Music
1. Perfect 2. Shawna Spells Angel 3. Be Still My Heart 4. Beautiful Girl 5. Has Anyone Seen Amy? 6. Blue Everywhere 7. Show Goes On 
1. Miss Undercover Newspaper Article: First Cd Undercovers a passion for writing and recording for local musicianFriday July 12, 2002 - Flamborough Review - Page 6By Brenda Jefferies The Flamborough Review The term pop star brings to mind images of an attention-seeker who loves the limelight, for whom traveling to gigs and wowing groupies take precedence over songwriting and image wins out over substance The is not so in the case of Waterdown's Tim Coates, who has recently released his first Cd collection of pop songs under the band name Marshall Burn Project In fact, the process of writing and recording the sseven songs on "Has Anyone Seen Amy?" awakened a passion in the 25-year-old guitarist for the technical side of studio production. So much so, that he has installed a small recording studio in his room and is studying the finer points of digital recording through the Audio Institute Of America home study course. "I don't play live" said Time in an interview with the Review "I Think I would like it better to be known as a song writer" And while his sound is definitely pop-electronic, he names country star Carolyn Dawn Johnson one of his favorite songwriters. As for producers, he hopes to emulate the skills of Dan Huff and John "Mutt" Lange (renowed rock producer and husband of Shania Twain) Tim has been playing the gutar for about 10 years, and has been writeing poetry for longer than that. And although the basic concepts for the songs are his, he enlisted the talents of his music teacher, Steve McPhail in Burlington of Melody Man Studios in Burlington, for help in arranging and engineering the sound. "Steve guide me through the recording process," said Tim. "He showed me how a song comes together in the recording studio" In total, it took two years to write and record and master "Has Anyone Seen Amy?" Steve McPhail provided the lead vocals and some of the guitar tracks, while Tim provided the electric guitar tracks, backing vocals and rhythm programming for the album. In each of the songs Tim focuses on creating a character or situation. The over-all result for the listener is a series of individual vignettes. "In my song writing I barely use rhyming words," said Tim "I like my songs to have more meaning" "My songs have stories or create pictures in your mind," he added. His personal favorite on the Cd, "Blue Everywhere," is an example of his style: "She knew there was something/That led her to him/She thought it was the night they first kissed/Under the blue moon in her blue car/They bough a little blue house/WIth a little blue mailbox out front/On the shores of a town called Blue River/Where the sky was a never-ending shade of blue..." Tim's first effort at writing was "Shawna Spells Angel," which started out as a demo and sounded good enough to encourage him to continue. Once in the studio the CD was recorded on state of the art equipment such as Digidesigns Pro Tools (TM) and mastered by professional engineers. "Shawna" went from an excercise in using the four-track to a "master-piece," says Tim. "Using Pro Tools really brought the songs to a new life," he added. He now uses the computer program at home. The first pressing of "Amy" is all but sold out, and Tim is now concentrating on writing. He has been "shopping" his songs to publishing companies in the hope of selling his work and is working on a website which once it is up and running, will be found at www.marshallburnproject.com (songs from "Amy" are already accessible at MP3.com). Once he has another 10 to 20 pieces complete, he will head back into the studio. Tim, who earned a culinary arts diploma, works in the kitchen at a local restauant. He also has bigger plans for this career. "I plan to get my chef's papers in the future," he said And while the two pursuits may sound like they have nothing in common on one level they do. "When you mix the songs after they're recorded, you have to mix in such a way that is pleasing to the ear," noted Tim "It gives it a certain "coolness" that is dynamic and pleasing. "Its just like cooking," he added. "You can't learn it from a book, It comes from experience. You just have to know what sounds good and what works and what doesn't work. "You can't buy a book and just expect to be good at it. " |
