As kids, we're taught to save. As teens, we're taught to spend. As young adults, we're taught to use credit. And if you're like me, by your 30's you've got interest bearing debts and no savings.
If you're like me, and wanting to get out of that situation, your first thought might be to start saving money. If you had no interest bearing debts, this would be a FANTASTIC idea! But, if you're like me, you've got two maxed out credit cards and a car payment. With all of those lines of credit, someone like me would be commiting a slow financial death if they started putting money away in savings!
Let me explain!
Let's just say for example purposes that my credit cards are both maxed out at $700 each. We'll give them an interest rate of 17%. The minimum payment we'll say is $17.50. It would take you 77 months to pay off just one of these cards, and you'd pay approximately $475 in interest. That's over 2/3 of the balance you borrowed, JUST IN INTEREST!
We can apply the same logic to the car payment, which is also an interest bearing loan. When you look at it this way, you begin to see that keeping these debts around is just like throwing money away. So why would you put money into a savings account that earns less than 1% for you when you're paying 17% on several loans?
The ultimate goal is to start saving. But before you can get out of a hole, you have to stop digging. It makes more sense for someone like me to pay off the high interest debts first, that way over time I'm paying less in interest and can put back even more in savings!
Stop wasting money by saving money! Pay down interest bearing debts as soon as possible. Figure out what loan is costing you the most money in interest. Put as much of your available resources to that as you can until it's paid off. Then, take the amount you were paying on the debt you just paid off, and pay it on the next one in line! This is called Snowballing, and by snowballing your debts you can knock them out quickly, once and for all!
Once your interest bearing debts are paid, now it's time to start saving! Take the whole amount that you were spending each paycheck on debts and put it into a savings of some sort! For me, that would equal $200-each month! After a full year, I've saved $2400!
Knowing that in a year I can save $2400 tells me that I can pay off $2400 of debt in that same year. Make it happen, and build a better life! Pay yourself, not the bank!
Showing posts with label Improving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Improving. Show all posts
Friday, January 4, 2013
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Yes We Can! Avoiding my own fiscal cliff...
Since part of my goals for 2013 included a better financial footing, I went over finances this morning with Laura. It turns out that if we had too, we'd be able to survive on one single income this year. With that in mind, there's no reason why we can't turn ourselves around by 2014 with two incomes!
I'm pretty excited about this! This is an ace in the hole, and acknowledgement that we're on the right track.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
January 2nd, 2013. Setting Goals, and Resetting Phase 1.
On August 29th, 2011, I posted "5 Year Plan: Phase 1 - Stability And Forward Motion."
Since then, my life has changed in so many ways, but now I find myself needing to get back on track with my 5 year goal. I've got just under 4 years left to achieve it. I'm broke as a joke, and even though some things in my life are far more stable, my biggest struggles right now are financial. It's time to get back on track and restart from Phase 1. So let's retune it for my life now.
Stability.
Ok, well at the time that I wrote the original Phase 1 post, my life was very unstable. I was on the verge of homelessness, and was clawing out of that situation tooth and nail. My living situation is far more stable now, and I'm not relying on my income alone to keep myself bathed and fed. But the problem is that I'm not contributing, and am not furthering my family's financial future in the state I'm in now. It's time to fight again for some financial stability.
I've already got things in place, including school, a 30 hour per week day job, and new revenue streams in development. My student loans will pay my tuition, which will help me gain an education. But they will also give me a decent overage to park in the bank for emergencies, or to pay down debts. Sure, this money is a liability since it'll be a debt that needs repaying later, but it'll be at a far lower interest rate than I'm currently paying on my debts. So it's a smart move to displace a higher interest liability with a lower interest one. These include my car, and a couple of credit cards. I had paid all but one credit card off last year, but my income lost it's stability just after that and I wound up maxing out the one I had paid off and never touching the one I didn't pay off. Now they are both closed accounts, and I've made an arrangement to pay down one of them. The other is in collections. Getting rid of these soul sucking liabilities once and for all is a major goal for this new year.
My car is another. I still owe money on it, even though I shouldn't, but I made poor choices about financing it in order to appease a previous relationship, and am paying the price now. One those credit cards are gone once and for all, it's time to snowball that car loan and get it out of the picture once and for all. My goal is to have the car and all credit cards paid off by years end. Once that is done, I can establish a savings again. Also, 2014 can be focused on cleaning up the nasty trail of unpaid debts I left around the country through my 20's.
I turn 32 in a few weeks. I pledged at 30 that I would be in better shape at 35. I'm running out of time.
Notice that I don't mention my family's needs. Well, I want to get married to Laura asap. The problem is that we've pledged not to get married until we're on better financial ground. This doesn't mean that we'll wait till I've built up a large savings or anything ridiculous like that. Rather it means that we need to be able to pay our bills together. There are certain details that I won't go into, but know that the above steps of eliminating liabilities is a key factor in that financial stability.
Right now, as stated in a pervious blog post, I'm in a tough spot financially. The next few weeks will be likely a 3x-day Ramen diet for me. Not fun, but I will do what I have to do. But in February, things will look a lot more stable. I just have to weather this month and then I can focus on digging out of this hole.
Phase 1 is officially back in action.
Since then, my life has changed in so many ways, but now I find myself needing to get back on track with my 5 year goal. I've got just under 4 years left to achieve it. I'm broke as a joke, and even though some things in my life are far more stable, my biggest struggles right now are financial. It's time to get back on track and restart from Phase 1. So let's retune it for my life now.
Stability.
Ok, well at the time that I wrote the original Phase 1 post, my life was very unstable. I was on the verge of homelessness, and was clawing out of that situation tooth and nail. My living situation is far more stable now, and I'm not relying on my income alone to keep myself bathed and fed. But the problem is that I'm not contributing, and am not furthering my family's financial future in the state I'm in now. It's time to fight again for some financial stability.
I've already got things in place, including school, a 30 hour per week day job, and new revenue streams in development. My student loans will pay my tuition, which will help me gain an education. But they will also give me a decent overage to park in the bank for emergencies, or to pay down debts. Sure, this money is a liability since it'll be a debt that needs repaying later, but it'll be at a far lower interest rate than I'm currently paying on my debts. So it's a smart move to displace a higher interest liability with a lower interest one. These include my car, and a couple of credit cards. I had paid all but one credit card off last year, but my income lost it's stability just after that and I wound up maxing out the one I had paid off and never touching the one I didn't pay off. Now they are both closed accounts, and I've made an arrangement to pay down one of them. The other is in collections. Getting rid of these soul sucking liabilities once and for all is a major goal for this new year.
My car is another. I still owe money on it, even though I shouldn't, but I made poor choices about financing it in order to appease a previous relationship, and am paying the price now. One those credit cards are gone once and for all, it's time to snowball that car loan and get it out of the picture once and for all. My goal is to have the car and all credit cards paid off by years end. Once that is done, I can establish a savings again. Also, 2014 can be focused on cleaning up the nasty trail of unpaid debts I left around the country through my 20's.
I turn 32 in a few weeks. I pledged at 30 that I would be in better shape at 35. I'm running out of time.
Notice that I don't mention my family's needs. Well, I want to get married to Laura asap. The problem is that we've pledged not to get married until we're on better financial ground. This doesn't mean that we'll wait till I've built up a large savings or anything ridiculous like that. Rather it means that we need to be able to pay our bills together. There are certain details that I won't go into, but know that the above steps of eliminating liabilities is a key factor in that financial stability.
Right now, as stated in a pervious blog post, I'm in a tough spot financially. The next few weeks will be likely a 3x-day Ramen diet for me. Not fun, but I will do what I have to do. But in February, things will look a lot more stable. I just have to weather this month and then I can focus on digging out of this hole.
