ISRC codes

The International Standard Recording Code (ISRC), defined by ISO 3901, is an international standard code for uniquely identifying sound recordings and music video recordings. IFPI has been appointed by ISO as registration authority for this standard. The ISO technical committee 46, subcommittee 9 (TC 46/SC 9) is responsible for the standard. Note that an ISRC code identifies a particular recording, not the song itself. Therefore, different recordings, edits and remixes of the same song will each have their own ISRC code. Songs are identified by analogous ISWC codes.

Born in 1958

So you get up like any other day and then around 3 in the afternoon find out someone who was born the same year you were has died. It really makes you think. As a friend once told me, "The history books are filled with the names of dead people." This earth is just a pit stop on my way to Glory.

Over the years you find out about celebrities birthdays and discover you were born the same year they were. Here's a small list of people I've discovered over the years who were born the same year I was born. I've included my name and Kevin Mannarino's name in the list.

Lorenzo Lamas (born January 20, 1958)
Ellan DeGeneres (born January 26, 1958)
Judy Norton Taylor (born January 29, 1958)
Matthew Ward (born February 15, 1958)
Ice-T (born February 16, 1958)
Mary Chapin Carpenter (born February 21, 1958)
Andy Gibb (born March 5, 1958 - Died March 10, 1988)
Sharon Stone (born March 10, 1958)
Holly Hunter (born March 20, 1958)
Gary Oldman (born March 21, 1958)
Alec Baldwin (born April 3, 1958)
Michelle Pfeiffer (born April 29, 1958)
Eve Plumb (born April 29, 1958)
Christian Brando (born May 11, 1958 - Died January 26, 2008)
Drew Carey (born May 23, 1958)
Annette Bening (born May 29, 1958)
Prince (born June 7, 1958)
Keenen Ivory Wayans (born June 8, 1958)
Kevin Bacon (born July 8, 1958)
William "Billy" D. Mays, Jr (born July 20, 1958 - Died June 28, 2009)
Madonna (born August 16, 1958)
Michael Joseph Jackson (born August 29, 1958 - Died June 25, 2009)
Jennifer Tilly (born September 16, 1958)
Shaun Cassidy (born September 27, 1958)
Tim Robbins (born October 16, 1958)
Robert Patrick (born November 5, 1958)
Jerry Corelli (born November 19, 1958)
Jamie Lee Curtis (born November 22, 1958)
Kevin Mannarino (born December 19, 1958)
Twila Paris (born December 28, 1958)
(19

A few pictures

These pictures were taken around 1983 in Denver Colorado by Kevin Mannarino. The guitar strap was made by my wife at the time, Cherilyn.
Back then I was still working on the mustache so in these pictures it looks like a pencil mark.

ISWC codes

You may be interested in this information regarding ISWC codes. If you have your music on a web site out there on the Internet does it have the unique codes to insure you get the credits?

If you're a BMI or ASCAP Songwriter you may have noticed a different ISWC number for each of your published works. Click on the link and read more about it. Be an informed songwriter.

A song is born

Last year I was singing at a prison and for some reason I had to stretch out my time singing. So I asked if anyone had a title for a song that didn't exist and I'd do my best to write it on the spot. One of the song titles I liked was called, "I saw Jesus walk on water". I'll be going back to that prison this year and I plan to sing the full version I've written since then.

Radio Stations and their wisdom

The wonderful thing about getting older is that you start speaking your mind when before you thought it best not to. For example, I live in an area with only ONE major Christian FM radio station that I'm aware of. I've search the air ways for other stations but can't get any. So, if I want to listen to "Contemporary" Christian music it's that radio station or none at all.

Now just to side track a little. Way back, when Jesus Music was beginning to arrive on the radio air waves it arrived through AM stations. I remember very well waiting for 3pm to come around because, at the time, the AM station KBRN in Denver only played "Contemporary Christian Music" for a few hours at a time. I don't recall exactly but it was something like from 3pm to 5pm or 7pm to 9pm. And back then the station would go off the air at Midnight too. The reason I'm taking you back in time is to explain a little of the inner workings of radio stations.

