2005 Release: Stephen Berg

Stephen Berg's new CD: Stephen Berg

Now available at CD Baby!

Produced by Stephen Berg. Recorded at Victorian Studios, except:
"All I Know II" which was recorded and produced by Phil King
at his studio in Rogers, MN

Musicians:
Stephen Berg: guitars, bass, drums, vocals
Phil King: bass on "All I Know II"
Mike Kebsheart: drums on "All I Know II"
Art Bjorngjeld: push button accordian on "Samuel Checote"

Songs by Stephen Berg except:

"Filled With Love" which is by Joyce Andersen.
Copyright © 2004 by Joyce Andersen.
Published by Joyscream Music, ASCAP.
Used by permission. Visit Joyce at her website:

http://joyscream.com

"John the Revelator" which is traditional, arranged by Stephen Berg.

Special Thanks to all the musicians I've worked
with over the years:
Phil King, Art Bjorngjeld, Mike Kebsworth, Dan Ferguson,
Charles Hayslett, Jayson Eidsvoog, Dallas Taylor,
Michael Menege, Rob Dosedel, Jeff Hockett, Scott Tronson,
Robert Hanson, Shawn Holt, Tracey Rhen, Leah Ramos,
Michael Schultz, Robert Aldrich, David Neslund, Scott Chaffee,
Kevin Neslund, Wes Peterson, Ken Barens, Annie Duetch,
Dan, Howie the drummer, Bruce Hinrichs, Ken Cybyske,
Julie at CUMC, Kimberly Hiltbrand, Ted Ward, Blake,
Greg Pudwell, Todd Fugere, Holger Wongel, Annette Larson,
Geralyn Sorensen, Craig Ebel, and Shelly Heida.

Additional Thanks To:
My family, Riverview United Methodist Church, Rev. Debra Wells,
Rev. Linda Kohlman, Rev. Kathi Austin Mahle, Rev. Bill Eaves,
Phil Holt, and anyone else who has supported me these years.

And last but not least, thanks to my wife Erin, who puts up
with all the noise!

Track Listing:

1. Filled with Love (Joyce Andersen)

2. John the Revelator (Traditional, arr. Berg)

3. Samuel Checote (Stephen Berg)

4. All I Know II (Stephen Berg)

5. I Will Always (Stephen Berg)

6. Over and Over (Stephen Berg)

7. Nation of Victims (Stephen Berg)

8. All the Same (Stephen Berg)

9. Ancient Mariners (Stephen berg)

10. Nothing but a Killer (Stephen Berg)

To sample the entire CD, click the little icon below. You can listen to samples of the entire CD in two minute sound clips.

Click me to listen to the new album!!

For lyrics, go to the Lyrics page.

About the Songs:

Filled With Love (Joyce Andersen)

I first heard this on the CD Vote in November, a collection of anti-Bush and anti-war songs. This was the last song on the CD, and it was uplifiting and beautiful, and I wrote a rock version of it.

John the Revelator

Made famous by Sun House, I first heard this on a Phil Keaggy record called Crimson and Blue. It was fun to re-arrange. It’s kind of an old blues/gospel thing.

Samuel Checote

In my ministry studies I learned about Samuel Checote, at Native American preacher. My friend Art Bjorngjeld is playing the accordion on this one. I wrote this song for a class I had on United Methodist History and Polity at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. We had to do a presentation, and I thought it a unique way to introduce the historical figure.

All I Know II

I wrote this song for Paul Wellstone, the senator for Minnesota who died tragically in a small plane crash a week or so before the 2002 election. He was one of the few politicians who I could trust, and had met him once at a rally and found him to be warm, honest, and interested in those that elected him. This is a “redone” version. I had put this out on my CD The Left Is Right.

I Will Always

A basic, unrequited love song.

Over and Over

This came from marching for peace in Minneapolis. We went with some friends from church to join the crowd at the Lake Street Bridge in Minneapolis. My work schedule does not usually allow me to get there during the day, so we went on a day off from work. My wife and I had never done this before, and were amazed at how many people honked and gave support.

Nation of Victims

This song needs a lot of explaining. I am in no way trying to “blame the victim” for anything here. What I don’t like people who victimize others and then blame it on someone else. The verses are pretty succinct.

Verse one deals with drunk drivers who kill, then blame the bartender for serving them too many drinks. Two friends of mine each had horrific, life changing experiences after being the victim of one who drove, drank, then killed and maimed.

Verse two deals with spousal abuse.

The last verse just reiterates the first two.

All the Same

My shot at a country song.

Ancient Mariners

My wife Erin and I spend a lot of time at the North Shore by Lake Superior. There are a lot of shipwrecks, and the lake can get downright nasty. I love the area, but the lake is very unpredictable. You may be familiar with the story of the Edmund Fitzgerald that sank around 1977. That ship is just one of many wrecks in the Great Lakes.

