tag:www.zemerlevav.org,2005:/blogs/the-rest-of-the-story?p=2The Rest of the Story!2018-10-22T06:33:49-04:00Zemer Levavfalsetag:www.zemerlevav.org,2005:Post/1048172011-07-05T09:35:23-04:002020-09-07T05:49:54-04:00Release Date? And Other Pertinent Stuff. Well as many of you know we had to push our release date back a few days. Official date now is Wednesday July 6th here at Messiah College in Grantham, PA. We did this so that we could be sure and get the "first ones out of the box" to our givers! Right now I have large padded envelopes laid out in the living area of the apt. with signed photos, CDs, and letters on top of each one, waiting for Mark to sign them (the rest of us got it finished yesterday but he's slow, and I may find myself forging his signature so I can get these out the door! Does anyone mind?) Tomorrow I will have them out on the "New Hope Management" table in the Cultural Center (ie market place).<br><br>
Our contingent in Florida actually saw it first, as our shipment got to the college before we did. Shalisha (my eldest daughter) called me right away. She and her husband Joseph, Shaun (who did the incredible artwork) and Sarah who will be shipping our internet orders were all together at her house celebrating, they were so excited with how they came out! They are beautiful! I've been keeping one in my purse and showing it to specific people to get there reaction, and everyone who sees the front cover art really loves the story that the picture tells. It feels so good to hold it in my hands at last! And soon this blog will fade away, like morning mist on a sunny day. ~ShimritZemer Levavtag:www.zemerlevav.org,2005:Post/1017612011-06-03T16:10:00-04:002022-01-28T08:13:55-05:00"Even There" Trouble and Miracles We’ve had a pretty crazy two weeks! I got sick with the stomach flu and after being up all night sick, had a concert to do the following evening. God’s miraculous grace made me strong enough to do the entire concert (I was sure I’d only be able to do 1 or 2 songs). I went back to bed soon after feeling very ill.<br><br>
We went to a campground to rest, but ended up recording, and doing last minute photo shoots for the cover art as we found out the art work from the album was not coming, and the last two songs that we thought were finished were not, as we were not happy with them. So I didn’t get much rest after all!<br><br>
I am now finished with the last of the business to get our new CD duplicated. There was problem after problem getting the artwork done (through no fault of the artist) till, as a last insult, a tornado took out that artist's work! I had to get another artist on it just a week and a half before our deadline!<br><br>
The artist in the tornado survived without injury in the basement, her artwork just literally got "blown away"! We miraculously got the new artwork done (thanks to our new artists sacrifice and diligence) and will be able to get the CD when we need to have it. It only changed the release date by two days, from July 3rd to July 6th so we're good!<br><br>
The music you are hearing is from the new CD!<br>
You can pre-order it now on <a href="./ourstore.cfm">Our Store</a> page and you’ll be able to buy digital downloads soon!<br>
If you would like to see the album artwork <a href="./photos.cfm">click here</a>.<br><br type="_moz">Zemer Levavtag:www.zemerlevav.org,2005:Post/985632011-04-28T15:09:08-04:002011-04-28T15:09:08-04:00In the Midst of the Storm! We have been going through “A Shepherd Looks at Ps. 23” together, and really enjoying it. So far we have only covered “The Lord is my Shepherd” and “I shall not want”. It never ceases to amaze me that when we really meditate on the scriptures, even the simplest phrase becomes profound. Just looking at the first statement for example, you may ask yourself, “What is a shepherd?” “What does a shepherd do?” Yeshua said, “I am the good shepherd.” Sometimes it is difficult to have real understanding of what something means, when you have no experience with the content of the statement. Seeing this psalm “through a shepherds eyes”, we are getting insight as to what that really means!<br><br>
