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Acoustic Rock + Practice + gratitude

3/25/2020

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Today's video is another sit-down and do it style practice. I didn't really have much of a plan going in - its nice to have a structure - so it ended up being a bit of Melodic Development over one of my favorite chord structures. - Daily Gratitude - When your reality isn’t what you imagined: In fact its so much better. Be open to the possibilities and receive your blessings of unlimited potential.

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Contrast

3/21/2020

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​A song can be four chords. That's not wrong, but if your chord progression is simple, then consider the Principles of contrast to make your song POP.

where do you put contrast in your song?

Where do you put contrast in your song? What are your song's elements?
  • Genre
  • Hooks
  • Metre and rhythm
  • Lyrical content
  • Instrumentation
  • song structure

Song Structure

​Have you thought about how your song is laid out while the concept is fresh? I recommend as good practice to outline a few basic song-structures for the style of music you write. it could look like one of these examples:
  • verse
  • chorus
  • verse
  • Chorus
  • Bridge
  • Chorus
or
  • A section
    • Intro
    • Buildup
    • Verse
    • Chorus
  • B Section
    • Instrumental
    • Verse
    • Hook
  • A section
    • Chorus
    • Verse
    • Buildup
  • B section
    • Hook
  • C section
    • Outro
Helps with efficiency to simply put things into a place where you dont have to worry about structure. Why use this approach? because it takes the struggle out of putting the songs together because that part is already done. Just build the pieces to fit and stick them in. Songwriting En-masse, just remember your Contrast considerations. 

​Smooth transitions

how can you switch it up without being abrasive?
So now that we're fitting the pieces in, I guess you'll need pieces first. This is where creativity and imagination come into play. During your daily (and i hope it's daily) practice, noodle around until you come up with something. Some folks like to play from scales or books for inspiration. others simply jam. The point is to come up with something that sounds good to you. Remember it's music. There isn't a one-size-fits-all approach to this stuff.

how can you switch it up without being abrasive

​Abrupt transitions are not always bad. To me it depends on the characteristics of the genre, some being friendlier to rule-breaking than others.
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20-03-18: Cody Gene Music - Acoustic Indie Folk - Singer Songwriting

3/18/2020

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Practice vlog. I tend to not talk much. That's part of this whole experiment. Get over any nervousness around playing music on camera. At the end of the day, it's not so bad. In fact, It's a lot like those first couple times you go out to play your songs in public. It's a little nerve-wracking at first but eventually, you start to warm up to the feeling of putting yourself out there... Have courage to take the action and learn from your mistakes. Here's my Intentional vocal practice. Question. What did you notice about what and how I'm improvising? if you were practicing music in this way, what would you do differently? Comments here (or on youtube)

Thanks for being awesome.
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whats next?

2/15/2020

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Starting with the easy thing or the hard thing? that's up to you to decide. I'd recommend knocking back the easiest tasks first, the ones that would take the least time to accomplish. The more difficult tasks might require some incubation time, new skillsets, or a network of friends to help you out.

Do the work

avoiding  procrastination

Something is better than nothing
It doesn't have to be perfect
You'll get better with time

See a door, open a door, you don't have to step through it right away. Check to see what's on the other side. If you see potential there, then start moving.

the decision to take action - It starts with a choice. Remember the words we use in our own minds carry weight.

The language we use in our internal dialoge affects our reality. No seriously. No more of this Someday i hope to ____. A better line of conversation is I am ____. These are called affirmations, and next time you catch yourself using language like hope, want, trying to, etc. Catch yourself and think about it for a moment. Are you trying to do something? or are you Doing it?  

​going through the motions - Consistency of effort

once you understand what you want, the next step is to follow through. How many artists I know don't do this. I was guilty of it myself. It's called Failure to launch syndrome. I get it, it's easier to just push your ambition aside and play some video games. Next thing you know it's 10 years later, and have to bust-ass to make up for lost time. If you're not doing something every day, start with 1 thing. If you're already doing something every-day, then start doing 3 things every day. It'll take dedication and preparation, but you can do it. Start Now.
Putting first things first
what's More important?
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your word

2/1/2020

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speaking the truth into existence 

and actually living it

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Don miguel ruiez the four agreements: The first agreement. 
Thats not the whole picture.
Combine that with follow through. 
A truth in word only is not necessarily the truth
A truth in word plus action combined is the best thing you can give to another person.