Nothing but a Killer

Written when George Bush was still governor of Texas, I was appalled that he had signed so many death warrants. I am a United Methodist, and our discipline states that we oppose the death penalty. Bush is a United Methodist as well, yet he is a strong advocate of capital punishment. Jesus said how we treat the least among us is how we treat Him. I would assume that a person on death row (if they are indeed guilty, DNA evidence is clearing some of these people) is one of the least among us. Christ commands us to show mercy. This one has gotten me in trouble in the Christian Music community, especially among the Evangelicals. You may or may not agree.

Studio Log

Kind of the "how did you do it" section of the story of the CD, this is a day by day log of my recording activities. Interesting to studio nerds, I thought I would include it because a friend of mine had this vision of a bunch of people showing up for a day and recording, when in actuality, since I do it all myself, it takes a TON of time.

I did have a few songs laying around, especially "All I Know II," "I Will Always," "All the Same," and "Samuel Checote." The other six songs had work commencing on them on 11-01-04 and it took me approximately two months to complete the project.

So read and enjoy...

March 2003 I recorded "All The Same." Tracking as follows: acoustic guitar, clean electric Stratocaster, bass, drum machine, electric lead guitar, vocal. I had also tried real drums but I couldn’t get it together. I needed simplicity. This took a couple days as I remember.

07-03-03 Recorded "Ancient Mariners." Guitar and voice. Done in evening.

02-19-04 Recorded "Samuel Checote" for class project. Two guitars, voice.

05-01-04 Recorded "I Will Always". Just voice and guitar. I believe it will stay that way. Finished approximately 10:40 pm.

11-01-04 Recorded song by Joyce Anderson called "Filled With Love." I have also obtained permission from her to record the song as long as I pay .08 mechanicals. This was all done in one evening from approximately 7-9pm. Instrumentation is Fender Strat clean with echo and really distorted. All direct signals from Digitech RP100. Used presets 7 for distortion and preset 9 for the 50's echo sound. The drums are recorded over two tracks with the Dr. Rhythm with bass drum, snare, and toms recorded on one track separately from the cymbals and high hat. This enabled me to get a much more consistent beat.

11-05-04 Started work on "Nation of Victims." Session lasted from approximately 7pm until 9:30 pm. Recorded two rhythm guitars, bass, drums, vocals and two leads. I wasn’t satisfied with the lead parts until I recorded them off my Crate Vintage Club miking it with the V-Tech cheap microphone. Mixed down a version and realized I didn’t know the words and the guitars didn’t mix, especially the first rhythm guitar.

11-08-04 More work on "Nation of Victims." I eliminated the first rhythm track and replaced it with a miked version. Also, re-recorded the drums, close miking them for more definition. The other was recorded off one overhead microphone and a bass drum microphone. I changed this by close miking the snare and high hat as well as the bass drum. I also dumped the two lead parts and re-recorded using my fingers instead of a pick. It worked much better. Redid the vocal, erasing the old one and getting the lyrics right this time. I added Non-Linear reverb from my Alesis Nano-verb on the vocal and it came out well. It took a couple tries. The effects off the Alesis are more versatile than the ones on Magix. Worked from 7pm until 10:20pm.

11-09-04 Late night session, and finished up "Nation of Victims" with the exception of maybe adding a backing vocal. I redid the bass as it sounded out of tune after I had played it in the car. Then I mixed down and I think I have a finished product. Worked from 10:00pm until 11:15pm.

11-20-04 Worked on "Filled With Love" Added two lead guitars to tracks 9-10 and played harmonies, full distortion but guitar up halfway, middle and neck pickup. Added background vocal to track 7. Guitars are Fender Strat miked with ambient miking with Marshall vocal mike. Added acoustic guitar to track 8 and used Marshall vocal mike. Muted clean electric on track 6. Worked from 9:15 pm until 1:00 am. Made rough mix.

11-21-04 Late night session, worked from 11pm until 1:15 am. Recorded bass part on Samuel Checote, the original multi-track was made on 02-19-04 with two guitars and voice. I tried experimenting with some other guitar parts but didn’t like much of it. Leaving track 4 open eventually for Art’s accordian - hopefully I can find a harmony.

11-21-04 10:00- 11:20p.m. prepared final mix of "Filled With Love." Deleted all double tracked guitar solos except at very beginning and at end. Sounds much less cluttered. Also worked on the mix of "Samuel Checote." I pulled down a lot of the treble and cut the reverb to make it only slight, and much improved. The S sound was always so harsh. Also brought up the lead guitar. Just need an accordian....

