Welcome!
Musician, Commentator
and Enthusiast
Michael Gordon
Senior Recital
Michael recording music in his home studio (2016)
In the summer of 2011 while interning at Saucer Sound, an independent studio formerly located in Norton, MA, Michael completed production for a solo album, "Time Warp". Michael had originally recorded most of the tracks with a friend using ProTools, but since Saucer used Digital Performer, Michael had to import all the .wav files (that had not been joined) into Digital Performer and line everything up manually. At Saucer, Michael also utilized the resources at Saucer to complete any additional tracking (most of which was for drums) for this album. This gave him valuable experience in microphone placement as well as recording direct-in (DI) and implementing various plugins.
In the spring of 2012 for his senior project, Michael returned to Saucer as a paying client and utilized these techniques to record a second album, "Transplant". In the process of recording this album, Michael enlisted some friends to record vocals as well as a saxophone solo, and learned to mic and engineer for them.
Michael declared a major in Music Technology in the fall of his sophomore year of college. This gave him the opportunity to explore more sophisticated techniques in recording both audio and MIDI. He acquired working knowledge of Logic Pro and ProTools, and was also introduced to video editing with Final Cut Pro.
The following are original recordings Michael created and mixed, as well as programed the drums for.
Curtain Call (a demo for a GOA song)
These are videos that Michael edited for Gardens of Acadia's YouTube channel.
The lyric video for "Apollo's Chariot", the band's first single from their final album
Footage compiled from the band's performance at Manhattanville's Local Music Festival spring 2014
An interview for a friend's podcast that Michael also posted to YouTube
The following are projects Michael created for a MIDI & Audio Production class.
"Nothin' But a Good Time MIDI cover"
"Life Doesn't Frighten Me - Maya Angelou remix"
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams MIDI & synthesis cover"
Finally, these are PSA's Michael recorded and edited while interning at Lasell College Radio WLAS as well as WNTN, an AM station in Newton, MA. Featured on the Lasell PSA's is Chris Lemmon, a student at Lasell College. For the Lasell PSA's, Michael also recorded original music heard in the background.
Growth as a Producer
Program (left, right)
One requirement for music seniors is to put together a program of music and perform it as the equivalent to a senior thesis. Michael's senior recital took place in Pius X Hall on April 2, 2016. As a music technology major, Michael's recital was to incorporate performance and technology, but Michael also incorporated video and collaboration with other Manhattanville students, including Gardens of Acadia. Michael composed and recorded original music as well as covers. The pieces were recorded on Logic Pro X (along with the plugins Amplitube 4 and EZDrummer 2), and the videos, showing Michael playing any instrument not being performed onstage, were edited on Final Cut Pro X.
Here are the videos taken of the songs (which Michael also edited):
The program Michael designed for the event (back, front)
Michael at Saucer Sound (2011)
"Just Let Me Noodle a Little" - A funky metal tune written in the style of the band Extreme, and emphasizing bluesy licks.
"What Did I Do?" - The first song Michael and his future bandmate Justin wrote, this is a jazzy rock song originally written about a girl who randomly told Michael she did not want to speak to him anymore.
"Behind Closed Doors" - A jazz song emphasizing what Michael calls "chordal chromatic descension", that he wrote for Manhattanville's Small Jazz Ensemble.
"Take It To The Top" - A blues-structured funk song also written for the Small Jazz Ensemble.
"Everyday Demons" - An up-tempo synth driven pop song featuring technical rhythms, a drum solo and a keyboard solo programmed by a copy-paste method in MIDI.
"YYZ" - A MIDI arrangement of a Rush classic, and one of Michael's favorite songs to drum to. (Note: the camera starts to die at 1:18, and at 2:25, an error message came up in Logic, prompting Michael to get up and fix it before returning to playing, which Michael edited out).
"Cowboy Song" - A cover of a classic Thin Lizzy song, featuring Matt Relevo on vocals (Note: the camera officially dies after the second chorus before the guitar solo starts).
"Cool #9" - A cover of one of Michael's favorite songs by his guitar hero, Joe Satriani. It features use of a whammy pedal (DigiTech RP250), as well as GOA's James Gemino on drums.
"Was It All Worth It?" - And 80's style synth ballad featuring a monologue reflecting Michael's four years at Manhattanville.
Finally, the performance closes with a finale performance from Gardens of Acadia. The song Michael chose to perform was "Boundaries" from "Red Yellow & Blue". Standing in on bass is Declan Jones, a longtime friend and supporter of the band.
Michael's current recording setup includes a Focusrite Scarlett solo 3rd gen audio interface, a Shure SM57 dynamic microphone, and an M-Audio Keystation 49es MIDI keyboard, in addition to a Marshall MG100HCFX stack, and his pedal board consisting of a Crybaby wah, a TC Electronic Forcefield compressor, a Horizon Devices Precision Drive, an MXR ten band EQ, a TC Electronic Prophet digital delay, and a Supro boost.