Hi. Long time, no post.
Life has changed a LOT since my last post…
I will be re-launching this site under a new name — my “artist” name — Mark Z80 (and new URL — https://markz80.com), as well as a new theme. Both sites will resolve to the same home page.
I started (shockingly) writing music for the first time in my life, in April. Here’s the back-story:
We (my wife and I) were going stir crazy, and wanted to start a new project together. So we started a YouTube channel, which led to us not being satisfied with the same stock music everyone else used, so she pointed out a MIDI controller she saw online, thinking I may want to write some background music. I bought one a few months ago, learned GarageBand, upgraded to Logic Pro, and the rest is history. I’ve learned so much, and it changed my life’s focus.
I have already written a couple dozen songs, and will release my first album, “What If…?,” in November (or perhaps earlier, if things go smoothly). There will be 13 tracks, in honor of my all-time favorite artist (guess who that is). The songs are all written, and most are still in draft form on my SoundCloud page. The songs marked with RC are in “release-candidate” form. Maybe minor tweaks before release. The rest are in “draft” or “demo” form. They still need some mixing and mastering (and a few changes). But the bulk of it will be the official release to all of the major streaming services.
I never, ever, ever toot my own horn. I have always been very uncomfortable with that. I have never felt so proud of myself (even in my long software career). It’s still raw in many places, and I still have work to do on many of the songs. But even the ones that need work have a lot of potential. I’m very happy about something for the first time in decades. I should have done this years ago, but at least I’m doing it during a wonderful music year (quite opposite from every single other thing in this world today). I always wanted to do something in the music field. I just never imagined it would actually be making the music. I’m as surprised as anyone else. Turns out I’m pretty good at it. Must be bottled up talent over my many decades as a major music fan.
In my very short experience, I found that music tends to write itself. I just start it off with a few chords, a melody, or a beat, and it just takes on a form of its own. I think that’s how I sort of “accidentally” started writing music a few months ago. Songs seem to just grow organically. I’ve always been so methodical in my life and career as a software engineer, so this is such a new experience for me.
Now if I could only get the courage to do vocals (and write lyrics). But maybe not — I really like these as instrumental pieces. I try to make the music sing lyrics. I’m also working on a New Age (ambient) album, coming from my work on the YouTube channel. Not sure yet if I’m going to release it under Mark Z80, Mark Freedman, or another name.
I’ll be running a promotional campaign in the run up to the release — that includes a new Twitter account, Facebook page, Instagram, Tik-Tok, etc., etc. I don’t expect this will be a new career. Maybe a tiny bit of extra income? What’s more exciting is everything around creating the music. And it will be SO COOL to see my album on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, etc!