11-28-04 7:00-10:00 pm - Worked in an open tuning with the Strat, utilizing an open G, run live through the amp with my Digitech RP100 on preset 22, and really loud I got a good rhythm track. Added bass and drums and a rough vocal and solo. Wrote lyrics and it came out as "Over and Over Again," an anti war song brought out about the phrase that in order to win you have to lose a lot. I tried a really rough sounding vocal and made a rough mix.

12-02-04 1:30-2:00 pm - Re-recorded drums on "Over and Over Again, getting in about three takes. 6:15-6:35 pm - Did a new lead solo on the Strat, direct signal as the original take was so sloppy. Wiped old drum and lead solo as well as vocal so I’m not tempted to use them again.9:30-10:15 recorded new lead vocal with harmony. Did rough mix but may be final mix.

12-06-04 8-9pm added brushed drums to "Samuel Checote." This is now ready for Art to overdub accordian. Also leared "John The Revelator" as I am struggling for new material. Is a traditional song that was done by Phil Keaggy.

12-09-04 6:30pm - 10:00 recorded a version of "John The Revelator." Used setting 22 and stratocaster for the rhythm, bass direct. The drums took the longest, approximately 1.5 hours to get through the song after rehearsing it quite a few times. Getting a strange buzz on my amplifier but backed the microphone off and it came out okay. Added a bit of delay to the guitar solo. Used the Stratocaster. From 10:15-11:00pm did a rough mix of the song, and cleaned it up. Again using older version of software to get the stereo delay. Need to overdub some background vocals on this.

Everything on this song with the exception of the vocal are direct signals. I have been going right out of the headset jack on my guitar processor and I am getting very wild sounds. I am pretty happy with the results.

12-12-04 Worked on "John the Revelator" wiping my two previous lead vocals, recording a new one, and then adding three background vocals and a cleaner rhythm guitar. Filled out nicely, but I may redo the lead vocal as my voice is shot today. 7:00 -10:00 pm.

12-13-04 Re-recorded vocal for "Revelator" wiping the old one. Did a final mix down to Click and Build and then edited out any pops etc. from the cutting of tracks on the final mixing. Did a rough mix of "Checote" with the drums and it sounds way too sloppy. I will dump the drum part. Assembled a mock album including "Nothing But A Killer" from a few years ago. My next process is to re-record "Killer" updating a bit. This will give me 10 tracks including "All I Know II." 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm.

12-16-04 7pm - 9:30 pm. Found a dead shrew downstairs, so I finally figured out what smelled like something dead. Recorded a Casio drum track heavily reverbed, spacey guitar, bass, and a drum overdub for the basic tracks for "Nothing But A Killer." Also added a guide vocal.

11pm - 1am. Recorded a choppy rhythm guitar and a distorted guitar (preset number 19) panned left and right. Also recorded guitar solo and a nearly perfect vocal. What is left to do are background vocals, and some sort of different solo instrument for the first part of the solo. I wiped the guide vocal on track 24, and I’ve filled up 8 tracks so far. Struggling a little with the words. This is a plodding type of song, and very different from the original version. I probably will redo the lead vocal, as I am pretty tired now.

12-17-04 12:00 noon to 2 pm. Replaced lead vocal and added background vocal. Did a full drum track and decided to go with that and probably dump the electronic drums. I used my Alesis Nanoverb on the vocals, with a chorus and room setting, and it sounds really nice. The only thing left would be a keyboard or other kind of solo to fill the one spot.

12-23-04 Had my son Tyler try a tenor sax part on "Nothing But A Killer," but there was something about how I scored it on Print Music and it wasn’t the sound we were looking for.

12-26-04 Worked a little on "Ancient Mariners" in cutting some of the treble frequencies. I will probably cut the volume.

12-27-04 8:45am - 9:15 am - recorded classical guitar for very simple solo on "Nothing But A Killer" as it needed something in the first solo section. This sound works as it is gentle before going into the electric solo. This recording is done. I did final mix.

7:30-9:00 - Art came and recorded an accordian part on "Samuel Checote." I believe that this is the last session for this CD. He got it on the third take. The second take would have been fine, but I had a disc error. To avoid this, I mixed down what we had, and then created a new project with the mixed down version on one track and Art’s accordian on the other.

12-28-04 Re-recorded "Ancient Mariners." I’ve never been totally happy with the old recording. Tracked vocal and guitar on track 1. Used the Marshall large diaphragm microphone to catch voice and guitar and also ran a direct out of the acoustic. Added bass to track 2, tambourine out of the drum machine on track 3, and lastly brushes on track 4. Added some reverbs and I like what I got. Worked from 7pm - 9pm. Now I think I am done with the actual recording of the project.