Music

“Whole Life” guitar solo

Posted by Evan on Feb 3, 2009 in Guitar Videos, Music, Unseen, Vidcast | 0 comments

The guitar solo from a song I wrote called “Whole Life”.

Using your iPhone as a remote control for iTunes

Posted by Evan on Jan 4, 2009 in Apple, Around the House, Computers, iPhone, Music, Technology | 0 comments

I’ve been working on setting up a work bench and trying to get things organized in the garage. I got a Blu-Ray player for Christmas and our small all-in-one home theater setup was no longer being used, so I decided to put it to use out in the garage, thinking it would be a great system that could probably produce enough volume to be heard over most of my power tools. I got it setup, ran all of the speaker wires and got things looking as organized as possible, speakers mounted to the walls and all and now there was the question of getting my music to the receiver so I could listen to it. This is where things got interesting.

Extending the network reach

We’ve got a large wireless network setup at the house currently but the signal wasn’t quite strong enough to reach to the back end of the garage, so I took one of the Airport Expresses I had lying around and plugged it in out by the receiver and a 2nd Airport Express towards the front of the garage to bridge the gap between my router and the one hooked up near the receiver. I set the “bridge” AE to extend my existing wireless network and the receiver’s AE to join my existing network and enabled AirTunes. I had a nice strong signal so I used an 1/8″ stereo to stereo RCA cable it hooked it from the receiver’s AE to the AUX input on the back of the receiver and was able to setup iTunes to play my music from my MacPro through my receiver in the garage, which was cool enough but I wanted a way to be able to change songs from the garage without going inside to interact with iTunes, and then it hit me.

The iTunes Remote Control

If you’re fortunate enough to have an iPhone you have access to one of the most amazing apps created for the device. It’s called Remote and it’s probably the best example of a sleeper app I’ve ever seen. I had downloaded it (it’s free) from the App Store but never really had a use for it until now. With Remote you’re able to connect to your iTunes library (as well as your Apple TV) and control the playback of songs. What’s amazing is that is also gives you a wonderful artwork view, ability to control AirTunes speakers, search your iTunes library, edit playlists and more. So instantly I had this amazingly powerful remote that allowed me to access and playback music sitting inside on my computer and hear it outside in the garage through my receiver and the sound quality was excellent.

The other bonus is that I now have wi-fi access out in the garage should the need ever come up

Melodyne Plugin… and my head explodes…

Posted by Evan on Mar 31, 2008 in Computers, Music, Technology | 0 comments

A friend recently sent me a link to the video file below. It’s called the Melodyne Plugin and it’s from a company called Celemony and it’s amazing. Tuning enhancement is something that’s been around for some time, but this is something I never thought would be possible.

I purchased the current version of their plugin for my Logic Express setup and I plan on upgrading to 2.0 (the first version to include their Direct Note Access technology) when it’s released this fall.

Celemony Melodyne Direct Note Access

Enjoy!

Unseen: The One

Posted by Evan on Mar 24, 2008 in Unseen | 0 comments

I play guitar and sing background vocals for a group called Unseen. The other members of the group include Jason Allen on bass, Jeremy Hendricks on drums and Mitchell Agee on vocals. We just had our 3rd practice this last Sunday and things are starting to come together very nicely. So far we’ve been learning some songs I’ve written over the last few years, which is very humbling. Here is a video from our last practice playing a song called “The One”. It’s a little heard to hear some of the parts but oh well. I’d love your comments and feedback! I’ve also included the lyrics below.

The One

Words and music by Evan Agee

I see you as the night turns to day
The sun begins to shine, forgetting all the troubles of yesterday
I see you and the clouds roll away
The sky bares its blue, for you

You’re nothing like my mother and you’re nothing like my friends
and you’re nothing like the woman like the woman I thought I would be with
and you’re nothing like the girls that I’m always chasing after
oh you’re nothing, nothing but the one.

I had heard when I found the girl for me
love would take control and guide us to our destiny
I had heard everyone has someone
one that’s meant to be for you

You’re nothing like my mother and you’re nothing like my friends
and you’re nothing like the woman like the woman I thought I would be with
and you’re nothing like the girls that I’m always chasing after
oh you’re nothing, nothing but the one.

Getting into podcasting!

Posted by Evan on Mar 11, 2008 in EvanAgee.com Updates, Technology, Unseen, What's new with me? | 0 comments

For almost a year I’ve had a seldom updated Vidcast, the EvanAgee.com Vidcast. It has been mostly a video diary series but I’m hoping to change that soon to include videos related to the things that I’m interested in such as web development/design, graphic design, photography, music, etc. It’s now on iTunes so if you’d like to subscribe I’d greatly appreciate it.

