Great thread Reece and some awesome replies from everyone! :) For me, I've just about achieved everything I wanted to. Not on as grand a scheme as I would have liked and sometimes I question things, but either God will let it happen or I'll stay as I am...and I'm quite content no matter what.

I don't think it's ever too late to enjoy some aspect of music whether it be playing live, in your room or getting heavily involved with production. The problem with the production end is there is such a learning curve, it can take you 15 years before you put something together that you're proud of. LOL! So you do everything and everything, Reece....as long as you enjoy it, you're right where you need to be.

I started playing instruments when I was 4. Drums, trumpet, guitar, keys, voice and anything else that made a sound as I grew up. I've never really been a master of anything. I just played the instruments that may have been lacking in a band I was in...and I got so used to being the all purpose guy, I found myself playing loads of instruments. I got the first Fostex 4 track cassette deck when it came out and I've been recording ever since. My real reason to be involved with music though is to play live. Everytime I've been out of a band or not playing with a few people, I feel like something is missing in my life. So it's always been important for me to be a part of something. Whether it be a cover band, my church group or just a bunch of friends that get together for a few beers and play in a basement.

I got really serious though and wound up signing a record deal in 1999. Two worldwide releases later and I've made some really great connections within the industry which has paved the way to the production company I own. I still have my record deal and will hopefully release a new album by this time next year. It's funny, a girl I dated years ago had a mom that was supposedly psychic. She told me "in a few years time, you'll be more into the production part of the business than performance part". I just laughed it off at the time because right AT that time, I was on my way out to do a few shows in Europe.

Low and behold, she nailed it. I'm doing so much production work for people these days, I don't have as much of an interest in going out on the road. It's been a blast operating from this end because I do so many things. Recording bands, mixing, mastering, video editing and sync work, online recording video lessons, lessons here in my studio, producing, playing, singing and writing on other peoples material.....it's just been a blast. Mostly because, though I'm a rocker at heart, the other styles of music that come through here have really opened me up to them. The stuff I get in here....I'd never listen to or think about listening to. I've been so blessed to work with such incredible people. From record labels to recording studio's to artists and even hobbiests. Quite a few of my clients these days are in need of musical instruments or writing from me, so it's been a blast to take part in their material as well. 

This side of the business is also a nice place for me to be if I ever do decide to hang up the solo career stuff. I doubt I'll ever do that, but when the time comes, it's nice to have a great job waiting...and I do love my job...even when there are mountains that me and a client need to climb together. It's a job where you never stop learning no matter how much you already know. Music is such a language of expression....it's just beautiful to take it in while enjoying so many different styles. I'm working on a rap project one day, a dance project the next, folk music on another day, a melodic metal band the next. Gospal, jazz, classical artists...who could complain? It's the best of everything day in day out. I've gotten to work with some really cool stars, producers, well-known recording studio's and have even been flown out to do several jobs. It truly is something special to me to be involved at the extent I am. Not to mention all the incredible friends I have made all because of music.

I also play in a Van Halen tribute band once per month. We used to play 15 years ago....but the band broke up. We've since reformed (we couldn't get all the original members unfortunately) and have been really doing well playing in NJ, DE and PA.

My original project is really sounding good too. New band, slightly new direction and about 30 songs nearly done. We'll pick the 12 best and put them on the album when it comes time. I do all the lead vocals and guitars on that stuff.

So yeah, I'm definitely achieving my goals in all areas and enjoying every minute of it all. I'm busy all the time, my work never stops, but I love it. If God forbid there was a nuclear bomb on the way to NJ, I'd get my dad, a bottle of our favorite wine and would hang out in the studio recording something or mixing a tune. If I died today, I died a happy man with 0 regrets of any kind. Music and all that goes with it have been wonderful to me. :)

-Danny  

I've been "stalled" lately. I think it's a matter of time and energy. Life gets in the way and the broader knowledge of the whole recording process has introduced some vast changes in the way I feel I need to do things. I've come to the conclusion there are two disiplines in use which conflict in real time. The disipline of performing the peice and the disipline of recording the peice. Perhaps it's me but I find focusing on all of it at once while trying to self record is much more difficult. I've come to the conclusion that having an "engineer" work the board and DAW while you perform the peice and concentrate on playing is the way to go. When you're performing live ( away from the DAW ) you are focused on only that. Perhaps you have made that Gestaltan leap in processing all the information neccessary to perform and engineer a song at the same time. Me I'm still workin on it.

