Lyric Video for Amos Saint Jean's New Single "Simply Incredible"

Check out the lyric video for inspirational artist, Amos Saint Jean's new single "Simply Incredible" (Also, available on iTunes for download)

Establishing Your Sound/Formula

Being a professional musician & producer in this music industry for more than 15yrs requires a lot of guts and "stick-to-it-tiveness." I've learned so much through observing other professionals and industry greats and its helped me to establish my own sound and formula.

Well, it's tough to establish your own sound and create your formula. Reason is that for many, it's convenient just to become a "carbon copy" of another successful musician or producer and its tougher to do the necessary ground work to develop your own thing. 

So what do you do with a music industry that has a lot of "carbon copies" and not too many "originals"????  

You continue to create... That's my answer. You continue to push past the unfamiliar and experiment with your sound until something breaks through.

Quincy Jones, David Foster, Timbaland, Jimmy Jam/Terry Lewis, Teddy Riley & Harvey Mason are some of my favorite producer/musicians.

I've been able to gleam from their work and learn to establish my own formula. It's an ever-evolving process to establish your sound, because you can not stop learning and gleaming from industry greats such as these guys... 

So, all I'm saying is... Don't just shoot to just be a "carbon copy"... Learn to become an original.

Later!

What Happened to all the INDIANS?

You know what? Time flies.....

I'm saying that to say that I've been doing this music thing for over 20+years now and I'm realizing that I'm becoming one of the "older" guys now, LOL...  I remember when I was the "up-and-coming" young musician... Now I'm referred to as "Uncle" and/or "Big Bro" LOL!!!

What an adjustment, smh...

Well, I've slowed down on production work significantly to adjust my personal life.. you know.. Marriage, New House, Job Promotion...  It gets hard to balance it all so sometimes you have to press the RESET button and start over.

Being an artist, producer & songwriter in this new age is almost discouraging.  Nothing against social networking, but it has allowed a lot of newcomers to blossom overnight.  The ones who've been working before the social networking "bubble" came are now almost like dinosaurs...smh.

I say all that to say, it's tough to stay relevant IF you don't know who you are.  Thankfully, I know who I am and what I possess. BUT it can be difficult, cause you can get tempted to "cave in" and "compromise" to fit in today's norm, but you must stand strong and believe that your time is coming and when it comes you will "rise to the occassion."

These days you must learn to encourage yourself, cause if you're waiting for others to do it...it probably won't happen, LOL...  The other day I said to myself, "Why does everyone wants to be the CHIEF? What happened to all the INDIANS?"

LOL!!

It's a tough reality nowadays, that everyone wants to be in the front of the stage and totally bypass the back of the stage.  Like I said before I am glad that I know who I am, but there are a lot of people out here who don't know who they are.  Many people think they're supposed to be the CHIEF, but actually they might be most effective as the INDIAN.

What's wrong with being the INDIAN? What would this world be if it was filled with a bunch of CHIEFS? Smh, it would be totally INSANE and CHAOTIC I think...

Well, I encourage you today to evaluate yourself, look in the mirror... take the time to ask yourself...

"What am I... a CHIEF or am I an INDIAN???"

Now, you have to be honest with yourself... don't rush it...take your time and when you finally figure it out, GO FULL STEAM AHEAD and be who you are destined to be.  You'd be surprise how much of an effect you can make if you operate in the area of your strengths instead of the area of your weaknesses.


Until then... Peace!

First post of the new year, what's up?

I haven't posted in a long minute... I mean, LOOOOONNNNG minute, smh.

What's been going on? Well, I'm glad you asked, LOL... I've been working hard at my church doing production work for our Christmas and more recently our Easter Productions.  

Although I'm the minister of music, I also am the music director for our annual productions.  These productions are huge... I mean HUGE!!!!  In the past 6-8months I've been able to interact with Gospel Music Industry's Giants like Mary Mary, Bebe & Cece Winans, Marvin Sapp, Tye Tribbett, Richard Smallwood, Beverly Crawford, Shirley Caesar... just to name a few, lol...

For most of these artists they may have majority of their TV/Performance Tracks on hand, but sometimes we run into a problem where they don't have one for a particular song we requested...  That's where FamousAmosMusic comes in...

Basically, when that happens I take a crew to the studio and create a TV/Performance Track and send it to the artist for their approval...  That itself can be a nerve-wrecking experience, cause some artist can be VERY particular of their music and how they want it done.  I don't really blame them, but sometimes it can get a little too overwhelming...

Anyways, doing these productions have really been a tremendous learning experience for me and I'm looking forward to keeping it going... My next goal is to start working on film scoring.  I really enjoy film scores like the one for the movies "300" composed by Tyler Bates and "The Passion of the Christ"composed by John Debney.

