new blog up: Sassy's crystals

The new blog is up and going over at Sassy's Crystals.

This blog will still be going here, too.

The cryrstal blogs will be all things Yoga, aromatherapy, massage, crystal healing, dietary and nutrition, herbal and holistic. Enjoy!

And a big thanks goes to Seth, who helps spruce this blog up and gets my links active.
Follow seth's adventures. You will never cease to be amused.

Also: one of my favorite authors comes out with a new book on June 2. If you haven't ever gotten a taste of Yasmine Galenorn's storytelling, then you are suffering a serious case of literary deprivation. Go get your copy of Demon Mistress, and enter the world of the deArtigo sisters.

To partake in all the Yasmine fun, go browse her blog.

As you can see, today's Artist's Way theme is shamelessly plug those who inspire you/add to your artwork. If you like an artist, spread the word so they can continue doing what they do/make enough to live their art. Every time you get a chance, talk your artists/writers/musicians up!!! :)
They need to make a bumper sticker that reads

Save the artist... remember the release date! :-d

Artistic inspiration ambush: clean up your dirty mind!

Welcome back to your normally scheduled blog topic: The Artist’s Way... sort of. Can anything abou this blog be considered normal anyway??? Not when I’m at the keyboard… I haven’t blogged about the Artist’s Way for a while, so let’s get back to it!

Before diving in, I need to cover a few quick housekeeping items.

First, music biz Q&A part 2 is coming! Come visit on Friday for all the fun.

Second, I’ve had a ton of questions on crystal healing and Yoga, so starting next week, I’ll put up a whole new blog devoted to living yoga, crystals, holistic healing, herbs, and anything concerning mind, body or spirit. I’ll let you know the link.

Okay on to today’s blog, finding inspiration.

I don’t have a set formula for where or when artistic inspiration will strike me. I can be reading, watching TV, going through something in my life, joking with friends over dinner, hearing a talk at Church… All of these scenarios are full of ah-ha moments. Ah-ha moment: when the hand of inspiration reaches out and smacks you in the head and commands: “Make me! Create me! Give me life, a voice, a form.”

I’ve found artistic inspiration to be an equal-opportunity attacker with no compunctions or shame whatsoever. It invades my thoughts when I'm dead asleep, jerking me awake and plunging me into the midst of a new song before I even figure out where I am or what time it is. It steals my peace when I'm eating dinner or having a good phone conversation with a friend. "That would be a great lyric line!" pops out of my mouth at the most inopportune moments, followed by frenzied hunning and a mad dash for the nearest instrument. This is a familiar scene to all who know me--one they probably dread because it's usually followed by a long period of them being banished, and me hacking my way through the tangle of another tune or story.

But it likes to find me most often during my most private moments. Music walks right in while I'm stealing a moment of peace in the shower. I'm usually full of suds, enjoying a hot soak, and some solitude.. and the next thing I know there's this stranger sharing the shower with me, rocketing around inside my head going "Let me out! Let me out!"

"I didn't invite you in," would be my first response, but then again, that mental gate is standing wide open, even when I'm butt naked and dripping wet, running with a towel half-on for my digital recorder or a scrap of paper.

Anyone know if they've invented water-proof paper and pens yet? Not even the digital recorder can save me when the shower ambush occurs. Nasty, scandalous, dirty little sneaks, those ideas. And yet, so satisfying. :)

Whenever and wherever inspiration hits, it’s usually a head-on collision, an the only fatality is that of bordom. My pride might be injured, my mind might be pried open and lit up like Christmas, but you can bet that I feel better after I get it all out.

Keeping artistic inspiration locked up inside is, for me, like turning myself into a human volcano. Too many stifled ideas, and I promise you, Mt. St. Sassy will erupt and spew stuff everywhere with no regard for damages or bystanders. It’s far better to control the inspiration, direct and channel it, let it out all over paper instead of some poor friend’s unsuspecting ear.

I think it’s time we re-visit the Mental Neighborhood from a few months ago. Take a walk around your neighborhood and do inventory. Are there a few ideas you stuffed into hidey-holes, promising yourself you’d make time somewhere down the line to fix them up nd show them to the world. Is that a discarded idea I see being blown down the street like a piece of flotsome!

Grab a notebook and a pen (or a computer if you’re blind or a geek), and go clean up that internal neighborhood. Don’t litter by just dropping ideas all over the place, pick them up anddispose of them properly, onto a piece of paper, or nto a waiting instrument, piece of clay, canvas—whatever form you work in! The world likes new ideas, so throw yours out where they’ll have a chance to flourish!

Blind drivers coming to a road near you!!!

