I have been playing drums since 1970 but for ten years (70's) I also worked full time as an electronics engineer. But I resigned from all that (at much opposition from my parents!) in 1980. I have been working full time in the music business since then to this very day so that means for the last 33 years!
 
I still played drums full time but also setup my very first electronic music studio in 1980. While I was playing drums I also taught myself music by copying people like Jean Michelle Jarre. For 5 years I had no idea what Music theory was all about but produced music and soundtracks by listening and copying. eg using my ears to figure out what was going on. I did a lot of listening on a serious Hi Fi setup too during this period. I played a variety of styles on drums through 1980 to 1985 which included very loud high energy rock to country music and everything else in between. (played with Frank Gambale a lot during this time as we both lived in Canberra. I have been very fortunate in that I have been lucky enough to play with some very great live players) In the early 80's I hooked up with photographers and we started producing audio visuals. The correct term then for multi projector setups. I started doing soundtracks for those.
 
From 1980 to 1983 all I had was a four track and a two track machine. I really learned the art of making a four track work!
 
Around 1985 I studied a Bachelor of Jazz and drums were my major but we had to take a second instrument so keyboard was mine. (best thing I ever did) It was a three year course full time and we had to do a one year prep course before hand as well. During this time I continued playing drums and started composing music for television and films. I used to go into the post audio sessions and made sure the music cues were all in the right place. It was here I developed an interest in producing audio for TV and became skilled at that. I have done a lot of work mixing music dialogue and effects etc..I have also done lots of location audio work too for TV and film recording dialogue and sound effects etc...I have also composed a lot of music for dance, dramatic theatre and puppetry. I started producing sound effects for theatre in the 70's and have been involved with theatre in some capacity ever since. Theatre is very good. I have also performed live to silent movies too. The biggest being 'Metropolis' (the full 2 1/2 hour version by Fritz Lang and running at the correct speed too 18 fps. My biggest achievement I think was doing the soundtrack for a puppetry piece called 'Wake Baby' which toured the world and ended up on Broadway for three weeks. My soundtrack was LOUD and got rave reviews in the US)
 
Also during that time I also started producing local artists. They were handing out grants but there was no studio around to do the recording so I setup and got a lot of that work. That is where I cut my teeth producing other artists.
 
In 1983 I got the Atari and used a Steinberg Midex expander to give it 5 midi outs and it had SMPTE timecode. For the next 15 years I used the Atari locked to one track of an 8 track so I had 7 audio tracks plus the midi system which by this time was massive eg a room full of synths. (53 at the largest setup)  I mixed all of them live to a stereo. I still have every 8 track master and two track master (and the tape machines too) from that period. (Amazing raw materials for today's production!)
 
Still producing music full time of course right through the 90's right up to today. I switched to a computer in 1998 with Logic running on a PC and used that right up to 2008 when I got a much better machine and switched to Sonar 8.5 and now Studio One. (The reason I know what I am talking about re Studio One is that I have been using it every day all day for the last two and half years) Sonar allowed me to get rid of a lot the synth hardware and then I really got into virtual instruments. (I recently got a new Kurzweil PC3K and it seriously sounds better than anything I have ever owned previously, fact! You only need one keyboard and this is it!) Also I really know the meaning of time deadlines and having to get work done in very specific time periods and under serious pressure. (This really tests the software you are using and Studio One excels in this area, ie never crashes no matter what you do. Other programs cannot boast the same)
 
I have never given up producing music fulltime from 1980 right up to today. It has been hard and there have been some lean times but it is all I have ever known and done. I have got a very supportive wife and that really helps! It is possible, you just have to believe in yourself and keep on doing it. I am very happy to say that now my setup is the best it has ever been and the quality of what I am doing now has been the highest it has also ever been. Some of the work I am doing right now is the best work I have ever done in my life. I think it is important to be striving upward in this manner and not leveling out so to speak.  I got teaching work teaching sound engineering and have done that for 9 years now but that was only secondary to the music production though.
 
I still play drums and have also never stopped doing gigs either. The latest thing for me is a tribute show featuring Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and Elvis and the band is a very class act that is for sure. The front guys are pretty good too. I have been playing Sonor drums since 1980 as well and they still sound amazing to this day. I have also been doing a lot of live mixing work for other bands in the last 10 years or so and doing a lot of that lately. (The PA's today are LOUD!!but I like it though)
 
That dog in my avatar has been with me for the last 15 years every day curled up in the studio listening to everything I have done but alas she has passed now very recently which has a bit sad. (Beeps will be sad I know!)

I use it crack up bands that only have one guitarist.  I also add "It's in G!" just to be helpful.

