Holiday Music Plans For 2020

 It's the holiday season and in terms of having new holiday music ready for this time, I have learned my lesson. Well, not really. Neither is it officially the holiday season--though to me it is because it really starts to feel like it even before Thanksgiving--nor have I learned my lesson in terms of releasing new holiday music. Can I just add that the holiday season to me starts with Halloween? There's no denying that Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Year's are all very much related with some fascinating parallels in the subject matter of endings and new beginnings. The last quarter of the year really is my favorite time. 

Anyway, I am working on new holiday music. Considering my history of timing I'd say I'm pretty early. But I cannot guarantee I'll have anything new. I will try, however. The good thing is that I have plenty of time to keep 'promoting' last year's tune, "You Know It's Christmas Time." That was another late release--December 11 to be precise. Traditionally, holiday albums are released in October though I don't know who buys them that early. I have to admit that I'm not quite in a Christmassy mood pre-Halloween. And nobody plays it that early either. ChristmasSongsRadio.com started playing holiday music before Thanksgiving this year and I'm grateful to hear the wonderful, diverse variety you can find there which includes my very own songs.

I have no problem with recording and releasing an electronic tune. "You Know It's Christmas Time" was virtually such a recording with the exception being a real guitar track and my vocal. While I was able to get the music tracks down rather quickly, it was the vocal that held the release up. But one thing I didn't know was that as a result of releasing that song through CD Baby as a "Pro Single," I was granted a free membership into ASCAP. That was cool. 

Another song I have nearly ready for release is "Christmas In The City (reprise)". The problem is I don't have the non-reprise version of the song anywhere near completely written! The reprise version is a 6-minute track featuring a repeating 4-part harmony of "Christmas in the city, lookin' so pretty" trading off with instrumental solos. It was just meant to be a fun, 70s funk inspired song. But I need the main song it's based off with a lot more lyrics than that. Have you ever heard of a reprise being released without the song it was based on?

So that's something I can work on. I also wanted to do a minor key version of "Jingle Bells." That may be something I could do quick if my vocals don't fail me too much. But I'd prefer doing something original. 

As I write this I have a working demo song titled "A Winter's Day" playing in the background. I like its mellow sound and feel but I've been stuck on writing for a few years. And it's another 4 part harmony song so it surely would take me quite some time to finish up a recording.

So there's lots to do. I will be seriously thrilled if I can just have a new recording released in time for Christmas. It's just about 4 weeks away so there really is no time to waste. Wish me luck.

Youtube Channels Suspended, New Christmas Song

Remember how in my previous post I posited that one of my youtube channels with millions of views and thousands of subscribers might serve as a new outlet for my own music? Not only was that true to some extent and actually a really good idea, now it's an impossibility as BOTH my channels were terminated just days before Thanksgiving. First they got my hugely popular channel and then took down my personal Exit World music and creativity channel as well.

I know who is responsible for it but I am not sure of the extenuating circumstances behind it. See, on this widely popular channel called JustGoodStuff I had many clips of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" programs that were well over 40 years old. They had been up for easily over a year or longer. I began uploading some clips after the 2 Twitch marathons that were broadcast in 2017 and 2018. I had recorded many of the shows while they were airing during those marathons. These clips were very popular and well-received. They were not necessarily the reason for the explosion in popularity of this particular channel. That was attributed to some Tim Conway & Harvey Korman clips from the Carol Burnett Show that I had compiled. My original plan had been to put together and upload 4 of these compilations at about 15 minutes each to resemble a game. The clips all featured Conway & Korman breaking character as a result of doing unscripted bits and lines. I think it only took about 2 months before the first video compilation hit a million views. The second video was uploaded shortly after the first and went the same way in terms of views. When my channel was suspended on Monday the first video was at over 2 million and the second at over 1 million. I have never had any videos do that well.

Those 2 videos along with an earlier Conway/Korman video I had uploaded and a segment from a 1973 episode of "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson also led to this channel getting an extraordinary number of subscriptions per day. In fact, I was actually annoyed at my phone going off so frequently with emails stating I had new subscribers all the time. 

It is possible that these videos and subscriptions played a part in the large number of views I was getting on the Mister Rogers videos as well. I'm not totally sure. There has been a lot of Mister Rogers stuff going on the last 2 years due to what would have been his 90th birthday, 50th anniversary of his show and 15th anniversary of his death. Not to mention the documentaries and movies that have been coming out about him as well.

