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Jim Miksche ( jimoosk  )
A member of Berkleemusic since June 19, 2003
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Jim Miksche
Cabin-On-The-Lake Music
Email: jmiksche@charter.net
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Sample audio files of my music. Use
the quicktime player to listen.
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63 Rambler
(Download)
3rd song on my CD, i'm playing acoustic guitar & singing (cdbaby.com)
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Sample images of me and my work.
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Me and Brocco
(Download)
Brocco's a great engineer freelancing in Nashville these days. If you've got a record deal you should consider hiring him!
Me and Ralph Murphy
(Download)
Ralph's VP at ASCAP Nashville. He enjoys my songs; says it's the kind of music he listens to when he's not working.
Me at WORT Community Radio
(Download)
I was getting ready to play a few songs at WORT in Madison WI.
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been playing music my whole life, solid songwriter, all-around very good rock/pop/blues guitarist, good vocalist, years (and EARS) of studio experience, laid back..willing to co-write with you or write for you, or tour.
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Q:Tell us about your act, music style, and brief history, including band members and what instruments they play.
A:my music style is a mixture of blues, country, jazz (Berklee influence), and folk. to keep my chops up i play quite frequently in an area rock band as one of the guitarists/singers. i'm primarily a songwriter (not a singer/songwriter), so i spend most of my time writing, recording, and pitching. i've signed two song deals for TV and movies: DSM Producers and Soundtrack Express.
Q:What have been some important gigs or venues you've played?
A:had a spec deal at the Village Recorder; was writing songs with another writer/singer and a producer. had a mgmt deal for my singing, but they wanted me to be Donny Osmond, so I got outta that. played a lot at the Whisky on the Strip, Bluebird in nashville, & too many other joints to mention.
Q:What are the names and release dates of your previous recordings?
A:i released "Admiral Byrd's Diary" last year (2002), pressed by OasisCD, recorded at Audio for the Arts in Madison WI (Patty Smith, Mary Chapin Carpenter); mastered at Final Stage in Nashville (Pam Tillis, Oak Ridge Boys, etc.). it's available at cdbaby.com.
Q:What are you working on now?
A:i'm writing and pitching. tryin' to finish up a pesky Ph.D., runs in the family. (it's '07 now, the PhD is done)
Q:What kind of people or opportunities are you hoping to find on Berkleemusic?
A:i want to have the opportunity to pitch my songs to TV and movie folks, and recording artists. i'm also open to professional touring.
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The latest news about me. You can also read the
archive of past news.
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January 29, 2008
Just finishing up my Music for the Media film/TV scoring course. Sing Out! magazine was thinking of hiring me to be their managing editor, but the timing was off. There was a charter school in Taos, NM that was interested in me, but there's not enough going on around there for my wife to find work. So, I picked up a PT guitar teaching gig at Ward-Brodt Music (Madison, WI) to stay ahead of the bills. I signed a couple nonexclusive deals with Soundscape Media and Howcast. Check 'em out online! Michele & I are still thinking of heading back to LA in the next year or so...Life is good!
July 23, 2007
Finished up the Chace Roberts tour, and it went fine. I'm not sure I'll be going out on the road for awhile, but we'll see. Now it's time to get back to work on my film scoring. I have to write some music for a "Discovery Channel, lions in Africa"-type video. Then it's on to commercials, after which I have to score part of a feature film. I'll tell you, film scoring is not real easy, but when it's finished and you listen & watch the whole thing, it's pretty cool...I've upgraded to SONAR 6 Producer Edition; I also have Pro-Tool M-Powered only because, at the least, there may come a time when I need to send someone a Pro Tools file. And since Pro Tools is the industry leader I will probably have to start getting acquainted with it more and more.
February 7, 2007
Been spending the past few weeks rehearsing for the Chace Roberts tour. We kick it off tomorrow in Missouri, then it's off to Albuquerque and the West for awhile. We're using in-ears for monitoring; all instruments go direct into the board. I'm using a Marshall solid state head that has an emulated line out; seems to be working fine, although I miss using 4-12s and an SM57. For guitars I'm using a '79 LP, an '01 SG, and an '03 ES135.
