John Lennon Songwriting Contest prizes

My prizes from the John Lennon Songwriting Contest have been trickling in for a few weeks now. It’s exciting, but on the other hand, I don’t want to waste time learning to use gear that I don’t really need. Here’s what’s hit my doorstep so far for winning the Grand Prize in the Electronic category:

• Ableton Live 8 – I recorded my first album on a 486DX running Cakewalk back in 1993-94. Afterwards I went deeply into debt to make the jump to Mac, recording Tuesday Song on a Quadra 650 with Pro Tools Session 8 and Logic. It turned out the grass wasn’t greener, so I went back to Windows, recording everything since 1998 on Cubase. My friend Ken Porter of Intution has been raving about Live for months, so I figured it was worth trying. So far, so good! The workflow is really inspiring, and it’s got me motivated to record some new stuff.
• Propellerhead Reason – I used Propellerhead’s ReBirth quite a bit on Perfect Tears. If memory serves, the song “Acting Class” is ReBirth, piano, and vocals. I know Reason is 10x better, but I’m still haunted by the hassle of using ReWire. Since I’ve already got Native Instruments Komplete, Reason is pretty much redundant. I’ll probably push past feeling a little guilty and sell it (the handwritten note of congratulations signed by the staff doesn’t help!).
• Audio-Technica AT2050 – It looks like a decent all-purpose mic, but the only thing I mic is my voice, and I love my current chain: Rode NT-1A into my FMR Really Nice Preamp. I also got an AT mic cable and headphones.
• $500 gift certificate from Musician’s Friend – I’ll use this eventually, but I’ve got no immediate needs.
• iPod Shuffle – Not the new one that talks. Maybe I’ll give it to Cole when he’s old enough that I can trust him not to blow his ears out.

Still to come:

• Roland FP-7 (pictured at top) – I was given a $2,500 “allowance” from Roland/Boss/Edirol, and realized I could genuinely use a new piano controller. I’ve been using my Yamaha P80 since 2000, and while it’s great, the action in the FP-7 is a big step up. On the flip side, it’ll be a pain to sell my P80, stand, and pedal.
• Godin Velocity Guitar – I won’t feel too guilty about eBaying this one, since after all, I’m a pianist! I used to have an acoustic guitar, and could even rip out a mean “Message in a Bottle,” but eventually I sold it. There’s no point in letting this one gather dust.
• Sibelius – This notation software would’ve come in handy when I was arranging the parts for Something Beautiful. Now it’s hard to see myself ever using it.

That’s it for the first batch of prizes! For winning a Lennon Award, I’ll receive $1,000 in Mackie, Crate, or Ampeg products, plus the CD manufacturing package from Disc Makers. I’d better get to work if I’m ever going to take advantage of that last one!