Saturday, June 23, 2012

Concept album progress II...

It's one thing to write an album and pay for all the production out of your own pocket (musician fee's, sound engineer fee's, CD prints and distribution, etc. I'm all too familiar with this one :~). It's another thing entirely to ask several dozen people you know and a majority you DO NOT know to help fund your future concept album! 

I am currently finishing up editing the video to my future (soon to be public) Kickstarter campaign. The editing of this video has gone very well. What was tricky in the making of this video was having it gel with the overall theme of something I haven't completed musically/lyrically, or thematically just yet while gently prodding the 800 lb. virtual gorilla in the room - coaxing it to walk up each one of your magical computer monitor's with it's hand held out and asking for money. Not an easy feat! (No gorilla in the actual video :~P)

Samuel E. Kirkman (highly skilled illustrator/graphic novelist) and I have agreed to merge creatively on my future concept album endeavor. If you would like to view a couple of the rough sketches that Sam has already sent to me (a lot of other visual/audible samples will be available to you via my newsletter as we progress further), simply sign up on my mailing list! (yeah, it's a lure. Simply click on the "Get a Free Song" link on the upper left side of my main web page and add your email address). Once you sign up you will be prompted to download a free song! Next you will soon receive my newsletter in your email box (or spam box) with Sam's awesome samples to view (rough digital sketches) for the future concept album. In future newsletters you will also receive rough song samples (small - 30 second samplers) from my future album. You will also be eligible to win t-shirts, mugs, hats, etc from the many contests I post on my website. Along with all that, you will receive juicy information you just don't see in this here Posterous post.

I am looking at a late winter/early spring 2013 release right now (iTunes, CDBaby, Spotify, Last.fm, etc). I also plan to have a nice physical CD and CD cover laden with Sam's amazing illustrations available around that time as well. I am very much looking forward to the rest of this year and the first half of 2013!

Sam and I are also talking about creating an online digital web comic reflecting the theme of my concept album. This will be a static, "one-time" digital comic (i.e. it will not be continually updated like most digital comic books do).

More news in the upcoming newsletter. Sign up on my mailing list! This is going to be so damn cool!

Much love to you all,

Ian
Posted by Ian Narcisi at 2:07 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Concept album progress...

I am nearly two months into the concept album and I have already vetoed out 2 of the 24 nearly completed songs I was confident I would use. I am writing new material because I just can't handle some of my old songs (old = written in 2010). These songs just don't fit into what I am trying to create. I feel that these two will not be the only ones I remove. As I roll ahead and as the overall concept falls into place more and more, I most likely will discard more and more of my older material. I'm happy with this!

I am approaching this future double album in a whole new way. Sometimes I record the drums first, sometimes voice and sometimes keyboard. Depending on which is used determines how the song will end up sounding. An example of this is when I record drums first. I lay down a track of a simple beat. From this beat comes a basic melody. I record this melody over the drums and BOOM! The song explodes to life. This happened today and, as a result, I got a very cool song (reminiscent of U2's "Joshua Tree" album. Which is one of my favorite albums of all time!) came into existence. As far as where this song will appear in the grand scheme of things (within concept album) is still a mystery. 

It's hard writing a concept album! Questions like: "what is the theme of this concept album?", "where will this song go within the concept album?", "should write the intro and work my through to the end, or what?", "will this song even fit within the theme lyrically?" all come to mind. These are just a few of the many! 

My approach to recording this double album had to grow and unfold in a whole new way. No longer could I simply record each track (drums, keys and vocals) on my convenient little Tascam. Songs had to be butted up aside one another in order to hear how they would work within the whole. To achieve this I had to get creative. Software to the rescue! I had to "master" each rough draft from my Tascam and import them into my PC. From there I had to import them into the actual recording application and conveniently butt the songs against one another. Once this process was mastered I was in awe of what I could do using recording software! I'm still hesitant about recording directly into my PC one track at a time. At this point the aforementioned process works just fine. 

I'm planning on recording at Ballistico in May for the release of another single. This time it will be from my future concept album. More songs will be released over the summer and fall. Exciting stuff!

Congratulations to the winner of my "Weight of the Words" t-shirt! The contest went well. I will be posting a new contest in a week or two.

Thank you to all for listening and your continued support!

Ian

SIGN UP ON MY WEBSITE RECEIVE MY LATEST SONG "Come of Age (New Sun)" AND BE ELIGIBLE FOR ALL MY FUTURE CONTESTS! 

