Archive for the 'Going Somewhere' Category

Thanks to Jeremy Camp for the “Bro Talk” in first class…

Published on 05/04/2012 in Going Somewhere, Music, OCD, Writing and iPad. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Mental barriers are at times the hardest ones to break. They represent core issues and situations that are formed of the strongest emotions. Why? Because they come from our brain and from our own belief that they are valid in some strange way. So we let them take root and grow. We watch them slowly overtake the highway of life progress. We let them tell us what NOT to do.

I let my barriers grow too freely. I don’t take the time to grab the pruning shears out of the shed and do any trimming. I typically let life go on and don’t mend to my hedges until it is too late and they are waaaayyyy out of control. The end result being a session of depression or angst about why things are the way they are.

Well fast forward to last week and I had what might be considered a slight epiphany. I was forced to look at things from a different perspective. I say forced because the person that was talking to me was one whom I could not doubt. They are living the life that they want to live and they are successful in that direction. The light that they shed on my situation really made me do some hard deep thinking. And I looked at things in a way that like my barriers, I chose to not address in the right way.

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Thank you to Mr. Jeremy Camp for the bro talk. You shed a light on my situation that you may not have even known you flicked on, but you did non-the-less. I have started to assess my situation in a new fashion. I have started to re-address my efforts (though small shifts) in a hope to turn my ship in the direction that *I* want to be going in. To express efforts in the projects and things that will serve *ME* and *MY* situation the best.

Thanks again Jeremy. Hope to talk to you, or hang, when I am in Nashville soon.

38th revolution…

Published on 01/19/2011 in Going Somewhere, History for Sale, Music, OCD, Old Age, Uncategorized and Writing. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Center aisle. Not the kind of aisle that you would expect to be performing in… or on…but the kind where you are contained within 2sqft whilst breathing recycled air, gagging on the salted 28grams of peanuts you were blessed with, and praying that you don’t catch DEATH from the coughing souls around you.

Thank you Delta Airlines. Thank you to my slight case of work induced adult ADD. For between the two of you battling for my time, I somehow forgot to check my seat reservation and realize that it did not get saved correctly. Full flights don’t forgive, and if we forget, well that is a calculation that equals a loss.

So while sitting in my dreaded middle seat I have plenty of time to ponder something. 38 spins around this thing we call life. See today, January 19th…I turn 38. Yes if you have read this far you might have come to the correct assumption that I am traveling on my birthday. Happy, happy, happy day to Mark!
I swear this has happened before…on spin number 35 or 36, who can remember anymore

2011 has started with a promise, like all years do, of potentially amazing things. Sara and I are trying to find a place to call our home. March 29th will finally see the release of my very first MUSIC release “Going Somewhere…?”. www.markyoungrocks.com will finally be my home to park my various music projects and releases on, which is something that I have lacked for many years now. HISTORY for SALE will be going into the famed STUDIO X on February 5th to start the recording of our second EP. All of these things will be happening before the completion of March…so as we start to rotate around spin 39…I am off to a good start.

The seat smells…the asses of so many leaving their mark, their stains before me.

Oh thank you for the present…

It’s my 38th birthday.

Working on my kingdom…

Published on 09/10/2010 in Going Somewhere, Hearing Impaired, Mastering, Mixing, Music, Record Label and Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

A quick update on what I have been up to!

I have pretty much finished the packaging layout and print work for “Going Somewhere…?”. It took way longer than I expected due to some tech issues with my old laptop (speed) and then figuring out how I wanted to package the whole deal.

So I sent out 10-15 packages last week and am slowly getting feedback that they are arriving in good shape! This is exciting news due to the amount of thought I put into the final presentation.

Dreams in a bag

I am still working on getting my cover song cleared. I can’t technically sell the music till that little issue is taken care of. It shouldn’t be long…as it is now just a money thing to pay for the license.

The next mechanical step is to save up the scratch $$ to get a run of 100 or 200 color discs replicated. Then from there start assembling the hand packaging for these little beauties!

Hope everybody is embracing the change of seasons and the way it changes our minds.

I know I am.

Best to those who read this…

Mastering session video and song previews…

Published on 02/16/2010 in Going Somewhere, Hearing Impaired, Mastering, Mixing, Music, Recording and Video. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

As promised in an earlier blog…here is a little video compilation from my mastering session on January 6th. It is just a little something to show you the room, the day, the effort that goes into making a song sound “polished”.

Ed Brooks of RFI/CD is an amazing Mastering Engineer. The word “amazing” gets tossed around so easily now days, but with conviction…I express that he is the definition of the word amazing.

I am going to be making a couple hundred CD-R’s of this 9 song disc. The title of the project is as you might know now “Going Somewhere”. Some will get mailed to labels (know any looking for a middle aged dreamer?), some will get mailed for reviews. After that, I don’t know what is going to happen with the songs…if anything. That is part of the reality of this art form.

All I hope is that in the next 8 months, regardless of what happens…you will have heard some of this music. That you will have felt my message. That you will want more.

Thanks for watching, reading, and listening.

