I have a Dell computer and Microsoft Windows 10. I was gonna buy myself new video making software but now I no longer have to ’cause like the title of the topic says, Microsoft just gave me a free one due to the new update from last night. I had to update the system and each update, Windows give you new things. Microsoft PowerDirector for Dell just came to me for free and got installed on my computer.

I messed around with PowerDirector a little bit just to check it out and see what it’s like and I liked what I saw. I want to start making video blogs again and I’ll probably start making them on PowerDirector. This software allows you to make professional like videos that would be good for youtube or whatever. I also plan to get back into making videos of my live music performances at home. I want to make all kinds of different videos ’cause I’m thinking about reviving my youtube channel and I probably will.

When I do revive my youtube channel, I am going to keep politics out of things, though ’cause I know that stuff can get myself suspended ’cause I know how youtube and FB likes to censor conservative voices. If I were to return to youtube, I’ll just stick with the music, maybe make fitness videos too and videos about life.

Would I ever make official music videos of my original songs? Ya know, make MTV/VH1 styled videos like a lot of local bands and artists have been doing these days. I used to be against making music videos of my original songs but I think I’m gonna give it a go and give it a try.

Glad I have new video making software finally and I was pretty surprised when Microsoft gave this to me. They gave this to everybody who has a Dell computer and Windows 10. I want to get back into making videos again like I used to and I will. I enjoy making videos. It’s fun.

Kev

Whenever I try to find new bands and artists to check out when I browse Itunes, I can’t really find much of anything that I liked. The reason is the music industry is getting worse. I try my best to find good new music that I think I might like. The reason it’s getting harder to find good new rock & metal music is ’cause the industry is still hung up on pop, rap and country. The industry wants you to forget that rock and metal is still around.

With that being said, I do find some good music in the rock and metal genres in the 2000’s years and up to today. I have discovered these new bands that I happen to like, though: Greta Van Fleet, Trivium, Mastodon, Opeth, Abbath, Ensiferum, Amon Amarth, Ghost, Gojira  and bands such as those.

Other than that it is getting tougher trying to find music that is really good but I loved those bands that I listed.

Maybe it’s because I haven’t been keeping up with the rock and metal industry is why. I think I really need to keep up with it more ’cause admittedly I’m not that crazy about today’s industry so I lost interest. I always do try to check out new bands, though and some of the bands I listed above are what I recently discovered. I always try to keep up with music the best I can.

I love listening to other people’s music and supporting other bands/artists. It’s always been a huge part of me.

Kev

I’m thinking this summer probably that I might plan on doing a live acoustic home performance for the internet. Stream myself performing live on facebook for a few hours of me performing cover songs. I’m gonna get a bunch of cover songs together in a repertoire and play as much as I can. Yeah, I’ll try to play as many cover songs as I possibly can. Play a lot of songs that people know well and have heard so many times. You’ll hear me perform cover songs from the 50’s all the way to today’s music. I think it’ll be fun.

I just want to try out this live internet streaming thing for live home acoustic performances ’cause I’m noticing a lot of solo acoustic musicians have been doing this nowadays since “live streaming” is a thing for everybody now.

I want to do a live home internet performance for original music too but I don’t have new originals yet. I want to make sure I get new originals written first and then I’ll think about doing that, but since I don’t have new originals yet… I’ll just start it off with a cover performance.

I just want to see how many will be interested in this thing. I’ve been learning a lot of cover songs lately.  Trying to memorize guitar parts and lyrics by heart. I’ve always thought memorizing lyrics by heart was important ’cause I think live performers reading lyrics while performing is cheating and I’ll have another post on that soon which is a good idea.

When will I do the live performance of me doing cover songs at home? I’ll plan a date for it and it probably won’t be until the end of the summer maybe. I’ll think of something but I really want to do this ’cause it’ll be fun. Stay tuned.

Kev

This week I’ve been messing around with cover songs again. Trying to re-learn some of the cover songs that I’ve learned in the past so I can remember them and keep them memorized. As a musician and guitar player, I find it important that a guitar player and singer should know as much cover songs as possible. It’s important to know as much songs that other people would know.

A lot of musicians just want to play originals only nowadays. I would also want to learn cover songs that I’ve never learned before. I’m going to learn the guitar parts and memorize the lyrics for the vocals too. Yeah, I want to perform a lot of hit songs that people know well and like.

