Welcome back folks. Before I continue last week's story, I would like to make a little introduction about patience. It's just one word but it's heavy, difficult and most of all, rewarding when we learn to put it in our favor.
I have been working on my new website (www.maoplanet.com) for the past three weeks and it has not been an easy task. Tweaking took a whole new meaning and photoshop became my new best friend. I'm really happy though. It's nice to learn new things and most of all, it's been rewarding to work on my patience (I must admit it's something that I lack in many situations). I learned that being patient is easier when you do something else in the meantime, something that you care for. While I waited on some technical problems, I started to get frustrated. The first two days I was just waiting for that email where they would tell me the problem was solved. That email did not come so I used my time to work on new templates instead so that I had many more options by the time that problem was solved. That email came yesterday and even if it wasn't the solution I had expected, I have figured out another way that is now being implemented in my final template.
This story is not supposed to win an award, but it can be translated to so many other situations in life where we are "waiting" and being patient becomes difficult. In a relationship, at work, waiting for the bus, doing a line-up or counting the hours to receive a box with 500 CDs of your first EP (in two weeks!!!). There's always something that we can be doing in the meantime that will bring us something extra and will make time go faster. Remember, Einstein was right, time is relative!
So let's get back to my story now, the exciting part of this blog!
I was back in June 2011. I kind of new that the next step was to work on my EP. I didn't know what that stood for so I 'll explain for those who don't know: EP stands for Extended Play and it is a recording with more than one single but not enough songs to be considered a full album. This "format" is used by emerging artists like myself to introduce their style and put in a recording their best material.
At that time I was taking a course online with Cari Cole, who suggested to find a good producer. I already had the attention of Daniel Betancourt in Miami, who accepted to work with me in this project. He's an ASCAP award winner and his co-productions have been nominated 7 times for the Latin Grammys. At that time I went on my online banking and did my math. I didn't have enough money but I didn't care. I was going to get it no matter how and I was going to make this EP.
I flew to Miami in early August and met Daniel and his family. He's an amazing person and a talented musician. I couldn't be working with someone better. Together we wrote two songs and he introduced me to other songwriters in Miami. We co-wrote another two songs. The foundation for my EP was there: 4 songs in Spanish plus "Vuelve junto a mi" (The spanish version of "Take me back to you"). At that point the EP was going to be only in Spanish. My trip to Miami was over after a week and I came back to Montreal flying in a cloud. I was beyond excited and it was just the beginning. Even the demos sounded like finished songs to me.
Daniel started working on the Demos. I needed to learn more about the music industry so I used that time to take my courses with Cari Cole. We decided to translate the songs in English too. This dream was getting bigger and bigger!
This stage of the creative process took some time (refer to the introduction about patience... lol). the next step was to go back to Miami to record the final vocals but I'll stop here. This entry is getting too long :)
I'll continue next week and I promise to write every detail I remember. Details make the stories so much better!
I wish you all a great weekend. Keep dreaming!
Mao
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