New Music, New Band, and Lots of other "NEW" Things!
Well, the title seems to suggest that a lot of new things have happened since my last blog post, and that is in fact the case. Here we go!
New Music
Yes, I have been working on new music, and I have published one song (Delusions) so far from the new project that I am working on (https://www.sandrocuzzetto.com/music). A video for this song is up as well. I am working on getting the entire project done sometime this year (2023). The biggest issue right now is time and also getting the songs to sound the way I want them to. Mixing is a big job and, as I am wanting to do it all on my own (I love to learn and, just to be honest, love mixing music and sounds), it not only takes time but also takes me learning how to do the things I want to do. I am NOT an audio engineer by any stretch of the imagination (though I may take some more courses on this), but I am starting to learn a lot about how to make my music sound good - and I can hear the results already. I have been working on mic techniques (actually taking lessons on that), mixing (lot's of information on YouTube about that right now, but this may be what I take further education on), and also learning more about the inner workings of Sonar (the DAW I am currently using). A few questions and tasks that I am working on at this time are: how do I "clean up" my overall mix (EQ and sound placement of each instrument, gate and compression work, reverb, panning tracks, etc.)? What are the limitations that Sonar has that something like ProTools does not, or that is easier or better in non-open source software (if any)? Also, how do I quantize live drums well (I have not tackled that yet, and it does NOT seem easy to do in Sonar - but maybe it's just not easy in any DAW). Finally, should I ALWAYS mix in sampled sounds to my instruments? So much more to learn!
At this time, I have completed the recording for seven songs for this upcoming project, and I am now working on the last two songs. I have scrapped one tune that I had already written (didn't like where it was going) so I will be needing to completely write at lest one more song for this project before I can call it done. I have always loved the writing process though, so I am excited about this. Once I get closer to completing the recording, I will begin working on the mastering of the tracks and, finally, I will begin the push to marketing it. I am not rushing it this time though: it will be out, if all goes well, "sometime" this year, so as it's only February, that should give me enough time to do as good a job as I can.
New Band
As you may see on the front of this site, I am now in three bands, with the latest being a new blues-oriented band called Shelter. No dates yet for live playing, but a very good set of musicians are in this group, so I am excited to be able to share this with everyone as soon as we are ready to do so. At this point, we are working solely on covers, but we do have a new song written that we may throw into the set when we do play live. This band will sound good coming out of the gate (heck, even the pic is high quality!).
More New Music and a New Bandmate?!
Finally, I want to share a "secret" project that I will begin working on soon: I am working on a project that will exclusively be heard only on Soundcloud. Why Soundcloud? Well, that's where I started posting before posting on the bigger streaming sites, so I want to do something that stays there as a dedication to that project. To make it fun, I decided to do it in conjunction with a partner and new "bandmate"... AI! Yup, ChatGTP and I have worked hard on this project and I am excited to begin the recording process soon! Unlike my current project (that I have not decided on the name for yet, to be honest), this one has a name, track titles, and a bunch of other stuff already chosen (like a cover), so I don't mind sharing this with you now. The title: Sonic Atmosphere. Get it? Sound Cloud? Sonic Atmosphere? heh... thanks Chatty, great play on the name. The cover art is below (again, AI inspired).
Cool eh? I guess I can say that AI has finally arrived in a big enough way to make an impact in our day to day world, so that's also new. Here's hoping it goes better than Daniel H. Wilson (and a host of others) suggests it could.
Well, that's it for now. Later!