josh

2024 has come to a close, and it’s been another exciting musical year filled with new gigs, new gear, new collaborations, and plenty of new courses. Moving forward, I’d like to structure these yearly recap blogs based on my current categories: Portfolio, Studio, Courses, School, and Store.

Here’s a brief recap of the year!

PORTFOLIO

I finally decided to leave Soundcloud after over a decade of hosting my portfolio there. I realized that performance metrics, which were once driven by their algorithm, were steadily declining, and the cost was rising dramatically each year. When I started, it was $40 CAD per year, offering lots of interaction and unlimited uploads/playlists. By the time I left, the price had climbed to $160 USD per year, and the only interaction I was receiving was from spam bots. It just didn’t make sense to stay with them.

So, I downloaded a new MP3 player for WordPress, Sonaar. It allows me to host my portfolio within my own ecosystem, and it looks great. However, there were some issues with the player’s coding, so I had to fully update my WordPress template and work to make the site look the same as before. I think I did a pretty good job! Now the player works perfectly, and I’m really happy with the result. At the moment, my full portfolio isn’t updated yet, as the transition is taking more time than expected, but I’m confident it’ll be worth it!

As for musical releases, I put out an album of hip-hop instrumentals. The style is a bit old school, with some boom-bap and a hint of Lo-fi influence. I also recorded a set of piano improvisations and released them as Rainy Day Improvs. These songs were all improvised on the spot, recorded both audio and video, and are now available in sheet music form at cookmusic.store.

Additionally, I had the chance to create a digital mockup of a big band track for a composer based in New York. The piece, “Christmas in New York,” required me to pick up a new sample library in Kontakt. I now have what I believe is the best big band library on the market (at least for horns), and I hope to work with this composer more in the future.

A particularly exciting development this year was getting on board with Soundbooth Theater as a composer.  This is a dream job for me! I get to work alongside a talented team of composers, geek out over music talk, and create wildly adventurous music across many genres. So far, I’ve composed the credit music for Calamitous Bob (an adventurous hero navigating the land of the undead), Thresholder (a dystopian world with mech-suits and monsters), Industrial Strength Magic (a 9-5 worker with one magical parent trying to figure out where they fit in), and Wriggly Little Hands (think Lord of the Rings, but with goblins instead of hobbits!). The music I’ve created has spanned many styles and influences, and I’m set to do some chapter music for them in 2025. It’s always a pleasure finding composer work, especially with AI encroaching on our field these days.

STUDIO

While my website is mostly back together after the theme update, I still need to fill out the Mixing and Mastering pages. I have enough work to populate them, but it’s just a matter of setting aside time and deciding how I want to advertise my rates.

I also got some new software! Spitfire Symphony Orchestra went on sale, and it’s been a game changer for my orchestral compositions. I also picked up Epic Choirs, which runs separately from Labs or Kontakt but provides an excellent base choir sound—especially now that I no longer have EastWest. Speaking of EastWest, I got rid of my entire collection this year, and I now use that hard drive to store my raw and edited course files.

In other gear updates, I picked up Gold Clip by Schwab Digital, and it’s made a huge difference. My mixes are now 2-3 dB hotter with an even better sound! I didn’t realize just how important a clipper is for getting the best mastering results. It’s now on all my drum buses, and I plan to upgrade to Orange Clip (from the same company) in the future. I also picked up iZotope RX11, the best audio correction and treatment software on the market right now. It’s going to be invaluable for any layer extraction or audio buffing I need to do.

During Black Friday, I grabbed a bunch of Teletone products, which gave me access to some amazing retro ‘80s sounding synths. While I have a lot of Arturia products, these Teletone synths sound far superior in my opinion. I also now have fantastic retro bass, piano, and drum sounds, which I’ve been loving in my GRDN PRTY productions. Lastly, I installed Sonarworks SoundID Reference, which applies a filter to my ASIO, ensuring that my speakers are tuned for my current room. It’s been giving great results so far, though it took a little getting used to.

I had the pleasure of mixing and mastering Skin Writer, a pop/rock album by Toronto-based musician Chloe Watkinson. Chloe is an incredible singer and an amazing person. You can check out the album on all major streaming platforms.

COURSES

Speaking of courses, I’m currently finishing the editing on my 25th course! My goal is still to hit 100 courses by the time I’m 40 (which gives me a few more years!), but it’s an exhausting process. I do wish I could outsource the editing and revision, but when I crunch the numbers, it still makes more sense for me to do it myself. The upside is that I maintain full control over quality, and it’s helping me refine my skills.

This year, I started promoting some of my courses through Instagram. I’m still too nervous to run a full-fledged ad campaign, but I’ve been using simple class ads to attract more followers. I’ve gained about 500 followers since I started running the ads, and some of them have become “super fans.”

Towards the end of the year, I actually started seeing ads for my courses popping up on Instagram as Udemy ads. That was really cool to see, and it made me feel like I’m in good hands with the platform (which I’ve had mixed feelings about in the past).

SCHOOL

Cook Music School hired five new teachers (mostly piano) this year, and we hosted a spring recital in May. As always, it was a great turnout, and the performers did a fantastic job!

I applied for my first grant for Cook Music School. It was for small Toronto businesses under five years old, and I just barely hit the mark. I had a grant writer help with the application, but unfortunately, I didn’t win the grant. Still, it was a great step forward in learning about the grant-writing process, and I’m glad I did it.