Why? For one, I want to prove people that I can play cover songs and do them well. Secondly, it’s fun playing songs for people that they know well and like. This Spring/Summer, I want to start hitting the open mics again in Saratoga Springs  so I can show them what I got. Once again, I just want to perform all the songs that I loved over the years. Play songs by bands and artists who inspired me to become a musician. Perform everything as much as possible… you’ll hear me perform songs by the Velvet Underground/Lou Reed, David Bowie, The Beatles, CCR, Led Zep, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, Johnny Cash, etc. I’ll also be performing covers by some newer bands too… bands such as Pearl Jam, Oasis, Seven Mary Three, Soundgarden, The Smashing Pumpkins, Blind Melon, The Spin Doctors, Live, etc. Stuff like those.

Musicians and bands are no longer doing covers but I’m still doing them and proud of it too. If other people have a problem with me doing covers then oh well. I wish musicians wouldn’t stop doing cover songs ’cause they’re fun to do. I would never make the cover songs sound exactly like it’s on the album, I just give them my own interpretation which is how cover songs should be played. Cover songs don’t always have to be played in the same exact rhythm style and tempo, just give it your own take. Make the song sound like that you wrote it.

I’m going to try to hit an open mic in Saratoga Springs at some point, I just gotta find out where they are ’cause I haven’t played open mics in so long. I’d like to start going to them again. Admittedly I do miss performing live in front of people. Caffe Lena has their open mics on Monday nights and the Putnam Place has their open mics on Wed. nights. I might go to both of those sometime soon.

Will I ever play actual paying gigs again? Not sure about that one, we’ll see but going back to open mics is a nice start. I used to play open mic nights all the time when I was younger. I used to go to them on a regular basis, would like to start doing it again.

Kev

Do people make misconceptions about you? I’m sure people make misconceptions about you all the time and with me there are lots of them. Just for fun, I’m about to name some that people make up about me. Misconception which means a view or opinion that is incorrect based on faulty thinking or understanding.

I’ll try to name 10 of them in no particular order:

I’m a depressed person: I get this one a lot from people. I don’t know what it is that people think I’m a depressed person and people think I have loads of problems when I don’t. I’m fine and good. In fact, I’m very happy right now and life is very good for me. Not sure why people get this idea that I’m a depressed person.

I’m a troublemaker who likes to stir things up on the internet: Another one I get a lot which is laughable. People think I like to troll people online which is totally untrue. I’m just like everyone else, I like to use the internet to speak my mind and express myself. If people think I’m causing trouble well that’s pretty flattering really. I must be saying the right things that’s pissing people off.

People think I hate local musicians and the music scene in general: No I don’t really. There are many that think I go around talking trash about local musicians and local music. I love live music and I love other musicians, it’s just that I’m a brutally honest person when it comes to music and unfortunately it isn’t gonna make some happy. I just like to keep things honest is all. If I don’t like a musician then I won’t be afraid to say it and if I don’t like the way the music scene is going then I won’t be afraid to say it. It’s just that simple.

I’m a lazy person who sits around and do nothing: Another one I get a lot. No, I don’t sit around and do nothing all day. I’m a guy who goes to the gym on a regular basis. I like to go out and enjoy myself every now and then like go shopping at the mall and hang out with friends sometimes so I’m good, thanks. I also like to go out on bike rides and long walks sometimes. I do like to go out and enjoy myself.

People think I’m shy and don’t talk a lot: Partly true but to an extent. I’m only shy around people I don’t know. If I know you well enough, I’ll be talking for hours and hours. I can be a talkative guy when I want to be. I’m trying to be more talkative to strangers though and it’s being worked on more.

People think I’m mean and have an attitude: Another one that is completely bullshit. I try to be nice to everyone as much as possible. I won’t bite at all, really. If at some point I’m being somewhat mean and having an attitude then maybe it’s because I’m tired of people’s bullshit? Ever think of that? Treat me how you would want to be treated and I’ll be good.

Some think I’m gay/bi-sexual: I get gay rumors all the time and I’m telling you, I’m 100% straight. I love women. I don’t get why some get obsessed with my love life. Probably because people never seen me with a woman before. Maybe I’m just happy being single? I would like to start dating women at some point, though.

People think I’m a crazy right-winger and conspiracy theorist: It seems I drive people crazy with my political views and I’m okay with that. I’m not really into conspiracy theories like people think and I’m not a crazy right-winger either. I believe I’ve always been educated about politics and did my research. I do have “right-wing” views but I’m not far-right like people think.

People think I’m not smart: Another big one I get a lot. People thinking I’m not a smart person but let them believe what they want to believe. I believe I am pretty smart & intelligent and I’m not afraid to say that out loud.