I had just released "King of Kings" and a person who had a Sunday morning radio broadcast, on KBRN, wanted to interview me and play both sides of the "45"LP single "King of Kings". The behind the scenes stuff was me asking questions about why we weren't hearing more Contemporary Christian music on that radio station.

The bottom line, SPONSORS! What was true back then is true today. It's not the people who are listening that radio stations are wanting to please, it's the sponsors. It's those who spend the money to advertise their products or services. If you sell homes, for example, then your targeted age group isn't kids right. If you sell life insurance, cars, or want to advertise your family restaurant then who are you wanting to reach?

I've come to learn that decisions made by radio station hosts and program directors are made to keep their jobs, just like the rest of us. Even for Christian radio stations, money is the way of the world. When given a choice the stations play it safe. For example, there was an add campaign about how you could play this local Christian Radio station at work. As I listen to the songs that were played I realized how generic and safe they were being. There was a time when we heard Christian songs speaking of Christ dying on the cross for our sins. Songs that said it out load, "Jesus is the Answer", "One Way to Heaven", "He's Alive" and the list goes on. Today even Christian radio stations are afraid of offending someone.

I remember driving in Denver on a summer day with the windows down. Back then I was like a lot of kids today and had my radio up too load. But, back then, it was on my "Jesus Music" radio station. I was at the light with a car next to me when Barry McGuire came on singing, "Have you had Jesus People knocking on your door? Saying things you never heard before." They looked over at me and then rolled up their window. I was proud of that moment. It a small way I was able to witness to someone, even though it was short lived, through the Jesus Music I listed to. Today I find it hard at times to hear the Christian in a lot of Main Stream Christian Music.

So what's my point? If you want to hear main stream Christian Music that radio stations want you to hear then support them by listening and buying their sponsors products. If you want to hear what you want to hear then search the Internet for the songs you like and put them on your music player. Or download the mp3's and put them on your portable players etc. Support your local radio station if they're playing what you want to hear but if their not, believe me, there are plenty of places out there that are playing the songs you want to hear.

Play lists

Just recently I went to a friend's myspace page and began scrolling down to read everything he had posted. Then unexpectedly I glanced at his embedded player and noticed one of my songs, The Rock, on his play list.

It does an indie Singer/Songwriter's heart good to see their song(s) on someones player. It's really quite impossible for an indie artist to get any air play from a radio station so I've accepted that reality and moved on. The reality now is that anyone who has a myspace page or even their own web site can embed players and put artist's song in them that they enjoy. In a micro sense everyone can be their own radio program director and hear the songs they want to hear and want to share with others. We no longer have to just listen to the songs that each radio station or Major franchise decides what listeners will listen to.

Managing Music

I remember being asked in a radio interview, a few years ago, how many songs I had written. I don't recall the number at the time but I answered the question with the exact amount. The person giving the interview was surprised that I knew the exact amount and I was surprised that he would think otherwise.

In 1977, after Navy Boot camp, I went to a Naval Train School in Florida. One of the first thinks I had to learn was how to type. Back then it was state of the art IBM ball typewriters and I got pretty fast too. As a way of practicing I remember going through all my songs, which at the time we're mostly hand written, and started typing them out nice and neat.

It was at that time that I realized I had no Alphabetical or Chronological list for my songs. At that time I was 18 and had written 61 songs. I can tell you exactly how many songs I had because I started cataloging them and made a lists.

It's really become quite fascinating. It's, in many ways, a time capsule of my life. Each time I finish a song I type it up, now on my computer. I go to my Chronological list and enter it. As I look at songs that came before the new one I've just entered I can remember where I was when I wrote the previous songs.

About 20 years ago I started putting my songs in books. Each book has 50 songs and the songs are printed and put in plastic sheet covers so they can be taken out and copied. Keep in mind I started doing this before I used a computer. I've realized lately that a great deal of my songs aren't in my computer. Over the years songs were typed out on a typewriter, word processor or a computer with a very old and no longer used program. So lately I've been going through each book and enter them into Word so they're all on the same program. Plus, they're all uniform with the same font and look.

