A FEW ODDS AND ENDS....

Ok so.

With most of the legal and budget business out of the way - the fun part begins, finally!

MUSICAL WORK!

Just a heads up…

I will not be posting the actual names of these tunes until the CD is ready to be sold. As I mentioned before, I have had my work and ideas stolen before in the recording industry and I have sadly learned to cover my ass in this area. I will still give a shout out to the writers though, but the song titles are Top Secret until the CD comes out. Sad, but true.

However, it could be kinda fun in a way.

When the CD comes out, all your bloggers out there could listen to the CD and try to figure out which song is which. I’ll try to give the tracks ‘names’ close enough to what they are so it shouldn’t be too hard to figure them out.

And this all brings me to…

"Some final odds and ends..."

While I'm overwhelmed by my list of 42 possible songs and desperately trying to find a pattern in there I realize, there are definitely 8 songs I am 100% sure of, theme or not. So I take my list of 8 and choose one to start with.

I have to keep reminding myself…one step at a time with this project. 

Ok, my PLAN here is to arrange and orchestrate all the song tracks first, leaving the vocals to the very end because I know that I am in BILLY ELLIOT until Christmas and therefore will be in NYC in my apt with all my instruments for the next three months without having to pick up and go somewhere else for a regional gig, etc. And, if I can get all my tracks done by the time I’m done in BILLY ELLIOT…when I go home for Christmas I can (hopefully) record the vocals in probably one of the most perfect acoustic halls in the country, The Hochstein Music School in Rochester, NY.

Ok.

Time for some synth patch home work.

Hmmmm...after experimenting with my music synth patches on my Yamaha and on my MAC's Garage Band I realize that some of the patches are really great, and some of them totally suck ass. 

I mean, really really suck ass.

Yowza.

Well.

That's a shame.

As is usual with most programs, my lamest synth patches are strings and woodwinds. And I don’t even have reed patches on this thing. That’s fine tho- I’ve got the reeds covered with my acoustic accordion, and the woodwinds covered with my flute and tin whistle but the strings.

Of course,  I LOVE strings so much, I purposely never learned how to play them. I never wanted the magic of listening to them to go away. I think you always lose that wonder of listening to an instrument or voice when you know even just a little bit about how it's played. 

Funny story…

I did the recent “Broadway Winners” Town Hall Concert and underneath the stage there is a TV monitor where all the performers can hang out and watch the show as you’re waiting to go on. Well. There was a certain male singer performing who had received much acclaim for his rendition of the song he was singing that night. And while he was singing, two of the other men on the program stood not 6 inches from the TV screen downstairs and spent the whole song ‘dissecting’ this man’s technique. Not so much in a critical way but more like, two doctors would watching a surgery.

"Oh, I see he chose the Heimlich incision."

"Oh yes yes, indeed he did."

"Interesting.  When I did that surgery I chose the Bambalt Incision."

"Oh really? Fascinating. I think he's doing a fine job, but personally I'd go another way. But that's just me."

 "Ah yes, I quite agree." 

I mean, blah blah blah blah blah!! Come ON, guys! Really?

And it was pissing me off because I am NOT a male singer and so this guy’s singing was still magical to me because I could give a fuck about the Heimlich Inicision or whatever. Ultimately I felt bad for them, because you could tell they totally had respect for the guy, but they were never going to be able to just sit back and enjoy his work. E-ver.

Anyway, bottom line...

Because I think strings are made of unicorns and fairy dust- I have absolutely no ability to play them myself. 

So…this is a constraint.

However…I DO love constraints as I find I’m the most creative when I have really strict parameters. So, maybe my lack of string playing prowess will be good. Maybe if I just stick to the acoustic instruments I know, I might just have a real cool ‘unique’ sound….kind of a Tom Waits-y thing.

We’ll see.

At the Imperial Theatre, I mention my patch problem to the ladies in my dressing room (the fabulous Jayne Paterson and the fantastic Liz Pearce). Jayne tells me about something called a “JAM PACK”? It’s apparently better quality synth patches for Garage Band. Sweet! I’m not sure how much that’s gonna cost but maybe by the time I've got everything else budgeted, if i find myself with an extra $100 i'll get it and redo some of the string tracks?

Anyway, a worry for another time. Until then, I’ll orchestrate now with what I have. The actual sounds can be adjusted later and I can always re-record stuff with acoustic instruments (and call in some favors from buddies who play strings).

