Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Acoustically Inclined cd release party gig and The End Cafe on 2360 Commercial Drive this Thursday Dec. 11, at 8 pm. There is no cover so no reason to not be there! Sherri joins on percussion and Alice may sit in for a few tunes on keys too. It's going to be a great evening!

The first review came in today from Stuart Derdeyn the Entertainment Editor at The Province. It was under the headline, A few gift ideas for that person who loves to hear something a bit different.
He said.
With her powerful voice and strong writing, this prolific indie singer/songwriter offers up 16 tracks including a cover of These Boots are Made for walking on her eighth full length album.

For those of you out of town you can now download a copy at cdbaby or order a copy from my site. I happily autograph if you like.

http://www.norinebraun.com/products.html
http://cdbaby.com/cd/norinebraun7

I should have all the lyrics and samples up of the new album by this weekend but you can hear a few on the listen page at my site or all of them at cdbaby.

I hope to see you on Thursday!

Cheers,
Norine
http://www.norinebraun.com

Saturday, November 08, 2008


Here is the official cover and yes that is my handwriting to add that personal touch to the package. The manufacturing of the cd is in process yahoo! I have approved all the graphics and the tee shirts will be approved on Monday. I have been checking around to get a place for the cd release party gig and The End Pub on 2360 Commercial Drive has confirmed for Thursday Dec. 11, at 8 pm
This newly renovated pub is sure to become a new music venue for the area, it should be alot of fun. There is no cover so no reason to not be there!

I was one of several artists Music BC selected to promote at the Japan China Trade Mission currently happening this week. For the second year, the Canadian Independent Record Production Association is spearheading a "music trade mission" to Japan, with industry representatives from a host of Asian countries expected to take in performances by and meet with Canadian artists as well as a slate of record labels.

CJSF 90.1 FM or cjsf.ca has a show called Melodies in Mind and I will be one fo 4 songwriters performing live on air at 9pm Dec. 2, 2008 followed by a live show with the same group at Highland Pub at SFU Campus on Dec 8 also at 9pm (PST) cover is $5.

I am compiling media lists and roots based acoustic lists for the release so am busy as ever. Will let you know soon how that is going too.
Cheers,
Norine

Tuesday, October 14, 2008



Had a great conversation with A.T. my graphic designer about the images and he had found some new images in keeping with the feel and idea of the album ..acoustic, introspective and i like his new direction. He is keeping the moodiness but with simple elegance. The steel blue tones really draw me in and gives listeners an idea what to expect when they hear the album. Here is the new perspective.
Cheers! nb

Sunday, October 12, 2008






Happy Thanksgiving!
The gigs last weekend went very well. The one called Family Fest near Seattle had a major windstorm arise while I and others were playing. At one point 3 people were holding down the stage tent legs while I played, the show must go on! A tree came crashing down during my second song to boot and no one was hurt, quite an adventure. A friend said I really blew them away ( ha ha).
The Drift festival here on Main in Vancouver last Sunday was good too, with lots of people coming in and the place had a good sound.

Well I have decided to go with cdwest a local company here in the lower mainland. they have a great promo this month and with the dollar declining wise to stay local.

They will doing the graphics this week andhere are some shots that may end up somewhere on the new album. Alice took the photos of me the other are from an online source.

Let me know what you think.

Cheers,
Norine

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Brian Ball from Women’s Radio interviewed me yesterday and you can hear the podcast now online at
http://www.womensradio.com/content/templates/?a=3079&z=8
(copy and paste into your browser sorry I still haven’t figured out the link system here)
Cheers,
Norine

Saturday, September 20, 2008










Well great news the recording of the album is complete and ready to roll! I had a wonderful time at Rear Window Studios with multi-talented Adam Popowitz on Wednesday afternoon. He has an amazing little studio with windows facing the lush green woods and protected habitat. A great spot to feel inspired. I came with a metronome of sorts to help me get that rhythm down which was eluding me in cross town studios. I dusted of my old Roland key board and grabbed an r and b drum loop for Truth and Dares and then a crazy cheesy 90s dance beat at 145 beats a minute for Christmas Bells and practiced with this for several days and was indeed the answer to my troubles. I did Truth and Dares in 2 takes and am very happy with the energy and vocals of this live track, my guitar is almost smokin. Christmas Bells took a few more attempts but it too surfaced with the feel I was after. Neither of theses tunes have the cheesy drum tracks of course on the final mix but sure helped immensely in the delivery. I did Take Back the Power in free form without the click and it worked well too. This song was harder to program a drum loop as there is a tempo change midway but I get the groove with this one pretty easily. Adam was a joy to work with and got into the groove of the tunes. I look forward to working with him again. He reminds me of James Bowers a producer and friend and I worked with for many years and who also recorded some of the songs on this album from prior releases. Adam approaches songs in a similar manner and intensity and is also a multi-instrumentalist which is always any singer-songwriter’s dream ...the all in one package. Alice joined me in the studio for her ears and input on the creative process. She enjoyed the experience and was impressed with the session as well.

