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Vintage Logos
Custom Drum Heads, Stage Graphics & Band Merch
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Vintage Logos
Custom Drum Heads, Stage Graphics & Band Merch

Meet the Vintage Logos Team!

Category Archives: Recording Music

Meet the Vintage Logos Team!

Posted on April 24, 2019 - 12:01 am by

Shawn's Photo

Shawn McNamara (CEO/Creative Director)

When Shawn started Vintage Logos, over 20 years ago, it was a small one man operation that made custom drumheads for local bands.  Today, Vintage Logos has grown into a band branding experience, creating: drumheads, speaker grill cloths, banners and more for bands across the world.

Vintage Logos is proud to have worked with, Universities, Military Bands, Rock & Roll Hall of Famers and even The Rock & Roll Hall of fame its self.  Although Vintage logos has grown and much has changed over the years, one thing has remained the same, Vintage Logos is a Family owned company that puts an emphasis on, as Sean would say, “giving people a custom handmade product that they love”.

Shawn is a family man. He enjoys spending time with his wife Jennifer and is two children, Bella and Brayden. Together, Shawn and Jennifer have seen the world together and built a business.

When Shawn is not producing drumheads or spending time with his family he is experimenting with and adding to his extensive audio equipment collection.

Q: If you could be in any band what band would you be in?

A: “I would be the drummer for Van Halen.”

Jennifers Photo

Jennifer McNamara (Business Operations Manager)

With 20 years of retail management, sales and leadership experience, Jennifer joined her husband Shawn at Vintage Logos in 2004 as Business Operations Manager.  Her masterful execution of  Vintage Logos day to day operations has made a vital impact on the company and has helped make Vintage Logos the success it is today.

From the initial order to the production and logistics of each product, Jennifer works with each customer on a personal level and  strives to create meaningful relationships.  Jennifer often says “Dream big, work hard, stay focused, and surround yourself with good people”. This is the attitude she brings to  work daily, and we are all made a little better by it.

Outside of  work at Vintage Logos Jen spends time with her husband and her two children.

She enjoys going to garage and estate sales to find “Vintage” treasures 

Q: If you could be in any band what band would you be in?

A: “Since I love 80’s dance music, I would say singer for Kool And The Gang!”

 

James Photo

James (Production Artist)

James (Jay for short… J if you’re just lazy) joined vintage logos with a wealth of experience in production art after working in the screen printing industry for years.  He currently is the man behind the curtain that expertly creates the drumheads, speaker grill cloths, banners, and more.

After each piece has been designed and printed, he goes to handcrafting the finished products that our customers receive.  Driven by his humor he does it with a smile on his face , and he keeps the team smiling as well.

His favorite quote is “I don’t know how many years on this earth I have left. I’m gonna get real weird with it.” – Frank Reynolds, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

When he’s not working at Vintage Logos he moonlights as a Brad Pitt lookalike and/or the lead singer for Matchbox 20.

Q: If you could be in any band what band would you be in?

A: “Menahan Street Band as the bassist so I could play alongside Charles Bradley, or a member of OFWGKTA because Those boys are wild”.

Michael (Graphic Designer)

Michael is the newest addition to the team. Having worked as a brand strategist and graphic designer for 6 years, Michael is now putting his talents to work for Vintage Logos.  Michael works side by side with Shawn to create custom artwork, drumheads, speaker grill cloths and more.   He also creates social media content to promote Vintage Logos and share our custom work with all of our loyal customers. 

His favorite quote is “There are no bad pictures; that’s just how your face looks sometimes.” – Abraham Lincoln

When he is not working at Vintage Logos,  Michael enjoys creating artwork of his own.  He also enjoys learning and playing his favorite songs on the guitar.

Q: If you could be in any band what band would you be in?

A: “I would play guitar for AC/DC.”

 

 

Thanks for taking the time to read about our team, we hope that you feel like you’ve gotten to know us a little better. When you call into our office, you are going to reach one of us and we will help you every step of the way branding your band. Please do not hesitate to give us a call!

Easy Tips To Help Your Recording Session Go Smoothly

Posted on February 6, 2019 - 12:01 am by
recording session

Do you often get distracted during a recording session? Do you wonder why recording takes longer than you’d anticipated? Are you looking for ways to make the whole recording process smoother?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, this post is for you.

Practice

Rehearsing the song you’re going to record — whether you’re a solo artist or a rock band — will make your recording sessions go much better.

You want to know the song so well that your muscle memory kicks in. The recording session with go way faster and it will sound better.

Customize Your Workstation

If you’re recording from home or in a studio you own and operate, you may already know the importance of your workstation setup. In my opinion, it will either help you or hurt you.

Set up your recording area in a way that allows you to quickly switch to a new instrument. This means having mics easily accessible.

Or, if you have the equipment and space, have your instruments already mic’d. For example, mic up your drum kit so you can just create a new track and jump over and make a beat.

Make your audio interface easily reachable. Set your computer at eye-height so you’re not hunched over. Your chair and desk should be the central spot with all knobs and recording stations easily reachable from there.

Keep Recording — Even If You Make A Mistake

If you’re constantly stopping and starting your takes, those several seconds in between can add up. So just keep recording, even if you mess up.

You never know — there might be part of that take that’s usable. Plus, you may realize there’s an easier or cooler way to play the part during one of these “throwaway” takes.

Paul McCartney recorded 32 takes of The Beatles’ “Blackbird” before he was happy. Eleven of those takes were complete from beginning to end — he recorded the whole song even though he wasn’t totally happy with it.

And, you could argue, he played it better each take — the last one was the one that made the cut.

Put Your Phone Away

This tip is mainly for millennials and younger generations (although older folks can be just as guilty). The phone — put it away. Turn it on Do Not Disturb, put it in the other room, or just turn it off. Focus on the music in front of you. Whoever is texting you can wait a couple of hours.

When your focus is interrupted, it takes you a minute to get back on track. And you don’t want your genius inspiration to get interrupted.

Edit Later

Just get all of your ideas out in the studio and sort the good from the bad later. Try every idea, even if you think it won’t work. You don’t really know if it will work until you record it.

After an idea is recorded and it turns out to be not so great, wait. When you listen with fresh ears the next day or next week, you may realize it has some merit. Maybe you could sample part of it for a catchy hook, or maybe it inspires a new idea.

The point here is to edit later. The first step is to just record — record everything. Then put the pieces together, add, subtract, and divide.

Your recording sessions will run more smoothly and you’ll end up with better music.

Caleb J. Murphy is a songwriter and producer based in Austin, TX. He’s also the founder of Musician With A Day Job, a blog that helps part-time musicians succeed.

Photo by Gavin Whitner