Week One: - Posted on 2013-06-15 by Cole Schweitzer

After the end of week one in my education through the Recording Connection program I found myself pleased despite the ever agonizing introductory lesson every class seems to terrorize every student with. My first major learning experience was realizing the importance of these horrific chapters. As I scanned through the chapter stopping periodically to roll my eyes I found hidden gems of information proving to be a very useful items to fill the gaps of the foundation for which my production is built upon. With that came the connections already acquired through the marketing portion. This part of the class forced me to venture farther than just outside my door and meet people in distant lands who wield more information and who are very willing to spread this information to those willing to house it.

The second experience I gained right out of the gates is two mentors for the price of one, A man and his son. These two, like those mysterious folks in the foreign lands, are just as willing to spread the seed that yields the fruit of the music industry. Both seem very humbled, knowledgeable inside and outside the curriculum, and down to earth. The connection I gained in these two, I have foreseen as my most important as my foot crosses the threshold of my exterior door. This idea is reinforced by an anticipation to squeeze every last drop out this opportunity shared equally by me and my mentors, which I’m most grateful for.

Unfortunately (Or fortunately, depending on the perception of the eyes in the beholder) , my surrounding area is condensed by a genre-specific presence at first glance. After my double take provided by my teachers, I learned there are more musicians hiding in this town that I was aware of. Although a minimal amount I have heard don’t require the heavy synthesizing or the love of electronic dance music I do, one would fear a threat of a lower learning experience in these categories. I saw this as an opportunity while I opened folders of past musical escapades and was inspired to mix these two entities into one. I created a task that will force me to weld all of my interest into one project I have deemed “The Rooftop Gang”. Named after a short lived idea between a pianist with a heart for industrial music and my love for the folk that infested my mp3 and CD players for years prior to hypothetical breaking of ground. I held on to the name after another coworker pulled it out of the top of his head, a shot in the dark, and it penetrated my soul. I found a feel of “old timey” with a sense of adventure underlying its passing between two lips. Since, I’ve loved it and hoped to use the name as a label for a future project or song; The time is now. The first song I dusted off is a song going with great speed a song titled “The Death of a Montague”. A low-tempo song introduced with Spanish influence I plan to carry subliminally through the rhythm section as ambience surrounds you through the medium that is a synth pad that guides you from start to end with the aid of a groovy synthesized bass developed to inhabit your chest and travel to your head as it bobs back and forth with the beat. As the listener tours the song I hope to make them find that pace is moderate, but there are steps to ascend until the song ends in a symphony of harmonies between an unconventional group of tones.