So those videos were getting plenty of views and comments as well. Nowhere near what the Conway/Korman & Carson videos were getting but still a good amount of traffic. I was at 8150 subscribers and one of my most recent uploads was my own rendition of "Ding Dong Merrily On High" & "Gloria in Excelsis" which I combined into a medley and called "In Excelsis Medley". Within the 3 weeks it was up it had received over 200 views and had 9 likes with no dislikes. I would have never gotten those kinds of numbers on my own Exit World channel. So my initial conclusion had manifested. 

I also had a crazy thought. Why shouldn't I check to see if this channel could be monetized. No harm done, right? I mean, I wasn't getting my hopes up. I knew that most of the content on there was not mine but I was putting it together in unique ways or adding my own background music to some videos. I was almost certain they'd say no.

About a week or so after making the request sure enough the expected response came in. "No, you cannot monetize this channel." OK, at least I know for sure now. A few weeks later and all my work is gone. All the hours I'd leave the computer on overnight to upload a longer video trampled on and invalidated.

One more thing to consider: in the last 2 weeks youtube started talking about this thing called COPPA which is supposedly something that's 'meant to protect children.' Now every time you uploaded a video you had to check a box that declared that your video was either made for children or not made for children. Honestly speaking, I didn't like how the choices were worded. If you choose 'not made for children' does that mean your videos may be considered inappropriate for them and then you get unwanted special designation on the videos? And if you choose 'made for children' you're catering to them? So needless to say it was rather confusing. I decided the best choice for me was that my videos were not made for children.

Last week a number of my Mister Rogers clips were taken down and I received 2 copyright strikes. I wondered why they chose those particular videos and left all the others. I also wondered why I received one copyright strike for a single video and then another one copyright strike for 6 other videos. That didn't make a lot of sense. But I was still in the game. I had one more strike to go. I figured they didn't take down the other Mister Rogers videos for whatever reason so I left them up as well. And youtube had said that if I went to their 'copyright school' those 2 strikes would expire in 3 months. So I did it. All it is is a short cartoon you have to watch and then answer 3 questions about copyright that are discussed in the animation. I did it and passed and in 3 months I would be back to no strikes. Just to let some of my subscribers know though, I made one video with some of my own background music and some lines of sentences that basically let them know the position I was in and the chance that channel could vanish at any given moment.

And voila! On Monday morning I was informed via email that I received a 3rd copyright strike for the remaining Mr. Rogers videos that were still up and that my entire channel had been taken down. I know for a fact that there is no way to reinstate a channel that has content you don't own on it. So the milestones of subscribers and millions of views for the unique content that I had uploaded were all erased. What I was trying to most figure out was why. WHY NOW? I suspect the request for monetization of the channel could have had something to do with it. Also this COPPA thing. And the current hype for all things Mr. Rogers may have played a part as well.

As much as it pained me to get my channel shut down by the company associated with the man I considered a personal hero and whose program was something I could never get enough of growing up and even later on, the pain was even more debilitating when on Tuesday morning I received an email stating that my Exit World channel was also taken down because it was linked with the other channel. This was my own personal channel for my own music and video creations. Okay, I may have had a few things on there that weren't mine as well, but they were few and they had been there since before I created the JustGoodStuff channel. There were never any issues. I had never received any copyright strikes for those. If you'll remember, that channel was even monetized for a while until they changed their standards to better serve the elite channels. 

Pissed as I was, I finished writing a one and a half page letter which I emailed to the Fred Rogers Company (FRC). I don't expect anything to come of that but I wanted them to know that what they did was a very much anti-Mr. Rogers thing to do and that he would never object to the content of his shows being online because he believe in sharing and in fair use.

There is a possibility for me to get my Exit World channel back up but I have to appeal and send in this form to youtube or google or whoever the hell it is. I don't feel like doing it. I think it'll be a time-waster. They have the final say. Welcome to the free world. 

I had gone to a Mr. Rogers group on Facebook and announced what happened and said I was going to write the letter and asked for any ideas. This very un-Mr. Rogers-like group pretty much acted as my judge and jury with an immense amount of self-righteousness and undoubted hypocrisy. One who had copyrighted images from the recent Laurel & Hardy movie (among other things) on his own Facebook had the gall to say that I deserved what I got for using what didn't belong to me! Another one mentioned the Fred Rogers Company's right to sue me! Sue me? For what? Good luck with that!