The school was also selected to receive help from fifth-year marketing students at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University). I was lucky to be short-listed, as one of the professors involved had worked with me in the past. So far, the students have done a basic audit of the school and found some great ways to help me improve my marketing and brand. Their assistance will wrap up in April 2025.

STORE

The price of the URL cookmusic.store went up significantly this year! I’d like to continue using it, but it may take a while before the store can generate enough revenue to cover the cost of the URL. I might eventually switch to something simpler, like cook-music.ca/store, but for now, I’ll keep the .store URL.

I’ve also added some merch to cookmusic.store. We now offer hats and T-shirts featuring quirky sayings and images. I’d like to release more merch for the school as well. These items are mainly for anyone looking to support, and I might even pick up a couple of the quirky shirts to wear during some of my YouTube shorts.

As mentioned earlier, Rainy Day Improvs sheet music is available in the store. One of my former students, Jonah Ain (who has perfect pitch), transcribed the improvs for me—he was able to notate these pieces much faster than I could!

I’m sure I’ve missed a few things (hopefully nothing too important!), but I think this covers the highlights of the year musically. Catch you in the next blog!

Goals for 2025:

• Score 1-2 short films
• Continue to develop my relationship with Soundbooth Theater and work on plenty of credit themes and chapter music
• Polish my next Seizures Palace album enough to release it late 2025 or early 2026
• Install two new analog compressors (Stam La-2a and 1176 emulations) in my workflow. Eventually, I’d like to upgrade to a new desk by DangerFox, though that’ll probably be in 2026
• Gain traction with successful marketing for the music school. I’d also like to further refine the school’s vision (what do we focus on, what’s our biggest strength?) and run new promotions (first lessons and referrals). Additionally, I’d like to post more often on the school’s Instagram (at least 4 times a month)
• Take a spa trip with my wife to a Scandinavian spa just north of Toronto
• Connect more with friends

That’s it for now – catch you in the next blog!

I thought it would be valuable to have my list of the gear so that clients, especially those inclined with audio knowledge, can better understand what resources are available within the project.  I will also be updating this list once a year as new gear is added/improved along the way.

Last updated: January 2024

ANALOG OUTBOARD GEAR

SSL Fusion – Used as a post-mix or gentle master touch-up unit that pairs well with my analog/digital hybrid approach to mastering.
Check it out here: https://www.solidstatelogic.com/products/fusion

INTERFACES

Universal Audio Apollo x6 – This interface was added to facilitate multiple monitors as well as connect analogue outboard gear.
Check it out here: https://moogaudio.com/products/universal-audio-apollo-x6-16×22-audio-interface

Universal Audio Apollo Twin Mk II – This is my main audio interface.
Check it out here: https://www.uaudio.com/audio-interfaces/apollo-twin-mkii.html

Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 – Used for DJing and as a backup-backup interface
Check it out here: https://focusrite.com/usb-audio-interface/scarlett/scarlett-2i2

SPEAKERS

Genelec 6010a – These little speakers are my secondary reference monitors.
They are great for approximating car audio and since they aren’t connected to the sub-woofer
they help me hear the low-mids/bass without the distraction of sub frequencies.
Check them out here: https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/genelec-6010a

Yamaha HS-80 – These classic white-coned speakers are a staple in the mixing industry.
Having now owned them for 10 years, I’ve really come to know their colour and limitations.
Check them out here: https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/yamaha-hs80m

Yamaha HS-10 – This sub-woofer is the complimentary subwoofer to the HS series speakers.
I mostly only use my sub when checking mixes towards the end of a mix.
When I’m really trying to hear (“feel”) frequencies below 60hz, I activate this sub.
Check it out here: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/HS10W–yamaha-hs10w

Presonus Eris E4.5 BT-4.5″ – As a backup set of monitors I often like to use these
alongside a “car test”when finalizing mixes, after using my main monitors and headphones
to nail down the bulk of the mix.  These are a great reference for how my mixes sound
on consumer grade monitors.
Check them out here: https://www.amazon.ca/PreSonus-Eris-E4-5-Monitors-Bluetooth/

ANALYSERS

Clarity M 5.1 –  From EQ balance, to all level/volume information a mixing/mastering engineer could ask for, this unit is a must on my mixing desk.
Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyWdVf5QICY&t=4s

KEYBOARDS

LaunchKey 49 – The perfect keyboard for integrating with Ableton.  Plenty of responsive pads, sliders, and knobs for full range of expression and dynamic control.
Check it out here: https://www.long-mcquade.com/189548/Keyboards/MIDI-Controllers/Novation/Launchkey-MK3-49-Key-Controller-for-Ableton-MIDI.htm

Roland FP 30-X – This fully-weighted 88-key digital piano is perfect for more lush/full piano sounds that require the touch and range of a full digital piano.
Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO–7dftNUE&t=2s

HEADPHONES

Audio Technica ATH M50-x Headphones – I use these headphones when DJing and in conjunction with my subwoofer to check sub frequency balance.
Check them out here: https://www.audio-technica.com/cms/headphones/99aff89488ddd6b1/index.html

Focal Listen Pro Headphones – These headphones are both somehow flat sounding (which is good for headphones) and have plenty of sub frequencies.
A rare find
Read a review here: https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/focal-spirit-professional

MICROPHONES

AKG C214 – This is my main condenser microphone.  This mic is very versatile and has a professional/clean sound.
Check it out here:  https://www.akg.com/Microphones/Condenser%20Microphones/C214.html

Sennheiser e845 Microphone – I use this mic for on-stage vocals.
Check it out here: https://en-us.sennheiser.com/vocal-microphone-dynamic-super-cardioid-e-845

