Ultimate Rick Jones, Used To Be Good Looking, and Dreams Coming True

Rising new Americana singer-songwriter Ultimate Rick Jones just released his latest single, "Used To Be Good Looking," a hand-picked cover version of a song I wrote and previously released as the title track of my 6th studio album 10 years ago.  He and his international band's recording is poised for a worldwide commercial breakthrough in my humble opinion.   To quote myself, I "ain't too proud to brag," only in this case, maybe it's more like humble-bragging for hype purposes.  😉

I am so pleased and honored to feature a song among the first several of his official single releases.  In songwriter lingo, I’m proud to be able to say I achieved a “cut” with an artist this talented who chose to include my song in his repertoire.   

Its outstanding arrangement, vocals, instrumentation and production quality far surpass my original, resulting in a commercial recording worthy of radio airplay or a movie soundtrack.  I have always suspected that if a great singer and band recorded a cover of one of my songs that it would demonstrate the quality of my songwriting and confirm the potential my songs have.    

Ultimate Rick has realized the possibilities I imagined when I wrote it with his polished sound.  It is high praise when a songwriter who does not need outside material likes one of your songs enough to want to record it, so I have nothing but gratitude, respect and admiration.   

I love UTBGL (as I sometimes like to abbreviate it) by URJ, but I also encourage you to check out his excellent original songs as well.  All his records are in the upper echelon of independent music.  Check them out here:  

https://ultimaterickjones.bandcamp.com/

Did you know artists can record cover versions of Scott Cooley originals and release them for streaming for about two dollars?  I welcome it, encourage it, and even offer a free lyric/chord songbook for this purpose to make it easy.  For more information, see https://www.scottcooley.com/songbook.     

Who Is Ultimate Rick Jones Anyway?   

Who is this mysterious new Ultimate Rick Jones person?  What's in a name?  There's a lot that can be interpreted about the name an artist will self-apply.

• 'Ultimate' suggests a final stage of a process, which for me represents a holy-grail culmination of my work as a songwriter to have an artist of this caliber record one of my songs, with his cover being the best imaginable example of what a Scott Cooley song can become.
• 'Rick' suggests a stack of hay, straw, or firewood that to me reflects a rural American vibe while representing fuel, and Rick's music most certainly serves up energy to keep you going and enjoying life, and his cover of my song has made me stoked to keep writing more.
• 'Jones' suggests an addiction, and once you hear some URJ, you are hooked and jonesing with a compulsive desire for a fix of more music from an artist this good.    

Then there's the comic book character.  80’s style party-in-the-back mullet, muscles indicating otherworldly strength and durability, abilities including flight, teleportation, cosmic awareness, levitation, etc.

To some, he is a great singer-songwriter.  To me, Ultimate Rick Jones really is a superhero!  He and his band are destined for fame and greatness (and not just because of a Scott Cooley cover).    

I am proud to be a part of the origin story of this new and emerging artist.  He has released multiple successful singles in succession, and with one great song after another, he’s more than just a rising artist, he’s on a stratospheric trajectory.   

This recording is an example of Rick in full control of his powers, which are rumored to be a result of gamma radiation exposure after hanging out with the incredible Hulk.   

Now that his super songwriting skills are publicly audible, the fact that he would unexpectedly record and release a cover version of a song written by a mere mortal like me is a brave and noble deed.    

This benevolent act is revealing of his character and further proof he is truly heroic.  I admire him for his courage to use his divine talents in this way, and for his outstanding achievement in interpreting and recording my song, which he may well have done out of pure kindness to me, but the result is a benefit for all mankind.   

I got to know Rick by an alias human persona when he and I were work colleagues many years ago.  I witnessed first-hand, albeit remotely, that in addition to expert communication skills, his abilities included lightning-fast learning speed, so it was no surprise he could learn the song, but I had no idea he was such a great singer.   

After essentially awakening from a coma and teleporting himself to Michigan to pick up this song, Rick activated his superhuman powers and with his amazing bandmates transformed it into a thing of beauty, showing why he's not only the ultimate friend/confidant/sidekick, but also the chosen one to use his singing, instrument-playing and music production skills to lead the world in a better direction through music.    

This feels like a crowning achievement in my "career" as a songwriter, the “ultimate” legitimacy validation, and for sure the biggest highlight so far.  Hope you will stream the hell out of it!  Here it is again:   https://ultimaterickjones.bandcamp.com/album/used-to-be-good-looking

How We Feel About Covers

Covers.  Sometimes you love 'em, sometimes you despise 'em.  Sometimes you didn't know it was a cover and UTBGL by URJ is destined to become the definitive version everyone remembers.

Bob Dylan changed the way he performed “All Along The Watchtower” after he heard the Jimi Hendrix version, and if I ever perform UTBGL again, I’ll need to do it in the URJ style as best I can.  Aretha's cover of “Respect” blew away Otis' original to the point that today everyone only thinks of it as her song.  Her cover completely transformed the song into a smash hit.  Things like these happen.  Jeff Buckley’s cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Halleluiah” comes to mind here as well.   

In the pre-rock era, a song would be written and then multiple artists would record versions of it, some often being released around the same time as each other.  This was commonplace.  Now it might only happen in country music once in a great while, if at all anymore.   

The more covers of a song, the greater the chance it will be heard longer into the future, and possibly become regarded as a standard.  "Standard" is a tricky word people associate with the pre-rock era, but "Never My Love" by the Association and "Yesterday" by Paul McCartney are later examples that are in that territory already.     

A Dream Comes True   

For songwriters, it can be flattering.  Just the fact that another artist liked one of your songs enough to want to learn how to play and sing it is a strong indicator you've written a good one.  Even if an artist does a cover you don't care for as much as your own original, it's a compliment no matter what.    

In my case, as a songwriter who is not a great singer, instrumentalist or performer, most any cover has great potential to exceed my original.  Not only that, it can serve as verification of the vision for the song you imagined even when your own limitations prevented you from being able to deliver it accordingly.   

Sometimes a new interpretation of an existing song can make people realize what a great song it is when they didn't take notice before.   Hearing one of your creations interpreted by people with more talent and skill is really exciting to experience.  It's literally a thrill.    

I know Rick's true identity, but I'm not going to reveal it to you, because there is some mystery that he may prefer to preserve.  Since his record is a Jones-Cooley Joint (think Spike Lee), I can at least share a special photo of the two of us he put together for marketing purposes that depicts each of us back when, well, from back when we used to be good looking:

In partial disclosure, I’m lucky to not only know him personally, but also consider him a friend.  He has been a most complimentary fan and supporter of my music for many years now, and you never forget that.   

It's proof that the quality of the songwriting can really shine when given the right arrangement, performance and production.  It helps that not only is Rick a great songwriter, but he is also a great singer.    

The singing always matters.  I'm an artist who I suspect makes people wonder why my music is even available on streaming platforms in the first place when they first hear it.  My voice is unfortunately not that professional-sounding, but his is.  Throw in great instrument playing and production quality, and it makes a huge difference.   

Ultimate Rick is a solo artist who has a rotating supporting cast of bandmates from multiple countries for each song, so "he" is sort of a "they," and the international bandmates include both female and male members.  They are all real pros.  The female backing vocal lines are so awesome, particularly the one that follows "got the pictures to prove it was true" by Paz Estrach when she sings "IT WAS TRUE!" is one of the most exciting things I've ever heard.  I'm weird, I know.  Since I'm speaking the truth, URJ's version couldn't be more perfect, and it's the greatest cover of a Scott Cooley song of all time, so this is really an honor and a personal dream come true.     

About The Song   

When I wrote and recorded it back in 2014, I was on the fence about releasing it at all, but I needed an album title and cover art.  When I was going through old photos of myself as cover candidates, this one of me dressed up and looking good when young suited that song, tied the whole package together, gave me the art, album name and title track.  That discovery was an ah-ha moment that immediately swayed the decision to release it.  I had been uncomfortable about the bragging aspect, but now, of course, I know it was the right choice because it's one of my best and has strong universal appeal!

