Stretched...

One thing I’ve been learning recently:  When I stretch myself I’m spread thin, like a rubber band.  When God stretches me, I expand (blowupuate!).  Today marks a big milestone for me.  Today we finished mastering the Infinitus self-titled debut cd and it’s FINALLY ready for release!  WooHoo!!

Let me give you the back-story.  Infinitus prays about EVERYTHING and we rely on God’s guidance to keep us on the right path.  I know that sounds preachy, but for me it’s just practical.  All of that to say that when we prayed about how to record our debut album we all felt that I was supposed to record it.  The problems:  I’m not a recording engineer, my studio is wherever my laptop/mic are, and my recording equip is kind of ghetto.  This has worked fine for my solo recordings, but I didn’t want to bring anyone else into my “funky-finger production” style of recording (“In Living Color” fans will catch that one BAM!!).  As this is Infinitus’ first album, I was really worried that the recording wouldn’t sound as great as it could due to my inexperience.  So I had to step up my game.  Funds are limited so I couldn’t buy a new studio, but I picked up a new pre-amp (allows you to record into a computer without jacked up mic levels) and Alex, the cellist, bought a second recording mic, giving us more mixing options as well as a fuller sound.  The studio:  a few hotel rooms in Ontario, and Alex’s 4yr-old son’s bedroom.

Alex and I recording in a hotel in Mississauga, ON.  Yes I'm sporting a do-rag and a wife beater (don't hate! LOL).

The end result:  A great album.  It sounds very natural (almost live) and you really hear US; real people, real string instruments, real beats (no auto-tune or special effects – I don’t even know how to use auto-tune, nor do I want to learn).   It’s taken hours of recording, re-recording, mixing, re-mixing, mastering and re-mastering; and I’ve had to do a lot of research and trial-and- error but at the end of the day, it’s done and it’s good.  Once again, God, thankYou for seeing something in me that I didn’t see in myself.  On to the next!

For more info on the Infinitus album, visit www. InfinitusMusic.com.  It will be released later this spring.  

blAhDIDAM

After years of sporadic posting on my website (and by sporadic I mean almost non-existent), I finally accepted the fact that I need some blogging help...enter blogspot.  I've never really kept a consistent blog before because of the following problems:  1. Where to post?  2. How to make it "me".  3. I don't like to write about what I'm doing.

1.  Where to post? - I ran across a cool musician named Zoe Keating (an independent alternative cellist) who uses blogspot on her website.  Btw, I want to figure out how to do that.  If you're looking at this post it means that I figured it out :-).  Now look at the date, that'll tell you how long it took me, LOL.  Entyways...after seeing Zoe's website I saw the value of an independent musician keeping a blog.  

2.  How to make it "me". - One of the first things I need to make a blog "me" is a great title.  A title that when you read it you say, "Yeah, that's John."  I came up with "I'm just sayin'..." (which I say all the time).  But then I looked at my homie B Reith's page and guess what his blog was called - "I'm just sayin'..."  Boo!  I'm not booing B Reith, actually if you don't know this artist - you need to.  I'm booing the fact that once I get stuck on a creative idea, it's hard to think of another one.  So the search began...Ideas included:  "Blog in the Key of Life..." (I'm a big Stevie Wonder fan but 50% of the the adults in my house didn't recognize the reference, boo), "Verbal Diarrhea" (naRsty), "Thrivin'" (not bad, but does it say "Adidam' Blog"?), "Untitled" (needs more effort)...well you see how well that went. LOL

I was sitting at the table, brainstorming with my wife Paula and friends Tammy & Teresa (who both individually made HUGE faith moves to Canada from the USA within the last year, when Teresa blurted out the one name that embodied my life, music, career, and blog in one simple word:  "blAhDIDAM"  Not too deep, but not too simple.  Thanks Teresa!  Maybe it'll become a verb like "Facebooking" or "Tweeting" - "BlAhDIDAMing"!  No?

3.  I don't like to write about what I'm doing. - I'm still in the middle of working this one out.  This is where it comes from...

At a young age I noticed that the people who talked the most about what they were doing, were doing the least.  And some of people who never talked about what they were doing, you'd see in the paper for winning some huge competition.  Example:

(setting:  Summer Orchestra Camp - High School)

Person 1:  "At home I'm the concertmaster of my school orchestra."

Person 2:  "Cool, what's a 'concertmaster'?" 

Person 1:  "First chair.  What piece are you playing for your audition?"

Person 2:  "La Folia"

Person 1:  "Oh, I played that like 2 years ago..."

[Orchestra Audition result:  Person 1 - in the back, Person 2 - concertmaster]

I was person #2, true story.  I'm more interested and inspired by hearing others talk about themselves than bawking on and on about what I'm doing.  In addition I always thought, "who cares about what I'm doing?" (cue:  sad violin sonata & chorus of 'awwwww')  Nowdays, it's more like, "Time spent talking about what I'm doing is time that SHOULD be spent doing what I'm talking about."  That doesn't work for the independent musician.  As an indie artist, I've accepted (and appreciate) the fact that there are some people out there who actually care about what I'm doing.  Also, a large part of my well-being as an indie artist depends on my ability to effectively/simply articulate what my music sounds like, who I am and why people should listen to me (or come to my concert).  So here I am...blAhDIDAMing (does it work as a verb yet?? Hahaha).