What’s Up?

(A running commentary on events, results, and plans here at Mix Horizon Music)

(Newest To Oldest)

11/09/24 I have added my Stay In America recording back into Hiddyn In Plain Sight. I feel it should remain published only as the counterpoint to the rewritten version released this week, The yin yang aspects are profound…the original a happy tribute to a past concept…the latter a funeral dirge. They go together.

11/08/24 Interestingky, at least to me, is after almost 6 months of constant practice, I realzie that a brain in its low 70s does not have the neuroplasticity that allows complex patterns to be learned. I have played some songs literally a hundred times and I still forget where to go in that part of the song, and how to forms the inversions. Plus I have very thick fingers so it is a guarantee I will mistrike side chords as I play. Because I do this only for my own enjoyment, though, I no longer worry or even try to prevent the mistakes, It is who I am. And also the reason I will NEVER play for anyone who wants to hear me. LOL. MOST IMPORTANTLY, I feel I am staving off any incipient Alzheimer’s issues by forcing myself to try to learn these patterns every day. Another plus!!!

11/06/24 I have deleted my Stay In America recording. It was written for a concept of America that does not exist. This nation has been overcome by ignorance and greed. :( I have recorded an unplugged version and posted it to Bandcamp and soundcloud. Picking up a handful of plays.

10/25/24 I have spent the past few weeks practicing piano and learning new ways to be more efficient. There are many patterns for the same chord, and you choose the one lthat gives you the least motion between chords OR is the easiest to transition to (same thing I guess :)). I have had two bouts with the same cold in the past month so that has had my foggy brained at times. Meanwhile, Andria’s Best Hand has soared past 1500 plays on Soundcloud, making it three times more successful than any other release. As a comparison, I released a remastered and renamed halloween song last week (Fright Night) on SC, and it has just broken 120 (it is on Bandcamp as The Halloween Song still. I am not in it for the plays, though, as I do not make music for an audience. I do it just to be better at it abnd to leave behind something worthwhile.

09/28/24 Placed Andria’s second song on my NEW MUSIC page. We released this a few days ago and it has had over 200 plays on soundcloud and over 30 on Bandcamp! Nice launch for a wonderful artist!!!

09/22/24 New piano stand arriving today so I can really get to it practicing! :). Also, I uploaded about 19 more songs to all the streaming services thru Distrokid. There is a quirk with Spotify we are correcting, in that all those new songs are going to an unverified Ken Mitchell page. Distrokid is working to correct that. :). So now there are 26 of my best songs from the current era up on Spotify, Apple, Amazon, etc. :)

09/07/24 My wonderful artist, Andria Mason, is enjoying her new EP fully, now finished, available on Bancamp in its entirety, and as the first single on Soundcloud, and this site under New Music. Soundcloud is still throttliong me so I have written in to complain. My man Davis Mooore’s rap poem track has been sent to him for his approval. I spent today getting back to hours of piano practice to sharpen transitions and song patterns.

08/31/24 New Kenny Dodge song added to the NEW MUSIC page and Bandcamp. Our first collab in quite a while and it’s a goodie!

08/30/24 Remastered I Just Stepped On A Rake. Much better version now. Almost done with the original track upgrade. :). Cleaning up my Extras album with a rename to Odds and Ends, and just posted. That pretty much is all my latest catalogue since 2018.

08/26/24 Conversion of all links to Bandcamp is complete. They made it VERY easy. I am still on Soundcloud for several more months, as I pay the subscription annualy. Meanwhile I will research to see how to use Bandcamp effectively. :).

08/24/24 I am definitely movnig off Soundcloud. I have re-embedded most of my albums on my Recent Works page to link to Bandcamp now. One stil links to Soundcloud ( a compilation album o f works available on the others), but I will fix that in the next few days. I now have to do the same for the new music page, which has the individual track links.

08/23/24 I have just about wrapped up my artist Andria’s requests for little changes in her four tracks. I finished up the build of my long-time artist Kenny Dodge’s latest, Truck Drivin Man. I am also remxing his I Miss You, since I can now split his original mono vocal/guitar track into two pieces, for a much better final product. Hoping to publsih some of these in the next few weeks. Still haven’t decided on Soundcloud…very substantial annual coast for very little benefit. We will see…

08/21/24 Fixed the 404 page to default to my homepage in case of online search failures. I have been enhancing with added instrumentation and vocals, and/or remixing, four tracks sent to me by a wondeful artist, Andria Mason. They are in the final stages of mastering and I hope to start relkeasing them next week. Gonna set up a Bandcamp EP and a Soundcloiud Album under my name until we get her her own sites. It has beena joy to work with such talent. :). My other projects have slipped a bit,as it has been a very busy summer with my now-retired wife. :). But it will all get done. And today I have a mid summer cold (hopefully not Covid). “On and on it goes, dum de doo dah….”