Phase 1 is officially back in action.
Monday, December 31, 2012
2013
Now that that's out of the way…
I'm actually feeling pretty good. I dunno what it is about the changing of a date from one day to another that can fill a person with hope for the new year that lies ahead, but it's likely the feeling of a fresh start that occurs when a new year rolls over on the calendar. So what am I up to this year?
Well, I'm glad you asked.
January is gonna be fiscally tight. There's no way around it, I'm in a tight spot. But no worries, I've got a lot of promise ahead in the very near future. I just have to get over the next few weeks financially.
With that being said, I'm back in school. I start classes in 2 weeks. I'm on academic probation, but it's time to turn that around too. In person classes, a degree change, 6 months away from school to re-stabilize my life…all things that were needed to renew my thirst for an education.
I've also officially launched CLMastering.com as of a few days ago. I've been lighting up twitter building a buzz, and although I've not sold any masters yet, it's good to know that it's now officially available for the public to use. Now to just keep up the marketing…
I've helped Laura start up her own fitness blog too, and now she's blogging and tweeting, and is making it her own! I'm so glad to have helped her get it off the ground!
2013 sees my daughters turn 15, and I'm so excited to see the beautiful young women they are becoming.
2013 is a blank slate and is full of promise. It's time to take that promise by the reigns and make something of it.
Happy New Year.
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Renew and review
I think I'm coming to a head with a few things in my life. Financially, mentally, physically…
The studio is a great asset, but let's be honest. It's not paying the bills. It has been barely breaking even, and now that revenues are down 25% it's practically not even doing that. So if I can't break even, I can' t profit. If I can't profit, I can't put food on the table at home. I'm working a job that, while tons of fun, is getting me nowhere in life. It's not advancing me or my family, and my family has to eat. So I've been working on a few other things to try to spur revenues and keep the bills paid.
1 - I got a job. I start next week at my first day job since I lost my call center job in February. It's time to face facts, this ship isn't sailing. It's merely treading water. Meanwhile, I've got a hold to dig out of. The first thing you do when you find yourself in a hole is stop digging.
This will be a temporary situation, but it will be a rewarding one. I'll be providing respite care for a family who has children with autism.
2 - I've also re-enrolled in school. This time, I'm going not for business or marketing. I'm going to re-sharpen my production skills. I'm getting work in this field, I wanna sharpen the skills I'm already using. I start in January, as long as my financial aid comes through, and I'll be taking classes on campus rather than online this time. After all, online classes were so easy to let go that when life got tough I let them fall to the wayside. Time to start fresh and go to campus.
3 - I'm starting a new business. CLMastering will offer audio mastering worldwide. Unlike the studio, where I'm paid per hour of my work (and therefore has limited growth opportunity because there are only so many hours in a day), CLMastering has unlimited growth potential and will cater to a worldwide market. More on that to come, but I hope to be active by February or March.
The bottom line is that I've seen the writing on the wall. My family needs me to bring it home, and if the studio isn't catching on it's time to focus on what will. I'll keep the studio open, and I'll hope it grows, but my back is against a wall. If something isn't serving my family, it needs to be lowered in priority. Period. I'll never achieve my 5 year plan if I don't turn things around NOW.
So the next few weeks will bring a lot of changes. Let's just hope they are for the best.
The studio is a great asset, but let's be honest. It's not paying the bills. It has been barely breaking even, and now that revenues are down 25% it's practically not even doing that. So if I can't break even, I can' t profit. If I can't profit, I can't put food on the table at home. I'm working a job that, while tons of fun, is getting me nowhere in life. It's not advancing me or my family, and my family has to eat. So I've been working on a few other things to try to spur revenues and keep the bills paid.
1 - I got a job. I start next week at my first day job since I lost my call center job in February. It's time to face facts, this ship isn't sailing. It's merely treading water. Meanwhile, I've got a hold to dig out of. The first thing you do when you find yourself in a hole is stop digging.
This will be a temporary situation, but it will be a rewarding one. I'll be providing respite care for a family who has children with autism.
2 - I've also re-enrolled in school. This time, I'm going not for business or marketing. I'm going to re-sharpen my production skills. I'm getting work in this field, I wanna sharpen the skills I'm already using. I start in January, as long as my financial aid comes through, and I'll be taking classes on campus rather than online this time. After all, online classes were so easy to let go that when life got tough I let them fall to the wayside. Time to start fresh and go to campus.
3 - I'm starting a new business. CLMastering will offer audio mastering worldwide. Unlike the studio, where I'm paid per hour of my work (and therefore has limited growth opportunity because there are only so many hours in a day), CLMastering has unlimited growth potential and will cater to a worldwide market. More on that to come, but I hope to be active by February or March.
The bottom line is that I've seen the writing on the wall. My family needs me to bring it home, and if the studio isn't catching on it's time to focus on what will. I'll keep the studio open, and I'll hope it grows, but my back is against a wall. If something isn't serving my family, it needs to be lowered in priority. Period. I'll never achieve my 5 year plan if I don't turn things around NOW.
So the next few weeks will bring a lot of changes. Let's just hope they are for the best.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
I need a victory
I've decided that I need a victory.
The label has ballooned the size of the initial idea into something that won't see any real revenues for quite some time, and caused me to have to do a lot of work with no reward in the foreseeable future.
Project DIVIDE dropped off for a while so that I could set up the new studio location, and now that it's back in action there's a lot of work to do there in order to get the first EP out.
The podcast went into a temporary podfade, and I'm trying to re-generate it back into my weekly priority list.
The studio got busy, but then dropped off hard.
And my solo music efforts have flatlined. I haven't done a show in almost a year.
I feel bogged down with work that isn't getting me anywhere, and lacking in work that IS getting me somewhere. I think if I could just get one or two of these other projects up and running finally, I'd be in better spirits. But it's taking so long for many of them with no end in sight.
So I've decided that I'm gonna re-record my solo track "Thoughtless", make a videosong for it, and put it on itunes as a solo single. After all, it'll cost me almost nothing to put on itunes, and the sense of accomplishment will hopefully kick my confidence back up to where it needs to be so that I can endure the other projects. I need some sort of personal victory, after all I've been working for SO long on all of these other projects with no reward and it's easy to become unmotivated now.
So that's what I'm gonna do. I'll get started on it in October. I'm gonna do it all myself, spend a day filming and recording it, and get it mixed as I go. The next day, I'll sit here till the videosong is done. Then I'll get it off to be mastered, and go ahead and submit it through either tunecore or CD baby (still unsure).
I've got to do something.
The label has ballooned the size of the initial idea into something that won't see any real revenues for quite some time, and caused me to have to do a lot of work with no reward in the foreseeable future.
Project DIVIDE dropped off for a while so that I could set up the new studio location, and now that it's back in action there's a lot of work to do there in order to get the first EP out.
The podcast went into a temporary podfade, and I'm trying to re-generate it back into my weekly priority list.
The studio got busy, but then dropped off hard.
And my solo music efforts have flatlined. I haven't done a show in almost a year.
I feel bogged down with work that isn't getting me anywhere, and lacking in work that IS getting me somewhere. I think if I could just get one or two of these other projects up and running finally, I'd be in better spirits. But it's taking so long for many of them with no end in sight.
So I've decided that I'm gonna re-record my solo track "Thoughtless", make a videosong for it, and put it on itunes as a solo single. After all, it'll cost me almost nothing to put on itunes, and the sense of accomplishment will hopefully kick my confidence back up to where it needs to be so that I can endure the other projects. I need some sort of personal victory, after all I've been working for SO long on all of these other projects with no reward and it's easy to become unmotivated now.