If you’re interested in more of the story behind the song, or at least what I thought about it at the time I wrote/released it, here is a link to the respective song page of my website:  https://www.scottcooley.com/albums/used-to-be-good-looking/used-to-be-good-looking

“Cuts” Like A Knife, First Cut Is The Deepest

About 20 years ago, a well-meaning friend or family member (can't remember who now) bought me a book about "how to get your first cut" for aspiring songwriters - "cut" being industry jargon for getting a famous mainstream major label recording artist to first "hold," then record, then release your song.  

When people hear a couple of your songs, sometimes they can be really encouraging and tell you your songs could be hits for artists.  They are sincere to a degree, but are also being nice, so you have to take such compliments with a grain of salt.

To sum up this advice-giver book by industry insiders, they said it's really about moving to Nashville, networking, pitching, community involvement, being seen and heard, co-writing, paying dues, handling rejection, logging your tasks, never giving up, getting prepared for when lightning strikes, etc., which I'm sure is a valid recipe for success.  None of it sounded like much fun to me, so I never once considered attempting any of it.

I once thought of myself as an amateur songwriter who didn’t have any sort of realistic chance of ever having a really good artist want to record one of my original songs, so if anyone was ever going to hear my songs, I’d have to cut them and release them myself as a solo artist, but that has now changed. 

It’s pretty cool though that for many years now, because of the way times have changed, I’ve been able to write and record and release my own songs, and a few people out there in the world have found them and liked them.  I've never taken it very seriously.  It's not literature, it's just bluesy Americana.

I haven’t given up the hobby, and that’s awesome because I’ve had a lot of fun.  Probably anyone who has taught themselves to strum a few chords on a guitar and make up some words to go with it has wondered if the song they wrote is good enough to get a great singer and artist to turn it into a hit-worthy recording.    

Now I’ve sort of done it, and sort of followed some of the book's advice.  Right place at right time.  Knowing the right person.  Networking.  Relationships matter.  Lucked out.  Didn’t give up.  Did things my own way.  Times change, remote songwriting work is possible.

Technically, since I previously commercially released my own original version, it is definitely a cover version, but might not be considered a “cut”.  I will consider it a cut anyway, even though this artist isn’t a major-label artist on the radio (yet), and the song is digital and not actually cut into grooves on vinyl (yet).    

From what I’ve heard so far, he’s way better than most of the ultra-famous major-label mainstream popular crap anyway, and to my ears destined for opportunities beyond independent self-releasing.  Even if another cut and commercial release of one of my songs doesn’t come to fruition, it’s cool to know this one is out now.     

Kicking Ass   

When I first heard this recording of this song, my inner voice had this immediate reaction that I involuntarily thought then verbalized to myself aloud when alone.  I said something like “holy shit, this song kicks ass!”  Then the next thought..."this is fucking awesome!"  If you knew me in my youth, you remember I had the vocabulary of a truck driver, but in the last couple decades, my wife all but cured me of that.  So, even though the “hit” song I’m most known for, “Mackinac Island,” has a single swear word in it repeated many times, believe it or not, I have to be really excited about something to utter a swear word these days.  This one brought it out again.   

Subsequently, I said in my head to myself something like “What can you do with a Scott Cooley song?  You can kick some ass with it, that's what!” Then you can take names.  Mine would be the name taken I guess, because my version has been forever subdued and captured, my name, rank and serial number collected.  You can shoot first and ask questions later.  Go ahead, cover my song, record your version of it, then ask me for permission to release it.  I will say yes!  I welcome all challengers to defeat my original versions.  

The music of Ultimate Rick Jones kicks ass.  He writes kick-ass songs himself, and there's no competition except for listeners ears I guess, but this is a kick-ass cover version of one of mine.  This one blows mine away.  I immediately wanted my wife to hear it (she loved it by the way), and just have the urge to share it and obviously hope lots of people stream it.  

Ladies, if your men are reluctant to get out on the dance floor at your local honky tonk to do some line dancing with you, just ask the DJ to play Used To Be Good Looking by Ultimate Rick Jones, and he'll get out there with you, I guarantee it.  You'll have the best night ever.  This record has some magic in it.   It's strikingly and overwhelmingly powerful.   

The formal announcement:  

Greetings Scott Cooley,
Ultimate Rick Jones just released Used To Be Good Looking, check it out here.

“Hi Gang,
A new Ultimate Rick Jones single "Used To Be Good Looking" was just released on Bandcamp.

Join me for a butt-shaking blues odyssey into the perils of unsustainable cultural body ideals and the pitfalls of deluded self-perception.

Or maybe just check it out for the saxophones, they're really cool too.

My buddy Scott Cooley wrote this tune, so it's Rick's first cover song. Check out the tune's Bandcamp page for more info and thanks for being with me.

URJ”

    

Even if you’ve never used Bandcamp before, I strongly encourage you to sign up and download this one.  You will get a couple really cool surprise bonus artifacts with your download, and I guarantee you will love and treasure owning this song.  As always, thanks for reading and listening!!!

Even more URJ:

Ultimate Rick Jones is on Instagram:
www.instagram.com/ultimate.rick.jones.music/
Or you can follow Rick on Threads at @drhoover72

Bandcamp, anyone?

Have you guys ever checked out Bandcamp?  It's a really awesome place to discover music.  Personally, I pay the monthly subscription for YouTube Music and I love it, but I'm also really into Bandcamp.  

The software is designed really well, and their model for independent artists is excellent.  I use it as a fan, but I've also had my music available on there since 2010 when it was new and I became an early adopter as an artist.  Some of you have been loyal listeners for a couple decades now, but I'm not going to call you "superfans" because I'm not out to get all I can out of you by convincing you to buy t-shirts or vinyl remix records or get you to sign up for some fan club app to get "exclusive" stuff that I charge extra for.  

I'm not constantly asking people to just send me money for my hobby on one of those crowdfunding platforms, and I'm not going to make you think you're not a real fan if you don't buy all the merch. There is no merchandise.  I used to offer CDs (thanks again to the proud owners out there), but now I don't offer any physical products at all.  

Yes, there is a lack of demand :), but I'm a realist who knows you probably pay a monthly subscription to stream music (like I do), and whether on your phone, in your car, or on a smart speaker, it's convenient. I know some of you like to use iTunes and have the actual files in your possession though, so I still offer downloading.  I don't charge more for superfan subscriptions, I actually charge way less.  

What if I told you that for five bucks you could get every song from my back catalog - 154 songs I wrote and recorded?  Unlike most artists, I recently lowered the one indie subscription service I offer on Bandcamp - it's now only $5 per year for everything I make...and that includes all of my past album releases.  It's a safe bet in my case because I'm consistently prolific with a new full-length album every two years.  

You can stream it all for free right now because I allow it, or you can subscribe and download to actually own the files...and they come in high quality formats.  You become a patron of the arts!  Similar to throwing a few bucks in a street busker's guitar case, it makes you feel good afterward.  

Or you can just refresh the browser when it prompts you to pay and start over.  Otherwise, you're paying for Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, or Amazon Music anyway, and I make sure my music is there for you.  For less than the price of breakfast, you can own it all.  

You can pay more if you want to.  It would be cool if you did that.  I would like it.  You would have the huge hassle of signing up for Bandcamp fan account, then clicking Subscribe Now.  Your avatar would appear as a Supporter on my page, which is here:  https://music.scottcooley.com.

https://music.scottcooley.com/subscribe

Scott Cooley's "Sunrise" Debuts At #1

Chart-topping success marks 12th consecutive debut atop mental list of best new album by a solo artist named Scott Cooley

"Sunrise" (Scott Cooley Records), the acclaimed twelfth solo album from Scott Cooley, has debuted at #1 in the chart in his mind of his favorite albums he has released.  The honorable mention song contest t-shirt award winner's first all-new album in nearly two years, is available digitally now worldwide.