07/13/24 Added my latest ambient track to NEW MUSIC, and switched out Mother To Be to the alt mix. Updated my Studio Tools page. I have had my LX-61 midi keyboard for 4 months, but forgot to add it to my list here. I have been pacticing diligently and have become quite the keyboard player, and ever-improving. Also of note: Soundcloud has blocked me for following back, with too much abandon, people who follow me. Apparently, one is suppsoed to listen to these artists before you follow them back. I thought we were just supposed to support each other with “blind” follows. My bad, so I am currently gettng no exposure for my new tracks, at $12 month. Good deal, eh? ‘S Alright…my fault. I WAS getting 200-400 plays on each new release…now I get 5. As Lennon once sang, I’m A Loser. Only kidding! LOL

06/28/24 Updated my Studio page to reflect the type of studio I have, to avoid confusion that mine is a massive, multi-room affair. It is a cozy home studio with mainly digital tools. I also made clear that if you don’t contact me through my site, I will more than likely see you as a scammer. Sorry…

06/04/24 I am meeting with both my current local artists in the next week, I hope to have Davis’s latest out very soon, plus I am working with Kenny Dodge to pick the next remastered song of his that we made a few years back. Both artists have had a decent run of plays on my Soundcloud presence. I am also beginning work on a new ambient piece to be called “Satori”, as well as a new lyric-based song callled “In Love With Love”. Since my wife’s retirement in March, we have been happily busy cleaning out our attic, taking day trips, exercising, meeting friends. Life is a moment to moment “inner joy” for those who can accept it as such, even when thihngs are at their “worst”. :)

05/28/24 I think I hurt my newest release by deleting it from soundcloud altogther and then reloading a newer mix. Somehow that must remove it from the normal exposure cycle. So different from my last5 or so issuances, most of which reach at least the 200-plus play level, with a few in the mid 300s. No biggie. Lesson learned. From now on I will make the track private until I am ready to reload. Mother To Be is a wonderful production, and all that matters is that it is done and out there. :)

05/23/24 New pop music out.! Mother To Be, a song I wrote in 1982 for a dear friend, just after I had met Janet, who watched me perform it live for this friend. Hope you enjoy it!!

05/15/24 Logic Pro 11 is out and installed. I do not have the M1 chip so two functions are nit available to me at this time, but neither is that important right now. The great majority of the new features and soundpacks are here. :)

05/14/24 Been doing a lot of piano practicing, learning more complicated pop songs to get my variety and transitions down. Come a long way. Started recording a new song yesterday with live piano. :). Also wrapping up the latest spoken word track with Davis. And my buddy from my band has sent a song for Christmas which we will record at some point. But mainly, with my wife retired, we have focused on decluttering the house…been fun and effective…so a little less free time than in the past. But it is great! More soon!

04/27/24 I have gone to a dropdown menu format for my page listings. Much neater and easier. THe two pages with music on them are split out to the side, as a “shortcut’. :)

04/24/24 Have had a cold the past four days so very low energy attempts. Finished up adding tracks to my granddaughter’s recording for her mom’s wedding. But that will remain a private track. Made headway on Davis’s next piece. What was most interesting is that when I tried to play all the songs I basically had down pat on my piano, it was like a major disconnect between my fingers and brain LOL. It is still kinda happening as I type this out. I chalk it up to the OTC meds I had to take, and exhaustion. More to follow. My new business cards come in tomorrow. I took off my home address now that I have a larger following. :). Cheers!

04/17/24 I Will Always continues its strong run on Soundcloud. Only 22 plays away from being my number one release…the spot currently owned by Jingle Cats. I am currently adding the musical foundation to Davis Moore’s new, lengthier verse. Gonna be great, as he us a wonderful writer and speaker. One my flight home Sunday, I met a cellist from Cambridge, Nick Spencer, who was a delight to talk with. Hopefully at some point we will get together and make a bit of music while we continue our great chat. Finally, my piano skills are coming along quickly, as I have figured out and can play complicated songs like The One, Yellow Brick Road, Philadelphia Freedom, by Elton…Magic by Olivia…God Only Knows by Brian…etc. Having a ball!!! Also noticed I had the wrong year on the four prior entries LOL. Those have been corrected.

03/22/24 I Will Always released to the world!!!

03/30/24 I Will Always doing very well on Soundcloud…up to 312 plays, just 30 or so away from my all-time high. But the run is basically over, so very pleased. Working on a new track with Davis Moore. Have upgraded my Distrokid postings, that being the website I use to post my tracks to Spotify, Apple, etc. Have about 12 songs up there, but going to add quite a few more in the next few weeks. I actually made around $4 clear from the streaming sites! May not seem like much but I ACTUALLY MADE MONEY in the real world of published tracks LOL. Not in it for that, but it is a nice feather in a 72-year-old cap after 50 years (in bursts) of dedication to publishing my and others’ music. Discovered that for me, Soundcloud distribution just does not work well….so Distrokid it remains.