I have no doubt these accusers and naysayers spent countless hours watching the videos I uploaded. But now all of a sudden they are armchair copyright attorneys and defenders of the rights of intellectual property owners. After receiving a rash of comments siding with the FRC, I finally called them all a strange bunch--certainly they knew nothing of who Fred Rogers really was; many have just jumped on the Rogers hype bandwagon--and told those who supported what happened to me that they themselves better be obeying copyright laws by not watching anything that's been illegally uploaded. Because, after all, if you're going to be self-righteous, then you'd better be righteous yourself. 

So I am not sure what I'm going to do. This did put a damper on the Thanksgiving Day anticipation. My initial thoughts were to abandon youtube forever and not use it anymore for anything. (I refuse to capitalize youtube any longer). But they're like the ebay of the video world. Where else are you gonna go to build that massive viewership and potential revenue? I still do have my ExitWorldTopic channel (or TopicExitWorld, whatever it's called) but that's fully controlled by CD Baby not me.

Most importantly for me now is to finish and release the new Christmas song I've been working on. I'd love to have my own channel to upload the video to but it's not an option at this time. When it's done and released I'll get it up on Vimeo and Soundcloud and wherever else I can find. Oh, and of course, ChristmasSongsRadio.com. They play my stuff and that might be the best place to get it promoted. By the way, the song is going very well and I should be done recording it in no more than a few days and then mixed and mastered and released with artwork. 

Holiday Music Production Underway

I have been working on Christmas music this year. Yay! This is the longest into the new year that I have ever worked on holiday music. So I am really serious about doing this in this new year.

So far I have been recording one song. I am envisioning it as being the last song on the album. The working title is "Christmas in the City" which was inspired by the Marvin Gaye instrumental of the same title. Basically this song's lyrics are, "Christmas in the city, looking so pretty." And it's just that repeated over and over with some occasional breaks for instrument solos. Originally, I planned to write this song with more lyrics--and I still may--but this version has turned out to be a reprise of sorts. So if I do still write another with the same title there will be more lyrics and the music will be slightly different. But I am having a great time with this one. I'm going for that late 60's/early 70's funky sound and thus far I have some Wurlitzer piano, a couple electric guitars, electric bass, sleigh bells and vocals. This will also mark my first song that features four-part harmony. Still plan to add some organ, minimoog and horns. Ahh yes, and drums. I would like to believe that I'll have the large majority of this song completed sometime this month. I really cannot afford to spend too much more time on it.

Which brings me to my next point....

Do I realistically have the time to present a full-length album by the holiday season for 2018? I have a solid 8 months to get it done. However I don't have another 8 or 9 songs all written and ready to go. That's where I need some improvement. Also, the summer months is usually when I don't do much recording because of the extreme heat of my upstairs studio. I am strongly considering having a small window-unit air conditioner installed just to keep it comfortable enough for me to do my work there. But I need to do as much as I can before that scorching heat arrives, as adding an a/c unit is nice but also another expense.

The good news is that I have ideas for songs. I just need to build on them. I have a tune I started working on last year which is where I first got the idea for doing some 4-part harmony. There are also two winter season songs I wrote quite some time ago and they would fit in nicely on this album. As a last-minute effort, I could make new versions of my two previously released songs and include them as well. That's an idea that just came to me now so I haven't given any previous consideration to it. But it may work. Actually it's a very real possibility!

One thing I have come to realize is that it's not very hard to work on holiday music once the holidays are over. It is just music like any other and as long as you stay focused and it does not feel irrelevant or out of season. I am just as enthused working on this as I would be on anything else I make.

There is plenty to do. Let's keep our fingers crossed that everything goes well and I can accomplish this labor of love this year.

2017 Is Almost Over!

Here we are in late 2017, two weeks before Christmas and I don't have much to say. This is the point--or rather even a few weeks earlier--where I would be writing about end of the year goals. This year I have none.

Yes, there is still that song "Something's Wrong" which is unfinished and I could probably easily finish up before the year is through. I really dislike going through a year and not having anything musically to show for it. So if I could get at least that done the year wouldn't be a total waste.