SO here is the lineup for the album:
Acoustically Inclined Norine Braun
1.Truth and Dares 3:31

2.Another Man's Fate 4:03

3.Ballad Of Magic Man 2:36

4.Take Back The Power 3:03

5. Christmas Bells 3:11

6. Love & Not Fear 4:21

7. Miles To Go 3:54

8. Dreams 2:49

9.There_s A Long, Long Trail A Winding 2:02

10. Little Girl With Golden Hair 4:07

11. Junkie 3;00

12.Be Brave 2:39

13. persephone 3:50

14. human kindness 3:00

15. Climb The Mountain 3:53

16. These Boots Are Made For Walkin 2:21


Truth and Dares is the lead track and here is the link to have a listen.
http://www3.telus.net/norinebraun/TruthandDares%201.mp3

The lyrics...

Truth and Dares
Never needed anyone
She always did it on her own
Life seemed always black and white
People get there on their own
Willful youth she sacrificed
Her glass filled half way
In the night, in the night
She plays truth and dares

She wakes up living on the street
She’s hungry can’t find enough to eat
She’s lonely, drunks lie at her feet

Downtown, she lives downtown

She looks at me with vacant eyes
I worry that she might recognize
My interest or my empty lies

Downtown, she lives downtown

Garbage in her livingroom
She threw her pearls to the swine
World’s my oyster anyways
You see I manifest divine
Mystic visions watching me
I get connected all the time
In the night, in the night
She knows truth and dares

I walk past her most everyday
She asks for change I give away
I give my penance for the day
Downtown she lives downtown

I stand corrected in front of truth
My mind unravels the naked ruse
The spirit moves me into use
Downtown she lives downtown

Never needed anyone
She always did it on her own
Life seemed always black and white
People get there on their own
Willful youth she sacrificed
Her glass filled half way
In the night, in the night
She knows truth and dares

©Norine Braun August 27, 2008



I am very happy with this collection of acoustic tunes and I think the album demonstrates my live performance well and how songs begin in their purest form...vocal and guitar. I hope you enjoy them too.

I called Craig Waddell from Gotham City Studios and we met for coffee on the drive Friday. He is the master of mastering and has mastered thousands of albums from indies like me to the big well known artists like Sarah McLachlan, Fear Factory, Grateful Dead, Loverboy, Delerium...
An honour to have such an incredibly talented mastering artist work on this recording.

Here is the definition of Mastering for you from musicbiz academy. Mastering is
the audio step that comes just before manufacturing a CD. Once you have finished recording and mixing your songs, the tracks are shaped, sculpted, scooped, equalized, compressed, and finessed into sonic splendor (well, you hope) through the audio process known as mastering. Mastering is what gives depth, punch, clarity and volume to your tracks. It is part science, part craft, and part alchemy. . . just like songwriting, singing, performing and recording. Mastering is the crucial, critical, and final creative step in the process of making an audio recording,


The photos are of Adam at the helm in Rear Window studios, Alice at Rear Window and myself in the isoation booth at Rear Window, Craig Waddell is holding the brand new Acoustcally Inclined album in the brown envelope along with a panini to go from the drive. You can’t visit the drive without a panini.

The mastering will be done next week! Now for the design work....stay tuned!
Cheers,
Norine

Tuesday, September 16, 2008


















On sunny Saturday Alice and I ventured over to visit friendly Paul Wohlstetter at his home-work studio also know as Wohl of Sound. We spent about an hour an half running through several live takes to capture the right one which was the last one. The new live recording of Little Girl With Golden Hair is now complete. Alice sat in with me as co-producer and helped me get just what I was after. Here is a link to listen http://www3.telus.net/norinebraun/1%20Little%20Girl24.mp3
Next stop is Burnaby tomorrow afternoon to visit Adam Popowitz and his studio. The live sessions continue....

Friday, September 12, 2008

Let’s try this link once more for you to copy into your browser. Cheers, Norine
http://www3.telus.net/norinebraun/There_s%20A%20Long,%20Long%20Trail%20AWinding.mp3


The isolation booth is on the left and the window below is looking into where I sat to record. Those are my guitars I used in the recording.










