|
The
Hodge-Podge Page!
This use to
be my Buy/Sale Page
But I
Bought & Sold most everything that I wanted so now that the page is gone
here comes the Hodge-Podge
With that said, I've decided to put
all kinds of different things on this page! So here goes:
-
For example, if you want to know more
about the business side of me then you should go here:
-
I've wanted to say this for a long time, and I'm speaking to
young people here...Music has always been my life. PERIOD. I'll say it again. "Music has always been my life". But I took the time to look
really hard at what was happening around me to see if I could discover things
that might separate me from others. For example, I had a good band, so did
many of my friends. We were all making the same kind of money and still my
band and I thought that we had something a bit different but we didn't
know how to present it. So one night I was watching a national band on
television and after seeing their great performance I asked myself what did they
have that we didn't? All of a sudden, it hit me like a sledge hammer and when I
applied the answer to all of my friend's bands, I realized that not a single one
of them had these special things either... So what were they? Well, in a
nutshell, that night I discovered that the group had a completely co-coordinated
stage presence. They knew when to look at each other, when to smile, when
to move, when to laugh or be serious. In other words, they had practiced a
perfect 3 and a half minutes of totally convincing "look" that made you believe
that they were "the real thing". Next, they had great sound and finally
great lights I took this to my band, "The Rumblers" and immediately we
started rehearsing the moves and looks for the shows. It was horrible.
We found it so hard to actually look into each other's eyes and pretend that we
were sharing a funny joke or some other type of communications. It took us
nine months of 5 days a week, 4-5 hours rehearsals, coming up with all kinds of
unique moves relating to the music, etc. We even recorded our 3 sets of
music and for two months we just played our songs back on DAT tape while
we rehearsed the moves and "views". THEN WE SOLD ALL OF OUR SOUND AND
LIGHTING EQUIPMENT AND HIRED THE BEST SOUND/LIGHT GUYS AVAILABLE. For 4 months
they learned exactly what we were doing and where all the cues were. When
The Rumblers did our first show we played to a sold-out house of over 1100
people and the place was stunned. We had all the other club owners in the
area brought in and they were ready to book us immediately but they were shocked
when they heard what our deal was....The Rumblers deal was that we took 100% of
the door, the club didn't have to guarantee any money what-so-ever and that was
it! Some club owner's immediately balked but we had set up some shows
where we knew that their clubs would be practically empty because we would be
playing near them. Within a month, we had a rotation of over 6 clubs and
we played sold-out shows for over 12 years. Our average take for a weekend
was around $5000! Three things....: People had a show, amazing sound
(and sometimes we even used quad sound tricks) and great lights....National
record companies came to see us; RCA, Phonograph/Mercury, etc....Just a word to
the wise, look at the competition and ask yourself, "What aren't they doing that
I can do to make my group unique"? If you can answer that, you'll be on
the way!
-
Musician's - Stay in School - Got to
College! - I know, I know. What could sound more boring, well, let me tell
you something. If you're really serious about becoming a professional
musician, go to College. There's lots of reason. For example, you
might meet your future music partner, you'll definitely learn the business of
music. You see, college isn't just about learning music; it's about
interfacing with other people and that interfacing will give you the abilities
to handle situations that you'll need to understand to successfully negotiate
record deals, be it major companies or independent. In addition, there is
nothing like having that piece of parchment that states that you have a degree
in music. It can stop another musician "dead cold" when they're trying to
put forward their opinions and sometimes it is a good thing to be the winner in
discussions like that. Finally, when you're dealing with the real world of
music , you just can't fathom, (at least not now ), the major ways a music
degree will work in your favor in so many aspects of the music business.
For example, you can read music, therefore you understand form and analysis of
music which means that you have the ability to think logically. Your music
skills will allow you to get into Sales, International Sales, Repping,
Scoring, Recording, Music Production, Mastering, Performance and so much more.
I'm 54 years old now and I HAVE NEVER HAD A JOB
IN ANY OTHER INDUSTRY THAN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY!
That's all because of College. Think about it. By the time I was 22,
I was in the music industry and I've supported myself and my family just fine in
the music world. Ok, I'm through preaching but it will be the best 4 years
of your life. Oh yeah, I failed to mention that you can become a great
music writer, or reviewer also....
Control
Room Module Wall


Studio Room

- Since Ive got so many modules
(and the fact that Im a pro audio rep), I generally find myself
"stumbling" upon modules and synths while "on the road".
I buy them and then I sell some of them. If youre looking, feel free to
check with me because I just might have it! I should also mention, that
Im not trying to "make a mint" on them either. I just hate to
see modules/synths "dying" in some dusty corner in a store. I
find that many of my favorite modules are the ones that dont have the
"big name" associated with them. For example, the Casio VZ-10m
sounds awesome and they fit in mixes exceptionally well. Another often
overlooked piece is the Kawai K5m. So much power, but you have to be willing
to program your own sounds. Remember, factory patches
were only designed to be a "starting point" for your own!
Some of the "stuff" in my "land of misfits"!

SoftSynths (Coming Soon)

-glen
majormidi@charter.net
*()&
|