My Life As A Covid Musician
- Jared Cruz
- Aug 21, 2020
- 6 min read
Updated: Sep 20, 2020
As the Pandemic rages across the states, uncertainty rises in various job industries for Americans. One of the most impacted fields is music. There are simply no gigs, and meeting up in person to jam is unsafe and unpopular. As our way of life continues to change, it is time for us to adapt and step up to become entrepreneurs. As the late, great Steve Job said, "It takes Pure Perseverance" to be a successful entrepreneur. Here's how I've persevered and been able to succeed as a covid musician.
Before the Shutdown...
To begin, being a covid musician is an ongoing process. To obtain the mindset to be motivated and actively creating music is the true struggle of a musician, especially during these times. A little bit about myself, I am an amusement park musician having spent 5 seasons at various parks such as California's Great America and Disneyland Resort. I attended San Diego State University where I was a proud member of the Orchestra, Wind Symphony and Jazz ensemble. As you can see, most of my work revolved around interacting with musicians in order to produce live shows for live audiences
Quarantine, Quarantine, Quarantine!
When covid started, I hit a mild side of depression I had never felt before. I realized it is socially unacceptable to meet any of my bands in person and I had to rely on myself in order to continue making the music I loved. I had dabbled in some recording for my school's album "Jazztecs;" however I didn't know how to use any digital audio work station (DAW) softwares in order to start recording myself.
In the beginning of quarantine (march), I saw all my peers start moving away from music. I remained optimistic as I saw the rise of "Virtual Bands/Choirs." Peers would gather musicians who had access to recording gear and make them record their parts of a song and mash all the ensemble parts together. I also witnessed friends creating an orchestra of themselves, essentially making a mock band with just one person playing all the parts themself. Having seen some possiblities, I still couldn't grasp on how I was going to start doing that for myself. I told myself, "I am just a saxophonist!" a linear instrument that can't accompany itself.
Flashback 2 years ago, I had made a saxophone quartet of myself playing an arrangement I made of Duke Ellington's "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" through an application called Acapella, an app made to make accompanying yourself easier. Having an Iphone I quickly got back to that idea and started making Acapella's for myself again. Another month passed. I quickly burned out of making acapella's because the quality of content I was producing wasn't on par with what I had hoped to produce.
The Awakening!
In the middle of April, I went to visit some of my friends who happened to live in the city of Riverside for a break from music and schooling. My friends Adam and Gabe are songwriters and producers. One night, we were extremly bored past midight and we decided to make rap songs about a bunch of random things. This experience was the perfect push for me to start recording my own music again. My friends gave me hands on experience on how to operate DAW softwares like Logic Pro X in order to start recording myslef professionally. I hold this moment to be a very big accomplishment for myself as I would have never learned to record at an advanced level if it weren't for COVID-19.
Coming back home with a new sense of determination for recording I now had to figure out how I was going to get the equipment to even start recording. I ended up hitting up all my friends who were recording/tech majors for equpment they weren't using. After making a frankenstein set of recording gear I was finally able to record my first song.
My First Projects
I am proud to say my first song was bad... Really bad. I was making fun trash rap songs about people, hot cheetos, as well as making wild saxophone transcriptions of Covid speeches. Needless to say, that was what I needed to practice in order to get to my serious music. My second song was an Alicia Keys cover I recorded on my saxophone. I had been making covers in order to learn how to mix and EQ instruments and voice. Slowly, I began to get the hang of the creative process behind recording music!
Being a part of many bands in San Diego, the question every musician was asking, "How the hell are we going to start playing again?" This question became my ignition for my first serious project "Tears" by Flower Animals. Band leader Gonzalo had gathered musicians from the band and recorded each member separatley and mixed the audio files together. Doesn't sound so hard right? The difficulty with this was that none of the members got to react to any of the musical moments being created off one another. Doing so made the music lose its organic process of each member locking in with each other. This has been the biggest struggle for all musical groups I have worked with this way.
After recording "Tears," I got a call from my friend India to be a part of her arrangement of "Young American" by David Bowie. This 15 piece ensemble was easily one of the toughest projects to put together. Not only did we have to deal with so many audio files but also with imperfections from each band member and different qualities of audio! It was exhausting just looking at the DAW file with all of the parts mashed together.
In June, I had the opportunity to be a part of the covid album "Inventory" by The Egg Factory. This became my first major production as I was featured on almost every track of this project. In this album not only did I get used to playing in an unfamiliar genre (Psychedelic Rock), I also experimented alot with some possiblities of effects I could produce with my voice and saxophones.
In July, I got to be apart of a Taylor Swift reharminization of "Delicate" arranged by Joe Cefalu. In this arrangement I had the opportunity to take a jazz/pop solo over some crazy key changes. After finishing this project, I had an opportunity to transcribe the solo and create a moving video of the transcription for social media through the application Soundslice. this exciting software helped me showcase what exactly I was playing with the addition of really cool animations.
Becoming that Entrepreneur
Flashback to the middle of march, I made an Instagram video showcasing myself playing saxophone along to a song produced by famous producer Charlie Heat. I had gained his attention and was asked to collaborate and play horns for some of his beats! This collaboration helped me realize I was capable of producing full tracks only using my saxophone. This eventually led me to the idea of doing collaboration with other artists with pre-recorded sax tracks. On one of my latest instagram videos I put this into action with a cover of Sade's "Smooth Operator" with artist Sarah Chacha. I tracked 12 horns and recorded a live solo while Sarah sung the melody over the track! Putting together tracks like this removes the necessity of having a comping instrument like a piano or guitar. I am essentially comping myself.
Ever since my experience with Sarah, I have been making sax tracks that include up to 24 horns to accompany myself. I also have been making sax beats for other artists to collab on. What I hope to accomplish with these tracks is to overcome the fear of needing musicians in order to make music. I am my own ensemble!
Upcoming projects
I've got some very exciting projects coming up! In the the beggining of July I have reloccated to the San Jose to wait for covid to simmer down. I've taken the oportunity to start my own band in the area named "The (408) Collective." We have Our debute single "Undecided" will be released on September 11th featuring San Jose native singer Miloproduces, Los Angeles Singer Bcray and Latin Grammy Award winning Percussionist Javier Cavalleras!
Later in September, look for me in my first original Bolero feature "Norma" by Digigurl as well as India Anderson's Bruno Mars arrangement of "That's What I Like" and Galactic Gophers original "Blue Negativity!"
I am also looking forward to my first true Covid Show in Los Banos on September 12th. I will be performing at the Los Banos Fairgrounds as the "El Camino Cruisers" performing a live tribute to late latin artist Selena!
Links
My arrangement of Duke Ellington's "Don't Get Around Much Anymore." https://www.instagram.com/p/BfxK20SFY9N/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
My adventures as a rapper:
Covid Speech transcription, "Do Not Come To Robin Williams Meadow on 4/20."
"Tears" by Flower Animals:
"Young American" Arrangement by India Anderson:
"INVENTORY" Album by The Egg Factory:
"Delicate" by Taylor Swift reharmonized by Joe Cefalu:
"Delicate" Epic Sax Solo Soundsplice:
"Smooth Operator" by Sade, arranged for Sarah Chacha:
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