Wednesday, July 8, 2009
United Breaks Guitars
Congratulations to Dave Carroll (Sons of Maxwell) For getting the #1 music video in Canada on Youtube today. This projects was mixed and mastered at Ferguson Music Productions by Scott Ferguson who also recorded and performed the drums.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
FMP on The Wall Street Journal
By
EASHA ANAND
HALIFAX, Canada -- It is here, in a cluttered mathematician's office, under blackboards jammed with equations and functional analysis, that one of Western culture's greatest mysteries has finally been solved: Why has no one been able to replicate the first chord in The Beatles' pop hit "A Hard Day's Night"?
Not stopping there, this sleuth is using math in his quest to answer an even more-elusive question, about the contested authorship of the Fab Four's "In My Life."
Not stopping there, this sleuth is using math in his quest to answer an even more-elusive question, about the contested authorship of the Fab Four's "In My Life."
View Interactive
All You Need Is Math
See how Mr. Brown used math to figure out The Beatles' formula for success, listen to the clips he analyzed, and watch him perform his own Beatles-esque song.
"Whether they realize it or not, the best songwriters have always relied on mathematics," says Jason Brown, a mathematician who is tackling such puzzlers in between chairing the math department at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and playing his own Beatles-esque songs.
Since the 1960s, Beatles aficionados have pored over the group's recordings and memorabilia in search of answers to questions about both their music and their lives. An as-yet-unpublished Beatles track Paul McCartney recently mentioned made headlines internationally. Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn, who is working on a trilogy about the British rock group, examined church records to find the precise day that John Lennon met Mr. McCartney.
Now Mr. Brown, 47 years old, is revisiting these questions from another angle. His approach is sparking controversy among fans who believe the band's mystique defies calculation. An article by Mr. Brown on his research published in Guitar Player magazine three years ago spawned heated discussions in both the math and music blogospheres.
"Some people thought what he was doing was sacrilegious," says Matt Blackett, an associate editor at Guitar Player. "As a fellow Beatles fanatic, I just thought it was awesome."
A spokesman for Mr. McCartney said he was unavailable and other former group members didn't respond to request for comment. Generally, the group has been evasive when faced with fans' efforts to dissect their work.
Growing up in the Toronto suburbs, Mr. Brown learned piano, but gave it up at age 12 for guitar, after hearing the Beatles' "Red Album," and becoming obsessed with the group. Like many Beatles fans, Mr. Brown was fascinated with the opening chord of "A Hard Day's Night." The chord has at least four sheet music variants, but nobody has ever quite replicated it, and the Beatles haven't revealed how they produced the complex sound. Mr. Brown said he spent hours experimenting before it occurred to him: "Music is basically just math."
It isn't surprising that Mr. Brown turned to mathematics. He talks about the lyrics of 1960s songwriter Randy Newman in terms of metamathematics. When he sees broccoli, he thinks of fractals, a concept in chaos theory. Piles of graph-theory tomes litter his office, and Greek letters and Roman numerals cover his chalkboard.
Mr. Brown realized he could use a discrete Fourier transform, a mathematical technique for breaking up complicated signals into simpler functions and known as DFT. He used digital equipment to show the chord as a series of numbers, tens of thousands per second, and then applied a DFT to convert the chord into dozens of simpler functions, each representing a single sound frequency.
Mr. Brown knew there is no such thing as a pure tone: Each instrument emits one sound for the note played and then sounds that are multiples of that note's frequency, as the string vibrates back on itself. Of his dozens of frequencies, some were background noise and some--the ones he wanted to ferret out--were the notes the Beatles struck.
The professor started making deductions. The loudest notes were likely Mr. McCartney's bass. The lowest had to be the original note played, since a string can generate waves along half or a third of its length, but not twice its length. But no matter how he divvied up the notes, something didn't fit.
