Kevin Browning
Encyclopedia
Kevin Thomas Browning is the sound engineer and producer for Umphrey's McGee
, the Chicago-based “Improg” band which has rapidly gained notoriety for merging its original style of progressive rock with unchartered improvisational techniques (thus “Improg”). Many of their notoriously loyal fans, self-proclaimed Umphreaks, know Browning as the “Sound Caresser”, also formally cited on the band’s official website.
. He attributes the foundation of his success to his family, notably his parents who always encouraging Kevin to chase his passion without regards how odd or far-fetched it seemed. He acknowledges that through his parents believing in him, it gave Browning the freedom to chase a dream.
In 1993, Browning attended a Pink Floyd concert that changed perspective of all things music. “I immediately came home and threw away my entire CD collection, except my Guns ‘N Roses and Poison albums. I wasn't sure what else was out there but I knew the Top 40 was NOT was not music was about. That day began my quest for something better.”
Kevin attended Cathedral High School, a private Catholic school in his hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana. Browning also went on to earn his bachelor’s degree in American Studies with a concentration in History & Government at the University of Notre Dame.
. During the previous semester in the fall of 1997, Browning recalls attending a house party hosted by a neighbor of his brother Christian. Kevin heard faint sounds of Phish’s Bathtub Gin being covered by the house band in the basement. Browning was fairly impressed with what he had heard and proceeded to follow the sound into the basement. It was there he first encountered then Tashi Station founders guitarist/vocalist Brendan Bayliss
and bassist Ryan Stasik
. After being captured by Tashi Station’s musical stylings long into that night, Browning found himself at nearly every Tashi show from that point forward.
Bayliss and Stasik then merged with keyboardist Joel Cummins and drummer Mike Mirro, who previously performed with Stomper Bob, a fellow Notre Dame rock band of Tashi Station. Together, Bayliss, Stasik, Cummins, and Mirro were the founding personnel of Umphrey's McGee. Naturally, Browning continued to attend every Umphrey's McGee for the first two months. Kevin then came to the realization that as he was finding difficulty missing a single show, he might as well contribute his time and talents to the band’s betterment. So, his brother Christian approached Bayliss about potentially having Kevin manage the band’s sound, and Bayliss embraced the proposition.
In March 1998, Bayliss and Browning met for a sandwich at the local Blimpie restaurant. During the meal, Bayliss taught Browning how to use the PA system that Umphrey’s was using at the time, a simple 8-channel Crate mixer with adjustable gain, bass, and treble only. As Browning had no prior mixing experience, Bayliss’s lesson was put into layman’s terms by showing which channel, for example, to kill in case of microphone feedback. Following this initial tutorial, Browning attributes fearless experimentation and constantly asking questions to his comprehensive understanding of sound engineering. “There really are no hard and fast rules in the world of audio. What works in one situation may be a terrible idea in another. Certain principles apply across the board but you've got to be willing to take chances. The knob goes both ways.”
UMLive
The UM Live program was also started by Browning, the Sound Caresser, himself. Each night's show is offered for sale directly after the show. This translated into a partnership with Disc Logic and the band began to offer their shows for sale online as well. A few years later all of the band's shows would be moved to UMLive.net. Nearly all live performances of the band for the past five years are available for download or hard-copy purchase at the site.
Thomson, a software company and leading contributor in the development of the MP3 file, developed the MP3HD format which upholds backward compatibility with the old MP3 format. Already competing with several existing lossless audio codecs, including FLAC, HD-AAC, and Windows Media's own lossless format, backwards compatibility poses as a key advantage for the format. Thus, when employing hardware which does not support the MP3HD file, it will play back simply as a generic MP3 file.
Only 50 tickets were oversubscribed for the event for the inaugural S2 event at the Eagles Ballroom at the Rave in Milwaukee, Wisconsin Saturday October 3. The perplexity and friendliness generated whatever ill forcefulness as fans were aerated to snacks and beverages patch they waited. Shortly after everyone was effected in, creation trainer Kevin Browning discoverer came in and gave us the lowdown: Fans would be texting ideas to the crew, who would passage them to a super concealment onstage that everyone could see. After the intro speech, the adornment members came in and processed with the diminutive gathering briefly, then led everyone upstair to the Eagles Ballroom to move the insanity; as guitarist/singer Jake Cinninger place it, “We’re every hamsters and gerbils in a cage.”
