Reflections
Overall, 2007 was a good year for me. Lots of different things happened that kept me busy, and I'm looking forward to what the rest of 2008 will bring.
Musically, quite a bit has happened over the past year. I've composed some new material, spent some quality time jamming and reconnecting with some old friends, and recorded some new material along the way. Over the past 2 months, however, I have taken a long break away from music. Ironically, I have not even picked up a guitar in almost 4 weeks. Every once in a while, I feel as though I get myself into a musical rut, where to me, everything I compose sounds the same. When I start to feel as if my music is getting stagnant and lacking emotion, it is usually best that I take some time off and come back to it with renewed senses of motivation and vigor. Fortunately, this does not happen often; whenever it does happen, it's difficult to say how long it lasts. Until now, the only composing and recording I've done since November was on a keyboard - I wrote and recorded a mini "movie score" for a special production that the First Christian Church of Columbiana presented in early December. The piece was about 10 minutes in length, consisting of five separate "acts", and I played keyboards for it (mainly piano and synth orchestrations). It was cool to record it, as I haven't dabbled with writing/playing/recording my own keyboard parts in several years (to be exact, since 2000's "Odyssey," for which I didn't even record my own parts). It was also fun to record orchestral percussion (the REAL thing! - including marimbas, tympani, gongs, chimes, and glockenspiels) with my pal Roger. He never ceases to amaze me with his versatility as a drummer and percussionist. For those who may be curious to hear it, check out the News Archive on www.baydamusic.com to listen to an early demo. Nonetheless, I'm hoping that I've had enough time to rejuvenate my creative energy, and perhaps the fact that I've been piecing together some new ideas for new songs will be proof of that. Once I have something tangible to work with, I'll begin tracking some demos. Those who have known me for awhile will quite possibly be surprised with the direction I have in mind for the new music.
In other music-related news, I may be producing and recording some new music for some other local artists and friends of mine. I always look forward to and enjoy working on other peoples' recordings, because I do not get to waste time picking apart every single note I play on my own recordings. I also like to bring out the best in people, and love to make them sound like pros on the final product - it's always fun to play a final mix back to someone for the first time and watch their face gleam with joy.
Regarding the other projects that I have started (but not yet finished), including the praise and worship album and Reality Effect recordings, I've made minimal progress on those in the past few months. The praise and worship album has been put on hold for now, though I definitely plan to revisit it. Last spring I had to back up all of my recording projects and reformat the hard drive on my 24-track recorder - in the process of reloading all of the projects, I learned that at least one of my back up discs was defective - which means I need to completely re-record everything for "Days Of Elijah" and possibly a few other songs. In retrospect, this is actually probably for the better, because I have a few other new songs that I'd like to add to the list anyway, and for some of the others that I've already recorded, I have some ideas for new arrangements.
As for the Reality Effect CD, the current plan is to complete it and pass it out to close friends, fans, and family members of the band as a memento by which to remember us (the band) and the music. Most (if not all) of the final vocal and acoustic guitar tracks have been completed; all that remains now is my electric guitar parts and Mike's bass parts, and tentative plans are in motion to complete the remaining tracks. After the Reality Effect CD has been finished, we will look forward to the new Remember Scarlet material. At that point, we will finalize the band's lineup and plans for the future. As of now, we have written and recorded one song - entitled "Trial By Fire" - for the Remember Scarlet album. In order to prevent spilling the beans and ruining the surprise, all I will say is that the new direction and production KICKS... I've let a few close friends check it out, and have received nothing but compliments and smiles. Those who enjoyed the Reality Effect will definitely be in for a surprise with this track... if not for the rest of the record.