"Sunrise" Chart Positions:

Best Current Album by an artist named Scott Cooley - #1

Greatest Current Acoustic Rock Album by an artist named Scott Cooley - #1

Overall Top Album by an artist named Scott Cooley - #1

Favorite Scott Cooley Album by an artist named Scott Cooley - #1

Cooley and his powerful new studio outfit - Scott Cooley on acoustic guitar, Scott Cooley on bass guitar, Scott Cooley on keys, Scott Cooley on drums, Scott Cooley on marimba, Scott Cooley on harmonica, and Lenore Cooley on accordion - will celebrate "Sunrise" with an appearance at Scott Cooley Music Productions studio on June 21st, and then will embark on an epic world tour, if only in their minds, beginning in home state Michigan, then continuing through the summer with headline dates across North America, Europe, and Asia featuring multiple prominent festival performances.

"Sunrise" - which showcases 13 new tracks - has swiftly accrued critical applause from around the world:

"Sunrise is as euphoria-producing of an album as you're likely to hear anytime soon."  

-Publication name withheld

"Delightfully unlike anything else around."

-Anonymous

"Scott Cooley has created something mysteriously pleasing.  The old Scott is still there, certainly, but we're far more excited about what the new one has up his sleeves."

-Imagined major music magazine

"Sunrise is easily one of the most compelling releases of 2024, which furthers Cooley's legacy as one of the few remaining mavericks in music."

-Another envisioned prominent music reviewer

"Sunrise carries the invigorating charge of an artist redrawing his frontiers, reinventing himself in real time."

-Another made up quote paraphrased from a real quote about a real artist by a real music reviewer, plagiarism intended for humorous purposes only

For more information, see https://www.scottcooley.com/albums/sunrise.

###

One-Way Communication: Anti-Social Media Doesn't Mean Anti-Social

Thanks for the interest in my music!  You know who you are.  If I don't reply to every comment or like or message right away, it's not you, it's me.  

Social media kind of freaks me out a little, and as you can probably tell, I don't use it very often, except to tell you when I have some new music available once in a while. You write some songs, you record them, you make them available for people to stream, but that doesn't mean anyone will find them and stream them, or even know they exist.  You not only have to tell people they exist, you have to market them.  

I mean, you don't have to, but now the streaming services are starting to just remove the songs if they don't get streamed enough, and I want them to remain available.  Popular doesn't always mean good, and good doesn't always mean popular, but that's how it is, and my little cult following might grow, but my music isn't the type to ever achieve mainstream success.  Of course I like the creative part of my hobby, but not the marketing part.  

When you're fiercely independent with a niche audience and zero budget, self-promotion is all you can do, but it feels weird.  If you don't really care if people discover your music or not, maybe you just don't do any self-promotion at all and hope for the best, but if you think it would be cool if your music could reach a larger audience, you bite the bullet.  Hence, my recent shameless social media posts, mostly on Facebook.  

I'm not a regular user of social media, and I typically limit my use to one-way communication announcements and for a little self-promotion and marketing.  No one wants to appear standoffish.  I'm not anti-social, but it doesn't come naturally for me to want to "engage" very much, if at all.  I welcome interaction, but I prefer email, so feel free to reach out:  scottcooley@scottcooley.com.  

I’m more of a long-form type of poster anyway, so although I occasionally tweet, it’s usually just a link to one of my blog posts.  Aside from this blog, and my website scottcooley.com, depending on what you consider to be social media, here are links to the main 3 that I use:

• https://www.youtube.com/scottcooley
• https://www.facebook.com/scottcooley
• https://www.twitter.com/scottcooley

So to reiterate, I'm not an anti-social person, even though I'm not a fan of social media.  I am pretty sure I'm an introvert, although if you knew me in the late 80s and early 90s, you would probably find that hard to believe because I had a really active social life.  

I'll admit it, I liked to party.  Too much, for sure.  Partying is what we called it back then around here.  I was in my late teens and early 20s, and like a lot of people in that age range, I sought out celebratory events with peers frequently, often without anything to celebrate.

They say you have to use social media with great caution, and I agree.

I recently asked my nephew, who just finished college, what the most popular social media apps are for people his age.  His #1 answer:  Instagram.  Then he also said TikTok and sometimes Snapchat.

Over recent years, I've become aware that Instagram was popular for solo artists to have an account on.  So, I thought I'd learn more, and maybe sign up.

• Strike One:  All about photos.  The logo appears to be a camera.  Photo sharing, filters, people tagging, geo tagging, hashtags.  I've already publicly posted way more photos of myself than I ever should have on my website and elsewhere.  I don't like my appearance, especially as I've gotten older.  I don't like seeing photos of myself, don't like getting my picture taken, don't ever take selfies.  This is for young, good looking people, so for me, I'm already thinking no way.
• Strike Two:  Owned by Facebook. The dreaded and almighty Meta - what a dumb name by the way.  I don't need to further contribute to Mark Zuckerberg's evolution into being a Bond villain buying more islands and building secret lairs, dungeons and spaceships, or whatever the hell weird shit the ultra rich get into.  Plus, he just looks like a guy you want to hit.  How many separate apps do they need that are pretty much all about posting photos of yourself?
• Strike Three:  'scottcooley' wasn't available.  Some other Scott Cooley beat me to the scottcooley name, so I had to pick scottcooleymusic, which is always another strike against for any social media.
• Strike Four:  Mobile-first approach.  Seems like one of those mobile-first apps.  Which is probably why I didn't snag scottcooley when I first heard about it, because early on the only way to sign up was via smartphone.  Using the Facebook app on my phone one time years ago cured me of ever using any social media app on my phone ever again.  The endless settings and annoying UI and notifications and ads were just a terrible user experience.  If they don't have a desktop version browser sign up, I never sign up.
• Strike Five:  Photo required?  Looks like it requires a photo to just make a post.  Like, you have to have a photo ready to go first in order to just type some text.  Again, annoying.  When you hit Create new or whatever, it makes you select a photo or video first before you can do anything else.  I do actually know how to take a picture or video on my phone, but I don't have any I want to share with anyone, so I guess I'm not going to post anything, ever.
• Strike Six:  Videos too.  Anyone you complain to about Instagram tells you how it can do all these other great things too, and that it's not just for photos.  What they mean is that it allows videos too.  But not long ones, probably.  They mean the short ones people take of their dogs on their phones, and then you get sucked in to watching about 100 of them in a row.  If you don't like seeing yourself in photos, you don't like how you look on video either.
• Strike Seven:  Seems to be a young person thing.  I grew up when you could enjoy your life without ever using a camera or a phone.  I still enjoy my life without ever using a camera or a phone.  We had these things called memories that were only stored in our brains.  I don't need multiple forms of instant messaging.  Send me a text, leave me a voice mail, and I'll get around to responding eventually when I feel like it if it's important.  That's how I roll.
• Strike Eight:  You have to follow people.  When I asked someone how they use it, they said you have to follow someone to see content.  I don't want to follow anyone.

Now that I've honestly described my first impression of Instagram, and now that you've likely formed a grumpy-old-man opinion of me, I wanted to let you know that my music is available for using in your reels.  I'm not sure what reels are exactly, but they look like short videos with music in the background and some overlaid text.  

So, if you have a photo or a video or a meme or something, and then you want some background music for it, you can supposedly search for and find Scott Cooley songs to select for that purpose.

Same goes for TikTok:  my music is available on there, and I've become aware that lots of people have used my songs for their short-form videos.

When MTV was new, I thought music videos were cool, and I admit I check out a lot of music that has associated videos on YouTube, mostly just live footage of my favorite bands, but as a music fan and consumer, I definitely prefer to just listen to the audio only.  I think videos can be entertaining, and if they have my music in the background, even more so, but I'm biased.