It's gonna take some work and some research to fully understand the basics of the art of film scoring, but I will take it one step at a time... I really enjoy hearing the depth and the sensitivity of their compositions.

I realize that music really makes or breaks any movie scene... Without a great film score, that "tear-jerking" scene would turn to a boring and stale video clip...  Now that I realize that importance, I'm taking the necessary steps to further my music theory so I can compose and create a great film score.

Building my Home Recording Studio (part 1)

It's been almost a year since I moved out of my commercial studio space and I'm in the last few stages of purchasing my first home w/my wife.  It hasn't kicked in yet, but I believe it's an exciting feeling to finally be a homeowner... (I'm screaming excitement deep inside, really wish you could hear it, LOL j/k)

When I made the decision to break my commercial lease and look to purchase a house w/my wife and basically build a smaller studio space in the basement of the new house.  I thought that would be a good idea, because after 18months of having a commercial studio space I realized that it's not easy, plus most of my clientele are exclusive. So, I basically won't be dealing with too many "walk-ins" so why try to run with a commercial facility when I can get away with having it in my house.

Of course, I'm a little worried with building a studio in my new townhome, cause of the "noise" factor.  I've been doing some research on sound absorption and floating floors and I'm realizing that there are many ways to help minimize the traveling of frequencies and vibrations between rooms.

So, I'm devising a plan now once we move in to assess the space and design a room that can handle "LOUD" noises and vibration. It's tough and some what expensive, but the end result will be soooo worth it.

Along with designing a new studio space/suite in my new home, I'm also thinking about upgrading my studio gear.  Currently, I'm running Protool LE 8.05 through a Digi 003 Rack and I have a Mac Pro Quad-Core and a MacBook Pro 15" (1st Gen).


I'm seriously considering the move to Protools HDX System and the Apogee Symphony I/O System.  I really take my music very seriously and I want my sound to exemplify that.




Now, the question I ask myself all the time is "are you still planning on using Commercial Studios???" "if so, why go all out for a home studio w/room construction & gear upgrades???"  Well, to answer my own question (LOL), I believe that "God blesses a child who has his own..." So, I'm investing in having my own space and gear so I can create music to the best of my ability and if (only if) I would need usage of a Commercial Studio, it would be for "minimal" usage.

I can't wait to start the building process, I will make sure to take pics and blog (even vlog a little).

RIP Dad

So, on the same day of my last post, a few hrs later...... My father passed away in NYC............................................................................................

My father was 83yrs old, had a full but HARD life... My dad told me that he lost his parents at the young age of 8... He basically had to raise himself along with his two sisters... While developing his love & passion for music, he overcame soooo many challenges throughout his life to the point he was afforded a great opportunity to create a better life for his family by moving from Haiti to USA.

I'm so thankful for him taking that opportunity, (because I probably wouldn't have been born).... I am the youngest of 7 siblings (3-sisters/ 3-brothers & me). I believe that he and I had a special connection.. I was truly blessed enough to be his and my grandfather's name sake. Honestly, I don't know much about and still learning things about my grandparents, but based on how my dad was, I truly believe that they were AWESOME!!!

When I was younger, one of the 1st times I witness the true (physical & spiritual) strength of my father was when I saw him deal with his bout with Prostate cancer and overcame it...Wow!!! To see him go to chemotherapy and deal with the ups and downs truly humbled me.

The 2nd thing was seeing him deal with the loss of my mother, his wife of 32yrs... I was 19 at the time and to personally grieve and also seeing how he grieved was life-changing. My dad was a very private person... Didn't share much, didn't express much publicly, but one thing for sure he wasn't ashamed to show his love and affection towards me all of my life... Most of my siblings (even my mom when she was alive) said that he favored me... Personally, I never believed that (lol), but I truly appreciated his love and affection that he showed consistently all my life.

At the age of 6, my dad sat me down on our piano bench at home and began teaching me the fundamentals of Music Theory and from there I started playing Classical Piano...

I can't imagine where my life would be without my dad's hand in my life. I thank God for his time here on earth and I pray I can carry on his legacy.

Big shoes to fill...smh

Love you forever Dad!! RIP

Jr.

Ok, so I'm a Small-Business Owner?