The church I attend, First Baptist Church of Richmond Indiana is also now podcasting! We finally got a new computer in our sound booth (a 20″ iMac) so now we’re recording the services digitally and releasing the sermon portion of the service online. You can check that out on iTunes as well. I’m really enjoying working on our church’s podcast, not something I get to do often.

For work I’ve been getting into some video-related work as well. We’re adding a component for uploading video that will subsequently be streamed via our video streaming server. It’s something that’s hard to troubleshoot and requires a bit of time but it’s great fun.

Some other great news is that the band I played with a couple of years back, Unseen, is reforming with a slightly altered lineup. This time around we’re playing mostly original music that I’ve written and we’re in the process of writing more. My brother Mitchell is going to be our vocalist so I’m really excited about that. He can sing well and it’ll be great to have a chance to spend more time together.

New guitar: Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster

Posted by Evan on Feb 20, 2008 in Music | 0 comments

So I got my taxes all paid yesterday and ended up owing much less than I had anticipated. With the extra money I had saved up Kristen and I decided to pay a few things off and I was able to purchase a new guitar for myself. So we packed up and headed to the Indianapolis Guitar Center.

I played a lot of guitars. The poor guy that just happened to ask us if we needed any help was up and down their guitar fetching ladder all night long. I played several American made Fender Strats including the Eric Johnson signature model and a new 2008 American Standard. I also played several Gibson Les Pauls including one of the beautiful blonde standards with a natural finish and a similar-looking Les Paul Studio. I even tried an SG Standard. However, all of the Gibson guitars felt almost identical to my Gibson Explorer and therefore wouldn’t offer me the tonal variety that I was looking for, so no Gibson for me today thanks.

The salesman asked me if I had ever played a PRS (Paul Reed Smith) and I haven’t. I had always assumed that they were essentially the same as a Gibson in terms of tone and playability but he insisted that they were built to be a best-of-both-worlds combination of a Gibson and a Fender, so I gave them a shot. The first one I played felt amazing. I was extremely close to choosing that guitar over all of the others I had played. It was extremely pricey but just barely under my limit. So I was down to three guitars, an American Deluxe Strat with a maple fretboard, an American Deluxe Strat with a rosewood fretboard and this PRS Custom 22 in a beautiful ruby finish. I sat them all in a row, ready to try them all again and see which felt and sounded the best. In the end the Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster with the rosewood fretboard won out over all of them, beating even the $2900 PRS. I had chosen my new guitar.

My wife, being the wonderful lady that she is, decided to also let me get a new amp also since I had chosen a guitar that was relatively inexpensive (compared to the Les Pauls and PRSs that I had played). I was looking for something with great tone, hopefully tube powered and with a few simple onboard effects so I could get by without my Line 6 Pod Pro if I didn’t want to cart my entire rig around to every practice. He recommended the Line 6/Bogner Spider Valve 112. I tried it and it is AMAZING! This thing has the best clean tone that I’ve ever been able to produce. I’ve owned a Marshall Valvestate 2×12 for the last 15 years and this amp really puts it to shame. I can get the full gamut of tones out of this small amp and it’s all tube!

I haven’t had much time to play with the guitar and amp yet, but I plan on fixing that soon.

Pat Metheny Group: First Circle

Posted by Evan on Jan 10, 2008 in Music | 0 comments

Possibly my favorite group of all time, the Pat Metheny Group. You owe it to yourself to listen to the entire song.

Guthrie Govan live performance

Posted by Evan on Dec 20, 2007 in Music | 0 comments

Another great performance by the amazing Guthrie Govan. The first half of the video is the song “Sevens” the second half is “Wonderful Slippery Thing”. Enjoy!

Michael Hedges – Cello Suite #1 in G Major (Bach)

Posted by Evan on Dec 19, 2007 in Music | 0 comments

A wonderful performance of a beautiful song by one of the greatest guitar players who ever lived. The late great Michael Hedges on the harp guitar.

Guthrie Govan – My new favorite guitarist

Posted by Evan on Dec 17, 2007 in Music | 0 comments

If you’ve never heard of him before, I’d like to introduce you to Guthrie Govan, an amazing guitarist from the UK who has just claimed the top spot on my list of favorite guitarists. Not only is he amazing, he also is one of the most tasteful players I’ve ever seen, often choosing the tasty lick over the shred and his phrasing is just amazing. This is him performing his song “Fives” from his album titled Erotic Cakes. You can find many more of his videos on YouTube. I highly recommend this video of him performing live with his band, Erotic Cakes.