AriKoinuma.com

I think this is a common mistake that many artists make: trying to chase two bunnies at once.

I’ve been guilty of that, for sure.

Among the web circles, we talk about how a web page, or ideally, a web site as a whole, should have a single purpose/function it serves.  If you try to build a page that is both the killer article and an elaborate contact form, it ends up being convoluted and unfocused, being great at neither.

Similarly, building a fan base and making profit are two quite dissimilar functions.  It’s best if you do it one at a time.

And I’m sure it’s obvious which should come first.

You see, if you realize that first  you need to build your fan base, even at the cost of profit, then that realization leads to further decisions.  Like giving a few songs away free in exchange of their e-mail address.  Making e-mail list sign up form higher on a page than buy CD button.

Focus on one thing at a time.  It’s hard enough doing that one thing very well.  If you build an audience base large enough, then I’m sure your fans will tell you how they can help sustain your artistry.

Then, you can switch gear.  Only then.

DIY, as in Do It Yourself.

Hell no.  I can’t DIY — no way.  Being an indie music artist is to run a business.  In addition to making music (production of merchandise) you have to do marketing, customer relations, bookkeeping, web designing, and all the other crap that all small businesses have to do.  I’m freaked out already just b/c I have to find someone to prepare my first tax as an LLC (and so far no ones seems to want my business!).

Recently, I realized that I made a mistake.  I thought DIY was about Doing It by Yourself.  And many successful indie artists make it seem like that’s the definition — they do everything.  And that’s what I’ve been trying.  And I’m burned out.

At the end of the day, I’m just a guitarist.  And a songwriter.  There, two shoes to wear — I have no more feet to put more on.

Everything else, I’m going to do it with the firm intention of handing them over to someone else as soon as a person who’s 1) better at it than me, and 2) is more interested in doing that than me, shows up.

I’m not Doing It by Myself.  What I want is a team, so I can fire me from every fxcking job I now hold except those two.

There.  That’s my new dream.

And I’m gonna make it come true.

Heart vs. Ego

I’m reading a book called The Deeper Secret by Annemarie Postma.  I’m not even half way yet, but it has made me think of some good things.

The issue on my mind right now is the idea of Ego Intention vs. Heart Intention.  Both are powerful and you can rely on it to drive your actions.

But she argues that in the end, they both reproduce itself.  Create out of ego and you get more ego.  The same goes for the heart.

The most illuminating part, to me, is the chart below:

Whoa! I don’t know about you but I can plainly see that my pursuit of music so far has been very heavily Ego-driven and it’s probably safe to say that most of music/artistic/business pursuits are driven by Ego.

(I should clarify that I am using her use of the word Ego here — I know Ego can mean something more healthy, like having a secure and well-developed sense of self.  So don’t get hung up on semantics)

And that’s one of the reasons why I haven’t been able to get 100% behind my own musical pursuit.  It’s selfish! I just couldn’t figure out how my being just another rock guitarist/artist would make the world a better place.  Of course, I have nobler philanthropic ambitions that are lined up after I were to achieve fame and fortune…;-)  but really, no.  I can’t go around saying “well, you guys ought to listen/buy my music, ‘coz it’s good and I’m a good guy….”

I’m not saying that being driven by Ego is doomed to failure.  But I am saying that I couldn’t get behind my own Ego, and I also can’t see that had I even gotten behind it, I wouldn’t have felt fulfilled by what I achieved.

What Do I Have to Offer?

Self, then, what is it that I can really get behind?

Well, a nobler cause.  I like ones that are so universal that it’s undisputable.  Like Doctors without Borders.  They respond to crisis by providing for medical needs, and won a Noble Peace Prize.  Must be a good, believable cause, right?

Then I thought of other things I feel energized about.  I get excited about people pursuing genuine artistic ambitions. Like musicians who sing because they can’t live without doing it, or filmmakers who make films because they just have the burning desire to tell their story.  When people are doing things because they cannot NOT do it.

But even that seems a bit too safe, like I’m really lying to myself.  It’s like I’m saying I don’t have anything good to offer so I’m just latching onto others who have better offerings.

No.

I do have something to offer.  Quite a few, actually.  I am a great problem-solver and consultant.  I am intuitive and I can cut through muck and identify the essence.  I am very creative and can think outside of box.  I am loyal and reliable, resourceful and quick-study.  I am happy to be in demand as a web developer — because even though there are many of us out there, apparently when people work with me they want to work with me again and again.  And it’s a line of work where much of what I list above are being used.  I like being useful.

But I am developing web sites because other people want me to and it makes me money.  It really doesn’t fulfill me in a more fundamental way.  I can think to volunteer as a web developer to some charitable causes that I can believe in, and I may do that, but even that feels like a cop-out.