Mixing…Marriage…Time…

Published on 08/05/2009 in Going Somewhere, History for Sale, Mixing and Music. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Things are interesting to say the least….

MIXING:

I had loosely scheduled time…BUT as life seems to do work, and things got in the way. I was to go into mixing in Late July, but I ended up in Mexico, and then in Memphis, TN. Add to this that my Engineer, Rob, ended up not really being able to work on the mixes as well. That dreaded thing called time got in the way.

MARRIAGE:

September 12th is fast in its approach. Too fast…as if it is swallowing time by the bucket full. Sara and I are excited to have friends and family together for our little ceremony. It will be nothing fancy, but just enough to make it worth while.

We fret that people will be coming from all over for the event. We want to make it special for them. But then remember that it is for us. That it would be just as special if we chose to marry at a chapel in ‘Vegas or at the courthouse…it wouldn’t matter. For love is what created the journey, and love is what speeds us along the narrow path of life. If others don’t like the ride…oh well.

TIME:

After September 12th…time will slow its ever grinding motion forward. Still moving, but at a slower pace, it should allow a window or two for completion of “GOING SOMEWHERE…?”

HISTORY for SALE will be starting to play shows again in late September after taking some time off for family life and some small staff changes. We will still be playing only one show a month to keep from burning out. We may sneak a Portland, or Tri-Cities show in the mix though to provide some road miles.

The next project is already being planned, and after September 18th my music space will be clear enough to un-pack some gear and finish writing. The funny thing is that “GOING SOMEWHERE…?” hasn’t even left the nest yet, and number two is already being hatched. You can trust me when I say that I have learned some things along the past 2 year journey that will help speed the process.

Saving time…getting some control back from the clock…grabbing ahold on the hands of time and trying to slow the pace.

It is working…

I have an itch that needs scratching…

Published on 04/28/2009 in Going Somewhere, Music and Old Age. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

So much to write…

So much to talk about that has gone on in the past months since I have last wrote…

I tell myself that I need to do a better job at communicating my thoughts and that I should type them as soon as they are available. Then 6 months passes by like the flick of a light switch.

I am writing again…music…completion is in the rear view mirror for my now two year old project…but the end is near.

For those of you that might actually read blogs…thank you.

Talk soon…I promise.

Frustration and the frightening…

Published on 06/08/2008 in Going Somewhere, Music, OCD, Recording and Uncategorized. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , .

IT resonates…..

Like a marching army through my mind, the sounds of “what now” sing again in efforts to collapse the walls of stability that I have fought so hard to build. This DRONING is not of the C3PO kind…but a more merciless foe. It is something that is un-tangible, can not be classified, and is more than likely the sum of all parts.

At times I don’t think that the hum has ever left…I feel that it just gets pushed to the back of the mix. Lately though, someone must have twisted the pot switch and added some high freq. because I hear it. Maybe it is my hearing aids feeding back…I am not sure. But it is there.

This hobby of mine, this music thing, seems to have become an amplifier of sorts. Harnessing the sounds into a strong focal beam that I swear to god is etching a hole in my brain…It is a lonely road this thing. Being all alone in this journey of ideas, of thoughts, of emotions, and trying to convey them in a clear enough portrait is frightening. There are so many finite details that have to be considered that OCD easily creates ADD, and the next thing you know you are all over the map with no resolution to the task at hand.

Cover art, bass, scheduling recording time, Press Releases, Mechanical Licensing agreements for cover songs…All things that occupy my brain. Doing the dishes, folding laundry, mowing the lawn…all tumble to the wayside in my mental priority list. Hummmmmmm see there it is right there…

This month (June already) should find BASS being tracked in the following weeks. Then it will be mix time…Hummmmmmm. A trip to Florida and then possibly North Carolina will fall somewhere in this month as well…Hummmmmmmmm…

There are so many amazing people I have met on this musical journey, so many talented people that do nothing with said talents. They crush my abilities with no effort…yet they have gone no-where. While I am at work, working my real job, I listen to their myspace pages and contemplate how amazing it is that they have done nothing with their talents…Yes it is about the art form to me…Yes it is about having people listen to my sounds…But still, I hear their works and think “…my God…where do I fit in…?”

Thankfully my loving girlfriend listens to my ramblings as best as she can. She is the only one that I have that at least attempts to listen to my mental Hummmmmmm. I use her as my soundboard and my unofficial assistant.

So I sit and wonder, with wobbling mind I ask myself…Why am I doing this? What is the goal again? Will people even like what they hear…?

Recording update…is it 2008 already…?

Published on 01/03/2008 in Deaf, Going Somewhere, Hearing Impaired, Mixing, Music and Recording. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Five are done…well at least wounded…

The week before Hannakwanzafestimas I took a Friday off to go into the studio. This was to be followed with a full day on Sunday as well. The plan was to go in with a little more preparedness and really hammer out some music. I think that was about 97% accomplished!

Friday…Friday, even with a late start (engineer’s band’s CD needed dropped off for duplication…it is a phenomenal disc by the way) we were able to track guitar and vocals for two songs. I brought in the pre-arranged drum tracks that I had been working on in my personal studio along with some additional crashes and such. This is a point of advice that rewards dividends when in the studio…be as prepared as possible.