03/22/24 Finished up the master for the new track. Just need a day or two to let it set. LOL

03/19/24 The new single with bandmate Dave is almost ready. A big departure from the prior release, wh8ch was ambient and poetic…this new one oi a straight on pop song, back to that side of my musical heart. :)

03/16/24 I reformatted the Soundcloud links on my New Music page, in order to bring the accompanying photo sleeves to full size, and tightened up the grid. Looks very nice now on both computer and mobile sites.

Also, the recording session the other day went well for ““I Will Always”. My bandmate added extra keys tracks and a horn section, and I am now in the process of treatments and mixing and adding my tracks. Hopefully out in a week.

Finally, my piano practice is yielding good results. I am more fluid and playing more songs, and learning new fingering patterns that make me a much better and. more precise player. Getting better…. :). My only goal.

03/12/24 Been learning a lot of finger phrasing as I delve into the more complicated works of Elton, etc. Getting good but by no means “stage ready”…that takes hours and hours of practice. I recently put music to a wonderful verse of a good friend, and that is currently tracking nicely on Soundcloud. :)

The biggest thing since the last posting is that I fixed my new New Music page. It was not loading on mobile devices…either files corruption or too much on the page…so I rebuilt it and trimmed a lot of the works off. They are still of course available on the Recent Works page in the full album listing. I have my ex-bandmate coming tomorrow and hopefully there will be a new song out of that soon. I wrote lyrics about a year ago but we are only now finding the stars aligned to record the piece. lol

02/08/24 Been practicing with my new NEKTAR Impact LX61 keyboard/midi controller. Fantastic response with weight keys. Will soon delve more into the controller aspects of the unit. A ton of capability but it will take me a while to learn…

02/04/24 Well, Feebie & Fynn are up to 316 plays, just 5 away from being my number 1 song on Soundcloud. I have been busy the past month or so remastering some fabulous tracks I made with local artists Kenny Dodge. As my skills have improved greatly, I am getting these recordings up to par with today’s mastering standards. I will be releasing about 10 of these of the next few months, on my channel, since I play most of the backing instruments and provide some vocal harmonies, and of course produced the tracks. So I have no probs putting them up in my space. The first one, Kenny’s Christmas Song, has over 200 plays. Great first effort. I hope to release the next one this coming week. Tomorrow my new MIDI keyboard arrives, a 61-key Nektar Impact LX Loaded with capability, I hope to vastly improve my piano skills and sounds on my new recordings, as well as simplify my workflow on keyboard tracks. Also, My daughter is getting married in April , so I may well write her and her new hubbie a song. If it comes too me from the ether… :) I am sure the new piano will get me going. If you are following me on Soundcloud, please check this page from time to time. Thanks to everyone who has followed me, and written to me. :)

01/09/24 Hope you all had a wonderful holiday. Most of my attention has been to mastering tweaks of recent works, particularly my last three or so, AND the works of my favorite in-house artist, Ken Smaldone (Kenny Dodge). I have suddenly reached a new level of “hearing” and “ mastering” that makes tracks recorded three years ago sound unbelievable powerful. It takes time to advance. :) We released a remaster of his Christmas Song, for example, and it got a very respectable almost-200 -plays on my Soundcloud page. Because I play on and produce/master his works, I feel justified in so doing. He is a great artist, so I would like to get some attention paid to him. But just before Christmas, I also recorded and released a new track, a “cat” song, in which I, my wife and my granddaughter sing a parody of Jingle Bells, rewritten to reflect the experiences of my son and his lady with their two cats. This parody went to them in CD and Dropbox format a week before Christmas. They loved it. And so do others. As of this writing, it has 302 plays, making it a contender to become my most-played track. In the new year, I will shorty release two more Dodge tracks, remastered. I also will begin writing and recording new tracks of my own. So happy New Year!

11/09/23 Can’t believe it…two months. LOL In this time I recorded and released a new track honoring the vibes of a Jimmy Buffett concert. Based on a country-style phrase I made up, reflecting having to hit the bathroom before leaving for the day-long ride at my work, it simulates a concert where the now-full song (I Gotta Go (Before I Leave) ) is sung. It has had a fairly decent run on Soundcloud and Bandcamp, with about 190 plays…great number for me LOL. Also, the new Logic Pro update arrived a couple of days prior to this note. Among the really significant updates: a mastering plugin that does in-depth analysis of tracks. I am finding out that I tend to make my tracks too bright by a dB or two…no doubt reflecting 72 years of listening to music at all volumes lol. What is assuring is that most of my masters were very close to “perfect”, so it is validation on my skills. So I am now correcting my key tracks and re-posting them, and in the next month hope to do them all. No studio work with the two artists who had asked yet…

9/03/23 In the past three weeks, I have finished building the track-lists for my new albums, Dream Come True and Dream Come True Overflow. Available to review on y Recent Works Page. I also made all the associated CD paperwork, and have begun burning actual CD albums and sending a few out to close friends/fans. Having done that, I then rebuilt all the paperwork for the prior albums (which vanished when we upgraded to a new Word program) and have repopulated the playlists for those CDs. So now I can produce more of those as I need to. Finally, I did more files management to rope in the hundreds of project files all these songs generate. Over these 5 years I have only slowly figured out how to keep track of the latest versions through various naming and dating protocols. I now am pretty close to a system that works without extra time spent looking for those versions.