As I've been entering songs I've found periods of writing when I wrote Sad, Joyous, Praise, Funny, Love and Thankful songs. Periods of mellow piano and periods of Rock guitar. But, I think most importantly for me, I find that I wrote songs to cleanse my soul. I discovered that I didn't write a vast majority of my songs because I was trying to write a hit song. I wrote them because it was a way, my way, of dealing with what I was going through in my life at the time. I even recall as I'm entering them in the computer what I was thinking at the time I wrote the song. I'm talking years ago.

I recently came across 7 or 8 songs in a row that dealt with a painful breakup I went through in a relationship years ago. Toward the end of the string of songs is a song called "I'm sad today". It's been a habit through the years to record each song I write and send it go my best friend Kevin Mannarino and I'll never forget what he said about that song. He had written back and told me that I should have had a disclaimer on "I'm Sad Today" so he could have read it before listening to it. The said the disclaimer should read, "Remove all sharp implements and guns from the room before listening to this song". Kevin went on to say it was the sadist and most depressing song he'd ever heard. He said anyone who listens to the song will want to do themselves in. Of course he was saying this in his own hilarious way but after hearing what he said I realized more clearly the power of a song

In any case my point is this. Managing you music is one of the first and very important things a songwriter must do. It's, for one thing, good business sense but for another it's good for you as a songwriter to in a way chronicle your life and your work. At the bottom of each song I've developed a box for important information regarding the song. In the box are 24 sections for information to impute. ISWC number, BMI and or ASCAP numbers, PA & SR numbers, and the list goes on. Many of the songs won't have that info because they may never be recorded. Some quite frankly are too bad to record. But, they still need to be cataloged with at least when and who wrote them and co-wrote them.

For me it also brings order to my world and that can be important too.

Booking Gigs

I remember how easy it was to book my band or myself back in the 80's. Whether I booked a church, coffee house or concert venue most of the time the phone rang off the hook. Then, after being away from the music scene for awhile, it became more and more difficult to get a booking. At 40, in 1998, when I recorded my second album "Standing on the Rock" I discovered how things had changed.

There were some venues that drew a large crowd of kids. Kids to me are 25 and younger. I discovered that the kids liked my music, for the most part, but mostly the feed back from them was, "Man, my parents would really like your music."

I have to admit it took a few years for me to come to the realization that my songs didn't speak to the younger crowd but to mature audiences. When I say mature I don't mean old, I mean people who have been through life and experienced more. I would also hear, "My parents are really into Neil Diamond. It's too bad they didn't come and hear you. They would have liked you".

At 50 I'd have to say that I've heard the vocal comparison between me and Neil Diamond at least 10 to 20 times everywhere I have sung in the last 30 years. After my last appearance on the Seattle Praise the Lord show and after my last song, sure enough, the host replied, "He sounds a lot like Neil Diamond." I say last performance because shortly after that appearance the station changed their policy on local artists. Now those who host shows must bring their own musical artists so if you're not an artist attending a Mega church then you don't get on the show anymore. Anyway, at first it was a real irritant that I was being compared to Neil Diamond but after awhile I had to realize that everyone is compared to someone so I started using it as a way of an introduction.

Now the point that I'm getting to is this. There are many artists out there, my age, who have a whole lot to say to mature audiences. Audiences that would really appreciate our music. But, because the demographics for music sales and audience attendance favors those with the most disposable income, that is young people, churches and coffee house simply don't book artists for their mature church members. Then, as a way of justifying their reason for primarily or exclusively booking the younger artists, churches and coffee houses proclaim their ministry is to reach out to the young people. They're proclaiming that it's the young people who are more lost than other generations. What a statement they're making. No one is really buying this are they? Christ's ministry wasn't to young people more than any other generation was it? I don't recall Paul's ministry, Peter's, John's or any of the Disciple's and Apostle's ministry geared more for young people than older.

I am totally for reaching out to the young people, we must, but not if we exclude reaching out to older generations. There are just as many mature audiences who need to hear the Gospel of Christ through music and testimony as there are young people perhaps more.

