The Magnificent Universe

It’s 5:43 am.

I should not be up at this hour.

My computer shouldn’t be on.

But it got very cold in my room which happened to coincide with an inspired nightmare where I laid down in a very dark room to sleep and outside it began to storm. Moments before I laid down, I had been watching and also participating in an old movie on the television that was part detective movie and part supernatural thriller.

I don’t enjoy dreams about sleeping. I’ve had a few where I tried to wake up and couldn’t, stuck between the sleep in the dream and my real sleep. There have been times where I opened my eyes and couldn’t move my body; couldn’t get it to wake up until I shook it awake.

So that is why I am awake.

My computer is on from last night, when I went to bed.

I had it doing a task – loading in 29 sound files at 259 megabytes each in to Logic Studio.

I have been going through all of my album files, because they need to be re-released as ‘Jon Magnificent’ releases, so I thought I might be able to also make sure that they are up to the sonically magnificent standards of the current release “You Won’t Believe This” which will be shipping (finally!) in October 2009.

I had some trouble with the artwork printed by the CD manufacturer, who finally reprinted the front covers to correct their mistake, and sent them to me.

What I found with the old albums is that I really didn’t have the tools to mix the tracks properly.
The original performances are great. But the mixing / production was not near as good as what I can easily do now.

So I have finished what was the old ‘part 2′ CD, and you’ll be surprised at how much it rocks compared to the original release (which has been my best seller so far).

And I am 1 song away from completing what was the old ‘Part 3′ CD…some songs got cut…but I may add a song.

For the past week I have been tackling a new project – I didn’t think there could be improvements to the Come And Get Me CD….until I opened up the files and did a test remix. I found that I could make it MUCH more powerful. But was I really hearing this? I needed to know what others thought. So I brought Eric, my drummer, and Bobbie my wife and Mary, our publicist, in to listen to the original final mix version of the first track ‘Awaken’ compared to the mastered version that was done at Sterling Sound in New York, compared to my newly remixed version.

Unanimously, my new mix was clearer and more powerful than either of the previous versions.
So the Come And Get Me album is also added to the list. Which brings me to 6:05 am where the files were already loaded and the project saved, Logic Studio closed.

I am also awake because I am excited.

I received news yesterday that I have been included on the official ballot for the 2010 Grammys by the National Academy for the Recording Arts & Sciences…in two categories. And not some unknown category, either, but Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance and Best Rock Song.

In the Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, there are only 55 other artists on the ballot.
But among these are Prince, Van Morrison, Neil Young, Rob Thomas, Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, John Fogerty, Bob Dylan, Scott Weiland and Todd Rundgren, just to name a few!

Only 5 make it to the nominee stage after the ballot voting. And only 1 carries home the award.

But I am THRILLED just to be on the ballot.

Ok, then, that catches us up. It is now 6:14 am and I am off to bed to dream of Grammys and my new mix of Another Day.

Originally I was going to post a song a day and give the background on it — but there has been a change of plans and now EVERY released song in my catalog is on a huge schedule where it will be available free every week. A new file, free, every week.

What’s the catch? No catch. You just have to visit once a week to download it.

The easiest way to do this is to be reminded – and I send out a reminder email every week as soon as the file is posted.

The email also gives some info about each song. Like this one: Email Message

Sign up on the official email list here: EMAIL LIST

This past weekend I unearthed all of my old demo recordings that I have on hand – I had to borrow these cassette tapes from a friend who was collecting them because I didn’t have any copies of these myself – and borrowed one cassette from my brother, too, who has a collection.

I learned something about myself that I hadn’t expected and I won’t bother to say it here because it would sound more stupid typed than it did when I said it to myself.  I took every one of these and transferred them to a hard drive and separated out every song. A little more than 80 songs.

I discovered that these ideas were really good, but unfinished and unpolished because I lacked the skill and/or the tools to create the song properly to its full vision that I conceived it to be.

So I will be recording each of these again with my new studio to their fullest original concept. Let the creativity flow!

And I probably won’t bother to make albums out of these – but these songs will be added to the free download schedule and will be available for sale as single files, along with every other song in the Jon Magnificent catalog.

And in between there will also be new songs.

But it will be a good portion of my life’s works and compositions – about 75%, I estimate – there are many demos and songs that were recorded on tapes that are now gone. Some brilliant acoustic guitar instrumentals and early composition experiments and recordings that will probably never be found again.  But the majority of it will be here and will be available to enjoy.

Meanwhile, here is a sneak peek at the online store for the next and probably last album release, YOU WON’T BELIEVE THIS, which will begin shipping in August. The Store.

It is fully functional as of last night, so if the urge grabs you, place your orders.

J