We are in Arkansas and as we drove through Alabama yesterday, we woke in the morning to the sound of tornado sirens. Having lived several years in Kansas we knew what they were and prepared to seek shelter. As we drove towards Arkansas we were amazed to see fields and even homes that were flooded. There was water everywhere. When we got here we heard that there had been several tornados both in Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee. The death toll is 250 people right now but some people are still missing. Between the tornados and the flooding, many people are homeless in the areas hardest hit. Please pray for the people affected. We unknowingly drove through the midst of all that!<br>Zemer Levavtag:www.zemerlevav.org,2005:Post/985602011-04-28T14:25:08-04:002011-04-28T14:25:08-04:00We Have a Release Date! We are getting closer to a finished album! The title will be “Even There” from Psalm 139 as in, “…even there Your hand will lead me”. We are starting to get mixes from the studio to listen to, and give input. They are sounding amazing! We will be sharing a taste of these here on our website, so be sure to visit often to see what’s new. Right now we have a sound sample of the song “Fall on Your Knees” up with a story of how the song came to be, and the lyrics. We’ll put up a song a week, from now until the album releases in July. The Projected release date is July 3rd which is also Mark and my wedding anniversary! <br><br>
We will be releasing the digital download a 6 weeks earlier in mid-May. We'll use the funds that come in from the first two weeks of these sales to pay for the CD production costs.<br type="_moz">Zemer Levavtag:www.zemerlevav.org,2005:Post/955692011-03-23T11:52:45-04:002011-03-23T11:52:45-04:00The End is in Sight!It's about time I gave you an update on where we are at, and what’s been happening with the album project. There were a couple of songs that we didn’t feel were where we wanted them musically. They didn't feel "finished". We were to be in Asheville, NC which was three hours from Knoxville, so we called our producer and asked him if we could come and spend a couple of days working on these songs.<br><br>
We had the usual warfare; a breakdown, and delays, but we persevered and are so glad that we did so. We now feel that the biggest part of the project is done, and we await the final mixes and mastering, as we pull together the artwork, and make graphics decisions for the cover.Zemer Levavtag:www.zemerlevav.org,2005:Post/931062011-02-18T07:48:49-05:002020-09-07T05:48:55-04:00 Zemer Levav ~ Even There ~ Your hand will lead me<br>
This Album calls believers to prayer and spiritual warfare, as well as offering comfort, hope, and strength to those who are weak or wounded.<br><br>
It will strengthen, exhort, and remind the believer, who they are in Messiah, how precious they are to God, and that God is going before us into every battle.<br><br><br>
1.) L’David Mizmore A Psalm of David (Ps 110) - Oud , violin, percussion, mandola, mandolin, vocals, lyre, guitar <br>
God has called forth Messiah as High Priest, and He comes with His army.<br>
Adonai will make Messiah’s enemies a footstool for His feet.<br><br>
2.) Let the Righteous Be Glad (Ps 68:1-3) – guitars, mandolin, bohdran, lyre <br>
The Lord will arise and go before us into battle. The righteous will rejoice in His victory.<br><br>
3.) Thus Sayeth The Lord (Zech 12:1-9) guitars, bass, vocals, shaker, djembe<br>
Don’t touch Jerusalem. God has made her a rock that can not be moved without self-injury.<br>
Shema Yisrael, the voice of your Messiah is calling.<br><br>
4.) My Soul Thirsts (Ps 42:2, Jer. 2:13) harp, vocals, bass, guitars, assorted percussion Lyrics in Hebrew and English.<br>
My soul thirsts for the living God, only in you Lord, only in Yeshua do we have living water.<br><br>
5.) Remember This (Ps 94:8-11) harp, bansuri flute, vocals, guitar, percussion, bass<br>
When will you understand and consider. God made the ear, do you think He can’t hear?<br>
God made the eye, do you think he can’t see? He knows and sees everything, remember this.<br><br>
5.) Even There (Ps 139:1-10, 13 & 16) harp, vocals, violin, cello<br>
You know me completely Lord, for you formed me and know my thoughts and ways.<br>
I cannot hide from You. You will find me.<br>
Even in the darkest hell, even there, Your hand will lead and uphold me.<br><br>
7.) O That I Had Wings (Ps 55:1-9, 22 & 23) vocal, guitars, harp, violins, hand percussion<br>
I am restless, and distracted by the enemy. The pressures of the wicked distress me. My heart is in anguish, I am afraid.<br>
O that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest.<br>
I’ll cast my burdens on the Lord and He will sustain me. He will not allow the righteous to be shaken.<br><br><br>
8.) Come Away With Me (Song of Songs 2:10-14, Ps 18:2) guitar, wooden flute, vocals<br>
“Come away with me.” calls the Lover of our souls. "I’ll be your rock in time of need.<br>
I’ll be your source of strength, when you don’t have anything. Trust in me."<br><br>
9.) Yeshua (Ps 8:3 & 4) guitar, vocals, harp, violin <br>