Ok.

Enough of this bullshit.

Let the music BEGIN!!!

See next blog: THE MUSIC BOX song.

HERE WE GO!!!!

 

XO,

dl

 

PS

I have purchased a fancy new microphone that has an automatic USB port. A Samson CO1U USB Condenser Mic. I'm very excited- but it has dutifully subtracted from my budget. 

NEED HELP FINDING SOME PEOPLE IN MY MIA FILE

MIA FILE: 

I am looking for contact information for the following composers and lyricists:

MICHAEL MCLEAN

(I have tried to get in touch with him via his website 

www.michaelmcleanmusic.com but to no avail)

KATE MCGARRIGLE

(she frequently writes with her sister Anna- 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_and_Anna_McGarrigle)

LAURA I. KRAMER

(I think she lives lives in NJ)

 

MITCHELL S. BERNARD

(he is associated with the Fred Ebb award but I still can’t find any contact info for him)

*****

any help in getting contact information for any of these people would be greatly appreciated!

THANKS SO MUCH EVERYBODY!

xoxo

dl

STEP THREE: THE FANCINESS THAT IS CD REPRODUCTIONS (CDRs)

Ok.

Well.

Ignorance is bliss.

And knowledge is chapping my ass today.

Translation: now that I’ve seriously started to crunch some numbers there is no way in hell I’m going to be able to make as many CDs as I wanted for my budget. Fuckaduck.

On the plus side, I’ve found that most people at the CD Reproduction companies are extremely kind and patient with idiot savants such as myself and not once did I feel even remotely retarded.  

Panicky, yes.

Retarded….no.

So that’s nice.

I have spent a lot of time on the phone today with some absolutely lovely people at CDBABY, DISCMAKERS,  PLAY-IT DIRECT and HARRY FOX specifically discussing CD Replications (henceforth known as “CDRs”). 

Let me take a moment and clarify who these companies are for you:

1)    PLAY-IT DIRECT: www.play-itdirect.com. If you call (800) 815-3444, ask for Tony Tyler. She was incredibly helpful and their rates are fantastic. Plus, when my brain kinda exploded on the phone with all the mathematical options of how much per color per cd per 2 page per 4 page per digipac per just someone please shoot me in the fucking face right now, Tony asked what my overall budget was for CDRs and then generously promised to get back to me with some ‘special packages’ later today. This company is designed for the ‘home grown’ musician, is based in NYC and is an ‘insider secret’ that I found out about through my buddy Eric who works at Comedy Central. Not only will they do CDRs for the best rate in town- for an additional $69 they automatically register you with CDBABY www.cdbaby.com,  Bizmo (www.thebizmo.com),  Gracenote (www.gracenote.com), and give you a bar code for selling purposes. See details here: http://www.play-itdirect.com/directxtras/index.html. So if I can afford 100 CDRs or more I will most likely go with them. They’re also MAC based which I can only imagine will make my life a hell of a  lot easier when it comes to sending them the pdf files of my art. So, Play-It Direct suckahs! The secret is officially out. They are my first choice at the moment.

2)    CDBABY: www.cdbaby.com This is an online company that not only offers to sell your CDs for you (both digitally and via hard copy CDs), they also offer CDR and packaging services at www.duplication.cdbaby.com.  If I don’t get an order through Play-It Direct, I will definitely be signing up with CDBABY for the online selling part, which costs $55 to register and a percentage of each track/CD they sell for you. However, I would only use CDBABY for CDRs if I chose to go with a really low number (like 25-50 CDs total). Other companies offer better rates for CDRs in bigger quantities, but if I need to go under 100 CDRs for budget, I’ll go to CDBABY. Regardless, this company is a must for the online selling experience.

3)    DISCMAKERS: www.discmakers.com. This is another great all purpose CDR, packaging, all-in-one site with reasonable prices and a fantastic reputation located in NJ. Discmakers was recommended to me by almost everyone and they all cited ‘quality’ as their main reason for going with Discmakers. They are a little out of my budget at the moment,* but it’s a great site to look at and use based on their reputation if you have a little more cash than I do.

     *They DO have a “low price promise”: (http://www.discmakers.com/products/guarantee.asp) which says they’ll match any price/quote you get from anyplace else. So, I could easily throw the Play-It Direct quote at them but honestly, I really like Tony and what the Play-It Direct people stand for, so I’m pretty sure I'm giving them my money. And they’re also based in NYC so if there’s any problem I won’t have to deal with any sort of shipping/long distance bullshit.