So that's what I'm gonna do. I'll get started on it in October. I'm gonna do it all myself, spend a day filming and recording it, and get it mixed as I go. The next day, I'll sit here till the videosong is done. Then I'll get it off to be mastered, and go ahead and submit it through either tunecore or CD baby (still unsure).
I've got to do something.
Friday, May 11, 2012
My lack of interest in modern rock music of late....
I started playing guitar when I was 10. Back then, my hero was Allen Jackson, and the first song that I learned to play that was on the radio was "Don't Rock The Jukebox". That was 1991, which was a pivotal year for music both nationally and for me personally. I was listening to Boys To Men, MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice, and country. I wanted to be a country star! LOL!Missy Elliot
Dream Theater
Then something exciting happened. I was watching MTV, which I wasn't allowed to do (I had to sneak to watch it). The video for Nirvana's "In Bloom" came on.
I'd like to say it was an instant realization of how horrible what I was listening to was, and that I'd in one instant found a new musical direction in life. I can't honestly say that. I liked it from the start though, but I still listened to the pop and country. The Nirvana song did stick with me though, and aided in my conversion. The next one that I saw that really stuck with me and pushed me over the edge was Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters".
This one was a near instant hit with me. The beauty, the melody, the slow crescendo into all out fury…..
I started consuming more Metallica and Nirvana, and ditching the pop music and country music I'd listened to up to that point. Before long, it was grunge and metal all day with nearly nothing else even getting consideration.
The first album I ever bought was Billy Ray Cyrus's "Some Gave All". Then my rock / metal conversion happened and I stumbled upon a cassette copy of "The Black Album". This was the final nail in my country music coffin. Before long, I was collecting Metallica and Nirvana records. I remember driving with my family from Portsmouth Ohio to Philedelphia PA. I spent the trip lying in the back seat of the minivan with headphones on going through the entire Metallica catalog in chronological order to see if I could listen to it all before we arrived in Philly.
It was an exciting time for music. Some of the grunge rock giants were currently releasing music, like Soundgarden and Smashing Pumpkins. Nirvana was doing unplugged on MTV, and I soon would play guitar along to the entire unplugged album start to finish several times each week. I had completely abandoned my country and pop roots.
Around 1999, I started to convert back in minor doses to the pop side. 1999 was another pivotal year for music. We had Rob Thomas and Santana, Rob Zombie released Dragula, and Lauren Hill was singing about "That Thing".
In hindsight, this proved to me that I never really left some of my pop music tastes behind, but I wasn't willing to admit to any of my friends that I liked this song. All of my friends were metal heads, and if I liked pop it meant that I was not a real metal head. So I hid it. Over the next 12 years, I'd continue to suppress pop songs I liked, but I'd listen to them alone. When I'd get discovered, I'd get ridiculed by my friends or my girlfriend.
But back to the turn of the century, I was still a rabid rock music fan and I was still consuming current acts like crazy. Powerman 5000, Korn, Limp Bizkit (till I realized they sucked), were just a few of the acts that I listened to religiously. My love for Metallica was still undying, and my love for Nirvana was still on a religious level even though I no longer consumed them religiously. They were like the first love that will forever hold God-like stature.
But then something started to happen. I kept listening to modern rock radio, and although I liked bands like Breaking Benjamin and Audioslave, I wasn't driven to buy any albums from any of them. This could have been in part because of the ease of accessing music online, so there was no need to buy an album. This was more likely though because I was no longer as completely dedicated to it. The new stuff was good, and I'd still rock out like crazy in the car to some good songs that came on. But I was growing up, and the music was losing it's hold on me. It just wasn't that interesting anymore. Eventually, I lost interest in going to concerts.
As the first decade of the new millennium drew to a close, I had my own mp3 player. This was loaded with my favorite rock tracks, but I increasingly found myself listening to a few hip hop and pop tracks that I had found. These included
Mis-teeq
Estelle Ft. Kanye
I found the Estelle song because it was the hold music for a company I was calling one day. I was on hold for 10 minutes, and that song came on there. After that, I googled it and downloaded it. Probably the most interesting music discovery method I've ever encountered.
But still, my knowledge of music was still limited to rock and metal for the most part. Fear of ridicule kept me from really delving in.
Around the time that Sarah left me, I started working with Jovy in my studio. This was the beginning of my musical evolution. I was working with a good hip hop artist consistently, so I started doing some listening homework so that I didn't get it wrong. I started falling in love with the videosongs of pomplamoose as a way of distracting myself from the things that were falling apart left and right around me. I had stopped playing music for the most part for myself about 5 years prior, and decided to pick back up the guitar and be creative again.
I found myself lacking the threat of intimidation for liking a certain song. I found myself free to be honest with myself about what I liked and didn't like. I looked at modern rock and saw Five Finger Death Punch and Bobaflex being played way too often on the local rock station. The old songs I grew up on were still getting spin, but they were 20 years old and no longer held my interest. There was nothing new that was captivating and interesting anymore in modern heavy rock radio. I started listening to alternative hipster rock via iheartradio on KTCL 93.3 in Denver. I started listening for the first time in my life to hip hop and learning about the genre. I found favor in new hip hop….
…..and old hip hop…..
I still find myself listening to tried and true rock music, but it's no longer on the radio. I'm more likely now to discover new stuff via youtube and spottily than I am to go searching for it on The Blitz. The stuff on commercial rock radio just doesn't interest me anymore, and all sounds like a copy of itself. It's like the bird species that vomits on itself to make it unappealing to predators. I don't want any part of it.
But through the internet and the underground I've discovered some of my recent favorite rock and metal pieces.
Arch Enemy
Eluveitie
So it's not as though I've abandoned rock music and metal music. Rather, the kind of rock and metal that's being pushed by modern rock radio is uninteresting garbage. Hinder? Really?
Thanks to Pandora, I've discovered that quite possibly my absolute favorite genre of music is soft electronic style music with a groove, piano elements, and female vocals. I've really been consuming Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, and Portishead like crazy thanks to Pandora solidifying my love for that sound.
Perhaps the biggest difference, aside from a lack of respect for most of what's on modern rock radio, is that now I'm free enough with myself to explore my musical tastes without fear of ridicule. Laura may laugh at something I like, but she's not gonna judge me for it. I know she hates Lady Gaga, but I like some of her stuff. I know she hates Madonna, but I grew up listening to some of Madonna's stuff in the early 90's. While those acts are far from regular listening material for me, I know she won't judge me for listening to them. So perhaps it's being given the ability to freely explore my musical horizons, coupled with the fact that modern rock radio holds no appeal to me. I no longer even listen to it. When I do, it gets turned off within 3 minutes. I'd much rather listen to a podcast, NPR, or my iPod.
….or maybe I'm just getting old……lol.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Moving!
This should all be ready for me to move into on June 1st. If that stays true, Skyline Sound Studios shouldn't need much downtime. (Enough time to move out of the old, and enough time to move into the new and get set up). Once it's all set up, and has been beta tested (may throw a free track at a friend to test things out in the new space, preferably a rock band so I can test noise levels and isolation), I'm considering an open house. This would be where I'm on the premises all day, and people can come in and out all day to view the space. Hopefully this would lead to some bookings, but even if all it does is increase awareness, I'm good.
The cheesy sentimental side of my brain is wanting to commemorate this event. It'll be my first commercial facility that isn't in a house that I happen to be also living in. It'll be a space whose sole purpose would be for audio production, and it would be in a professional environment! This would be huge for me! So the sentimental cheesy side of my brain is envisioning a ribbon cutting ceremony or a smashed bottle on the building to launch the studio. If nothing else, it would make a great memory for me to look back on and provide a photo op, so we'll see.
At any rate, things are looking up. I'm excited to get into the space, and can't wait to see it develop over the next month!
Marion Ohio………..SUCK IT!