Shure SM-57 Microphone– A classic mic for recording drums, guitar amps, and punk-rock vocals.
Check it out here: http://www.shure.com/americas/products/microphones/sm/sm57-instrument-microphone

CONTROLLERS

APC 40 Mk II – This DJ controller does it all!  Because the controller is specifically designed to work with Ableton,
the controller works well for mixing together DJ tracks AND simply navigating Ableton faster to help improve compositional/production workflow.
Check it out here:  http://www.akaipro.com/products/pad-controllers/apc-40-mkii

SOFTWARE BUNDLES (+DAW)

Ableton Live 12 – DAW (Digital Audio Workstation).  The software that I use to record and make full compositions.
See it in action in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf8J-GRSPAk&t=3s

Arturia V Collection – In this bundle is a wide spectrum of 25 vintage synthesizers.
Ranging from a modular rack synth, to a Mini Moog, to a Farfisa organ, this collection hosts the majority of sought after vintage synths for composition.
It has often filled in gaps of other libraries and truly is my go-to software for vintage synths.
Check out the full collection here: https://www.arturia.com/products/analog-classics/v-collection/overview#en


Cinesymphony – The full orchestral collection from Cinesamples.
This collection is both incredibly realistic and easy to use.
This is what I use for the bulk of my orchestral work.
Check it out here:  http://www.akaipro.com/products/pad-controllers/apc-40-mkii

East/West Composer Cloud X –  The East/West bundles are some of the best acoustic instrument/orchestral sample packs available.
These instruments range from traditional eastern sounds, to all of the sounds of the western orchestra (hence the name).
Composer Cloud X allows me to rent their Gold Bundle monthly (valued at $15, 000 in software!).
I use this bundle mostly to fill out the instruments/sounds that aren’t included in Cinesymphony (ie. choirs).
More info/full list of products included: http://www.soundsonline.com/composercloud

Izotope Production Bundle – The core of my mixing and mastering tools.
Perhaps my most used piece of software in this bundle is Ozone 9 (upgraded), which I use for mastering.
There are also some great effects in this bundle, among which is Trash 2, one of my favourite distortion units.
See what’s in the bundle in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRurOo4uvmY 

Komplete Ultimate 10 – Full production suite.
From synthesizers, to samplers, to effects, this was my foundation of software to getting started as a professional composer.  I use it to pair with Komplete Ultimate 14 (see below).
Full list of products included: https://support.native-instruments.com/hc/en-us/articles/209550369-Which-Applications-do-the-KOMPLETE-10-Content-Products-Belong-To-

Komplete Ultimate 14 – full production suite.
After waiting years for this collection to beef back up, and fill out the previous edition ’10’ that I own,
this collection of software has some HUGE upgrades and plenty of modern tools for genre specific composition.
Full list of products included: https://djtechtools.com/2023/01/19/native-instruments-komplete-14-bundles-which-is-the-best-for-you/

Spitfire Symphony Orchestra – Used by Hans Zimmer himself, this orchestral sample library gives an instant realistic orchestral feel with nearly all articulations and techniques a composer could ask for.
Full list of products included: https://www.spitfireaudio.com/spitfire-symphony-orchestra

Spitfire Studio Orchestra  – for a more modern and flexible orchestral sound, I often use this library.  With more upfront and clean recordings, there is more flexibility of the room the orchestra sits in.
Full list of products included: https://www.spitfireaudio.com/spitfire-studio-orchestra

Spitfire Classic (Winter Bundle) – orchestral composition suite
This bundle was something that I had been waiting for, for quite some time.  Spitfire is notoriously one of the best orchestral sample tools a composer can purchase, but certainly not the most affordable.  Used by Hans Zimmer and many other famous composers, these samples have an instant professional sheen to them.  To fill out my orchestral tools, this bundle includes group sections and solo instruments (strings, brass, woodwinds), as well as percussion tools.
Full list of products included: Solo Strings, Studio Brass, Studio Strings, Studio Woodwinds, Spitfire Percussion, Thematic Trumpets, Wonderous Flutes
*view individual products on spitfire website

Spitfire Original (Epic Choir) – full choir (vowels)
Wordbuilding choirs aside, this is my most professional choir library for vowel sounds.  It’s not specialized in effects or extended technique,
but simply provides a fantastic basic choir sound to help fill out more lush orchestral scores.
Check it out here: https://www.spitfireaudio.com/originals-epic-choir

Spitfire Soft String Textures – unique solo string sounds

When I’m going for ‘soft string textures’ that had a mix of human feel (re-bowing, a bit of grain and grit), I go straight to this library.
It also has some great warm pad sounds as well that I find myself using in more intimate movie scenes.
Check it out here: https://www.spitfireaudio.com/dan-keen-soft-string-textures

SWAM String Sections – using audio modeling, this collection allows for some very flexibility and playable string sections sounds.  The room placement is amazing for chamber placement, and overall this is the most playable string ssection sample that I own.  Worth noting, this is CPU intensive and requries MUCH automation to get it to sound as realistic as possible.

