But I think these pix are too cool… !

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Here are a few pictures from the Lab Art Show in Vancouver, May 3, 2014.

Your very own Voxman Kyle was the MC for the event. He had his makeup put on for over an hour AND the next person to be worked on was a beautiful naked lady… you know, body painting! Oh.

What a great great night; I do believe that Vancouver likes The Big Mess pretty darn well!!! 14159013304_21a61a5255_o 13972251080_f0b42c5a00_o 13974563807_9b0eecac7c_o 13972236397_51ee2a72a6_o 13972261000_8728b8faf2_o 14135713016_31d4b96603_o 14178968713_41b7c63f98_o

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The photographers are amazing!
Check out the website: http://www.farawayland.ca
That is for Lucho Berzek.  Stunning photography!

The other photographer is Gregory Forsberg
https://www.facebook.com/GregoryForsbergPhotography

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The Big Mess Invades Granville Island!!

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Big Waterfront Mess

The Big Mess is a Happier Big Mess!  We were invited to perform this summer as a part of SEGI. What is SEGI, you might reasonably ask?

SEGI stands for Summer Entertainment Granville Island. It’s kinda like being an Elite Busker for the Granville Island weekends and holidays. We are so very happy to be a part of this!  Come visit us in Vancouver!

Big Mess cd released!!!

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The Big Mess cd front cover

The Big Mess cd front cover

Yep, it is totally true. The Big Mess has produced it’s very first cd. Now, as Kyle says, you can bring The Big Mess home with you!!! (Scary thought, and/but nice & fun cd!) We’re getting such a delightful response from it! YEA!

The Big Mess: Busking in Nanaimo

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Who is having a blast busking in Nanaimo?
WE ARE!!! WE ARE!!!

The VoxMan and I got frustrated with having to make sure that our “case was closed”… so we purchased a group and individual busking licenses. Oh my god, we’ve unleashed a Monster!!

We’re having so much fun making music down at the waterfront. I mean REAL FUN. Dusk has never been the same!

The city of Nanaimo is very strict on what you can and can not do, so we purchased a small battery-operated but beautiful sounding system. Kyle recently purchased a cahon and the rest is history.

Last night, while we were in the middle of a song, our good buddy Mikaila Tombe appeared in the waterfront audience. As soon as I saw her, I had an idea… but it took all of us to play along… and it worked PERFECTLY. When we finished the song, I told Kyle to maybe ask someone in the audience if they might want to sing along with us. Kyle was on to where I was going with this, so he pointed to someone who he knew for sure wouldn’t join us. When they refused, he then pointed to Mikaila, who shyly played along… and then totally blew away everyone with “At Last”. I don’t think that anyone was on to our spontaneous little theatre act… even though Mikaila did a few more songs with us. Oh god, that was so fun!!

 

Sunday afternoon at Ape Island Studio

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Kyle and I, along with Mikaila Artemisa Tombe, had a delightful afternoon with Jim Blair at his Ape Island Studio. What did we do that was so delightful, you might ask? We tested a whole bunch of different microphones!

Here’s how Jim put it:

What a great day! We had an afternoon of microphone comparisons. Neumann U87, Neumann M147, Lawson L47, 414BTL2, 57, Beyerdynamic M88, Royer 122 ribbon (both sides), 421, SM7, ADK A51TC, ADK A51V, ADK A51SL, all recording a male singer, female singer, and trumpet through an API 512b. Thanks to Mikaila Tombe, Marty and Kyle Shepard (The Big Mess), Todd Dunsmore at The Vineyard Studio, and Julian Bakker.

Essentially, we each recorded the same thing over and over and over again so we could compare the sound of a plethora of really really nice microphones. Male voice, female voice, trumpet. Trying to see what mic suits what purpose.

We haven’t even heard ANY playback whatsoever. Well, that’s not entirely true. Jim listened to it and messaged me: Had a quick listen to the tracks today. VERY interesting.

I know that this makes me a total geek/nerd, but I can not wait to hear the tracks and decide on my fav takes and see if my favourites are similar to other’s favs. Life is good.

Double Gig Night and Kyle’s Pants Rip, Big time!!!!

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Last night, The Big Mess played at Crown Isle Resort’s WineFest. Had a great time and received lots of great comments! Of course, the highlight of the night was when Kyle lifted his leg up and over the bass drum, totally ripping the seam of his crotch and down his leg. I good time was had by all the women! Kyle was wearing Bright Red underpants, thank you.

