Stay tuned. A and B side single on the way.

Camera Test Video

So I snagged a new digital camera that takes HD video. It's made by Pentax, a company that I have been a longtime fan of. Many (most) of the photos seen on this blog were taken by a Pentax film camera.

The camera's native lens mount accepts the lenses that I use for my film cameras, which gives me instant access to some pretty cool options. Check out this test video I shot the day I bought the camera. It features my almost wife Andrea.

Pentax K 01 Test Video from Nate Vaughan on Vimeo.

Nate Miller - Album Out Now

Link to Album

This weekend, Nate Miller released his debut solo album, Fall is Meant for Falling to the Ground. The album has been over two years in the making, and represents the most ambitious project I have yet undertaken. It also required the most support from friends - gear loaned, time donated, and feedback given.

The songs are strikingly honest and deeply personal. Nate is gifted not just as a lyricist, but as an observer of the human condition. My treatment of his songs was ambitious and adventurous, but I tried to enhance the elements that are uniquely his--his voice, his love of lush arrangement, and his soaring melodicism. I know that I speak for many when I say that I hope to hear much more from Nate in the years to come.

If you listen to the album, feel free to drop me a line here and let me know what you think. And to those of you who supported the project financially, with recording gear, or otherwise: my sincerest thanks!

Link to Album

October 20/2012

I'm a lucky guy.

Introducing: The Wild Maps

Link to the music
This is a project that has been a long time coming. Rachel Vaughan, Anna Su, and I have been playing music together since 2008, and have always shared a deep respect for each others' songs, often swapping them in performances and re-imagining them.

In December of 2011, we finally decided to put the music on tape that we had been performing for years. In a one-day living room session, we recorded most instruments and vocals live with Kris Karlsson on bass and Mike Lindsay on drums. We then built out this framework with overdubbed piano, guitar, trombone (Sean Pawling), and harmonica (Ross Garren).

This project is Anna's and my first attempt at mixing. As much as we could, we used the old gear we have lying around (some of it with questionable functionality): an old DBX 160, an Orban EQ, and a handful of distortion pedals. We had a vauge idea of a sound in mind, and we wanted the freedom to take chances and see the results ourselves, without having someone else tell us what was or wasn't going to work.

You can listen to some samples of the music at www.thewildmaps.com. If you're in the Los Angeles area on August 3rd, please join us for a show at Hotel Cafe. If you're in Chicago September 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, stay tuned for a midwest release show. And you can always pre-order the album at the web address above.

I hope you enjoy the tunes!

Before/After: Darkest Spaces

Sometime early next year, Nate Miller's album will be done. I cannot tell you all how much effort everyone involved has put into these recording Nate's music--musicians, engineers, visual artists, and of course, Nate and I have devoted countless hours to it.

It's hard to see how far we've come from where we're standing. That's probably true of most creative projects, and is one of the great paradoxes of undertaking an album. But the other day, I got a chance to listen to some of Nate's original demos--the recordings that were the seed of this album (for some of you, they are the only recordings of Nate's music that you have). It was really fun to hear how ideas blossomed out of a simple garage band recording.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be putting up some BEFORE/after recordings of his demos and some rough mixes from his album.  I'd love to hear what you think of his music or my production work.

Here's the first of these: Darkest Spaces. Nate's demo is beautiful, and I hope the album version does it justice.

We had the privilege of having some amazing musicians on this one: a string trio, Kevin Milner on pedal steel, and Mike Lindsay on drums. Here's a rough mix that will give you an approximation of the album version.

Before

After

Stay tuned for more samples, let us know what you think, and be sure to check out Nate Miller's blog to learn more about him or to read his lyrics:

http://freerefills.wordpress.com/words/

In the mean time, enjoy the music!

Show Tonight/Bandnames

For my SHOW TONIGHT, I wanted to name my band Nate Vaughan and the <somethings>... Here's the list my friend Rob came up with:

Nate Vaughan and the stern looks

and the bottle breakers

and the staredowns

and the tumbleweeds

and 98degrees

and the deputees

and the do you rights

and the close shaves

and the rusty spurs

and the no good for nothins

and the rowdy dirtbags

and the true grits

and the wide strides

Thanks, Rob.  Finalists and winner will be announced tomorrow...

Speaking of which:
October 3rd
El Cid
4212 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90029
8pm
$5
(variety show to follow)