[ddots-l] Re: Employment versus Self-Employment: Options for the Blind Audio Producer
- From: Kevin L Gibbs <kevjazz@xxxxxx>
- To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2011 12:53:56 -0500
Greg,
Thanks for your history. Here's mine.
I have never made a dime outside the music business. I'm now 52 years old. I
started my first band when I was 12 or so. We played weddings through my high
school years and we also warmed up for some major jazz performers in that time.
In my college years I started playing cocktail piano and made a
reasonable living at it through the 80s. In 1990 I moved to San Francisco to
focus on playing jazz. While I did appear in the Monterey Jazz Festival twice
and released a Christmas album on Concord Jazz, it wasn't until I had an
accidental encounter with a label owner while subbing on Christmas Day 1993
that I started making the records that would bring me an international
following and a more serious income as a New Age pianist and composer. I just
finished my 9th album in that series and will probably tour it in Asia next
year.
I'm hoping to expand into more classical composition and film scoring.
Engineering and production are not my strong suits. I'm primarily a composer
and player who leaves the production stuff to the pros whenever possible. That
said, Sonar and Sibelius have been indispensable in my career so far.
thanks to DAvid and Bill and all of you for the help.
Kevin L. Gibbs
On Sep 19, 2011, at 12:31 PM, Greg Brayton wrote:
> I spent the first 8 years or so after one year of college, in a rock band,
> and we opened for some fairly famous people, my hi light I think was sitting
> around and having fun with Muddy watters. In 1983, I came off the road, and
> found employment with our family business. We sold sand and gravel, I
> answered phones and figured out how much material it would take to do certain
> jobs that people wanted to do.
> Right away I formed another band, so I could keep doing music as well. I also
> did a few comercials with a four track recorder.
> My wife and I figured that if I could sell comercials with a 4 track, a
> studio would make it even easier to sell, and I could help people with their
> songs as well as doing my own.
> We borrowed money, and hit up the commision for the blind for matching funds.
> That whole process was a 3 year struggle but we managed to get it done.
> In 1988 I started out, with an akai 12 track, and a roland MC 500. I had no
> idea that computers that would read the screen and do midi sequencing were
> out there.
> I only heard about artic vision for keeping our books. So I just memorized
> all I could on the MC 500 and the 12 track and managed fairly well for a good
> 8 years.
> Sold a bunch of comercials in our local area, and found out that I liked
> doing arangements for other people lots more than i did doing comercials.
> Money was pretty tight though. Even after we got in to tape duplication, and
> my wife doing art work for peoples projects, we struggled. I still had to
> play gigs to make ends meet. Later on I went to a dats, but it wasn't until
> 2000 that I found midi mag, the internet, Gordon Kent, and Bill Mccan and all
> the tools that were out there for us.
> Boy was that a blessing for me.
> But it seems like just about that time, lots of people got in to putting
> studios in there home. This deffinately took away business, and I believe
> that 9 11 hurt us some too. Now I do a lot less than I use to, but I've
> managed to make up for that by working lots more for our church.
> I lead worship every Sunday, and put together a radio show for our local
> station during the week so that brings in money that helps out a lot. I also
> have a fellow that finds other churches for me to play occasionally.
> I never really wanted to work in another studio, so this whole self
> employment thing fit me pretty well. My wife has a good job, and I bring in
> enough to help make ends meet. Not as much as I did in the mid 90's, but we
> do stay ahead of the bill collecters. I feel very fortunate that I can do
> what I do, and I can't think of anything else I'd rather do.
> I'd sure like to hear about what everyone else is doing with their music for
> business or pleasure.
> Thanks Bill for reminding us to share our experiences.
> Hope I didn't go on to long.
>
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