The 5th single with the band Octavate is now available everywhere. The song is Money Changes Everything. Does that name ring a bell? It was made famous around 1984 by Cyndi Lauper, on the same album Girls Just Wanna Have Fun is on. Though, the song was actually written and released initially by The Brains in 1980. 

In early 2020, Josh Prost (my partner in Octavate) came to me, and asked if I'd be interested in singing this Cyndi classic. Instead of giving Josh an answer, I immediately headed to my studio and belted out a verse and chorus, in my style, but holding true to the punk roots of the song.

Over the next several months, we went back and forth, making updates, re-recording parts, and I even live streamed my process of editing vocals. 

Towards the end, Josh brought in superstar drummer Tom Dupree III to lay down a killer drum part.

Give it a listen. Buy it, stream it....it all helps us get the word out. 

In early 2019, I setup my drum room for recording and live streaming. It was all based on me watching DanDrumStone (another fellow SJC Custom Drums drummer) on Twitch, and learning a bit from his setup. I thought it would be fun to take the microphones, recording equipment, lighting, and a couple aging computers, and setup my own livestream. It was a lot of fun, and for about 6 months, every Friday morning I would drum live on Twitch, usually playing songs that I needed to practice for upcoming gigs with my cover band Power Surge.

I'd even take songs that I played "well enough" and save individual tracks to my YouTube. That quickly amounted to over 100 videos on my YouTube page.

As for Twitch, somedays, no one would join my stream. Other days 10 or so people would join. I amassed 50 followers, and a couple regulars, pretty quickly...and started improving my drum improvising skills and recording skills.

But my work schedule changed, and those Friday mornings went away. More than 15 months went by, and my streaming setup got dusty and looked like it would just be a memory.

Towards late 2020, I started exploring live streaming again. Thinking about drums, like before. But also, streaming my music creation process. Also, singing, playing / learning guitar & piano.

By March 2020, I now have Twitch live steaming as a part of my regular life. I target 4 streams per week; including all the things I mentioned above. It's led me to follow and get to know, many other musicians/creatives on Twitch, and learn from them.  

What's very different in 2021, versus 2019?  Back then, there were some music streamers....but now, it's a huge number of musical streamers, including some very well know artists, who have begun streaming regularly (DJ Jazzy Jeff and Nick Hexum of 311, just to name a couple). So, getting people to pay attention is a lot harder than before.

New to my stream. I have created a three camera setup, and multiple screens to give a more interactive feel. I've migrated my drumset to an electronic one, since they are much quieter, allowing me to play more frequent and for longer periods. Each week, I add something new to the stream. In many cases, just incorporating something I already have, into the stream; like a guitar, or a guitar pedal. Or, adding in some lighting that I already own.

On my journey of growth on Twitch, I have become a Twitch "Affiliate" which comes based on a certain amount of time streamed, and follower count. Affiliate status allows a streamer to monetize each stream, greater than just a virtual tip jar.

As of this writing, I'm up to 90 followers, and seems like I average 1-2 new followers per stream. I've also started to gain "subscribers"; those are followers who pay to get ad-free viewing (and possibly other benefits), which also provides an income to the streamer and Twitch. It's really interesting to see an income stream come from consistently live streaming. It's not the kind of income stream that will get me much more than a cup of coffee, as the moment. Though, I do see how it could become a source of "hobby" income if I keep at it.

I've added interactive capabilities into the stream, allowing participants to remotely request songs that automatically get added to my running playlist. I also have enabled the ability for participants to remotely control the colored lights in my studio, via chat commands. Plus fun, on screen interactions based on chat messages from participants. And for a very personal touch, every paid subscriber, gets their username hand-written on a drum stick that I hang as part of my backdrop; to show my appreciation for their support.

The challenge to keeping at it, will come when my daytime schedule takes a dramatic turn, which is likely to occur at some point. At that point, I'll likely continue streaming, but need to reduce my frequency and regular upgrades to the stream.

But, for now, four streams a week (that's the goal). I'm on Twitch. Playing drums, singing songs, sometimes guitar or piano; and even writing/recording/producing songs live on-air. Some things I do better than others. Recently, I started performing a live set of original songs, and them transition into performing requests for anyone who joins. 