I stand in awe of Your prescence. What Lord am I? A drop of dew in a forest. You are a shield for me.<br><br>
10.) Trust in the Lord (Provebs 3:5-12) harp, piano, cane whistle, percussion, bohdran<br>
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding.<br>
In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct all your paths.<br><br>
11.) Fall On Your Knees (2 Cor. 10:4, Eph. 6:12, 1Cor. 9:25-27) Piano,Vocals <br>
The weapons of our warfare are not physical, but spiritual, to the pulling down of strongholds.<br>
We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but principalities, powers, and wickedness in high places.<br>
Be strong to run the race, that you may gain the prize!<br><br>
12.) Forever (Isaiah 40:6-8,13-17 & 24) Harp, Vocals, Percussion, Guitar <br>
All the power of man is as nothing to God, but the word of God stands forever.<br>Zemer Levavtag:www.zemerlevav.org,2005:Post/923682011-02-07T19:05:00-05:002020-01-14T11:13:12-05:00Finally moving forward again! Shalom Friends and Family,<br>
I pray that you are well, blessed, and hungering for God’s word and righteousness.<br><br>
I wanted to give you another update on the album. It has been awhile and there really has been nothing to report until now. Leonardo will be starting the mixdown process this month. We’ll have usable tracks for two more of the songs soon, and will add them to our new set for our Spring tour beginning in March.<br><br>
We are getting ready to head for the Carolinas. The weekend after next we will be in Asheville, just three hours from Knoxville where our producer has moved. We are planning to take a side trip between concerts to record some additional instrumental tracks for two of the songs. We will also set a release date so we have something to shoot for. As things are going now it looks like sometime near the end of April/beginning of May.<br><br>
We are going to continue to pay Leonardo as much as we can from donations that come in specifically for the project; also from any finances we have left after travel and other expenses are withdrawn from our CD and concert offerings. We want to support Leonardo and his family so that he can focus on our project and not have to look for other work! This is one of the things that has slowed this project down.<br>
Here’s how the donations from this project have looked since we started.<br><br>
August - 1,795.00<br>
September - 0<br>
October - 1,310.00<br>
November - 290.00<br>
December - 240.00<br>
January - 50.00<br><br>
We projected production and recording costs of around 10,000 dollars. So far, we have paid for the recording we did in Nashville. We still have to cover the mixing and mastering costs. We are "guesstimating" that post production will be around 5,000,00.<br><br>
We have realized that everyone who gives any amount on our web-site Album Project page, should get a download of the album. We have updated the first paragraph on our giving page to reflect this. For those of you not familiar with downloading music; these are high quality mp3s that you can download onto any computer and play with your iTunes or Windows media player. Many phones, as well as an ipod or mp3 player will also play these files. <br>
We will start selling song downloads and pre-sales of the CD as soon as production and mastering is completed, hopefully by the end of April. This will give us the funds we need for graphics and CD duplication costs, and should bring in enough to finish paying for whatever is outstanding for production too.<br><br>
We will start selling song downloads and pre-sales of the CD as soon as production and mastering is completed, hopefully by the end of April. This will give us the funds we need for graphics and CD duplication costs, and should bring in enough to finish paying for whatever is outstanding for production too.<br><br>
Sorry that I haven’t been able to keep up with the “once a week” updates on the songs for the new album! I think in the last 6 months I’ve covered about 4 songs! I will keep it up anyway, and keep trying!Zemer Levavtag:www.zemerlevav.org,2005:Post/888232010-12-06T20:20:41-05:002010-12-06T20:20:41-05:00The Waiting, the praying, the fundraising!<span style="font-size: medium; "></span>It's been awhile since I've been able to add another post to this blog! We've spent the last three weeks with various family members in California and Nevada. In between concerts, that is! So it was too busy to get here to add anything else.<br><br>
