The Keys, and Beyond…

This is my first blog post in quite some time. And even before my prior blog post, they were very few and far between. Some people seem to have a knack for blogging - they can type out stories every single day, or at least one per week. I am not one of those people! Besides, does anyone really want to hear about my trips to Costco or the cool home improvement show I saw on HGTV? I don’t think so (then again, maybe you do?). So, I’m going to be taking an extra step back here and see where I want to go with this blog. It may stick around, reinvent itself in a slightly different format, or it may disappear altogether. It might also change along with a website reinvention. We’ll see…

I’m also taking a bit of break from the online social scene for a while. As many of you know, I’ve been quite active on Facebook (and a bit on Twitter) as of late, and I’ve given away many free songs to all of those who were interested. Now it’s time for me to create something new. I always have at least some musical ideas moving around in my brain, and it’s time get back to the synth for a while and put together some music.

My first goal is to finish my Christmas CD for this upcoming holiday season (I know, I know - it’s only May! But, you gotta get this stuff done early to have it released at the proper time.). It’s going to have 25 songs on it - my past holiday hits (traditional and original) and a few new tracks. It will be called “25 Greatest Christmas Hits”. I’m really excited about putting this together, as Christmas has always been my favorite holiday.

My next project - only after getting the holiday CD in the hopper - will be to make a CD based on my travels around the world. Later on this year, my wife and I will be visiting Australia (and New Zealand and Fiji to boot). This will be my last continent! I am very psyched about this - and always inspired about any travelling/vacations/road trips/etc. So, I’ll be making a CD based on many of the places I’ve been to in our great world. The tentative title for this CD is “Traveler”, though that may change. It may be somewhat similar to how “Ticket To Antarctica” turned out…or it may be totally different. I’m going to go wherever the music takes me.

I’m not sure about how long my hiatus from the social scene will be…a couple weeks, a few months, longer? We’ll see. In the meantime, my music and travel photos are always at KevOz.com, and you can join my Official Fan List right here.

Until next time…

KevOz :)

Just a quick note to let you know that I’m on a few social networking sites…in case you didn’t know. :)

Here they are:

Fan me on Facebook

Friend me on MySpace

Sub me on YouTube

Tweet me on Twitter

Looking forward to connecting with you further…see you there!

If you know me at least a little bit, you know that I’m a big fan of sharing my music. But, it’s not always easy to do. Sometimes, you have to click a link to go here, and then there, and then fill in the box to get your song, etc., etc. :) So, I’ve decided on a new approach.

From now through the end of January, you can download the following 3 new songs from Ticket To Antarctica for FREE. Yep, free!! Just go here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/kevoz11

You’ll then see that the following 3 songs are priced at $0.00:

~ Blue Ice
~ Penguin Dance
~ Antarctic Lullaby

These 3 tracks are the middle of my new album, and the diverse nature of them kinda gives you an idea of the variety of music on my latest creation. Antarctica is not just a quiet “chilled-out” place; it’s also filled with wonder and excitement. And I tried my best to capture that with Ticket To Antarctica.

Is giving my music away for free the best marketing strategy? Maybe not. :) But, I don’t make my music to market it - I make it to express my feelings and emotions…if by chance it rings true to you, then I’m sure you’ll make up your own mind to listen to more.

Feel free to pass this link on, by the way: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/kevoz11 - I’d like to give some free music to your friends, too. ;-)

Thanks for reading and listening!

KevOz

Giving Thanks to Friends:


Fall Contest from KevOz

This fall, I want to give thanks to all of my Facebook friends with a special contest. Here’s how it will work:

1. Become my fan on Facebook. It’s pretty easy. Just go here, or click on “Become a Fan” in the little display box below. (Note - if you’re not already, you need to become my friend on Facebook, too - you can do that here. You’ll see why in a minute.)

KevOz on Facebook

2. Shoot me an email, either on Facebook or to KevOz AT KevOz DOT com to let me know that you’re participating.

3. Once you’re on my fan page at Facebook, scroll down and look under my picture (Yes, there is a rather large penguin there!). You’ll then see a link that says “Suggest to Friends”.