You’re running late for a meeting, and the last thing you feel like doing is braving L.A. traffic. You run out to the car, put your route to the office into the GPS, and pull up your fave playlist on your Ipod. When you pull up to the stoplight, you happen to glance to your left, where you see a Corvette revving her engine. You do a double-take as the Corvette moves out onto the freeway beside you, then passes you by… There’s a Guide Dog sitting in the passenger seat, tongue lolling, ears flying in the breeze… but the only person in that car is in the driver’s seat…

Hey, guess what, it’s not that far away. Before you know it, you’ll be seeing blind people all over the road, and not just in the cross-walks or on public transit.

I woke up this morning, and since I didn’t have to leap out of bed and make a mad dash for Yoga class, I turned on the TV for a moment, and came across a documentary on the science channel about robotic cars. The driverless cars had to negotiate their way through a sixty mile race-course without any human intervention. Tasks ranged from maneuvering through a traffic circle and parking lot, to merging on a high-speed freeway. The bots faced a dirt road, and had to figure out traffic jams.

While the technology was developed to save the lives of soldiers by sending automatons into battle, it’s effects will be far felt. Over ninety percent of vehicular accidents today are caused by human error. Not only would automated cars allow blind people to drive, and revolutionize safety for combat, it would completely change the face of civilian driving.

While some of you read this and moan because it would take away your cruising fun, or damage your ability to speed to a meeting, think about the bigger picture for a minute. It’s on the horizon, so get ready! I’ll be sharing the road with you before long, and baby, I can’t wait!!!

Oh, and before you ask, yes, I have driven a car before. :-d No, I will not divulge where or when.

This and other technological developments in the past fifteen years or so have completely changed how we as a society function, obviously, but it has really had an impact on how blind people access life, and accomplish their work. From specialized computers designed specifically for the blind, to cell phones and computers made for the general public that are modified for our use, more and more products are blind-friendly these days.

There are still plenty of hurtles to be overcome, such as inability to fully access print materials, but even that is changing. I can snap a picture of a document with a cell phone now, and read it, or scan it with a regular OCR scanner. Gone are the days of luging around a million pounds of Braille--now a meg or two of memory on a laptop or in a flash card and all my books are at my fingertips.

A common misconception is that blind person = musician. Not all of us make music, but for those of us who do, the days of being relegated to the studio or stage and bared from the control room are history. Thanks to David Pinto and Dancing Dots, we are now able to engineer and produce as quickly and proficiently as anyone else.

This accesability extends to almost every field. In medicine, in science, in politics, in law, retail, engineering and mathematics, there are blind people advancing the limits of what is possible every day.

Growing up, my dearest wish was to become a veterinarian. With advances in technology, that goal is probably attainable for an ambicious blind person today, or it soon will be. If, in a few years, your surgeon, president or police officer is blind, don’t be surprised.

It just proves there is no speed limit on ability.

Brenda Novak diabetes Auction and Retinoblastoma Awareness week: Spread the word and save lives!

There are two very important health-rlated issues I would like to bring your attention to throughout the coming week and month.

First, the Brenda Novak Diabetes Auction is up and going strong.

Click on the auction link and buy yourself some goodies while also giving money to fight one of the top killers in the world today. There are items for everyone and every budget up there, and remember every little bit helps, so get over there and start bidding!

Secondly, it’s World Retinoblastoma Awareness week, and we need your help.

I was six months old when I was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, an aggressive cancer that attacks the retinas and optic nerves of children primarily under the age of five. As you can imagine, it is devastating to parents who find out their little babies must suddenly be plunged into the nightmarish hell of chemo therapy, radiation, surgery, dialated eyes and hospitals. I underwent nearly three years of treatment, including seventy surgeries on my face, high doses of open bema radiation, chemo therapy, and yes, I do remember quite a bit of it vividly, even though I was very young.

My mother began noticing something was wrong with my eyes when I was three or four months old. She took me to several pediatricians and opthomologists who insisted that there was nothing more seriously wrong with me than a case of lazy-eye. She noticed I had trouble focusing on objects, I seemed to be in pain, and my eyes in photographs were very red. In her heart, she knew something was seriously wrong, and she kept taking me to different doctors, until one opthomologist dialated my eyes, and broke the news to my parents that I was very, very sick, and needed immediate surgery. A mother’s heart is never wrong, and my mother’s fortitude and perseverance saved my life.

Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles was one of only two hospitals in the United States at the time able to adequately treat me, so my parents began bringing me back and forth from Arizona every two weeks for care.

I do not need to tell you the strain my parents endured over the next several years. Watching your child fight for her life is a pain I can’t begin to understand because I have no children of my own yet, but I know it is heart-breaking.

When I was three, I lost my sight to the cancer when they removed both of my eyes and replaced them with prosthetics.

I am a survivor of retinoblastoma. I know first-hand the pain it inflicts upon children and their families, and I am asking for your help. It’s no coincidence that this awareness week falls so close to Mother’s Day and National prayer day.