Have you ever told someone else you were going to do something then turn around and ghost them with no word of warning, no heads up? Its not a recipe for trust; granted, maybe you had your reasons,  but why the lack of communication?

We arranged to meet on a Wednesday, you mentioned on Tuesday that Thursday is better, okay no problem. I'll shuffle around my commitments and Ill do my best to make it work.  Thursday rolls around, its 5 o clock and im expecting a call. No call. 7 o clock. Maybe somethings up. I have no way of knowing. 9:00? Fuck it. Ive got no patience left, and no trust left either. im going to sleep. Maybe ill get that call, get up, and head out for the meeting. It's important to me so i don't mind. Well I'm writing this article so maybe I do... 

I arranged to meet up with someone else that same week. "Hey bud, ill be in town in two weeks, let me know whats happening so we can catch up." 
"Sure, sounds good."
The week before. "Okay man, gonna be in town next week, we still good 2 go?" 
"Yeah buddy, its my birthday soon, lets celebrate."
"Awesome cant wait."
The day before. "Hey, what are you doing on sunday, I'll be rolling into town then."
"Oh, I'm in Victoria until Tuesday." Shit.
"Alright, let me know when you get back. Heres my number, text me because i have no wifi on the road" Hmm maybe my friend doesnt realise how important this is to me. Can't be deliberate betrayal right? Please tell me its not that.
So Wednesday rolls around, then Thursday, then Friday and I have no patience left. I mean, I get it that you have your own life, and maybe you're dealing with some shit and thats fine if you are. At least tell the person who is counting on you what is happening, maybe he can support you. Maybe you didn't stop to consider that this other person has their own shit to deal with too. Maybe he put a tremendous amount of energy into it and you just ghosted the fuck out of him. You can fuck off. I no longer tolerate this type of behaviour. 

To me, a word spoken without being backed up with action to support it is the same as lying to another person's face. Its a betrayal. Its not the mark of a mature human being, let alone a successful one. I pride myself in doing exactly what I say I will do - when I say I am going to do it. Is it wrong that I should hold others to the same standard?

When being an excellent judge of character, one should watch for this type of horseshit. People who do this make me sick with stress, and while i understand that we're only human and we can't be all perfect all the time, at least try to have the decency to try just a little bit. I mean seriously, grow the fuck up. If you told another person that you're going to do something, either follow through, or pick up the phone (or get on whatever text messenger) and tell them that you can not commit. Do not jerk people around. Its dishonest, and its a good way to extinguish all loyalty that existed.

TL:DR
Say what you mean, do what you say. Do this to keep relationships healthy.

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So how do you write a song anyway?

11/23/2019

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LET MUSIC BE THE SPARK OF CREATIVITY THAT DRIVES ACTION AND INNOVATION

Welcome To the Blog. Today we're talking about songwriting and composition. I've been capturing ideas for an irish Jig.

banjo jigs and reels with Ol'brother Paul 

We started off our run by approaching the plan with a song idea.
​Three parts, we'll call them parts A B and C. 
  • Part A: banjo melody
The main lick. the kind of lick that was meant for a Tenor banjo. We didn't have much else to go-on Except a sloppy old recording found in the Archives. So knowing only the root of the song was a  big-ol' D chord, we set off to lay down some Banjo tracks.
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  • B The second piece of the banjo melody
An ascending lick with a change of tone-centre. It took me a minute to figure out what was happening, but if I could add an A-chord over top of this new riff, It could bring a much-needed change of energy to the song. I'll figure out the exact chord-progression during my practice session later. For now, It's a good idea, lets capture it...
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  • C The outro
This part came later. Paul got back to me with a new idea for an outro for the song. This one feels more like a slow-down after a late night celebration. He wrote the part for the mandolin... Sounds great! lets do it.