So, in the middle of the WineFest gig, we were asked if we could play a private party right after we finished. We said yep, and although we were pooped pups, we ended having a great time. God bless energy drinks!

 

VoxMan Kyle: Four month sojourn to South & Central America!

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The rumors are true. VoxMan Kyle is leaving on November 15th for a much-desired sojourn to South and Central America. He’ll be back just around March 15th, 2012.

On Saturday night, November 12th, The Big Mess will be at Acme Food Co, Nanaimo. It’s a celebration of 1. Acme’s Second (2nd) Anniversary AND 2. Kyle’s trip.

Marty will be staying in Beautiful Downtown Nanaimo, taking bookings for The Big Mess for Spring, Summer and Fall.

New concerts in April, with the one and only Joëlle Rabu

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Two Shows One Concert at Headliners in Nanaimo and Phoenix Auditorium on Gabriola Island

The Big Mess meets Joelle Rabu

This is a very special concert for The Big Mess because we are sharing the stage with Joëlle Rabu and & Nico Rodes. Joëlle is a world renowned vocalist and Nico is like Chopin meets Jackson Pollock on the piano. Not only are they dazzling performers and magnificent musicians, they are very dear friends of ours AND they are, like The Big Mess, a parent-kid collaboration. So there will be a lot of fun, authentic energy spinning around on the nights of these shows. They are two separate acts for the same price, but there will also be some interesting crossover. We joined Joëlle and Nico in Puerta Vallarta Mexico where we ended up rocking the stage together in some very tasty collaborative jams.

Due to popular demand, we are offering this show on two nights, once at Headliners in Nanaimo and once at the Phoenix Auditorium on Gabriola. Tickets are $20 and will soon be available to purchase at Artworks on Gabe and at Headliners in Nanaimo.

Stay tuned, stay happy, and bless ya

from da Big Mess

Another delightful show at our favorite place

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Big thanks goes out to Acme Food Co. for being our close friends and most comfy performance space. We had a truly delightful show there last Saturday. Delightful not only because were there at least two tables of folks who came because they saw our newspaper advert and youtube videos (marketing really works!!!), but also because we were using some new gear that reallllllly improved the quality of our sound.

I am now using a TC-Helicon VoiceTone for something called Adaptive Compression and Shape modelling, and a new microphone: the Shure Beta 87. And let me tell YOU, a $300 mic can definitely be a delicious improvement over a $100 mic. The sound of my voice is now crisp and present, and I don’t have to make-out with the mic in order to make my beatboxing audible. The inspiration from the nice new sound and the very appreciative, happy audience led me to surprise Marty with an encore tune that he didn’t expect…. mwa ha ha ha ha!

Now we are looking forward to our upcoming concerts in April! Which I’ll post about in a few minutes once the posters are ready!

Ciao for now, friendly fans and secret admirers.

– VoxMan

Sync, sank, sunk… A big messy timeline

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We are deep into the land of timelines, media bins, preview windows, and video codecs.

It is a lot of fun, jeez let me tell you oh boy oh boy. With four tracks of unmixed audio per video track, and 3 video tracks from different angles per song, and 6 songs on the hotplate, that’s a WHOLE LOTTA TRACKS TO GET MESSY WITH. Marty, who was a professional video editor for a hefty chunk of his past, assuages my tendency towards frustration by reminding me that every project begins with a phase he calls “The Quicksand”. That’s where you work and work and work and it feels like you make no progress at all and you THINK that this is gonna be the way it is, and you can’t possibly imagine how you’ll cling on to sanity at such a stubborn crawl. But this uncompromising limp of our creative gait is actually just the ironing out of the inevitable wrinkles that come with any big project, and the Quicksand is sure to melt away into a more satisfying flow. Well, I think that’s starting to happen, finally, after 2 and a half days of transferring, rendering, instruction manual scrutinizing, syncing, and workflow scheming (complete with little drawings of our brains and which parts of them are melting, freezing, or going on unannounced vacations).

Here is a screen shot of our Big Mess timeline. This is the song Big Mess, which is in the Fine Cut stage.

We are using Sony’s Vegas Movie Studio HD. Yes I’m a mac guy. Yes I have a film degree. PM me if you want to start a debate about why I’m not using Final Cut Pro.Big Mess video edit in Sony Vegas Movie Studio