Attitude
So here I sit, waiting for a mix to finish processing, and I'm taking a moment to reflect on myself and my attitude.
Laura's suggested that I'm starting to sound agitated in my interactions to people. She's not the only one who's ever said this to me, I've been told it throughout my life. But now I feel like it's casting a negative impression to my clients, my friends, and my colleagues.
So I'm gonna try to work on my attitude. I guess that means I should stop doing things that put me in an easily agitated state.
I should eat first thing in the morning, rather than wait til 4 in the afternoon when my stomach is ready to kill me.
I should listen to when my head is telling me to quit listening to a mix and take an ear break
I should listen to when my eyes are telling me to quit staring at a computer screen
I should get a decent night's sleep
I have noticed that it's been easier and easier for me to become agitated, and I don't like it. I need to do something to keep it under control, because it's not anyone's fault. I could really hurt some feelings, or even possibly lose a client, so it's really important that I get it under wraps.
Maybe I should take up yoga?
Or maybe I don't bang out my stresses enough on my guitar?
Whatever it is, it's time it stopped.
Laura's suggested that I'm starting to sound agitated in my interactions to people. She's not the only one who's ever said this to me, I've been told it throughout my life. But now I feel like it's casting a negative impression to my clients, my friends, and my colleagues.
So I'm gonna try to work on my attitude. I guess that means I should stop doing things that put me in an easily agitated state.
I should eat first thing in the morning, rather than wait til 4 in the afternoon when my stomach is ready to kill me.
I should listen to when my head is telling me to quit listening to a mix and take an ear break
I should listen to when my eyes are telling me to quit staring at a computer screen
I should get a decent night's sleep
I have noticed that it's been easier and easier for me to become agitated, and I don't like it. I need to do something to keep it under control, because it's not anyone's fault. I could really hurt some feelings, or even possibly lose a client, so it's really important that I get it under wraps.
Maybe I should take up yoga?
Or maybe I don't bang out my stresses enough on my guitar?
Whatever it is, it's time it stopped.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Excitement…..
Excitement…..
I'm getting my hopes up, and that could be devastating. I'm really trying to reel it in, but I'm also stoked. I just got off the phone with the rental agency, and I could be in business in Columbus as early as June 1st!
I've got to come up with a deposit, while paying for May's rent in Marion. That's gonna be tough, but I'll do my best to make it work. Laura has suggested trying to help me make it work, and now I'm excited and humbled.
I feel like everything is finally lining up in my life to be where and how it should be, and that I have loving people in my life who are trying to make my life's goals come true.
I feel pretty amazing right now.
I'm getting my hopes up, and that could be devastating. I'm really trying to reel it in, but I'm also stoked. I just got off the phone with the rental agency, and I could be in business in Columbus as early as June 1st!
I've got to come up with a deposit, while paying for May's rent in Marion. That's gonna be tough, but I'll do my best to make it work. Laura has suggested trying to help me make it work, and now I'm excited and humbled.
I feel like everything is finally lining up in my life to be where and how it should be, and that I have loving people in my life who are trying to make my life's goals come true.
I feel pretty amazing right now.
Friday, April 20, 2012
The future.
The future can be many things. It can be a long distant destination that is far from sight. It can be a monumental change that's just around the corner. It can be longed for, wished away, and many other things. But one thing it never will be…….certain.
The future is never certain. Will I be able to focus on my education? Will I win the lotto? Will I be able to hold down a full time job under these circumstances? Will the job get in the way of my other priorities? Will I be a success? Will I watch in horror as my dreams crash and burn?
There's no way to know what's to come. I myself am facing a very big change in the coming 6 weeks. I'm moving in with Laura, and this will pose a myriad of questions and circumstances that are scary to me. For instance:
I'll have to close the studio temporarily. Will I be able to re-open it in a timely manner in a new location?
Will I be able to adapt to living with two teenage girls with Autism?
Will I be able to find a job when I get there?
Will being close to her all the time bring us closer, or tear us apart?
The thing is…..nothing is ever certain. The only thing you can ever do is take a chance on what you know your heart wants. My heart wants this family. My heart wants to get the hell out of Marion. My heart wants to be a provider to Lotus and Celest. My heart wants to help make Laura's life easier. My heart wants Laura to always be in my life.
And so, since I know what my heart wants, the only thing that I can be assured of is the uncertainty ahead.
But since I know what my heart wants, there's no reason to hold myself back from trying to make those wants into a reality for me and my new family.
The future can be many things. It can be a long distant destination that is far from sight. It can be a monumental change that's just around the corner. It can be longed for, wished away, and many other things. But one thing it never will be…….certain.
The future is never certain. Will I be able to focus on my education? Will I win the lotto? Will I be able to hold down a full time job under these circumstances? Will the job get in the way of my other priorities? Will I be a success? Will I watch in horror as my dreams crash and burn?
There's no way to know what's to come. I myself am facing a very big change in the coming 6 weeks. I'm moving in with Laura, and this will pose a myriad of questions and circumstances that are scary to me. For instance:
I'll have to close the studio temporarily. Will I be able to re-open it in a timely manner in a new location?
Will I be able to adapt to living with two teenage girls with Autism?
Will I be able to find a job when I get there?
Will being close to her all the time bring us closer, or tear us apart?
The thing is…..nothing is ever certain. The only thing you can ever do is take a chance on what you know your heart wants. My heart wants this family. My heart wants to get the hell out of Marion. My heart wants to be a provider to Lotus and Celest. My heart wants to help make Laura's life easier. My heart wants Laura to always be in my life.
And so, since I know what my heart wants, the only thing that I can be assured of is the uncertainty ahead.
But since I know what my heart wants, there's no reason to hold myself back from trying to make those wants into a reality for me and my new family.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Honing my craft.
I got up this morning feeling productive. I drank my coffee, then took my daily walk with my iPhone loaded with pod casts. The podcast of choice for today….Sales Guy's Quick And Dirty Tips For Getting The Deal Done.
As I walked and listened to the podcast, they said one thing that showed me what I needed to do. They said to never forget that sales is merely discovering the need of the client, and telling them how you can meet that need. So in order to find out what their needs may really be, you should ask a lot of questions to really find the best way you can meet their needs.
While listening to this on my daily 2 mile walk, I pulled out my phone and started asking musicians on Facebook about their musical projects. Instead of coming in with "Hey I have a studio", I heard them out to see what they needed and found out what they were currently up to. When I found an in, I mentioned how I could help with a specific need they were having without being too pushy. It seems to have struck up several conversations today on Facebook that could lead to business.
So to anyone looking to hone their sales craft, I recommend that podcast. It's already helped me by giving me a clearer focus on how to find out what the musicians are looking for! Now I feel pumped and motivated to get out to shows and talk business with prospective clients! I've been going about it all wrong, and now I know what needs to be done!
Here I come Columbus. 4.6 years to get to the top, and I now see the path.
As I walked and listened to the podcast, they said one thing that showed me what I needed to do. They said to never forget that sales is merely discovering the need of the client, and telling them how you can meet that need. So in order to find out what their needs may really be, you should ask a lot of questions to really find the best way you can meet their needs.
While listening to this on my daily 2 mile walk, I pulled out my phone and started asking musicians on Facebook about their musical projects. Instead of coming in with "Hey I have a studio", I heard them out to see what they needed and found out what they were currently up to. When I found an in, I mentioned how I could help with a specific need they were having without being too pushy. It seems to have struck up several conversations today on Facebook that could lead to business.
So to anyone looking to hone their sales craft, I recommend that podcast. It's already helped me by giving me a clearer focus on how to find out what the musicians are looking for! Now I feel pumped and motivated to get out to shows and talk business with prospective clients! I've been going about it all wrong, and now I know what needs to be done!