I'm grateful and appreciative of any interest in my music, whether on the streaming services, or in social media.  As always, if you're one of them who has shown interest, thanks again!

New Music Videos from New Album "Sunrise" Starting to Trickle In To YouTube Channel

I wanted to let you readers know that this week is a good time to subscribe to my YouTube channel because I am releasing several music videos leading up to the release of my new studio album "Sunrise" on Friday, June 21st, which feature songs from that album.  So, you get to hear them early, and for free, with some visual content.

In keeping with my fierce independence, I did the videos myself, just as with everything I do related to my music, although some feature public domain visual content I mixed with my music.  Similar to writing and recording songs, I knew nothing about videos, but figured out how to produce them with free sofware and my own labor on a zero budget.  They are decidedly amateur and lo-fi, just like my music.  

I know people love YouTube and it's a popular and convenient way to listen to music, so I wanted to be sure I offer a few videos in addition to making the albums and songs available on all the major streaming places like Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, Pandora, etc.  On June 21st, the new album will be on all of those, and the new videos will also become available within the YouTube Music service as well, integrated alongside the standard audio streaming of the new studio album (which is why, by the way, I myself use and recommend YouTube Music).

You can hit the Subscribe link below, use a Google account to sign in, and then the result is any time I post a new video, you get a notification.  There will only be about 7 of them.  Then, you'll probably not get any notifications for a couple more years until I decide to release another album again, so minimal fatigue.

It's annoying when artists constantly ask people to like or subscribe or share, etc. for anything online, so I'm not going to do it, but I offer the capability if you feel compelled to boost my stats or for whatever reasons.  Beyond automatically getting made aware of it when there's new content, the main benefit would be feeling like you supported me in a small way, so that's appreciated of course, if you choose to, but subscribe or not, it's free.

So, yeah, like most creative people, I like the creative part, but sort of despise having to do any marketing of my music.  However, it's a necessary evil to at least let people know about the new creative works content when you don't have a budget or anyone to delegate to.  Hence, this post.  Now you're aware there's new Scott Cooley music on the way, and it includes music videos in advance of the official release date.

Subscribe link:  https://www.youtube.com/scottcooley?sub_confirmation=1

Location (page tab link) of new videos:  https://www.youtube.com/scottcooley/videos

A couple of them are live already:

Thanks for reading/watching/listening/subscribing!

Recommendation: You Should Check Out The Music Of My Good Friend Singer-Songwriter-Multi-Instrumentalist Rich Marr

I'm about to release a new album, but I'll post about that later.  In this post, instead I want to tell you about a guy named Rich Marr.  He's a cool dude I've known since he was a kid when I used to party with his older sister Kirsten in high school, and we became friends several years later while living the ski bum life in Colorado.  That's when we bonded over writing songs.  We're both back in home state Michigan now and still hang, usually making a road trip to Elderly Instruments in Lansing and then getting a Flint-style coney.

I probably wouldn't be a guy with over 150 publicly released original songs and 12 full-length studio albums if I didn't have my good friend Rich Marr in my life.  I've told some other friends, family and acquaintances over the years that I have this friend with whom I share the hobby of songwriting.  However, I've never really formally, publicly or officially acknowledged it though, until now, and it's probably overdue.  I may have thanked him in some liner notes once, but he deserves more than that.

So the deal is that we wrote a handful of songs together back in the early 90s, and they sucked, but we loved it.  We would enjoy hanging out, drinking and smoking, and then after getting buzzed, would get out acoustic guitars and a tape recorder and make up crazy ad-libbed "songs" that were intentionally funny and ridiculous about really terrible controversial subject matter with explicit lyrics.  We cracked each other up.  I'd been writing songs for a few years before that, and he was just starting out with guitar and songwriting, but suffice it to say we were both self-taught and had no idea what we were doing.  We had a lot of these living room jam sessions, and after listening back to the tapes, we agreed some aspects of some songs had potential, and some almost sounded like real songs.

We did a handful of "gigs" as an acoustic duo, some of which were actually paid, and we also ventured out to quite a few open mic nights at bars and coffee places where we sometimes got applause from mostly drunk audiences, while calling ourselves Lake Effect, Driftwood, and Acoustic Jones among other "band" names.  Since then, although realizing we weren't really all that compatible as co-writers or as an acoustic duo musical act, we each gravitated to becoming solo artists rather than being band members due to lack of confidence and being loners by nature, with him more of a performer and me more of a recording artist, but in doing so we each kept up with the songwriting hobby that we helped each other get into.

We lived in different states or cities for many years that followed, so we occasionally sent each other cassette tapes in the mail and mailed back critiques of each others' songs.  Initially, we were really harsh with each other, which could be devastating at times, but it also gave us confidence.  Eventually, I realized that positive-only feedback is best, and the negative or constructive part can be inferred from what is left out.  We evolved to swapping home-burned CDs and using email, and now all digital.  After a while, I evolved to not wanting any feedback from anyone ever, but sometimes he still volunteers it anyway, which I tolerate due to the history.  I've learned I only care if I like my songs or not, but my trust in myself and my judgement is hopefully improved from knowledge and experience.

We had a non-serious, friendly competition of sorts with reviewing each other's songs, like Lennon/McCartney did, and I'm sure it provided motivation and made us each better.  He has surpassed me on many levels since our early days.  Rich, who also goes by the monikers Ora Music Trax, Hatt Guyy, and Ora Marr, has probably written more songs than me, has a way better natural singing voice than me, invented a unique signature style of guitar playing unlike anyone I've ever heard, also a unique self-invented way of playing piano, and also taught himself mandolin, ukulele, banjo, and harmonica, and has recorded in Nashville.  He's also a music video producer, artist, decorated marathon runner, former music journalist, and published poet/author.  He convinced me to attend a songwriter retreat once in northern Michigan too.  So, hearing pros talk about songwriting for a week, and hearing Rich talk about songwriting for a few decades no doubt helped me get to where I am now.

Not saying I'm any good, but I've been prolific.  I was going to do it anyway, and I've had other things that have kept me interested.  I know it's been a passion of mine since 1989 when I first got a guitar, and I was probably hooked from the beginning to have songwriting be a hobby in my life, and I've of course learned from free info about songwriting I found on the web.  Buying myself other instruments and recording equipment helped spur on the mad scientist aspect as well.  But having someone to talk to about a creative hobby with who understands the struggle and occasional joy makes you less likely to give up.  Misery loves company I guess.

Now whenever we get together, like always, our conversations inevitably turn to music and songwriting.  We still have the occasional jam session, but it rarely lasts more than a few songs, usually includes a 12-bar blues in the key of E, and always ends with continuing to just talk about music stuff.  We talk about songwriting, and email each other about songwriting.  Obviously, it's a passion for both of us, and the biggest mutual interest.  In retrospect, having support from someone like that in my life for 30+ years who is also an introvert like me, and also in a place that is far from being a music mecca has been valuable.  So, thanks Rich for the considerable impact on my "career" in music!

Although our styles are quite different, you might like to check out his music.  It would make sense if fans of my music were also fans of his, and vice-versa, especially now that you've read this backstory.  He has gone out of his way to compliment and recommend my music, and not being much of a social media user or social person in general, I haven't returned the favor much...until now.  I am probably more familiar with his catalog than anyone.  Trust me when I tell you he's written hundreds of great songs that I previously reviewed favorably, that hardly anyone has ever heard because he hasn't posted them publicly yet, but I'll keep encouraging him.  A few of my favorite songs of his right now that are currently available are Forever Air, Spray Cheese, Surfin Tha Blue, Disconnected, and Flint Water Blues.

Some links:

https://soundcloud.com/rich-marr-648448558

https://www.youtube.com/@hattguyy9195

www.youtube.com/@richmarr

When the Cream Don't Rise, Is it Time to Kill the Cow?