4)    HARRY FOX: www.harryfox.com. For more info on Harry Fox’s website regarding mechanical licenses please refer to my previous blog entitled “Mechanical Licenses and a Man Named Harry”to catch up. I do want to share with you all some new things I learned over the phone today though regarding the digital vs CD mechanical license issue.

1)    If you are going to sell physical CDs and digital downloads- these are TWO SEPARATE licenses (each at 9.1 cents usually).  So if you only have money to pay for 500 licenses total, you’re going to have to lower the number of your actual CDRs to accommodate the digital ones. Ergo, if I can only afford for 500 per song (per license), I would have to consider making only 300 physical CDs and leaving 200 digital downloads. Or 100 to 400, 150 to 350 and vice versa, etc, etc, etc.

2)    There is also a $15 ‘processing fee’ per song that I was told about on the phone but did not catch when perusing the website.  I’m sure it’s there, I just missed it myself, so heads up ya’ll. I will now have to add $15 onto the cost of every track I do from Harry Fox and then multiply it by two if i want both CD and digital rights, in addition to the 9.1 cents per how many CDs/downloads I’m going predict selling (the number of which gets smaller with each passing moment).

3)    “How do you know how many digital downloads you’re going to sell so you order the right amount on the license?” you ask? Yeah, I did too. You don’t. Which sucks. The fella at Harry Fox suggested that you should start out UNDER estimating as opposed to over estimating because then you won’t have wasted money paying for “songs sold” that…well, didn’t.  Better economically to have to order more later, than to have overpaid at the beginning and lost your money.

4)    The bugaboo about under estimating obviously- is then you have to buy a whole NEW digital and/or CD license from Harry Fox for more sales, which again incurs the $15 ‘processing fee’ for every track. So, you’re kinda damned if you do…and don’t, in a way. Ugh, balls. I say BALLS!

Damn you, budget.

Damn you.

Ok.

After crunching the numbers I realize if I want to remain under my budget of $1000 these are some of my cost saving options:

1)    I could forgo making any CDRs at all and just sell digitally. Just make 1 CD on my own, complete with art and case and send it to CDBABY who would charge me $55.00 to join, get a barcode and sell purely digital downloads. Then they would take between %9-%25 of each download depending on where it was downloaded from (either CDBABY, or one of their sister companies like ITUNES, etc). I would have to buy only one mechanical license for digital downloads (plus $15 processing fee per track) and then slightly under estimate how many downloads I think I’ll sell.

2)    I could pad my track list with stuff that is either public domain or not through Harry Fox lessening the money incurred by that damned $15 processing fee per track per digital per CD bullshit. (Basically, if I do 10 Harry Fox tracks that’s $300 in processing fees alone for both digital and CDs. Not to mention the cost of the actual licenses. And that’s a lot on a $1000 budget).

3)    I could also try to speak personally with the composers that I know whose tracks are on the Harry Fox site and see if I can’t just send them the money and the mechanical license directly, bypassing Harry Fox altogether. That way the composers still get the standard rate for their work and I don’t have to pay the processing fee. I will check into the 'legality' of this move before i attempt it.

4)    I could order a really small number of CDs through CDBABY (25, maybe),  buy licenses for that low number (and a separate digital one for a higher number)- see how it goes and then hope if I have to do another set of licenses, I’ll have made the money already in sales to pay for it? Maybe? This is very much a Test Balloon way to go, I think.

5)    Instead of making 500-1000 CDRs of my CD, I could just make 100-300 CDRs through PLAY-IT DIRECT and see how/if it sells at all. If it sells well, then I can do a more complete order through Play-It Direct and really go to town. If it doesn’t sell well, I’ll not have wasted a bunch of money on a slew of CDs that will only serve to sit in my closet and torture me as evidence of my monumental failure as a recording artist. The perk to this choice though, is that not only does it lower my CDR expenses, it also lowers the mechanical license cost as well. If a mechanical license costs 9.1 cents, it’s a big difference between paying out $9.10 for 100 CDRs and $91.00 for 1000 CDRs. This would all help my budget immensely.

