Ben Garen's Web Page

Thank You for visiting my web page! In this site, you'll not only find a lot of cool information about Michael Thompson and me, but if you're a budding musician and/or home-studio buff, you'll also find some great links to other sites that can help you not only record your masterpiece, but help with the crucial final step of marketing and distribution. Please feel free to E-mail me with any suggestions for improvements to the site. Also, be sure to check back from time to time to get the latest progress report on our recording project. Please click on my sponsors' icons to pay them a visit.

Background	Equipment
Music	New Man of War	Only a Dream	Download Songs
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Ben was introduced early to the world of music, born on June 26, 1966 to a father who was a high school musicteacher, and a mother who was completing her undergraduate work in piano performance, and as well, went on to become a music teacher.

His father gave him violin lessons at age four, which gave way to piano lessons at age 8. However, his serious music "apprenticeship" came at the age of 9 when he took up the cello. Performing with the St. Clements early music ensemble playing both cello and soprano recorder. Then, in the summers of 1977 and 1978, he was accepted at the prestigious Interlochen National Music Camp, where he continued his cello studies.

When his father moved to Germany in 1978, Ben was afforded a rare opportunity to study and perform at the local Schweinfurt Stadt Muzikschule. While attending Alexander von Humboldt Gymnasium, he performed in Chateaudans, France as part of the Schweinfurt/Chateaudans sister-city celebration.

When his father moved to Korea in 1983, Ben decided to satisfy his Rock and Roll curiosity by taking up electric guitar. He quickly came to master the fret-board, due to his prior experience with the cello, the guitar’s string-instrument cousin.

Ben played both guitar and electric Rhodes keyboard in a classic rock band called "Pyramid," performing at school and youth center functions. This band dis-"band" -ed with the drummer’s return to the U.S., at which point Ben joined a top-40/soul band called "Saturday Night Affair." SNA performed at a number of functions at various posts in the U.S. military community in and around Seoul. At one of these gigs, Ben was noticed by a member of a professional Korean dance band, "Seoul Traveler," and offered a chance to perform nightly as a regular member of the band. This he did throughout the summer of 1984. At the close of the 1984 summer season, Ben formed a Hard Rock band called "Virgin Steel," which performed heavy-metal tunes and rock standards. Virgin Steal performed a number of gigs in the night-club district of Ee-Tae-Won throughout the 1984-85 school year becoming well known for their "standing room only" audiences., and their closing "shirts-off" session, which included encore renditions of UFO’s "Lights Out" and "Rock Bottom."

At the close of the 1985 school year, Ben returned to the U.S. to attend college. In 1986 Ben earned a music scholarship to Western Wyoming Community College, where he quickly became the star aural music theory student. Also during this time, Ben had been scoping the local night-club scene for possible bands to hook up with. One of these, "Pheonix," was a real crowd pleaser. Ben performed with "Phoenix" at gigs in Green River, and Rock Springs, Wyoming, and Ogden, Utah. Disillusioned after the band’s painful breakup, Ben resolved to focus primarily on his own music and the pursuit of his dream: recording his own studio album.

Ben’s style has been influenced by a wide range of guitarists, from his early exposure to the blues styles of Jimi Hendrix, and the jazz fussion of Al De Meola, and Allan Holdsworth, to his later interest in the melodic, hard rock styles of Alex Lifeson, Michael Schenker, Adrian Smith, and Neal Schon. After taking a 13-year hiatus from performing to pursue the roles of business man, family man, middle school teacher, and soldier, Ben has once again taken up the hilt of his guitar "Excalibur" to record his debut album tentatively entitled, "The Once and Future King," which truly represents the culmination of his many years of musical training and performing. The album will include 10 original songs Ben created over the years 1986 - 1999, including his new, hard-driving single, entitled "New Man of War," which, along with "The Once and Future King," "To the New World," "Only a Dream," "Ivanhoe," "Hot Touch," (winner of an achievement award from the 1987 Billboard/TDK Songwriter’s Contest), and many others, are sure to leave a substantial and indelible mark on the archives of once and future rock enthusiasts.