Popularity, Deezer Deletions and New Weird America Preservation

I recently discovered that Deezer removed the following albums from their platform:

• Cherchez La Femme
• Used To Be Good Looking
• Rest Assured
• Bluebird Days II
• Lockdown Leftovers

That's almost half my catalogue.  Entire albums of mine, without warning, for no apparent reason, gone.

You would think that as a French streaming company, they would've at least chosen to keep Cherchez La Femme!  They said au revoir.  I've heard it's really hard to find music on their service and that their software est nul.

They recently changed their logo to a purple heart.  To me, this represents me being wounded by them, my music being killed by them, while serving the music community with my music, my battle for popularity lost, my heart broken.  C'est la vie.  When I went to Paris once, little French children pointed at me, laughed, and made pig snorting noises and "moo" cow noises, presumably due to my appearance.  Oui, I was an overweight, loud American tourist, probably wearing cargo shorts and a baseball hat.

My immediate reaction is to never recommend Deezer to anyone, but I'm about to distribute another album to them.  I guess they might choose to keep it around, like maybe for a year, and if it doesn't get streamed enough, they'll just delete it.

It got me thinking about how a part of my motivation to release my music is that I want it to be around after I'm not anymore.  How to leave a legacy so future generations can discover and enjoy it?  That's the next question.  I'm sure great works of art have been destroyed permanently throughout history, many of them by the French.  Get enough attention in your lifetime, and your painting winds up in the Louvre.  Posthumous attention is rare, and I'll admit it:  my music is not museum-quality.

Who is behind this?  Greedy major record labels.  They lost some power and control after independent online music distribution became possible, and they desperately want it back.  A glass-half-full Scott Cooley would say "at least they still offer Bluebird Days, Missing the Boat, Sense of Belonging, Drive Time Companion, Lakeside Landing, and Moon Dreams."  Maybe I should consider myself lucky that those albums met their threshold of 1000 streams per year, or however they make such decisions, and remain on their precious platform.

Consider this:  You're at a funeral for someone you knew well, a friend or family member, and you hear their spouse say they wrote songs their whole life but never recorded them.  The only person who ever heard them was the spouse.  You liked the person and now wish you and everyone else could've heard those songs.  You wish you could've heard the person perform the songs they'd written, but also, you wish you could continue to listen to them.  Even the spouse who heard them wishes they could continue to hear them.  You'd like to hear what their singing voice was like, what their instrument playing sounded like, what the melodies and lyrics of their songs sounded like.

It's the classic "when a tree falls in the forest, and there's no one there to hear it, did it make a sound?" scenario.  Then you can get into physics and talk about measuring observers and observing measurers, and cats.  Did it happen, did it exist?  Time, space, light, lines, particles, etc.

You're happy to hear that they enjoyed the hobby, of course.  You know that creative pursuits give the creators great joy while creating them.  You would have the same interest if you learned they had some other hobby.  If the now-deceased person painted paintings or took photographs or made pottery or clothes, you'd like to see them.  If they wrote poems or novels, you'd like to read them.  You wish you would've known about this personal, private, secret thing they did.

Then you have to consider that they kept it private because they did it solely for the enjoyment they got out of it, and never needed or wanted anyone else to enjoy it.  Maybe they didn't think it was good enough for anyone else to enjoy.

It's easier than ever to make your creative content publicly available for the world to consume because of the world wide web.  Upload your recorded music, your e-book, your art, your photos, your words, and let the world either buy them or enjoy them for free.  Type up your life story, or record a video of yourself explaining your life story.  It's all inexpensive if not free and easy to do, especially for intangible items that can exist as electronic files.

With physical objects like furniture or sculptures, maybe the surviving spouse or other descendants will enjoy/use them, sell them, or simply give them away.

It's wonderful to have in your possession a creative work of someone you were close to.  A reminder of your memories of the person, it can be comforting and inspiring.

I think those two things are the essence of what I hope for with my music.  That people will be able to get comfort from it and be inspired to be creative in their lives.  If they knew me, it might also have the benefit of reminding them of things I did or said when they spent time with me.

The benefits of music include improving memory and improving mood.  It can help reduce stress too.  I want people to get these benefits from being able to enjoy my music.

If I want my music to be available for people to get these benefits from it, I have options, but unfortunately, they cost a little money.  It seems like streaming is the way people are going to enjoy music well into the future, and that turns out to be the least expensive way to make it available.

Therefore, I distribute to the streaming services.  I want people to be able to tell their Siri/Google/Alexa speaker to play some Scott Cooley and have it work.  So I need to be on Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music for that to be possible.

I have a website, but it costs a little money to keep it up and running.  Free places to stream music like Bandcamp or Soundcloud are limited, might not remain free, and might not stay around due to lack of profitability.

There are trends of change with the streaming service providers having way too much music available.  There are cost-cutting efforts being made to reduce how much music is available, and the only thing they have to go on is popularity.  Deezer is one such streaming service, and they recently removed several of my albums, without warning, and presumably because they weren't popular enough.

The question I have is what if the music on those albums suddenly saw a surge of popularity elsewhere, would Deezer reinstate or re-enable them?

My guess is the files are gone forever already.  They removed my albums because they had not been listened to enough within the span of a year or something like that.

Just as with Tain Bo Cuailnge, which in Irish mythology was a story about the "driving-off of the cows of Cooley," the streaming services are putting me out to pasture.

Photo of the statue of Donn Cuailnge by Eric Jones

The bottom line is if your song doesn't get streamed enough - up to some predefined threshold such as 1000 streams per year - then no royalty payments will be issued.  This was a recent Spotify decision, and the other services will likely follow suit.

Now, as is the case with Deezer, if your song doesn't get streamed enough, they remove it.  If items don't sell in a store, they go on sale at least in an attempt to liquidate the inventory.  They call this "decluttering" to be a part of their "artist-centric" model, which means increase the market share for artists whose songs are already popular enough.

The writing is on the wall for independent artists like me who don't do anything to promote, publicize, market, or advertise their music.  Unless we spend more time on those things, our music will be removed.  Gone forever.  Preservation is reserved for the popular.  Maybe this is how things have always been in the grand scheme.  I could warn you that if you want to hear my music well into the future, download it now.  I could make it all free and downloadable from scottcooley.com, but after I'm dead, no one will want to pay the domain fee.

I don't necessarily want my music to be popular, I mainly just want it to be available and discoverable.  I know it's not the type of music that is likely to ever get really popular anyway.  However, if you think of all the musicians and songwriters in the 60s who were inspired by the Harry Smith Anthology of Folk Music, or whatever that was called, and the great music they created as a result, you're glad someone went to the trouble to preserve those songs.  Even though those songs were varied and strange and not likely to ever be popular.

I'm a part of the New Weird America, if you want to call it that.  I guess we have the Internet Archive as a potentially viable option, but Soundcloud is already doing whatever they can to monetize, and I'm sure Bandcamp will too.  In other words, even the once-free places for independent artists to share their music won't remain free.  Purging and decluttering is inevitable for all the streaming platforms.

The cream shall rise to the top, I guess.  I lived during a time when my music could exist publicly and commercially and be findable and playable.  These times, they are a-changin'.

But when the cream doesn't rise, is it time to kill the cow?  Got milk?  There’s this idiom most of us have heard before – at least I think it’s an idiom – that the cream rises to the top.  Unless you’re in the dairy business, you probably don’t fully understand it, but nonetheless you get the gist that the best at something eventually get recognized.  There’s another saying we’ve all heard some version of before that some who are not the cream “don’t know when to quit.”  There’s a lot to be said for not giving up.  We sometimes admire these people, while at the same time feel sorry for them.  Finally, we’ve heard the phrase “quitters never win,” which also has great merit.

Throughout history, there have been great stories of successful people who failed miserably numerous times on their way to success.  Maybe as a songwriter, I’m one of them, but probably not.  More likely, I’m one of the lower forms of dairy in the world of music.  There are people who pronounce the word “milk” as “melk,” and as my sister likes to point out, those who take it a step lower and pronounce a variation of “melk” as “mewk,” both rhyming with the word “elk”.  My music is more like mewk, if you’re comparing it to categories of word mispronunciation.