Check it out here: https://audiomodeling.com/sections/swam-string-sections/

Izotope Post-Production Suite 8 (with RX 11) – This software is the industry’s top choice for audio correction.  From isolating vocals, so getting rid of clicks and pops, this bundle handles all audio restoration needs.  It also includes Dialogue-match, Nectar 4, Neutron 4, Insight 2, and much more.
Full list of products included: https://www.izotope.com/en/products/rx-post-production-suite.html

Soundtoys Academic Bundle – I often use this bundle of analogue style effects when mixing bands, or creating a retro style of electronic music (ie. 80’s Synthwave).
Full list of products included: https://www.soundtoys.com/product/soundtoys-5/

Universal Audio Apollo Bundle  – This bundle has some of the very best analogue based software effects.
What makes this software unique is that it interacts with the Apollo Twin audio interface so that this software doesn’t add any additional stress to ones CPU.
Also, by running these effects you are adding the analogue sound associated with Neve pre-amps (ie. Abbey Road studios).
Learn more about the bundle here: https://help.uaudio.com/hc/en-us/articles/209535566-UAD-2-Apollo-Plug-In-Bundles-Explained

SOFTWARE – SINGLE PLUG-INS

Gold Clip – from all the research I’ve done on clippers, this is the BEST for mastering.  It’s on every one of my master busses and it allows me to get a master as loud as needed without any noticable downside.
Check it out here: https://www.schwabedigital.com/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw4ri0BhAvEiwA8oo6F3mPLSqsIZAgiNpobkHvXPKByfJvH37AjJ1sVRryT-4E2WudTBXZ4RoCgtsQAvD_BwE

Standard Clip – light on CPU and great for indivudual channels, this clipper is my go-to clipper for mixing.
Check it out here: https://www.siraudiotools.com/StandardCLIP.php

C-Vox (UAD) – This plugin is dedicated to reducing noise and isolating vocals.
I use this in my course production to get my voice as crisp and clean as possible.
Check it out here: https://www.uaudio.com/uad-plugins/special-processing/c-vox-noise-reduction.html

Random – This synth creates raunchy distorted synth sounds that often have rich upper harmonics.
You can randomly change the sounds, AND the visualizer is totally awesome.  I use this synth for trap and drum and bass mostly.
Check it out here: https://vst.beatsurfing.com/audio-plugins/random/

Transit – released by Andrew Huang through Baby Audio, this transition plugin is great for big washed-out riser effects.
It’s very useful in many styles of electronic music as well as a great utility in film score transitions.
Check it out here: https://babyaud.io/transit

Master Plan – A great/simple mastering plugin that does much of what the SSL fusion does, but offers some extra tonal goodies
and also offers many of the filtering settings that I usually put after my mastering chain.
Used on masters that I wish to push a bit more (ie. EDM and Hip Hop).
Check it out here: https://www.musikhack.com/

Camel Crusher – A saturation/distortion unit that’s great for colouring the tone of a sound, and adding some grit.
Check it out here: http://www.audiopluginsforfree.com/camelcrusher/

Dimension Expander – This unit is a great way to widen a sound.
It has it’s own unique colouring to the sound as well, so I find it’s uses very hit or miss, but the hits are spot on.
Hear it in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVw-6VZ7nQM

Exhale – A very powerful vocal engine by ‘Output’.
Used for creating ethereal textures, powerful choirs, and chopped vocals.
Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YONkCYwdDZI

Kick 2 – This is a synth engine that specializes in making kick (bassdrum) samples.
In dance music the kick is arguably the most fundamental component to the song.
So to really get the kick sound perfect, this plug-in is the perfect tool.
Check it out in more detail here: https://www.sonicacademy.com/products/kick-2

Lennar Digital Sylenth1 – For analogue synth sounds, Sylenth is my go-to.
Check out some of it’s classic sounds in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4Q4yVx2WBw

Softube’s Saturation Knob – This one knob VST is a great way to add some quick saturation to high frequencies or low frequencies separately, or together.
Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B74Z6R4hVcA

Valhalla Room – A classic room reverb.
Check it out here: https://valhalladsp.com/shop/reverb/valhalla-room/

Valhalla Shimmer – The most unique reverb plug-in I’ve ever had the pleasure of using.
With potentially very long tails, and pitch manipulation, this reverb unit is one of a kind.
Check it out here:  https://valhalladsp.com/shop/reverb/valhalla-shimmer/

Valhalla Vintage Verb – One of the best vintage reverb emulators on the market.
Check it out here: https://valhalladsp.com/shop/reverb/valhalla-vintage-verb/

Valhalla FreqEcho – An echo unit that has added frequency manipulation.
Check it out here: https://valhalladsp.com/shop/delay/valhalla-freq-echo/

Valhalla Space Modulator – A great alternative to flanging.
Check it out here: https://valhalladsp.com/shop/modulation/valhalla-space-modulator/

Waves Bass Rider – A great alternative to compression when mixing live bass guitar.
Check it out here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIHDs1PGGa4

Waves MaxxBass – Perfect for bringing out bass harmonics so that bass is more easily heard on smaller speaker systems.
Check it out here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLyFXxnynfc

Wavesfactory SK10 – A useful tool to add sub frequencies to a kick drum (or other instruments for that matter!)
Check it out here: https://www.wavesfactory.com/product/sk10-drum-sub-kick/

Wavesfactory Snarebuzz – This VST is used to add customized buzz to snare drums.
Hear it in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXGt-_Rhl0Q

Wavesfactory Trackspacer – This is a great tool to use to help separate space in the frequency spectrum between various instruments.
Think of it as a frequency sensitive side-chain compression.
Check it out here: https://www.wavesfactory.com/trackspacer/

Xfer Serum – currently the world’s most powerful and detailed wavetable synthesizer.
This is easily the synth that I use the most.
Check it out here: https://splice.com/plugins/15493-serum-vst-au-by-xfer-records?utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=paid-search&utm_campaign=acquisition&utm_content=plugins

Wishlist

Omnisphere 2 (Spectrasonics)
Keyscapes (Spectrasonics)

2021 has been a unique year for me, to say the least. A year filled with fun albums, nominations, and business expansion. While at the same time getting some serious news about my health, all while dealing with the restrictions of a pandemic. Safe to say, there’s been ups and downs. BUT, that’s expected, and that’s life! The good news is that going into 2022 I’m focused on the positive and I’m ready to take my business to the next level.