It is well-documented that Mr. Harrison played a 12-string guitar for the recording of "A Hard Day's Night." For every guitar note played, there had to be another one octave higher, since his guitar strings were pressed down in pairs.
But three frequencies for an F note were left, none of which were an octave apart. Even if Mr. Brown assumed Mr. Lennon played one F note on his six-string guitar, Mr. Brown still had two unexplained frequencies.
After weeks of staring at six-decimal-place amplitude values, Mr. Brown suddenly remembered how, as a child, he used to stick his head inside his parents' grand piano to see how it worked. He ran to a nearby music shop, and poked his head inside the Yamahas there.
Sure enough, there were three strings under the F key, corresponding to the three sets of harmonics he had seen. Buried under the iconic guitar chord was a piano note.
Other problems have since yielded to Mr. Brown's mathematics. Fans have always marveled at Mr. Harrison's guitar solo in "A Hard Day's Night," a rapid-fire sequence of 1/16th notes, accompanied on piano, that seemed to require superhuman dexterity.
Since the 1960s, Beatles aficionados have pored over the group's recordings and memorabilia in search of answers to questions about both their music and their lives. An as-yet-unpublished Beatles track Paul McCartney recently mentioned made headlines internationally. Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn, who is working on a trilogy about the British rock group, examined church records to find the precise day that John Lennon met Mr. McCartney.
Now Mr. Brown, 47 years old, is revisiting these questions from another angle. His approach is sparking controversy among fans who believe the band's mystique defies calculation. An article by Mr. Brown on his research published in Guitar Player magazine three years ago spawned heated discussions in both the math and music blogospheres.
"Some people thought what he was doing was sacrilegious," says Matt Blackett, an associate editor at Guitar Player. "As a fellow Beatles fanatic, I just thought it was awesome."
A spokesman for Mr. McCartney said he was unavailable and other former group members didn't respond to request for comment. Generally, the group has been evasive when faced with fans' efforts to dissect their work.
Growing up in the Toronto suburbs, Mr. Brown learned piano, but gave it up at age 12 for guitar, after hearing the Beatles' "Red Album," and becoming obsessed with the group. Like many Beatles fans, Mr. Brown was fascinated with the opening chord of "A Hard Day's Night." The chord has at least four sheet music variants, but nobody has ever quite replicated it, and the Beatles haven't revealed how they produced the complex sound. Mr. Brown said he spent hours experimenting before it occurred to him: "Music is basically just math."
It isn't surprising that Mr. Brown turned to mathematics. He talks about the lyrics of 1960s songwriter Randy Newman in terms of metamathematics. When he sees broccoli, he thinks of fractals, a concept in chaos theory. Piles of graph-theory tomes litter his office, and Greek letters and Roman numerals cover his chalkboard.
Mr. Brown realized he could use a discrete Fourier transform, a mathematical technique for breaking up complicated signals into simpler functions and known as DFT. He used digital equipment to show the chord as a series of numbers, tens of thousands per second, and then applied a DFT to convert the chord into dozens of simpler functions, each representing a single sound frequency.
Mr. Brown knew there is no such thing as a pure tone: Each instrument emits one sound for the note played and then sounds that are multiples of that note's frequency, as the string vibrates back on itself. Of his dozens of frequencies, some were background noise and some--the ones he wanted to ferret out--were the notes the Beatles struck.
The professor started making deductions. The loudest notes were likely Mr. McCartney's bass. The lowest had to be the original note played, since a string can generate waves along half or a third of its length, but not twice its length. But no matter how he divvied up the notes, something didn't fit.
It is well-documented that Mr. Harrison played a 12-string guitar for the recording of "A Hard Day's Night." For every guitar note played, there had to be another one octave higher, since his guitar strings were pressed down in pairs.
But three frequencies for an F note were left, none of which were an octave apart. Even if Mr. Brown assumed Mr. Lennon played one F note on his six-string guitar, Mr. Brown still had two unexplained frequencies.