Also, two weeks is plenty time for me to do another Christmas cover, but in reality I don't have two full weeks as no one will be listening to holiday music beyond two exact weeks from today. Unlike me.

I had dedicated this year to working exclusively on holiday music but changed my mind along the way (again) and was caught up in other distractions, and believe me, this year there were plenty of distractions. Not too long ago I had even decided I was going to start writing--check this out--love songs!! Yes, love songs. I never really wanted to get into that genre but there are a great many benefits that come of it, some musical, some non-musical. Everybody loves a love song. And to tell you the truth, a lot of the best and most memorable songs are love songs. So yes, I will follow that road and see where it takes me.

In actuality I have about one week if I really want to do a Christmas cover. So I'd have to pick out a tune almost immediately and start coming up with an arrangement. I really hate not being able to choose from the entire pool of great holiday music that's out there. Nothing can stop me from making my own version of any song but once I publish it online is when potential problems can arise. Getting licenses and paying royalties is not my cup of tea. On the other hand, I did publish that version of "Hey Joe" I created a few years ago and never got a license or anything. The difference is that I never plan to include "Hey Joe" in any of my future albums, whereas if I do a Christmas cover you'd better believe I intend it to be part of a future official release. Thus, I guess I could record "Silver Bells" or "Winter Wonderland" and provide it as a free release on YouTube but it would never go any further than that.

Speaking of YouTube, for the first time ever I uploaded to my channel a video of me singing and playing "How Deep is Your Love" by the Bee Gees. Not the entire song of course. Surely no one wants to see me struggle through the whole thing. Just to do one verse/chorus required many takes and I'm quite surprised I played and sang rather decently. But it was in keeping with all my cover videos where I never do the entire song, with the exception of "Barney Miller."

But I will see what I can get done in the remaining nearly-three week period we have for 2017. And if I make any resolutions for the the new year of 2018 it will be that the year turns out to be my most productive in terms of recording and songwriting. While I didn't do much recording in 2017 I did get a lot of ideas for songs this year which, if I am diligent enough, will turn into a new album.

2017 - The First Post

This is my first post of the new year. So far I've only been writing some lyrics. They're not all holiday or seasonal related however. I guess you really can't force certain ideas when there are so many other things going on around you. Thoughts start flowing about other subjects no matter how focused you try to stay on others. But it's not a bad thing. We'll just see what comes of it. If it turns out to be more incomplete lyrics and unfinished songs then it's a waste. I remember starting to write a song in 2008 after the election. Well, that went nowhere and it's going to stay there at this point. I'm not saying it is not worth finishing up, but it has lost some of its meaning and its relevance at this time.

What does help is that it's still winter and cold outside. I can work on my 'winter' songs. It is very difficult to work on winter & Christmas songs in the summer. Which reminds me--I must make the most of the first 5 or 6 months of this year before it gets summery hot in my recording studio and then I cannot do anything there. The period from about June to September is generally a wash for me when it comes to recording. It is a huge loss of precious time. I wish I had a private, climate-controlled facility where I could leave everything set up and ready to be played and recorded. I would get so much more done. This is seriously something that has stunted my recorded output.

I listened to the "Tubular Bells" album by Mike Oldfield recently. If you don't already know it is a two-song album. Just one 20+ minute song on each side of the record. I liked some of it, but I didn't care for a lot of it. It did plant an idea in my mind to do something similar. Not exactly the same. But I like the idea of some long, drawn-out jams. Not that those two tracks were exactly jams in the traditional sense of the word. There were hardly any drums at all on this album. And there were plenty of unnatural sounding instruments, such as sped-up guitars and mandolins and basses that didn't sound like basses. And some very strange vocals on part two. I think Oldfield had a good idea with the album. It started off strong but then strayed and became weak. By the time of the second side I was longing for its conclusion. It was a pretty long album for its time as well. At 48 or 49 minutes it was rather lengthy for 1973.

So the seed was planted. Maybe just come up with two long jams that would produce some really nice clips. Maybe have some instruments come in at certain times and others fade out. Perhaps some vocals but no real words. I like the experimental music era of the early 1970's. A lot of the progressive rock, psychedelic & R&B bands took full advantage of that time and produced some really cool pieces. Pink Floyd and Yes come to mind; the ultra-long instrumental section of "Do Your Thing" by Isaac Hayes; "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" by the Temptations; "Imagine" by The Happenings; "Dorian Benediction" by The Free Design. I read that early Genesis was another in this category. I will have to check them out.