How about we get into some of the specifics.

Seizures Palace Album – Eclectric

This album has been in the works for 8 years now! Well, it’s fun to say it that way, but really it was a 2 year project with some songs that I had written up to 8 years ago. A truly eclectic assortment of electronic tunes, Eclectric was the first album where I felt like my mixing was up to par with some of the producers I most look up to. From funky synth tracks, to gnarly drum n bass, and everything in between, this album is my largest yet at 16 tracks! Whether I go with a Seizures Palace EP for my next project, or pursue the development an album under my new artist name ARKITEKT, either way I know I will be putting out some of my best work in the year to come. To check out Eclectric on all major streaming platforms: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/seizurespalace/eclectric

Nominations

Near the middle of the year I was lucky to have been nominated for two awards for my score in the short film ‘The Rage’. The first nomination was for ‘Best Original Score’ in the Ethereal Horror Fest, followed by a nomination for ‘Best Music’ in the Indie Horror Film Festival. While I was selected as the winner in either festival, it was very nice getting nominated, as I feel that’s a great step towards taking home the award in future films. These nominations helped assure me that I’m on the right track as a composer, and have fueled me to continue to improve in 2022.

The Mistletones

Leading up to the Christmas holidays, myself and two friends put together a jazz Christmas album under the name ‘The Mistletones’. Aiming for a 6 song album, we settled at 4 that we were happy with. From straight swing, to some funkier renditions, this small EP has a few flavors to offer. Safe to say we’ll be getting back together again next year for another album, and we’re already talking album themes.

Listen to the album: https://soundcloud.com/arkitektaudio/sets/the-mistletones-vol1

Eagle Syndrome

On a more serious note, this year I was diagnosed with something called Eagle Syndrome. Basically, I have a bone behind my tonsils that has grown to the point of affecting my speech. Close to two years ago now, I broke the bone on my left side, and as a result it reformed in such a way that it is pressing in on my left tonsil, and effecting the symmetry of my pharyngeal palette. In short, after speaking a lot, or too loudly, I start to feel slightly choked (like there’s a golfball in my throat) and my singing voice has been pretty seriously compromised. As such, I have shortened my work days slightly, but am now working 6 days a week to help keep finances in a similar standing to before my injury. As it turns out, demand has been higher than ever, and the 6 day work week with reduced hours has been a great balance for me. However, I’m now at a point where I have to turn down new students, and so the next logical step is to expand my business by hiring other teachers under me. Which brings us to…

Cook Music School/My Music Staff

Gone are the days where I use a dedicated notebook for all of my business filings. Previously, I was using this notebook for scheduling/payment information, while using a google doc for my wait list and client information, and word for customizing each invoice sent out. This hodgepodge of admin processes lead me to seek out something more cohesive and simplified. This brought me to the CRM (customer relationship management) software My Music Staff. This CRM allows me to store all client information in one location, place clients in various stages of the business cycle (ie. Wait list, active, trialing, etc.), generate automatic invoices and receipts, sync all scheduling directing with my calendar (as well as clients calendars) and even accept automatic credit card payments for lessons. Once I understood how to best utilize this software I was ready to build my next website, this time for ‘Cook Music School’. I am now at the stage where the website is more than halfway built, all contacts are in draft form, the CRM is fully set-up, and job interviews are scheduled for early in the new year. My hope is to have 3-5 teachers as part of Cook Music School by the end of 2022, and to be very selective with teacher selection so that only the best teachers are part of this team. Having worked at a ‘brick and mortar’ teaching school in the past, I understand that the overhead for running such a business can be quite high, so by building this business around an online model, I can pay my teachers what they’re worth. My thought is that a well paid teacher is a happy teacher, and a happy teacher makes for a happy student. Although the site is still being created, keep posted at cookmusicschool.ca to see how the school is developing.

Looking back at 2021, at first glance it didn’t seem like there were so many eventful moments. That is, until I sat down to write this blog and really thought through all of the events that composed my year. I’m left feeling grateful for finished projects and new opportunities, and feeling optimistic about healing on a physical level. Here’s to another great year ahead!

Where does one start…?
What does one say…?

2020 was off to a great start, and then COVID-19 hit.  I’m lucky that my living space has a set-up for online lessons and I had some very loyal students stick with me through the year.  While my business didn’t expand as I was hoping, it was nice to take the reduced hours as a way to improve the website, my shopify store, and other entrepreneural activities.  Which leads me to my two biggest compositial projects to day.  Scoring the short horror film “The Rage” and composing a song for a Marc Anthony commercial and Tiktok campaign.  Let’s talk about those first.

