It’s Official: I’ve made it! (…onto SignatureTone’s Staff Page!)

Posted on December 24, 2010 by steve.h
SignatureTone Recording Control Room

Click for more pictures of this awesome studio!

For the last year or so, I’ve been working out of SignatureTone Recording Studios in Richfield, MN. The head engineer/co-owner, Adam Tucker (of City Pages article fame) downloaded an Iron Thrones record, and I noticed the “@signaturetonerecording.com” email address and had to investigate. A couple of weeks later, we met up and have both honestly been a little creeped out at how well we’ve gotten along. Since that fateful day, I’ve involved him and his studio in almost every project I’ve done, even when I had to squeeze the budget a bit. And now I’m on the staff page! Hooray!

“Steve Henningsgaard – Producer, engineer, guitar tech, beard afficionato – featured on Blood and Ink Records, Tribunal Records, and lots of independent demos and full releases.“

It’s important to note that I’m not bringing projects there out of friendship or anything: the guy has a fantastic space, and some of the absolute best gear in the entire state, no joke (even considering how non-updated that list is: he’s got even more nutso shit now). And to top it off, the guy’s got golden ears, and he knows how to make that studio/gear fuckin’ sing. Barring any completely unforeseeable Scion-sponsored contest surprises, we’ll definitely be doing the next Iron Thrones record there.

I really hope we can get some kick-ass projects in there next year. I really want to see what we’re capable of in that space/with that gear.

-steve.h

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Y’know, sometimes Apple’s “Photo Booth” filters are fun

Posted on December 23, 2010 by steve.h

Who knew that Inverted Sepia Steve = Frozen Hell Santa?

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How To: Add a Bandcamp music player to your Facebook Page

Posted on December 22, 2010 by steve.h

UPDATE: When I originally posted this article in 2010, it was a pretty cumbersome process to add a Bandcamp player to your artist profile on Facebook. Since then, Facebook removed their FBML app (which this guide relied heavily upon), in favor of allowing iFrames to add custom content.

In the mean time, Bandcamp released their official Facebook App, which works quite well! Rather than simply repeating what they’ve said on their page, I figured I’d link to it (as this is still one of the top results for “Bandcamp Facebook”), as it very likely covers exactly what you’re searching for.

If you’re looking for a more customizable way to add a Bandcamp player (or anything else, for that matter), Facebook now allows iFrames, which essentially lets you create a webpage within Facebook, and can include pretty much anything you can think of. I might write a guide for fully utilizing this feature to add music, a merch store, videos, and a whole range of other things to your Facebook page.

For now, the Bandcamp App is probably your best bet! (That or the Soundcloud App, which I enjoy as well).

Hope this helps,

-steve.h

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Iron Thrones’ “The Wretched Sun” (my band’s new CD + 2010 recap)

Posted on December 20, 2010 by steve.h

Earlier this year, my band won a nutso contest put on by Scion (yes, the car company), which I blogged about somewhat extensively back in April. However, I neglected to mention anything that happened afterwards, or indeed the most important result of said contest: our new album! Although the contest was intended to include only a 15-minute EP, we ended up recording a 41-minute, 6-song EP titled “The Wretched Sun”. To be fair, we did submit a 12-minute song when we entered, so they had to know they were in for something a little longer than 15 minutes for an EP, but I really have to give it up to Will Putney (Producer/Barbecue & Beer Extraordinaire) for putting in what ended up being a huge amount of time, both in tracking and in mixing/mastering this album. He really didn’t have to be as cool as he was about it, and really the entire team behind the contest (Marc & Bram and the whole team at The Syndicate, Jamie and the crew at BigMachineMedia, Dave & Alisha and everyone at HeavyHitter Inc., and Frank & the MetalInjection.net crew) was really fucking awesome and supportive, along with the sites that covered our exploits & helped us promote the two East Coast tours we did in support of the album (Bram @ MetalInsider.net, Vince and Axl at MetalSucks.net, again Frank/MetalInjection.net, and of course Grover and everyone at thenumberoftheblog.com). No bullshit, it made this entire year unbelievably amazing for myself and the rest of the Iron Thrones dudes.

Honestly, the reality of what’s happened with Iron Thrones this year (crazy contest, new CD that I’m extremely proud of, and that made it on to at least 3 really awesome Top CD’s of 2010 lists, two East Coast tours) is only now beginning to sink in. Part of me feels a little better about my relative lack of progress as a producer/engineer in 2010, although I was pretty happy with the projects I did, particularly Mourner’s “Lifeless Eyes” EP (available for FREE RIGHT HERE, although donating a couple of bucks to their cause is something you can feel good about), as well as EP’s from Wisconsin’s “Our Judgment” and Minnesota’s “Numbers” (although I’d appreciate it if you took Myspace’s insanely horrible compression into consideration if you end up listening to those two), and a mix/master of ModSun’s “Hippy Hop EP”. I also can’t forget that I composed commercial music for three spots (one of ‘em) and engineered two voice-over sessions for the Travel Channel’s “Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern” and a “Big Lots!” commercial. Add in my new black metal project with Adam (Clemans, vocalist for Iron Thrones) that we started this month, and I’d say that I’m allowed to feel good about this year, bank account be damned!

Iron Thrones - "The Wretched Sun"

Posted in Following the Dream, Iron Thrones, My Music, No Label Needed Contest | Leave a comment

Following the Dream (a musician’s journey to who the hell knows where)

Posted on December 20, 2010 by steve.h

A few years back, when I first created this blog, I really had no idea what I’d end up writing or even why I was creating a blog in the first place. I suppose, like anyone, I felt like I had some things to say, was a reasonably competent writer, and potentially lead an interesting/eccentric-enough life that it might end up being worth reading about. Of course, I neglected to factor in my incredible laziness and attention deficit disorder, combined with my misdirected perfectionism and my penchant for writing/saying things without really thinking about them first. This, unsurprisingly, has resulted in quite a few unfocused, ill-conceived, and ultimately deleted posts. Ironically, as I’m currently in the middle of one of those sporadic rants, I really have no idea if this will end up getting deleted like all of the rest. I’d like to think that it will be the start of something awesome, a new chapter in the life of this blog, and my life in general. Obviously, only time will tell.

When I really think about it, this blog and my life both share some of the same problems. False-starts, sporadic periods of productivity, followed by long periods of sedentariness, and an overall lack of any perceivable forward momentum. Ironically, part of the reason my blog doesn’t really have much on it, is because I have a tendency to downplay my own achievements (likely a result of my inability to distinguish ego vs. self-confidence & humility vs. low self-esteem: something I’ve been working on lately). Thinking about it now, perhaps by focusing on getting this blog to where I think it should be, I might get some insight into how to move my life further in the direction I’d like it to go. Given my belief that our ability as humans to convincingly self-delude ourselves can be a positive thing, I think I’ll beguile myself into thinking the two are intimately interrelated; that my only hope for salvation and ultimate success as a musician & producer, and as a person in general, is to turn this blog into a positive, and ultimately therapeutic journal, chronicling the musical & personal experiences in my personal journey to who the hell knows where. Even if I ultimately fail miserably, it should end up being a potentially entertaining read.

Wish me luck!

-steve.h

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