So this is a bit of a problem with me. I find it hard to commit to any type of musical style or genre. When I listen to Christmas music, I want to make Christmas music. When I listen to Coldplay, I want to make songs like Coldplay's. When I listen to Gordon Lightfoot or Jim Croce, I want to make music like theirs. When I listen to Pink Floyd I want to make music like theirs. Or the Moody Blues. Or countless otherse. Problem is, I don't sound like any of them. No one will ever listen to any of my songs and say, "Hey! This sounds like Coldplay!" While I would certainly be flattered I would think there is definitely something wrong with their hearing.

I guess I'm talking about vocal styles here. I could probably make music that sound like theirs but when it comes to singing I would not even be close. I don't have the vocal prowess of any of those singers. Christmas music is Christmas music. As far as I know there is no one known as a "Christmas music recording artist." There is no defined sound of a Christmas music singer's vocal. It's an open field. And it's still the best method of breaking into the music industry. But it is very hard to remain focused on Christmas music when the world around you is long done with the holiday's festivities.

Like all the years before, I have no idea what this year will produce musically for me. Things never seem to be where you want them to be. I honestly believed 2017 would be more of a breeze compared to the past few years. Not looking that way. Getting less and less studio time. Can't accomplish anything at this rate. We'll see what happens.

Exit World Christmas EP Available on CdBaby

Yesterday I released my Christmas EP and it was titled just that. It contains the four songs that I have recorded the last few years. My intention was to include a new recording or two but due to an overlook on my part when I was completing the submission I did not leave the option to include any extra tracks. Thus, I had the option of contacting cdbaby so that they could make the necessary changes and waiting on them to get back to me probably after Christmas, or going ahead and submitting the album with only the aforementioned four songs. Which would you choose? I didn't want to wait another twelve months to do this so I went ahead and submitted what I had. I had a fifth song all ready to go but it just didn't work out for this year. By the way, I had to make this excruciating decision late last night even after sending cdbaby an email. I'm glad I did not wait for a response from them since they neither have responded nor will they till after it's too late. I guess my fifth track will have to wait for next year. So once again it's been a learning experience and I now what to do for next time.

Speaking of next year, I have already decided that I will spend all of next year making Christmas & seasonal music. Yes, I'm going to take a break from making my non-holiday music. I really like Christmas music and I hate the feeling of getting into recording it so late in the game. I don't know about now but in the past most holiday albums were released in October. I'm not aiming for that early but definitely November or early December. And the plan is to release two albums--one of original songs and one of instrumental classics. I know it will be hard to stay focused on Christmas music in the summer. Heck, it may be hard in a month or two when the world is fully back to it's pre-Christmas sentiment and it seems as though there never had even been a Christmas. But I tend to keep the holiday music playing for quite some time even beyond New Year's Day. And I have winter around me so that should help, too. I may start working on some new stuff as soon as Christmas passes this year.

Here is the just released Christmas EP on cdbaby in case any of you good folks want to make a purchase:

Exit World Christmas EP

Christmas Music & A Holly Jolly Christmas Guitar Solo Tab

Merry Christmas! The day has officially arrived and although it is great I wish it were still a few days away. The anticipation always seems to be higher than the day itself and now as usual I will going through 'Christmas withdrawal' symptoms. Would be nice if the Christmas celebration would go on during the weekend since it did fall on a Friday this year. But the radio stations already start pulling the plug on the holiday music and the TV stations end their Christmas programming early on in the day. All that just adds to the feeling of withdrawal.

I probably will not be making any additional Christmas/seasonal songs for now. At least not for release during what remains of this year. I may still toy around with some ideas I have. But at the moment I am still fully absorbing the 'sounds of the season' as they say. I'll tell you the truth--it's really hard for me to just completely cut off the music once Christmas Day becomes yesterday. This may sound peculiar but I continue to play Christmas/seasonal music well into February and even March at times. It helps me accept the fact that the holiday season is over and deal with the sometimes brutal moods of winter.