The Rage

This was a GREAT opportunity for me to tap into my love for horror films and sound design.  Since the film’s lead villain is a grandma I didn’t expect to take the compositional approach that I did, but the contrast really paid off.  The theme for Clare, the grandma, turned out to be a more Rob Zombie inspired distorted synth part, and somehow it worked beautifully.  Between these distorted synths, some creepy atmospheric sound design, and the main piano theme, this short film gave me the opporutnity to permutate these themes, blend them together, and really tap into how each theme related to the characters.  Similar to the last horror film I scored, “Coming Home”, the piano part actually came to me about 1 week before I was even offered the gig.  This creepy piano theme was simple, and explored some new harmonic tricks that I hadn’t tried in the past.  You can purchase the main piano theme HERE, or listen to it HERE.  To be honest this film has now recieved over 20 awards but the poster can only hold so many laurels, so we’ve picked some of the best awards to highlight.  Biggups to Steven DeRock for submitting this piece to so many festivals, and having our film shown in Hollywood as part of a LA film festival.  The hope is that the crew can work on this horror film in an expanded full feature film in the future, and wheels are in motition so stay posted!

Marc Anthony Commercial

YES!  Commercial writing might be the only type of compositional work that I love as much as writing for horror content (OK…and video game content is way up there too…) so these two gigs back to back were a blessing!  Big thanks to Sandy Kim, Artistic Director for Marc Anthony, for getting me on board with this project.  The commercial went though a few types of some styles to really hone in the sound that the crew had envisioned and the experimentation ended us up with a well suited product.  We were aiming for something slightly edgy and funky, originally with more urban undertones, but overtime zoned into the funky fresh track that you can listen to HERE.  The track has some inspiration from the newer Dua Lipa album released this year, as it seems funky material is coming back full force!  The contrast between the horrific material in The Rage and the fun and funky sound of this commercial was not only refreshing as a composer but also a fun challenge to switch mood to dramatically back to back.

2020 is a “count your blessings” type of year for me.  Yes it was a struggle at times (more mentally than anything), and YES I acquired a likely permanent voice injury heading into the pandemic (more on that another time I suppose), but I’ve learned to roll with the punches and keep pushing at my craft as intensely as I can without burning out.  I’m looking forward to finishing up the layout of the shopify store in 2021 and then from there it’s about writing writing WRITING!  Now that my songs will have a home where I can easily license them, and I have full control over my ownership, I’m ready to double up my workflow to keep a consistent stream of compositions coming out for licensing projects.  There’s more to announce, as I’m writing this near the beginning of 2021, but I have to save something for next years wrap-up blog, so stay posted!

ADVANTAGES OF ONLINE LESSONS

1. RECORD IT – Use OBS software to record your screen/audio during the lesson https://obsproject.com/
2. SAVE MONEY – Online lessons wave the $5 transportation fee that is included in my house-to-house lessons pricing
3. CUSTOMIZABLE – Adjust the position and volume of your phone or laptop
4. TWO PIANOS – My position for these videos is in front of my piano, so demonstrating things visually works out very well
5. NO GERMS – I feel this point is more relevant now than ever before, being self-isolated and all.  Germs can’t get passed on if we’re not in the same room.
6. DIGITAL NOTES – Creating notes through google docs makes sharing notes easy, and helps save on using paper.  Here’s a link to Google Docs: https://docs.google.com/
7. MORE LESSON SLOTS – The more students I teach online, the more students I can fit into my schedule.  Subtracting travel time opens up 1-2 lessons slots per day

DISADVANTAGES OF ONLINE LESSONS
*See solutions in the following section ‘Streamlining the Lesson Process’

1. INTERNET CONNECTIVITY ISSUES – Sometimes video or audio can cut out, glitch, or freeze during the lesson.
2. ODD CAMERA ANGLES – If the setup for the lessons is limited, sometimes the angle of the camera facing the piano can be compromised
3. ATTENTION SPANS – Sometimes younger students have a harder time focusing or sitting still when there is no adult in the room.
4. LATENCY – The video is delayed by about 1/2 a second
5. NO ONE-ON-ONE PRESENCE – Sometimes it’s just nice having a human being, in the same room as you, teaching you.  Alas, digital lessons do not offer this.
6. POOR VIDEO QUALITY – Some phones/laptops that are too full or are an older model can have poor video quality.
7. SETUP REQUIRED – Generally once the first lesson is set up the process runs well, but the trial-and-error during the setup can be daunting.
8. TRANSLATION OF MATERIAL – Since I don’t have all of the beginner books available (there are a lot!) some work is required to get the correct material sent my way.

STREAMLINING THE LESSON PROCESS

A smooth lesson is really just a lesson with as few of the above listed disadvantages as possible.  So let’s discuss how to eliminate these issues as much as possible.

1. INTERNET CONNECTIVITY ISSUES – I recommend having the lesson in a room that’s close to your WIFI router just to assure we’re both doing all we can to get good connectivity.  On my end, I’m teaching 1 foot away from my WIFI router and also have an attachment for my laptop to plug directly into the router if needed.  If the lessons still has a bit of glitchiness, often a restart of the chat helps.  I’m happy to add on extra lesson time if/when tech issues arise.
2. ODD CAMERA ANGLES – This goes along with number 7, but it just takes some experimentation.  If you have a tripod, I recommend getting an ULANZI mount, so you can mount your phone to your tripod.  Here’s a link to the device. https://www.amazon.ca/Ulanzi-ll065-Tripod-Smartphone-Adapter/dp/B06WGLD92N
   If you don’t have a tripod, see if you can angle a phone down from a higher shelf, or put some books on a chair to raise up a laptop.  It helps if I’m looking down on the keys.  The ideal position is as though I’m standing beside and behind the student as they play.  Here’s a picture of an example setup, and the resulting framing.
   