"The improvisational elements of our shows have always been one of our favorite parts about playing together, and we think the audience feels that way too," keyboardist Joel Cummins explains to Spinner. "That's the inspiration for the S2 series. It's also a great way for us to stay on top of our chops."
The S2 experiment is just that, an experiment. The band views this as an opportunity to explore methods of band and fan interaction and collectively discover what works best. The details of each event - cost, size, length, method of interplay - will vary depending on venue size, our costs, and the goal for each experience. But space is always extremely limited as intimacy is paramount. Umphrey’s stated that they want the fans to help them determine how the events can best evolve and grow to their potential.
Every attendee receives an autographed CD of the Stew Art Series they attend minutes after the event has concluded. The Q&A is also included on the disc as we will be recording your questions for posterity. Also unique, S2 events give fans the chance to see some classic venues as they have never seen them, empty and in the day time. As another bonus, fans are treated to an entirely improvised light show by lighting designer Jefferson Waful.
At the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in 2008, Browning tells Radio Bonnaroo how a Jimmy Stewart session contributed to the composition of the Umphrey's McGee track entitled “Gulf Stream. “Gulf Stream actually came out of what we call a ‘Jimmy Stewart’, which is our version of an improv. And it came out of one at the Eagles Ballroom at the The Rave in Milwaukee, Wisconsin not too far from our hometown in Chicago. It was actually a pretty neat night because, typically the improvs are based around mostly instrumental music, but that night Jake actually stepped up to the microphone over that chord progression and started singing. And Brendan not to miss a beat stepped up and started singing the round with him. So the two of them were essentially just improv-ing not only music but the vocals as well. And when we got off stage, everyone loved it and said ‘Hey, we should, I think we just wrote a song!”
Umphrey's McGee
Umphrey's McGee is an American progressive rock jam band based in Chicago whose music is often referred to as "progressive improvisation", or "improg" ....
, the Chicago-based “Improg” band which has rapidly gained notoriety for merging its original style of progressive rock with unchartered improvisational techniques (thus “Improg”). Many of their notoriously loyal fans, self-proclaimed Umphreaks, know Browning as the “Sound Caresser”, also formally cited on the band’s official website.
Early life
Browning was born in Indianapolis, IndianaIndianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
. He attributes the foundation of his success to his family, notably his parents who always encouraging Kevin to chase his passion without regards how odd or far-fetched it seemed. He acknowledges that through his parents believing in him, it gave Browning the freedom to chase a dream.
In 1993, Browning attended a Pink Floyd concert that changed perspective of all things music. “I immediately came home and threw away my entire CD collection, except my Guns ‘N Roses and Poison albums. I wasn't sure what else was out there but I knew the Top 40 was NOT was not music was about. That day began my quest for something better.”
Kevin attended Cathedral High School, a private Catholic school in his hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana. Browning also went on to earn his bachelor’s degree in American Studies with a concentration in History & Government at the University of Notre Dame.
Sound Engineering
Browning has been Umphrey's McGee’s sound engineer, or “sound caresser”, since the band’s formation in December 1997. Kevin’s first attempt at mixing sound dates back to March 1998 as a freshman at the University of Notre DameUniversity of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
. During the previous semester in the fall of 1997, Browning recalls attending a house party hosted by a neighbor of his brother Christian. Kevin heard faint sounds of Phish’s Bathtub Gin being covered by the house band in the basement. Browning was fairly impressed with what he had heard and proceeded to follow the sound into the basement. It was there he first encountered then Tashi Station founders guitarist/vocalist Brendan Bayliss
Brendan Bayliss
Brendan Bayliss is an American musician, the founder, a lead guitarist alongside fellow guitarist and band member Jake Cinninger, and primary vocalist for progressive rock band Umphrey's McGee. He formed the band in 1997 and took its moniker from the name of a distant relative he met at a wedding...
and bassist Ryan Stasik
Ryan Stasik
Ryan Fabec Stasik is the bassist for progressive rock group Umphrey's McGee. Stasik originally hails from the Pittsburgh area, though he grew up in Portage, MI and is now based out of Chicago, IL. He is a founding member of Umphrey's McGee, having played in the group Tashi Station with guitarist...
