The 10 Commandments of Goal Setting

So, it's been a while...

I admit, I'm not a regular blogger.  I do sometimes have topics I'd like to discuss, but by the time I have the time to write about it, I've moved on and no longer feel the passion. Yaknowhatimean?

Anyway, I was cleaning out an old email account and came across these commandments.  It's the end of the year and it's about the time most people start to plan for 2014. So, I thought I'd share.

I got this list from the Goals Guy (www.goalsguy.com).

Thou Shall Be Decisive 
Success is a choice. You must decide what you want, why you want it, and how you plan to achieve it. No one else can, will, or should do that for you.

Thou Shall Stay Focused 
A close relative to being decisive, but your ability to sustain your focus from beginning to end determines the timing and condition of your outcomes.

Thou Shall Welcome Failure 
The fundamental question is not whether you should accept failure. You have no choice but to expect it as a temporary condition on the path way of progress. Rather, the question is how to anticipate failure and redirect resources to grow from the experience.

Thou Shall Write Down Thy Goals 
Your mind while blessed with permanent memory is cursed with lousy recall. People forget things. Avoid the temptation of being cute; Write down your goals.

Thou Shall Plan Thoroughly 
Planning saves 10 to 1 in execution. Proper planning prevents poor performance. 

Thou Shall Involve Others 
Nobody goes through life alone. Establish your own "Personal Board of Directors", people whose wisdom, knowledge and character you respect to help you achieve your goals.

Thou Shall Take Purposeful Action 
Success is not a spectator sport - achievement demands action. You cannot expect to arrive at success without having made the trip.

Thou Shall Reward Thyself 
Rewards work! Think of what you will give yourself as a result of your hard work, focus and persistence - you deserve it!

Thou Shall Inspect What Thy Expect 
The Shelf life of all plans is limited. No plan holds up against opposition. Everything changes. Therefore inspect frequently and closely, it's an insurance policy on your success.

Thou Shall Maintain Personal Integrity 
Maintain your commitment to your commitment. Set your goals, promise yourself that you will achieve them. Eliminate wiggle room and excuses. That's personal integrity!

That's it!  Take what you need and leave the rest.

Just in case I have another long hiatus, Happy Thnaksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Lol

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The End

Yup! It's the end of the semester and this is my last blog post. This semester was an interesting mix of of projects. I learned a lot in the recording studio and I did quite a few interesting projects. I'm currently working on mixing a few songs for my Multi-track recording class and a final project for my Computer-Based Production class. This last project is also a little difficult. I was inspired by a classmate to create a loop. Unlike the track I made earlier in the semester which was a combination of already created loops, I plan to create my own loops in Pro Tools, which is actually not as easy as it sounds. As usual, the problem is staying focused on what I have started and not changing everything anytime a new idea pops into my head. So here's a hint at what I'm working on:

By the way - here's the finished Disco Mix...

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Disco DJ?

So now we're on to creating a mix in Pro Tools. I've decided to go with Disco because it's music I haven't used in a while. I loved listening to it as a child. My Mom owned every Donna Summer album ever put out.

But I digress...

I thought it would be fairly easy, since I've done a dancehall reggae mix for a previous class. Welp, not so much. It's a very complicated thing. And I'm not sure that I have enough time to pull it off to my satisfaction.

With reggae, the beats are similar, if not exactly the same. With disco, they all have different BPMs (Beats Per Minute) and some start slow and then speed up ("Last Dance" by Donna Summer). So, I'm gonna give it a try. I'll let you know how it turns out.

In the meantime, here's a lesson on Tempo Matching in Pro Tools.

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Mixing

Today's post is about mixing. I like it. How can you tell if mixing is for you? If you don't mind hearing the same song 250 million times, then mixing might be your dream job.

I'm mixing a song called "Holding Nothing Back" by a Christian Rock group by the name of Damascus Road. They're a pretty talented bunch. I enjoy time in the studio with them.

Anyways, the first thing I had to do was EQ the tracks. There were over 16 of them. Then we get into actually mixing the tracks together to make them sound cohesive.

One thing I know for sure: You can mix a song until forever. I don't feel like I'm done, but I could tweak this song forever. LOL

Here's a photo of my mixing screen:

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Chroma Keying

Soooo, I had to choose a project for class and I decided I wanted to learn how to chroma key. I'm not really sure what I was thinking. It's obvious that I had no idea what a pain it would be.

The thing I hate to do the most is shoot video. If I never have to touch a video camera again in life I will be OK. Yet, when I learned how chroma keying is done, I wasn't deterred.

A classmate took some time to out to show me how to use the green screen and how to accomplish chroma keying in post-production. Shout out to Jonathan for being so patient.

Now that I know how to chroma key, I don't think I will have a reason to use it. LOL

Here's the project...

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