I want to feel fulfilled in my life.  When I die, I want to look back to my life and feel proud — and as much as my web sites help other people and make money, they don’t make me proud in a deep way.

Then I thought about why I wanted to make music to begin with.

It’s because music was the friend that helped me get through my dark times.

It is the most moving, touching thing in the world to me, when I listen to music that express the feelings I am carrying inside.

Music is the best gift I’ve been given.  And that’s why, I dreamed of giving it.

Separating the Heart from the Rest

When I think of being given opportunities to create meaningful music, I feel overwhelmed, in a good way.  I’d feel incredibly grateful and honored.  If someone were to tell me my music helped them get through hard times, I’d be so overcome with joy that I’d probably kiss and hug the person and say something corny like “oh, THANK you for thanking me!”

I think I have something here.  I feel like I can trust this feeling.

So I was right to begin with — but I got distracted by all the ego-energy that fills the air.  It’s been very awkward for me to try to be in the music industry.  I haven’t made many friends, never fit the lifestyle/social circles and I have been unsuccessful in applying some of the successful techniques to my own pursuit.

But to worry about stuff like The Industry, now I see, is missing the point of my intention.  I’m not saying I will not make money from music, but that’s really not the point.

I want to offer the most meaningful thing that’s been given to me.  I want to give back.

But to give back, first I need to develop the ability to create the same caliber of gifts that I received.  Not because I need fame, not because I want to turn profit — but because I want to make an impact.  It has to be a genuine piece of art, or otherwise it can’t meet my true objective.

So that’s my starting point.

Then, I just have to think of a way, an approach, that’ll keep Ego out of the picture as much as possible.  Again, I’m not saying that Ego-driven pursuit is a mortal sin or recipe for failure — it’s just that when it enters the picture, I can’t get behind it.  It stops being fulfilling — and thus, it misses the very reason why I want to create it.

Making an Impact => My Fulfillment

That’s my focus, and I need to affix my eyes on it.

I have a lot more thinking to do, but I feel like I’m onto something.  At last.

Today is a day to celebrate.  We finally launched the film web site I’ve been working on for the last 6 month.

Ladies and gentlemen, drum roll please…. LostInSunshine.com!

It’s a brainchild of the writer/director Jentri Chancey and producer Lorie Marsh.  And kudos also go to the web designer Shad Chancey, who did the graphic design for the site.

I am very grateful to be involved in this project for many reasons.  I think what the filmmakers are trying to do with this web site is very forward-thinking — I mean, grassroots DIY thing has been done among bloggers, authors and musicians.  Filmmakers have done it, too — but most of the cases so far have been unintentional successes.  They didn’t set out to market and sell their films that way.  But with LIS, they are totally going at it on their own, with the intention to create an online community around the film by using net-based tools.

I learned a ton from this project myself — I would never been motivated enough to really sit down and master Drupal (content management system) if I didn’t have to, but now that I’m neck deep into it, I’m amazed by Drupal’s sheer power and flexibility.

Launching a web site is always a proud moment, but I’m particularly proud of this one.

All that being said — I was thinking tonight about how proud I feel of my latest web creation, but I also imagined how I’d feel if I was releasing a new CD, and if it was selling…..

I’d be way up on cloud nine then.

You see, I love making web sites, and I love the fact that I am in demand, my peers respect me and I get paid handsomely for it.  It’s hard not to like something you’re good at.

But it’s even better, if you become good at something you love.

That’s the ideal, that’s what we should all aspire to do.  You make yourself learn and grow, because you love it.

And that’s what I want to do.  I’m not yet as developed as a musician as I am a web developer.  But I still am more musician than web developer.

And that’s OK.  I’m making what I love grow, too.  It’s just taking a bit longer, because it’s bigger.

A new mic preamp just arrived — an old Event EMP-1 that I bought on eBay for $71.

The reason I got this is kinda long-winded story.  My Firewire audio interface, Alesis IO14, bit the dust (which may not be its own fault — more on this later) so I bought Echo AudioFire4 to replace it.  But to my disappointment the brand new unit that arrived, couldn’t turn on the phantom power.  And to my further disappointment, I tested the same unit with a different computer and the phantom power did come on — so the problem, it appears, is my MacBook’s Firewire connection.  I thought it odd that my Alesis just up and died, when it just sat in my studio (it may or may not be broken — so far my tests are inconclusive).

So, I faced the dilemma: AudioFire seemed to be working flawlessly except that it couldn’t provide phantom power to my condenser mic.  Do I return it and pick a different unit after I went through all the research and picked out one that seem to meet my needs and have a solid reputation, or do I replace my computer, or… do I simply find a phantom power source?  I chose the last option (I had just replaced the hard drive on my MacBook, so I wasn’t quite ready to go through another trauma of migrating all my data to another computer), but as I looked for a phantom power device, I thought, why not just get a used preamp, instead of just a phantom power source?