Right now we are waiting and praying. We have one song that I'm concerned about, that I want to build so that it has a high point and gets strong in the bridge, but the instrumentation just didn't come together for it in the studio. I wanted something specific and it just didn't happen. So at some point we may have to find some time to go back to Tennessee, or find a quiet place to lay down some tracks that Leonardo can use and build on. Now is when we realize the things we didn't do that we wanted, like more oud on L'David Mizmor, and a few other omissions.<br><br>
I think back and wonder if we really did get a good enough recording of the pianos and vocal on "Fall on Your Knees" and what we are going to do if we didn't. Not really worried, just wondering, because I know that the majority of what we did was exceptional and will be excellent, but you want to get as close to perfection as humanly possible without it sounding like "canned music" or "fake musicians". There's such a balancing act in this industry.<br><br>
Then there's the continuing push to raise the funds to complete the project. The desire to get the wonderful servants who have been such a blessing paid for their service. the work of getting the promised "gifts" finished, and sent to those who have already given. We are definitely making progress on that! I got the art photo posters done last week and they are beautiful! I can't wait to get them printed! The ZL earrings are beautiful! The difficulty has been the recording of the ringtones and making of the video. My computer has something wrong with it and Garage band isn't working at all anymore. I need to take it in, but we've been so busy lately I haven't had time to even look up an apple store in the area, and we haven't been in any area long enough. I'm hoping I can get it fixed in Florida.<br><br>
We are in prayer right now over all these things. Praying for Leonardo that God will anoint him as he mixes down the track of each song, that the Holy Spirit will fill each note played and sung, and direct every movement of every song. That God will help us to get my lap top fixed so that we can record. That the few songs that need more instrumentation, that God will provide the way for us to get tracks laid down. And that the Lord will continue to bring in the funds we need to finish what we have started.<br><br>
The Lord Bless and keep you all, ~Shimrit<br type="_moz">Zemer Levavtag:www.zemerlevav.org,2005:Post/784062010-08-05T19:07:27-04:002010-08-05T19:07:27-04:00So What's Up? And How's the Album Going? I will be posting news about our week recording in Utica over the next few days, so check back! We are recovering from all night Messiah Conference fun today and then visiting Liorah in Philly and dropping girls off in NYC. Natanyah is flying solo to Memphis to visit a close friend there, and then Mark and I are heading to Maine for a much needed 2 weeks of husband and wife time.Zemer Levavtag:www.zemerlevav.org,2005:Post/742872010-08-05T18:57:17-04:002010-08-05T18:57:17-04:00The Busy-ness Business! Hey everyone, I've had such a busy week trying to get everything lined up for the first two weeks of recording! Got hotel rooms and cabins confirmed and my Uncle's flight booked. It feels very good to have that much out of the way. We're still trying to get all the music arranged the way we want it and once we get that squared away we can be somewhat flexible with them in the studio. You can't flex from nothing though so it's important to have a structure to begin with.<br><br>
Les and Darcy Morrison are in Oklahoma, so we're going to wait until the Nashville week of recording to add his parts to the mix. that way they can drive out and we don't have to pay for another flight. That gets expensive!<br><br>
We've used up most of our 2,000 dollars that came in with the first wave of donations for this project. We have more that we know will be coming in that will cover the Bella's traveling expenses and at least part of the production costs, so we are praying for another "wave of blessing" to cover the rest, plus post production and studio costs. We are so thankful for all those who gave in that first wave of donations, so if you are among those, God bless you! We're going to get this done!Zemer Levavtag:www.zemerlevav.org,2005:Post/692032010-08-05T18:54:00-04:002018-10-22T06:33:49-04:00We begin "pre-recording" and get some new instruments! Last week we did some rough recording to help us with arrangements of the music, and to hear how the instruments we choose to use on a particular song actually sound. We got at least parts of four songs recorded, and are really enjoying the process.<br><br>