This is Allan sitting at his desk in Crossstown studios.














Yours truly in session is the last photo.
I ventured over to Crosstown Studios yesterday where Allan Rodger engineered and set up the live recording. It was good to see him again. I sat in the very warm, little isolation booth (not for folks with claustrophobia!) for about 4 hours playing 7 songs several times each. I am not sure I would take this approach again as it was tiring and hard to get a fresh attitude for each tune. I think it works great as a pre-production tool though and does capture the live sound. I am quite happy with There’s a Long, Long Trail A Winding, the song from 1915, penned by Stoddard King and music by Zo Elliot. I played the harmonica on this one and we captured the haunting Waltons idea. I like Human Kindness ,too, but there is work to be done on the rest. I played free form without click track or metronome in the headphones and in hindshite I think I will always request this.
This Saturday I am visiting the studios of PD Wohl, local singer-songwriter guy with studio to see what we can do with Little Girl. The nice thing about doing acoustic tracks as opposed to studio productions is you can visit and work with a variety of engineers and studios and see how they work without greatly affecting the overall album sound.

Talk again soon! luvnb


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Tuesday, September 02, 2008

I have been practicing like crazy and working hard on the new tunes. I finished what is now called Truth and Dares, a smoky bluesy downtown kinda song. It has a tricky riff to give it pause for thought and I have been playing on my little classical guitar but now am going to put on some new strings on the acoustic and start getting it up to speed as I am going to record next week! Yahoodles!

I emailed Allan who produced a few tracks on the last album and told him of my idea to record the remaining songs. I have 2 ideas one is the live voice and guitar recorded at the same time or the other is separate tracks not much of a difference you may think but sometimes can be big. He likes the live together idea and I think for feel and what I am after I would agree so we shall see but that is the intent right now.

The music is finished for Christmas Bells, now for the lyrics. This is a fun song and will lift the energy of the album as there are some heavier, darker tracks. Little Girl is done too I added a c section which really flows and gives it a dreamy ending. My attempts at hammer on and pull offs gives it an edgier sound and I will keep at it. The a verse sections will be played straight ahead and then the hammer ons will be a nice contrast for the b verses. This one doesn’t have a chorus per se but it works with the hook in the verse. I changed the key to F from E and this lifts it to a real nice range for my voice as much as I love E it seemed on the b section I was really straining and didn’t sound very nice. Persephone is coming along I am thinking of trying it on the 12 string but not entirely sure.

I unearthed Human Kindness and may or may not put this on it does fit with the overall folk sound and sentiment. Take Back the Power is a tough one and still not working out all the kinks. The time change is a real challenge so have hooked up the old Roland to get some click tracks and percussion going to help me along the way.

I think that I will attempt Long Long Trail again this is an old First World War song and is unfortunately timely. I read that when the soldiers sang this song they did it in a boisterous and loud way. My approach however, is longing and haunting and I will add a harmonica solo in it too to intensify this feeling. We did record this at the Duncan showroom but the harmonica was such a new instrument I had only picked it up a week before so I have had time to get acquainted since. We also upped the tempo midway so Sherri wouldn’t feel alone but now have decided to go back to my first idea of longing, quiet introspective.

Thats where things stand for now. cheers, nb

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Here is the link to mp3 these boots.
http://www3.telus.net/public/norineb/Theseboots.mp3
Sneak preview . This is a song the live recording done in February at the Duncan Showroom Garage on Vancouver Island. I have always loved this tune since a little girl and still have the Nancy Sinatra album in my collection. A fun song and a great way to end things. This is a very rough edit and find the mic levels quite hot probably because the preceeding songs were softer in terms of dynamics but with some magic in mastering and I think compression, it will all be good.
love, nb

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Acoustically Inclined in process....
When I first thought about this album I had intended on making several albums more defined and fitting into a specific genre or box. One rock, one ballad, one funk based one acoustic etc. After submitting to numerous folk blues acoustic festivals it became apparent that folks were having a hard time imagining the acoustic versions of the studio tracks. Given that sometimes these songs had 30 + instruments on the beds to create heavily textured sounds it could be a feat to wonder what these acoustic versions would sound like.

This led me to the idea of creating an acoustic album to take the guess work out. Another idea emerged in this process in that all the albums I have released contained at least one acoustic track that often got overlooked in favour of the more produced pop songs. I thought this would be a good opportunity to collect all those acoustic tracks and merge them into one album.

