Steve Swellander
Spesbach, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany
(GMT+01:00) Amsterdam, Berlin, Bern, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna
http://steveswellander.com

Joined November 3, 2008
Active

About Me

My talents include:

• Arrangement
• Bouzouki
• Guitar, Lead
• Guitar, Rhythm
• Lyrics, Writing
• Mandolin
• Recorder
• Vocals, Backup
• Vocals, Lead

I'm from San Antonio, Texas with over thirty years of performing experience. Recently I have moved to Germany and will be here for at least three years. My sound is not always easy to categorize, but it is mainly acoustic, though I certainly have nothing against electric music. It would be great to hear some of my songs electronified by some musicians who know what they're doing with the gear. That's why I've joined Kompoz: new ideas and sounds.  When you get to be my age, it's good to tap in to younger imaginations to clear out some of the sonic cobwebs! In recent years I've focused on sounds from the mandolin family, including mandola and bouzouki, but my songs are not bluegrass or Celtic. They incorporate elements of blues, jazz, traditional folk and hymn. I especially appreciate good vocal harmonies. That's why I like old four part Protestant hymns, more for the style than for the theology. Anyway, categories are useful for music scholars, but I think they get in the way for music creators.

My voice is in the bass baritone range, a little more limited in range since I had thyroid surgery. To most listeners, my voice still has a pleasing quality. I usually compose my songs on guitar or bouzouki, sometimes with keyboard or drum machine. I usually record on an eight track Korg D888 portastudio and mix and master with Adobe Audition, Izotope and sometimes Acoustica on the occasion that I play around with MIDI files. My operating system is Windows 7 (Win 7 and Linux Mint 12 on my laptop).  I don't sight read music very well--mainly only for singing, but I improvise pretty efficiently, especially on mandolin.

I can help members of the community with lyrics (possibly my strongest talent--I teach writing at a university), vocal harmonies (or leads), mandolin and fingerstyle acoustic guitar. After a lifetime as a folkie, I recently purchased my first ever electric guitar, a sweet hollow body Epiphone Sheraton, and have been having great fun with it.

I know rather little about MIDI and operate mostly with sound files. Now that I'm a Plus member, I sometimes use wave files.

Contact me if you think I can make a contribution to your project and feel free to contribute anything to mine, including replacing the vocal track if you think you have a new way to interpret it. Kompoz is an exciting place to be with plenty of really great and generous talent.