. After being captured by Tashi Station’s musical stylings long into that night, Browning found himself at nearly every Tashi show from that point forward.
Bayliss and Stasik then merged with keyboardist Joel Cummins and drummer Mike Mirro, who previously performed with Stomper Bob, a fellow Notre Dame rock band of Tashi Station. Together, Bayliss, Stasik, Cummins, and Mirro were the founding personnel of Umphrey's McGee. Naturally, Browning continued to attend every Umphrey's McGee for the first two months. Kevin then came to the realization that as he was finding difficulty missing a single show, he might as well contribute his time and talents to the band’s betterment. So, his brother Christian approached Bayliss about potentially having Kevin manage the band’s sound, and Bayliss embraced the proposition.
In March 1998, Bayliss and Browning met for a sandwich at the local Blimpie restaurant. During the meal, Bayliss taught Browning how to use the PA system that Umphrey’s was using at the time, a simple 8-channel Crate mixer with adjustable gain, bass, and treble only. As Browning had no prior mixing experience, Bayliss’s lesson was put into layman’s terms by showing which channel, for example, to kill in case of microphone feedback. Following this initial tutorial, Browning attributes fearless experimentation and constantly asking questions to his comprehensive understanding of sound engineering. “There really are no hard and fast rules in the world of audio. What works in one situation may be a terrible idea in another. Certain principles apply across the board but you've got to be willing to take chances. The knob goes both ways.”
Style
Browning has produced every record released by Umphrey's McGee, each meticulously captured to display the unprecedented versatility upon which the band thrives. The quintessential example of which has taken the live show to a new level of grandeur. Their multi-hour shows are vastly complex productions, so much that in addition to Browning’s live sound caressing, record liner notes justly credit monitor engineers, stage managers, and lighting technicians.UMLive
The UM Live program was also started by Browning, the Sound Caresser, himself. Each night's show is offered for sale directly after the show. This translated into a partnership with Disc Logic and the band began to offer their shows for sale online as well. A few years later all of the band's shows would be moved to UMLive.net. Nearly all live performances of the band for the past five years are available for download or hard-copy purchase at the site.
Use of MP3HD
Because Umphrey's McGee is currently among one of the relative few touring acts that record and release every show that is played, sound quality is paramount to the entire band. As one of the first artists to embrace the upcoming MP3HD, Browning explains that the HDMP3 format is a welcome addition to their existing arsenal of lossless and lossy formats made available for fans. “Offering a much richer sound spectrum combined with the convenience and familiarity of the MP3 format, we expect HDMP3 to be a hit with the band and fans alike.”Thomson, a software company and leading contributor in the development of the MP3 file, developed the MP3HD format which upholds backward compatibility with the old MP3 format. Already competing with several existing lossless audio codecs, including FLAC, HD-AAC, and Windows Media's own lossless format, backwards compatibility poses as a key advantage for the format. Thus, when employing hardware which does not support the MP3HD file, it will play back simply as a generic MP3 file.