I’m not a real musician: People always criticized my musicianship. They still do as well. I believe I’m a pretty decent musician. I do know my shit. I believe I’m a pretty good guitar player and singer as well. I do know my music theory. I have good enough rhythm chops. I’m improving on my lead guitar playing and I’m getting better at improvising/ear training. People always said I’m not a real musician but I believe me I am. Try jamming with me. You might be impressed of what I could do.

Enjoy the read.

Kev

Yeah, I still have my first internet album planned out. I always talk about it but why isn’t it done yet? Well, I gotta write the songs first and then I’ll get to work on it. I’m also thinking about making it a double album. 1st side will be all new original songs and 2nd will be a greatest hits kind of thing. The greatest hits album will be a compilation of my older songs from the past. I’m really thinking of doing it like that.

When I work on the album, though for the new originals, I’m really gonna focus on melody. I want it to be my most melodic ever. Make something really musical. Try to make songs that never leaves your head. When I record, I’m gonna try to layer more than one guitar parts… try to make it sound like two guitar players playing together but guitar 1 and guitar 2 will both be playing different things. For vocals, I’m also gonna be experimenting with a lot of backup harmonies… record my own backup vocals ’cause I like doing that.

As far as the lyrics go, I’m going to come up with anything that comes to mind ’cause that’s the beauty of songwriting is being able to write what you want. I’ll write anything I want no matter how dark and how controversial ’cause I’ve had written dark and controversial songs in the past. I’ll do it again. Some may think they’re dark and controversial but some songs I’m just trying to send a message.

As far as the genre goes, it’s going to be a usual mix of acoustic rock and folky ballads. I may try to do something country/blugrassy as well.

I’ve always wanted to make an internet album where people can download for free and people can listen to it on their Ipods, Ipads, stereo systems, in their cars or on their computers or whatever. It’ll happen at some point. I’ll let you all know when. I want to make it happen.

I’m gonna make my next batch of new songs better than the ones I’ve had in the past. I’ve had been messing with some stuff on the guitar lately.

Kev

Are you a musician who gets a lot of bad publicity? Ya know, the type of musician when you’re getting a lot of negative feedback of your songs or even full studio albums. You get a lot of negative comments from anonymous trolls in youtube, blogs and message boards… things like that. Even worse, you’re not very well respected in the music community and you’re one of the most hated musicians out there. The pros and more established musicians always looking down upon you and not giving you the respect that you deserve.

Well, I have been through all that over the years of my life and still do get negative publicity. I used to be upset at getting bad publicity but over the years, I’ve learned to get used to it. You just got to be able to learn to accept that not everyone is gonna like you that’s all. You can’t make everyone happy and you can’t please everyone. The trick to dealing with bad publicity is that you just be flattered by it all ’cause after all, bad publicity is not a bad thing. It’s actually good promotion for your music… the haters, trolls and critics promotes your music when they aren’t even realizing it. It’s so true if you think about it.

Another trick on dealing with bad publicity is just keep playing the music and ignore it all. A lot of musicians have a problem at responding to negative things aimed at them which is a bad idea really and it’s an unprofessional thing to do is to be confrontational at the haters.

I went through a lot of negative crap over the years of my life, sure. All one would have to do is google my name and you’ll see it all. People bashing me publicly. All it did was helped make me an even stronger person.

I’ve had too many local music websites over the years not being very accepting of my music… basically ’cause of the cliquey scene we have. They thought my music wasn’t professional enough and I didn’t get too many article write ups, didn’t get much radio airplay locally and didn’t get many shoutouts on local music blogs.

When you get all this, you have to ignore it all completely and just keep playing ’cause there will be many out there who’ll think you’re nothing musically. I’ve learned that I should just keep playing music for myself and that’s the attitude you should have. Just keep playing and do your thing. Writing the songs, releasing them and let people hate.

Who knows, maybe one day people will come around and realize that you are talented then the haters will get turned into fans. It can happen. You just gotta keep playing and enjoy yourself no matter what anyone says. No matter how negative people get around you, just gotta keep playing the music. I’ve had this attitude a lot lately and it does make life easier.

It is interesting though how the local music scene claims to support all local music and yet they look down at certain musicians. Think about it, right. You already are going somewhere with your music if you’re getting so much bad publicity. There’s a saying out there that says, “Your haters are the biggest fans” which is true if you think about it. Take your haters and critics as your motivators. Honestly, they inspire me to keep going in my music and I have much more music coming up ahead. I have seen so many other musicians get destroyed by bad publicity and many gave up because of it. I won’t give up what I do and you shouldn’t either.

