Mark Hansen Music - LDS Rock Music - Free Downloads

Mark Hansen Music - LDS Rock Music - Free Downloads
Get the new CD, "The Third Time" HERE




WARNING: Listening to this music doesn't require parental approval. It's a bit of clean rebellion. It keeps your outlook up and your hope alive. It's got strong drums and screaming guitars. It pumps you up and drives your life. It's a hunger for exploration. It chooses the right and returns with honor. It's music you don't have to confess to your bishop.

It's not your parents' "Saturday’s Warrior".

It's "A Joyful Noise"

Monday, August 30, 2004

This weekend has been way, way busy! It was the weekend of the V'th annual LDS Music Fest.

It was especially busy for me, since I'm in charge of it each year! And this year, doubly so, because it was really not very well organized.

But in any case, it happened, and it pulled of very well. This year, I didn't run the sound, and what a wonderful load off my shoulders. We hired it out instead. I was then free to be around to make decisions, answer questions, manage the artist flow and keep things running smoothly.

I got to do some fun perfomances, first of all, the combo played for John, and that went over REALLY well. "Booka Mo", John's swing jazz version of "Book of Mormon Stories" was one of the hits of the fest.

I did a half-hour set at the start of the evening showcase, and I felt OK about it. It was fun. Jodi said it was one of the best performances she'd seen me do. It wasn't the best I felt, but it was good. It was tough for me because I wasn't in the monitors at all. I was relying on the main sound bouncing back at me to hear myself.

But it's still a rush to hear the crowd shout when I swing my mic for the first time!

Sunday, we did an experiment that worked very well. We did a separate fireside program for the inspirational music writers in the group. Very spiritual. I had a tear or two many times.

And after the strike on Saturday, we all got together at Dave's house for an after party. We played songs to each other for hours and hours.

I think the best part of the whole thing is just renewing and strengthening old friendships. It's a great time and a wonderful experience!

Wednesday, August 25, 2004

I finished "First Step" this morning. I just have to get it weedified, and on the site...

Woo Hoo!

Four more! I might just actually achieve this goal of being done by the end of the year. There is a light at the end of the tunnel...

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

Hey, the last few days have been very hectic, both with me being out of town for my birthday/anniverary (42/17), and then also not being connected to blogger...

But anyway, I've recut the "First Step" vocals, and have begun the mix. It might have even been finished this morning, but as I listened to it in my car, it still needs work. But it's getting closer.

Friday, August 20, 2004

As I was reading over the blog (after I published) I realized I had forgotten a coupla things.

The other night, A friend of mine gave me some orchestral samples he'd downloaded off the net, and I got around to installing them into a player. Devious ol' Mark, the whole reason was, of course, "Millstones".

So, I fired it up and it sounds soooooo good. I played with the mix some, but it's going to be a very very difficult mix to realize. With the strings and the layers of guitars, there is just so much going on in this tune. It'll be very difficult to find places for it all.

If you'll recall, John was the one to do the string arrangements.

There's still some more work to do on that tune, too. I've got to get Morey in to sparkle up the drums, and I've got to recut the vocals. The original backing vocals, I think I can keep them. But there's some things in the scratch lead that I can do way better.

Once I get "Step" done, I'll probably tackle "Millstones" next.

Had a great time with my musical friends last night. Morey, Matt and John came over to prepare for the festival. It'll be quite fun. We're doing three things, one's a little audience warmup, another is John's "Desert Flower" a gorgeous slow jazz tune he wrote for his daughter, and then "Booka Mo", which is a fast swing version of "Book of Mormon Stories". It's way, way fun, and I'm certain it will turn out to be one of the more memorable highlights of the fest.

Then afterward, I stayed up a bit later and cut vocals for "The First Step". Many of you might remember that long, long ago, when I got Cubase and went digital for the first time, I started working on this song. It had originally been written for the baptism of a good friend's daughter. I think she's in high school, now...

Anyway, I recorded a version of the song, and put it out on iuma. I did it with the intention of it being on "my album", whenever that would happen. Well, three years or so later, it's happening. I'm still using the same basic tracks, and I'm just recutting the main and decorative vocals. The backing vocals were done by Anne Corey, and they're so smooth and gorgeous that I'm keeping them.

So, the next step (pardon the pun) is to comp the vocal line, then prep the tracks for mixing, and then redo the mix.

This tune is kind of a departure for me. It's got a sort of Tom Petty, folky feel to it. A very simple tune. I like to use it to start my acoustic shows.

Friday, August 13, 2004

Not doin' much. I've been archiving songs to CD. The ones that I've finished. Each one can take me as much as 40 minutes to do. So, I grab a moment here and a moment there.

Filing away the songs and removing them from my hard drive has shown me that I reall have gotten a lot accomplished.

As I've been readying these songs, I've also realized just how long I've been working on this CD. For some of these tunes, I've finished the first versions of them back in '02! Two years ago!

Oh, well. It keeps on progressing, doesn't it?

Monday, August 09, 2004

This was a way, way, way busy weekend. I went up to Bear Lake, where I love to take my family, and performed three times in two days at the "Raspberry Days" festival.

Friday afternoon, I sang for a half hour to my tracks on the main stage in the Garden City Park, to a large and receptive crowd. It went really well.

Then, Saturday morning, I set up a little gear on the church lawn, where the scout troop was hosting the annual Pancake Breakfast, and I provided acoustic background music for them. Got a lot of good feedback, and I gave away a lot of Pass-it-On CD's. I played for about 2 hours. I was in the shade when I set up, but not long after that, I was in sun, so I'm lookin' like the Lobsterman today! :-)

Then, Saturday afternoon, I performed to tracks again in the park. I don't feel that one was as strong as the Friday show, but it was still fun, and a good crowd.

All in all, a great weekend.


Friday, August 06, 2004

We had a lot of fun tonight. John and Morey, and a friend named Matt all got together to work up a couple of John's tunes for the fest. But, we're doing them live, not to tracks.

It's been a long time since I did any truly live playing in a group setting. Challenging and lots of fun. It's weird to not have a click track holding you together. You're just all playing along. It's magic!


Monday, August 02, 2004

Another song finished! I just ran the completed "Thank You" mixes.

It's a good feeling. I've been enjoying getting so many songs done recently. It's nice to move forward!


Over the last couple of days, I've been working on "Thank You" a lot. First, preparing for mix. That includes striping all the VST isntruments from MIDI to audio, throwing out all the extraneous tracks that I'm not gonna use, resetting all the faders to 0, and setting up the group tracks.

Did any of that make any sense to the non-technical?

Well, suffice it to say that it takes about an hour to an hour and a half to take all the final tracks and get them ready to even start the mixing process.

Then, I got a rough mix done. It's pretty solid, but there's a few tweaks to make. And I still haven't added reverb or effects, yet. If the mix is tight to begin with, the blends good, etc.. Then you don't need much 'verb.


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