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November 22, 2006
Happy Thanksgiving
The holidays seem to sneak up on me every year. I can’t believe that tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day.
Naturally I am led to think about what I am thankful for. This can only be a partial list, as there is so much:
I get to do something I love and am passionate about. I get to help people bring their musical dreams to life.
Sometimes our “musical family” members get so overwhelmed at seeing their musical dreams come true, that they shed a few tears. I guess our new motto could be “we make you cry.”
Sheryl and I have met and become friends with many wonderful people. We’ve come to know so many talented artists, so many kind and generous folks. If I tried to name them all, I would surely leave someone out, so you know whom you are!
We are thankful for our smart and beautiful daughter, our “little house in the country”, and of course for Buddy Rodgers, the official studio dog who has been faithfully performing her duties for over nine years.
Happy Thanksgiving! I’ll be back next week.
Posted by leon at 03:51 PM | Comments (0)
November 20, 2006
MIDI Gremlins / Bad Songs
I spent most of today trying to chase down a “gremlin” in my studio. Every time I tried to program a part using MIDI, the sound came out all wobbly (for lack of a better term.)
Now, I must admit right from the start that I am a musician first, and a technician second (a distant second.)
I know enough about the technology in my studio so that I can get the results I want, but I’m very much akin to someone who is a good driver, but does not really know what is going on under the hood.
Of course, I stay in business because:
1. I know people who are well acquainted with all things technological, and I’m not too proud to call on them for help. After all, I’m not a mechanic, but I certainly rely on some good mechanics to take care of my vehicles.
2. I refuse to give up trying to learn how everything works, so I’ve learned a lot over the years.
3. The same problems tend to crop up over and over, so I now know a few places to start when trying to solve a problem.
4. I know that the problem is usually simple in nature, and easily fixed once the cause is found.
I have never failed to solve a technical problem, but that doesn’t make them any less frustrating. Fortunately, these types of problems rarely surface when I have a client in the studio.
So, did I find the “MIDI gremlin?” Yes, I finally did, but the solution was so simple that I’m embarrassed to put it in the entry! Oh well, at least I was alone at the time.
Well, onto to something fun.
Sheryl and I listen to a lot of songs in the course of our work. We often get CDs from musicians hoping to get our opinion on the songwriting. Naturally, we’ve heard some songs that were quite good and well crafted, others that showed enormous potential, but then others that left us speechless. To simply say “that was a bad song” is tantamount to saying “Bach was a pretty good musician.”
One amazing thing about the music industry is that people you have heard of have actually recorded some of “those” songs, and they actually became “hits!” Maybe because they were so bad? Who knows?
Anyway, this thanksgiving themed article reminds you of some songs for which we can give thanks if we never hear them again.
Have fun, and watch out for ear worms!
Posted by leon at 04:09 PM | Comments (0)
November 16, 2006
Bizarre Records!
My daughter has purchased a total of two CDs in her life. She gave them both away.
She purchases all her music on line, or her friends send her MP3s. She does not own a single CD.
I, on the other hand, own a few CDs.
I also own several LPs. You know, vinyl. Licorice pizzas.
In fact, I own several bizarre LPs, including one of my favorites: “Lawrence Welk Live at Madison Square Garden.” (I am not making this up).
But my collection is nothing when compared to that of the proprietor of this Website, Nick DiFonzo:
As he explains on his site:
“I started collecting records many years ago. The problem was, there were so many other ‘collector nerds’ where I lived that finding ‘good’ records at thrift stores & garage sales was next to impossible. No matter how early I got to the sale, there was a bigger nerd who was there 15 minutes earlier and bought all the so-called "good" stuff.
“I noticed that when a collector nerd looks through a box of old records at a thrift store, he will often pull out some 70's religious disco exercise record, make some sort of witty remark about it's lameness to his bored girlfriend, and toss it back while grumbling how you can't find good records at thrift stores anymore.