6)    I could go completely old-school. I could not go through a CDR company at all and burn the as many damned CDs as i want all by myself on my computer. I could also take my art to  KINKOS and get it reproduced as needed. I tend to think tho…that the cost of all the raw materials of that avenue (blank CDs, disc cases, labels, inserts, copies and plastic wrap) would cost pretty much the same as just getting it done through PLAY-IT DIRECT.

7)    I could suck it up and raise my budget to $2000. Go through PLAY-IT DIRECT and just get 1000 CDRs made with the works, and pay for 1000 worth on my mechanical licenses.

While I’m waiting for my ‘special package’ specific quotes from PLAY-IT DIRECT I’ll use the CDBABY website to figure out the ballpark of some budgeting. (Btw my goal is to have way less than 10 Harry Fox tracks out of the 12- but just in case, better to budget on the high end).

CDBABY QUOTES:

Budget A for 

25 CDRs (2 panel package) through CDBABY                      

$  91.00

10 mechanical licenses  (9.1 cents) at 25 CDRs                      

$  22.75

10 mechanical licenses (9.1 cents) at 100 dig downloads     

$  91.00

10 charges of $15 for processing fee at Harry Fox (CD)      

$150.00

10 charges of $15 for processing fee at Harry Fox (dig)    

 $150.00

economy shipping

$11.00

TOTAL  = $515.75

 

Budget B 

for 100 CDRs (2 panel package) through CDBABY                    

$194.00

10 mechanical licenses  (9.1 cents) at 100 CDRs                 

$  91.00

10 mechanical licenses (9.1 cents) at 100 dig downloads     

$  91.00

10 charges of $15 for processing fee at Harry Fox (CD)       

$150.00

10 charges of $15 for processing fee at Harry Fox (dig)       

$150.00

economy shipping

$20.00           

 TOTAL = $ 696.00

 

Budget C 

for 150 CDRs (2 panel package) through CDBABY                    

$291.00

10 mechanical licenses  (9.1 cents) at 150 CDRs                    

$136.50

10 mechanical licenses  (9.1 cents) at 150  dig downloads    

$136.50

10 charges of $15 for processing fee at Harry Fox                 

$150.00

10 charges of $15 for processing fee at Harry Fox (dig)       

$150.00

economy shipping

$26.00  

TOTAL = $ 890.00

Now if I wanna get fancier with my packaging I could go for a 4-panel insert booklet, let’s see what that looks like:

Budget D 

for 25 CDRs (4 panel package) through CDBABY                    

$  96.00

10 mechanical licenses  (9.1 cents) at 25 CDRs                    

$  22.75

10 mechanical licenses (9.1 cents) at 100 dig downloads   

$  91.00

10 charges of $15 for processing fee at Harry Fox              

$150.00

10 charges of $15 for processing fee at Harry Fox (dig)     

$150.00

economy shipping

$11.00    

TOTAL = $520.75

 Budget E 

for 100 CDRs (4 panel package) through CDBABY                

$224.00

10 mechanical licenses  (9.1 cents) at 100 CDRs                    

$  91.00

10 mechanical licenses (9.1 cents) at 100 dig downloads     

$  91.00

10 charges of $15 for processing fee at Harry Fox (CD)      

$150.00

10 charges of $15 for processing fee at Harry Fox (dig)       

$150.00

economy shipping

$20.00    

 TOTAL = $ 726.00

Budget F 

for 150 CDRs (4 panel package) through CDBABY                   

$336.00

10 mechanical licenses  (9.1 cents) at 150 CDRs                    

$136.50

10 mechanical licenses  (9.1 cents) at 150  dig downloads   

$136.50

10 charges of $15 for processing fee at Harry Fox                 

$150.00

10 charges of $15 for processing fee at Harry Fox (dig)       

$150.00

economy shipping

$26.00    

 TOTAL = $ 935.00

**********

Whee!

Wasn't that fun?

I apologize for the dryness of this post- but sadly, this is the tasteless it’s like I’m chewing on cardboard part of the process. Not my favorite either, but necessary to make the musical part go a lot smoother. Personally, I'd rather have bamboo shoots shoved up my fingernails but... I always knew this part of it wasn't going to be fun or easy. But I'm glad that I tackled it first. It frees up my brain for the more important and fun stuff....the MUSIC! (and a collective sigh was heard around the blogging community).

Regardless, this is a lot of fancy factoids for my artistically inclined brain to handle, so I am just going to have a big think on all this and hopefully the Play-It Direct folks will have something fun to show me later today. 

