This is Only the Beginning

     Well this is my last "required" post. I enjoyed typing to myself. Soon the previous sentence will sound weird to you. A lot has happened to me in the past 3 months of starting this blog. I'm looking forward to the next 2 months because I know the following major milestones for my music career will happen.

1) An EP by the band "The Rovers" will be released sometime at the start of the year. This is the first project with me as the Producer, Recording and Mix Engineer. This is my first step into this world. I will not having to worry anymore about only talking to potential clients, rather instead I'll be letting them hear this EP.

2) My own EP will come out next year. In 2 weeks time I'll be able to put my full attention to completing this. I'll put these into Libraries and create more marketing techniques to get the EP out there. This may attract other potential clients because of my sound.

     With these two simple projects being put out in the first part of 2016 will be a huge stamp on my name and will show people the talent I'm capable of. I'm not in this industry for fame and never will be. I'm in this for a chance to make my own footprint in music.

My name is Patrick McConkey and this is only the beginning of this blog.

Also, here is my last tip till 2016!

Only Guidelines

     Music is about creativity that should have no boundaries but we can get lost in making sure certain mic positions look exactly what it says in a book, etc. It may seem like a joke that some people will follow these guidelines on recording, mixing and more but you'll be amazed at how unwillingly people will be to step outside of the box. With this being said, instead giving tips you'll read in every book, here are some weird creative choices I've made when recording instruments in vocals.

     Drums: "Put a shirt on." The sound of a tight drums begins with deadning the drumkit. Taping on a shirt, tea towel or in some instances a pad (look in CVS and you'll know what I'm talking about), will help achieve this tighter sound. At first it won't sound as great in the live room but in the control room, the drummer will see the difference and a good drum sound is a good first impression to have with a band.

    Guitars: "Small, Medium or Large." Believe in the power of small amps. I've used those belt hook up amps for a guitar solo in a song and man the tone sat well in song. Cabinets sound amazing live but you'll soon realize how a little 5 inch Silvertone Amp can sound bigger than a Marshall Cabinet. 

    Vocals: Not much on this one because all I want to say is to find the right mic that fits. Don't let prices of mics sway your judgement. I've seen a $300 mic beat $10,000 in a shootout because the vocalist sounded better in the cheaper one. Make the "glass shoe" fits. 

I wish I had more but I've only started breaking the guidelines recently.

Barbossa even knows this....

4am

    For this post, I want to step away from talking about the music I'm working on for myself and other artists. Let's talk about time in relation to scheduling and how selfish should you be to people when they ask for your assistance.

    For me I wanted to have an EP out by now but it's weeks since I've worked on anything related to the EP. I find myself tonight at 4am regretting how much I say "yes" to so many people. By this, I mean saying yes to assisting students at my university, assisting engineers and artist in Atlanta and a lot more similat music tasks not related to my own work. I come home a lot around 11pm and feel the need to work on my own music or play guitar because if I don't then I feel as if I did nothing today, even though I did an ungodly amount.

   Now all of this relates to you in some way or another. There will be a time in your life when you're doing so much for other people and then you start to realize you're unhappy. At first you'll brush it off as nothing but being tired. Slowly, this feeling of unworthiness will gradually creep up on you when you see you have nothing to show for what you did for a span of time personally.

    Just like you, I try to fit everything I've said "yes"to in my schedule regardless if this means disobeying my body. I've learn to accept this "tipsy" like feeling I have throughout the day. Please! You must draw the line before this happens.

   We are humans. We are not capable of staying up and being equally productive throughout a 24 hour day. Yes, you'll have sprees of this no sleep life but make sure you're still reaching your end goals!

    I want to end with this statement. I miss making music without having to worry about having to drive all over God's creation in the next hour. I miss the feeling of listening back to something I've created. No drug can ever substitute this bliss moment when you blast what you created. Finally, understand to say no. Be selfish sometimes, and let the angry responses from those people come as you have smile on your face getting lost in your world away from world creating music.

I feel this picture I took fits well with the vibe of this post

Inside My Mind: Creation of "Hell's Orchestra"

     Music to me is a beautiful noise which can evoke so many type of emotions. The fact that people who don't speak your native language can also have the same reactions attest to the power of music. With that being said, I'm going to go song by song and describe what the meaning behind each is. I apologize if I go to deep in advance haha.


1) Rejection, Injection: This is the intro to the EP. I wanted to create a dark atmosphere that throws the listener into an addict's mind preparing their dosage not knowing this is could be the last one.

2) Mortal vs Immortal: I've pictured your typical final battle between a mythical strong mortal and a God. As the battle is quick so is the song but it paints the picture of the battlefield and the fight.

3) A Hero's Journey: Going back to the last song. The idea came from a medieval epic adventure, starting with the journey till the final epic moment of the adventure. I'm a huge Lord of the Rings fan so the song is in three parts.

4) Lost At Sea: Very distant and dark sounding song painting the picture of a sailor who is in the middle of ocean staying afloat on a piece of his ship that had sunk. All the crew has perished except for him. He knows he will probably not make it back to land, so under the moonlight he thinks of his lover back on land and the choir sings his final message to her.