I use a Washburn MG-40 Guitar with Light Gauge (.10 to .46) strings. I use Michael's vintage Gibson Thunderbird bass for a deep, punchy bass line. Drum-wise, I use a Yamaha Digital Drum Pro as a MIDI input divice, playing (as best I can) the drum line, then quantizing to roughly 85%, and touching up in the sequencing track of the software. I use a Marshall VS-15 guitar amp for practicing, but for recording, I go direct, through my Digitech RP-12 sound processor using Cabinet Emulation, into the line-in on my SoundBlaster Live Value soundcard. The computer I use is home-built (with Michael's expert guidance) and consists of an Intel Pentium II precessor on a Gigabyte GA-6BXC mother-board running at 350Mhz and only 64K RAM, (which I hope to upgrade to at least 128K as I often experience skipping with as few as four tracks!). The software is Magix Music Studio Deluxe V.2000, with the free download patch. For vocals, I use a Shure SM 57 Vocal/Instrument mic. Through Michael's suggestion (as he is always coming up with new ways to get just the right sound) I sometimes use a brass pick (e.g. New Man of War) to get a nice, crisp crunch on the guitar. In addition, G. H. S. FastFret and Martin Guitar Polish round out the accoutrements.

About the Music: In the world of popular music, one is inevitably faced with the reality of catagorization. While no "artist" likes to have his or her work "pidgeon-holed," catagorization is nonetheless a fact of life. As a humanities major in college, I learned about the many different catagorizations we have today for the various types of art and music that have been created throughout the ages. These catagorizations are based on criteria such as time period, political or religious influences, and/or a particular technical approach to the craft. I feel that such catgorizations are important in that they help us to organize and to discuss the works in a meaningful way.

I would catagorize my own music as progressive, melodic metal: progressive because of its technical complexity and thought-provoking lyrics; melodic due to the song-like leads and harmonizing guitars; metal becuase of its driving, high-gain guitars and up-beat rhythms.

I take a great deal of time composing each one of the guitar leads in my songs, so that every time I play it, it will be the same lead. This is much the same way that a classical composer would treat a violin or other solo in a piece. While I have great appreciation for impromtu or improvisational playing, (such as that of Jimi Hendrix, George Lynch, and any of a number of great jazz guitarists), I feel like a song is incomplete without a thoroughly thought-out and cleanly composed lead solo that actually takes the listener somewhere and leaves them fulfilled at the end of the journey.

I like to compose lyrics that give the listener something to think about, rather than appealling to his or her baser instincts (granted there are a couple good 'ol rock & roll songs that deviate a bit from this rule). I've been influenced in this regard by the songs of Rush and Iron Maiden, most of which have historical, fantasy, or literary themes.

New Man of War -- This song was influenced by recent events in Yugoslavia. I am proud of the role of the U.S. in internatioanl peace-keeping efforts. This song reflects that sense of pride, and the sense of purpose: protecting the free world from the wrath of tyrants and terrorists.

This was our first digital multi-track recording efforts, and as such, was a bit of a learning experience. Much of what we learned in this song regardign treatment of MIDI tracks in the overall mix, recording vocals, compressing and e.q.ing the final mixdown, etc., we applied to our second effort: "Only a Dream."

Only a Dream -- This song takes the listener from the literal, to the allegorical, to the ideal. One starts in the midst of a dream, seeing visions of mysterious flying creatures, devils, and deamons. The listener is taken across a battle-field where devils and deamons are seen "burning and slashing everything in sight" and bodies lie scattered, "in disarray." From here, the listener is trasported high above "on the wings of a dove." From this point, s/he can view "millions of people with nothing but love for their fellow man." Here begins the allusion to Martin Luther King's allagorical "Dream," that is, people of different races, religions living together in peace. Current events in the Balkins are testing this hypothesis. My hope is that we will be able to achive this "dream." I hope that my music will in a small way help to achieve this goal.

For this song, I took the MIDI drum track and re-recorded it as an audio track. Then e.q.ed it to give the bass drum a little more punch. For the vocals, we placed the mic at chest-level, thus eleminating pops and hisses, and giving it a fuller sound. Over-all, the mix came out much more to our satisfaction.

Amazon.com -- A great place to buy books, videos, CD's, etc. Buy the book The Once and Future King.

Carl Lundgren -- One of the world's premier fantasy artists. High-quality prints for sale.

DiscMakers -- If you're an independent musician and want to mass-produce your own CD, they can help.

Dream Theater -- Dream Theater's web site, (and on-ramp to the Progressive Metal Web Ring).

Heavy Metal Bands, Unsigned -- Get your heavy metal band signed: join the Unsigned Heavy Metal Bands Web-Ring.

HomeRecording Magazine -- A great place to get info on home-recording techniques and equipment.

Iron Maiden -- You know who's web page. See the latest info on the much-anticipated reunion.

Magix -- For an affordable, digital home-recording software package (you can save $100's).

Metal Method -- Learn the art of Heavy Metal guitar playing. . . Doug Marks' home page.

Mp3.com/BenGaren -- Listen to my latest songs, & download them. (Check out thousands of other artists & free music).

Musician's Friend -- A great place to buy musical equipment and recording gear (best prices around).

Orchard -- Wondering how to get your CD's and cassettes into the record stores? Click here.