I have had a surge of listens and followings and repostings on Soundcloud over the past month…for the first time. While this probably will not lead anywhere (in the low hundreds, not low hundred thousands lol), it has been gratifying to see other musicians and listeners finally recognizing my work. It’s cool, very cool, but I am old enough and experienced enough to not let this go to my head at all. Just a few extra moments of joy in a life that is nearing the end of the course. :). Thanks to those engaging with my music! Cheers!!!

8/21/23 I’ve been polishing up both the music tracks and the paper production for the release of my “5th” studio CD this week. A couple of tracks, Will You Marry Me? and Graduation, needed a bit of a remix to make them sit well in the CD flow, so those tracks have been re-uploaded to the online music sites SoundCloud and Bandcamp. I put 5th in quotations above, since three of those 5 albums are double CDs. So actually, I will have released EIGHT albums of my own material since late 2018. Just to make it clear I have been busier than the number 5 would imply. However, countering that, one double album was a compilation. So 4 might be the right total. One album a year is a good pace, of course…. Just clarifying. Also, a relatively new friend of mine is getting active on producing his own works on Logic Pro, and has asked to sit in with me as I work on mixes and mastering projects in the future. I am of course glad to do that. :).

8/17/23 In the past three weeks, I have issued a new track, built to help induce sleep, called Somnolienta Ensenada. It is a collaboration with my dear producer friend in KS, Sam DeMaranville. He had a track he had built that he felt would synch well with my basic droning track, so I have weaved it in both as a separate piece, and then overlayed onto mine in places. All my tracks can be found on Recent Works.

I have converted my SoundCloud playlists to actual albums, to reflect my recent releases of the past 5 years. This track can be found on Dream Come True Overflow. Most of my recent tracks are on Dream Come True. I also am in the process of readying the CD versions of the two Dream albums.

I also just re-accomplished my homepage for this site, as another artist’s track somehow got embedded in my header, and I worked for days to try to eliminate it. In the end, only re-doing the home page worked.

I am excited to be hosting two new artists in my studio in the next few months: a younger (than me LOL) lady who has twelves songs she would like recorded; and a dear friend, Elijah Clark, who plays locally here in the Seacoast NH area, and is a superb performer and writer. He has three tracks he would like basic stems developed for, with two other musicians.

7/29/23 Today marks the release of my latest studio work, I May Quit (But I Never Give Up). Originally started in the summer of 2021, it is only in the past week that I finally coaxed the lyrics out of the Ether. :). I am now very pleased with the song, as I think the backing and the lyrics go quite well together. It was a bugaboo to write, and I had considerable false starts. But it is done! So that takes care of the backlog of uncompleted but recorded projects. This also will finish up my new studio album, Dream Come True. Picture has gone over 200 plays on Soundcloud, so it was nice to see that action, after 5 years of love-labor getting my production skills up to pro standards. :). Next is a song I wrote in 1982, probably the last of the redos for old songs. Time to start writing new ones!! YAY.

7/25/23 Well, roughly a month has passed. Shortly after the prior update, Janet and I went to Quebec City to celebrate our 40th anniversary. Since our return, I have finally finished up three new songs: Giving Up The Ghost, Wortsalat (Let’s GTFOH) and today, I Picture You Here. The middle title has been languishing for almost two years, and I recently added some more to it and nailed a vocal (finally got the lyric stream I wanted). The other two are remakes of songs I wrote for Janet when we first were going out, and which deserved modern, full remakes. Also, during this period, I resolved the issue with my 8-track interface and am now fully back equipment-wise…but even a bit better, in that my connection scheme is much better and more compact. Finally, Wortsalat seems to have openede a crack in the wall for me. It has had over 170 plays on Soundcloud in the past week. Never hit anything like this before. And today, in its first 5 hours of release, Picture has over 130. I may have actually broken through a bit. Exciting times at Mix HorizonMusic/MARE Studio.

6/22/23 Been remastering key tracks from all the albums recently, in addition to releasing a remake of an 80s song to Janet I released last weekend. Also, my large-input audio interface has fried, so I am hobbled in terms of recording other artists for now. Hopefully that will be resolved ASAP. But I can still work on my own projects at least.

