Tag: tips

I was privileged to work with singer-songwriter Melanie Peterson on producing a song for her Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign. One of Melanie's perk offerings was to write a song for a contributor. Melanie wrote a delicate love song with a healthy melancholy. I'm always impressed at how Melanie employs clever wordplay without sounding clever (the double [...]

I recently finished reading a great book by Marc Myers entitled Anatomy of a Song: The Oral History of 45 Iconic Hits that Changed Rock, R&B, and Pop. Myers interviewed the people involved in historically significant songs from the 1940s to the 1990s. He ended his examination in 1991 because, as he explains it, you [...]

Sometimes, the hardest part of the songwriting process is getting started. Once I’ve got an idea, I can hash out lyrics and music fairly easily. Getting past songwriter’s block usually involves coming up with a title and a hook to the song (Thank you, Nashville). More often than not, I’ll get blocked by wanting to [...]

I had the opportunity to take photos during young adult author Melanie J Fishbane's talk at the Hamilton Public Library. I worked with Melanie last year to design her new author website, and photography was certainly an area where some improvement was needed. Usable event photos were especially lacking. I used a telephoto lens so [...]

I’m a creative and intellectual guy first and foremost. I’d much rather be writing songs, playing piano, reading, watching great movies, and learning new things than going for a jog or doing a workout. I feel like this is hard wired in me, so I have to hack my way to engaging in physical activity. [...]

Mental health and taking care of your emotions is so essential to everyone. It’s a great feeling to learn about yourself to the point of knowing the things that work for you and give you joy. I’m still on my journey, and have a long way to go, but here are a few things I’ve learned so [...]

Way back in the day (c. 1988) I started making mix tapes. Now, I realize that these days, a mix of songs on Spotify can be called a mix tape, but I’m talking about the kind of thing that only magnetism and spinning spools can do. Real tapes had restrictions in the way that digital [...]

Following news of sexual misconduct allegations against Hollywood heavyweight Harvey Weinstein, many of my female friends posted “#MeToo” on social media. Some of them even shared their own harrowing stories of sexual assault. Their courage and vulnerability really got to me. It’s one thing to hear about famous people who live a world away, but [...]

This week, I had the privilege of once again being the guest on Song Talk Radio, where I talked about my current songwriting and recording project of progressive electro-pop songs. For this project, I'm abiding by three self-imposed creative parameters: I'm not allowed to use the 4/4 time signature All my lyrics are stream of consciousness, [...]