After weeks of staring at six-decimal-place amplitude values, Mr. Brown suddenly remembered how, as a child, he used to stick his head inside his parents' grand piano to see how it worked. He ran to a nearby music shop, and poked his head inside the Yamahas there.
Sure enough, there were three strings under the F key, corresponding to the three sets of harmonics he had seen. Buried under the iconic guitar chord was a piano note.
Other problems have since yielded to Mr. Brown's mathematics. Fans have always marveled at Mr. Harrison's guitar solo in "A Hard Day's Night," a rapid-fire sequence of 1/16th notes, accompanied on piano, that seemed to require superhuman dexterity.
Christina Jeng/The Wall Street Journal
Jason Brown, chair of the math department at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Beatles fan.
Mr. Brown noticed that a piano is strung differently in its lower octaves, with two strings, rather than three, under each hammer. He saw only two frequencies for each piano note in the guitar solo, suggesting that the solo had been played one octave lower than the recorded version sounded. It had also been played at half-speed, he concluded, then sped up on tape to make the released version sound as if had been played faster and at a higher octave.
Mr. Brown's latest project is figuring out which Beatle wrote "In My Life." Both Messrs. Lennon and McCartney claim to have written the majority of the tune.
To settle the dispute, Mr. Brown is feeding hundreds of Beatles songs with known authorship into a computer program. In academia, his specialty is graph theory, which examines networks of points--called "nodes"--and arrows connecting them--known as "edges." In this problem, each chord in the Beatles canon is a node, and edges connect chords played in succession.
With a few dozen songs entered, the graphs are taking shape: Mr. Lennon's looks like a demented flower, with loops everywhere, representing his trademark repeated chords, while Mr. McCartney's is more freeform. When Mr. Brown is finished, he'll plug "In My Life" into his program and see which graph fits it better.
Meanwhile, Mr. Brown is applying his mathematical analysis to write his own Beatles-esque music. At the studio of sound engineer and drummer Scott Ferguson, Mr. Brown tunes up with bassist Alex Vaughan and vocalist Hal Bruce. Messrs. Ferguson and Bruce are professional Beatles "celebrators" (they prefer the term to "impersonator"), and the four are united by their love of the British band. Sketches of Mr. Lennon adorn the studio, and the musicians refer to the Fab Four as if they are old friends. "Paul was just so melodic," sighs Mr. Bruce.
Mr. Brown's latest project is figuring out which Beatle wrote "In My Life." Both Messrs. Lennon and McCartney claim to have written the majority of the tune.
To settle the dispute, Mr. Brown is feeding hundreds of Beatles songs with known authorship into a computer program. In academia, his specialty is graph theory, which examines networks of points--called "nodes"--and arrows connecting them--known as "edges." In this problem, each chord in the Beatles canon is a node, and edges connect chords played in succession.
With a few dozen songs entered, the graphs are taking shape: Mr. Lennon's looks like a demented flower, with loops everywhere, representing his trademark repeated chords, while Mr. McCartney's is more freeform. When Mr. Brown is finished, he'll plug "In My Life" into his program and see which graph fits it better.
Meanwhile, Mr. Brown is applying his mathematical analysis to write his own Beatles-esque music. At the studio of sound engineer and drummer Scott Ferguson, Mr. Brown tunes up with bassist Alex Vaughan and vocalist Hal Bruce. Messrs. Ferguson and Bruce are professional Beatles "celebrators" (they prefer the term to "impersonator"), and the four are united by their love of the British band. Sketches of Mr. Lennon adorn the studio, and the musicians refer to the Fab Four as if they are old friends. "Paul was just so melodic," sighs Mr. Bruce.
The band launches in on "A Million Whys,'' a song Mr. Brown mathematically designed to sound like a Beatles tune. Mr. Brown croons into a studio mic, black Reeboks tapping.