People generally tend to be pretty good at things they enjoy, and inversely enjoy things they’re pretty good at, but that’s not always the case.  Someone has to lose, someone has to be bad or mediocre, otherwise we couldn’t have the winners and those among the best.  Not everyone can be great.  Some try hard and improve, find a niche, become supporting role players vital to teams.  The world needs the people who are not very good at something, but are passionate about it and do it anyway.

When it comes to songwriting, playing instruments, singing, and making music, I’m one of them, but I’m not in a band, I’m a self-contained solo artist.  I know I’m probably a little better at the songwriting part, but have never had the guts to move to Nashville and pitch my songs to great artists to record.  There’s a ton of competition out there, as most are somewhat aware of, just like there are lots of people writing movie scripts who have not dared to move to Hollywood.

Places like these are full of people with similar unfulfilled dreams.  People who eventually gave up.  People who maybe found a way to stay connected to the thing they were passionate about, perhaps finding work in the business side of the industry instead of the creative side.  People with day jobs who enjoy being immersed in the scene.  Places like Nashville have seen many come and fail and leave, returning to their less exciting home towns with their tails between their legs.

I come from a place where the people who are really in their element and fit in are people who love playing golf and fixing up old cars.  Punk rockers, rappers, and people who like to run in road races too.  The one guy I idolized most from these parts was Mark Farner, not the best songwriter, singer or guitar player in the world, but a guy who was confident and passionate and in the right place at the right time to live the dream of becoming a rock star in the band Grand Funk Railroad, and people around here like me lived vicariously.

The cream rises to the top naturally, separating from the rest of the milk to form a layer at the top.  It’s considered to be higher quality.  It happens in the music business.  Most people agree that Bob Dylan is a good songwriter, that Elvis, Aretha and Robert Plant were good singers, that the Beatles and Led Zeppelin were good bands, that Jimi Hendrix was a good guitar player, etc.

Homogenization artificially applies intense heat and pressure to make the fat mix into the milk so that it doesn’t separate naturally.  Artists signed to major corporate record companies concerned with profit are subjected to homogenization, which makes all of the music the same.  It can’t be stopped or changed.

Skim milk doesn’t come from skimming it off the top, but rather, letting it drain out the bottom.  You would think unsigned independent artists without being subjected to homogenization would be able to rise naturally, but with all the competition out there, most become skim.  They play a vital role in the music business by making others look better by comparison.

You would think in today’s world in which music is streamed online that cream would occur naturally.  There’s always been marketing, and payola, and now the record companies pay for the appearance of popularity via fake streams, likes, follows, etc. because they know it begets actual popularity.

Consumers of music need tastemakers and curators and marketing for discovery.  If it already appears to be popular, they’re more likely to give it a test listen to see if they might like it or not.  There’s just way too much music already in existence to ever try it all out in a lifetime.  The web offers great recommendation engines and artificial intelligence.

AI is actually creating its own fake music now that sounds a lot like real music.  Gone are the days when you went to see a bunch of bands and decided which you like best, but you can still get recommendations from friends and/or strangers who are like-minded music fans.

Talentless average Joes like me can add their music to the vast ocean of what’s available to find and enjoy, and never make back the amount it took for them to distribute it online.  This is maybe more like powdered milk for people who are really hard up to pour something on their bowl of cereal but have run out of real milk.  You have to make it yourself out of desperation, and you have no AI, no money for playlist marketing or fake streams.  You hope for simple, organic, natural rising to the top.  

When no rising occurs over a long period of time, maybe it’s time to kill the cow and cook the meat to get by.  Stop producing milk no one discovers or likes.  You enjoy the process of writing and recording, and that’s why you do it, but you know it’s not anywhere close to what you choose to listen to as a music consumer yourself.  It’s not that you were completely unaware of your limitations like some of the terrible contestants on the TV talent shows, you’ve known all along you’re not great at any aspect, but you like doing it anyway.

Maybe it was better in the days of old when the gatekeepers at those big record companies would never allow the average joe’s music to be heard in the first place.  Affordable home recording equipment, including computers, plus the world wide web changed all that.  

There’s no shortage of music in the world now, nobody’s ever out of milk for their cereal.  Very little barrier to entry now, but is that better for the consumers of music in the world?  Probably not.  It’s likely we’d be better off with more evaporated milk, condensing out the skim music like mine that waters everything down.

Humor is one way to separate yourself from the rest, and it’s a little easier to get recognition with anything that gets attention like controversy, swearing or humor.  There isn’t much room for humorous music though.  And if you’re like me, you never went all-in with it like Tenacious D or Steel Panther or Spinal Tap or Weird Al Yankovic who all turned it into a cash cow.  

People remember my funny songs the most, so maybe that’s my form of natural cream, but it’s not what I want to be remembered for.  I have too many serious songs I’m proud of in my catalog.  The few people out there who’ve bothered to check out any of my music, however, only seem to remember Horseshit and Fudge (Mackinac Island), unfortunately.

Even though I’ve always been cautious to not appear to be someone who thinks they’re better than they really are, I’ve nonetheless had great audacity in releasing my music on the web alongside the greats.  

What was I thinking?  Did I really think anyone would find it and like and recommend it?  Yeah, sort of, I guess a little part of me did, or I wouldn’t have done it.

Now, with a couple decades of trying and failing under my belt, and another album that I think is one of my best on the way, maybe I'll end on a high note before the inevitable slaughter.  Some of my music is still out there, and more is on the way.  Drink it in while you can.

Home Recording The Scott Cooley Way - My Method in 2024

Things.  I basically do two things:  1)  write songs;  and 2)  record them.  Well, I also 3)  release them publicly.  If anything at all, it's the third thing that makes the content of this blog potentially interesting.  If I just wrote and recorded songs that no one ever heard, it wouldn't make as much sense to write about doing those things.  It was more interesting earlier in my "career" because I was among the first wave of DIY artists to release home-recorded CDs on Amazon and downloads on iTunes back in the days when such things first became possible.  Now, of course, everyone and their brother has things like a computer, a microphone, an audio interface, and a little money to distribute through an aggregator to the streaming services without the need for a record label contract.  Since my last public release of music in 2022, as has been the case for over 20 years now, I've continued to write and record.

I'm getting ready to release another album soon.  The target "drop" date is June 21st - my birthday - as usual, and I'll probably include 13 songs, again as usual.  Every two years I weed out about half the songs I write, record the rest, and I typically record a song in about an hour.  So it's not like it takes me a ton of time to record an album - it could be done in a couple days, but I spread it out as free time allows.  I usually average writing about one song per month, but they come in spurts.

I generally write a song and then record a first take on my phone's audio recorder app with just my voice and acoustic guitar.  Then if after listening back to those first takes I like them, I record them on my computer and add additional parts.

The phone recorder app is easily scrollable and shows the record dates organized by month.  Looking back at my writing/recording productivity since the last album released in June 2022, here's how it broke down:

• Jul. 2022:  Wrote two, only recorded one of them
• Aug. 2022:  Wrote two, recorded both
• Oct. 2022:  Wrote one, recorded it
• Apr. 2023:  Wrote six, recorded all of them
• Aug. 2023:  Wrote two, recorded both
• Oct. 2023:  Wrote two, recorded both

So, this time around, I only weeded out one, and that gave me 12 songs recorded since the last album, within the last two years, but I haven't written any since October of last year.  I have several recorded that were previously weeded out, so I'll be choosing one of them to include...unless I write & record more between now and June.

Evidently, there was no activity in Sept. 2022, then a huge gap of 5 months time between Nov. 2022 to March 2023 with no activity, then another 3 month gap in May/June/July of 2023, another no activity month in September 2023, then nothing in about the last 6 months.