Mark was given a drum machine that uses only sampled drum sounds. Sampled sounds are actual recordings of real drums, so they sound natural, like you actually had someone playing them for you. This particular drum machine is from India, and so the rhythms can be very intricate and complex as you mix the different drums together. We chose a couple of simpler rhythms as we listened through them. One sounded more mid-eastern and very driving. Kerah immediately thought of L’David Mizmor, a song based on Ps. 110, a Messianic battle song. Another was reminiscent of a celtic rhythm with triplets overlaying a 4/4 rhythm. Again it was Kerah who started singing “Let the righteous be glad and rejoice before You, Let the righteous be glad, who trust in You, Let the righteous be glad and rejoice before you, those who keep Your commandments delight in You! It was different than I had imagined the song, but it worked nicely, and gave it a more lilting skipping feel. I can’t wait to see what dancers will do with this one! <br><br>
We also recorded harp and vocal with a smooth Latin conga rhythm, this time it was Kerah who hadn’t imagined the song this way! I love it, and can’t wait to hear what my Uncle Russ will do with it! It is based on Ps. 139 and begins, “Where can I go to escape Your presence, Where can I run and hide from You, If I fly up to the highest heaven You are there...” I’d like to use my deep Bansuri flute on this one, to help fill it out.<br><br>
I was very recently given a gift of a set of Andean pipes. They are beautiful, and have an incredible tone (video coming!) I’m learning very quickly how to play them and will look through our song list tonight to see what song they might enhance, to give us all a “selah” moment!<br>Zemer Levavtag:www.zemerlevav.org,2005:Post/683582010-08-05T18:49:42-04:002010-08-05T18:49:42-04:00Songs, songs, and more songs! Now which ones should go on this project? This is the stage where we pull things out of our notebooks, cabinets, laptop, off the bedside table, and re-read, pray, rewrite, pray, jam to see how it feels, try different instruments, discuss our feelings about the song, share ideas... You get the picture!<br><br>
We are trying to schedule our time between concerts. Monday is business day. We do all the paperwork, faxing, emailing, updating the calendar, phone calls for the next weeks venues, plan out our driving schedule, mail our paperwork in and if we have time, get some grocery shopping done for the week. That's a busy day! If we can get it all done on Monday, then on Tuesday we have a "jam day" that is a day to play through new songs and try to figure out how to get them off the paper, and into dynamic, interesting, focused live music. This will also help us to get a feeling for what we will need when we record them. I'm also helping Natanyah with school as she needs it both days.<br><br>
Sometimes we have concerts scheduled on Wednesdays, if so the day time is mainly spent on getting ready (doing dishes, unhooking the RV, making sure everything is put away and tied down) then driving to the venue, and Natanyah's schooling. If there is no concert scheduled, we finish any unfinished business, do laundry, work on music we got started on the day before and didn't finish etc.<br><br>
Thursdays we are either doing more of the same, or preparing for and driving to a Friday night venue. Weekends are usually very busy. If we have any mechanical problems everything changes, and we just try to get everything done when and as we can!<br><br>
So most of the creative time we have is on Tuesdays - Thursdays in the afternoon and evenings, depending on our concert schedule!Zemer Levavtag:www.zemerlevav.org,2005:Post/550612010-08-05T18:44:08-04:002010-08-05T18:44:08-04:00Forward Progress! We have had some changes to our ministry team! We now have a manager, Michael Lederer. His ministry is called "New Hope Management" and also manages our friend Ted Pearce. You can see his website at www.newhopemanagement.com.<br><br>
We have spoken with Leanardo Bella, and he has agreed to help us on our album project. He worked on the Galilee of the Nations first two CDs Adonai, and Elohim, as well as producing Roman and his debut album Mehashamayim. Roman has since gotten married to the lovely Alaina, and they now have their own album out which Leanardo also produced. His work is very organic, which is something we desire for our new project. We spent three days in the Nashville area meeting with him and adding some background vocals, flute, percussion and harp to a project he was working on at the time. We had a blast in the studio with him. Now we are trying to "record as we travel" to get down some musical outlines of some of the songs we would like on the new project. this gives us a chance to listen to our arrangements, decide on instrumentation, try out new ideas, and generally get a good feeling for where we are going with each piece so we don't waste time in the studio.<br><br>
