After many years of focusing on producing other artists, it's time. First month is down. Minimum of one single a month from here on out. This month will be a bit ridiculous as well, as I also plan on remixing part of my old Christmas EP both for fun as well as marketing. Tis the season to promote Christmas music, and what better way to showcase how building systems speeds up workflow than to speed mix through a group of songs and still beat the old mix by a landslide? 😂 And so it begins! allbutdenied.bandcamp.com

Sharing your work in D4D: You SHOULD share what you finish here. That's literally the point - we celebrate completions, not just effort. But here's how to do it in a way that helps everyone: ✅ Good sharing: - 'Finished my first full track in 2 years - here's the link. The breakthrough was [specific thing]. Happy to answer questions about my process.' - 'Released this today. Not perfect, but DONE. What I learned: [specific lesson].' - 'This isn't my best work, but I committed to releasing monthly. Here's what I'm working on improving next time: [specific thing].' ❌ Spam sharing: - Just a link, no context - 'Check out my stuff' on multiple posts - Asking for follows/likes/streams without contributing to the community The difference? Good sharing teaches. Spam sharing takes. If you're proud enough to post it, be proud enough to tell us what you learned making it.

Over the last couple weeks finishing "Settle Down", I had breakthroughs that showed me I'm on the right path - both doing and teaching. I finally broke through the problem of listening to my music as an insecure artist. My insecurity? My voice. I didn't dislike it, but I didn't love it either. My favorite singers - Mike Patton, Chester Bennington, Layne Staley, Chris Cornell - are some of the all-time greats. Two realizations hit me: First - I was comparing myself to the elite of the elite. Recipe for failure. And proof? My songs sat primarily for that reason. "Voice not good enough" despite fronting multiple regionally successful bands. Second - I needed to change the lens. I've worked with elite vocalists. I've worked with ones where I redesigned entire melodies to make them palatable. When I stepped back and listened to my music as a producer, not a musician, I realized how much time I wasted. I'm actually starting to like my voice. Never thought I'd say that. If you're struggling with your voice, an instrument, or anything else - how you feel now isn't how you'll feel later. Know where you're going. Don't give up too early.

Hey everyone, just a reminder that even when during these next couple months where spending and financial hits make things tighter for us musicians, there is always time to look at what is going right and who we are blessing/motivating rather than getting in our own way with issues that most likely haven't even happened yet. From one person who constantly needs to take a step back and see "what good is happening right now." I know more than anyone that when things feel complacent and we feel like things are a little stagnant, that is our inner mechanic/emotions trying to get on the next best thing to motivate us. But if we are not careful, that can compress a trait of lack of self worth. That being said, always take time to remember who's lives you affected with your music/work and the people who have your back and support you. It's easy to look at what we are doing wrong and make a overextended list, it's harder to look at where we started off at and give ourselves a pat on the back when it feels like the spotlight is on us.

Last week I ended up spending a good amount of time with Claude AI organizing and structuring the back end of this community, working through some ADHD mental annoyances, and preparing to record video of a brand new song that I wrote a week or so ago. I plan on recording the process on video of everything from showing how I will go from the pre-production mix to the final takes, editing, why certain decisions are made, etc. If there are things you would like to learn about the process, drop them in the comments and I'll see if I can add it in! If you have interest on how you can leverage AI to reduce your cognitive load, I plan on making content about that as well. If you have questions that I can address, drop them below!