Without further delay, I present the latest
Blog from our Award-Winning Resident Producer/Engineer, Gary Gray:
Thank you Aaron! Wow, it's been a real whirlwind since I first
signed up for courses at HowToLicenseYourMusic.com about a year ago! I was doing "ok" before then, but since then
- things have really taken off!
Not only did I land several high
end Licensing Deals, but with your help, I've been able to increase my income and free up my time
dramatically - and now I'm working on and completing one by one, several
long-term dreams that I almost lost hope of ever
achieving. The latest is a book that
I've been working on for years - designed to deliver to anyone interested in
licensing their music -- the knowledge and
techniques necessary to immediately create Masterpiece Quality Recordings that
will get licensed. In fact, though
this book stands alone and can be used all by itself to immediately help anyone
create Masterpiece Quality Recordings, it also serves as a great accompanying
tool with the Course "How To
Produce Music That Will Get Licensed And Make You Money," a Master Class
facilitated by Aaron Davison, in which I reveal secrets about Professional Mixing
and Mastering in a 6-Part Video Series as well as a 90 minute interview with
Aaron Davison.
Before I talk more about the book and the
course, I wanted to communicate a recent success that I experienced as a STUDENT. I just completed the latest course on
HowToLicenseYourMusic.com (I purchase ALL the courses and services offered by
Aaron Davison!) called "How To
Pitch Directly To Music Supervisors"
This course features CBS Sports Music
Coordinator Joseph Miller. I was blown
away by the course (as usual!) and learned some incredible information. Aaron understands that the Music Industry is
always changing and one of the greatest ways he helps my career is by keeping
my finger consistently on the pulse of what's going on NOW.
After listening to something that Joseph
Miller said in the course, I was even MORE excited about publishing my new
book, "30
Years in 30 Days, Discover 30 Years of Music Production and Audio Engineering
Secrets in Just 30 Days!" Check out
what Joseph explains in the course:
"You need to find a way to separate yourself
from this already over-saturated industry.
How are you going to make yourself stand out? Is your music Really ready? The
first thing a Music Supervisor is going to listen to is the Quality of
the recording. Make sure your music
is top notch and ready to go. Otherwise
you'll look silly and you'll leave a lasting impression. Music Supervisors have deadlines and things
need to be run at their pace. A lot of
time Music Supervisors don't have time
to educate artists. You need to read
every book you can on the topic. Be
confident in your music and what you can do.
It's important to not be discouraged.
Even the most successful people in this industry get discouraged
sometimes. It's important to really step
back and re-evaluate your entire approach - you're website, your music, etc. Compare what you are doing to people out
there who are successful. You need to be
aware and absorbed in this industry and the everyday workings of it. " - Joseph Miller, Music Coordinator CBS Sports
I couldn't agree more with Joseph! In fact, I have dedicated myself to helping
others increase the Quality of their recordings and have been doing so for
years! My book helps me spread the
knowledge, the techniques, the secrets and the tips given personally to me over
the years by my Mentors, among them some of the best in the industry, such as
Quincy Jones and Chick Corea.
I recently completed test-marketing the book.
The response was incredible and I am now more excited than ever to get this
book out there to Singer/Songwriters,
Composers, Producers and Engineers.
(I know a lot of you are like me - all of those things wrapped
into one!) We need information we can
use NOW!
This book is dedicated to the Mentor of my greatest Mentor, Quincy Jones;
Nadia Boulanger. Though I never met Nadia, I've studied her
teachings for years and was able to experience her wisdom through many hours of
listening to Quincy's stories about how she taught him.
I am hoping to bring to the readers of this
new book a tradition of Craftsmanship in creating music. Nadia put it this way:
"Anyone
who acts without paying attention to what he is doing is wasting his life. I'd
go so far as to say that life is denied by lack of attention, whether it be to
cleaning windows or trying to write a masterpiece."
One student who
read the book in my test-marketing phase, and who took the course "How To Produce Music That Will Get Licensed And Make
You Money," Davidson
Yeager, a Singer/Songwriter, Guitarist and Guitar Teacher from Canada - was
asked to write the Preface for the book.
Davidson ended up landing a Film Licensing Deal after applying the
principals in the book! So, you can see
why I'm so excited to get this book out to the world!