In the meantime…

Rock it out, my darlings.

xo,

DL

Maurizio Babaldi is my hero

Hey Dolls-

Step Three "The Fanciness That Is CD Reproductions" is coming soon however...

I just received an email I felt was appropriate to share.

My most recent headshot session was with Maurizio Babaldi (www.babaldi.com) who I wish I'd met before I played Pirelli in Sweeney Todd because he is not only  fabulously talented but 100% Italian, "born and raised in Milano" (hot, right?). Not only did I end up with the best headshots I've ever had with at least 200 useable shots to choose from...it was the most fun I ever had having my picture taken (which i notoriously hate). Needless to say, I send everyone I know who's looking for new headshots to him and will continue to do so.

Anyhoodles-

I sent him this email today:

Dear Maurizio-

We had a headshot session a couple years ago-

(see attached to refresh your memory).

I'm putting a solo CD together and i was curious as to how much it would cost to use one of your shots from our session for the CD cover.

I'm doing a really really small run because my budget is incredibly small...

but I want to make sure i do right by everyone's artistic talents involved.

So if there is a fee for this that I can afford, i'd love to use this shot.

Or even, if it's just a matter of giving you a photo credit, even better.

Please let me know what you think about all this-

I hope you're doing well-

I recommend anyone and everyone who's looking to get headshots done to you.

They're always extremely pleased with the outcome as was i.

Thanks again for getting back to me on this-

i really appreciate it.

xoxo,
dl

This is his response (please read it aloud with an incredibly sexy Italian accent):

Ciao Bella,
I apreacheate a lot your consideration and do not worry at all, please use the pictures for the CD and let’s hope it get You where You deserve !!!
If You have the space just give me the credit and bring me a copy...!
Big kiss Maurizio
-- 
Maurizio Bacci
STUDIO BABALDI
333 W39th St. Suite 603
New York, NY, 10018
P 212-253-8795
F 212-594-3054
www.babaldi.com

How awesome is Maurizio Babaldi?

Pretty fucking awesome.

CIAO BELLAS!!!

xo

dl

STEP TWO: MECHANICAL LICENSES AND A MAN NAMED HARRY

First off, I want to THANK YOU ALL for the support, advice and even practical offers of help you’ve extended to me just in the past week. It never occurred to me that this blog would actually end up with people – literally - pitching in for this crazy adventure (with sound equipment, mixing offers, free songs, etc)  but I am absolutely overwhelmed by your generosity and wisdom nonetheless. Thank you!

With that said….

let’s move onto our next step in the Solo CD making process, “The Mechanical License”.

Or as I like to call it, “The Happy Discovery That Songs Are Not A Trajillion Gabillion Dollars To Record”.  

Here's the thing. While I’m pretty secure about having the talent needed to make the musical aspect of this CD climb to the top of Mount Awesome...when it comes to the legal nuts and bolts of this whole recording business?

I don’t have a fucking clue what I’m doing.

I mean, nada. 

Zilch. 

Not even a hint. 

At. 

All.

So, I figure the most responsible thing here is to focus first on what I’m most intimidated by- namely rights, rules, regulations, legalities and possibly (God help me) lawyers. Best to get the stuff I don’t know about squared away before I nestle into the comfy, fun-bags that are the musical tunes. It is time to put on my big girl panties and dive into some high colonic waters of insecurity. Yeah! Sound sexy? Who’s with me!

To start, I email fellow Solo CD compatriot Ron Destefano (www.rondestefano.com) for my next move. He tells me I need a Mechanical License for the right to record and sell the songs on my list of potential tracks. He points me to the Harry Fox website (www.harryfox.com) where you can find a list of thousands of recorded songs handled by the Harry Fox Agency. If your song is in the database then you just get your license right through the site. It’s all incredibly easy and civilized sounding, much to my relief.

So as not to bore the ever-living crap out of you (you’re welcome), know that any and all questions you might ever have about Mechanical Licenses can be found at the Harry Fox website. And yes, by looking at the home page, I can attest that it totally has lots and lots of…words and smarty-pantsy- lookin' kinda stuff.

Sooooooooo…happy dry legal-ease to you all! 

Whee!

Ok.

Confession.

I haven’t read the whole site yet.

Lord, I barely made it through the first FAQ page.

