Party (WR 24)

Every mentor visit is a chance to learn and explore new ideas. Each visit I am continually learning and getting better at my craft thanks to the guidance and wisdom of my mentor. This past mentor visit, the first thing Jonathan had me do was listen to Beethoven's 5th symphony. At first I didn’t see how listening to Beethoven’s 5th symphony was relevant or would help me with music production. Then the more we listened and talked about it I saw how important it and vital it is for a producer to understand classical music.
This past visit, we talked about how music should be like a party. A party with many people all in their own groups about the house. Each group is talking and having their own conversations, talking about various different things. Then you, the listener, walks into the party. At first everyone stops to greet you, then they go about their normal conversations. You then walk around hearing bits of every conversation. This is exactly how music should be, except with instruments instead of people. The piece starts with a main theme, then breaks out into many different musical ‘conversations’ between the different instruments as you the listener walk around and hear different bits of each conversation. All the while each conversation is going on you just hear the closest one the clearest. When Jonathan said this, it all made sense to me. Just like a mix, there is multiple things going on and when you want to introduce a new idea, the other ideas shouldn’t stop but should keep going lower in the mix. Similar to a party, when you exit one conversation it doesn’t just end, but just gets softer and replaced by the new conversation.

Looking Forward (WR 23)

There is a month and a half left until FPN (final presentation night). To some, this is a reality check but to me this is a checkmark. I feel good about the position Im in. In regards to my final product, I have almost 4/5 songs complete. This means I just have one and a half songs to complete. Technically, I am a little behind on the calendar I created but this is fine because I built in extra time to compensate. I am learning that with creative projects, they often take longer then expected because of how the creative process works. This is also something my mentor warned me about earlier in the year so I feel prepared. All in all, things a going great I just need to spend some time on the project and it will be complete very soon. "Rome wasn't built in a day"

"Break" (WR 22)

This past week I was fortunate enough to have the entire week off of school for spring break. This was a great opportunity for me because it allowed me time to get a lot of stuff done and be very productive. Even though it was spring break, it was hardly a "break" for me. Every day I was productive and I spent a great deal of much needed time working on ISM related things. The first couple days I spent working in my home studio on my album. I got a lot of great songwriting, production, and mixing done. I even started working on the 4th song (out of 5). Then on Wednesday, I got the chance to spend the entire day working at C - Factory with Christian Chavarria, an associate of my mentor, recording and producing one of his up and coming artists. This was a great experience and I got to meet/hangout with some really cool people. Then on Friday, I once again went up to C - Factory to meet with my mentor. We worked on some of my projects, talked, and I also got to sit in on a session with one of his clients. Overall, it was a great week and I got a lot of much needed stuff done.

Progress (WR 21)

Ambitious goals yield great results, but only after you put a lot of time and hard work forth. This year I have set a goal to write, record, and produce my own album/ep. For me this is a very ambitious and I know that if I waste any time, I will not get it done. That is why I am currently working very hard and spending most of my available time working on it. I play to produce a total of 5 songs and I am just finishing the 3rd. This is very encouraging to me because when I first started I thought there was no way I would finish. Now I am seeing tangible results and real progress. All I need to do now is keep up the pace Im going at and with a little help from my mentor I should be right on track to finishing on time.