But, the mature audiences don't bring in the bucks like the younger audiences. Like I stated, younger audiences have a far greater disposable income than mature audiences. I remember attending concerts when I was young so I know. I would buy the ticket and bring along cash to buy a T-shirt, a pop or coffee and an album or two. I had no problem with being willing to spend $50 or more, back in the late 70's through the 80's, when I went to a concert. So, I'm sure it's the same for young people today.

Anyway, I guess my point here was to simply get it off my chest. To be honest, putting the demographics aside, it's easier to reach young people than it is mature audiences. Mature audiences are more set in their ways and more fixed in their opinions. Mature audiences who need to hear the Gospel are simply MORE work. It's easier to bring in young people by offering them music that speaks to them and allows them the feeling that their understood than it is mature adults. Well, that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

Song Demo Submissions

Since I last wrote in this blog I've received about 30 demos. 5 out of the 30 appeared to have read my book "The Songwriter's Guide to Submitting a Demo". The other 25 had countless problems with their demo package that I cover in my book. I won't go through the list of problems because the same list can be found in my book. However, it does still surprise me that there are so many songwriters making the same mistakes over and over again in their demos, year after year.

Angels Dance Recording Studios

Angels Dance Recording Studios

For me, gathering all the studio equipment together was simply a cost effective way for me to record my songs. Way back, Paul McCartney put together a home studio in his basement and recorded an album using 8 tracks, "Ram". Throughout the years I'd heard of many others who had done the same thing so I figured I could do it too. In the end, to put together everything I needed for that first CD "Standing on the Rock" cost me around $6,000 and it took me a little over a year to figure out how everything worked.

Through the years the studio has gone a lot of places. I mean moved from one location to another. The picture above was taken in 2005 when the studio was, you guessed it, smack dab in the living room of our apartment. If you look close enough you can see our cat. He's black so he blends in really well with the decor. Because of technology today the recording of every instrument except live guitar and vocals is internal. I can record an entire album with my headphones on and my wife can be in the same room reading a book and not hear the endless editing of the tracks.

Today I know longer invade the living space of our home with my studio but if you have to start out that way, and have a wife who is understanding, then I think it's the best way to go with recording your songs.

I recall talking to Kevin Mannarino about going from the physical ADAT tape world of digital recording into the Computer world. At first it was a very hard concept for me. In 1980, when Omega III recorded, the recording tape was 2" thick and reel to reel. ADAT tapes are Cassette Video tapes except 8 tracks and as time goes by everything gets smaller. So, going into the computer world were literally hundreds of tracks can go into a hard drive that pretty much fits into the palm of your hand was almost unbelievable. But I took the plunge and kept my ADAT too. It was well worth it.

Corelli's Music Box, BMI

Corelli's Music Box, BMI

Now it was clear to me that if I was going to go back into music I needed to go all the way. I needed something that would cause me to not throw my hands up and say, "I quit". Corelli's Music Box was the answer. Back in 1996, before the internet, everything was done by snail mail. I wrote BMI about what it would take for me to start my own publishing company and they sent contracts and info back to me. The process took a couple of months but on September 16, 1996 Corelli's Music Box, BMI was offical. So I figured if I was going to record again, since no one was jumping at the chance to record my songs, I'd make sure they were published even if it was through my own publishing company.

I never dreamed of publishing anyone elses songs nor did I realize what a valuble learning tool having my own publishing company would be. Then one day my cousin Brett Helling sent me a song called, I am Runnin' and I realized I wanted to record the song. "I am Runnin'" became the first song I published that had been written by someone else.

I am Runnin - Jerry Corelli

Everything in the song was recorded by Brett. All I had to do was record the vocals at my studio. Bretts writing style is very similar to mine so it was a no brainer that I should record and publish the song.

When CMB (Corelli's Music Box) started going I got an invitation to post it in "The Songwriter's Market" book. After the book came out I started getting cassette tape after cassette tape from songwriters. Back then the common songwriter didn't have the capability to burn CD's so it was mostly cassettes. I can't tell you the wealth of information I learned from getting demos from songwriters. Well, actually I can through my book "The Songwriter's Guide to Submitting a demo" If I've learned anything it's to not give away valuable information. The fact is that the book isn't expensive and contains a lot of info for songwriters who, to this day, make the same mistakes over and over again when they send their demos to me. I'll admit it isn't selling off the shelves though. The reason for that, I believe, is the beginning songwriter mentality. Believe me I had it too. There's an arrogance I've seen in myself and a lot of songwriters who have sent me demos that says, "You can't teach me anything."