I was looking at M-Audio DMP-3, which has a very good reputation among home recordists for being clean and good bang for buck.  I also looked at Symetrix 202 and Aphex 107 as well.  Then this EMP-1 caught my eye.  Apparently it’s an old unit that’s long been discontinued and I only found one review on it.  But the review was good and also Event’s reputation as a manufacturer of fine studio monitors (I use the also long-discontinued Tria System as my main monitors) felt good to me, so I decided to bid what I thought was a justifiable amount for taking the risk of buying an old, little-known preamp.

So far all I did was plug it in and confirmed that everything was working, so more on what it can do later.

Well, even in a recording session, being a one-man act is more of an art than science.  While I know how to sequence life-like drums and play (or pretend to) all other instruments well enough to create full-band recordings on my own, doing it well is definitely not an easy affair.

One of the things I have problems with is setting the right tempo for my songs.  Even though I play them often, in the process of programming drums and recording the rhythm guitar, I sometimes forget to sing — and the resulting song has tempos that felt perfect when it was just guitar and drums, but unfit for vocals.  Tiny Toon, arguably the simplest among my songs on my first album, was recorded 3 times before I got close to being in the right tempo — and to this day I still wonder if the recording’s a bit too fast.

So, with these lessons in mind, I’m going to propose this following sequence for my upcoming sessions:

1. Sequence the basic drum grooves
2. Record scratch rhythm guitars.  And I do mean scratch — the purpose of these tracks is to set up the next step, which is,
3. Record the (scratch) lead vocal.  Fine tune and redo #1 and #2 if necessary. Build in micro-tempo changes for transitions, different sections of songs, etc.
4. Build out the real drum sequences, complete with all the fills.
5. Record the real rhythm guitars.
6. Record bass,
7. Backing vocals (and redo lead vocals if necessary)
8. and finally, lead guitars.

This ought to be a fool-proof and efficient way to record.  The only concern I have is how early in the process lead vocals come.  Lead vocals are often the last thing in normal recording sessions, for a reason.  It’s just hard for singers to really get into the songs when the backing tracks are so bare.  So I fully expect to redo pretty much all of lead vocals at the end.

Truth be told, steps 6-8 are really my favorite parts — so until I get there, recording a song is a rather grinding hard work that requires a lot of patience.  But I tell you, the pay off is great!  It is super fun to experiment and build arrangements once the tempos are right and the basic tracks are kick-ass.

So, I still feel like a man who hasn’t quite “arrived” yet. My time, which always seems like it’s just around the corner, still remains in the future.  Though it always seems like it’s getting closer — I don’t know if it’s true, but it certainly gives me hopes.

Perhaps you are in the same boat as I am.  With a head full of (possibly) great ideas, a mind full of “Not Quite Sure What Good It’s For” talents, and a heart full of hope and yearning, we sit and wait for the wee little selves to mature.  I feel like I’m still tilling the ground — I have built some stuff, not sure if any of them are going to eventually add to my foundation on which I’m going to blossom.  Or perhaps I am already beginning to bloom.  I have many things I’m super excited about right now.  It’s often hard to assess exactly where you are.

Regardless, maturation is a process you can work hard on but can’t quite rush.  While we wait for our Remarkableness to arrive, there are a few things we can be doing to pass time productively, even if they aren’t exactly contributing to making the fruition come sooner.

1. Discover and engage your bliss.  What do you do on your day off?  When you don’t have any responsibilities?  What gives you energy?  I like to read about boutique guitar pedals.  My wife browse through educational supply catalogs.  (She’s an education geek and homeschools our children)  Bliss, I hear, is a gateway to your Remarkableness.  Plus, it’s pretty darn fun.
2. Confirm what you shouldn’t be doing. (It’s called Experimenting)  There are many things to do in life and many of them sound good, though most are not right for you.  For example, if you are a musician and reading up on the latest promotional tactics — if any of them sound good to you, make you wonder if you should be doing them — just dip your toe in and try it out.  But be completely open to being a quitter and getting out if it’s not fun or if it drains you somehow.  It’s good to confirm the things you shouldn’t be doing, so you have less things to wonder about.
3. Take detours.  If you have a hunch that your Remarkableness involves something having to do with being online, stay off of it and do something completely different.  Why?  Because, once your Remarkableness arrives, you’ll be doing it all the time.  You’ll be immersed in it.  Nothing wrong with that at all, just that after that happens, you may be short of time to do other things.  Enjoy a different life while you can — especially if you know that working hard isn’t going to speed up the arrival of Your Time.
4. Talk to people.  Ask them what they do and what they think about what they do.  Is that person Remarkable or if not, where in lies their potential to be Remarkable?  We learn a lot by talking and listening to other people.
5. Do nothing. Finally, you should do nothing.  NOTHING.  Being occupied doesn’t make you Remarkable — in fact, it can be quite detrimental.  If it feels like you’re working hard, then slow down until that feeling is gone.  Being Remarkable will feel like you’re playing, not working.  It’ll be so fun that you’ll do it even if you’re not getting paid or rewarded or recognized.

