The Joey Factory

To watch this video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/v/qhvECkY0zIE&hl=en_US&fs=1&

First let me start off by saying I am truly excited for tomorrow afternoon. Tomorrow I embark on the adventure of finally being able to record my music the way I want to record it. I will no longer allow my eMac’s crappy microphone to dictate when my vocals are too powerful or too weak. There’s this thing in the music world called clipping that my eMac is very good at capturing.

VOCABULARY LESSON OF THE DAY:
Clipping is one form of distortion that occurs when an amplifier is overdriven, which happens when it attempts to increase voltage or current beyond its limits.

In a nutshell my vocals have always clipped so I’ve had to either turn the volume down on my voice or I’ve had to stand 5 to 10 feet away from my computer. And it’s really frustrating because you don’t get that sound you were originally looking for. It sounds quiet or subdued or just plain awful. All this of course changes tomorrow! I will be recording with this very nice setup in my own home. I purchased an SM57 Microphone, Pop Filter, Mic Stand, and the M-Audio Fast Track USB Audio Interface:

It’s all pretty exciting and the equipment is easy to use, easier to use than a PC that is!

I’ll be working on my song If U Luv Me that I’ve been working on close to a month now. It really is hard work if it’s your first time recording. Now of course with only two days off a week and a vacation in the middle of everything, I haven’t had the time to focus on just the song. But now that all this stuff is out of the way I can focus on my song! If all goes well, I’ll be putting my song up on iTunes in a matter of weeks! Very exciting.

Then the focus turns toward the music video that my friends and I will be making to correspond with the song. Now this particular song is half-comedian/half-serious and in no particular order. I am all of things I refer to in the song, but in truth I’m looking to make you laugh and to make get your groove on too! Hopefully I can accomplish both!

Now I’ve got to of course finish what I’ve started so I am! And then it’s back to giving Shanikwa some spotlight time. I really needed a break because portraying her is a lot of hard work! I hope to finish recording Lnz’s scenes, Jamie’s scenes, and of course the Poetry Jam Sesssion Scene! Then I just have to piece the scenes together and score and such. But I think writing an actual song first will really help me to score it, I’m no John Williams but I can make it good!

After Shanikwa there are some other songs I definitely hope to work on. Here are some rough titles that you may or may not recognize:

•Sugar Slinger
•Sorry
•Untitled Zac Baltzer Infatuation Song
•The Shit
•Hating on Miley Cyrus Song
•11/19/07
•The Shit
•Hollywood Makes U Feel Good

I know I’m not exactly a teen idol or a heart throb, but there is a reason I keep getting all of these ideas. Some singers weren’t really anything until they were 30 years old. In a perfect world I would’ve loved to have been famous two years ago, which was my naive-seventeen-year-old-escapism-plan. But now that I’m not running, the music is running to me. I have lots of ideas and things in my head that I need to get out and release creatively. If I don’t do these things I may as well end my life because these are all parts of me that I have to express.

I’m not just a writer, I’m also an actor. I’m not just an actor, I’m also a singer. I’m not just a performer, I’m also a creative being. I need to express myself in more than one format. Everything I’ve ever done was for the benefit of making me smile and making me feel good and making others feel good. If I don’t participate in the modern world I cease to exist. Everyone should experience these things because it really makes you grow and understand who you are.

Here is my recommended mix that I think will inspire you as it has me. It’s not a heart felt mix, but there is definitely a driving force that makes you feel great!

1. Good Girls Go Bad performed by Cobra Starship and Leighton Meester
2. Gold Guns Girls performed by Metric
3. I Just Wanna Be Free Man performed by The Handcuffs
4. Pirate performed by The Filthy Youth (Not Available on iTunes, tsk)
5. November Was White, December Was Grey performed by Say Hi
6. The Summer performed by Coconut Records
7. Bet You Never Thought performed by Brighton, MA
8. Birthday performed by Awesome New Republic and Leighton Meester (Non Leighton version available)
9. Zero performed by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
10. Season Of Love performed by Shiny Toy Guns
11. The Funeral performed by Band of Horses
12. Gimme Sympathy performed by Metric
13. Le Soleil performed by The Filthy Youth (Not Available on iTunes, tsk)
14. Equilibrium performed by Blue Foundation
15. Sky performed by Joshua Radin and Ingrid Michaelson
16. The Stars Just Blink for Us performed by Say Hi
17. Bette Davis Eyes performed by Leighton Meester (Not Available on iTunes, tsk)
18. Houses performed by Great Northern
19. Blender performed by The Pretty Reckless (Not Available on iTunes, but find it)
20. Boy Don’t Smoke performed by The Filthy Youth (Not Available on iTunes, tsk)
21. Any Fun performed by Coconut Records
22. Heads Will Roll performed by Yeah Yeah Yeahs