Don't get me wrong. While I am extremely grateful that Harry Fox is there for me in theory, the density of the website is overwhelming. Not that the site is difficult to understand, nor am I a complete moron but…admittedly, the left side of my brain shriveled up to the size of a raisin many years ago when I realized I could just hire someone else to do my taxes, deal with my contracts and pretty much anything else having to do with laws, denominators and digits.

Ok, this is ridiculous…focus focus FOCUS!

I go back to the FAQs page with every intention of giving myself a good learnin’ Harry Fox style, but it’s no use. I’m just not retaining any of this at the moment. All my brain wants to do is get at the music. I can already feel arrangements forming in my subconscious and I want to set them free! But no. Dessert after veggies. Dessert after veggies.

My eyes glaze over about five seconds in. 

Awesome.

Seriously. I mean- Jesus H...seriously?

I can memorize the entire score of Sweeney Todd on three different instruments, but flat line when faced with things like New CRB Mechanical Royalty Rates? I mean, what is that?  That’s embarrassing, that’s what that is. I am a Presidential Scholar who can't read a map. Sad, but true.

Faced with the reality that being my own producer is going to be just as much of a challenge as I’d anticipated, I consider calling Andy (my boyfriend) who is totally wicked smart at this stuff. Stanford grad, ya know. But, I resist. Not so much for the shame of feeling like an intellectual lame ass but more because being girly is not my bag. And being stereotypically girly makes my gag reflex go into overdrive. So with dignity, I refuse to say “Pwease expwain these weally weally hawd words while I twirl awound in my pwetty pwincess dwess!”. ok c'mon that's kinda funny, right? No you're right. It's not.

Ew.

Gross.

Snap out of it, Champlin.

You went to Oxford for fuck’s sake.

Pull it together.

I take a nice long deep breath….and clarification comes.

Why am I being so hard on myself? It’s not like the Harry Fox site is going to disappear forever tomorrow. Lord knows, if Harry Fox and I are going to go steady I don’t want him to think I’m slutter-butters by going all the way on our first date. All I need to do today is identify which songs are at Harry Fox and then more importantly focus on the songs that aren’t. Good. Stress slightly relieved with this decision. Let the cross referencing begin.

As I look over my list of 42 potential tunes I realize they basically fall into one of six categories:

1)    YOUR OWN COMPOSITION: Free. You own all the rights to your own work, obviously.

2)    PUBLIC DOMAIN: If your song has an original copyright before 1922, your song is free because it is in the public domain. (http://www.pdinfo.com/index.php)

3)    HARRY FOX: Your song is listed at and represented by Harry Fox and your mechanical license can be handled directly through their website. (http://www.harryfox.com/public/index.jsp)

4)    POACHED: You have recorded a solo track on another CD and you really like it the way it is, so you just want to lift the track in its entirety from another CD to yours.

5)    MIA (Missing In Action): Your song is not listed at the Harry Fox website and is not in the Public Domain, so you have to try to contact the composer directly, through their agent, or their lawyer or the producing company that’s listed with the copyright.

6)    X-FILE: Your song is not listed at Harry Fox, not in the Public Domain, and you’ve tried to contact anyone and everyone who could possibly help you get a mechanical license to no avail. Now you have to decide if it’s worth recording anyway and then dealing with whomever might come out of the woodwork after the fact.

Ergo, my potential song list breaks down like this:

My own compositions =        0

Public domain =                      5

Harry Fox =                            25

Missing In Action =                9

Poached=                                2

X-File =                                   TBA

Crap. I thought I would have more public domain songs in the mix to keep my costs down but…I think it’ll be ok. The going rate at Harry Fox seems to be no more than 9.1 cents per CD. So that’s $91 per track if I get 1000 CDs made. Or $45 per track if I get 500 CDs made (which seems a more realistic number for a debut CD anyway).

Next step: Address the MIA file situation.

Out of the nine MIA tracks I know four of the composers personally, so I send them an email asking them about the cost of their mechanical licenses. For the other five, Google searches turn up some of the composer’s websites with contact information. Fabulous. I also research their careers and see if there’s anyone we might have in common who might be willing to make an introduction. Bingo! Two more emails to ‘friends of friends’. And two more emails to the people I recorded my 'poached' tracks with, just to see how much of a shit storm it would actually be to lift them.