Kev

One thing I’m trying to teach myself when recording on DAW is programming my own drum tracks. I want to be able to program my own drum tracks and I’m gonna figure out a way to do that in Mixcraft. In Mixcraft, you can program your own drums. Sometime down the road, I’m still planning to buy “EZ Drummer” software by ToonTrack ’cause I heard that’s really good software, but for now I’ll use what I have in Mixcraft.

This is why I’m doing my best studying rhythm and timing. Ya know, get good real good with the metronome and learn to play in the pocket which I have improved a lot on. I used to hate playing along with the metronome but now I love it and take the metronome very seriously now.

I want to program my own drums for my songs ’cause I don’t have a drummer and I don’t have a real drum set of my own. I am trying to study drum lessons even if I don’t have a drum set ’cause I feel I need to learn this stuff if I’m going to program my own drums.

Learning to program drums shouldn’t be that hard at all. As long as you understand timing and rhythm, should be a piece of cake for you.

I’m studying this stuff by myself ’cause someday I want to be a one-man band when making an album. I want to make a full band rock album all on my own. For bass lines, I think I’m gonna buy myself a real bass guitar pretty soon.

My full band rock songs will probably be pretty simplistic anyways. I’m not gonna be playing technical virtuoso stuff like Dream Theater or Yngwie Malmsteen or anything like that. I just want to write bad ass rock n’ roll songs with big riffs, guitar solos and vocals and all that stuff.

I think I’m capable enough of making good full band rock music. People don’t think I can but watch me.

I don’t know, maybe I should collaborate with a real drummer. I’m actually thinking about that too. Finding a good drummer are hard to find, though. I’ll want to find a talented drummer who can stay in the pocket and rock tight. For now I’ll just use drum programming through software and things like that.

Studying timing and rhythm in music is everything. It may seem intimidating and annoying which is why it’s overlooked by a lot of musicians but it’s crucial to learn. Studying timing is not that hard as you think. Someday, I’ll want to jam with a real drummer just to see how I do.

Kev

I was never one to cut people out of my life. It’s just something that I would never do. At least I try not to. If I did then I would only do it if some people get way out of line about me. If I did cut people out of my life, I would welcome them back in it as long they are all for it. If not, then I’m okay with that.

Yes, you’re definitely going to go through with this a lot in life. Friends stabbing you in the back and cutting you out of your lives all of a sudden. I’m sure it happens with you whether you have male friends or female friends… it happens to me too. I’ve had a lot of people come and go in my life and I’m okay with that. I’m not heartbroken if someone wants nothing to do with me anymore. Life goes on, ya know? It always does. When people shut you out, all you need to do is to move on and forget about them. When friends turn out to not like you anymore, you get so hung up on defending yourself and winning them back. A huge waste of time, in my opinion. I say just let them go and give them the big middle finger.

When people stab you in the back, it’s definitely gonna make you think to yourself… “What did I do wrong? What did I say that pissed them off?” The answer to those questions is that you didn’t do anything. It’s them. Not you. They are the problem. Why are they the problem? Usually ego, jealousy, insecurity, selfishness, etc. Friends becoming enemies with each other is becoming a major problem in this society. It definitely is for sure. Can’t deny it. What’s even worse about ending friendships nowadays is that they end it quickly over social networking. You’ll know a friendship is done when they block you in all social networking. Instead of calling you by phone or writing an e-mail to you, they just block you with no explanation. In the old days when there were no internet, people used to end friendships by hanging up phone or getting their ass kicked on the streets. Now people end friendships over the internet which makes it easier for them.

Like I said, you’re definitely gonna deal with backstabbing friends and betrayals a lot. It’s part of life so you gotta learn to deal with it. I’ve had a lot of people in my life that I thought was my friend but wasn’t after all that time. Your true friends and people who truly care about  you would be the ones who won’t stab you in the back and won’t cut you off. When people decide to cut you off, they are just showing their true colors. They weren’t your friends at all so you gotta stop calling them your friend.

People call them “fake friends” nowadays and there’s a lot of them out there. When you have a fake friend and they cut you off, you really need to let them go and leave them be. Don’t try to win them back. I’ve tried my best to win some of my former friends back but was unsuccessful at most of them. They bury the hatchet with you on their own terms, I guess, but I must warn you that when your ex-friend tries to bury the hatchet with you and you did for a while… you’ll be feuding with that person again. Remember, they were never your friends — they never were.

So you may ask, why would someone fake a friendship with you? Well, maybe they just want to use you and take advantage of you, ya know? Maybe they just use you ’cause they have no one else to go to. Some would use you for money, would only come to you when they need something and some would ride your coattails for their own success ’cause they know you got good things going. You can’t trust a lot of people nowadays.