4. Click on “Suggest to Friends”, and the following will appear:

5. Select as many friends of yours as you wish (the more you select, the better chance you have of winning!), and click “Send Invitations” when you’re ready to invite your friends.

Um…that’s it! The rest is my job. :)

I will then total up how many friends of yours become my fans, between now through Thanksgiving, November 26, 2009. (It will be easy to count because you will show up as a mutual friend when I click on that fan to view his/her page. This is why you probably should be my friend on Facebook, too - so that I can count your totals accurately!)

The Top 15 contest entrants with the highest total of referred friends who become my fans will win their own copy of my CD “Into Orbit”.

The contest entrant with the most referred friends who become my fans will also receive 2 more copies of “Into Orbit”, and 1 copy of my latest CD, “Ticket To Antarctica”. If this is you, you’ll have music for yourself, plus a couple stocking stuffers for Christmas!

Again, this contest is ongoing through Thanksgiving, November 26, 2009. I’ll contact you via Facebook shortly after Thanksgving if you’re a winner. If that’s the case, you’ll need to email me your address so that I can mail you a CD! Free Shipping! :)

This contest is open to everyone.

I want to give you my music as a thank you for being my friend! I hope you enjoy participating in the contest. :)

Thanks!

KevOz

What makes a song great for you? What part of the music is the driving force? Is it the bassline that moves you, the drummer’s snare hits that pull you in, the riffs from the guitars, the piano trills, the sounds from the string section, the vocals (and are lyrics important?), or just the overall “sound” - the melody - that make you a fan of the song? These are just a few examples…feel free to respond with your own if they’re different!

Music is such a wonderful, universal thing. And I’m curious to know just what about it resonates within you.

I just put together a music player widget that has all of the tracks from my Ticket To Antarctica album. It’s yours for free to add to your website or blog! Here it is:

You just need to click the “Get Widget” thing right above here, and then copy the code to add to your site or blog. Easy! I made this widget - and many more - at Widgetbox.com.

Hope you enjoy the widget!

Have you ever noticed that when logging into Facebook, that Antarctica isn’t on the map? What’s up with that? It is a continent, after all. And while they’re aren’t necessarily people living there full-time, there are several bases (scientific research and such) and thousands of tourists who visit each year. And I’m sure that someone over there is on the internet…and on Facebook, too.

Well, I’m happy to say that I’ve been to Antarctica…and I’ve got your “ticket”, too. My album “Ticket To Antarctica” was just released. It’s currently at CD Baby and iTunes (Amazon and others soon to follow). I could go on and on about the album, but I’ll let you read about it and listen for yourself.

While listening to my tunes may not exactly bring Antarctica into view on Facebook’s map, at least you can feel like you were there. ;-)

While finalizing the proofs for Ticket To Antarctica last week, I started thinking about the equipment I use to make my albums. Some independent artists go to actual recording studios to put together their tracks. Some may even collaborate with other musicians and invite them to play on a song or two. Or some have quite the home studio setup, complete with 3 Macs, 6 keyboards, and the latest versions of Pro Tools and/or Insane Orchestrator Virtual Syntharama (OK, I made that one up). They may then hire outside help when putting together their artwork for the CD package (or even possibly DVD package, these days) they’re creating. Or use the latest version of Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, and the like.

Nothing in the above paragraph describes how I do things.

Of course, I have nothing against those who fall into the first paragraph description! It’s just that my setup is quite sparse and simple. But, I like to think that I make the most of it. Here’s a quick list of what I use pretty much every time I put together a music project:

- One keyboard - a Yamaha SY77 synthesizer. These were built in 1989, and I purchased mine in March of 1990. It was THE flagship synth at the time for Yamaha, and it’s still my flagship. I’m still creating new sounds on it! There doesn’t seem to be a shortage of what I can do, as long as my imagination and creativity keep flowing.

- One PC - a Dell Dimension 2400 desktop, purchased in October of 2003. It was basically the low-end of the Dell line then (Is it still now? I don’t know), though I must admit that I added more RAM to it.

