General Music Chat

Howlin, that mental picture you just gave me was somewhat disturbing.
I am like the rest of you anxiously awaiting what Craig's new project will reveal.
And Shredd's stuff two, I like that spiritual / spooky duality.
Sweetness

Howlin John,

I know what you mean, and trust me, I love performing. This has been a nightmare and a beautiful dream, in the same sleep. The nightmare part, is fearing my actual SONGS being taken from me. No band, no artist, has EVER tried to do something so unethical to me in the past. And the age issue mentioned in another thread fits here. I busted my ass for this band, to get it where it was and take it where it was going. Could I do that again? With the same enthusiasm I had for this project? I don't think so. I would love to have a band again. I would love to blow this last project out of the water. Not as vengeance against them, but in vindication of myself, to be allowed to realize what I couldn't realize with this band, because not all of them were capable of the things I know can be done. I worked with the weaknesses there, and built something amazing in spite of it.

What could I do with an entire group of only real professionals? With seasoned players and performers? I would LOVE to find out. Maybe I will still? But it would have to almost fall into place on it's own. If one by one, high caliber musicians and performers were attracted and available, and it came together naturally, then that would be magnificent, but after these past experiences, and considering the time I have left to achieve it, I won't go looking for it. It is now a scary thing to me, to work so hard, and realize that one single individual, one far below your own abilities, could be a force for destroying the entire thing, and there was little you could do about it, other than selling out and compromising your own values. Which I won't do. If a label or producer put a band behind me, that would be a no-brainer, but that is highly unlikely, unless I made a name for myself first, in a way that was not able to be ingnored. But labels still can't see past 20 somethings. It is still an image based and not substance based industry.

The beautiful dream part, is that creatively I have been freed. I am finishing up work on these 10 songs, but I am putting out notice here and now, that this is only a first step in what I have inside.

I have more music flowing through my veins than I know what to do with.

I need to get plugged in.

I am highly creative, and the creativity is not limited to music. I would love to write music for others, to arrange, to direct videos. I don't care if it makes me famous or not. If it makes them famous, then I am seeing my creativity bear fruit, and ultimately a creative person just wants to see their artistic vision realized. They want to get the things in their heart and head, out to the world in tangible form, to share it with others. When this doesn't occur, it is frustrating, even maddening. It is like knowing where the most beautiful vista the world has ever seen is, and not being able to take someone else there to see it. Of course it is beautiful in itself, even if you are the only one seeing it, but then you want others to be able to share in it, to experience what you have.

There is nothing complex about what you will hear in 2 days.

It is only a beginning. I am trying to get a few things out there to get the ball rolling. It is meant to showcase some songwriting and arranging, but my skills on this machine have not caught up to my creativity yet. I have only had a few months with this thing, and my engineering and mastering abilities are not there yet. I have always relied on engineers, and now I am having to learn about routing signals and effects, and the best way to do that, and many various other aspects to recording. In fact, I haven't even done that yet. This stuff is raw. My keyboard has automation functions, for pans and voumes and more, but I haven't had time to learn these yet. Until I learn these things, what you hear is simply raw tracks, all recorded and mixed in the keyboard itself, and then dumped into Audacity, only to turn the WAV into an MP3. So overlook the production aspects for now. Cause you will hear things too loud, and clipping everywhere, and places where better effects could have been used, or panning that is static, whereas moving things from left to right during the song, would have been much more effective.

Just remember, that I wrote, arranged and recorded all these songs in about 2 months time, from beginning to end. And this was all done in a keyboard, including recording the vocals (on a 10 dollar mic) and all sitting in my bed in my underwear. (I know, you guys didn't need that visual. LMAO) But, you'll see FAR MORE improvement over the next months. I promise.

If you guys don't think they suck, and think there is potential there, then I will be thrilled!

"CRAIG MAXiM BAND"

great name John!