Afterward, the group dissects the track. "I'm clashing with something or other," says Mr. Ferguson. Though Mr. Brown wrote the song based on formula, the musicians refine it based on their musical instinct.
Jim Vallance, who has written songs for Tina Turner and Aerosmith, says that's proof that some facets of music defy equations. "Scientists have discovered everything about Stradivarius' violins: the wood density, the varnish, the glue," he says. "But no one has been able to replicate the 'sound.' Same with the Beatles. You can't measure heart and soul."
Other Beatles fans describe Mr. Brown's research as a fancy way of packaging what they already know. Walt Everett, author of "The Beatles as Musicians," dismisses Mr. Brown's findings about the piano notes in the opening chord of "A Hard Day's Night,'' saying he had already noticed the piano presence.
Mr. Brown stands by his approach. "Everyone thinks they've analyzed a chord, but they don't agree," he says. "You can't argue with the math."
Afterward, the group dissects the track. "I'm clashing with something or other," says Mr. Ferguson. Though Mr. Brown wrote the song based on formula, the musicians refine it based on their musical instinct.
Jim Vallance, who has written songs for Tina Turner and Aerosmith, says that's proof that some facets of music defy equations. "Scientists have discovered everything about Stradivarius' violins: the wood density, the varnish, the glue," he says. "But no one has been able to replicate the 'sound.' Same with the Beatles. You can't measure heart and soul."
Other Beatles fans describe Mr. Brown's research as a fancy way of packaging what they already know. Walt Everett, author of "The Beatles as Musicians," dismisses Mr. Brown's findings about the piano notes in the opening chord of "A Hard Day's Night,'' saying he had already noticed the piano presence.
Mr. Brown stands by his approach. "Everyone thinks they've analyzed a chord, but they don't agree," he says. "You can't argue with the math."
Write to
Easha Anand at
easha.anand@wsj.com
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
ECMA's 09
We have 2 nominees this year best of luck!
Maria Alley (NS)
- Children’s Recording of the Year (Nature’s Lullaby)
Ryan Cook (NS)
- Country Recording of the Year (Hot Times)
Maria Alley (NS)
- Children’s Recording of the Year (Nature’s Lullaby)
Ryan Cook (NS)
- Country Recording of the Year (Hot Times)
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
ECMA nominations are starting to come in.
and Pop Rock Recording of the Year.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
The Rodeo Idol and Song Search 2007!!
Starting Sept 19
A 10 week singing contest and an eight week songwriter’s competition (One individual may enter both facets of the contest)
A two part contest
One Huge Grand Prize!! A Music Industry Ready Package
A Professional media make over A Media Specialty Photo Shoot Mentoring Music Industry meetings One year Artist Memberships with ECMA and Music NS Electronic Press Kit
A Professional Produced Radio Single with the possiblility of National Distribution to over 200 Canadian Country Music radio stations
A GRAND PRIZE Valued at over $4800.00 and growing…
There will also be an eight song compilation CD professionally produced of the top 5 singers and top 3 songwriters.
Each week the name(s) of the contestant that will not be continuing in the contesting will be removed from the artists listed below.
To All Rodeo Idol & Song Search 2007
We at The Rodeo want all participants to know how much your energy, efforts, talents and gifts are appreciated!!
Thank you for being an integral part of this contest. For however long you are with us in the contest, it is our hopes that you enjoy yourselves, feel at home, have fun with old friends and some new ones, and make memories and beautiful music!!