Now I’m left with one track with no contact, no connections and no website. Shit. Of course it’s one of the tracks I’m absolutely nuts about and really want to do. Even more so now that it seems out of reach.

Ok, so…project mechanical license is underway. 

Sweet.

Summing up- Solo CD lessons learned today:

1)    Mechanical licenses are a must and Harry Fox is your friend.

2)    Your own compositions and public domain are free and can be used to pad your CD list if you need to keep your budget low.

3)    It’s better to get all this legal shit out of the way first, because you don’t want to have wasted a bunch of time and energy on a track that’s either unavailable or too expensive.

4)    Consider 500 CDs as opposed to 1000 to keep things more realistic and less expensive.

5)    Know your strengths and weaknesses and tackle the weaknesses first.

6)    Make things easier on yourself by dividing your possible tracks into the six categories above. While Harry Fox baby sits the tracks in his domain, go after the ones that are MIA. Divide and conquer.

7)    Do not feel like you have to get all the answers at once. Take things one step at a time and it will feel less overwhelming and impossible.

8)    Know when to ask for help, and know when you need a to suck it up and give yourself a good ass kicking.

9)    Try to check your Type-A personality at the door this early on. Mistakes are expected. Just try to make sure they aren’t expensive ones.

10) Boyfriends who went to Stanford are hot. Just sayin'.

Ok darlins’-

That’s it for today….

Stay tuned the next step: CD BABY!

 xoxo,

dl

 

 

 

STEP ONE: THE SONG LIST

The first step in making a Solo CD is to figure out what the hell to put on it.

I start to think about CDs that I like in general.

What CDs do I listen to from beginning to end and don’t feel the need to skip over certain tracks. Having to be your own CD DJ sucks, and I’d like to avoid putting people in that position. If I’m cleaning the house and needing some peppy fun stuff to get me going-the last thing I want is for a real downer track to come on while I have my head in the oven.

One of my favorite albums is Sinatra’s In The Wee Small Hours, which was in and of itself a groundbreaking recording. Up until that album, a proper record had a versatile mix of up-tempos and ballads and the idea of just ‘bumming people out’ with a whole bunch of bluesy tunes was met with a great deal of skepticism at the time.

But I love it, and so did a hell of a lot of other people so I’m already leaning towards a “Mood CD” state of mind.

Sweet.

Since I really have no idea how much songs ‘cost’ to record them as far as rights go (yet)- I’ll just create a list of songs that I personally like and see if there’s a pattern that emerges. And also hope that they don’t cost bajillion dollars to record after I’ve set my heart on them.

I start with my I-tunes ‘favorites’ file.

Already, I’m noticing a lot of chilled out tunes. Tunes that are haunting, simple, and with really great melodies. Tunes that aren’t really mainstream songs. I don’t like fussy, over arranged stuff. I don’t like notes and noise for the sake of notes and noise. I don’t like ‘flash’ and sassy vocals that just show how American Idoly you can be.

Vocal pyrotechnics make me itch.

Literally.

Like, in my bathing suit area.

I love songs in minor keys with poignant lyrics that tell a story. Songs that you can just listen to over and over and over and never get tired of. And I love songs that, just when you think you know where they’re going- they take a totally cool but completely appropriate ‘hair pin turn’ either musically or lyrically (Listen to Cole Porter’s Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye for a perfect example of this).

Nancy Lamott, Kathy Mattea, Alison Krauss, Nickel Creek, Norah Jones, Joshua Radin, Rufus Wainwright, Tom Waits, Ricki Lee Jones, Sondheim, Jason Robert Brown and the like pop up over and over. Random sweet hooky tracks from both produced and un-produced musicals. Old school tunes: Porter, Gershwin, and Noel Coward. War songs, Irish pub songs, country tunes. Movie scores…mostly by Randy Newman. Dear God, that man is a genius.

Ok, so….the pattern that’s emerging already is the makings of a rather sad CD, indeed. Granted there are some songs that are popping up that are peppy, funny up tempos- But for the most part, my own personal preferences naturally gravitate to the more somber tunes. 

Most of the times I turn to music is when I’m sad. Usually during or after a breakup (which has been more of my adult life than I'd care to admit). It’s like comfort food. It’s like commiserating with someone who will always be just as sad as you. Maybe even sadder. And they never spring any sort of useless 'pop psychology' they just read in GLAMOUR magazine on you over a drink. Sad tunes can always be counted on to be deeper in the shit than you. Nothing better for the broken heart. Someone to feel more healthy than. Ergo, music on my own time = catharsis.