There, Ari, 5 things you can do while you’re waiting for your remarkableness.  Do you do any of them?

Well, I do some, though not all.  I’ve done #2 a lot, I’ve done some of #1 and #4, but I’ve been so stubborn to really engage in #3 and #5.  I guess I still haven’t completely unlearned the notion that hard work is the key to success.

I really need to play more.

I’ve said this before and I’m sure this won’t be the last time, but I can’t believe how many people don’t really use their public libraries.

It’s free, people!  Your tax dollars are actually doing something good for you.

As a person who listens more than he reads, I love to browse through the CD section of the library.  Some days I don’t find much I’m interested in, but today I found a good load.  They are:

• The Derek Trucks Band: Already Free
• Chicago Blues Reunion: Buried Alive in the Blues
• The Rolling Stones: Hot rocks 1964-1971
• Bruce Springsteen: Magic
• Staind: 14 Shades of Grey
• The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Live at Monterey
• SlipKnot: All Hope Is Gone
• Sleater-Kinney: The Woods
• Sonny Landreth: From the Reach
• Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: Son House
• Gary Moore: Bad for You Baby

So they include a health doze of blues.  Being primarily a modern rock guy, I tend not to discover any blues records I like, unless I can check them out and live with them for a while, and the library is the perfect place for that.  I discovered some albums there that I would have never encountered otherwise.

Plus, I just put a hold on Ignore Everybody by Hugh MacLeod.  It’s book that my hero Derek Sivers is enthralled in right now.

So, what are you waiting for?  Go hit your local library, see what you can dig up!

I had heard of Chickenfoot before, but I never thought to check them out, until recently.

Upon checking them out on YouTube, my first impression is that it’s not the type of music I am really interested in.

But then, I couldn’t help but perceive how much fun they seem to be having.

On a quick glance, I can see 6 reasons why these guys are successful:

1. They are having a ball.
2. They know exactly what kind of music they make.
3. And that’s the only kind of music they make.
4. And you can describe what kind it is, in a single sentence.
5. And anyone can understand what kind of music that is.
6. Finally, they have nothing to prove.

Which reminds me of what Dave Grohl said in an interview (I believe it was at RollingStone.com) about how easy and fun it is, after fronting a band for over a decade, to just be a drummer (in his new band Them Crooked Vultures) again.

And that’s exactly what I thought of, as I watched Joe Satriani be Just a Guitarist in a Party-Rock Band.

This is my pure speculation, so take it with a grain of salt. But unlike his former pupil Steve Vai (who has got to have one of the highest IQs of rock guitarists, like ever), good ol’ Joe is a simpleton at heart.  He loves blues and he’s really not afraid of play something really dead simple and, dare I say, generic.  This is not the first time he’s played in a vocalist-fronted band (I believe he had stints with Mick Jagger and Deep Purple).  The little of what I heard in Chickenfoot had absolutely nothing forced about them — this is a party rock band, and he perfectly played what was needed for it.  And not a single note more.

And he seems to be having a ball doing it, too.  I just imagine, it must be a sigh of relief to be just a guitarist, taking a break from the high-and-lofty instrumental rock career, where he constantly has to push and prove himself to legions of male-dominated, ultra-critical guitarists.  (like yours truly! )

Like I said, I don’t think I’ll become a Chickenfoot fanatic.   But their music sure brought a smile on my face.

Good for them.

Playing the guitar (or any instrument) is like learning to speak a language.  At first, you only know a few words or phrases.

But the only way to get better? Say What You Can.

I had a downer feeling yesterday about my guitar playing.  Although I didn’t have much time today, I wanted to play a bit to see if I can feel better about it.

Glad I tried.

The problem is that I have a great mind (if I say so myself ).  I can play some amazing guitar in my head.

You see, that’s really not a problem.  The only problem here is that my imagination is unlimited by my playing ability.  Or rather, I’m still not disciplined enough to confine my imagination to what I can play.

But just like knowing what you want to say but not knowing the words to say them, you have to start out by picking out words that are close enough in your head.  If you remain silent, then you’re most certainly not communicating, nor are you getting better at it.

So today I focused on simplifying — be creative with note choices and expressions and phrasing.

It wasn’t mistake-free, but it was much better.

A lot of guitarists play licks instead of musical ideas.  I am guilty of that, too.  Just play what my fingers have a habit of playing.  Not really hearing my phrases in my head before playing.

So I am trying to get out of that — but I’m still not that good at it.  I feel clumsy and my range seems so limited.

But I have to say what I can say.  That’s the only way I’ll get better at this.

And I will.