MUSIC BLOG

INTRODUCTION Every creative project has a beginning, and sometimes that beginning is simply a word. For this particular undertaking, that pivotal word was FANTASY. Instead of anchoring my thoughts to a specific film, story, character, or scene, I chose to embark on a broader exploration of what fantasy signifies to me in a musical context. This blog serves as a detailed chronicle of that creative journey—from the initial sparks of inspiration to the development of 20 original

In a previous blog I talked about tweaking and when to know that a piece is done. Well… guilty as charged, music police! Put me in cuffs, throw away the key! I’m working on my next release. This one is called FANTASY. When I thought that I had some really buttoned-up tunes, I took a day away from them and came back for a listen. OMG! Let me fix this here, change something there, delete this part, add a part, put a part back, take that part out again. Are there anymore plug

You're recording your guitar. If you’re like me, you have a small studio with limited space to “crank it up!” So, next comes the question: Direct (plug-in) or amp? For the most part, I’ve been using plug-ins. There are so many to choose from! The plug-ins I have and use are: 1. Studio Devil – It has a slew of presets and is an all-in-one package with gain, mid, treble, drive, graphic and parametric eq, compressor, chorus, flanger, tremelo, echo, reverb, noise gate and ma

Adversity has a way of finding all of us. It can come in the form of financial hardship, lost opportunities, personal health challenges, or the illness of someone we love. For me, it was my health. For nearly a year, I found myself asking the same question over and over: "What now?" During times like these, it's easy to wonder if creativity can survive. How do you stay inspired when life seems determined to knock you down? How do you remain positive, stay strong, and keep mov

As a creative, you’re always in search of writing that perfect piece of music. You just composed it, and now you’re listening back to it. Wait a minute! If I go to this section and do this, it will be even better! And then if I go here and do this… Hours later, you now think that it’s perfect. Your ears are a little blown out, so you take a break, walk away from it, come back and give it a fresh listen. OMG! Maybe I shouldn’t have done this or that, you think to yourself.

Adding alternate guitar tunings can bring a lot flavor to a track. Even though it might be the same part, the difference in combined tunings can broaden and enhance the overall sound of a track. I have a number of alt tuned guitars that I might use to double or triple a part, depending what I’m going for sonically. Aside from a number of electric guitars in standard tuning, I use a LINE 6 standard modeling guitar that has a plethora of different models (from acoustics to diff