Being a small business owner in this bad economy for the past few years has been a tremendously, burden & blessing.  I started FamousAmos Music, LLC in Aug. 2008 while living in my apartment in College Park, MD.  I felt that as a Recording Artist with a unique style & sound, it would be difficult to get signed by a Major Record Label... So, I started my own... Uhhhh ohhhhhh..WHAT WAS I THINKING??? LOL

Well, it all started off GREAT!!!! I started writing and producing new music and with the help of my close sister Erica and girlfriend at the time (who is now my wife) Jasmine, I launched a new CD campaign entitled 'TELL THE WORLD"

In Feb. 2009, I released "Tell the World- EP" on iTunes and that's when the journey began... It was exciting cause I also came up with the idea to film my first music video and teamed up with Blue Artists Films, LLC and filmed it... Not too many people know this but the reason I decided to film it cause I knew that it would be difficult to service my single on the radio (because of industry "politics" smh.. that's another story)... but I realized that Music Videos submissions in my music genre doesn't happen often (especially High-Quality ones), so I assumed that certain TV Networks would LOVE to put a new video in their rotation...

My music video did very well on the charts (see below)...the momentum was building up, especially for me being an indie artist releasing a sophomore project... EXCITING!!!!!! But....

As an Indie artist, without resources for Marketing/Promotions to further the success of my video... The "buzz" will die down quicker and unfortunately... it did :-( But, I still learned a lot with the success from multiple Video Award Nominations and great reviews. 

In Sep. 2009 during my 30th-bday weekend, I release the LP version of "Tell the World" locally and raised money to secure a 1300sq. ft facility located at a shopping center in Laurel, MD (pics below)

Moving into a commercial facility as a new small business owner was excitingly nerve-wrecking, LOL.     I didn't have any investors or small-business loans, so all I had was a dream and a drive, smh... So for the next few months, after painting and small remodeling, I started to get settled...  Honestly, I never intended on entering the whole "Commercial Studio" game cause it's almost a dying commodity... All I wanted was a space where I can "create" my music and entertain my clients... Initially, it was a GREAT idea with soooo much potential, but as time passed and the true challenges begin to appear, it became very difficult to see "the light at the end of the tunnel"

My facility was located between a Dentist office and a Sports Bar, smh (#FAIL)... So, unless I pay an enormous amount of money for industry-grade "sound-absorbtion"(which I didn't have) I was going to have a difficult time making music, money and moving forward.. smh... That SUCKED!  Starting in October 2009, months and months and months passed with "trying to make it work out" and after getting married in August 2010,  I really began re-evaluating this "investment"... I kept seeing money go down the drain and began finding it hard to deal with the "balancing-act" of being a husband (provider) and a small-business owner.  Becoming a husband is a serious charge and responsibility... I take it SERIOUSLY, So, while looking around searching for new houses with my wife... I came up with an idea................................................. "why don't I try to break my 36-month Lease with my Studio and buy a house and build my studio in the basement???"  Because the money that I was spending between my studio and house rent could cover a "beautiful" mortgage, smh.

So, I met with the property manager at the shopping center where my studio was located and discussed to what I wanted to do... Well...... MY PLAN WORKED!!!!  The property manager understood my situation and we worked out an exit plan and in March 2011, I was able to break my lease 18-months early with very minimal damage :-)  Initially, after I moved out the studio... I felt like a failure, but I thought about it.... "I want to OWN my own property and no longer RENT and waste money?" so that's not a failure...that's WISDOM!

Well, being a small business owner has it's challenges and after 3 1/2 years, I'm starting to understand much better the mindset it takes to develop and grow my business. 

So wish me luck :-)

First Post :-)

Well, Happy New Year!!!!!

I decided to start blogging in this new year, cause I have a lot to say nowadays, haha... Been in the music biz (musician, producer, songwriter, artist, engineer) for over 15+ years now and I'm starting to realize that things are changing (some for the good and some for the bad, smh).

I feel that blogging can become my "balance" as I witness and/or experience different occurrences (& even frustrations) in my daily life...Plus, I feel that I have a lot of "wisdom" to share to a lot of the younger and "up-n-coming." 

I don't consider myself to be in the "major-leagues" like some other guys like I look up to (Quincy Jones, David Foster, Timbaland, Rodney Jerkins, Tommy Simms, Mano Hanes, Aaron Lindsey...just to name a few)... I haven't won any awards yet, but I do believe that I've acquired a wealth of knowledge in my journey thus far.... 

I've witness the transition from the demand for "Big Commercial Studios" to awakening of "Home/Project Studios."  Nowadays, if you own a Laptop and purchase (or steal/borrow, lol) DAW Software (i.e; Protools, Logic, Nuendo, Cubase, Digital Performer, etc...) you basically don't need access to a Commercial Studio, thus seeing the shutting down of the big famous studios like "The Hit Factory" in NY http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hit_Factory) back in 2005.

In the next few blogs, I'm going to share some of my experiences with trying to develop my career/business... It wasn't and isn't easy... But it made me be appreciate who I am and what I've accomplish thus far.

Talk to you soon