The vocals on Friday were acceptable and with the addition of bad news later in the afternoon, were laced with some extra emotional sauce. I am really proud of the rough mixes that came from Friday…With the additional instruments added to the respective tracks, and the quality of the players that I have invited to be a part of my little voyage I am very excited to hear the final mix downs.

Sunday…Sunday we followed the same routine…the drum tracks were pre-arranged and again was a monumental time saver…Rob, my guy, jazzed them up a bit to give them a very nice sound to play over. We then tracked acoustic guitar and then two different electric guitar parts. All this was tracked with a nicely blended opening for a good friend of mine to lay some sweet finish guitar solo work on. Musically this song is probably the most commercial “POP” song on the project and just screams radio…well at least I think it does, and I hate my own music.

The vocals on the above “POP” song though…just…well…don’t sit well with me on the rough mix I have. I am not sure if it is the mix and the “dry” vocals, but I don’t agree with them. So I might be finding myself re-recording the vocals since the rest of the song is very tight.

Sunday afternoon we vocal tracked my surprise song for the disc. This song is the one that I hope will lend a bit of credibility to the disc…might make the disc worthwhile to look at and listen to. The funny and best part of this is that it is a song I did not write! It will be the only one not penned and played by Mark Young.

The future…

The future holds 3-4 more songs (I wrote the beginning of a fun song two nights ago that will be on this disc) as well as a bonus track. Much like the rest of the disc thus far, these songs will be fairly organic. Consisting of acoustic, some electric tendencies, and maybe an additional instrument here and there, they will be very vocal based songs.

What the above means is that I am thinking I probably will follow this schedule:

2-3 more recording days.
Mix down of the songs including the additional player’s parts…(schedules pending).
Some listening of the mixes on various stereos and in various cars around town.
Final tweaking…
Mastering.
Duplication.

This labor I have chosen to toil is one of love…like the canvas that drinks the ink this disc will be my journal, my diary of then and now.

I sure hope it reflects well…

Self induced fear and loathing…

Published on 09/11/2007 in Deaf, Going Somewhere, Hearing Impaired, Recording and Writing. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Frightened…Self induced fear and loathing…

I am really nervous.  Seriously, I am starting to have those red-light flashes of DANGER in my head.  You know the ones…the signs that we throw up when we start to push the envelope of our comfort level.

See I am frightened about the future.  I record my music on a whim…in my living room, in my boys part-time bedroom…it is real, it is now, and it is simple and honest.  Spontaneous in nature I record my simple tunes, quickly mix them with my hearing-aids OUT, and then sit back awaiting the next wave.  Some of them are simply scratch tracks, while others are mostly complete from intro to ending.  Half of my music is forgotten before I get a chance to memorize it…

As I try to lick the adhesive on the envelope and seal the future shut…I am going through what is called “PRE-PRODUCTION”.  This is just a big term for “getting your shit in order” so you do not waste time which equates to money.  I am creating “song one sheets” listing the lyrics, basic chords for the song, and describe the vibe or feel and direction for the song.  For example….”here the song gets a harder feel to it…crunch over the top of deep reverb rhythm acoustic…”

The pre-production process is where I start to quit.  This is where the E-brake handle starts to get moist from the sweat dripping off of my clammy hand.  The hand that is about to jerk the brakes, and this whole hobby of music recording to a dead headed halt.  You play the song over and over again…You analyze it in your head for flowing changes, interesting arrangements, and for future changes.  Basically you beat the creativity out of the piece…trying to make it right.  But what is right?

I know I am not the best singer.  I don’t have a 4.5 or 5 octave range, nor do I feel one is necessary.  I know I am not a very good guitar player.  I can not play leads, or fills, or know many tricks on the fret board.  I play simple chord, and power chord music with as much dynamics as I can muster out of these simple chord progressions.

The above is a deadly recipe…one that can quickly cook up a cauldron of doubt.  I hear so many grand things with my deaf ears that I want to do with my songs…so many touches that will make the music explode…caressing the ears.  Only I can not make them alone.  So I sit…I sit and doubt that I should even go through the process of recording them.  I beat the songs up in my mind…conversely beating myself up for not being able to just “DO IT ALL YOURSELF”.  So that no one else is involved in the recording process, no one to look at me through the window of the control room…

The Fear…The fear of taking my music out of my mind and legitimizing it by trying to record it in a “professional” paying manner.

The Loathing…the abhorrence or dislike of having to relinquish some self…the idea that you are opening yourself up for discourse.

If you have read this far…then you fully rule and understand the mind games we play with ourselves.  You understand that there is a constant battle that we fight in our daily struggle to create a whisper.  A whisper that hopefully will tickle the heart,  soothe the soul, echo in the mind.

I am in PRE-PRODUCTION mode for my little EP project…

I am trying to schedule studio time and coordinate that schedule with players I like and look up to…

I only had one goal for 2007 and this is it…better get cracking…

Thank you for reading…