I've been exploring electronic drums, to make drumming quieter for those around me. I picked up the Roland TD-17 module, an RTOM BlackHole mesh head and Roland RT-30HR trigger, plus a Roland CY-15R ride cymbal. I love where this is taking me. But, I have quickly realized that I want more from this setup. I want multitrack recording to Logic Pro. I want a better electronic snare drum...I want the best. Looks like the best is the Roland PD-140DS (digital snare), and that it works on either the TD-50 ($2,500) or TD-27 ($1,250). Both modules look excellent. The 50 has several advantages over the 27 (easy slider controls, more professional connectivity options, slightly better overall sound), yet the 27 has some advantages over the 50 (300 more included drum sounds, bluetooth, and ½ the price). Both have the ability to be used for professional multitrack recordings, which I do plan to use. You'd easily think the TD-50 is the best module, and that should be my choice. But, the 27 covers everything I need, and has some features the 50 does not; so it is not an easy decision.  

I will plan to get the digital snare right away, as this is likely the biggest challenge I want to overcome. I will likely upgrade my ride cymbal to either the Roland CY-18DR (digital ride -- which also requires the TD-50 or TD-27 module), or I’ll look into the beautiful cymbals from Field Electronic Drums. 

Once I get the new module, snare and ride...I’ll shift focus to replacing my old PD-8 tom pads, with something current, and likely replace all my electronic crash cymbals with Field cymbals. What will I do with all my old gear? It’ll find a new home, through my active eBay auctions.  

I will continue sharing the journey on my Twitch livestream. If this stuff interests you, tune into my drum streams, twice a week.

Let me start by saying that electronic drums are not new to me. I have been incorporating e-drums into my playing and recording since 1994. It started while creating music with Suspicious Hooligans, which needed hip-hop drums and percussion. Way back then, I added a trigger module (Yamaha TMX) into my Tama drumset, and taped triggers to my drum heads for recording and live performances.

Also, during the peek years of the Rock Band video game, I purchased some Roland drum pads and connected them to the Yamaha TMX (and right into my Xbox 360) for some real'ish drumming in the game. So much fun!

I even took my e-drumming a step further in 2018 as I drummed with the (mostly) cover classic rock band, Power Surge. I wanted unique percussion sounds; tambourine, cowbell, snare drum hit but reversed. That's when I added a Roland SPD-SX, to add infinite sounds to my live drum set.

In the newest installment, I am struggling to play my beloved SJC drum set while at home, during the pandemic. Lots of other people in this house, working/schooling....and real acoustic drums are darn loud. I am lucky if I play 1 or maybe 2 hours per week, often less. I have been so restricted, that I spend more time learning piano and guitar, due to my lack of drumming.  Also, ask any of my musician friends, my drums skills have suffered. I'm not the drummer I once was...and that's no good.

I recently added a new e-drum module, Roland TD-17. This is a state-of-the-art drum system. I have many options to explore with this. Such as reusing the rubber Roland drum and cymbal pads I used to play Rock Band. I've been testing these out on my live stream (Twitch.tv/MusicBySV).  

But, I always like to experiment, and not just use things as they were intended. So, I took my practice mesh drum head (RTOM Black Hole), and put that on my real wood snare drum, and then added a Roland RT-30HR trigger to the mesh head. First, the Black Hole, allows you to play a real snare drum, while reducing 80% of the volume. That's a win-win. Placing the trigger on the mesh head, allows me to connect this new quiet snare drum to the Roland TD-17, and then configure any snare drum sound for live playing or recording.

Now, I just started experimenting this week. It is far from dialed in, but there is real hope that I can play my real drums, keep the volume reduced, and still get quality recordings.  Possibly even some very new sounding recordings, thanks to the endless possibilities that come with e-drums and MIDI sounds.

Here's nothing unique. I have been at home since the first week of March. For about four months, I barely left the house. By July, I got back to some grocery shopping, getting take-out, and even attempted two socially distanced vacations (one was a disaster, the other a "distanced" success). I do have a non-music day job (which is truly a lifestyle -- the days/nights don't really end for that, but that's for another story). During regular times, my music is something I squeeze in between work and family. From year, to year, my ability to get music work done, varies.

During our lockdown time, it's been something I could have never dreamed. This post is the update about it...

In July, I finished my first ever fully solo song; completely written, played, recorded, mixed, mastered, produced, released....etc etc. That song is Alarm Bells, and was released everywhere you can find music, on August 28 2020, under the name Special Victim. I have several friends who were my "playtesters" who encouraged me to call the song "done". I had been tinkering with the song, on and off, for about 18 months. It's got an electronic feel, but also rock (with a touch of metal), and pop-like vocals. Live drums, electric guitar, electronic drums, keyboards, multiple vocal tracks. It was a lot of fun to create. I guess it is in-line with the "industrial rock" sound. People have mentioned a Nine Inch Nails vibe.