So when you run into fake friends in your life, you need to tell them to fuck off and move on with your own life. Just keep smiling and keep moving forward. That’s what I’ve been doing lately and I’m doing a much better job at that. I don’t really give a shit if people don’t want to be in my life anymore. My life is good and I’m happy. I don’t have time for drama and negativity. I have music, I’m a musician and I’m also a fitness/bodybuilder guy so I’m good. Those are the two things that I care about most.

You don’t want to waste time with people who hates you. Losing friends isn’t actually a bad thing ’cause you can get even more friends out of it. There’s a saying out there which is, “We don’t lose friends, we just learn who the real ones are”. Which is very true if you think about it. The ones who stays with you all the time and is loyal to you are the real ones.

Most backstabbers only care about themselves anyways… they’ve always been pretty selfish. When they stab you in the back like that, they just confirmed that they are selfish so don’t worry about it.

Like I said, don’t try to win the backstabbers back. Move on with your own life. Keep on’ keepin on’ and keep being happy. You can’t make everyone happy ’cause the world doesn’t work like that.

Kev

Over the years of my life being a home recording artist, I was never the best at producing my own music. I was never really that smart about recording. In the past, I never really cared about sound quality. All I did over the years was hit the record button and what you hear is what you get. I didn’t care if the recording sounded bad whether it had background hissing, humming, clipping and all that stuff. I just wanted to make music and listen to it. I would also share my songs with other people to get feedback. Despite the bad sound quality, people would strangely give me nice feedback on my songs anyways. It’s like as long as you can listen to it, who cares about sound quality?

I am trying to educate myself on producing my own music which is what I want to do. I’ve been doing a lot of reading and researching about mixing and mastering. I’ve gotten much better at educating myself at getting recording equipment to get a better sound. For now, I don’t have a pro-studio yet, but I just have a small and basic home studio. I have a computer, a DAW (Acoustic Mixcraft), an audio interface, speaker monitors, a phantom powered mic w/ pop filter and things like that.

When I was in my early 20’s just starting out in home recording, I remember using those old Tascam 4 track cassette recorders. I remember I used to own that thing and I used to record acoustic demos on those things all the time. I kind of wish I kept it but the old school 4 track Tascam broke ’cause I used it so much.

I’ve been doing home recording for many years. Long before DAW’s on computers started coming out and my first computer DAW for music recording was Cakewalk, I think. Then I used the old ProTools software for a long while which I don’t use anymore due to getting a new computer. The DAW that I currently now use is Acoustica Mixcraft which is very cool. I’ve contemplated going back to ProTools and someday I will whenever I can afford it but for now I’ll use the affordable Mixcraft. I think Mixcraft is way better than ProTools, in my opinion. Not only that Mixcraft is a DAW, it’s also mixing and mastering software too.

I really am trying to educate myself on how to produce my own music better. I want to teach myself mixing and mastering. Do it all on my own. Is it possible? Yes, it’s definitely possible with all these DAW’s and digital recording is huge nowadays. Recording the old way (Analog) is still possible, though. I want to teach myself mixing and mastering ’cause I want my own ideas and my own sound. I’ve educated myself about “clipping” finally and know what that’s all about. Now I got to learn how to mix which shouldn’t be hard and mastering shouldn’t be hard either.

What is my recording process like when recording my own original songs? Well, most recording artists would just record little bits at a time and finish ’em later but I never recorded like that though. When I hit that record button, I keep working until the song is done complete. I record all in one go pretty much. If I can’t come up with another riff, I’ll just make something up and improvise.

I’m now taking producing very seriously and I want to to make the best sounding music. I want to make music as if a professional engineer did the work. Is it possible to teach yourself how to mix and master your own music? Yes, it’s definitely possible. Jimmy Page taught himself how to produce Led Zeppelin music. I don’t think he spent a lot of money on courses. My guess on how Jimmy Page taught himself was that he learned by watching other engineers do the work with his other bands before Zeppelin. With DAW software, it’s definitely possible now. I’ve been teaching myself by reading books, watching youtube videos and things like that.

I’m getting slowly better at producing my own music but still got long ways to go, though. This year, I’m gonna mess around with mixing and mastering through Mixcraft. I just need to get a TRS balanced cable for my speaker monitors and audio interface which I plan to order online soon. I want to practice producing my own music and get good at it.

I want to make an actual album and doing all I can to make that happen. I love recording music and want to get back into it this year.

Kev