Fool For You (Live at Studio-333) on Spotify and Apple Music

March 22, 2018 by Mike Vitale

Thank you to everyone who has been so kind and encouraging and who have requested for this live Youtube video to be on streaming music sites such as Spotify and Apple Music. I just uploaded the song today, so it should be available for streaming and purchase within the next few days on all major digital distribution outlets:

This video was WAY more work than I had originally anticipated. I mixed this myself. I know, it sounds simple. It's not—not if you're a perfectionist. I am a perfectionist. Which doesn't mean I got it perfect; it means I begrudgingly stopped working on it and that I read two books on the subject and that I spent 2 months working on it obsessively and that I did about 46 mixes of it. I will never be happy with what I did here, I fear (in the mixing department).

I AM thrilled about all the people who helped me to make this and I am thrilled that a song like this came out of me. It is one of the most popular tunes I have ever written.

4th Street Productions in Long Beach filmed the video. I can not thank you enough Damian. You are truly an artist. It was filmed live as we tracked the song live.

I am thrilled that I performed this with three other musicians who I feel are some of the best players on the planet: Frank Reina. Brad Cummings, and Tom Bremer. You guys are my musical brothers. Also, thank you to Ryan Lipman for mastering this mix of mine.

I am thrilled that Alfredo Cristinziano provided the cover art for this song. Here it is. You can find him on Instagram here: @alfredoziano

A lot of his work is very sexy. Be prepared for sexy.

Most of all, let me come around full circle and thank anyone and everyone for finding something to like in this and to those, who will, and are listening to it.

In so many way, you all remind me of a time where I would make something and then hope that my parents would proudly display it on the refrigerator. I am so thankful for the magnet between your ears if you are proudly displaying it on your refrigerator right now. God bless.

With Love,

Mike

Moon

February 28, 2018 by Mike Vitale in New Music

Oh, why hello there. Good to have you here.

So, in tandem with my last post, I'm balancing my time a lot more efficiently.

I began using a spreadsheet yesterday to help keep track of how long I work on things. It's allowing me to do a whole bunch of different tasks all in one day—and, Presto:

Here is a mix I was working on this morning in my three hour window. It's for a song I wrote called Moon.

The first lines of the song came from a story that my friend told me.

He was visiting an animal sanctuary populated by former circus animals who were rescued once their tenure with the circus had ended. One animal in particular captured my interest and my sympathy. It was an elephant.

My friend Josh told me that the elephant would take three steps forward, and then three steps back, repeatedly, for an indefinite amount of time, which was very peculiar—so much so, that he asked the person who was giving them a tour of grounds, why the elephant was behaving that way.

The tour guide said that the elephant was chained to a pole for most of its young and adult life. The chain would allow for enough slack to take three steps forward, and then three steps back.

Three steps forward. Three steps back.

That was life for that elephant—an intelligent and beautiful creature.

While there are many elements to this song, this is one of them—and we all deserve to be free.

It is amazing how powerful a habit is.

However, outside of the context of this song, I had a lot of fun putting this together. My friend Tom Bremer played lead guitar. I sang and played rhythm guitar. I also mixed the song. I engineered this one myself too. For audio nerds (like me), it was recorded through a Universal Audio preAMP that I've never tried before called a Twin Finity 710. I used an AKG C414 on the lead guitar and used my AT4033 on the rhythm guitar. Vocals were through the AT4033 as well.

It probably sounds like amateur work, but I do the best I can—and I'm learning.

I hope this finds you all smiling and well and that perhaps you my find something to like in this tune. It has deep sentimental value to me and my life.

- Mike

Patreon

March 18, 2017 by Mike Vitale

I recently setup a Patreon account in the hopes of speeding up the process of releasing new music and new music videos.

Visit me on Patreon

I'm very grateful for friends, family, and fans who have been so kind as to be a part of this process thus far:

Ron Feldman, Bridget Mackiewicz, Fernando Gallegos, Heather Renz, Brenda Prisk Mattea, Carey Brown, Tim Grobaty, John Sinambal, Matt Vitale, Joshua Jon Day, Megan Kaplinsky, and Yeggi Kaela Watts.

While I realize that this sort of thing is not for everyone, I deeply appreciate the people who resonate with the idea of participating in something like this.

I've been trying, with very little success, to release music on a consistent basis paying professionals to do quality work in the fields that they are good at.