Over the past year, I haven't attended very many concerts. In fact, I had not gone to a single concert until the fall. Within a few short months, however, I managed to see Van Halen, Dream Theater, Tesla, Nightwish, and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. All of the shows were awesome. Perhaps what surprised me most was how good David Lee Roth sounded with Van Halen. Granted, he is certainly not that great of a singer (and never has been, in my opinion), but he sounded better than he has in the past 20 years. He also still possessed a certain youth-like energy, something that was definitely missing from the band's last tour in 2004 with Sammy Hagar. Dream Theater, as always, put on an amazing show - although it was awesome to be able to actually experience it live (as opposed to watching live concert DVDs). I managed to snatch up several of the band's "Official Bootlegs" at the show (including the excellent live performance of Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon album in its entirety), and was also introduced to the music of Redemption, who was one of the opening bands for DT. Tesla surprised me with the quality of its performance as well. I had heard for years that Tesla put on a quality live performance, but could not fully appreciate those statements until I'd actually witnessed the band perform. I was also skeptical of what the band would sound like without founding member Tommy Skoech, but my skepticism dissipated within the first 10 minutes of the band's performance. Nightwish - while confined to the small stage and jam-packed crowd at Peabody's, a tiny dive of a bar in Cleveland - put on an amazing performance. It was definitely a treat to see Nightwish in person in a small intimate setting. What surprised me most about the Nightwish show was how strong Anette Olzon's voice is in a live setting. I've followed Nightwish since around 2001 or so, and have always enjoyed how they blended hard and heavy music with classical music, especially with the operatic vocals of original singer Tarja Turunen. After the band sacked her and intentionally decided to find a new singer who did NOT employ the classical operatic touch, I was very skeptical to say the least. While I still think Nightwish gave up its most unique trait (the classical vocals made Nightwish stand out when pitted up against bands such as Evanescence, for example), Anette definitely proved that she has a very strong voice and is a worthy successor to Tarja. Given the fact that the new album Dark Passion Play cost approximately $800,000 to make, it impressed me that Anette's vocals were much more powerful in concert than on the finished album. As for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, the performance in Cleveland was astounding, as usual. This year, the band pulled out all the stops and delivered an even more amazing light and pyro show than ever before - it was a barrage of lasers, LED lights, and flames like never before. TSO definitely packs a lot of punch and magic into its shows, but especially in Cleveland, where it's like a huge homecoming for the band (Cleveland was home of the very first show that TSO *ever* played). This year Greg Lake guested, playing bass and singing vocals with the band for an impressive Emerson, Lake & Palmer medley, as well as a cover of Ian Hunter's "Cleveland Rocks!". Hopefully the band will actually complete and release its new album Nightcastle this spring so it can embark on the long-promised (not-to-mention overdue) and sure-to-be-amazing Beethoven's Last Night tour.
Working with Tec has been going very well, especially in the past few months. Unlike this time last year, we are currently very busy with work, and have been expanding our staff, which seems to blatantly contradict the words of the analysts who have been crying out regarding the current state of our economy. Within the last few weeks, we just hired 2 new electrical engineers and a new mechanical engineer, which should help with my workload while also expanding the capabilities of our office. Simple words cannot express my thanks enough for my job and the people with whom I work - they have made me a better and well-rounded individual. Let us not forget that the job has also paid my bills and provided me with the finances to enjoy my dabblings in music, which is always a good thing. :)
The holidays went very well - although they were spent with quite a bit of traveling throughout the state of Ohio, it was great to see and visit with relatives that I don't get to see very often throughout the year. It was also a lot of fun to spend time with friends - some old and some new. Friendships and relationships are definitely something that I very much treasure and value in life. Someone once told me that life is not only about the day-to-day decisions and actions we make, but it's also very much about the relationships we have with each other. How very true indeed.
What shall I look forward to in the year 2008? Hopefully I'll get things rolling musically and actually FINISH several of the projects that I started last year. The fact that I just purchased a new truck should also serve as motivation to get the 9474 Mobile Studios project off the ground as well - perhaps I should get out there and start looking for music production and audio engineering jobs to do in the evenings and on the weekends. So far, I feel as if I'm already off to a good start - the trick now is to keep the momentum rolling.
For those who have made it this far through my random thoughts, I congratulate you - and will thus reward you - with the END of this post, haha. I will try my best to do a better job of maintaining this blog and my websites with the latest news.
Until next time, cheers! 