Is there such a thing as a 'Catharsis CD'?

Even as a kid listening to LPs- the tracks that were worn down were always the sad tunes. As a child, my brother tortured my mom with the obnoxiously zippy “Chocolate Train” over and over while I apparently lulled her into a state of suicidal-depression by playing the TV show theme of "The Incredible Hulk" ad infinitum.

Bless.

I toy with the idea of making a CD of sad songs JUST from my childhood. Nah. That’s just…kinda creepy really. Who would buy that album? What would I call it?

“Somber Song Sing-a-long!”

“Depression for the Younger Set!”

“Emotional Torment for Toddlers!”

Ew. I shudder to think. Horrible. Horrible idea. Plus, while tune-wise they’re timeless in my heart...lyrically, I’ve outgrown them.

Moving on.

Next question to ask is "what will make this CD unlike any other?"

Not that it has to be ground breaking but…I also don’t want to put ‘just another ‘ sad CD out there either. I definitely have some random unpublished songs on my roster- from demos and dusty corners of old music libraries…that could be cool. Nothing thrills me more than doing a gig and having people come up to me after saying, ‘WHERE did you FIND that SONG?!!!’ It makes me feel like a musical archeologist, uncovering long lost treasures and putting them on display.

And not for nothing, the more rare the song...the less I have to worry about being compared to another artist’s rendering of it. There will be no renditions of OVER THE RAINBOW on this CD, thank you very much.

I shouldn’t discount the up tempos either. One of my favorite things is to take up tempos and do them as ballads. And vice versa.

So fuck it. It’s going to be a sad CD. Awesome. One decision down. Ah, the a luxury of DOING IT YOURSELF!!! My dream would be if, somehow- the tracks end up actually telling a story of their own. As one leads to another. A trip through a relationship? From beginning to end? I don't know but it's an idea that I like. Ultimately, I'd still rather let the songs speak for themselves first, and then arrange a pattern around them instead of shoe-horning the tracks into an overall concept at this early stage.

I finish my Itunes favorites list and then I go through tracks I’ve already laid down from demos and other unpublished CDs. Then I go through my audition book. Then I go through programs of concerts I’ve done. Then I go through the rest of my entire music collection. Then I scan the song lists of some of my friends' Solo CDs.  Just to make sure I'm not accidentally poaching tracks subconsciously.

This searching takes hours.

And hours.

And hours.

Jesus, I wonder how I’m even going to LOCATE these composers to ask about rights and stuff. What if I can’t find them? What if I try really hard to find them but I can’t. Can I still record it and then…pay them later if they come out of the woodwork? Because some of these are really random tunes and sheet music I’d collected over the years. Songs I’d forgotten but was really thrilled to see again. Like old friends. Awwwwww…. how’s that for a title,” Old Friends”? I like it.

Ok, time to count the number of potential tunes on my list. Holy fuck balls… I have over 130 possible tunes!!!! That’s just crazy. Ok well- since it’s gonna be a sad CD…I start crossing out all the up tempos that can’t be made into decent ballads. 

Down to 98 tunes. Better.

I start crossing out tunes that I’m not absolutely 100% excited about. 

Down to 42. Good. Much more manageable. And artistically, I would be thrilled to record any one of these. Depending on what I learn about rights and stuff, I’ll narrow it down now by which ones i can afford, and which ones i can't. My goal is to record 15 tracks and probably end up with 12 on the CD.

Ok, so... Solo CD lessons learned today regarding your song list:

1) Do what ever the fuck you want. Enjoy the one perk of being your own producer.

2) Don’t judge yourself this early in the game- throw a very wide net and see what patterns emerge, as opposed to making stuff fit into a pre-planned pattern

3) Consider what will make this CD unique (or not)- and whether you care.

4) Take the time to comb through all your archives, you’ll find gems in there you forgot you had

5) Just create a CD that you personally would like to listen to (chances are someone else out there will like it too.)

6) CDs of only ‘sad’ children's songs are incredibly creepy and should be avoided as the main demographic is most likely incarcerated anyway

Ok lovelies- stay tuned for the NEXT STEP:

“MECHANICAL LICENSES AND HARRY FOX”

In the meantime-

Rock it out, darlins’.

xoxo

dl