Here I come Columbus. 4.6 years to get to the top, and I now see the path.
Friday, April 6, 2012
What needs to change.
Ok, I'm examining what I need to do in order to pull off the monumental tasks ahead of me in life. Let's look at the immediate needs, specifically for the studio.
By December 31st, 2017, the aim is to have carved out a place at the top of the list in Central Ohio for Skyline Sound Studios. I'm aiming for the top, and plan to make it a self sustaining enterprise. Self sustaining, meaning that I'll have set it up to generate money on it's own while I sit back and collect a share of the profits.
In order to get to this….
….from this….
….I've got a long way to go. This means that I need clients asap. In order to get those clients, I need to sharpen my sales skills. This is only dawning on me now with a clear focus, even though it would've seemed to have been obvious. I knew I needed more business, but for some reason it's only now dawning on me that I need to focus my sales approach.
So I'm gonna look into some podcasts about sales, and try to make more of a presence for myself at shows in Columbus. I'm thinking tomorrow night one might find me on campus spreading business cards and getting chatty with musicians. We'll see.
Wish me luck.
By December 31st, 2017, the aim is to have carved out a place at the top of the list in Central Ohio for Skyline Sound Studios. I'm aiming for the top, and plan to make it a self sustaining enterprise. Self sustaining, meaning that I'll have set it up to generate money on it's own while I sit back and collect a share of the profits.
In order to get to this….
….from this….
….I've got a long way to go. This means that I need clients asap. In order to get those clients, I need to sharpen my sales skills. This is only dawning on me now with a clear focus, even though it would've seemed to have been obvious. I knew I needed more business, but for some reason it's only now dawning on me that I need to focus my sales approach.
So I'm gonna look into some podcasts about sales, and try to make more of a presence for myself at shows in Columbus. I'm thinking tomorrow night one might find me on campus spreading business cards and getting chatty with musicians. We'll see.
Wish me luck.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Fatherhood.
There is a lot I want to accomplish in this life.
I've gone over my 5 year plan on this blog several times. None of that has changed, but I'm feeling a lot more pressure to succeed now that I'm not the only one relying on that success. Now that I've got two beautiful soon-to-be-daughters to worry about, and a soon-to-be-wife whom I couldn't live without if I tried (I know from experience), the pressure is on.
The thing is that Laura and I are very open and honest with each other about how we feel. I keep getting into a deep concerned state of mind, and I'm worried that she'll think I'm getting cold feet. That couldn't be further from the truth, but I don't blame her for having that response. Of course I'm nervous about becoming a father, and about being able to provide. That part is really getting to me right now, and it will until this whole thing sinks in. It still doesn't feel real in some ways that she said yes, and that we'll be planning the rest of our lives together. It'll sink in soon enough and feel real, and at that time I'll realize inside that nothing has really changed. The commitment and desire to be there for her and the kids has been there for a few months now. All that's changed now is that I put a ring on her finger.
Oh man, mentioning the ring on her finger made me think about how beautiful she'll be on our wedding day. Here I go getting all girly, but I really can't wait for that day. I love her.
And it's that fact alone that makes me know that I'm not going to change my mind and back out. The concern I feel is merely the pressure of affirming that I'm accepting fatherhood for the first time in my life, and worrying about what that will involve. It's about worrying that I'll fail. It's about worrying that even if I don't fail, that it won't be enough.
I love her to death. I love my soon-to-be-daughters too. It's times like this I'm glad I can turn to this blog, because it helps me put things into perspective. This fear isn't a bad thing, it's a good thing. I've got to get through it and use it as a motivator. I've got a lot I have to achieve for Laura, Celest, Lotus, and myself.
…..
Wow. I just realized. I'm going to have a family. I knew it, but it was one of those revelations that just truly sunk in. It's like typing this very blog post has helped make it all very real for me, and I'm extremely happy now. Those girls will be my daughters, and that woman will be my wife. They will be my family.
Fear just turned into acceptance and love, at least in this moment. I'm writing my thoughts here unfiltered as they are happening, and I feel pretty amazing right now.
Even if I fail, I want to try. It's time to stop being a boy and become a man. I'm no longer the most important in the equation, and I welcome the challenges ahead of me.
But now I am strengthened. I know that I need to improve myself, and I've got a lot of work to do. It's time to get moving ahead in life.
I've gone over my 5 year plan on this blog several times. None of that has changed, but I'm feeling a lot more pressure to succeed now that I'm not the only one relying on that success. Now that I've got two beautiful soon-to-be-daughters to worry about, and a soon-to-be-wife whom I couldn't live without if I tried (I know from experience), the pressure is on.
The thing is that Laura and I are very open and honest with each other about how we feel. I keep getting into a deep concerned state of mind, and I'm worried that she'll think I'm getting cold feet. That couldn't be further from the truth, but I don't blame her for having that response. Of course I'm nervous about becoming a father, and about being able to provide. That part is really getting to me right now, and it will until this whole thing sinks in. It still doesn't feel real in some ways that she said yes, and that we'll be planning the rest of our lives together. It'll sink in soon enough and feel real, and at that time I'll realize inside that nothing has really changed. The commitment and desire to be there for her and the kids has been there for a few months now. All that's changed now is that I put a ring on her finger.
Oh man, mentioning the ring on her finger made me think about how beautiful she'll be on our wedding day. Here I go getting all girly, but I really can't wait for that day. I love her.
And it's that fact alone that makes me know that I'm not going to change my mind and back out. The concern I feel is merely the pressure of affirming that I'm accepting fatherhood for the first time in my life, and worrying about what that will involve. It's about worrying that I'll fail. It's about worrying that even if I don't fail, that it won't be enough.
I love her to death. I love my soon-to-be-daughters too. It's times like this I'm glad I can turn to this blog, because it helps me put things into perspective. This fear isn't a bad thing, it's a good thing. I've got to get through it and use it as a motivator. I've got a lot I have to achieve for Laura, Celest, Lotus, and myself.
…..
Wow. I just realized. I'm going to have a family. I knew it, but it was one of those revelations that just truly sunk in. It's like typing this very blog post has helped make it all very real for me, and I'm extremely happy now. Those girls will be my daughters, and that woman will be my wife. They will be my family.
Fear just turned into acceptance and love, at least in this moment. I'm writing my thoughts here unfiltered as they are happening, and I feel pretty amazing right now.
Even if I fail, I want to try. It's time to stop being a boy and become a man. I'm no longer the most important in the equation, and I welcome the challenges ahead of me.
But now I am strengthened. I know that I need to improve myself, and I've got a lot of work to do. It's time to get moving ahead in life.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Spiritual Fulfilment
I may be a self employed multi-preneur working for a career in the music industry, and a full time student, but the goals I'm reaching for with those ambitions are part spiritual and part financial. Those are ambitions that will shape how I live the rest of my life hopefully. But there is more to life than how you earn your money.
There's also the spiritual side. I'm agnostic, but I find a lot of spiritual healing in nature. This is obvious if you've read any of my rants about Colorado.
I was watching netflix today and found a documentary called "Ride The Divide". This 80 minute flick shows a race that took place on the Continental Divide trail, which goes from Banff Canada to the Mexico Border. I watched this movie, thinking about how much I'd LOVE to make this trip. I'm not sure I'd wanna do the race, cause that would be ridiculous, but who knows. It's almost 3,000 miles over the Rocky Mountains from north to south.
Being a fat, lazy 31 year old…..I've got some work to do. I'm gonna start riding, which will require buying a bike. But Laura's interested in doing this with me. We're talking about possibly doing TOSRV, maybe this year.