6/09/23 Way back in the 90s, when I was very active writing and recording to my then-current platform, a Fostex 4-track cassette mixer/recorder and a two-track reel-to-reel, I joined the American Society of Composers and Publishers (ASCAP) to get possible royalties for any of my works that were played publicly. I had had a few projects make the airwaves in the form of ads. Recently, when I offered my Graduation song to some local college radio stations, I realized it would be wise to renew that membership. Luckily, I was still on the roster, so it was just a question of establishing my new login, and adding Mix Horizon as my new publisher. Since then I have added 55 of my current-era (and a few prior era) songs to my catalogue at ASCAP (quite a bit of repetitive typing, yeah? lol) , and they are now formally listed. Ya never know.. It also protects my family in the future, in case something ever breaks through after I am done with this current path. :)

6/04/23 Well, the new project I mentioned below is now out. It is a special graduation song for my granddaughter Avery, with a bit of lyrics help from my wife, Janet, Avery’s Mimi. This is the best-sounding project yet IMHO. I have sent it to WUMB college radio, but of course have heard nothing back…yet :) Ya never know. Graduation was originally just over two minutes, too short for the accompanying slide and video show it underpins…so I edited it and repeated the bridge and final verse, to get it just over 3 minutes. I also added more synth to the second bridge to make the track more interesting overall. The long stretch of requirements this year is almost over, and I hope to get back to recording new music soon. I am also contemplating releasing a Greatest Hit album this summer…an easy way to highlight what I consider my most significant works of the past 5 years.

4/29/23 I have deployed and used the drum mic kit my son bought me for Christmas a year ago, but which I only just recently purchased. Using 8 mics, I have SUPER control over the overall balance of my drumming, as well as a superlative stereo field. Really game-changing, as my drumming sounds much more dynamic and well-mixed. I am thrilled. I have used the new system once, on a project that is still under wraps for another month, but cannot wait to release it. Stay tuned.

3/31/23 I have signed onto the Waves Subscription plan, which has given me over 160 new plugins to help make my and your sound as good as it can be. This plan gives me lifetime updates, and saves me a ton of money. It also gives me AI-analysis to suggest plugin stacks made by world-renowned producers. Plugins are mainly tools to help shorten the time spent working on tracks…shortcuts, if you will. They usually have presets, but I adjust those as always, to bring the track out to its fullest as I hear it. There is seldom a time when I just use a preset and walk away satisfied. As always, it is how each track sounds, compared to my 50 years of listening to and producing great tracks, that determines if each tool is properly used. :)

3/26/23 Been a while. Sorry…. LOL Since my last update, I released a tribute song to a dear friend and fellow producer, Sam. I just recently created a lovely birthday video with my Happy Birthday To You song, in which I lip synch the intro and outro sections, and fill the middle with video clips from friend and family. It turned out really well. I will be seeking permission to make it public from all participants this week. My wife and I caught Covid (finally) right around my birthday LOL We are fine now. I am back at the production desk. I have a project to write and record for my granddaughter’s upcoming graduation. Two recorded tracks are awaiting lyrics and I am getting close on those. I am also working in studio now in very enjoyable collaboration with a longtime friend and fellow local artist, hoping to become his mastering producer. As an aside, the job of the producer is to GIVE THE CLIENT WHAT HE/SHE WANTS. It’s OK to offer advice and suggestions, but that is all they are. I am also still attending jam sessions with a former band mate and dear friend, once a week, to keep the live performance muscles strong. So looking forward to some more releases of my own work soon, and also some of my artists’. I continue to be loaded for bear with helpful software tools, and will soon have a drum mic kit so I can capture my live drumming performances in full stereo and in a way I can precisely mix the sound. :) Cheers!

12/10/22 Back from our first vacation out of country last weekend, I managed to get home on the two-flight nightmare with my ears totally blocked by onsetting bacterial pneumonia. My ears were under considerable pressure all the way, and they still have not cleared as of today, though they are better. I will be seeing an ENT specialist about them soon to see if I still have a viable production career. While ot of country, I had wifi access so bought a few new plugins to help current, future, and even past, projects. These have been added to the Tools page. I really should organize that better LOL.

11/16/22 My first full recording,Shadow, in quite a few months is now on the Key Tracks page at the top. A remake of a long lost song from the early 70s, originally done on very cheap recorders and featuring my brother on lead. I include a bit of that lead as a tribute.

10/21/22 Sorry. Again. Ben a long summer, with Janet’s mom ending up in nursing care, hospice, and hen passing in latter August. Have not been doing my own new music in a whle as a result, but have been remastering the Kenny Dodge tracks for practice, and of course better tracks. The BIG news is I finally found my pro cassette layer after searching for four years. All my albums from the late 80s through mid 90s are stored on cassette. The reel versions are no longer playable as too much ferrite comes off. But the cassette versions are still quite good, if substantially diminished in quality. So now I am moving all those old track to my DAW for remastering…and they will be leaking out over the next few months onto a couple of albums under the banner, REFUGEES. The first track is on the Recent Works page at the bottom of my album list. Because of my age, 70, I really cannot have artists into my studio still.., so any work I do is remote. Enjoy !!