5) Heroin: This is the oldest of the songs regarding it's creation. This one is the darkest and deepest, meaning I won't say much about it's meaning. However I will say this song relates to the darkest parts of a person's life and them going through their "final" stages of their existence.

6) I'm Death: In short this is the Grim Reaper's theme. The theme is very heavy with guitars and drums. The first part is the arrival of the Grim Reaper which leads to the second part, him taking you away.

7) Funeral for the Conductor: This is Part 1 of 2 for the little story on this EP. The conductor dies a lonely death and then instead of going to heaven he goes to hell and meets the Devil, (Devil's theme is in this song). The Devil wants him to become the Conductor of his Orchestra. This leads to the last part of the song which is the choir singing about the Devil's newly appointed Conductor.

8) Hell's Orchestra: Part 2 of 2 of the story. The Conductor starts understanding through the music the members of his orchestra write, about how miserable and beat down they are. The first half is the Members of the Orchestra's theme, leading to the Conductor assembling an army to take on the Devil to change authority in Hell.

9) No Mercy for the Faithful: The first half of this song is a child in the Middle East looking out seeing that war is getting closer and closer. In the second half, the child is standing in the middle of the street watching as everything the child loves is being destroyed. I wanted to paint the picture of the chaos an innocent person faces in the Middle East. They are so faithful to their beliefs but their own kind disregards this and has no mercy, thus killing them.

Wave Goodbye to Feeling Secure and Certain

     The title implies to thought of once you've lost the feeling of being secure and certain with yourself, it means you're doing something right. Having to record and work with people in my apartment with me taking on the "Gandalf" like role of leading puts me in a place of uncertainty. The outcome of having to make crucial choices in the songs lead to the ultimate prize for stepping into the unknown was coming out as a better Producer, Musician and etc. I'm saying all this because I want you to understand that you'll make mistakes when starting out but if you don't accept this will happen then you won't be able to realize your full potential as musician, producer and engineer. Take projects on and know the power you have to record in your apartment. Just don't record drums because, well you know why.

      Being able to not rely on going to a studio to record can play a huge part into your hands. You can find people wanting to sing or do a voiceover and record them at your place. This can start to give you experience on recording vocals. Don't think for one second you need to have high quality gear to record. Give the best engineer a bundle of SM57s and watch them get killer recordings because they know the art of recording.

      The biggest lesson I've learned from this industry is that you need to get your butt out there and network and become an entrepreneur. Become a Brian Epstein and go find the artist before someone else does. Yes, people will open doors up for you but the chances you take once you walk through that door will help pave the path.

My Apartment Setup! It's Possible!

How Hard Can it Be?

     Having "No Mercy for the Faithful" come to life and being one of the first songs I've listened to a lot that I myself have made is story for a beginning songwriters/composers to understand.

     Power comes from simplicity. Hans Zimmer is a prime example of this because he has been critctised at times for the simplicity of his works. However, think about how well known his melodies are. They strike emotions and people are able to relate to them. When I was creating this song, I wanted to take this to heart. I wanted to create a melody and chord progression that paints the world the song is about. Even having a choir in the second half of the song do a two chord progression was hard for me to do because I wanted more chords.

     That's where layering of drums and choir makes a huge impact on the song when applied properly. By properly I mean at the right time where there needs to be more power in the song. Vice versa goes when having a singer and you take everything out in a part in the bridge, leaving just the vocal to make a powerful statement and then slamming right back into the final chorus.

     Going back to "how hard can it be?" Well think about cover songs. They're so simple music theory wise but the melody is so well done that people get attracted to. Some professional musicians have expressed how stupidly hard it is to create an unforgetful guitar riff or a pop melody. So in the end remember:

Power Comes from Simplicity

(Let Deep Thinking Time Commence)

The Process: Part 1

   




     You've probably seen those pictures on the internet showing the amount of costs incurred to create a pro sounding song and then the song ends up getting played through Apple earphones. I've realized how important this "poke fun at" picture shows how crucial arranging and producing a song is.

     I bet you, that mostly anyone would rather listen, with Apple earphones, to a well produced song from a talented artist then listen someone's "mixtape" through a professional studio speaker system.

     Typically when you create a song, you'll end up with a rough arrangement of what the song should be. At first this can sound incredible to you and this is where I think a lot of beginning musicians, (even myself), have made this mistake of thinking the song is done and ready to be released. This is where hours spent listening and analyzing well produced/arrange music comes in play. For example, Verse 1 should be different in some way from Verse 2. Same also goes with the Choruses and how you layer vocals to create the emotion to help drive the song home to the listener. These are just a few ideas out of thousands, Producers take into account when working with an artist song.

     This all ties into the sessions I've been a Producer for for a local band, for a good chunk of this Fall.

      For those of you reading this and are starting out trying to produce artists this applies to all genres in music: THE QUALITY OF YOUR SONG DEPENDS ON HOW WELL THE ARRANGEMENT IS.

The Process: Part 2 will go into more detail on the 5 stages a song will go through and the importance of each, with examples from my own experience.