Don’t take that tone with me

We’ve been busy in the FarisWheel camp, lately! Here’s a quick run down of what we’ve been working on:

FarisWheel Productions – Graphic Design
I just finished a website for national singing sensation “The Cactus Cuties.” If you haven’t heard these girls’ rendition of The Star Spangled Banner, you are seriously missing out! The’ve gotten over 5 million hits on YouTube in 3 months!

I also just completed an album cover for Texas Country veterans, Honeybrowne. Fred Andrews, the band leader, songwriter, and singer, is a great cat to work with.

At the Amusement Park Studio
I’ve created a new track for Bobby Bookout that is a rendition of an old Frank Sinatra tune. I can’t wait to debut it… we’ve twisted and mutated it like only the Amusement Park can do!

I’m finishing up mixing The Archers. They are a screamo band based in Lubbock. I really dig these cats. Check ‘em out!

We’re also finishing vocals for the up-coming This Soul Divided EP. The tracks sound great and I can’t wait to start mixing them!

And, last but not least, we found a few spare moments to mix a tune by Amy and Scott called “I Forgot.” Those of you who know our past, the song is a continuation of the 100 Love Sonnets spirit. Look for a new musical project soon!

Visual Art

I had the pleasure of being included in a gallery exhibit of musicians who are also visual artists at the Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock, TX. I have two sculptures (Bite and Brian No. 3) and four photographs in the exhibit. Ben Mercado, the Chief Engineer at the Amusement Park Studio, also displayed his photography and painting. The show will be up for a month.

I can’t believe I haven’t touched this in so long. I have a tendency to get too busy and lose track of time. So here’s an update on what I’ve done since my last post on Sep. 1.

Web Design
Shane Shepherd, my partner in the web design firm FarisWheel Productions, and I launched a major website rebuild for WestMark Realtorsâ„¢ and their sister site Pat Ham Realtorsâ„¢ in our hometown of Lubbock, Texas. Their original site design was very dated and didn’t function properly. We updated the graphics, navigation and developed a database application that searches over 50,000 properties. It was a huge amount of work and a really rewarding project. These are before and after screen shots of both sites.

I also built an initial .psd design for the Apostolic Orthodox Catholic Church, Western Rite. It was extremely well received and the site is currently under development.

I’m in process for another site, as well. Juanita Ulloa is a phenomenal singer whom the Hispanic press has called “The High Priestess of Operachi.” A unique stylist, she blends Mariachi and Opera in a stunning fashion. You can check out her current site, and here’s a shot of where I’m headed on it.

In some old web design news, Shane and I also built a new site for country music legend Johnny Lee. You might remember Johnny from the ’70s movie “Urban Cowboy” and for the hit he sang, “Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places.” We did a cool knob-turning effect with Johnny’s favorite amp, a Music Man, for the navigation. Check it out: JohnnyLeeFanclub.com.

Producing, Recording & Album Covers
Les Eason and the Steen Regime
At the Amusement Park Studio, I finished mixing Les Eason’s debut release, New World. We’re super happy with the record. Les is an great songwriter. If he plays in a town near you, don’t miss him. He’s got a great sense of melody and some really infectious songs. You can here them on his myspace page. Listen now! The CD was mastered by Jim Wilson at Airshow Mastering.

I also am finishing up Les’s album cover. I’m finishing the text layout tonight so we can press it. Here are some proofs (without text).

Bobby Bookout
I’ve been working with singer/songwriter Bobby Bookout on his debut disc. We’re working with Travis and Paul, owners of the Slanted Shack Studio in Austin, TX. I’ve spent several months (with me ferrying back and forth from Lubbock to Austin) in pre-production with Bobby, and he is so talented. He works until the song is right. He doesn’t give up on a line, and I’ve never heard him say, “Aww, that’s good enough.” His caring level about his art form is off the chart, and that thrills me. I got back from Austin last week where I got to track a couple of my fav guitarists: Keenan LeVick and Cale Richardson. The tracks sound stunning. Great songs, great players, great tones. Man, pinch me. I’m having fun! I’ll be posting some rough tracks in the future. Cale will be tracking more guitar and Hammond organ with me at the Amusement Park next, as the band he plays with (Ryan James) will be a guest artist on Thursday Night Live at South Plains College.

No Fences and some final thoughts
Finally, Ben and I tracked a quick demo for local Texas country band No Fences. They are super nice guys. A cool thing happened on this project. They came in, and in a week, we handed them a five-song demo (including 200 units… I now own a duplicator). Back when I was full-time at the college, I couldn’t do that. My schedule was too full to work on projects like that. As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t have gotten to do any of this if I hadn’t jumped off the cliff.

Thanks to everyone for supporting me in my leap of faith. Special thanks to all my friends out there who have and are praying for me and my family during this transition. I feel it, and it brings me closer. Next blog, I’ll finish with the David Brandon sessions… and I have a big announcement as well. Until then!

Ever since I was a kid, I was turned on by album art… Those great album covers of the past (Zep – Physical Graffiti, Kiss- Rock and Roll Over and Triumph – Just a Game are a few of my favorites) were like a window into a new world for me. It was because of a TV ad for a record store in Shreveport, Louisiana, that I began my musical and artistic journey. The album covers started hitting the screen and I was blown away. I made my dad take me to the record store and I bought a Kiss album. It was all over.

I decided I wanted to be a guitarist. And I wanted to make album covers. Both came true. I get the pleasure of creating art for some great musicians, most of which are up-and-coming. The latest projects I’ve completed are an album cover for new artist Andy Eppler and a website for country music hall-of-famer Johnny Lee.

Andy is a fantastic singer-songwriter I met while teaching at South Plains College. He has one of the best voices I’ve ever heard and is a massively prolific writer. He even decided to release 6 albums in 6 months once… and he did. They were home-done jobs, but the fire was there.

I had the pleasure of recording Andy for some of his latest CD and I did his cover. Here are some samples of the art we went with. By the way, you can find him on iTunes or visit his site to purchase his CD.

I ended up using about 150 layers in Photoshop on the outside of the booklet. Each photo (taken by my Chief Engineer Ben Mercado) had to be knocked out (they were originally on a black background) and was heavily treated. Ben took the photos at multiple angles which allowed my to place Andy in the depth of field easily.

The photos were taken outdoors and the sunlight washed them out a little. I used color burn, screen and multiply, along with various levels of opacity to create a stark, vintage, Pink Floydian look for the photos.

Here is a sample of what I did in Photoshop for those of you who like to look at how I treated the layers: Andy’s photo layers.

The background came from a painting Andy had done that we took a photo of when it was backlit by sunlight. That allowed us to capture a greater amount of brush strokes. We took the picture in my dining room. Then I altered the color.

I added the dirt from a photo of a West Texas road. The flower pots actually sit in front of my studio. And that was it. About 40 hours later we had a cover. To see more of my work, visit my gallery. Peace.