While Alarm Bells was launching, I was also remotely working with Josh Prost on a different music project, called Octavate. This project has evolved into a dark, yet energetic melodic rock/metal sound. Between April and September, we have written/recorded (from our own homes, or taking turns in the band studio) 5 original songs and 1 cover. My primary role in Octavate is vocals; so it's a strong focus on me helping bring Josh's creations to life. We currently have 3 songs fully produced and ready to share; and two more queued up for final mixing. Then, we will get back to writing/recording more.

Just after I released Alarm Bells, for Special Victim, I quickly whipped a new song idea. Within just a couple hours, it was recorded, and with a really cool lo-fi electro-pop sound (if that is really a thing, I'm not sure). Again, my friends convinced me to call it done, quickly. A new musical friend, Jay Brewer (guitarist, EDM producer, singer, songwriter), offered to take this new song, which I titled, When You Arrived, and produce it. By the next day, we were done, and scheduled When You Arrived for an October 3 launch everywhere. I also created a unique video for that song, using the Rotor Videos service.

I then turned my focus to making videos. How do I make sure my music gets heard by the people who usually consume music visually? I did work on creating some original music videos that I'd film/edit myself. Turns out, it's a lot more work than I want to invest time in; and I'm not yet ready to get into working with video experts. But, I did find some relatively simple and inexpensive options to create videos, that might capture attention. So, I created a couple videos for Alarm Bells; and released them on YouTube, Facebook, and Instragram. I also went back to my 2019 song release, Pain Of Reality and created a video for that song, which will release in November 2020.

But that's not all...

As I keep coming up with lyric ideas, song ideas, and general creativity; while I was on my successful vacation, I decided to take some music I had created (more of an alt-rock-country vibe) and some lyrics I had written (both the music and lyrics were inspired by Marvel shows and movies). I combined them into a new and very different sounding song; and had my friends Jay and Joe Moran contribute to the writing/playing. That song is well under way, and will be finished up and released probably before then end of 2020. Look for the name Zerø Matter by Special Victim.

While all this was going on, several music friends, including long-time musician/producer, Garrett Gross, took to remixing my song Alarm Bells. The creations have blown my mind, with how people have interpreted my original idea. I love remixes, oftentimes more than original songs. I'm excited to announce that Special Victim will release an Alarm Bells remix EP, before the end of 2020.

Yes, there is more...

My friend's (now becoming music partners) Jay and Joe, are working on some very interesting new music to align with the release of the upcoming motion picture, Dune. I have hopped on the microphone to put in some supporting vocals in that project, and I could not be more excited.

When all is said and done; there are 7 Special Victim songs (audio and/or video), 5 Octavate songs, and a Jay Brewer song that I have been a part of, which are either already live, or expected to be live before the end of year. I could have never imagined that, when 2020 began. I can only say, make the most of what you have, and maybe something great can come of it.

I joined up with Josh, Gilly and Matt in January, as the forth member of an alternative rock band with a handful of Josh created original songs. We decided on a band name, Octavate, while we are all home and social distancing (sometime in late March). The band name comes from a song of the same name that Josh wrote before we all got together, we like, and thought the name was interesting....each of us with our own reasons. 

Our web site is at www.octavate.band, someone else has the DOT COM site, so this will have to do. Josh is a song writing machine, with his love of sounds from the 90's, Alice In Chains, Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, Tool, Red Hot Chili Peppers....you get the picture. I get to sing a lot of his creations, some are very challenging. 

We also are collaborating on a bunch of new things.  As of today, April 28 2020, we have 5 originals that we as a band have learned together. Josh continues to write, somewhere around another 10 plus ready for the band to sink our teeth into.  Josh and I have collaborated together on at least another 4 songs. By the time social distancing is over, I'd expect we will have at least 15 songs for Matt and Gilly decide if they want to consider them for Octavate, and then contribute their own pieces to officially make them Octavate creations. 