Please say a prayer or send your thought to all the families facing the challenges and trauma of childhood cancer. Every prayer, every thought, every outstretched heart and hand makes a huge difference.

And above all else, please spread the word. If parents don’t know the signs to look for, this disease can rage out of control like a wildfire, and spread to a baby’s bones or brain, killing an infant. Retinoblastoma now has a high survival rate in the United States and Great Britain, but in other countries, this disease is still ravaging families and killing children. Only when the disease is stopped before it spreads to bones or brain is it treatable at this time, so detecting it early is vital.

Symptoms of retinoblastoma include red eyes in photographs in infants or children under age five, crossed or bloodshot eyes, difficulty in visual focus and facial pain or crying at harsh light.

For more info on retinoblastoma, please visit Retinoblastoma International.

For links and resources for parents and families of RB children, please visit Retinoblastoma Arizona.

One word from you can save a child’s life and eyesight. Spread the word to everyone you know about Retinoblastoma, and do your part to stop childhood eye cancer. Speak up, save a life; it is that simple.

Thank you.

A day late and a dollar's worth of sleep deprivation...

I promised part two of the music biz Q&A would go up tonight, but it is after one o’clock in the morning, and I only just got home from the recording studio a few minutes ago. I still have plenty of work to do before I sleep, so please know that Q&A is coming, it’s just been delayed for a day or so. There’s still time to get your questions to me on myspace, facebook, twitter, here on the blog, or by any other of the ten million ways you have of finding me.

Okay, back to work for me, off to bed with you, I hope. Thanks for your patience.

Good night!

Getting down ‘n dirty: the reality of the producer in the recording studio

I’m veering away briefly from the normal Artist’s Way theme of the blog this morning to address a few questions which have recently come my way about the technicalities of the recording biz. I’ll do this in a three-part series throughout the week. Today’s post will focus on what to look for when hiring a producer and an engineer for your recording, and why they make invaluable members of the team when you pick the right ones. Thursday’s post will be all about money, royalties, advances, and the talk of the industry. This weekend’s post is on a more sensitive topic: what it takes to go from amateur to professional musician these days.

So on to today’s questions…

Q: What’s a producer, and why do I need one?

A record producer is a multi-purpose organism who, all in all, is responsible for maintaining the sanity, artistic quality, and financial stability of the recording session, among other things. Your producer, if he or she is a good one, alternates from being your best friend to your hardest critic, often several times an hour. It’s the producer’s job to take you as an artist, and deliver you as a CD or MP3 to your eagerly awaiting fans. We’re the liaisons between the artist and the engineer, the label, the editors, the agents, and everyone else affiliated with a particular musical project. Consequently, a producer is akin to the ref in a game. You can play ball without a ref in the park, but to hit the big leagues, you need someone who knows the rules, and knows just when and how to push them, re-negotiate them, or in some cases, break them completely, all for the sake of the bottom line. This means that yes, at least once, I guarantee you’ll hate your producer’s guts, and once, you’ll love her enough to drop on your knees and propose. Okay, it’s not that bad. But sometimes, a producer may have to tell you that something isn’t working, or you’ve got to change part of the recording you were in love with. Your producer must be someone you trust implicitly with your artistic vision, your music, your career.

Q: How do I pick the right producer for my music?

A few things to consider: Pick a producer who has plenty of experience in your genre, and with your instrument. Never skimp on experience. That having been said, how do you find out what experience a candidate has that applies to you?

It’s often very hard to check up on a producer’s credentials. The best way to do this is by word of mouth, talking to people who have worked with that producer before, or seeing that producer in action in the studio for yourself. A word to the wise: someone may be a great musician, but that does not make them a great producer. When you choose a producer for your project, make sure they understand your ideas, your musical influences, and the direction you want the album to take. If not, you could be working from opposite sides of the wall, going nowhere fast. Also, make sure that you are comfortable with that producer’s style. If they’re a hard critic and don’t mince words, it might make you very uncomfortable in the studio, and you’ll find you’re nerves eating you alive. Make sure that the two of you develop a good emotional rapport before you hit the studio.

If you do not know the producer personally, check online at allmusic.com or on a similar site to find their credits. Some may not have credits there, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t legit. You can ask the producer for a resume and a demo of their work, but keep in mind that it’s often next to impossible to verify that kind of info in the music industry, especially for indie producers. Another way to verify your producer’s credentials is through their union. Most producers are affiliated with aSCAP, BMI, SESAK or one of the other music unions. AFM or most indie and major labels know who is affiliated with which union, and can guide you there.

If you are independently hiring your producer, treat it like hiring an employee, and find out as much info as you can from sources close to them. If you’re label puts you with a producer, do everything you can to ensure that he or she knows where you are coming from, and where you want to go with the album. A good producer will listen, advise, and learn from you, not push you or pull you into something that doesn’t feel right to you.