My standard response to Freebird  or Stairway was "Sorry folks, but we made a deal with Skynrd/Zepplin that they wouldn't play our **** and we wouldn't play theirs"
 
Randy

A friend of mine had a wedding band as his primary gig.  They played everything.  Classy jazz, Irish jigs, blues, classic rock, dance, R&B, country, pop, etc.
 
Whenever someone would yell out, "Freebird!", "Proud Mary!", "Born to be Wild!", "Disco Inferno!", "Celebrate!", "Jump!", "Mack the Knife!", "Folsom Prison!", or "Danny Boy!", there was a very good chance the band already had it covered.
 
They'd play for about 3-4 hours per night.  The money wasn't very good and the work wasn't very steady, but he made it work for many years.

The next time you say "this ain't my first Rodeo" I'll have a better idea what you mean. :-)

Oh, were gonna do strange or fun gigs now. Here's just a few.
 
1)Arizona State Prison for Women. Met some of the inmates in later years at gigs, Awkward doesn't cover it.
2) Maximum Security Mens Federal Prison outside Phx, Az. 2 shows, outside, back to back.
3) New York State Womens Championship banquet. We were a full blown rock band and somehow got booked for this. 300 women bowlers, away from their husbands, in a hall with an open bar and a rock band. Let your imaginations run wild......and you won't come close.
 
4) A private upscale prom at the Judson School in Scottsdale, AZ. Someone spiked the punch with lsd, and there was 200 kids laughing hysterically for 3 hours. I had them go out one set of doors in a conga line and come back in. Some of the locals who were not students got wind of the scene, and joined the line on the way back in. Lotsa fun til the cops showed up.
 
Randy

One of my college bands got invited to play a Solstice party at a Pyramid on a private sink hole.
 
I told the other guys, who were fairly straight laced that they should be ready for anything... like naked dancing hippies and stuff.
 
About 3 songs in it happened just like I thought it would.
 
We end up as the house band for the next few quarters.
 
 
 
 
 

man.
 
what cool stories!
 
heheh
 
thanks guys (where are the gals?)

One of the most interesting gigs I ever played was at a members-only sex club. It was a private mansion, right in the city. I'd driven past it many times but never knew it was there, being hidden behind high walls and foliage. Members drove in from all over the state to swim, dance, eat, watch porn and hook up. Sadly, the activities were reserved for members only and not extended to the hired help. I never told my wife about that gig, but she must have had some clue when I got home that night...

bitflipper
One of the most interesting gigs I ever played was at a members-only sex club. It was a private mansion, right in the city. I'd driven past it many times but never knew it was there, being hidden behind high walls and foliage. Members drove in from all over the state to swim, dance, eat, watch porn and hook up. Sadly, the activities were reserved for members only and not extended to the hired help. I never told my wife about that gig, but she must have had some clue when I got home that night...

Do you think it was your smile that gave it away?
Women hone in on things like that you know......

Only when I was on "extended" tours but those were never more than a month or so at a time. I foolishly thought it best to keep a job and an apartment and kept things mostly to local gigs. I usually had at least one gig a month but usually more and there were stints of weekly regular gigs. I played in a lot of bands simultaneously too... usually 2-3 at a time but sometimes up to 5-6 so between rehearsals, gigging and writing/practicing at home 20-40 hours a week went into the music on top of my full time day jobs. It was exhausting at times but I did a lot. Now though in light of the fact my work ethic and day gigs have pretty much crippled me I regret not just throwing caution to the wind and doing more tours/regular paid gigs instead of slaving away for peanuts. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Now I can't do either.

spacey

Truckermusic

I did not mean to get off topic here.....

I probably derailed the thread. I'm derailed so many here expect it from me.
Full -time....I think it would have been easier than holding a day job and then a music career after working all day. Having money, family, insurance...etc. are really the type of factor that I couldn't trade-off for. Thought about it though.
Maybe when I retire?....do a Candy kind of trip and travel around in the back of a moving truck with a polka band...?....and dream of gigs with Bit and Randy.
 

Not an issue here........but i tell you what.....if you start one of them thar polka Bands, especially on the back of a truck.....
I will play washboard fer ya! :-)

Yes, I have done drugs music full time, 1970/71. I think...
 
The most memorable fan comment was from one of the "exotic dancers" who said, "he may be small but he is wirey". I guess you had to be there, they told me I was there. I was lead singer and acoustic guitar.
 
J

Beepster

jbow
Yes, I have done drugs music full time, 1970/71. I think...
 
The most memorable fan comment was from one of the "exotic dancers" who said, "he may be small but he is wirey". I guess you had to be there, they told me I was there. I was lead singer and acoustic guitar.
 
J

While watching one of my bands play my (now ex) girlfriend had one of her friends remark "I bet that's the face he makes in bed... isn't it?" in reference to my furious guit playing facial contortions. Apparently she was indeed correct. How embarrassing. lol

For you or her?