- One recording software program - Cakewalk Home Studio Version 2 XL, which I got somewhere between 2001-2003 (before that, it was Cakewalk Home Studio 9 [but version "1", I guess...confused? I am.]). Cakewalk now has Sonar and all kinds of other stuff that would probably allow me to encode my music to be playable on Mars or something. But, I’m doing just fine with a reliable system that works for me.

- From time to time, I’ll use a couple “extra” items - most of which I’ve owned even before the SY77: Mattel Synsonics Drums (circa 1983 - videos of it in action here); Yamaha SHS-10 keytar (a keyboard used like a guitar, from 1988); and Cakewalk Groovemaker (from around 1999) samples - for a few “dancey” loops for my uptempo tracks.

- For helping out with the final sound files, I use MP3Gain for making web-friendly mp3s, and Volume Balancer for wav files.

- For putting together my artwork, I might use pictures taken by yours truly, or try to create my own art. :) It depends on the project and what fits the theme. I then use a few free utilities to crop, cut, design, paste, etc: Picasa by Google, Irfanview, and paint.net.

- When the music and art are done, and I’m satisfied with the entire project, I use Disc Makers to make my CDs, and CD Baby to sell my discs and distribute my songs digitally, most inspiringly to iTunes. It’s an awesome feeling seeing one’s creation out in the world!

I know there are many ways to skin a cat - and my way surely isn’t the best way. But like I said, this process has worked well for me each time I’ve made an album - from start to finish. I just thought I’d share with you my tools of the trade.

I recently threw out a quick post on my Facebook music page, asking “What inspires you?” I wasn’t sure if I would receive many responses, but alas, I did! :) The responses were wide and varied from love, family members, nature, God, music, colors…basically, pretty much anything you can think of. So, I thought I’d write just a bit about what inspires me - and invite those of you who had not seen my music page post to reply if you like about what inspires you.

There are many things that inspire me. My wife, friends and family, and the perfect song would be at the top of the list for me. Some others would be nature, landscapes, sunsets, and the sound of ocean/lake waves. Enjoying game nights with old friends. Trying something new. Having fun with the usual. In good company, even the usual activities can be inspiring!

Many of the above inspire me to create musical pieces. At times, just one track…and at others, a complete album (such as my upcoming Ticket To Antarctica). Inspiration can lead to many good things. And that inspiration and the resulting good things are contagious - you can inspire others, too! So, when the moment strikes, go for it! One of my favorite quotes (of which I just came across somewhat recently) is by Jack London. “Don’t loaf and invite inspiration. Light out after it with a club.” I like that.

So, what inspires you?

Well, I’m working on the final track for the new CD. I know, I know - it has been a long time coming. But hey, I’ve had a busy year. :) I got married, honeymooned in Belize, went to Egypt earlier in the year, completed a half marathon (and am currently training for another), and did lots of other great stuff. But I digress…

The final song’s title is The Last Continent. And it looks like there will be 11 tracks on Ticket To Antarctica, and here they are (song order not official, yet):

1. Ticket To Antarctica
2. Crossing The Drake Passage
3. Deception Island
4. Zodiac Cruise
5. Blue Ice
6. Penguin Dance
7. Antarctic Lullaby
8. The Last Continent
9. 20 Hours Of Sunshine
10. Iceberg Maker
11. Return Voyage

Anyone who has been to Antarctica, or has some knowledge of it, will recognize a couple of the song titles, as I’ve opted to name a couple of the tracks after actual locations. But each and every track is inspired by actual experiences. This is the first album I’ve done this way. Sure, there’s usually a theme or at least a method to my song-making madness, but I’m truly inspired about how this project has taken shape, from start to (almost) finish. It has been really fun putting songs together based on actual events that I’ve experienced during my time on and around Antarctica.

And, I’ve even got most of the artwork ready. Here’s the cover. I took this picture just outside the Lemaire Channel. And I didn’t do anything to the photo - that’s really how it looked there! Just an amazing place…there’s an eerie beauty about it, if that makes any sense.

I plan on putting as many photos as I can within the CD packaging, and I’ll have those - and many more - on my Ticket To Antarctica webpage once it’s all set. And a few other fun things, too.

Well, back to work. Even though I’ve got just this last in-progress song left to go, there’s much still to do before I unleash Ticket To Antarctica on the musical world.