Singers
Carrie Turner
Gerry McDougal
Song Writers
Joe Dorion
Dawn Miller
Ed Grant
Matt Irving
Nick Taylor
Jeannie Read
Craig Peacock
Singer Songwriters
Melinda Crowe
Mandy Atkinson
Mike Bruce
Rose Mary Boute
Mandy Lyons
Paul Mills
Tony McDow
Darlene MacNeil
Danny Holloway
Troy Bernard
Ryan Cook
Jolene Keats
Sharlene Loveless
Grand Prize Sponsors
Music and Industry Nominations NSMW 2007 Music Awards Nominations
Country Artist/Recording of the Year Rylee Madison – Me & Cinderella Jesse Beck – Back from Nowhere Emma Lee – The Reason Ryan Cook – Sunny Acres
Audra Raulyns – All That
Elizabeth Deveau – Living Waters
Emma Lee – The Reason
Through His Grace – On That DayThursday, August 30, 2007
Elizabeth Deveau wins 2 Maja Awards
Winner of 2 Canadian Gospel Music Maja Awards!
I wanted to provide everyone with an update, and let you know that I had the extreme honour of receiving two Canadian Gospel Music Maja Awards, held in Toronto on Saturday evening, August 25
th
. Awards received were for categories of Southern Gospel Performer as well as the most prestigious award of the evening…the “People’s Choice Artiste of the Year”.
I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who have been so supportive of my music and ministry and took the time to cast their votes. I was told that I received thousands of votes from all over the world, including New Zealand,Australia, UK, Europe & United States. It is humbling and I am still very much in awe, of receiving such an outpouring of affirmation. It is truly a blessing!
For those who have been asking, the Maja Awards are apparently scheduled to be televised on Prime Time VISION Television on September 16
th
.
Again…thanks so very much to each and everyone for their support!
In His Service…
Elizabeth
Elizabeth Deveau
Deveau Christian Music Ministries
902-470-7670
902-835-8782
e-mail:
elizabeth.deveau@nshealth.ca
deveauministries@eastlink.ca
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Elizabeth Deveau in the 2007 MAJA AWARDS GOSPEL STAR FINALISTS AND RECORDING NOMINEES:
Elizabeth Deveau - 4 national maja award nominations.
007 MAJA AWARDS GOSPEL STAR FINALISTS AND RECORDING NOMINEES:
[1] GOSPEL STARS
[2] JUNIOR GOSPEL STARS
[2] JUNIOR GOSPEL STARS
- Kenisha Martin
- Crystal Jacquet
- Chosen Vessels
- Inhabitants of Praise
- Enrique Guerra
- Peter Valle
- Angelica Sagastume
- Lexi-Ann Figaro
- Shawn Lee-Spencer
- Trecia Pryce
- Wayne Walrond
- L.Y.N.C. (Living Your Name Christ)
- Visionero and Adriel
- Kayla McLean
- Denique Rose
- The Bowen's Quartet (Philip, Krystyne, Shenika, Othniel)
- Kenisha Johnson-Brown
- Janelle Adriana Oscar
[3] NOMINATIONS IN THE RECORDING CATEGORY
MALE ARTISTE OF THE YEAR
Jim Drakopoulos
Rob Berg
Rohan " Cowboy" Grant
Andrew Martin
Junior Smith
Carl Merenick
FEMALE ARTISTE OF THE YEAR
Nana McLean
Marlene O'Neill
Lauren Dally
Lisa Adrianne
Paulis Sanchez
Elizabeth Deveau
DUO GROUP OF THE YEAR
Church Boyz
Brian Clark 'n' Friends
Trinity Drive
SOUTHERN GOSPEL PERFORMER OF THE YEAR
Marlene O'Neill
Rohan "Cowboy" Grant
Lauren Dally
Andrew Martin
Elizabeth Deveau
Junior Smith
YOUNG PERFORMER OF THE YEAR
Laura Higgs
Church Boyz
Trinity Drive
Lisa Adrianne