I do have this seasonal tune I wrote some years back called "Wintertime Blues." I wrote it as a bit of a jazzy piece and envisioned a very simple arrangement of only guitar, bass, drums, piano & vocal. I may tinker a bit with it in the coming days and weeks.Would make a great addition to my future Christmas album of all original songs. And as I wrote before, I really want to release an album of Christmas classics as well. If all plays out well in the coming year I will make a serious effort to record another 8 to 10 instrumental covers of public domain holiday songs. Picking out the songs will be something I should start doing right now. It's a shame that I can only use public domain songs, though due to licensing rights. There are plenty of other songs I would love to record, such as "Let it Snow," "Christmastime is Here," "Little Drummer Boy," "Silver Bells" and "Holly Jolly Christmas" to name a few. Don't get me wrong--I totally understand that I can record cover versions of these songs. I just cannot sell them. And I want to put together an album that I can sell without worrying about paying royalties to others.

But speaking of "A Holly Jolly Christmas," I've always appreciated that 12 string acoustic guitar doing fills and solos throughout Burl Ives' recording. I especially like that solo after the key change and I tabbed it out for anyone who is interested. I don't have a video for this but I may make one soon since it would be a very short one. Heck, it may even already be out there on YouTube. But I've learned that everyone hears things differently so it's not a bad idea to present your interpretation to the world.

E  :----------------|--------------------|--------------------|
B  :------6---------|--------------------|--------------------|
G  :-5678--8-56-86--|5h6p5--------6------|--------------------|
D  :---------------8|-----8-4---68-86----|--------------------|
A  :----------------|-----------------6h8|-4-----46/7-8--8----|
E  :----------------|--------------------|----46--------------|

This tab will work for a regularly tuned 6 string guitar and also for a 12 string that is tuned down a whole step with a capo on the 2nd fret.

EDIT: I've decided to tab the cool little intro solo to the song as well. It's just as great as the middle solo and fun to play:

E  :----------------|----------------|-----------
B  :1-----0---------|----------------|-----------
G  :------------2-42|--------0-20-2--|-0---------
D  :----------------|-2---234--------|-----------
A  :----------------|----------------|----2------

E  :----------------|----------------|-----------

E  :------|----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
B  :------|----3-----0-----|----------1------|-----------------|
G  :----0-|234--4-02--2--0-|20----0-22--2----|-----------------|
D  :------|-------------3--|-------------0h20|h2-0-------------|
A  :------|----------------|---2-------------|----0--3---------|
E  :------|----------------|-----------------|-----------------|

Just to clarify--what appear to be '20' and '22' in the tab are actually 2,0 and 2,2.

EDIT 2: Made the video....

A Christmas Album in the Future?

I really love Christmas music and these last 2 holiday seasons where I have come up with a couple of original Christmas songs has led me to seriously consider making a whole album of original Christmas tunes. Sure, the classics and traditional songs are wonderful but there is always more that can be said. There are always new perspectives and different ways of saying some of the old expressions. Certainly "deck the halls with boughs of holly" can be updated to reflect our modern methods of decorating and making merry.

Some writers like mixing the subject of Christmas with romance. And some of those songs are very good and memorable--Merry Christmas Darling, All I Want for Christmas is You, Merry Christmas Baby, etc. Many songs have nothing to do with romance and instead focus on the aspects of Christmas or the season itself. Some are religious in nature. Some are just plain silly. Others are serious. Some are upbeat and festive. Some are low-key and reflective. Others are downright depressing.

As a writer, I prefer the non-romantic, upbeat and low-key, reflective compositions. The two songs I made I consider to be mid-tempo numbers that are somewhat reflective in nature. I think this is the best formula that works for me. That's not to say that I will never experiment with some of the other categories. I don't intend to produce an album of 10 or 12 sound alike songs. In fact, the 2 songs I have already recorded are quite different musically from each other. "It's Christmas" is an all-acoustic and guitar driven song with verses and a bridge and a guitar solo. It would probably be categorized as folk-pop. "Christmastime" on the other hand is not all acoustic and not at all guitar driven. It's more of a piano driven song and would probably classify as pure pop. Verses and chorus. No solos. Both songs do time in at about 3.5 minutes, though. That's something that I can trim down, as some of the moved loved Christmas recordings are 3 minutes long or less.

