My headshot. I am standing against a tan matte and wearing a sky blue collared polo shirt.

Mike Smale

Musician | Photographer | Writer

Music

My full discography ranging in styles from classical piano, to jazz, to electronic and rock.

A multicoloured piano keyboard with red and purple console at the top. The white keys are recoloured to appear blue, green, and light red as though they are under coloured lighting. The black keys are unchanged in colour but have a glowing white outline.

Photography

A landscape at the Wachusett Reservoir near sunset. The sky is pink, purple and blue with yellow/orange clouds over fir trees and the water. A yellow tree and shrub are on the right side.

A gallery of fine-art photography available as prints, greeting cards, apparel, and other various items for a cozier home.

Stories & Articles

My personal blog and collection of short stories, selected poetry, and satirical articles.

A Greco-Roman styled circular temple with doric pillars sits beneath an enclave of pine trees. Deciduous trees, green with gold colours coming in sit around the structure in the background. A pile of red, orange, and brown leaves lie on the forest floor in

Tip Jar

A statue of Pan with pipes in hand against an autumn forest of deciduous and fir trees.

A place to put a little bread in my jar if you’re not interested in purchasing anything but still want to show your support. Thanks!

Hey, who are you?

I am sitting beneath an oak tree in autumn in a bed of red, orange and yellow leaves. I am wearing a yellow polo shirt and jeans with a piccolo bass guitar in my lap, in playing position.

Hi, I'm Mike. My last name rhymes with "quail."I'm guessing that by reading this you wanted to learn a little bit more about me and the wacky world within my head? Well, I'm not too keen on talking about myself, but I'll give it my best. I am a musician, photographer, and writer. That is a lot of hats to be wearing and, while it can get a little warm, it does come in handy in the independent arts.The duality of nature and the abstract horrors of the unseen often find their way into my work regardless of medium. I always try to look at the world, especially my own circumstances, with a bit of wonder and lightheartedness. If there's a bizarre low-budget horror movie too strange to possibly exist but does anyway, I probably have it.I have been making sounds, images and telling stories since the times of VHS and when logging onto the Internet required enduring a few minutes of loud, alien noises while watching a cartoon man struggle to make the connection. Ah, what a glorious age!I hope that you take the time to appreciate my growing catalogue of work, and that you have a pleasant day!

Gear & Equipment

Keyboards

Roland RD-800
Nord Piano
Arturia Minilab mkII

Basses

Custom Fender Jazz
Custom Fender Precision Fretless
Schecter Stiletto Studio-6
Schecter Stiletto Studio-6 Fretless
Schecter Stiletto Studio-4 (Piccolo)
Schecter Stiletto Studio-4 Fretless (Piccolo)
Ovation Celebrity Acoustic-Electric

Two plastic specimens of Dilophosaurus sitting atop a piano keyboard, looking for food, perhaps a Sarahsaurus.
A little green, plastic Dilophosaurus standing on the white pearloid pickguard of a red Fender Jazz Bass between the neck pickup and the maple fingerboard. The four strings are red in colour.

Strings

DR Red Devils (.045 - .105)
DR Sunbeams (.030 - .130)
DR Rare Acoustic Bass (.045 - .105)
La Bella Deep Talkin' Flats (.029 - .128)
D'Addario XL Piccolo (.020 - .052)

Hardware & Microphones

MOTU M4 Interface
Roland R-26 Field Recorder
Rhode NT1-A (2)
Audix f15 (2)
Blue Yeti USB
Audio-Technica AT897 Shotgun
Audio-Technica AT2022 X/Y Stereo

A green Dilophosaurus with brown spots stands on a piano keyboard and looks at three heavily worn piccolo bass strings as they prepare to restring their instrument (not pictured here).
A green Dilophosaurus with brown spots stands on a mini piano keyboard with inverted colours and speaks into a golden Rhode condenser microphone with some hot takes. The controller's knobs and pads are visible in the background.

Cameras & Lenses

Canon Rebel T7i
Canon XA10
Canon EFS 18-55mm
Canon EFS 55-250mm
Canon EF 50mm f/2.5 Macro
Rokinon 650-1300mm

Software

Software is ever changing and what's the standard today can quickly disappear into obsolescence. I typically use Ableton Live and Reason as my DAWs with plug-ins from Arturia, Native Instruments, iZotope, Synthogy, and Waves.For photography I use Affinity Photo, and DaVinci Resolve for video editing.

A green Dilophosaurus with brown spots stands on my Canon Rebel T7i camera which is on top of a glass table. It is equipped with a medium length 250mm lens.
A green Dilophosaurus with brown spots stands before a computer screen with Ableton Live open. They are looking over various audio and MIDI tracks labelled in yellow, orange, and various shades of blue as they mix the pictured recording.

Let's get in touch!