In the meantime, Josh and I are able to record and send music back and forth to each other.  We just finished up a demo of Wearing Thin, which has a lot to do about our personal takes on the pandemic (every musician will have a pandemic song or two by the time this is over). We also have a near completed demo of Flying Floating, part of a trilogy of songs relating to the end of Earth's existence (we wrote the trilogy before the pandemic started, and even though the concept of the trilogy is dark, it's not based on a global virus). We also have a song that Josh and I created about a year before Octavate got together, called Wasted Time. A demo already exists of that (one of the few recordings of it are linked in this post).  So we are well on our way to an album, and it will be a blast to start playing these songs live.

We have discussed playing some of my songs that I release as Special Victim, in Octavate. I can see the guys taking them, and making the parts their own for some playing live. 

Well, here's hoping we can get the full band to record something in 2020, and maybe look to get into some public place to perform these songs for you, hopefully early 2021 (that is me wishful thinking).  I'm ready to play some lives shows NOW!

2019 was the birth of MusicBySV. Why did I not just use my full name? Well, some of you know my day job in cybersecurity (yes, this is real) has a bunch of followers in that space, so I created this name as an alternative not to mix the two. Looking back on 2019, this was a year that I started with the first release of my first song under the band name, Special Victim. The song Pain Of Reality released in early January (on every store and streaming service), and is the only completed release of the year. This song, I wrote/recorded and played all parts, and learned how tough it is bering the only creative mind in a song with many parts. (I had intended to get at least an EP out this year, but still have a ways to go). I learned a lot with releasing that song, how to use music distributions (and how to dit it poorly), how to promote a song (and learn many ways to do it better next time). Other songs in progress are on my SoundCloud page.

Just after Pain Of Reality was released, I started a Twitch streaming channel. I thank my new drum friend, DanDrumStone for showing me the way to Twitch. I started it as a drum live cover channel, and then got into singing and going from covers to originals, to just experimenting. This grew a small audience quickly, and for a while, I hosted Friday AM streams, but the work/life schedule couldn't keep this schedule up. Twitch and the basement studio I set up to create my streams took a pretty considerable investment in time and money. It involves an array of microphones (15 in total), and stage lighting, a relatively inexpensive camera, and audio interface, two computers, and a bunch of new software to learn. It's a big undertaking, and a true labor of love. Streaming became more difficult as the year went on, since my home studio is now adjacent to a home office for my partner, who works at the hours I would stream. 

I also got my YouTube channel up and running this year, and released over 100 videos. Many are full song play-alongs (vocals and drums) from my live streams, where others are lightly edited. 

It was a mostly quiet year for outside live music. Of the three bands I play in, Power Surge played two shows (in 24 hours), and the others were on hiatus. I love to play live, whether it's singing/fronting a band, or backing it on drums. With Power Surge, we have a bunch of original songs, though generally play mostly cover songs live, and pepper in a few originals. It's a very casual group of friends, who generally get together to support our local community. 

In 2019, I bounced back and forth from song writer, to singer, to drummer, and a few other things mixed in. With my drumming, I decided to play Massachusetts made equipment where I could (to support my local drum businesses). I started playing SJC Custom Drums (and got a custom drum kit, and three snare drums). I explored my cymbal sound, and landed on loving Zildjian K Sweet cymbals. I went back and forth with Vic Firth 5A and 55A sticks and Vater 2451 Mike Johnston sticks. I also started playing around with Big Fat Snare Drum drum rings, to explore different sounds. All these companies are based in Mass. 

I started to build a social persona for MusicBySV on all the places, including Instagram, Facebook and Twitter; sharing and getting to know you better. Some amazing podcast, and online personalities help guide me this year. To name a few; Mike Johnston & Mike Dawson (on the Modern Drummer Podcast and MikesLessons.com ), Rick Barker (on the Music Industry Blueprint podcast) and Tiffany VanBoxtel from starsinger.co. Late in the year, I set up www.MusicBySV.com using BandZoogle and started to offer my recording services (vocals and drums) and share my music, photos, and stories. 

All this, while keeping a very busy day job and mix of family. Overall, I look at 2019 as a success, and I see things I'd like to improve on in 2020. 

I hope to hear how your 2019 was, and what you are looking for change (or keep doing) in 2020. Thanks for reading and Happy New Year!

I'm currently in the studio, with Special Victim (which is my solo project, plus friends).  It's slow going, but I'm passionately, writing, recording, and releasing new music.  Early in 2019, one song, Pain of Reality, went live (it's now streamable everywhere), and I'm working on a very different sounding follow up now. 6 songs are nearing completion in the writing stages, and will likely trickle out as 2020 comes around.