December 11, 2006
It looks like I'm going on a tour starting in Jan 07 with the Chace Roberts Band. Its a "new country" band"; he's got a good agent & and he has some good songs. He's workin hard to get a deal -- chances are he'll probably do it! I have my CV in at several colleges. Hopefully something will come through for next fall...
August 21, 2006
I completed my work for the Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures (2 reissues of recordings: Ach Ya!: German-American Music from Wisconsin, and Down Home Dairyland), and I finished teaching Intro to Folklore at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I'm applying for work at various universities mostly out west in folkloristics and music. I've also just been placed on a "A-list" for sideman work for signed, touring national acts (I feel somewhat validated, which is nice!). I have until the end of December to finish my film scoring course; according to my mentor I'm doing quite well. Still gigging around Madison in a classic rock band -- gotta keep my chops up!
April 18, 2006
Got hired by UW-Madison & the Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures to record another edition of Down Home Dairyland (20-CD radio program of Wisconsin folk music), and Ach Ya! (German-American music from Wisconsin). It appears they both sold out! Also got a teaching gig for the summer: Associate Lecturer for Introduction to Folklore @ the UW. In the process of applying for work for the fall. In the meantime I'm finishing up a film scoring course.
December 8, 2005
Well, it looks like I did it. My advisor @ UW-Madison signed my warrant & committee page, so I'm officially Dr. James Miksche. I just have to go down to Bascom Hill (on campus) and submit my dissertation on the 16th. It took a few months longer than I wanted, but hey, I got my Master's and PhD in 4 calendar years. Not too bad. Anyway, I've been itching to get started on my Music for the Media course, but first I have to convert my home office into a home studio (hundreds of books will go into the basement). I've applied for music teaching work at the local community college, at Cal State Channel Islands, at Pierce College (Woodland Hills, CA), and also for a music fellowship at Stanford.
May 24, 2005
I attended the UW-Madison spring commencement in light of my expected doctoral studies completion this August. Michele's and my parents, and my sister were in attendence; I was escorted by Dr. Tom DuBois. Now I gotta finish up my dissertation! I found out that I won the IK Multimedia Studio Bundle from BerkleeMusic the same day of the commencement--what a wonderful graduation gift! It'll work well with my Sonar PE4, Delta 1010, Behringer MX 9000 setup. With Amplitude I can A/B my guitar tracks with my Mesa Boogie V-Twin pre. Should sound nice and fat. I've wanted T-rackS for quite some time; a friend of mine in LA turned me onto it (Sean McArthur @ Apogee) & I hadn't gotten around to getting it. I'm not real familiar with SampleTank, so now's my chance to mess around with it. Well, back to work...
December 6, 2004
Well, let's see. I passed my prelims in folklore studies (emphasis in oral traditons in music) at UW-Madison. That took forever; it kinda screwed my rhythm up, but I'm back on track. Now I'm transcribing all of the field notes I took last summer, which should take a couple months. After that I'll start writing my dissertation. Hopefully my 1st draft will be done by May. I want to graduate by 8/05; I think I can get my final draft in by 08/01 so my committee can approve/read it. It's on singer/songwriters of the Upper Midwest--complete with a bunch of folklore and music theory. I'll get to attend the May commencement! On another note, I just signed up for a course out of London called "Music for the Media"; a correspondence, "at-your-own-pace" film scoring course. Lots of hard workin' folks are affiliated with this, so I'm very excited about it!
July 26, 2004
I've officially finished my classes for my PhD at UW-Madison, however I've decided to take a seminar in ethnomusicology this fall. UW's ethno studies are pretty strong, and chances are I'll end up teaching a mixture of music & folklore courses. I'll be a teacher assistant again this fall for Intro to Folklore while I continue doing my fieldwork & research for my dissertation. My songwriter/production studio is up & running! I've named it "Cabin-On-The-Lake Music," and it's a 24-bit Sonar P4 studio complete with an array of effects, drum loops, mics, amps, guitars, a Behringer MX9000 Eurodesk, a Delta 1010, and a beefy hard drive. FYI: A lot of Grammy & Emmy award-winning people use Cakewalk sequencers. Pro Tools ain't the only game in town! Anyway, school keeps me real busy, but I always find time to record! Oh yeah...I just picked up a sweet American Standard Tele, natural ash finish. It's real purdie!
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