Excuse the non paragraphing but i m on a business trip and this is writtrn on an iPad. Piano from 5-10 years, guitar from 7 to date (48 years of it). In a group from 18-20 then a wilderness. Started replaying guitar seriously when i bought a Tele, and joined a local cover band, 5 years ago. We play 70's twin guitar stuff and do about 10 or so gigs a year...... Bought Sonar5 and started mucking around with it, then upgraded every year. And yes, X1 does work for my needs. I know i'll never make much money or make it big, but when we play together we rock ! I would love to have the time to make more personal stuff but travelling and restoring a house don t let me. But when the house is finished there will be a dedicated music area ! So yeah, i'm happy with where I' got to, just wish i'd started recording earlier in life..... Cheers Jerry

Delete double post (

Just noodle around with various softsynths, jamming away with myself live. Gave up building a whole track out of the noodles due to the automation bugs; got fed up with inspiration being sucked out of me by 'workarounds' so have dramatically reduced my expectations and just noodle instead.

Fantastic, guys!  thanks so much for sharing!  this is great to hear about everyone's goals and how they're working toward them! 

craigb


Weird...  I just looked back and my reply to this topic isn't anywhere to be found...

Actually, that's probably a very apt summary of my musical background as well.  I guess I'll retype my reply later if I feel like revisiting it again...

using Firefox? 

Fascinating thread, Beagle!  Here’s my story.
 
I developed a fair keyboard proficiency in high school and college, but upon leaving college, with apartment living and frequent moves, having a piano just wasn’t practical.  This was in the early 70s, well before MIDI keyboards were an option.  So, my musical skills were left behind, but not my passion for music.
 
Fast forward to the early 90s and my discovery of MIDI, computer sequencing and synths.  Walter Carlos’s Switched On Bach had rocked my world twenty years earlier and I had loved synthesizer music ever since.  Upon learning that synth playing was within reach of mortals for a moderate investment, I immediately got hooked.  My interest was in taking “classical” compositions from the nineteenth and early 20th century and creating synthesizer transcriptions.  I did this with a passion for a couple of years, knowing nothing of mixing or home studio technology.  I had no idea how much what I was doing sucked, but I was having a great time.  Career pressures forced me to put music pursuits aside for a period, and I just never got back to it ... until...!
 
A couple of years ago, I happened upon a music technology article.  Given that computers had gotten several orders of magnitude faster since I last had anything to do with sequencing, I became very interested.  It was stunning just how far computer music technology had advanced (not that it was surprising since I make my living as a software engineer).  This time around, rather than throw myself into it right away, I started reading everything in sight about home music production.  Little by little, I started picking up some “gear”.  Having been accustomed to paying in the neighborhood of a thousand bucks for a rack-mount synth 20 years earlier, it was hard not to pick up everything soft synth in sight when they cost at most a couple of hundred bucks and their capabilities far exceeded their much more expensive predecessors.
 
My problem is that I’m having trouble committing to actually sitting down and creating some music.  There’s so much to read and I now know that there’s so much to learn.  This state of mind almost as bad as my earlier overconfidence in what I could accomplish with no training, education or experience in music production.
 
Hopefully that will change soon.  I hope to retire in a couple of years and devote serious time to music.  Not that the world is waiting with baited breath for my Mendelssohn Songs without Words for synthesizer ... I’m just doing this solely for my own satisfaction.  The beauty of retirement is that you don’t actually need to make any money in your pursuits.  You can just follow your bliss in a world where every day is Saturday.
 
But actually creating music doesn’t matter as much as it did when I was younger.  I just love this stuff, even if it just involves studying the documentation for some plug-in.  I’m having a blast.