5/26/22 Been a while, sorry. Family issues taking a lot of time. Biggest update was the success of my Traip Academy student, whom I was mentoring for her senior capstone project of producing short music clips for video games. We had a lot of trouble sharing data over both Google and Zoom video conferencing, but she persevered. She eventually came to the house with her dad, and she finished up in person with me on MAC OS Garageband, having done the lion’s share on the IOS version. I had the pleasure of attending her presentation at the Academy, in front of peers and teachers alike. She was awesome. What a thrill it was to help and then witness! Many thanks to her and to Traip!

I also have released three versions of a Covid-related song for which I wrote lyrics and my bandmate Dave wrote music. He came here to the studio to lay down the basic tracks, and in the ensuing weeks I finished them off. He then sent me a 2004 track he recorded with a band to process. I have balanced the EQs, compressed, etc.…and added horns, at his request. This one is in the beta test phase, LOL. Release soon

I have had artists in the studio recently. Frankie and Johnny recorded a few tracks here, and those are in processing. I already mentioned my work with Dave. Covid has spread quickly here lately, so I am having to be very careful having people in here right now. I still have two tracks that have been languishing for months that I have to finish. But there is also a lot of house chores needing doing. LOL.

3/01/22. My birthday gift (a new, late-model iMac, allowing me too upgrade to the latest version of Logic Pro and MAC OS) came operational on my birthday, Feb 23. It took a couple of several-hour sessions to download libraries, do a new full backup (including getting the computer to fully recognize my new backup drive), and get settled in with several other changes. I also had to rebuild and reorganize my entire Waves plugins roster…that also took a bit of time to get right. I kept the prior version of Logic, and that turned out wise...build 10.7.2 won’t load my latest project but the prior version does. So now I have done some work using the newest software..and am back in business. I also added more tools to the chest, including the new Waves sampler, cr8. VERY cool capabilities with this guy!

02/22/22 Been busy in other parts of life, but in the past week have begun work again. Adding tracks to a new song, while polishing up the mix of a new song that has been in the can for months. Two major announcements: For my birthday (tomorrow) I am getting a very-recent-model iMac replacement, so I can upgrade my software and my RAM. That will be coming online this week. Also, my producer friend in Kansas and I recently took turns remastering an older song of mine, from Hidden In Plain Sight, called I Just Stepped On A Rake. Both songs are up on both Bandcamp and Soundcloud as the “Sam D’ remaster. We are having a ball comparing techniques, and it is making me even better at this. :). I will put Sam’s version up on Key Tracks very soon.

02/04/22 I have remastered some more early songs. Into Your Hands, PTSD, and Consider It Done, have all been given facelifts to reflect my current production advances. These updates can be found on the Hidden album on the Recent Works page.

01/25/22 Been doing some more production training. New music is on hold for a while. I did just remaster my Minoune and I Love You (So Much) tracks, as well as produce a new song for my artist, Kenny Dodge. He wrote a song to honor a long-time friend who just passed. I took his vocal/guitar mono track and did my usual thing for him…added a bunch of supplemental tracks and harmony vocals…and mixed/mastered it. :). Find it on the Key Tracks page here.

12/29/21 I have uploaded slight mastering Tweaks of Stay In America and I’ve Got An Answer. Adding tracks to two songs I am currently working on. Brought in a new Waves plugin that has the sole purpose of adding modern pumping to tracks. Progress is gonna be slow for the next few months, as we have a couple of higher-stress things going on outside music. Found out today I MIGHT be able to rescue my recordings from the 80s. Time will tell.

12/18/21 I have uploaded TWO new remasters of my favorite current-era re-recordings: Consider It Done and I Just Stepped On A Rake. These can be found in the Hidden album on the Recent Works page. I also have added my wife’s personal CD, a light version of Instressentials, to Recent Works.

12/16/21 1. Had a major glitch late last week. One of my plugins was causing random dropouts on certain parts of certain recordings. Had to remake 8 Vol 1 CDs of my Instressentials album, once I found the cause (that plugin). I have remastered one of my favorite tracks, Consider It Done, which is now up on Soundcloud (Recent Works page - “Hidden” album) and Bandcamp. I created a unique single CD of instrumentals called Jae’s Waves for my wife to have in her car…9 tracks versus 18 on the double CD. Mostly her faves. And, the following tracks are up on Spotify and very shortly Apple Music and tens of other streaming sites: Each Christmas With. You; Peace On Earth; I Vow My Love; In It For Life; I Am Healing; Shamanic Path (Knowing Is Healing). More to follow. Consider It Done is next to go up.

2. Family will be here starting next week, so going into a hiatus, I should imagine, at least until Christmas week. I have one track ready for a vocal, and another on its way there as well. So new music will be coming.

3. Been invited to several local music shows at restaurants/taverns. but I simply cannot go. I have a 99-year-old mother in law we visit regularly, and Omicon is on its way. Just no can do, and just so too bad…. Have a great holiday!