Same idea, new theme different instrument, but hear how it sounds on that banjo too. lay these down on separate tracks, to see if we can combine them in cool ways later. 
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Jigs and Reels: what's the difference?

10/20/2019

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PictureOl'Brother Paul
So Last week, I was working with Ol'Brother Paul on the 'Paulcast' 2nd season. We're switching up the format, which will follow the progression of a song through the recording process, while talking about tips/strategies for how to record a song with less frustration.

We've picked an old idea Paul had for an Irish Jig back in 2016-2017 using tenor banjo (or in this case a banjo with the drone string removed.)
Until this point we've been kind of using the term 'Jig' and 'Reel' interchangably, but this got me thinking what's the difference? They are two separate words, so they probably mean two different things. okay google what's the difference between a jig and a reel?
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So 'reel' short answer... The main difference is in the timing. Jigs being in a 6/8 time and a Reel being in a 4/4 time.  So to answer my own question, the song we are going to produce is actually an Irish Reel. 
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Check engine & the recording process

10/12/2019

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Vocal Recording & guide tracks

I sat down with My good pal Levente to write a new song. He contributed The Lyrics, and we spent an afternoon ironing out some Chord progressions and licks. A bit of structure. The next day I  layed down some guide tracks. 

Guitar Recording

Now that the vocal structure is in place, I moved on to re-recording The Guitar tracks. I used My marshall Cab with 3 mics total, two on the amp, 1 on the strings, paying attention to details such as placement and tone quality. the end result.. well you'll have to wait and see.

Drums & Editing

Had Curtis Come in to lay down some drums. It was a great session. Curtis, being a trained studio musician, laid it down in a few easy takes. That being said, I still took the time to do some editing.

the thing about editing is, sometimes it's necessary, sometimes it's not. It depends on a lot of things such as genre, how well the player has learned their part, and how talented of a musician they are to begin with.  

BASS Licks

Everybody loves the BASS. that is unless you're a musician, then the bass player is the butt end of every joke. That being said the Bass, Kick drum, and any instruments making up either the rhythm section or the Low-frequency range are critical to getting a quality end-product.

Cleaning up a session

By this point in the session, I had An abundance of tracks, 4 guitar, 9 Drums, 3 bass, 1 organ, 4 vocals, edits galore and it was beginning to run slow, despite having a powerful workstation. So i decided to go through and 'clean up' the session files. This video explains that.

Mixing without plugins

with a fresh mix session, I sit down and explain the basics of my approach to mixing, but i decided to challenge myself. Make this mix without using plugins. now, for those of you who don't know, plugins are special effects that are added into your audio program, called a DAW or Digital audio workstation. some people call this form of digital music production 'mixing in the box' the box being an all in one integrated studio that lives inside your computer. 
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you want it all but you can only choose one!

10/3/2019

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i've been racking my brain how to 'internet' properly

Hey guys, so for what it's worth i've decided to split Gene Media into two 'niches' with the feeling that Songwriting is one category, and Music production fits in another. So what does that mean? better sorting of playlists on youtube, and separate analytics on the backend. Should make it easier to keep track of what's working and what's not. #systemssuccess

Here's a new video

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i'll decide for one

4/7/2019

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Lyrics: 
All this talk of the waiting time
let me get it right
cause all along the waiting time I tried
and no I never want to settle 
standing on the waiting line
So I'll Decide for one

If there's movement let it ride 
Listen to their lies
While all along there's waiting
I watch them bide their time
and no I never thought of quitting 
Ah I'll just get it right
and if it's got kinetic motion
maybe I'll just stand aside
and no I never want to settle 
​standing on the waiting line
So I'll Decide for one
- - - 
Wanna stop hanging round with evil
stop worshipping heroes
Special thanks to:
Paul, (drums on first half)
Curtis from Stolen Signs. (drums on second half)
Levente (keys and organs)
for the skills and contribution.


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Gene Media Creative Studio is the  Production Facility  of Indie-Rock  producer  Cody Gene.
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 Gene Media Creative Studio  is located near 100  Mile house BC.   Focused on providing A/V Support For  Artists

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