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3. ATTENTION SPANS – Simply having an adult in the room often remedies any attention problems.  Even if the parent is sitting and reading, the presence of an adult figure helps keep the younger students focused.
4. LATENCY (TIME DELAY) – This, unfortunately, has been the hardest issue to work around.  Even with fast internet and great devices, latency tends to be present while using a free application like Google Hangouts, Facetime, or Skype.  This means it’s harder for me to count along with students, so often a demonstration on my end is used to help sort out counting/rhythm issues.
5. NO ONE-ON-ONE PRESENCE – Although there really isn’t any absolute way around this, using headphones with a microphones can help immerse the student more into the lesson experience.  Also, more engagement with the camera also helps with the teacher/student relation.
6. POOR VIDEO QUALITY – Make sure your camera or laptop isn’t full to the brim.  This will slow down other apps, and can even affect the quality of your camera.  If the quality of your phone or laptop is poor because the device is old or faulty, then an upgraded device is the only real solution to that problem.
7. SETUP REQUIRED – Depending on the layout around the piano, this process can generally be a “set it and forget it” experience.  For me, my mount and laptop stand are always ready for me to set up the devices quickly.  So, although it took some experimenting for me to get it to this point, the setup is now done.  I recommend trying to set up your digital lessons in a similar fashion.  Now, to clarify a bit of a contradiction, you can’t really have a “set it and forget it” setup if you’re using a tripod, and yet I’ve recommended that you use a tripod if you have one.  Well, tripods do set up quite quickly and the quality of the framing will be well worth it.  Just try to manage how intricate your setup is, as you don’t want it to stress you out.
8. TRANSLATION OF MATERIAL – This doesn’t have to be a repeated task.  My recommendation is to send over a clear picture of the following, including page numbers where applicable: updated note, and song material.  For beginner books, please feel free to send the current song followed be the rest of the songs in the book.
   *For more advanced students, and students studying for a RCM grade, please also send: studies and technical summary. Sight reading material and theory material can be sent in blocks.  Please discuss this with me for guidance.

So, that’s it!  You don’t need to hit every one of these solutions to have a great online lesson.  However, I thought it would be worth offering an approach towards making the online lesson experience easier for everyone.  I hope you enjoyed it and if you think I missed any key points, or have any follow-up questions, please feel free to drop a comment in the section below!

With the craziness (and illness) of the holidays behind me I’m ready to dive into 2020.  But before that happens, it’s always a good idea to look back and revisit the previous year.
Here’s my 2019 wrapped and my goals for 2020.

What were my 2019 goals and did I accomplish them? 

Firstly…I got married on June 15th 2019.  Tori and I had an amazing wedding and soaked in some of our best memories with some of the best people.

Going into 2019 I didn’t have as much structure as I should have.  As such, my goals were quite loose.  I wanted regular upkeep of the website, more socials media/youtube presence, and more freelance work (and a steady work schedule as a foundation).

My teaching schedule has been totally full most of the year, which relieved most financial stress.  Also, because of the higher demand I was able to increase my hourly rate.  Now that my teaching schedule is full, the aim is to keep it that way and continue to balance this with freelance work.  Also, all recitals in 2019 were well attended and went well and I have some improvements that I want to implement in 2020.  Such as: add clip to sheet music stand; more student prep for mic technique; set up a google calendar invite; etc

How did I grow as an individual/artist?

In 2019 I had the pleasure of working on the film ‘Coming Home’, which you will find in my portfolio soon.  For this short film I did all composition work as well as post-audio treatment.  The post-audio work was quite difficult, but was a good challenge in audio treatment.  It’s a reminder as to why buying Izotope RX in the future will be a good investment.

I also did some composing for a short animation for the recycling company ‘Husky’ – https://vimeo.com/377378588

Also, work for Jim Harris from related.com has been steady.  Essentially the project is that he picks some Emerson, Lake and Palmer songs and has my good friend Matt Karas notate them.  Matt then sends me the MIDI files from the notation software and I assign virtual instruments to the various parts.  Then I can send back the song back to Jim in any combination of parts.  That project has been going on for a while now and has been some great/steady side work.

In 2019 I got obsessed with the stock market, and reading books on the psychology of trading helped me learn a lot more about myself.  This is leading me to reading more about psychology and also meditation, and has helped me clear my head so that my goals are more clear and my schedule is balanced.  I feel like I will likely write a blog post at some point about how the skills as a pianist/music producer overlap with the skills of a stock trader, but that’s for another day.

What are my 2020 goals

In 2020 I want to be more rigid about following my calendar strictly.  I know that my schedule has a good balance of work, fitness, mindfulness, entrepreneurial endeavors, and time for family/friends.  If I can just follow it I know my home/work life will only get more balanced, and I can be more efficient with my time.

I followed the procedure by Warren Buffet where you write down your top 25 career goals, then make a second list with only the top 5.  I took my top 5 goals and integrated that with creating my ideal work week (something I hear ‘growth mindset’ people doing all the time).  In the end is looked more stressful than helpful, BUT it’s not the case at all.  Some of the time allotted is for the gym, meditation, composition, etc.

So what are my top 5 career goals?
1) Lifestyle/Social Interactions (I can be a hermit sometimes, time to break out of my shell)
2) Stocks – focus on consistency
3) Expand and organize Music Library (working with Artlist.io should help with this)
4) Create more online courses
5) Create more Youtube videos (and generally improve social media presence)

These goals should keep me busy in 2020.  If I can stay consistent with this schedule I know I will seriously grow as an artist!

