Members Ernest Buckley Posted July 3, 2013 Members Share Posted July 3, 2013 I usually start a thead like this every year but thought I would add "projects" to the thread because I know we all have lots of things going on.My plans for July-August are pretty full and I`m biting off more than I can chew but at least I know what to shoot for... Finish two records, both of which are close to done. My solo piano CD is about 95% complete. Still need to make some tweaks here and there, then mix/master. The second major project is my singer-songwriter album entitled "The Hundredth Monkey" which is around 50% done. The bulk of the songs are recorded but I still need to do tons of overdubs here and there. The process can go on forever as most of you know but I have chosen to finish by the end of August. This is a collection of songs I have had since 2005 and I`m just done.... good tunes but its time to move on! Also, working with some additional people on this album has injected alot of flavors I`m really proud of and happy to share. If I could finish these two projects while maintaining my other paying studio projects... that would be a great acheivement for me. Of course, I`ll do some reading as well when I`m away from the studio...Started to read "brain rules" by John Medina.... this is sort of school related as I finish my Psychology degree and I just wanted to keep reading about the brain while on summer break from school to stay on the subject a bit. I hate the 3 month break between summer and fall classes... Also, finishing a book I actually started last summer but was never able to finish due to time constraints... "The Light Between Oceans" by M.L. Stedman.... great story with lots of details if you`re into that sort of thing. Lastly, I plan to finish up my two websites with Blue`s expertise... I sort of dropped the ball with him... we started working on the site last fall but then Sandy visited and its been about getting back to normal since, then dealing with school... Now I need to tie up lose ends... and my two websites are definitely loose ends... one site is for my BBQ catering biz and the other is music related. Oh, and before I forget, have to install some new plugs I purchased months ago.... where does the time go? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nat whilk II Posted July 3, 2013 Members Share Posted July 3, 2013 Ernest - are either of your websites using Wordpress by any chance?? I'm toying with setting up a Wordpress site to feature my music, but don't know enough yet to judge whether the feature set can do what I'd like cheaply enough. My projects are pretty much all the ongoing never-ending ones. Songs, an album, and reading and the yard and the housepainting and the swimming and the instrument practicing and the movies and the barbeque and the relatives and trying to do the usual impossible number of things. I am re-reading Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe for another mind trip into the world of relativity, quantum physics, string theory, and so on. This sort of stuff I always think I'm starting to understand until I try to explain part of it to someone and then I realize that, no, I don't think I really have this down...back to the books. But for me, that's fun. nat whilk ii Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark L Posted July 3, 2013 Members Share Posted July 3, 2013 You're a busy boy, Ernest! What am I doing? Well, I haven't written a song for a few months, so I'll have to remedy that. I have fallow periods like this, but I don't get depressed about it. I know for a fact that if I went up in the loft right now I could write a song, but the motivation's not quite there at the moment Meeting Craig Anderton on Saturday Signed up with a gentleman last year. Songs went on sale in China in March of this year. Fingers crossed for a royalty cheque Revisiting my youth by reading 'To The Devil A Daughter' by Dennis Wheatley. After that it's back to the Song of Ice and Fire series, namely 'A Dance With Dragons (part one)' I have a drummer, bassist and guitarist to play my songs. Had a singer but he changed his mind, so I'll do it until I can find someone. First rehearsal should be around the 15th of this month Things are happening in my life. Yippee! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted July 3, 2013 Members Share Posted July 3, 2013 First blast of hot weather often cranks up my manias. One thing that's on my short list of probables is to throw a single into the online store scene (I've never put anything into iTunes or other major online stores, mostly sticking to Bandcamp, which I like a lot, but is not what people are used to, sadly -- too much choice -- instead of a 256 kbps file, you can get anything from small, phone friendly 3gp files to lossless FLAC or Apple Lossless. But the 800 pound albino gorilla has done its work well, and when Joe Sixpack wants to buy a tune, he just automatically heads to iTunes, where I exist not. And, then, forward thinking techno-hipsters (like moi) these days are maybe more likely to be getting their music from streaming subscription. But I'm not there either. There are a number of aggregators, TuneCore being the most familiar and the one with the longest track record and fullest amount of info available on its nuts, bolts, and warts. But TC managed to really tick me off because I had bought a credit for an album distribution there a couple years ago but kept putting off the release. The credit somehow disappeared, but I had my email receipt and such from them and they were nice enough to reinstate it -- but in the meantime, they had increased their yearly maintenance fees by a huge amount, a thousand percent or more from some perspectives. What made sense with low maintenance fees started looking like a probable money loser when considering the huge increase in mainenance fees I would have been locked into. I basically told them to keep their 1 album credit. (I didn't tell them what to do with it, though, but I was, definitely, ticked.) Anyhow, moving forward, there are new alterantives to TC, though not necessarily all confidence inspiring. Some offer minimal up front fees and take a percentage of sales; some charge a small maintenance fee, some charge a large one. But one, an outfit called MondoTunes, has slick marketing, supposed hookups with key distributors, and a flat up-front fee higher than most except TuneCore (can't remember what CDBaby's fees and maintenance fees are but they are not negligible) and -- crucially -- has no ongoing maintenance fees. This, to someone unconfident of significant sales (I been around, I can see what's happening) is a big plus. Also they are on what appears to be the widest variety of subscription streaming services, which I'm a big believer in. So, I'm going to take one of my tunes with (hopefully) somewhat broader appeal than my usual efforts, I've already got it picked out, it's been one of my most-viewed YT clips [but Rebecca Black has no need to worry, we're talking a few thousand plays]... it's kind of straightforward, blues-tinged rock, and, because I figured I wanted some kind of 'novelty' aspect I could hang the project on, it's about one of my old cars, a '74 Plymouth Valiant.Oh yeah, and the enticing thing: putting a single into MondoTunes distro/syndication only costs $8 per single. Period. I figure, if I play that track myself about 8000 times I should get my investment back. Give. Or take. [MIND YOU: from a strict consumer viewpoint, there are some too-good-to-be-true aspects to MondoTunes. That's why I want to try a single first, just to see how it all goes down, how the monthly sales reports are, etc. Of course, I'll probably have to bribe people into buying the damn thing just to have some data. ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ernest Buckley Posted July 4, 2013 Author Members Share Posted July 4, 2013 nat whilk II wrote: Ernest - are either of your websites using Wordpress by any chance??... I'm toying with setting up a Wordpress site to feature my music, but don't know enough yet to judge whether the feature set can do what I'd like cheaply enough. nat whilk ii Nat,Both sites are on WP but anything further, you need to ask Blue about. I`m completely clueless about all this.I do have to say, I sincerely miss doing the sites myself... and this is nothing against Blue or any other designer I have used in the past, but I used iWeb for a good 6-7 years and it was so darn easy. I really enjoyed making changes and seeing them instantly on the www. Of course, I was unable to do what Blue has been able to do with my sites now on WP. Its a little give and take like everything...Anyway, I`m hoping to finalize everything within the next few weeks and launch both sites. I`ll keep HC up to date but again, any questions about WP should be directed to Blue. EB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted July 6, 2013 CMS Author Share Posted July 6, 2013 I want to read Dan's Summer NAMM report, if he can quit playing drums long enough to see something else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.