Here is what Davidson said after completing
the book and the course:
"I had worked for hours and hours on
arranging and mixing this song. I thought it was pretty good. I knew it didn't
stack up with commercial recordings, but I thought to myself "this is as
good as I can get it. I don't have 'brand x' outboard gear, or preamps,
acoustically treated rooms, teams of engineers, or deals with the devil ;-)
etc."
"I emailed Gary a link to the song. He got
back to me with unbelievably detailed feedback. I was bowled over by the care
and consideration he had put into his feedback. I followed his suggestions, and
went back in and started mixing. I sent him the results. Again, Gary took the
time to be a mentor for me.
"This time, he laid out what he himself would
do if he were to mix the song. It was a very detailed list! He also pointed out
the reality that most people would probably ignore the detailed suggestions and
most likely not follow through fully. I took the bait...
"And I'm glad I did. This went on for several
weeks. I would follow Gary's suggestions and then email him my work. He would
suggest specific tweaks, and I would tweak accordingly. Finally I got a version
that was pretty close to what Gary was guiding me toward.
"I decided at that point to hire Gary to
apply a final coating of magic with his Orchestration and Mastering expertise.
I understood that while learning my craft, I could increase the odds for a
licensing deal on a more immediate basis, and learn even more, by hiring a
Master Craftsman. Gary even Mentored me during the process of his work
on my song, explaining in detail exactly what he was doing. The result was
amazing.
"And apparently I wasn't the only one who
thought so. I can now say that I am a member of the community of Independent
Singer/Songwriter Producer/Engineers who have landed a major licensing deal! I
am proud to announce that "Soul" has been chosen for inclusion in an upcoming
Major Motion Picture Sound Track, with production to commence in 2013 with the
release date slated for 2014!"
Oh, and speaking of successes, guess
what? One of my students from England, a
great songwriter, Marty Fingus, while taking my course, suggested that I enter
the song that I was recording during the filming of the course itself (you get to see actual recording, mixing and
mastering sessions as part of the course) into the U.K. Songwriting
Contest. So, for the heck of it, I
did. Well, I just found out that, though
this was the first track I ever sang lead vocals on (I've done a lot of background
vocals), I was chosen as a Semi-Finalist Winner! Evidently this recording beat out thousands
of entries from around the world! So, if you have a chance to take the
course, you will be observing the making of an Award Winning Song! Thank you Marty for believing in me!
Another student,
Sean Street, an excellent Singer/Songwriter wrote to me from England after
reading the book:
"Anyway, I was
going through the tracks and they all sounded so amateurish to me. I got stuck
into editing them, and after a while I started to get really frustrated and
depressed. There just seemed to be so many fluctuations in tone, attack, and
volume that I was too embarrassed to send them to you. I felt like a fraud
trying to start my music career at 47. Thankfully I sat down and started to
re-read your book (Which I've gone through twice now) and this where a couple
of passages really helped me mentally.
"The first, a quote from your book, helped me
with my illusion of age stopping me from creating music;
'She
[Nadia Boulanger] would quote the examples of Rameau (who wrote his first opera
at fifty), Wojtowicz (who became
a concert pianist at thirty-one), and Roussel (who had no professional access
to music till he was twenty-five), as counter-arguments to the idea that great
artists always develop out of gifted children.'
"And the second one really helped with my
frustrations in editing my tracks;
"[From the book "30 Years in 30 Days" by Gary
Gray]: 'When a groove makes you move and
tap your foot and move your head, that's a good sign you've created an
emotional impact with that groove. But what if there are "mistakes" in it -
where certain notes are not quantized perfectly or there are some flams with
the snare or some notes are a bit louder or softer than others - AS LONG AS
THESE DISCREPENCIES DO NOT TAKE AWAY FROM THE EMOTIONAL IMPACT, LEAVE
THEM ALONE! IT'S DONE. COMPLETED. OVER. FINISHED. MOVE ON TO THE NEXT TRACK!'
"I realized that maybe I was getting frustrated
about certain things that didn't matter. Thank you! "
I wish I had time to write a longer Blog, but
thanks to Aaron, I'm busy teaching others and landing licensing deals!! So, it's all Aaron's fault! He created a Monster!
As a gesture of my appreciation to Aaron, I'm
making the book available to anyone affiliated with HowToLicenseYourMusic.com
for only $9.99 and I'm sharing half the profits with Aaron for all of his
support and hard work!
You can purchase the e-book for immediate
downloading by CLICKING
HERE!
Good Luck!
Gary Gray
Los Angeles, California