12/07/21 Well, been too long! LOL. Since we last spoke, I have created a double-CD version of my Instressentials album (see Recent Works page), and mailed four copies to a fan in VA for herself and Christmas gifts for her friends. She actually paid me for them, although I did not insist on that, so I made my first dollar as Mix Horizon Music! I remastered and posted my Christmas song to my online accounts. I also have been working on another track, and it’s getting fuller by the session. Additionally, I had a very recent, middle-of-the-night lyrics download for a track that is fully produced, and has just been waiting for the words for months. So that will be out soon. I’m offering a finder’s fee temporarily to anyone who brings me work…I need more than just two artists in my musical home. LOL.

11/16/21 I have recently had the pleasure of editing an iPhone recording of my band’s recent performance, one I had to skip for personal commitments. Quite a few treatments later, plus adding my missing backing vocal and synth strings, a couple of small bass edits, and final mastering, the song is now up on Key Tracks to hear. You should hear the original in comparison LOL.

11/11/21 I really like my bandmate Dave Hallinan’s writing and performance style, as we have created 5 songs of his so far on the Roadtrip Duo album (see Recent Works page). To get the project moving along, I have written a bed of lyrics in “his style”, and it turns out her really likes the song. He is writing the music, amending the words as he sees fit, and will send me a track of his singing and guitar playing to form the basis of the finished product, which will see me adding other instruments, vocal, etc…then mix it down, as before. The song is called The Time We Lost. Should be out in a couple of weeks. :)

11/06/21 I have been back in touch with good friend and ROADTRIP partner Dave Hallinan recently. I am remastering the 6 songs we have recorded thus far, and should have them posted for next week. They will be in the Key Tracks listings, on top. I don’t believe I have created a Soundcloud album for these yet. But if I have or have not, there will be one. LOL.

10/25/21 I have added a link in the page header (4th/final on right) that takes you directly to my Bandcamp page, where all my music/albums are also listed. There. everything is available for download-sale, either by song or by album. This is another way to access all my recent work without having to navigate the Recent Works page, which is Soundcloud-based. Either way, you hear the same versions.

10/22/21 Not a whole lot new happening, as we have been kept very busy taking care of my wife’s mom. Been very successful at that, so we are quite pleased with how that has gone. But that means no new songs recorded. I have, however, been remastering my Mixed Relations album, and that has been quite a lengthy endeavor, working in spurts, and going through numerous choices for each song. Sounding good now, though, so I have posted it today.

6/25/21 I have now uploaded the Instressentials playlist to Soundcloud, so you can access it directly on my Recent Works page here.

6/24/21 I have compiled all my instrumentals to date on a single playlist. My wife suggested this so she and others can zen out without vocal tracks interrupting. Find it at https://kenmitchell.bandcamp.com/album/instressentials. :). You will have to copy-paste the link. Not linking from here…

6/22/21 I have created a Facebook page for my studio. MARE Studio is now available to like if you are on FB. I have three pages devoted to my musical career on FB, so I will try to keep them all current. LOL. Meanwhile, my resident artist Kenny Dodge sent me a track to assess and enhance, and we have a nice “live” feel recording for him. We will do a bonafide version soon.

6/18/21 I have rejoined my band of over 10 years, Revolver. We are engaging a new guitarist and seeing if we can get our act together in time to play Hampton Beach next year…or even maybe late this summer.

6/16/21 The fabulous and loving Pug who inspired Eddie Knows passed away on 6/7. His gorgeous spirit lives in this song, and in his honor, I have taken it out of Garageband acceptability and remastered it with “Ocean Way ears”…and other Waves mastering plugins, of course…and the new version is stunningly brighter and clearer. Available now on my Key Tracks page.

6/4/21 Just purchased two more Waves plugins to further enable my studio work. Both of these tools are considered essentials for getting great masters. They are: Vocal Rider and Vitamin. I continue to grow and expand. Every time I think I have enough tools, I spy a couple more that can be VERY useful and make life so much easier. So on and on it goes, dum-dee-doo-dah.

5/27/21. Sorry for the pause. I have sent the past couple of months in a rather intense training mode, learning the intricacies of my new mastering purchases. I have been remastering quite a few of my key tracks, as well as those of one of my artist’s. so I can be comfortable mastering as well as mixing with these new tools. I am also collating an instrumental-only playlist at my wife’s suggestion, so she can just listen to those and chill to them without some rock vocals breaking up the mood. LOL

I have also recorded a couple of new tracks in the past three or four weeks, and those are on my Key Tracks page. What I notice in those last two issuances is that I have now gotten to the point where I can master projects fairly quickly. As always, the true test of any such activity is, “how does it sound”. I have always had a good ear for that, so I know I am at a new level of production performance.

I have a bunch of summer house projects coming so my output will be slow until fall. I also have joined Freelancers.com. and hope to get a few projects going that way. Again, though, I can’t commit too much time with all the house work looming.