I don't know why I wait 2 years between albums, and I don't know why I choose 13 as the number of songs on my albums, but as you can see, it just sort of works out that way.

I usually have way more to choose from in a 2-year span of time, so I'm a little nervous about that. Also, I usually weed out way more of my first takes on the phone, and never record digital multitrack versions of them.  You might think the song quality will suffer as a result, but one never knows.  I like to keep a low bar for myself, yet it feels like my hurdles have been higher this time around the track.

The writing may take only a few minutes per song, but sometimes I'll recycle old scraps of lyrics, and sometimes I'll sit on musical ideas for a while, so there can be a long span until finalized.  Then I really do crank out the recording part fast once I have a finalized song ready to go.  Obviously, I'm not a perfectionist.  I just like to keep things fresh, get each song recorded close to how I imagine it sounding, get 'er done, then move on to the next.

How do I record my songs so quickly?  How do I get the sound I get when recording in my little home "studio"?  What order do I do things in when recording?  What equipment and software do I use?

The short answer is I have a desk in a spare bedroom now in my house, and on it is a computer, a small midi keyboard, and a small audio interface that allows for software insert effects.  On a shelf above it are two small speakers, a single microphone and a printer.  Next to my desk is an acoustic guitar.  That's it.  I use software for everything else.  Pretty simple and low footprint.

Most people wouldn't want the Scott Cooley sound, but people have asked me how I do it over the years.  I am completely self-taught.  How you record can be thought of by some people as almost being like a proprietary trade secret.

I don't mind sharing my approach, but the overall sound I get is probably well below the level of quality anyone else would want to strive for.  Also, it's important to note that my approach has evolved over the years, and there are always variations depending on the song.

As a home recording person who does everything alone with zero training, I've just figured out through trial and error what works for me.  That, and reading the user guide and/or online help that comes with the DAW software.  I've googled how to do things, watched a couple youtube how-to videos, and learned from a few online forums too.

If curious at all, you might like to know this abbreviated sequential list of steps that I usually follow:

1. turn on the metronome in the DAW and set it to desired click tempo
2. while listening to that in one headphone with the other off my ear, record the rhythm guitar track into a microphone clean, angled from neck to soundhole about 6 inches away
3. record a scratch vocal track into a mic, clean, while listening to the rhythm track with one earphone off, so I can hear my own voice too
4. record bass track, used to always do a mic'd acoustic, but sometimes a direct electric bass, and more recently, just play a MIDI keyboard, tried a mic'd amp w/ electric, but never got good results, and the DI electric into audio 1/4 input can have bass eq/comp and/or bass amp sim plugin with mixed results, the keyboard way offers the best sonic quality so far, but this one is always a challenge to get a good sound
5. record kick, then snare, then toms, then hat, then crash each separately, all with midi keyboard and virtual sounds, used to mic a djembe and use a nylon brush on a snare various mics, but virtual on keys is my preferred method now
6. record percussion - tambourine, shaker, etc. into mic if desired, also mic'd congas/bongos if desired, or cowbell ocasionally (never enough)
7. mix the drums, muting other tracks, adjusting volume and pan for each, doing the kick centered, each of other panned wider as desired
8. mix the bass volume to fit in with the drums, panned center
9. mix the rhythm guitar to fit with the bass while muting rest
10. record backing vocals, usually 2 takes, then pan L & R
11. record lead vocal, with large diaphram condenser, usually takes many tries, then I pick the best, I've comped before, but prefer do-overs until I get it as good as I can all the way through in one take
12. record lead acoustic guitar into mic, doing intros, fills, instrumental break solos, outros, etc. as desired
13. apply effects processing to each track, and by this I usually mean EQ, but sometimes a little compression, and sometimes reverb.  I have presets and saved scripts for a lot of these, and I usually leave the bass and kick pretty clean.
14. mix down to stereo wav, listen on speakers, car speakers, etc, take notes, then return to make volume/pan adjustments (pre-mastering)
15. master the wave with some overall eq/compression - again, I have some saved scripts I run for these
16. done!

That's generally "how" I do it, but here's "what I use" to do it with:

I used to do all of the above in Adobe Audition v.3.1, then I tried Cakewalk for a while for just the recording part only because it was free and supported the new MIDI keyboard I purchased, and now I use Logic for just the recording part and some of the effects, then bounce and export/import into Adobe Audition for the mixing and mastering still.  I still love Adobe Audition because it has outstanding noise reduction features that just don't exist in other DAWs, and these are necessary when recording everything into microphones from real instruments, and the mastering tools are also on par with out-of-box Logic or even Ozone, which I've also experimented with.

I've purchased and experimented with about 5 or 6 different microphones over the years - dynamics, condensers small and large, but have now replaced them all with a Townsend which has simulation settings to make it sound like any mic, and integrates well with my Universal Audio Apollo interface and Logic.

I've purchased and experimented with about 4 different audio interfaces over the years - a Roland, a Focusrite, a Tascam, but now replaced them all with a UA Apollo Twin lightning bolt.

For years, I used a Dell running Windows 7, and still use it for mastering with the Adobe Audition, but now I use an iMac with Logic for the recording steps.

I've had two MIDI keyboards, but the one I use now is a Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol because it integrates really well with Logic.  It's the smallest one they make, and has software that lets you play a piano or organ chord with a single key, and also to make the keys sound like drums, bass, etc.

The Mac/Logic/Townsend/Apollo/Komplete is the ultimate setup for me, it all plays well with each other and makes things efficient and easy.  If Logic had good noise reduction, it might replace the need for Adobe Audition, but I also have all these batch scripts that run customized effects processing sequences I created in there, so that's a big time-saver.  Spent hours of my life A/B testing them all 'till I found combinations I liked, so I keep the AA for now until my old Dell dies on me, then I'll have to consider other options.  There are so many options in Logic I've never even tried, so might experiment in there further someday, but I like my process the way it is for now.

I have a Fender Jazz bass, which I love playing but hardly ever use anymore for recording, and a bass amp that is totally unnecessary, and a Martin HD-28 acoustic that is too bassy/boomy, but still great.  I have a Takamine non-upright acoustic bass guitar, but hardly ever use it anymore.  I have several electric guitars, a multi-effects pedal board, and an amp.  Similar to the various ways to record electric bass, I never seem to get a good electric sound no matter what I try, and I just prefer the sound of an acoustic.  However, it's fun to crank it up to 11 sometimes and jam.  I have the percussion stuff, the bongos, a set of Hohner special 20 harmonicas, a ukulele, and a hawaiian weissenborn for acoustic slide playing, and still have the old snare drum, the djembe, and cymbal I used to use.  Small JBL monitors and Sony MD headphones.  Oh yeah, I've got my wife's marimba I record with quite a lot too.  I've borrowed my friend's mandolin a couple times, but just can't get into it due to fat fingers.

Now, I've evolved to not needing much to get the sound I get.  I pretty much do songs with the full (acoustic) rock band treatment with only my voice, my Martin acoustic, and my keyboard for the bass, drums, piano, etc., so almost all in-the-box now.  All the other crap is in the basement storage now, awaiting my death after which my nephew will likely take it all to his basement and possibly use and/or sell some of it.

As you can hear with my studio recordings, I don't use many effects at all, just some EQ on most tracks a little reverb on the vocal.  I like to keep it clean, real and acoustic sounding, even though I've embraced virtual instruments.  No racks of hardware, no preamps, nothing like that.  It's all done in the software.  Everyone says I should use a preamp, but the ability to do "on the way in" insert effects on my Apollo interface combined with the virtual microphone simulation and insert channel strip effects on my Townsend mic negate the need for one.

Where the magic happens:  My dusty home studio 

You can see earlier incarnations of it here:  https://www.scottcooley.com/studio.  I don't like a cluttered room.  No room treatment either.  I do also have one of those acoustic foam things behind my microphone, but I don't know that it makes any difference or not. I don't really have any desire to add any equipment or software for recording.  As long as nothing breaks, I have everything I need and want already.  Took a long time to arrive here, a lot of trying out different things to see how they sound, a lot of mistake making and learning, and quite a bit of money.