Please pray for us as recording while we are on the road is very difficult.<br><br>
We have also found a great place to do our recording in upstate NY. Finding a producer/engineer and a studio that are both willing to work with us on easy terms is a big deal! Praise God for His answer to our prayers.<br><br>
Pray for financial covering as we do need to come up with a large amount of money for all this. Everyone has bills to pay, and needs to feed their families. <br><br>
We are also looking forward to having Les Morrison with us on this project, Hooray! We've missed working with him, and are looking forward to his input on several of the songs. I am still trying to get ahold of my Uncle Russ, who did the incredible percussion on Wings of the Wind, Yeshua is the Light, and Doorkeeper. We certainly want him on this project, as we have several Latin flavored songs on this project too!Zemer Levavtag:www.zemerlevav.org,2005:Post/824932010-08-05T18:41:02-04:002010-08-05T18:41:02-04:00The Go-ahead! Had a talk with our Label about our desire to start a new project. On this one we will have more freedom to try some ideas that we have had, as we will record the tracks ourselves and then have them professionally mixed and mastered. Yochanan Ben Yehudah will provide feedback and guidance throughout, and we already discussed some of our ideas for theme, and some of the material. I have concepts for several new songs, plus we have some that for one reason or another didn't make it on the first Galilee of the Nations album we did, that I want to re-work for this project.<br><br>
Stay tuned and I'll take you through the process with me, as Kerah, Mark, Adrielle, and I write, arrange, re-arrange, and lay down tracks for this new album! <br><br>
Also, we discussed using the tracks from "As Long as I Breathe" and do the lyrics over in Spanish. This is something I have wanted to do for a long time. We have Doorkeeper, Mayim Chayim, Lead Me, Wings of the Wind, and Yeshua is the Light already translated! We just need to get 6 more done and we can do the whole album in Spanish! WooHoo!Zemer Levavtag:www.zemerlevav.org,2005:Post/824942010-08-05T18:10:00-04:002010-08-05T18:10:00-04:00About how two of our songs happened in the Studio, and Thank You Gifts for donating to this project! Hey everyone! I need to share what happened in the studio in Utica from my perspective before it all fades away!<br><br>
Time in the studio has always been a bit nerve wracking for me. I want the music to be perfect. It’s a gift to the Lord, and for His praise, as well as a gift to the body of Messiah straight from our hearts, so it’s really important to me that the music is beautiful. That’s a lot to have on your head when you step in front of a mic. That said, working with Leonardo and Steve was fantastic. They always made me feel at ease, and that made the process much easier.<br><br>
We worked on B’resheet from John chapter 1 first. I laid down a scratch vocal (a throw away vocal to use to map out the song’s structure for the instruments) to a clave’ loop while I strummed some harp chords to stay on key. Then Leonardo laid down a bass line and we were ready for my Uncle Russ Caldwell to lay down the “real” conga tracks, and some hand percussion when he came in two days later.<br><br>
Next we laid down a harp track using a loop bodhran pattern instead of a click track for “Let the Righteous Be Glad”. Click tracks are very sterile, and when you are trying to do something with a particular feel, it’s better to use some percussion with that feel instead of a click. Kerah laid down a sweet scratch vocal that I’m going to keep and offer to donors only as an alternate to what will be on the album (more about that in a minute!) Then Leonardo played some beautiful guitar for it. We'll do the vocals, and Kerah will play the Lyre, and I may add some type of flute in Tennessee in September.<br><br>
I’ll cover more studio stuff in the next blog, too much of one subject can be boring, right? I got a fantastic idea for fundraising that I will be setting up on our website over the next week. We want to show how much we appreciate those who help us to do our life’s work and ministry by giving thank you gifts to our donors, but more than a card, more than a letter. Things that are one of a kind and no one else can get, like the track I mentioned at the end of the last paragraph.<br><br>
Check it out at the link above!Zemer Levav