3/18/21 I have decided to RENAME my studio to incorporate another key influence on my style. So instead of GM-AR, it is now MARE. Not only is mare a horse, it is also latin for “sea”, as in ocean of sound. LOL For those curious, the name comes from “Martin” “Abbey Road” “Eno”.

3/17/21 My birthday track, Happy Birthday To You, was posted to Bandcamp today (in the new album file, The Dream’s Come True). It is a total re-recording of the early 90s track, but until now, I did not have the tools to really bring this to life. It is there now. One can insert personal recorded wishes in the middle bridge to make it a unique birthday gift. :)

3/9/21 I have formally named my humble little studio, in a nod to my lifelong inspirations and aspirations, as opposed to assigning myself any of the fabulous results associated with the names: GM-AR. Those who are old enough, and know my music, will figure out the two names hidden within. :)

3/8/21 With my album, Mixed Relations, released, I have been resting a bit from recording and have instead focused on bringing four of my top songs up to speed with remastering. So the following four songs are now treated to the Abbey Road et al upgrade: I Love You (So Much); Minoune; In It For Life; and I Vow My Love.

2/24/21 After three weeks of further mastering of my tracks, during which I increased my knowledge of the new S3 software, I formally released my new CD, Mixed Relations, yesterday. I am also remixing and remastering a song from the Hidden album…for my mother in law and a video we are making for her.

01/30/21 Created the audio version last night, checked it today, and have burned the first pro CD. What am I bid for it! LOLOL

01/29/21 I have finished all the masterings of my Mixed Relations tracks…one was particularly resistant, but I never give up. LOL. So I have figured out the Apple Music CD burning process, which differs a bit from the iTunes procedure, so now there is actually a hard copy of my album in existence. It is MP3 format, so it is lower quality…my next task will be to create a playlist with the high-quality audio versions, and burn that. Then comes making up the album cover and label…and then the release of my third CD!

01/22/21 Over the past few days, I have been working on and off getting al the tracks for my new album mastered. I finished the main work tonight. Next week, I will listen with fresh ears and tweak what needs tweaking. :) Almost there.

01/17/21 Bought again! This time, Waves’s phenomenal F6 EQ software, that allows precise targeting of frequencies at any loudness, for near-perfect control over the sound…either broad-brush or precision trimming. This is VERY HIGHLY thought-of software across the producer spectrum…and I have it right here. ready for use on my and your projects.

01/16/21 OK…HARD TO PASS UP A SALE LOL. I just bought yet another Waves Abbey Road software. This time, the channel strip module…TG12345. Basically loaded for Abbey Road bear now, and I like how very gentle or aggressive adjustments can be, in so many ways, with this package.

01/15/21 I have had to go back and “re-volume” the individual tracks in most of my new album songs, since I cut them too hot when recording (I learned the proper way late in the recording of this album). They are now at professional-level standards, but that induces remixes. Getting close, hopefully will be done sometime next week. They will be clearer and more dynamic as a result.

Also, I am using the Abbey Road Vinyl app from Waves, to make my tracks sound as if they are being played on a brand new vinyl disc. I know I grew up with that sound, and many people are seeking it now. So this album will feature that subtle warming enhancements.

Tested my new 8-input interface the other day. It is all set, so if we ever get back to in-studio recording with live artists, I am ready. I could not find the transformer for an entire day, and after 10 through searches, the next morning I was sitting at the desk. My eyes came to rest on a small white box on a shelf, right in front. OMG. It was hidden in plain sight. LOL. So all is well.

12/29/2020 I have purchased several on-sale software suites tied directly to the Abbey Road studios, including reverb suites and the mastering software! Being a huge Beatles fan, this furthers the completion of my life-long dream. I am now at work “at Abbey Road” when I am processing and mixing my tracks. I also use a lot of Logic mastering software as well, combining the different tools for best effect.

12/21/2020 Taking a week or so off from production work as we busy up with holiday prep and activity. I and my family wish all of you a safe, loving and warm holiday!

12/20/2020 PM I have three new projects in the pipeline:

1. A track aiming to capture a bit of early 60s Spector/Brian Wilson spirit. Called, “The Rest Of The Way”, it features sax and single-note vibraphone fills, along with the beat from “Don’t Worry Baby” and a wall-of-sound vibe. Just polishing up the lyrics.

2. A bluesy, so-far instrumental track that may yet get a lyric. Gonna have some simple guitar-lead wails. It’s about halfway there.

3. A cover song, which I normally don’t do. But I have one already on my upcoming album, so why not two! I have picked an old Elvis number, “Return To Sender”, a harken back to my final career from which I retired two years ago. This track is blending sounds from different eras, and is about 30% along.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

12/20/2020 AM I am tweaking these pages as I go, such as adding this new page, as well as continually making the whole site as concise, informative and enjoyable as I can. Pretty much done for now, though.

12/18/20 I have formally submitted my application for legal representation to a nearby music law firm, to set up my label, publishing unit, etc., as a formal business.

12/07/2020 LAUNCH! The first publication of my new, professional website.