“I began to notice that often these ‘rejects’ were just as good as the more widely sought-after items. This is what I started to collect!
“Some of these records are actually quite good, if one takes the time to listen. Though I admit there are a few here that one can accurately say, there is no POSSIBLE way this record will be worth listening to. Some are kind of funny for a minute or two. The majority are just 'average', not particularly good, but not laughably awful. Of course it's those laughably awful records that are the real gems!”
You are hereby warned: if you go to this site, be prepared to lose several hours of your time.
Posted by leon at 06:26 PM | Comments (0)
November 15, 2006
The PSG’s New Motto
It’s been a long day.
I’m very tired.
Everything seems impossible when I’m tired.
However, I realize that I’ve not posted anything to the PSG blog in several days.
I’ve been working on projects in a number of different musical genres:
1. Jazz / standards
2. Adult Contemporary
3. Gospel
4. Show Tunes
5. Spoken Word
6. Folk Music
7. Country
Actually, I should just adopt a new motto: “Everything but Heavy Metal.”
I shouldn’t even rule that style out. You never know.
Tomorrow it will be show tunes and standards, gospel and adult contemporary. I’ll have a little more time to write since Sheryl takes over the studio on Thursday afternoons to teach private lessons.
Tiring it is, boring it ain’t.
Wouldn’t you hate to be K-Fed right about now? (Snark, snark)
Seriously, I wish him the best, whatever that may be, as long as it doesn't include blackmail and long, drawn out custody battles.
(He didn't need to get all dressed up!)
Posted by leon at 10:22 PM | Comments (0)
November 08, 2006
How Many of Me Are There?
I found a fun web site today. It lets you find out how many people in the USA have your name.
So naturally I had to enter the names of some of my loved ones:
Here’s what came up for Sheryl Olguin:
For Rose Olguin:
For Sandy Ferris, (Sandz of Time) there are 8 people with her name in the USA. (But as far as I’m concerned, there is only ONE Sandy!)
For Spike Dean, (the other half of Sandz of Time) the site reported that there are 0 people with his name.
Hey, wait a minute. He DOES exist!
OK, the site explains how this can be; you’ll have to go check it out.
This had absolutely nothing to do with music and recording, but hey, you gotta have some fun!
Posted by leon at 05:21 PM | Comments (2)
November 07, 2006
Under the Radar
I wanted to put up a quick post today before Sheryl and I go off and do our civic duty (i.e. vote).
Poor old K-Fed. His latest concert was a bust.
It’s interesting to put this into perspective. K-Fed is aiming to be a famous rapper, nationally known, selling millions of albums.
Well, he’s temporarily famous, but he ain’t gonna sell millions of albums. He will soon become a footnote in music business history, a “whatever happened to” question.
In the article, he begged promoters not to cancel his concert. He ended up playing to a crowd of 300 in a venue that held 1500.
Most of the artists I’ve worked with would be thrilled to play to 300 people. For them, that would be an overflow crowd, since they don’t play in 1,500 seat venues.
(We just did the “Nashville Hit Makers” show at the Emma Parish Theater in Titusville, FL, and 300 people would have been a sell-out!)
Out of those 300 people, usually about 10% of them will buy a CD or two at the concert, and stay behind to meet the artist. So let’s say the artist sells 40 CDs. Their profit on each CD (since the artist is independent, and owns everything he or she produces) is just around $10. You can do the math.
Of course, they can sell that many because they have something worthwhile to say, and some folks want to take that home with them.
So if the artist is receiving an honorarium for the concert, and selling some product, well, it’s not a bad night’s work.
But money is only part of it. Most of the artists I know are ecstatic over the idea of writing their own music, and playing it for a receptive audience.
There are a lot of artists out there who are “flying under the radar.” They are not "famous", but they are producing great music, playing to appreciative audiences, and making a decent living. They’ll be able to keep doing it for as long as they desire, since their audience doesn’t care how old or how “famous” they are.
Posted by leon at 10:23 AM | Comments (0)