Triple victory @ JPF Awards!
Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 12:44 pm
Wow. I was bowled over when I was notified that two songs from my album "Impulse Prime" (http://www.cdbaby.com/zircon2 - also on iTunes) were nominated for Best Techno Song in this year's Just Plain Folks Music Awards. Not only that, but the album itself was nominated for Best Techno Album. I was honored but figured I had no chance at winning. After all, in the same category was the legendary Frank Klepacki of Command & Conquer fame, a veritable legend in the video game music communiity and a very successful pro composer. On a whim, I checked the JPF home page before going to sleep last night and to my shock, one of my two songs was 1st place in the Techno category! Before I even got the chance to catch my breath, I saw that my OTHER nominated song was 3rd place! I double and triple checked the results then pinched myself to make sure I wasn't just imagining things... then proceeded to the Album category, where I found that Impulse Prime itself won Best Techno Album.Now I regret not actually buying a ticket to fly out to Cali for the ceremony itself. The main reason I'm posting, however, is not to brag but to make an observation. The song that actually won was the track I spent the absolute least time on in that whole album. There were a few songs there that probably had about 100 hours of work total put into them (minimum) that I liked a great deal more. The song that won? I did it in a few hours. One sitting. I was considering not even including it on the CD, and I always felt it to be one of the weaker tracks. Apparently, very few people agreed with me.This really proved to me that as an artist, you're not the best judge of your own music. Now, I'm sure all of us have run into a situation where we're told that because we think our music is better than it actually is, but I think the opposite is equally important to consider. I now feel a little worried! I can't even count how many song sketches I've never finished because I thought they were nothing more than splatters on a wall. Now, I feel as if I should lower my own personal bar a bit and just go with the flow. Even if I'm not really feeling a song in its early stages, the final product may very well resonate with a lot of people. I encourage everyone here to keep this in mind - don't let a potentially good song go to waste!