CULTRAL PERFORMER OF THE YEAR
Ronny Juarez
Henry Sanchez
Alon Morales
Sean Spicer
BEST INSPIRATIONAL/PRAISE & WORSHIP RECORDING
"The Beautiful Piano" - Artiste: Debbie Fortnum
"New Every Morning" - Artiste: Jim Drakopoulos
"Cary On" - Lisa Adrianne
"Sweet Anointing" - Katina Balascas
"Generations" - Marlene O'Neill
BEST REGGAE OR SOCA PERFORMER
Aileen Bennett
Fitz Aran Sevia
Nana McLean
Brian Clarke 'n' Friends
LATIN PERFORMER OF THE YEAR
Henry Sanchez
Alon Morales
Paulis Sanchez
Sean Spicer
Ronny Juarez
NEW ARTISTE OF THE YEAR
Lauren Dally
Andrew Martin
Paulis Sanchez
Trinity Drive
Lisa Adrianne
Robert Chambers
BEST URBAN GOSPEL PERFORMER
Robert Chambers
Church Boyz
Aileen Bennett
ALTERNATIVE/ROCK RECORDING OF THE YEAR
Title: "Quiero Marte" by Alan Morales
Title: "New Every Morning" by Jim Drakopoulos
Title: "Images of Evergreen" by Trinity Drive
Title: "Reflections of You" by Sean Spicer
FAVOURITE MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Title: "What would you do/ B.boy Stance" by Malichi
Title:"POSING" - ALBUM: Life On Purpose by Rob Berg
BEST INSTRUMENTAL RECORDING
Title: " The Beautiful Piano" by Debbie Fortnum
Title: " Inside of Me" by Carl Merenike
Title: " Joyful Sound" by Pape Ave Brass
Title: " Reflections of You" by Sean Spicer
Title: " Interpretations" by Robert Chambers
CONTEMPORARY GOSPEL RECORDING OF THE YEAR
Title: "Take Away the Stone" by Elizabeth Deveau
Title: "Sweet Remembering" by Laura Higgs
Title: "Life on Purpose" by Rob Berg
PROMOTER OF THE YEAR
Revivaltime Tabernacle - ("Caribbean Concert Series with Papa San, Chevelle Franklyn, and Keron Ennis")
House of Levi - ("Donnie McClurkin and CeCe Winans live at the Hershey Centre")
Emmanuel Promotions/Karian Christian Supplies - ("Tye Tribbett Live")
Silver-lining Promotions - ("Judy Mowatt Live at Praise Cathedral")
PRODUCER OF THE YEAR
Carmon Barry and Oswald Burke - (Album: "Generations" by Marlene O'Neill)
Chris Janz and Rob Berg - (Album: "Life on Purpose" by Rob Berg)
Nana McLean - (Album: "Breakthrough" by Nana McLean)
Rawle Alcide - (Album: "New Every Morning" by Jim Drakopoulos)
Roger A Ryan, Maurice J Rogers, Terry "Mad Scientist" Thomas, Maurice M O Henderson, Sean Simmonds, and Kelvin Wooten - (Album: Seguro Enti by Paulis Sanchez)
SONG OF THE YEAR
Title: "Captivated" by Lisa Adrianne
Title: "Released" by Lauren Dally
Title: "Take Away the Stone" by Elizabeth Deveau
Title: "I Have A Dream" by Nana McLean
ARTISTE OF THE YEAR
Nana McLean
Jim Drakopoulos
Rob Berg
Paulis Sanchez
Brian Clarke 'n' Friends
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Title: "Life on Purpose" by Rob Berg
Title: "Seguro Enti" by Paulis Sanchez
Title: "New Every Morning" by Jim Drakopoulos
Title: "Highest Praise" by Brian Clarke 'n' Friends
Title: "Breakthrough" by Nana McLean
INTERNATIONAL ARTISTE OF THE YEAR
Roger Samuels (UK)
Papa San (Jamaica/USA)
Tye Tribbett (USA)
Martha Munizzi (USA)
Trinitee 5:7 (USA)
Sean Daniels (Trinidad and Tobago)
Ian Shearwood newest CD: The Art of Conversation
Scott Ferguson: Co-produced, Recorded, Mixed and Mastered, Drums, percussion
-assisted by Adam Smith
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