The book isn't about writing a HIT song. It's about the does and don'ts when sending your demo. Believe it or not songwriter after songwriter make the SAME mistakes time after time. Then they sit back and wonder why they don't hear back from a publisher, good or bad. This book will help songwriters.

The Changing Times

From the beginning I only wanted to be a Songwriter. I wasn't interested in performing and never wanted to get involved with technical things like sound engineering, mixing and so on. My dream was to write a song, give it to a performer like Neil Diamond, Barbara Streisand, Bette Midler, etc and of course they'd record it.

Looking back I realize now that what I didn't do was drop everything, grab the guitar and song books and head for L.A. or Nashville. But, after "Marriage Seed" in 1992 the music scene began to change. I was wanting to go back into music and this time give it a real go. But, looking back I knew that if I was to send demos to publishers I'd need good recordings of my songs. So, I called a local studio and booked some time.

I booked about 3 hours and recorded about 4 or 5 songs on an ADAT tape. The engineer rough mixed the songs on to a cassette and when I got home to listen to them I realized it would take a lot more time and money to produce the songs the way they were in my head. Thus began the journey to gather recording equipment.

Corelli & Mannarino

My best friend Kevin Mannarino who I've known since we were 12 years old was into the engineering side of recording, as well as lead guitar, vocal and songwriting. It was through him and his knowledge of recording gear and experience that I began the slow process of putting together my own studio. Back then since I lived in Tacoma, WA and Kevin lived in Denver, Co we would send cassette tapes back and forth to each other instead of letters. I had been working on a title for a song that I wanted to write but only had the title, "Grandfather Moon". I hadn't talked to Kevin about it but when he sent a cassette letter he had included some lyrics too. And there it was! The lyrics to 2 songs "Angels Dance" and "Grandfather Moon".

It was about 1995 or 96' that "Grandfather Moon" was written and it took until 2008 for me to record it. "Angels Dance" was recorded first on my first CD "Standing on the Rock" in 1998. I named my studio "Angels Dance Recording Studio" and Kevin's recording studio was named in memory of his father "Joe Mann", Mann Recording Studios"

Grandfather Moon - Jerry Corel...

I was thrilled when it worked out that Kevin did the Lead Guitar on my 2008 "Grandfather Moon" CD. But that first CD "Standing on the Rock" was something else to record.

First, I had to put together a studio with physical equipment. A Kawai electric piano with midi capabilities, an Alesis 8 Track ADAT, a DAT recorder for mixing it all down, a mixing board, reverb module, compression module and not to mention good recording mics. So here I was doing what I didn't want to do and that was sound engineering. Now around this time my cousin, Brett Helling, introduced me to the world of midi. Back in 1997 it was totally new to me. He gave me a program called "Cakewalk" that took me about 6 months to learn. In addition to the program he also did the guitar work on "The Rock". The Rock was recorded at his place in Spokane Washington. He named his Studio after his father and called it "Mert's Place Studios". The fact was that he had the same ADAT set up Kevin had in Denver and I had in Tacoma. So, when I went to Spokane to record "The Rock" Brett's set up was in his Master bedroom.

The first tracks were done as Brett doubled as sound engineer and Alesis SR16 drum machine operator. Brett found the beat we were looking for in the verses and then one for the Chorus. He started the machine and I played along with my ovation and recorded my vocal at the same time. So we laid down the drum tracks, ovation and lead vocal in about 2 or 3 takes and then he kept the ADAT to lay down the Bass guitar, electrics and Lead electric. The version here is the newer version I re-released on my "Righteous Man" CD. I wanted the strings in the song and back up vocals but couldn't do that in the first version for lack of tracks and digital midi understanding.

The Rock - Jerry Corelli