That’s it for now, until next time!

As December progresses, I can’t help but to think back and reflect on 2018.  This last year has presented many challenges, but luckily mostly challenges that I’ve posed towards myself.  From diving into more finite details on the website, to purchasing the East/West orchestral collection, to later purchasing the full Adobe bundle, I’ve had my hands full learning new software for the better part of the year.  That said, the solution to any technical challenge isn’t much further than a couple of Google/Youtube searches away.  Also, is helps to have friends that specialize in whatever new software you might be exploring, but learning the software is only a small part of the entrepreneurial climb to success.  The hard part for me was justifying the allocation of funds to be able to afford these monthly subscription services.

This year I have been blessed to have worked on demo music for Sea Doo, Mark’s, Campbell’s, and Canadian Tire, and through these demo fees I have been able to fund the recent upgrades to my gear.  That said, I might not have gotten these gigs had I not first invested in this new gear…call it a leap of faith…and it paid off!  Hear me out for a minute.  If I invest money into a company that I’ve put a lot of research into, I have to hope that the business stays as relevant, functional, innovative, and hard-working as when I first invested, which is not always the case.  However, if I had enough belief in myself and my business as an entrepreneur, then I could deem myself a worthy investment, knowing that I’d get a good return.  Now, I’m not saying to go out and get a new BMW because it will help your real estate business look more professional.  Instead, what I’m suggesting is to, over time, suss out what you think would be worthy purchases to help push your business forward.  Essentially, you’re investing in your own brand.  You do this when you get a haircut before a job interview, and when you buy software/hardware that helps you create a better product.  When I say “investing in your own brand” I don’t just mean in visual brand aesthetics (ie. new office space, new car, new suit), but more importantly in purchases that will help your work/art return a better profit.  Of course, this isn’t all about profit.  You may want to just create art that speaks more truthfully to your artistic soul, but evaluating and augmenting the worth of your product is necessary in the longevity of your artistic career.

So, ask yourself where you fall short in terms of relevant technology, art supplies, marketing etc.  From there, write down how these purchases could generate more income, and then commit to using these purchases to expand your business.  If you aren’t sure if this purchase will even generate income, start small and suss out the situation.  You don’t need to buy $1000 worth of google ad words when you’re first starting out.  It’s no different than crabs finding newer/bigger shells when they’ve outgrown their old shell.  For a while, the initial shell will work fine, but try to determine when it’s appropriate to take the leap of faith, and get into a new shell as you start to feel limited by your resources.  You don’t want to be that artist that buys all of the best gear at the start of their career and never learns how to ‘fully’ use any one piece of their collection.  But, you also don’t want to be the beaten down artist that doesn’t believe in themselves enough to invest in their own art.  Find the balance that works for you, and each year (or maybe even more frequently) assess if you need to expand, downsize, or keep your business as is.  You’ll make mistakes, and you’ll have great successes…it’s all part of the journey!

Perhaps this blog is just a way for me to justify having recently purchased the Adobe Creative Cloud bundle, but let me tell you…it rocks!  I’m seriously feeling like my Youtube game is going to increase exponentially in 2019.  For more details on this bundle, click here.

So far I’ve been really loving After Effects, be sure to check it out!

Towards the end of summer 2018 I was working on my ‘Composition Blueprint’ form (located in my composer/sound designer page), and ran into a couple of snags.  I wasn’t able to get the spacing quite right, columns were difficult to put beside each other, and I generally wasn’t thrilled with my limited stylizing options.  Of all of the form building options, Ninja Forms got me closest to what I was looking for and had a VERY helpful team of individuals that were quick to respond, and helped me get my form into better shape.  But still, free form builders can only get you so far.

I decided to reach out to see if I might be able to create some music for them, in exchange for their Layout and Styles add-on.  As it turns out I reached out at an opportune time, as they were just about to start a new set of Youtube videos.  In exchange for creating short intro and outro theme songs for these videos (in the style of chiptune/chillwave) they offered a subscription to their Layout and Styles plug-in.

This was definitely a great deal for both parties.  Ninja Forms now had improved branding going forward with their future media projects, and a well-suited composer for any future video projects.  My benefits came in many forms.  My blueprint looked just as I wanted it to and they even helped me with some back end coding to really tidy it up perfectly.  Also, I would soon have another portfolio piece to share once their new videos were up, AND they even gave me a spotlight on their website because of my unique use of their form builder.

As of right now I have used their form builder to create a ‘Composition Blueprint’, where  a client outlines the scope of their project to help guide the beginning stages of their custom composition.  From this I can get a better understanding of their budget, timeline, aesthetic preferences, and other pertinent information.  I believe it was this use of the form that caught the attention of Ninja Forms, and lead to this SPOTLIGHT ARTICLE.  Their writer, Quay, did a fantastic job at outlining my path as an entrepreneur thus far.

Moving forward, I would also like to build one more form so that potential students can detail the sort of lessons they are looking for (piano/voice/digital music production, preferred style, lesson duration, etc.)  I know that as I build this next form, the support offered by Ninja Forms puts me in good hands and will allow me to shape the form exactly as I’d like to.

All-in-all, I would have never had the opportunity to write music for ninja forms, nor would my forms be as stylistically perfected as I’d like them to be, had I not simply reached out to the company to see if trading services would be of benefit to both parties.  They were a great team of individuals to work with, and it was an honor having the opportunity to work along side them.  Here’s hoping we will get to work together again in the future!

To learn more about Ninja Forms, check out their site HERE