If I intend to make a Christmas album in time for Christmas 2015 I would probably have to spend much of next year writing and recording. Could I do it? I'm sure I have the ability but the motivation to work on Christmas music during the spring and summer might just not be there. Even now that Christmas is so close I've already lost some drive to try to come up with new holiday music. It's challenging to want to work on something that after tomorrow no one will want to hear until 12 months later. I keep listening to Christmas music sometimes into March but I know most people do not share that kind of passion for it. I continue to listen throughout the winter. Why not? After all, many of those songs are just about the snowy season anyway.

I might however still work on making a cover of "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" for now. An instrumental. I may make a medley of it and "We Three Kings" just to keep it from being too short and repetitive.

Fixing Up Bass

Well, I thought I was done with "It's Christmas" but I'm just not satisfied with it. Two days ago I rerecorded a portion of the guitar solo to overlay on the existing solo. There were some muffled notes so I recorded a crisper sounding part. And last night I decided to take the bass track and do some bass boosting on the weaker sounding notes with the help of the Audacity program. It's such a painstaking process but if you want something to sound professionally done than you must put in the time and effort. If it comes out sounding great it will be worth it. I have yet to take this new and improved bass track and add it to the song. I will work on that tonight.

One new technique that I will be implementing in future recordings is to record the drums on 2 separate tracks. I usually record drums with only 2 mic's--I have very limited space where I record--even though I have a 4-piece drum mic set. In the past I've used that mic set along with an overhead when I recorded elsewhere, before I had a drum set. Now at home I record exclusively with only 2 mic's; one for the bass drum and one overhead. Not only do I not have the space to set up 5 or 6 mic's on the drums but I also only have 4 mic stands at this time. But I have found that I can get a really good overall drum set sound with only 2 mic's, and my proof for that is the drum track on "(Doesn't That) Blow Your Mind." The drums on that song sound excellent IMO and has been the best recorded drum sound I ever achieved up to this point. But of course there's always room for improvement. So by recording the drums onto 2 separate tracks--bass mic on one, overhead on the other--I can tweak each individually and then blend the 2 onto a single track. By isolating the bass onto one track I can boost the high's a bit in order to hear the snap better. And with the overhead I can cut the mid's and high's without affecting the bass drum. There may even be other tweaks I can do to get the overall drum set sound better. And then combine the 2 tracks onto one great sounding track!

Doing this adds more work to the project of course. And I guess the reason I've never really done this is due to fear of a loss of valuable tracks being available. But that's really not a real problem because as I have already written, I can bounce the multiple tracks onto a single one. I will start doing this with my next song which will be........not sure at this point.

I hope to be able to post the new and improved FINAL version of "It's Christmas" sometime tomorrow. I know Christmas 2013 is behind us but to me it's still Christmas and I continue to listen to holiday music and am actually in the mood to create some more original tunes for the season. Not only is Christmas music awesome but one great song alone can set you up for financial freedom. Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime" earns him between $400,000 and $600,000 each year! Which means that since the song is from 1979 he's possibly as much as $15,000,000 over the years from it. I may in fact start off 2014 with a seasonal song I wrote some years ago and never recorded. I just want to set the tone for this coming year in terms of  devoting a lot more time to creating and recording new music and creating some sort of financial stability at the very least as a result of it.

And on a final note, today is the 29th and I still have not finished up "Call On Me." It's still possible for me to finish it up and release the album within the next few days. However I may be scrapping my plans to put out the album this year. It's really late in the year to release anything more than a song. But I do believe I will release it very early in 2014 and it will feature 10 tracks with perhaps a bonus track of my Christmas song.

Christmas Songs - Final Versions

Merry Christmas, readers!

Yes, it's Christmas and here I am blogging. The reason being that I have made some better mixes and masters of my Christmas tunes and I want to get them up here before the day is up because many people will not want to hear holiday music anymore after Christmas. Funny though, because I continue to play Christmas music well into February. I don't like winter very much so playing Christmas music throughout the winter months makes the season more tolerable for me. Besides, many classic songs labelled as Christmas music make no mention of the holiday and are really just winter songs. That's my story. Well, let me get on with this because depending on where you're reading this it may not even be Christmas anymore!

I made a few tweaks here and there on both songs. Most of it will not be noticeable. But comparing my finished products to what I hear on albums just makes me yearn for better equipment and/or funding to have my music professionally polished up.

So here they are.





Hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them. Now off to working on my other goals for the remaining week of the year.