As a singer/songwriter, I am required to juggle a great deal of tasks, and if I were to be completely honest, it takes a toll on me over time. It is very stressful and strenuous work being your own booking agent, manager, band organizer, graphic artist, mixing engineer, recording engineer, marketing person, show organizer, etc., while also trying to do the very thing that all the other stuff I just listed is in support of: write and perform songs, with a band or just solo acoustic.

I have been very fortunate to have artistic friends who have been kind enough to help in any way that they can, from time to time, but at the end of the day, things happen faster and move much more quickly when people are being paid for what they are good at.

I've tried my hand at several different fields within the realm of music, partially out of interest, and also, mainly out of necessity. For example, I mixed the audio for the video below. It took me roughly two and a half months. I read some books. Did some studying. Made about 49 mixes of this song (approximately). Treated my room for recording and mixing. I had fun doing it to begin with, but it became more difficult, the more time I spent working on it. During those two and half months, I wasn't writing songs or successfully maintaining the other aspects of doing music business related stuff listed above; I was concentrating on mixing this song. I became exhausted and depressed after about one month of work on it. I kept chugging along though. I took several breaks because it became difficult to have a good objective outlook on the work I had put into mixing the song:

However it turned out, I worked very hard on this, and did the best I could. However, in the process, I realized that I can't do everything by myself. I need help. That is why I am writing this: to ask you for help. If I have a budget to work with, I can reduce my work load by hiring professionals, and effectively, create more quality art. Ideally, I hope that I can focus on that, mainly. This is my goal. In the meanwhile, I appreciate your attention on the art that is being made, and hope that if you find yourself in a place to pledge even a small amount of money, you would have my sincere and deep gratitude. Here is a link where you can learn more about how you can help:

http://www.patreon.com/mikevitalemusic

The First (sort of)

January 20, 2017 by Mike Vitale

I am trying to eat a bowl of oatmeal right now. If I were to be completely transparent, this is posing a challenge for me today—eating I mean. I am full of anxiety. I am about to put myself out there as I used to do, for years. This starts off as a frightening experience. I have been here before; I have been there before; and it is comforting to know where this road leads: to good places. Life is about taking risks. All the fun stuff resides on a horizon, riddled with land mines of mistakes on its forefront, on a field of hard work. In recent years, I have stepped on quite a few land mines.

I was spilling all of my emotional entrails and sharing a lot of what I was feeling right now, on this very page, for the past hour. However, the delete key on my keyboard has replaced the many paragraphs I had just written, with this sentence. Now I am here. I have managed to finish the bowl of oatmeal and I feel a bit better.

I used to do this a lot. Journal my thoughts, I mean. I might again because I find it very cathartic.

Believe this, because it is true: I stopped posting these journals (blogs) because my roommate told me he thought it was "kind of lame." He had his reasons for sharing his thoughts on the matter. Who is to say whether he was right? I can say that words are powerful, both my own and everyone else's. What I give credence to is my own decision, though. In hindsight, I believe I shouldn't have listened to him. Only I know what works for me.

Forgive me for not sharing all that is running through my head this afternoon. I need to get back to what I am working on. I am putting together a Patreon account to help fund more live recording videos on Youtube. When it is completed, I will try to remember to post a link to it here. In the meanwhile, here is a link to my Youtube page: http://www.youtube.com/mikevitalemusic

Should you happen to find something to like on there, I would be honored to have your subscription and your attention.

I just completed making a video that I worked very hard on. The recording was effortless because Frank handled that, but mixing the audio myself was very difficult (it took me nearly 3 months). We have performed this song many times together live, so no rehearsal was necessary.

The finished product is what it is. It's a song I wrote called "Fool For You." I recorded it live with my friends Frank, Tom, and Brad. My friends Damian and John did the filming and the lighting for it. They are all amazing artists and I absolutely adore making creative stuff with them. The Patreon account is to help fund that desire. People deserve to be payed for their talents and the money is going to them. It will pay for rehearsals, production costs, audio mixing, video editing, and hopefully studio time. I would like to focus exclusively on new material I have written, which will require rehearsals before recording the song live. It will also ensure faster turnaround of a finished product. Here is what we made together:

This, what I am writing, is for you as much as it is for me. If I were to keep it to myself it would just be for me. I prefer this though. Thank you for taking the time to read it. I have much to share with you.

xoxo

- Mike Vitale