A Surreal Experience: Recording in A Professional Studio **It was the 15th of June, and it was the day when I felt like a star!** Days before this happened, we looked for rooms that are not noisy enough, ones that would be good enough for recording audios. Having 3 dogs at the house, and with my bedroom made of concrete, Gifter knew it would be a bad place to record the vocals of our songs. **Me and Gifter in a motel room – Good idea? Or a bad idea?** To simulate the area of…
Our Team-Up: Working Out Our Differences For those who were able to follow my music endeavor article series, you’ve known already that I teamed up with a guy from a far city. In this post, let’s talk about how different we are in some things, and how we patched up these differences to reinforce this tandem we have. Here **are 3 major factors that make us so different from each other:** 1. He’s **experienced, I’m a newbie** When Gifter decided for us to unite as a music…
So Different, Yet Very Similar In Some Ways As a continuation to my article about the differences with my music partner. This time let’s talk about some more facts that make us very similar to each other. **He studied Computer Science, I studied Information Technology** His father wanted him to sign up for the army, while his mother wanted him to be a pastor just like his father (which would be a disaster, in my opinion, hehe). But as the 3 of them argued about the path our…
Is This Really The Direction I Want To Head For? I’ve been openly telling you, my readers, that I don’t want to go back to the corporate world anymore. The reason, based on this article series, is that I want to make a career out of music. Recently though, I have had these doubts, which made me ask that question in the title. **Here are the things that have been scaring me a lot lately.** 1. **Saying** goodbye to my “homebody” days Since I quit teaching, I’ve been just a…
Some More Doubts, But Few Best Reasons To Go On Previously, I talked about my doubts about continuing or quitting my endeavors for a music career. Now, allow me to talk further about some reasons that almost made me quit and some bits that made me doubt what the future will happen. **Here are some more things that scare me a lot these days.** **Failing** to make a living out of music. Ever since he embarked on his musical journey years ago, Gifter had a fantasy scenario that…
We’re Not Good Enough, We Need To Do More! That statement in the title was what my pal Gifter told me, which annoyed, irritated, and bothered me to the highest level. I’ve been working so hard to be a better keyboardist, to be a better backup singer, and to be a better musician overall, for this alternative-acoustic duo I’ve made a commitment to. I’m happy Gifter never had a shortage of appreciation on how great I’ve improved, really. But these past few weeks, there is a…
Transforming A Bathroom Into A Studio: How We Pulled It Off If you’ve followed this article series I’ve been posting here, you would have known already that my musical pursuit has made me work harder, because studio time is expensive. But me and my pal Gifter decided to lower the cost further, and that is by choosing to record the vocal parts of our 10-song digital album right in the confines of my own home. Knowing that we need a soundproof area for it, we chose the…
Happy 27th Birthday To Me! It's been a while since I last published an article here. I have said on my previous articles that I'm saying goodbye to my lazybody trait and publish an article every day but here I am missing a couple of days for some reasons. Let me tell you why I was busy these past few days: I re-registered as a voter in Comelec Last week was kind of a busy week for me. I went home to my other hometown and slept overnight because my mom told me that COMELEC…
Hear My Song, But Let’s Break Down The Process First I’ve been a computer teacher, I’ve been a call center agent, I’ve been through a lot of emceeing gigs. But let me tell you my friends that nothing could be as equally exciting as these recent activities I’ve been dealing with: home music recording. I hope you’ve followed this article series I’ve been babbling here lately, so it will be easier for you to jump right into the discussion that will follow. So how do we exactly…
You Are Not Your Thoughts This is going to be a timeout article from the previous articles I have published regarding my music endeavor. I am going to share with you the inner struggles I have encountered recently or even up to now. For weeks, I have been reading my notes every day to remind me of the things that should believe in. Last night, I listened to a podcast just to detach myself from the social media world. A time to reflect on how I spent 26 years in this world.…
Riortrek – The Story Behind The Band’s Name I’ve been talking a lot about me and Gifter’s music endeavors for nearly a month now, and I have even let you hear my “*baby-dinosaur voice*” in my previous article. But I haven’t revealed the name of our band yet… how silly and secretive of me, hehe. So here we go my friends… drum roll, please… **RIORTREK** – that’s the name of me and Gifter’s band. Technically, we’re not a band yet, because obviously, we’re just a duo. In the…
Things That Grandma & I Noticed How The World Has Changed Profoundly Imagine living in a house where there is a huge generation gap? The tradition and values equipped to us by our ancestors and how the world is shown to us now really make a huge difference. It's a struggle. Here I am again, sharing my struggles with you guys. As much as I want to portray a less dramatic and less negative profile here, I just can't. I guess that proves me as a person, really. Well anyway, I…
Some Villains That Hindered Our Recent Goals No movie would be compelling enough to watch if there are no villains in it. My band’s journey isn’t a movie, but let me tell you there are real villains that made this endeavor of ours even more challenging. Let’s talk about these real-life antagonists. Villain 1: The neighborhood pervert I have to say this is the first villain that me and my pal Gifter ever dealt with. I still remember that day, October 15, 2021. The day before…
Toxic Positivity vs Genuine Optimism Hello everyone. I'm back. I lost my momentum in writing articles here when the bot started to become distant to me. It hurts a lot, like a canyon but my mind keeps telling me that it's beyond my control and that, this site has served its purpose in my life already. Months from now, I'll be busier when our music gets acknowledged (hopefully 🤞) and will be invited to various bars and restaurants to perform. So that means to say that I won't…
Regulating Emotions: When I Feel ... I Will ... It's a no-brainer for us people to struggle to handle our emotions. It's rare for a person to be always at their well-managed temperament. Do you find yourself struggling to manage your emotions in a certain situation? That's when our characters are put into tests. The reason why we encounter such circumstances is that they're meant for us to develop a character in us that will mold us all throughout. In relation to that, I…
Is It Really Necessary To Have Closure? **Closure**. an act or process of closing something, especially an institution, thoroughfare, or frontier, or of being closed. (***definition from Google***) Generally speaking, closure is known as a term used for relationships. It usually happens when two people express themselves about the relationship they have or had. ***In your opinion, is closure necessary?*** As for me, it is necessary. However, a closure happens when both…
Taking A Courageous Step: A Successful Trip To Davao Del Sur If you guys have been following my articles about my music endeavor, I have shared quite a few of information about the next step we are taking in. Supposedly, this was scheduled around March this year but certain things happened unexpectedly and so we had to sort things out first. Gladly, it became a blessing in disguise too for us to brainstorm and prepare more for the music video shoot. Yup, we are going to…
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