Part of me wants a new activity to be excited about, and a way of getting back to nature. I think this would be ideal, cause you'd see nature slowly, rather than at 75mph on the interstate, and you could take your time and savor it. This would also give me a new activity to keep myself in shape, cause let's face facts here. I'm getting fat.
There's also the added benefit of having a new activity to do with Laura. I'm excited to try some new things with her, and I know she's a fitness buff. Well, that's putting it lightly. Let's say that she geeks out on crossfit the way I geek out on free acoustical treatment for the studio. So having this activity that we could share, I think it could help bring us closer together.
This is just me thinking out loud (but then again, isn't that the point of a blog?), but what I'd like to try eventually before doing the Divide trail would be to ride from Ohio to Colorado and back. It's pretty much flat, and I think it would be a good test of endurance. Maybe also a ride through the Appalachian's down to Atlanta to help build up Mountain endurance……
Of course I'd need to start smaller than that, so maybe a few rides from Central Ohio to neighboring states as I get my endurance up would be in order. Who knows?
I have a goal to do the Divide trail before my 40's. We'll see if I can do it, cause I've got almost 9 full years ahead of me, so hopefully by then I'll have implemented my 5 year goal and will be financially stable enough to take long stretches of time off of work to do stupid things like this.
But this is what I'm wanting to try now. I'm really excited about this, and we'll see how it goes.
There's also the spiritual side. I'm agnostic, but I find a lot of spiritual healing in nature. This is obvious if you've read any of my rants about Colorado.
I was watching netflix today and found a documentary called "Ride The Divide". This 80 minute flick shows a race that took place on the Continental Divide trail, which goes from Banff Canada to the Mexico Border. I watched this movie, thinking about how much I'd LOVE to make this trip. I'm not sure I'd wanna do the race, cause that would be ridiculous, but who knows. It's almost 3,000 miles over the Rocky Mountains from north to south.Being a fat, lazy 31 year old…..I've got some work to do. I'm gonna start riding, which will require buying a bike. But Laura's interested in doing this with me. We're talking about possibly doing TOSRV, maybe this year.
Part of me wants a new activity to be excited about, and a way of getting back to nature. I think this would be ideal, cause you'd see nature slowly, rather than at 75mph on the interstate, and you could take your time and savor it. This would also give me a new activity to keep myself in shape, cause let's face facts here. I'm getting fat.
There's also the added benefit of having a new activity to do with Laura. I'm excited to try some new things with her, and I know she's a fitness buff. Well, that's putting it lightly. Let's say that she geeks out on crossfit the way I geek out on free acoustical treatment for the studio. So having this activity that we could share, I think it could help bring us closer together.
This is just me thinking out loud (but then again, isn't that the point of a blog?), but what I'd like to try eventually before doing the Divide trail would be to ride from Ohio to Colorado and back. It's pretty much flat, and I think it would be a good test of endurance. Maybe also a ride through the Appalachian's down to Atlanta to help build up Mountain endurance……
Of course I'd need to start smaller than that, so maybe a few rides from Central Ohio to neighboring states as I get my endurance up would be in order. Who knows?
I have a goal to do the Divide trail before my 40's. We'll see if I can do it, cause I've got almost 9 full years ahead of me, so hopefully by then I'll have implemented my 5 year goal and will be financially stable enough to take long stretches of time off of work to do stupid things like this.
But this is what I'm wanting to try now. I'm really excited about this, and we'll see how it goes.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Caught up in myself?
We all do it when we get excited about something good. We get lost in ourselves, and forget about things that were said to them even three hours earlier. When we're reminded of them, we remember, but we completely forget unless we're reminded.
One of the things that drove Sarah up the wall was that this would happen to me often. She'd tell me something, I'd hear it and acknowledge it, then forget about it while getting caught up in my own thing. She would swear up and down that I just didn't listen to her, when that wasn't the case.
I look at that as one of the things I could've done better in the relationship, and have vowed to try to improve on the list of things I came up with. But I did that to Laura today, and I feel like a jerk. She told me something, I acknowledged it, then asked her about it later as if she hadn't told me about it.
On one hand, I was excited about how my new control room is shaping up. Here's a pic for those of you who are curious.
On one hand, sure I was excited. But why do I completely forget about facts that I was told until the instant that I am reminded of them? This troubles me some. I don't wanna annoy or aggravate Laura the way I did to Sarah for 12 years.
Admittedly, part of it could be my Adult A.D.D. Certain things that fascinate me can very easily take over all of my thoughts and make me lose track of things. But knowing that I do this makes me worry, and I worry because of how negatively that was perceived by the previous relationship.
I guess we'll see if I can overcome this, or if it's just a part of who I am.
One of the things that drove Sarah up the wall was that this would happen to me often. She'd tell me something, I'd hear it and acknowledge it, then forget about it while getting caught up in my own thing. She would swear up and down that I just didn't listen to her, when that wasn't the case.
I look at that as one of the things I could've done better in the relationship, and have vowed to try to improve on the list of things I came up with. But I did that to Laura today, and I feel like a jerk. She told me something, I acknowledged it, then asked her about it later as if she hadn't told me about it.
On one hand, I was excited about how my new control room is shaping up. Here's a pic for those of you who are curious.
On one hand, sure I was excited. But why do I completely forget about facts that I was told until the instant that I am reminded of them? This troubles me some. I don't wanna annoy or aggravate Laura the way I did to Sarah for 12 years.
Admittedly, part of it could be my Adult A.D.D. Certain things that fascinate me can very easily take over all of my thoughts and make me lose track of things. But knowing that I do this makes me worry, and I worry because of how negatively that was perceived by the previous relationship.
I guess we'll see if I can overcome this, or if it's just a part of who I am.
Ex-planation.
Ok, for obvious reasons, there were parties who are close to my ex who were offended by my blog last night where I mention that I was harboring some fury at my ex for bringing me back to Ohio. Let's elaborate on that.
If you read the blog, you saw that even I acknowledge that this wasn't entirely rational. I'm trying to live a more rational life, but sometimes a person is going to feel things that aren't rational and I have few outlets to get those things out. It may not be liked that one of the ways I choose is a public forum, but this blog has been a major benefit to my psychological well being. It forces me to be honest with myself, and it forces me to remember that what i say on it I'm held accountable for. Last night was no exception, as my thoughts were offensive to some. Now let's see if I can explain it so that it's understood without hopefully being offensive, because it's not intended to be.
A lot of shitty things have happened to me over the last 18 months since I moved back to Ohio. Shitty jobs, shitty clients, shitty grades, shitty emotional issues that I'm still trying to resolve (which I blame on undiagnosed depression), unemployment, dumpster diving for scrap metal, ect.. When I was with Sarah, these things would've had a lessened impact on me. There would've been stress over the job loss, but the money issues wouldn't have been as severe (hence no dumpster diving). There wouldn't have been a complete change in every single aspect of my entire life as I knew it, therefore no depression to deal with. There would've still been shitty jobs, it's Ohio after all, but having that second income in the house would've made them less stressful. I wouldn't have been forced to work full time just to keep a roof over my head, and working even 10 hours less each week would've given me more time to focus on school. (hence, no shitty grades).
In other words, in one form or another, a lot of the turmoil that I've gone through would've been far lessened if she hadn't have left, hence some resentment toward her is bound to exist.
That said, as I stated before in my previous post, I know it's not entirely rational. I mentioned that I had some good things going for me now, and some of those wouldn't be possible if she were still in the picture. So the rational side of me knows I need to deal with it and make the most of what I do have. But since I do feel that I've been dealing with depression since October 2010, it's not as easy as just ignoring it and working to better myself. It's something that occasionally still crushes my ability to focus on anything else, and I get really moody, pissed off, sad, and indignant to change my situation at any cost.