S2
The band announced a band and fan experiment called "The Stew Art Series" (or "S2" for short), whereby lucky fans get to "conduct" the band, in a way. An S2 event is an experiment in crowd-sourced improvisation. One hundred percent of the music performed at a S2 event is improvised, and fans are the ones who serve as directors. Using several communication mediums, which could range from text messaging to prewritten cue cards to chalk boards, fans send out ideas, descriptive words, phrases, pop culture references, and nearly anything that comes to mind. The band’s soundman, Kevin Browning, sorts through them in real-time through a mobile database and projected them onto a screen for the band to then interpret musically, mid-jam. These are presented to the band who then composes jams on the fly based around those ideas. Ideas are added to, changed, and deleted as the event progresses. For instance, a fan might send the phrase “frightened rabbit”, causing the band to play a frantic, nimble jam. After a period of time, the word “rabbit” might get changed to “brontosaurus” which would take the jam in a heavy, slower direction, though the word “frightened” is still in play. Then perhaps the word “skydiving” morphs the “frightened brontosaurus” jam into a soaring, powerful piece of music that evokes the feeling of being airborne. But then the phrase “without a parachute” gets tacked on which changes the jam into something else entirely. And so on. No one has any idea where the music will be headed. The event also includes one or more Q&A session(s) to provide an opportunity to ask about what the select fans in attendance are witnessing or anything else they would like to ask the band. Fans are a part of the music like never before.Only 50 tickets were oversubscribed for the event for the inaugural S2 event at the Eagles Ballroom at the Rave in Milwaukee, Wisconsin Saturday October 3. The perplexity and friendliness generated whatever ill forcefulness as fans were aerated to snacks and beverages patch they waited. Shortly after everyone was effected in, creation trainer Kevin Browning discoverer came in and gave us the lowdown: Fans would be texting ideas to the crew, who would passage them to a super concealment onstage that everyone could see. After the intro speech, the adornment members came in and processed with the diminutive gathering briefly, then led everyone upstair to the Eagles Ballroom to move the insanity; as guitarist/singer Jake Cinninger place it, “We’re every hamsters and gerbils in a cage.”
"The improvisational elements of our shows have always been one of our favorite parts about playing together, and we think the audience feels that way too," keyboardist Joel Cummins explains to Spinner. "That's the inspiration for the S2 series. It's also a great way for us to stay on top of our chops."
The S2 experiment is just that, an experiment. The band views this as an opportunity to explore methods of band and fan interaction and collectively discover what works best. The details of each event - cost, size, length, method of interplay - will vary depending on venue size, our costs, and the goal for each experience. But space is always extremely limited as intimacy is paramount. Umphrey’s stated that they want the fans to help them determine how the events can best evolve and grow to their potential.
Every attendee receives an autographed CD of the Stew Art Series they attend minutes after the event has concluded. The Q&A is also included on the disc as we will be recording your questions for posterity. Also unique, S2 events give fans the chance to see some classic venues as they have never seen them, empty and in the day time. As another bonus, fans are treated to an entirely improvised light show by lighting designer Jefferson Waful.
Origin of Jimmy Stewart
The origin of the Umphrey’s-specific expression “Jimmy Stewart” began in a reception hall the band played named after the late actor. It has since become a staple of Umphrey’s concerts. After playing a wedding for friend Jeremy Welsh in 2001, the band returned to the basement of the swanky hotel to the Jimmy Stewart room with their soundman Kevin Browning. “It was at about three in the morning that night, we were—I don’t how many drinks we were into the evening—but we went down to the concert hall and just did a little jam and Kevin (Browning) taped it,” Bayliss said, “We had one of the best improv’s we’ve ever had. It was really kind of a different approach to playing that we had never done before and we really liked it.” Cinninger said the original recording is still floating around somewhere between Browning and himself.At the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in 2008, Browning tells Radio Bonnaroo how a Jimmy Stewart session contributed to the composition of the Umphrey's McGee track entitled “Gulf Stream. “Gulf Stream actually came out of what we call a ‘Jimmy Stewart’, which is our version of an improv. And it came out of one at the Eagles Ballroom at the The Rave in Milwaukee, Wisconsin not too far from our hometown in Chicago. It was actually a pretty neat night because, typically the improvs are based around mostly instrumental music, but that night Jake actually stepped up to the microphone over that chord progression and started singing. And Brendan not to miss a beat stepped up and started singing the round with him. So the two of them were essentially just improv-ing not only music but the vocals as well. And when we got off stage, everyone loved it and said ‘Hey, we should, I think we just wrote a song!”