So our trip has begun. Packed into the Land Cruiser is the full photo studio, lights, stands and backdrops, the full dj set up, turntables, cd decks and mixers, the recording studio set up (everything minus the vocal booth), my desktop computer, duffle bags of our clothes, an aero-bed, boogie boards myself and the driver, and a 6'8" Jamaican. We made it out of town and across the border alive, despite the border patrol having it out for us (we got sniffed by drug dogs, people dogs, stray dogs, whatever they could bring over to the car), and the feeling of leaving AZ was delightful to say the least. Green foliage! Real water! Non-southwest architecture! We ended up late night in San Diego, arriving at the place we're staying, a condo right over the harbor, with a large porch on the ground floor. It belonged to a random actress before our mans picked it up, and marble floors, faux heiroglyphics, mirrored walls, bearskin and 60+ inch tv's abound. Perfect place for us to shoot some photos before hitting the water and going off to work at night.
The list of things to get done this trip is extensive.
First, the underground-frequency site has to be redone, which is about 50% accomplished as of now. Having this done also means having the write-ups and downloadable materials of exactly what it is we do, and how we want to promote, and have those proffessional and up to date. So there's a decent amount of work there. For the dj section we need new show demos, new remixes and a better press kit, and all the artists need downloadable new materials based on their current projects as well.
Second, I'm picking the contents of my next album, about half instrumental, half vocal, with me purely on the beats, and perhaps singing a book or two. It will be about 40 tracks, lots of beats, and lots of shorter selections from artists I work with songs to bring the hip hop dynamic into the album. With the exhausting amount of material we have completed this year and a half since I completed my last work, there is a lot of music to sift through, select and order. But due to the large amount of hits and artists I work with, I am very comfortable in securing a deal to distribute and having this be an album that does good things for the artists we are exposing.
Third, I have to sit down with the manuals and the computer and figure out how to use Logic to master songs. I can record, mixdown, remix, make beats whatever, but I have yet to learn to master, and that could make our studio resources invaluable, and serve as a consistent moneymaker, especially if I could then train one of the minions to do it.
Combined with the photos, djing and travel time this should all be doable, we shall see...
