Brainium Sounds Off

Back in Brainium's early years, circa 1988, bands sent their music to record companies in an effort to secure a recording contract. Younger listeners may have no idea what that means. That's OK...we barely knew either. But we're here to talk about our experience and how it differs from bands today. (Hint: a lot.)

We saw The Warning last year in Chicago, this year in New York City at their only headline performance of the year. What did we think? Anyone who listens to this podcast knows we probably liked it! But listen to be sure and to hear plenty of rambling...mostly on topic!

Two more from Brainium's cover song history: another from Led Zeppelin and one from ... Elton John??

Bands don't always just go on stage and play music. Depending on the venue and the band, there may be lights, smoke, video, choreography, and more. Maybe even a picnic table!

Brainium is well-known (sort of) as one guy playing guitar and one playing keyboards. So how did we learn to play our instruments? And what other instruments can we play? And how fun is it? (Hint: very.)

Brainium used drum machines for its sound. That's one way of having drums in a band. More common, especially when playing live, is having a live drummer. What's it like having or playing drums in a band? The Boys of Brainium share their thoughts. You might even say they "sound off".

Continuing our exploration of cover songs that Brainium performed back in their "playing out" days. 

Technology has always been used in making music, some think not always for the better. Increasingly, pitch correction is being used by artists--even established ones--to "fix" their vocals to be spot-on when singing. It's used on recordings, but also used by some artists when performing live. Is this a good thing? Brainium sounds off.

It's time to explore the origins and development of another Brainium song. We're pretty sure this is our only "ballad" (or "power ballad"). Includes plenty of discussion of Thom's guitar solo!

We've talked about playing bass and playing keyboards in a band. Now it's time for guitar and that means...it's Thom Time! 

Pretty much all local bands starting out play "covers" ... songs written and performed by other (successful) bands. Primarily because that's what people usually want to hear (as opposed to original music). In this episode, we discuss three of those songs and include snippets of each to illustrate how a two-man band played these things. We have more songs to review in future episodes!

Those great band performances you see live don't just happen. Before ever getting on that stage, bands will spend many hours (or in Brainium's case, a few minutes) rehearsing the songs they are going to perform. (And probably a few extra.) What's that all about?

AI (Artificial Intelligence) is being used for more and more tasks, not always for the best. What about music? Specifically, creating music. Does AI have a place in the creative process? You just know Brainium has some thoughts about that!

Any time you have people working together, conflicts are bound to occur. These can be creative, technical, administrative, etc. But sometimes it's just a conflict of personalities. That can certainly happen in bands and is a big reason many of them break up. (Unlike Brainium, of course.) How do these personality conflicts play out (pun intended) in local bands? Just ask the boys from Brainium!

Lyrics are the words to songs. Guys like Bach and Beethoven didn't use them, but more modern music almost always does. What do the boys of Brainium think about them?

Playing keyboards is much different than playing piano. Except when the keyboards are playing just piano sounds, of course. Learn about the behind-the-scenes duties of the unsung (but possibly singing) keyboard player.

Costumes aren't a big thing for local bands, but you have to wear something! And what about successful bands that wear elaborate costumes? Let's Sound Off!

Who would have thought we could do an entire episode on guitar picks? Brainium Sounds Off about these little tools that are so important to playing stringed instruments. (And keyboards???) Believe it or not, after we finished recording this episode, Thom thought of a couple of other picks he could have discussed. Could there be a Part Two? (No.)

It's time to explore the origins of another Brainium classic, the song "Bad Decisions". 

Bass is an integral part of most rock music. Most common is the bass guitar, but there's also standup bass, keyboard bass, and more. Let's talk low frequency!

Tough time naming this one. It's about equipment we either made ourselves or modified in some significant way. "Do it yourself" is close enough.   Oh, and we had the same stupid recording problem we had once before where one mic wasn't recording so the levels are way off (despite some effort to fix it in post...it was worse!). At least it's a short episode.

Against all odds, this podcast has made it through a whole year! We review every episode of the first year. Ah, the memories!

Some bands use some prerecorded backing tracks to enhance their live sound. Brainium did a little of this (plus all of their prerecorded drums) but a number of touring bands today do it as well. The Boys of Brainium discuss the pros and cons (in their meandering opinions) of playing live with backing tracks.    And congratulations to us for reaching one year of podcasts!

Thom recently saw the band Ghost live, then joined Gary less than a week later to see the band The Warning. Hear our thoughts on both concerts!

The term "lo-fi" has been around almost as long as "hi-fi" although its meaning has evolved over time. All of Brainium's recordings from the 80s (which is almost all of their recordings) would be considered "lo-fi", at least at some point in that evolution continuum.