

To see the full press release, click here. See you on the 13th!

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Harith, April 3rd 2012 | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Coalition News, Events, News Releases