If you do find yourself with a producer that doesn’t feel right to you, there are several legal steps you can take, depending on contracts you signed before the project (hopefully you signed them, and read them carefully). Before you hire a producer, or allow a producer to work with you, read the fine print, know your rights under your union, and/or seek legal advice from a qualified music attorney. Always, always get things in writing! I can’t stress this one enough. A good, honest producer will most often insist upon it before yu ever begin work on a project. Without that contract, your legal recourse should things turn sour, is very limited, so be smart, and know what’s going down on paper.

Q: So what goes on behind that mysteriously sound-proofed door for the producer?

If you’re one of the huge twenty year vets with a dozen platinum records and grammies to your name, then I can’t speak to what your day looks like. But if you’re starting out, trying your hand at production or engineering, here’s a glimpse of an average day for me.

I’ve been producing and engineering for seven years, and I’m a mid-level producer right now. I don’t have a huge hit to my name yet, but I’ve worked with enough well-known artists and in enough studios to get a good resume going. I can often choose which contracts and musicians to work with, and I no longer do demos and EPs as a rule. I specialize in acoustic music, full-length studio albums, and working with artists who generally do most of their own songwriting and have a pretty focused idea of the sound they want.

Nope. Definitely not the glitz and glam you see on Entertainment Tonight… or at least, not in my line of work. Engineers and producers work long hard hours. Most of what we do involves listening to minute snippets of songs over, and over, and over again to get things just right. Other things we find ourselves doing include, but are not limited to:

setting up microphones
crawling into tight dusty holes in the wall for equipment that hasn’t been used for years
climbing through mazes of cabling to reach the switch that’s short-circuited
going toe-to-toe with musicians when you re-direct/get-in-the-way-of their dreams
getting electrocuted by the malfunctioning piece of gear you were so excited about using
giving massages, a shoulder to cry on, and comfort or encouragement to tense, freaked-out new artists
slave-driving yourself and others until all hours to beat deadlines
maintaining the patience of a saint
feeding musicians, and/or sending someone else to do it
placating ruffled feathers at least 2 or 3 times a session
keeping a choke-hold on the purstrings and the hands of the clock
Negotiating contracts and financial affairs for the project
Selecting and booking musicians, studios and venues
For recording
Answering questions an astrophysicist couldn’t answer
Keeping morale high and smiles on everyone’s faces as much as humanly possible
Make a little music
and generally run, and/or referee everything else going on in the studio. You often get frustrated, often get to see the rougher side of everyone involved, and it’s not uncommon to get dirty, or tear your clothing in the process of lugging around equipment.

So while the diva may walk in, sing, and swagger out, the rest of us, believe it or not, aren’t driving jags or Mercedes, and we certainly aren’t walking the red carpets. Yet.

A producer and engineer are there to take the pressure off of the performing artist. The engineer is responsible for setting up equipment, keeping everything running without glitches, running the computer or console, and monitoring the recording process. The producer does many of the same things, but generally directs the engineer, guides the artist, and makes sure that the product being recorded with match the requirements of the label/artist. The engineer and producer determine which mics to use, how to place them, which take to keep or discard, and generally, how to acquire the best possible sound for each musician.

Q: I want to produce. What do I need to do?

I may get dirty, spend all day doing paperwork and negotiating financial dealings and calming down musicians, but when all is said and done, I love every aspect of my work. I get a chance to compose, perform, engineer, and boss people around all at once. I get to do business, work closely with people, be a support, and friend, and watch dreams coming true every day of my life. It’s a high stress, very hard job, but in it’s own way, it’s infinitely rewarding. I’ve tried other jobs, and would rather be doing this than anything else on Earth. I love to perform, and I love to engineer, but producing is where I put my heart and my life’s work.

Many musicians enjoy producing as a side career, but it’s very rare for someone to do production full-time. Being a producer requires a good head for business, and excellent people and leadership skills. Patience and strength of will are a must. You have to have a good understanding of just how far you can push before people, things, music and deals are just right--push but don’t break them. A producer must have a good working knowledge of music theory and most of the instruments in the studio, as well as skills as an engineer, to a certain extent. Every producer has their own trademark sound, and to gain yourself a reputation (and clients), you must know what defines your sound, and how to achieve that sound with whatever comes into your studio. Flexibility and adaptability are a must, since no two musicians are the same. Finally, a good working knowledge of the music biz is essential. College can teach you a lot of these skills, but real life in the studio will be your trial by fire.

If you’re looking for your chance to produce, do the schooling first, then get into as many studios as you can. Get down and dirty—don’t be afraid to crawl back there to adjust the mic, or lean over the engineer’s shoulder to see how they just eqed the guitar. Experience is your best friend.

Hope this helps answer your questions. I’m off to another day of music production and dream-making, just another work day, thank God.

Blessings!

-Sassy