Future Plans Beyond This Year:  My next thing will be to try to get a good electric guitar sound with software only and just directly plugging it into the audio interface.  I'm not much of a fingerstyle player, and realize the types of songs I write would probably lend themselves well to being electric guitar rock songs instead of acoustic.  Also, I can now appreciate the value in releasing singles - so I might try the staggered release of one song at a time approach in the future.  For the few fans out there who enjoy my music, and crave hearing more, they wouldn't have to wait as long to get their fix.

Bob Dylan, Maya Angelou, Stuart Smalley, and Why I Don't Have Imposter Syndrome

The TLDR short answer:  You sort of need "conventional" success first, and I don't have any, so it doesn't apply to me.

Welcome (or welcome back) to the blog where I pretend to be a solo artist and claim to be a songwriter...and blog about it.  

I find myself blogging more about the solo artist part than the songwriter part.  You won't find much in the past posts herein about how I write songs, or advice about how to write better songs - those are personal, mysterious, and difficult to explain.  I write songs in many different ways, with many different approaches and techniques and genres and styles and subject matter.  They just happen sometimes, and I'd rather not dissect how they happen, because it's a sort of magical thing you don't want to question or mess with.  

On the other hand, you will find a lot of content about me grappling with my music being in the same streaming services as really famous artists like Bob Dylan, and my struggles trying to do everything myself as inexpensively as possible to get it there.

No one has ever said to me, "your songs are not very good" or "you need to give this music hobby a rest" or "you're not good enough to have your music be on the major streaming services" or "you need to give up on this solo artist thing" or "you're embarrassing yourself and you should hang it up"...nothing like that, ever.  When it comes to music appreciation, your taste is what it is, and certainly mainstream popularity can be a strong indicator of quality consensus.  

The current charts are filled with music that I seriously cannot understand the wild popularity of.  Fortunately, there seems to be a slowly-rising trend with Millenials starting to appreciate acoustic guitar playing singer-songwriters again, so my style might appeal to them if discovered!  Therein lies the biggest challenge for artists like me these days: how to make more people aware of my music without a budget or desire to self-promote. 

"Not giving up" is easy when you're passionate about transitioning a hobby into being part of a commercial industry.  Since I'm not beholden to a record company and don't need to recoup any expenses, my measure of success is little improvements over time that maybe only I notice.  I'm really only competing with myself, and without promotion of any kind, I don't really care that those improvements may not translate to increased streaming stats.

It could be the cream can't rise to the top when there's over-saturation, and with no one telling me I should stop, I'm part of the problem.  So I blog about these kinds of things to make sense of it all.  My music is streamable in all the usual places like Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music - 11 full-length albums so far, with a 12th in progress.  Just as with book "publishing," technology and the internet now allow regular guys like me to join the superstars, so I blog about this a lot to understand how I feel about it.

Maya Angelou: "I have written 11 books, but each time I think, 'Uh oh, they're going to find out now. I've run a game on everybody, and they're going to find me out.'"

My daily affirmation:  My songs are real songs.  I am a real songwriter, and I am a real solo artist.  My music is art.  It helps people.  I've been helped by a 12-step program, and I help people.  I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.  (Google Stuart Smalley or Senator Al Franken to understand the humor).  Whether any of my music qualifies as being actual art or not is debatable, and although I include my lovely wife Lenore's accordion playing on about one song per album, the rest of everything you hear I did by myself, so pretty solo.  

I've released around 140 original songs on those 11 albums, and you'll just have to trust me that I've written a few hundred more that I have not chosen to release.  The ones I've released arguably qualify as being actual songs.  So, yeah, you can stream Scott Cooley, then switch over to Bob Dylan, and it's as if we are both offering the same kinds of things in the same places - albums of music featuring songs we've written ourselves and recorded as solo artists.

It's not imposter syndrome that I have, however.  I had to look that definition up:

noun

the persistent inability to believe that one's success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one's own efforts or skills: people suffering from impostor syndrome may be at increased risk of anxiety.

You need to have success first.  I don't have any (the way most people would define it).  What is success then?  Most people think of fame, wealth, or social status, but there is another definition that I prefer:  the accomplishment of an aim or purpose.  Some of mine have been:

• Learn To Play Guitar:  As a fan of rock music when I was a kid, I thought it might be cool to learn how to play guitar someday.  I bought a used Yamaha acoustic at a pawn shop in Flint, Michigan over Christmas break during my Senior year at Albion College, then used it when I took Intro To Guitar my last semester.  I learned more from friends than I did from the course, but it was a start.

• Learn To Write Songs:  After learning covers of popular rock songs I liked, I thought it might be cool to write my own songs someday.  Having also taken Intro To Poetry enroute to my Bachelor of Arts in English degree, I had a bit of a foundation for creative writing.  With a pencil and notebook paper and acoustic guitar, I made an attempt, friends thought it wasn't bad, so I wrote more.

• Learn To Record Music:  Initially recording on cassette recorders with built-in microphones, then a portable four-track with an external microphone, then continuing multi-tracking on a computer using digital audio workstation software with an audio interface, having multiple tracks available and the ability to overdub brought out some sort of mad scientist in me.  Do a little research, get the equipment, then figure it out through trial and error.

• Learn Other Instruments:  If you can mix a bunch of tracks together to make your song sound like a band played it, you need other instruments.  Starting with a tambourine and harmonica, I got some drums and a bass guitar, later adding a marimba and a ukulele, and then eventually a MIDI keyboard, which really opened up the possibilities.  The approach was get the instruments first, then teach yourself how to play them.

• Learn Music Distribution:  The first services I became aware of were TuneCore and CDBaby that offered this ability to get your songs in iTunes.  There was also the burn-CD-on-demand service offered by Amazon.  It was about selling discs and downloads back before the streaming thing caught on.  I read about the services, signed up, and sure enough, they distributed my music after I followed their instructions.

• Learn Online Presence Establishment:  Initially, I was proud of learning the old-school way of hosting scottcooley.com from a computer in my basement that was always running, then got in as an early adopter on Google Sites, which allowed me to move into the cloud absolutely for free for about 10 years.  I taught myself HTML and some of the basics, using my songwriting hobby as website practice.  Blogging and social media would be included here, but anyone can do those.  I've also done some music videos too, which might be part of this.

Somehow along the way, I developed this aim or purpose that I was a songwriter, and that instead of pitching my songs to famous singers to record, I thought I would also try becoming a solo artist myself.  I made it a goal to do as much as I could on my own without spending any money.  I didn't want to pay anyone to help me, didn't want to ask anyone to help me, didn't want to pay for anything I couldn't do myself.  I bought reasonably-priced instruments, recording equipment, and paid for the music distribution service, but that's it.  I did everything else at no cost other than my own labor.

Therefore, I have been successful.  I believe I deserve that success.  I've achieved it legitimately as the result of my own effort and skill.  I've accomplished my goals.  I suppose the next steps would be to play live (memorize my own songs, have a setlist, then somehow get gigs playing in public for money), offer merch (sell t-shirts or whatever), get publicity (solicit music press and bloggers to write about me), and advertise (actually spend money on promotional ads and marketing campaigns for my albums), however, those are not currently goals I have.

I know I'm not the type to ever achieve any sort of popularity or mainstream success as most people define it.  I don't have the singing voice, instrument-playing chops, looks, youth, dance moves, or whatever you'd look for in a new artist if you were a record company seeking profitability.  In a way, my music journey has employed a fake-it-'till-you-make-it approach, but I'm realizing more and more that what I've done is not fraudulent or phony - it's authentic and real.  I feel like I am pretending less as I move forward, thinking I am achieving some sort of legitimacy along the way.