Songs and Sonics

One of the things I was hoping to do with Songs and Sonics was share some easy projects you can build for your home studio.

This project is not one of them.

In 2002, I got the idea that I needed a marimba for my home studio.

I don’t know why I needed a marimba. I just wanted that sound.

Marimbas are notoriously expensive. Professional marimbas start in the $2,000 range for a used instrument. New marimbas are in the $6,000-$12,000+ range.

I couldn’t justify spending that much for an instrument that was going to be one of dozens sitting in my studio. I was never going be a full-time marimba player. I just wanted that sound when working on a recording that called for it.

You can get a pretty realistic marimba sound by using a sampler. In fact, you can capture the timbre and make something sound even better than the real thing with a sampler. A really good sampled sound can sound almost hyper-realistic. You can trick listeners into thinking they’re hearing the “real thing.” I’ve been fooled, for sure.

But I don’t think you can capture the soul of an instrument that way.

The subtleties and imperfections are usually missing from a sampled or synthesized instrument, which is sometimes the most interesting part. If the subtleties are in there, they’re often exaggerated to a comical degree, or you need to really work at adding those fake subtleties back in.

Plus, playing a keyboard isn’t as fun as standing in front of an imposing piece of furniture with a couple mallets and jumping around to hit the keys. You can feel the vibrations move from the marimba key to the mallet to your arm. There’s a whole physical element missing if you’re working with a simulation.

So I decided to build my own marimba.

Several people asked me if I had the woodworking skills to build a marimba. After some hemming and hawing, the answer was… “Uh… no.”

On my previous woodworking project, I had trouble building a plywood box with all four sides of equal length. But I decided to go ahead with the marimba project anyway. It’s only wood, right? How hard could it be?

My dad offered his help, not really knowing what he was about to get into. But I guess those are the kinds of helpful things you do when you’re a dad. Neither of us consider ourselves professional woodworkers. We are practical, patient, and determined… and that’s about it.

Like all construction projects, it will always take longer, be more expensive, and be more difficult than you initially imagined.

But it was worth it.

To be continued…

Welcome to the Songs and Sonics blog. I’m your host, Jeff Boller, main songwriter and performer in The Simple Carnival.

You’re probably wondering, “Who? The Simple what?” That’s OK, because I don’t know who you are either. And I don’t know how you found this site, but please make yourself at home.

So what’s this all about? Well, within these electronic pages you’ll find a smorgasbord of tales from the front lines of songwriting, music production, and working with bizarre objects that make grinding, belching, unwelcome noises (which can be, but are not limited to, actual musical instruments). We’ll take a close look at the creative process of making music. We’ll have some audio show-and-tell. There will be interviews with other artists who are doing cool things with sound. Mostly though, I hope that this blog will provide you with ideas and inspiration for your own creative endeavors.

“OK,” you say. “But who the heck are you, and why should I care?”

Fair question. I’m a 30-something singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist based near Pittsburgh, PA. Since 2001, I’ve fronted The Simple Carnival, a pop recording project that sounds like what might happen if Harry Nilsson and The Beach Boys collaborated on Sesame Street. To date, The Simple Carnival has released three EPs and the first real, honest-to-goodness album (titled Girls Aliens Food) scheduled for release in late 2008 on Sundrift Records. I play all the instruments and sing all the parts on these recordings.

My music career has led me from writing and producing songs for other artists, to recording bands at professional studios, to directing video productions, and ultimately… to finding a 9-5, non-audio job that actually pays the bills.

So if you’re looking for advice on how write that hit song or make it big in the music industry, you’ve come to the wrong place. I don’t mind communicating with a large audience, but my background is mostly in writing and recording songs for a specific niche, and it’s not the same audience that closely follows the Top 40. Write what you know and all that. Still, even if you’re not into the kind of music I do, I hope to keep things general enough so that the majority of the content here is relevant to anyone doing creative things with sound.

You can probably expect a new post every few days, with a big article about once a week — as long as there’s something to talk about. I look forward to your feedback, as it will help steer the conversation toward the things you find most interesting. And yes, I do consider this blog a conversation. So please post some comments to help get things rolling!