Noslen Radio Ep. 51: Dan Johns Interview

http://podcast.inoslen.com/inr51/

Dan Johns makes his first appearance on Noslen Radio, discussing the past, present and future of hip hop, his new album “Alpha Writer,” the Divine Suns & more!

Hump Day Thoughts as the weekend approaches

What’s good people? I hope that the week hasn’t been too hard on you thus far. This has been a productive, busy week so far this way. I’ve been re-organizing my workflow for music production, which has had me converting samples to different formats, and tweaking my MIDI setup, etc (studio rats know what i’m talking about).

Its also been a week where the importance of being there for your family has been highlighted. I don’t know about you, but as more years come and go, I have come to appreciate my family more. Sometimes, we so wrapped up in what we’re trying to do, that we end up losing focus of the things that really matter.

This weekend, we’re taking a business/pleasure trip to the Queen City. going to link with some good friends and hang out, then at some point i’ll be sitting in Jah Freedom’s lab, going through beats for “Alpha Writer.” Jah and I have a crazy chemistry when it comes to working together musically, not to mention he knows all of the best restaurants in the QC. 😉

Before I forget, Akshun took some promotional pics for “Sinner’s Therapy” over the previous weekend, and is waiting on the completion of his album art. once that’s done, we’ll be taking the next steps to releasing “Sinner’s Therapy.”

Its 2010 and….

…this will be a memorable year for yours truly and my family.

Taking the big leap towards marriage in June, so its starting to become a mad dash to get everything in order for the wedding. In between that, I’m making music towards my next project, Alpha Writer. More on that later, because honestly its not a priority at this time.

This weekend, Akshun and I are FINALLY going to wrap up his new solo album, Sinner’s Therapy. The project is pretty much complete, all that is left now is to mix down one song produced by MIDI Marc, and to place the interludes, intro and etc.

I’ll be blogging more in 2010, as there will be a lot to talk about obviously. Happy New Year, and I’ll see you around.

Saturday 10-17-09: Fat Rat Da Czar & Dan Johns

Here’s the flyer for a show next Saturday in West Columbia SC, featuring yours truly performing on the bill with Fat Rat Da Czar and DJ Shekeese the Beast

Why my EP is taking longer than expected

So I was mixing down songs, working on my show set for Thursday in Columbia, and watching NFL pre game stuff yesterday when it dawned on me that I have been falling off my blog grind. Anyway, no excuses, I’ll try and do better, even if it means sacrificing something else (like productivity at the day job lol)

The mix-down process of “Hype Machine” is taking more time than I had allocated in my release schedule. I’m very picky about my mixes, and one of the drawbacks of being an independent artist is not having major label money to throw around at the game’s best engineers.

Ever since 2004, I have been mixing down my own songs. While I enjoy having total power over the final sound of my projects (I’m a control freak, if you haven’t gotten the picture), the entire process can be frustrating, and requires several trips to and from different locations. Most artists do the “car test” to make sure that the mix sounds good in their car stereo. Then of course there is the studio test, to make sure it sounds crystal clear through your monitors. And you have to have some unbiased ears to run the mixes by, as you may be too attached to the project to be totally neutral about the volume of your own voice (in my case).

Another part that is dragging this particular mix-down session out is making sure that the transition from song to song fits with the underlying theme of “Hype Machine.” the flow of an album is just as important as the content.

While we’re talking about hold ups, we may as well discuss how I’m torn between 2 songs for the first single/video. Both songs, ironically, are produced by croup, and have different strengths. I wonder if my indecision has roots in me picking “bye bye” over “eyes on the crown” or not doing a video for “give em what they want” or “day one?”

This time, I’m gonna pick the song that moves me the most, and I think that song is “You Know Me”

The fact that I will be directing and producing this video has an impact on the choice as well, since I want to do a video where I am not in front of the camera as much. We’ll see how that works out.