So I know some close to my ex were offended by the blog where I tout fury toward her for bringing me back to Ohio. But I hope this will clear up why that may exist, and help you understand that I'm aware of it's irrationality and am trying to move past that. I still care about her immensely (though I'm no longer in love with her, but we were also best friends who saw each other every day for nearly 12 years, so how can I not care about her immensely?), but in light of how things went down I have demons to deal with that will take some time. Please don't hold it against me, I'm trying to work through it.
If you read the blog, you saw that even I acknowledge that this wasn't entirely rational. I'm trying to live a more rational life, but sometimes a person is going to feel things that aren't rational and I have few outlets to get those things out. It may not be liked that one of the ways I choose is a public forum, but this blog has been a major benefit to my psychological well being. It forces me to be honest with myself, and it forces me to remember that what i say on it I'm held accountable for. Last night was no exception, as my thoughts were offensive to some. Now let's see if I can explain it so that it's understood without hopefully being offensive, because it's not intended to be.
A lot of shitty things have happened to me over the last 18 months since I moved back to Ohio. Shitty jobs, shitty clients, shitty grades, shitty emotional issues that I'm still trying to resolve (which I blame on undiagnosed depression), unemployment, dumpster diving for scrap metal, ect.. When I was with Sarah, these things would've had a lessened impact on me. There would've been stress over the job loss, but the money issues wouldn't have been as severe (hence no dumpster diving). There wouldn't have been a complete change in every single aspect of my entire life as I knew it, therefore no depression to deal with. There would've still been shitty jobs, it's Ohio after all, but having that second income in the house would've made them less stressful. I wouldn't have been forced to work full time just to keep a roof over my head, and working even 10 hours less each week would've given me more time to focus on school. (hence, no shitty grades).
In other words, in one form or another, a lot of the turmoil that I've gone through would've been far lessened if she hadn't have left, hence some resentment toward her is bound to exist.
That said, as I stated before in my previous post, I know it's not entirely rational. I mentioned that I had some good things going for me now, and some of those wouldn't be possible if she were still in the picture. So the rational side of me knows I need to deal with it and make the most of what I do have. But since I do feel that I've been dealing with depression since October 2010, it's not as easy as just ignoring it and working to better myself. It's something that occasionally still crushes my ability to focus on anything else, and I get really moody, pissed off, sad, and indignant to change my situation at any cost.
So I know some close to my ex were offended by the blog where I tout fury toward her for bringing me back to Ohio. But I hope this will clear up why that may exist, and help you understand that I'm aware of it's irrationality and am trying to move past that. I still care about her immensely (though I'm no longer in love with her, but we were also best friends who saw each other every day for nearly 12 years, so how can I not care about her immensely?), but in light of how things went down I have demons to deal with that will take some time. Please don't hold it against me, I'm trying to work through it.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Random
Here I sit in my new control room, which currently lacks acoustic treatment, so any mixing activities would have to take place via headphones until Wednesday when I will have assistance in placing the new acoustical panels. Here's a photo of the current state of the room.
The panels in the corner aren't going to look like that when all is said and done. I've wrapped them in one layer of fabric, and there will be another going over that which will be more appealing to the eye. I'm going to go get some speaker stands tomorrow in all likelyhood, as I'll be in Columbus anyway to take a test.
The panels you see in the corners, which are just leaning there for now, are helping to absorb some of the bass frequencies that were out of control in my other control room. I've graduated from this....
.....which features the ghetto-phonic blankets on the walls to help control room acoustics. It's kind of interesting to see this new phase of evolution when it's compared to what I've worked with in the past. I wish I had photos of my audio desk in Indiana, and my desk at my home on Apache Spring Drive in Conifer Colorado, but I do have my Kings Valley studio photos to start my evolution display. So let's examine. And yes, I know I've shown some of these pics in my blog before.
This was master control at my Kings Valley studio when I first moved to Kings Valley in 2009.
Thanks to a chance meeting with Bob Swanson, I graduated to this within a few months. This is likely February 2010.
Here's a video I shot giving a tour of the Kings Valley studio after Bob Swanson's generosity.
After moving to Marion, Ohio, in June 2010, I was able to take over more space for recording purposes. Now I have a live room, which is pictured below.
But my control room was far from aesthetically pleasing. It was rather ghetto-phonic, but functional. Here is my control room as of last night before tearing it down and moving it to the new control room.
And now, you see the in-progress control room for Skyline Sound Studios pictured below! This photo was taken last night after moving the gear to the new room and setting it up. There's still a lot of work that needs to be done to the new Master Control, but in just 2.5 years my studio has come a long way (figuratively and physically...lol).
So here I sit in my new control room, of which I'm really proud despite it's humble appearance. It'll be booming soon enough when the treatment goes up later this week, and the new speaker stands will help me increase the stereo field by allowing me to put the speakers further back away from the captains chair. The new room is going to be less embarrassing to bring clients into, while not requiring a significant monetary investment (I don't wanna put a lot of money into a place I plan on leaving by summer's end).
On that note, here I sit partially proud of the new control room, and partially contemplative of my future. My income is far less certain than it was 3 weeks ago. I'm trying to make a go of things as is, and we'll see how far I can take it, but I'm feeling kind of anxious about reaching my goals. I've got lofty ones, I realize that, but they are kind of intimidating.
I think about the 5 year goal, and I wonder what the next phase would be in getting me to that goal. I think about the possibilities of my free time, and how far I can take things now that I have the ability to focus on my life on my terms. I think about what would happen if I'm not financially stable when the unemployment runs out. I think about new ventures that I plan to undertake and what would happen if I were to fail at them.
It's a lot to think about, and those thoughts tend to keep me weighed down. I guess that's one of the other reasons I blog, because now that I'm nearing the end of the blog I'm feeling like getting off my ass and tackling the world. So sometimes, aimless undirectional rants are a good thing it would seem.
Ok, lots to do. Bye.
The panels in the corner aren't going to look like that when all is said and done. I've wrapped them in one layer of fabric, and there will be another going over that which will be more appealing to the eye. I'm going to go get some speaker stands tomorrow in all likelyhood, as I'll be in Columbus anyway to take a test.
The panels you see in the corners, which are just leaning there for now, are helping to absorb some of the bass frequencies that were out of control in my other control room. I've graduated from this....
.....which features the ghetto-phonic blankets on the walls to help control room acoustics. It's kind of interesting to see this new phase of evolution when it's compared to what I've worked with in the past. I wish I had photos of my audio desk in Indiana, and my desk at my home on Apache Spring Drive in Conifer Colorado, but I do have my Kings Valley studio photos to start my evolution display. So let's examine. And yes, I know I've shown some of these pics in my blog before.
This was master control at my Kings Valley studio when I first moved to Kings Valley in 2009.
Thanks to a chance meeting with Bob Swanson, I graduated to this within a few months. This is likely February 2010.
Here's a video I shot giving a tour of the Kings Valley studio after Bob Swanson's generosity.
After moving to Marion, Ohio, in June 2010, I was able to take over more space for recording purposes. Now I have a live room, which is pictured below.
But my control room was far from aesthetically pleasing. It was rather ghetto-phonic, but functional. Here is my control room as of last night before tearing it down and moving it to the new control room.
And now, you see the in-progress control room for Skyline Sound Studios pictured below! This photo was taken last night after moving the gear to the new room and setting it up. There's still a lot of work that needs to be done to the new Master Control, but in just 2.5 years my studio has come a long way (figuratively and physically...lol).
So here I sit in my new control room, of which I'm really proud despite it's humble appearance. It'll be booming soon enough when the treatment goes up later this week, and the new speaker stands will help me increase the stereo field by allowing me to put the speakers further back away from the captains chair. The new room is going to be less embarrassing to bring clients into, while not requiring a significant monetary investment (I don't wanna put a lot of money into a place I plan on leaving by summer's end).
