Demo And Album Versions

Recently I had the joy of listening to some demos of songs from an album that a friends’ band put out.

There were a few songs where the album versions were waaaay different than the demos.

And I love that because to get from that demo to that album version requires a creative a leap that can be so hard to make.

Because even though it’s called a demo, the demo is already ‘how the song goes’. It feels etched in stone.

So to move the bridge to the intro, keep the chorus lyrics but completely change the melody, and only drums in the verses…it’s amazing the emotional and creative flexibility it shows. It’s evidence of working together, digging in, and a scary level of intentionality.

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Job Shadowing

Most of us tend to forget about it after high school. And for sure after college.

Two things…

Job shadowing is a good idea at any age.

And

The job shadow ought to be from sunrise until sunset. It’s important to learn about the job and just as important to see what kind of life the job might help create. The neighborhood that it may lead to, the anxiety level of the house, the family relationships, is there enough time to take a walk after work, does work stay at work or does it come home, do people call after hours, if so is it a happy phone call or a stressful one, what time is bed time.

»» As artists and musicians we know that if someone wanted to job shadow us and stand next to us on stage to find out what that’s all about…that ain’t the job. The bulk of the job is the other twenty three hours.

»» My guess is that if anyone (at any age) emailed you with genuine enthusiasm about the possibility of job shadowing you, you’d entertain the idea. So don’t be afraid to be the shadower either.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

If You're Making A True Crime Podcast...

You can ask around and find out what the best practices are.

Ten years ago there weren’t true crime podcast best practices.

But now there is a method and a rhythm and an accepted way to put a true crime podcast together. So you don’t need to dream it from the ground up, you just need to study and learn from what’s already happening in the genre.

So two things…

There’s going to be a new thing that needs best practices to be written into the culture.

If the best practices are already written, don’t waste time by trying to figure them out yourself.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Acting Like A Big Artist

Small artists and amateur artists don’t think they have to put much time and energy into building their show.

Big artists and great artists know they have to put a lot of time and energy into building it.

It’s not a question of which camp you’re currently in, it’s a question of which camp you want to be in…and then start acting that way immediately.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Two Things About Being Great

When you’re great and you succeed at high levels, a couple interesting things happen at the same time…

You get the benefit of the doubt. Because you already proved you’re great.

Expectations are high. Because you already proved you’re great.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Only So Much Energy

If you’re a spaceship in an intergalactic movie, you can go faster, you can increase your defense shield, or you can increase your blasters…but not all three…the ship can never handle all three.

If you’re custom NBA Jam character you get to choose where to spend your avatar bars…do you want to use them all on height and dunking, or spread some around to shooting and speed and defense too?

If you fuel up in Nashville you can drive to Atlanta or Cincinnati, but not both.

A simple metaphor worth remembering.

Where will we spend our (limited) energy?

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple