Music DIY, The Long Road, and Shopping Record Labels

It's been a little while since I last posted an update on the band so here's the short short version.

After the release of our latest EP, Black Swans of Chaos Theory, we have been submitting it to various music labels. Specifically, ones that are offering development contracts and seed money. The band is also continuing to learn some of my older songs as well as collaborating on some new ones. If all goes well, we will start playing live again soon! I'm greatly looking forward to it since it has been nearly two years since my last live performance. Boy, time flies when you're busy honing your craft! I spent the last six odd years learning about mixing and mastering, reading music, writing songs, and pretty much doing all that I can in a DIY manner. I even played in a church band for a couple of years to learn more about song composition, music theory, reading music and learning other styles of music that I hadn't yet learned, i.e. Jazz, Gospel, etc.

Now is the time for further development with help from outside, more experienced people. Hence the search for a good development contract. I'm ready to get out there and kick some butt again! I had a lot of fun touring for many years with my previous band, and even playing a few solo shows when I first started this Buzzhead Republic "band". But now this"band" is a BAND and it is time time time (can I say time enough times?) to get kickin' again! This next year will be one of our best years yet, and just the beginning of many more to come.

A last note. I want to send out a congratulations on a new album release to one of my former band mates. I don't want to mention names unless he okays it (we didn't go our separate ways on the greatest of terms).  But he knows who he is, and if he happens to be reading this, Congrats man. I wish you all the best!

Oh, one more, a last, last note. I also went back to school but not for an art degree or anything related to music even. I'm studying Radiology. The idea is that even if I don't land a music contract, I will have the funds when I graduate to further my DIY music endeavors. One way or another the world WILL know who I am, and who Buzzhead Republic is! A contract would be the most ideal because the other way is the long road, but either way, it is only a matter of time!

God bless! Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year or whatever it is you like to do in this season. I don't care what as long as you're happy and blessed (can't we all just get along?).

I got a nice review today of my new EP!

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Music Updates

It's been a while since I have posted anything specifically about my music. Over this last year I have finally gotten down the production side of things (that is producing decent sounding songs in an apartment environment) but have had moderate success with my vocals. I was finally able to get better equipment that made my vocal recordings clear enough to hear what was wrong. Through trial, error, and reading advice from pros I have learned a lot about recording techniques that strengthen the diaphram and make my vocal clear. Things no longer sound muddy or drowned out by music. I'm still working on not holding back. Because I live in an apartment and do a lot of my recording at night, I am often self conscious of being too loud. However, to get past this, I just belted it out during the day today instead. After some takes and honest criticism from myself and friends it is clear that my vocals are better but they are just slightly flat, occasionally, really flat. Sometimes, I'm able to get things perfect, but not as much as I want. I've thought about auto-tuning but I really don't like the sound of it even if it's making slight adjustments. I've also thought that maybe over time practice will make my voice better. Practice definitely will help but I think I should get lessons to teach me where the notes are, so I can really feel it instead of just guessing. I say guessing because it is hard to find the right pitch when you're hearing it through your inner ear. Being taught that alone will make everything that much easier. I can't afford lessons, but I've been producing some songs for a singer, so I'll just ask for lessons from him in trade for my work.

I have a lot of new songs but I've been holding out on releasing them because I want to do things right and with more discipline from now on.  I bought a drum-set so that has helped a lot in making my songs sound fuller. I'm still hoping to get a bass guitar soon because that's the other essential part of the backbone of a song. Again though, the biggest thing is my vocals. I really want to get them better and I'm sure I will. I just have to be patient with myself as I'm working on them. As one of my friends said, I'm great at expressing myself , just my delivery is a little off. It will all come together eventually.

Best of all, I am having more fun than ever!

-Rooster