I’m so proud of myself for having completed my Nine For Nine Series. From April till the end of the year I released a new track on my Soundcloud every month. My primary goal was simply to get the project done. Simply completing the project would be considered a success to me. Since I did just that I’m thrilled with all I accomplished with this project and my musicianship as a whole. Still, some things definitely could’ve gone better. So today I want to break down this project. The highs the lows, the reaction, etc. Let’s jump right into it.
I Bit Off More Than I Could Chew
I loved doing this project, but I doubt I will do anything similar to this for a while. Doing a new track every single month was pretty brutal. You are always in recording mode. Either learning the tunes, composing, arranging, recording, editing, promoting, or brainstorming for what’s next. I talked to and read work from others who had similar projects and everyone said to plan ahead and have a couple tracks done if not all the tracks done. I did neither of these things. I had a rough estimation of what I was going to do, I had most of the months planned in advance, but I didn’t have all the details sorted out who was gonna play on the tune; what the instrumentation would be , etc. If I ever do this in the future it will be a shorted project with everything figured out months in advance so I don’t feel like I’m rushing through everything all the time.
Keep It Simple Stupid (Or at least plan for the complex)
I had so many ideas for all this music, but I had to cut out so much because I was on a time crunch and didn’t have everything done. A good example of this is “Stranger Things Theme” I did a good job learning the tune and doing the necessary research on the music, but I had all theses great ideas I had to kill. I wanted to expand the theme, maybe write a string section in or do some more electronics, and maybe do a brass arrangement. Time got the best of me I kept on changing the original idea and in the end I had to just do a short piano rendition to fulfill the goal. Again Keep It Simple, if you want to do more you better have the idea further along or allot the time you need to actually get it done. Next time I’ll plan ahead or kill that idea earlier so I don’t get frustrated.
What I thought Would Happen
Many people have told me that predicting how the general population will react to your work is a difficult things to do and a nearly impossible skill to master. Whether you sell sneakers, bake cookies, or write songs figuring out what you make and how much people will like it is crucial to our success. I’m a new artists with no fan base or data so it was hard to predict what type of audience I would grow throughout the year and which songs they would like the most. Here were my predictions of most views before all the music was released.
- Pyramid Song
- And I Love Her
- Stranger Things Theme
- Legend of Zelda Overworld Theme
- Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
- Christmas Song
- Of Dreams To Come
- Maiden Voyage
- Liberating Hoop Villain
Here’s What Happened
- Pyramid Song
- Legend of Zelda Overwold Theme
- Liberating Hoop Villain
- Of Dreams To Come
- Maiden Voyage
- And I love Her
- Stranger Things Theme
- Christmas Song
- Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
As you can see there are significant differences between these two lists. The only thing I got right was “Pyramid Song”. Legend of Zelda was only one spot away, but everything else is far off. Course people are still listening to this project so perhaps this list will change over time, but as of now it’s quite clear I don’t know what the masses will gravitate towards. Here’s hoping I get better at figuring that out and that more and more people will listen to my music either way.
Recording Issues
Albert Amey (guitarist and producer here in Chicago) and I have a ton of stories from recording this project. From great recording sessions to musicians failing us, having to rework our schedules, and other audio malfunctioning fun. Overall I’m so happy Albert Amey was with me every step of the way. Without him this project would have been much harder to finish, and I have no doubt the audio quality would not be as good. Some have commented that they thought the audio quality could improve, I’m happy with it. These are essentially home recordings. Also, a lot of times I had to record people remotely or I’d bring Albert just a bunch of different files and he had to mummify it into existence. The time will come when I will shell out thousands of dollars and do a recording in a big studio, but for now I’m satisfied with what we did.. I’m so grateful Albert puts up with my incompetence.
Closing Thoughts
This project was my baby: my first full fledged project where I had 100% control over everything. People who know me in my personal life understand that I like things my way. Once I have a superior, a boss, or I just disagree with the direction, I become negative and check out. My independence and freedom means more to me than others. This project is truly me. Jazz, rock, and hip hop. This is some of my best work. I love the reworking of strings I did on “Pyramid Song” , the solo and electronic take I had on “Of Dreams To Come” , and the original composition “Liberating Hoop Villain” which ended up as third highest viewed song.
So please listen to my Nine For Nine project. Tell me what you think, what you liked, and even what you didn’t like in the comment section below. I loved making this project, and I am just as pumped with the next couple projects I will be announcing in the upcoming weeks. So stay tuned and thank you for your support.
Edwin Garcia 