Then I thought about the fans and those loyal to the project who would be looking for fresh material and then I thought a whole new album might be in order too.

As you can see I have given it much thought maybe too much thought! I have decided to combine these ideas. I will drawing from previous albums, recording older songs, and writing new ones to showcase my live and acoustic sound.

Right now (this may change) I am thinking of these tracks from former albums:
miles to go (slide intro would be edited), dreams, another mans fate, love and not fear, ballad of magic man, be brave (though this one has been remixed a few dozen times), climb the mountain.

I have a song recorded called Junkie but not yet released that I may add to the mix and am thinking of the live recording at Duncan Showroom of the cover These Boots Are Made for Walking to add as a bonus track. I had hoped to include Persephone from the same night but it has yet to arrive so may do it in pre-production . Persephone acoustic is quite a departure from the gigantic pop swells on the studio cut. I love playing this one live too.

Then there is the song Take Back the Power I had written for a song contest last year (did not win but a good one nonetheless). The bluesy roots based tune could be restructured lyrically to a more universal general theme so look for that one soon to see where I may go with it. There is a tempo change and dramatic feel shift which is tricky too.

I am also working on a Christmas song (every songwriter has to do at least one). I started this one last Christmas (really). Originally was reflective and longing but now has become a campy Hawaiian thing so who knows where or how it will end up.

My partner asked why I have yet to record an old song of mine Little Girl With Golden Hair so am thinking about that one too. I have changed the feel and tempo but it has stood the test of time.

Another one is in the works no lyrics or title yet but has a bluesy smoky feel and I like how I feel while I am noodling away on it.

Check back soon and see where and what is emerging. I plan on getting the cover track of the rough edit of These boots on later this week.
Love,
Norine

Friday, July 04, 2008

The fan fundraiser is a great success and I am very honored and
thankful for the wonderful support for my upcoming Acoustically
Inclined album! $4280 was raised for the project and this will help
tremendously!!! The breakdown is 1 at $500 feature sponsor, 16 at
$100 for the Junior Executive Producer Level, 82 at $25 pre sale
signed cd and 13 for the $10 download prerelease.

Investors came from all over including: Vancouver, Alberta, New
York, Norway, the UK, Florida, Los Angeles, BC, Surrey, RIchmond,
Germany and Ontario. I had no idea what to expect on this new fan
funded pre sale idea and I am surprised and very grateful for the
belief in my music and the generosity and willingness to contribute
to the dream. More details on the new evolving album will be coming
soon. http://www.norinebraun.com/

GIGS!
Come to the inaugural Xtra West Cultural Series
Tue July 8 at the Majestic Lounge, 1138 Davie St. Vancouver Doors
6:30pm I am on at 7 followed by Julie Saragosa and Stephen Emery

Saturday July 26th Picnic in the Park an official Pride event
11-7 Brockton Oval Stanley Park Vancouver FREE!
Sherri and I open the Entertainment section at 3:30pm

The song Dancing Sea from Modern Anguish album has been licensed for
Two for the Road, an independent TV pilot following the adventures of
an average couple who quit their jobs, sold their belongings, and set
out to backpack around the world. The project is being submitted to
the New York Television Festival's Independent Pilot Competition.
Good luck to Nikki and Dusty!

Great news for digital music fans: CDBABY is now selling album
downloads, with no Digital Rights Management -- in other words, they
can be played and copied onto any device, not just iTunes. Here is
all the info: An MP3 album is a zip file with a folder containing...
* MP3 files, one per-song, for easy use in any computer, iPod, or
MP3 player.
* JPG of the album cover.
* Text file full of info from that album's page: song titles,
notes, and links.
The MP3 audio files are very high quality, about 200kbps VBR, encoded
using the "LAME" MP3 encoder on its audiophile settings. Your MP3s
will play on any hardware.
All your MP3 albums are available for download in your CD Baby
account, forever.
The artist sets the selling price, and 91% of the entire price goes
directly to the musicians, paid every week. CD Baby only keeps a 9%
cut to pay for bandwidth and administration.
There is no DRM or tracking on the MP3 files. We trust you to support
independent musicians, and tell your friends to buy a copy, too.

http://cdbaby.com/cd/norinebraun6
http://cdbaby.com/cd/norinebraun5
http://cdbaby.com/cd/norinebraun4
http://cdbaby.com/cd/norinebraun3
http://cdbaby.com/cd/norinebraun2
http://cdbaby.com/cd/norinebraun1
http://cdbaby.com/cd/nextwavecomp

In Pride and In Spirit,
Norine
http://www.norinebraun.com/

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