Posted by Ian Narcisi at 9:52 PM 0 comments

Friday, February 3, 2012

Congratulations to the winner of my 2008 "Weight of the Words" t-shirt!

More contests coming up!

Stay tuned!

Ian
Posted by Ian Narcisi at 8:07 PM 0 comments

Saturday, January 7, 2012

I'M HAVING A CONTEST!

I'M HAVING A CONTEST! 

Sign up for my newsletter on my website between Jan. 6 and Feb.1, 2012, and you'll be entered into a contest to win a free "Weight of the Words" t-shirt! Everyone that enters will receive an mp3 of "Burning" from my 2008 release "Weight of the Words". How cool is that! Just sign up, you'll get a free song and you're entered to win a t-shirt - it's that easy! Winner will be notified by email! 

Good Luck! 

More stuff to give away soon!! 

~ Ian ~
Posted by Ian Narcisi at 2:29 PM 0 comments

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Full length video: "In the Studio with Ian Narcisi: The Making of Phone Call to Infinity" released!

NEW SINGLE "Come of Age (New Sun)" available:

Released this one a few weeks back. You can listen to a good chunk of my latest single "Come of Age (New Sun)" on iTunes. You can purchase the song on iTunes, CD Baby, Amazon, Spotify, Napster, etc...

NEW INTERVIEWS:

I will be adding several new podcast interviews to my website in the next few days and will be written up in several blogs over the next month. I will add the blog links to my site as well.

THE FULL LENGTH VIDEO:

"In the Studio with Ian Narcisi: The Making of Phone Call to Infinity" is COMPLETE!

I finally got around to finishing this one! Don't be fooled by the identical "Sneak Peek" intro. I left it the same to save myself about a months worth of time reediting.

Within the full version video "In the Studio..." are interviews with Dave Bowers (guitar) and Erik Swanson (bass) as well as many other interviews with Tim and myself. 

To witness the magic: go to my main page on my website (ianmusic.com), or YouTube. The entire video was shot in HD, so make sure to set your web settings to a 720p (HD) in your YouTube window.

Enjoy! 

MORE T-SHIRTS!:

Due to popular demand I have added some new T shirt designs and mug designs to my Zazzle store ("Phone Call to Infinity" and "Come of Age [New Sun]"). "Come of Age (New Sun)" design by none other than my wife.

WHAT'S NEXT?:

What is next is blowing my mind! I have 24 new songs - some completed, some not - that will be molded and crafted into a concept album. This is a daunting task to say the least! The concept album will be comprised of both instrumental and non-instrumental songs that I have written/will be writing (I may swap newer songs that I haven't even written yet for some of the older ones). The overall theme will be non-religious, spiritually-based and will really kick some serious ass when completed! 

I will be releasing a few songs during 2012 that will be from the concept album. 

I expect the whole enchilada to be completed some time in early 2013.

I may add a few talents to the mix. Dave and Erik will be the backbone. I will be writing all the lyric/song material, playing all drums parts, key parts and singing all vocals.

I will have to out do myself in 2014 with a quadruple CD concept album (only joking?)

Stay tuned and stay safe!

Happy New Year! 2012 is going to kick my musical ass and I can't wait!

Ian

-- 


 
 
 

Posted by Ian Narcisi at 4:47 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

FREE SONG ON MY SITE (ianmusic.com)

All you have to do is sign up (upper left corner of my website) to receive bi monthly newsletters in your email and I will send you my latest song "Come of Age (New Sun)". You can opt out of this at any time.

:~)

- Ian -

Here's the link to get a free song (http://www.ianmusic.com)

Posted by Ian Narcisi at 8:18 PM 0 comments

Thursday, November 10, 2011

New Song available for free!

My latest tune "Come of Age (New Sun)" is available on my site for free! Yeah, you need to sign up on my mailing list (upper left side of my web page)to download it, but no worries there. I only send newsletters once a month if that. Plus you can drop it any time you want (l certainly hope you'll stay :~). As always, this song was a labor of love and features Dave Bowers on guitar, Erik Swanson on bass, and Tim Sandusky as the master sound engineer and co-producer. I play the drums, keyboards and sing. 

If you don't want to sign my mailing list you will be able to buy "Come of Age (New Sun)" on CD Baby, iTunes, Napster, Spotify and many other mp3 stores Monday, November 14th.

More new music on the way. I plan on recording my next song in late January.

- Ian -

Posted by Ian Narcisi at 7:51 PM 0 comments
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