Dan Johns the producer

So today marks my return to the realm of production. On the last few projects, I have picked out samples, and forwarded them to producers to make the beats, mainly due to my trust that they will make it fly. (shouts out to cats like croup, Jah free, Midi Marc and encorneluis for tolerating me and how picky I am about beats )
I’ve been making beats since like 98, and I’m serviceable as a producer. I love waking up early, digging through records, trying to find that next gem. Time led to my hiatus from the craft, as my focus was needed in the realm of songwriting and running my company.
Now that there are good people around me, I feel like I have more time to invest into beats. Not to mention that the business of music has been wearing on me, and I need something to renew my passion.

So, stay tuned for updates, and even the occasional leaked beat.

updates to come

I plan to post an updated entry later today, with details on what’s new with yours truly. I need more hours in the day, and less distractions

Conversation with Zillz

Everyday, it seems Zillz and I have these impromptu heavy convo’s about different things, and he asked me about posting the following on the Little Brother Fansite. (source)

zillz: I got a question to ask you about the hip-hop game that i might wanna put on the LB Fansite.
Dan Johns: Okay.

zillz: Given the technologies and avenues that we are afforded today, where do you see promotion and sales going to in the future?
Dan Johns: CD sales are going to go the way of the cassette tape in the 90’s…and I’m not sure if mp3 sales will rise enough to compensate for the drop off. Artists are being forced to use their music and free releases to create a buzz for tours. I see music being more of a bargaining chip to open other doors. I don’t know what will be tomorrow’s “ringtone,” but musicians are going to rely more on live shows and other avenues to get money.

zillz: Making true money off of cds is pretty much dead and really just an official promotional tool now. Where does that leave the musician? Suppose there’s no other avenue they’re interested in…are they stuck?
Dan Johns: your last 2 questions are the reason that most musicians keep their day-job and make music as a second full-time job so, yeah, in some ways they are stuck. WE are stuck.

zillz: If you had to guess, where’s the win for the musician?
Dan Johns: Tightening up the live performance, working hard to keep new material coming out, and trying to find a unique connection with the fans.

zillz: How do you feel about the internet’s role in the landscape of music now.
Dan Johns: It’s a tremendous tool, as well as a tremendous hindrance all at once. The net is responsible for “shrinking” the world so that artists can reach like-minded fans worldwide. But the consequence is how easy the net makes it to find albums without purchasing them. the ease of finding new music decreases the “shelf live of every release. one release a year isn’t acceptable b/c the landscape is so flooded but at the same time, the net is the only solution to the problems that it has caused. Crazy, I know.

The Hype Machine EP coming soon!

Dandom: “don’t even look at me wrong when I’m rolling…”

After going 6-2 on the chess board yesterday, with a 4-day weekend of beats rhymes and life starting tomorrow, my theme song today is “I’ll still kill” by 50 cent featuring Akon. Jeah!

Quick Dandom 7-16-08: quick update

What’s up world? Pardon any punctuation errors as I’m doing this via BlackBerry. Just a quick update on what’s going on…

I have some deadlines to meet this weekend on the songwriting front, so I’ll probably be in and out all weekend. I’m off of work Friday and Monday to handle those things.

The homie Zillz (see his link in my blogroll) is currently designing the cover for “the hype machine ep.” A tease of the design can be seen at http://zillasays.com

Speaking of the ep, I’m about 10 songs into an 8-9 song ep, so you know I’m trying to get the best joints possible for the project. Ak is coming up Sunday to lay a verse or 2 for his appearances, and I’m thinking we’ll do a video blog of the recording of one of the songs. I need to do another video blog soon, so one way or another you’ll get one come Monday.

Chess players reading this should check out freechess.org

When I do play online that’s where I do it there. (my handle is DanDanger)

Hmm what else random can I say? My Oakland raiders should win 8 games this year, which in the AFC will not get you into the playoffs. Still that will be a vast improvement from last year. You heard it here first.

And how about Josh Hamilton, former number 1 draft pick turned crack user turned major league all star? Wow. He hit like a million home runs in the first round Monday night. (I was watching wrestling so I had to catch the highlights on sportscenter)

yeah, check the clothing tab for the mag-o.net clothing line.

That’s all for now