On that note, here I sit partially proud of the new control room, and partially contemplative of my future. My income is far less certain than it was 3 weeks ago. I'm trying to make a go of things as is, and we'll see how far I can take it, but I'm feeling kind of anxious about reaching my goals. I've got lofty ones, I realize that, but they are kind of intimidating.
I think about the 5 year goal, and I wonder what the next phase would be in getting me to that goal. I think about the possibilities of my free time, and how far I can take things now that I have the ability to focus on my life on my terms. I think about what would happen if I'm not financially stable when the unemployment runs out. I think about new ventures that I plan to undertake and what would happen if I were to fail at them.
It's a lot to think about, and those thoughts tend to keep me weighed down. I guess that's one of the other reasons I blog, because now that I'm nearing the end of the blog I'm feeling like getting off my ass and tackling the world. So sometimes, aimless undirectional rants are a good thing it would seem.
Ok, lots to do. Bye.
Friday, February 17, 2012
No matter how bad it gets, it always gets better too.
It's been a shitty February, and I know that. Yet here I sit, covered in paint, sweating, and smelling at 3 am. Sure, things suck, but I'm slaving for my future. That's something to feel proud of.
I scored some acoustic treatment for the studio this week. The cool thing is that, since I'm unemployed otherwise, I didn't have to pay anything for it! Nope, NOT TELLING! MUWHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!
These are bare panels, I'll have to cover them in fabric and mount them on the walls. But I'm not mounting them in my current control room. There are a few reasons why.
Let's start this off by saying that we all start somewhere, and as our ears improve in the audio field, we realize what we're doing wrong and how to correct it. That's also true of how your gear is set up. Somewhere during the mixing the Enemy By Mourning record, I realized that I was set up completely wrong, and it was taking me longer BECAUSE of that error!
Skyline Sound Studios is located in my home. When Sarah and I moved in, I picked the only room with carpet and claimed that as master control. I picked it because it had carpet, and therefore would cut down on flutter echo and such. The problem is that the only logical place to put the desk was in the corner of the room, because there are doors in two opposite corners (diagonally across from each other), and windows on one wall. There really was only one option, and I have a corner workstation desk, so I stuck it in the corner.
To say that my hearing improved over the last year would be a major understatement. I scrutinized everything so intently because I was trying to improve my skills, which would allow me to compete in the central Ohio studio market. But through the mixing of that record, I started hearing what my current gears limitations were, and wanting to go past that point. So I realized that there were some things that needed to change, both in my equipment and my room.
I did some research to see how I could improve the acoustics of my room, and that's when I realized the error of my ways in placing the desk in the corner. Let me remind you that the corner was the only logical place to put the desk in it's current room, but the problem is that bass frequencies congregate in corners. Typically, you'll wanna use bass traps to absorb them, but here I was putting my critical listening area right in the middle of low end's breeding ground.
Not being able to do anything about it yet, I mixed the Enemy By Mourning record through headphones in an attempt to take the room out of the picture. Then I spent some time looking into what the proper layouts should be and how to handle acoustics in this environment. I decided to move master control to a new room in the house, which would allow me to put the desk against a flat centered wall.
Again, we all start somewhere, and even though I've been doing this a while it was only in the last 3 years that my skills finally started sharpening. So now that I know how to correct the issue, it was time to do something about it.
I got the panels that you see below.....
.....and just now I started priming the new control room.
Before:
Ready to start:
Primed:
The panels are bare, and need to be mounted onto wood frames (to help them hang on the wall), then covered in fabric and hung. To save money, and to be more green, I'm using old bedsheets that are solid colors to cover the panels. This should give it a unique look, and they'll still look professional while being environmentally friendly. I'm still hoping to be out of this town by summer's end, so I don't wanna invest a ton of money into these panels just yet. They need to look not-ghetto and work, that's all I care about for now.
The ideal environment is to NOT be in a house, but we go to war with the army we have and not the army we want. Like most businesses, I'm starting out meager and trying to make a mountain out of a grain of sand. I'm making waves, and this new room should help the end result of my mixes improve by leaps and bounds. After all, if I'm gonna take over central Ohio's studio market by 2017, I've gotta iron out my kinks now and hustle in the business.
The interesting side effect was the feeling of a job well done, and the effects it had on my tense and anxious day/week/month/year. I'm feeling pretty awesome right now, cause I've made major steps in improving my chances of getting where I wanna be.
I'll be posting before/after pics when the new control room is up.
I scored some acoustic treatment for the studio this week. The cool thing is that, since I'm unemployed otherwise, I didn't have to pay anything for it! Nope, NOT TELLING! MUWHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!
These are bare panels, I'll have to cover them in fabric and mount them on the walls. But I'm not mounting them in my current control room. There are a few reasons why.
Let's start this off by saying that we all start somewhere, and as our ears improve in the audio field, we realize what we're doing wrong and how to correct it. That's also true of how your gear is set up. Somewhere during the mixing the Enemy By Mourning record, I realized that I was set up completely wrong, and it was taking me longer BECAUSE of that error!
Skyline Sound Studios is located in my home. When Sarah and I moved in, I picked the only room with carpet and claimed that as master control. I picked it because it had carpet, and therefore would cut down on flutter echo and such. The problem is that the only logical place to put the desk was in the corner of the room, because there are doors in two opposite corners (diagonally across from each other), and windows on one wall. There really was only one option, and I have a corner workstation desk, so I stuck it in the corner.
To say that my hearing improved over the last year would be a major understatement. I scrutinized everything so intently because I was trying to improve my skills, which would allow me to compete in the central Ohio studio market. But through the mixing of that record, I started hearing what my current gears limitations were, and wanting to go past that point. So I realized that there were some things that needed to change, both in my equipment and my room.
I did some research to see how I could improve the acoustics of my room, and that's when I realized the error of my ways in placing the desk in the corner. Let me remind you that the corner was the only logical place to put the desk in it's current room, but the problem is that bass frequencies congregate in corners. Typically, you'll wanna use bass traps to absorb them, but here I was putting my critical listening area right in the middle of low end's breeding ground.
Not being able to do anything about it yet, I mixed the Enemy By Mourning record through headphones in an attempt to take the room out of the picture. Then I spent some time looking into what the proper layouts should be and how to handle acoustics in this environment. I decided to move master control to a new room in the house, which would allow me to put the desk against a flat centered wall.
Again, we all start somewhere, and even though I've been doing this a while it was only in the last 3 years that my skills finally started sharpening. So now that I know how to correct the issue, it was time to do something about it.
I got the panels that you see below.....
.....and just now I started priming the new control room.
Before:
Ready to start:
Primed:
The panels are bare, and need to be mounted onto wood frames (to help them hang on the wall), then covered in fabric and hung. To save money, and to be more green, I'm using old bedsheets that are solid colors to cover the panels. This should give it a unique look, and they'll still look professional while being environmentally friendly. I'm still hoping to be out of this town by summer's end, so I don't wanna invest a ton of money into these panels just yet. They need to look not-ghetto and work, that's all I care about for now.
The ideal environment is to NOT be in a house, but we go to war with the army we have and not the army we want. Like most businesses, I'm starting out meager and trying to make a mountain out of a grain of sand. I'm making waves, and this new room should help the end result of my mixes improve by leaps and bounds. After all, if I'm gonna take over central Ohio's studio market by 2017, I've gotta iron out my kinks now and hustle in the business.
The interesting side effect was the feeling of a job well done, and the effects it had on my tense and anxious day/week/month/year. I'm feeling pretty awesome right now, cause I've made major steps in improving my chances of getting where I wanna be.
I'll be posting before/after pics when the new control room is up.
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