J Martinez Project

Update from the J-Martinez Project

2006-03-14T04:10:00.000-08:00

Music update.

J Martinez Project in studio and working very hard on our album “The Planet’s changed”
Mark and I have been working very hard on getting the songs right for release. It’s taking a little longer than we expected but never the less its coming along.
I feel very good about the music we are making right now and a lot of new songs are coming along. We are going to let you all take a listen to our second single that will be coming along in the next few weeks. This one is called I used to be lonely.

This song means the world to me and I have to thank Clyde Schaffer for helping me come up with the chords for this one. Clyde is one of the best guitar song writers out there and I will be using some of his music from the old days on this album.

I also would like to say thanks to Mark St Martin and Peter Dawson. Mark and Pete are the guys who got me going on this project and they are the driving force for the J Martinez Project.

Peter will be playing most of the lead guitar on this album and let me say this fans. He is the best guitar player I have ever heard anywhere. This guy will blow your mind with his playing. Also Mark’s Bass playing is second to none.

Mark has been doing all of the engineer work on this project and he will not rest until it is right. This makes me feel so lucky to have guys like this willing to help me in this endeavor. Rock N Roll has been a part of me since I saw Elvis on TV back in the 70’s and I have never had a chance like this before. I’m extremely proud to be part of this project and I must say thanks to all of those who are making this dream come true.

Also we have been picked up by Fargone Media and soon you will hear our music on WXLO and many other online radio stations.

So here is the song. It is not done and please remember this is just a studio test and it will need a new bass line at the very least.
http://www.lnjphoto.com/Music-Project/Demos/So-Lonley-test.mp3

BC Rich Guitars are still my faves

2006-02-14T04:27:00.000-08:00

Why I use BC Rich Guitars

Hello all the album is coming along, but slow LOL.
But I wanted to tell you all why I use BC Rich guitars as my main recording axe.
I have owned some really nice guitars over the years but my old BC Rich NJ Series Warlock is still my favorite because it simply has a better neck than many other so called high end guitars.

After all the years of playing it still keeps staying in tune and playing just like when it was new. I bought this guitar back in 84 when I was trying to get a better sound than I had with my strats and Gibson’s. This BC Rich sounded big and fat and had highs that blew away the others. At the time I was playing through Crate amps and Marshall’s. Now days I use a Behringer V-Amp 2 with a power amp. My sound is vastly better than it was back in the 80s and the Rich has kept up.

I recently bought a Cort Strat and dollar for dollar it is a great axe. But even as the Rich gets older and needs some serious work in the electronics department I still find myself playing is more than the Cort. There is nothing wrong with the Cort and I recommend them as I feel they make a fine interment for the value. But this old NJ Rich just keeps on going as if it was new. My reason for getting the Cort is that is was cheaper than fixing the Rich and I felt that the look of the Rich was not right for my stile now days.

But stile can only go so far and for that matter it really does not matter at all. After all we are playing music and it comes first. I’m obviously not a Metal player and yea I admit that the Rich is a metal guitar. But Metal or not its still the best damn guitar I have ever played and I just can’t imagine playing on stage with a guitar that does not sound as good as this one. Further more the Neck is Rocket fast and smooth. I just wanted to share with all of you my love for BC Rich Guitars and especially the Pre 89 NJ Series.

Try one out and you to will be a BC Rich fan for life. Don’t worry that it looks like something that came from a hair band of the eighties. All that really matters is that it is a good guitar and it sound and plays good.

Joe

Project Update , Album Recording Starting Next Week

2006-02-01T06:38:00.000-08:00

Project Update February 1st 2006

Well friends and fans its time to start recording the album.
We now have ten songs ready for recording with two more coming the next two weeks.
It’s been a long month of writing and hard work and soon the studio versions will be here and ready. We will have a new website in the next few weeks that will host the songs and the album for purchase and download.

The album will be named “The Planet’s changed” and will feature art work by Duane Franks of InnLine Graphics. This project has come a long ways in just a few short weeks and I have to say thanks to Mark St Martin for the help in the song writing and bass lines.

This album will have songs from many eras of my music and I hope they will be as fun for you all to listen to as they were for us to make them come to life. When this project started out I had no Idea that it would be as fun working with Mark and others as it has been. Now that we are getting ready to start recording the final tracks I have to say that I’m getting nervous. It’s like watching you’re kids grow up.

The folks playing on the album are as follows.
Joe Martinez
Guitar and Vocals
Mark St Martin
Bass Guitar and Vocals
Peter Dawson Lead Guitar
.
Song credits
Joe Martinez
Clyde Schaffer
James Anderson
Don Martin II
Lynn D Steed
Mike Steed
Mark St Martin
All of these folks added something to this and helped in many ways.

The Song Lineup will be
1 The Planet’s changed
2 Woke Up This Morning
3 Oh Susana
4 Another Drink
5 Redline 2006
6 I’ve Never Felt So Bad
7 Dismal Achievements
8 Enough
9 I used to be lonely
10 Sitting at the Kitchen Table

Project Update

2006-01-29T06:33:00.000-08:00

Project update January 29th 2006

Allot has been going on the last week, several new songs are being worked on and are coming to life. The Man is a new blues style song that we are working also Kitchen Table is coming along. We have started recording with the new V-Amp 2 guitar Amp model and I have to say that the fine folks at Behringer have done a truly great job with this product.

Here is a list of the new songs coming along for the project.

Redline 2005
Oh Susan by Steven C Foster written in 1828.
Enough
Woke up this morning
Another Drink
We will have a new song line up very soon for the album

Also some musician’s line ups are in order
Guitar Joe Martinez
Vocals Joe Martinez & Mark St Martin
Bass guitar Mark St Martin
Lead Guitar Peter Dawson
Drums by Cool Edit Pro. 

I would also like to take a chance to welcome Matt Sotomayor to the family of Musicians here at the J Martinez Project. Matt will be recording his own music very soon. Rumor has it the Mark St Martin may do some bass work with Matt’s Project also.
Here is a link to Matt’s Site http://www.xfactordx.net/
Matt’s site will be a music only site very soon. Be sure to check out his poetry while you’re hanging around at his site.

Most of the recordings here on this site at this time are only test demos and do not show the real quality of the music and songs that will be on the album.
I will continue to link some of our songs to this blog, but please remember that these are just tests.

One thing I want to point out is Oh Susana will be done in a way that has never been done before and it will use all of the lyrics that came with Steven Foster’s version of the song. This song was written very differently than what is has been portrayed as.
I will post a short version of it in the next day or so.

Take care all.
Joe

J Martinez Project: The Planet's Changed Demo

2006-01-24T22:42:00.000-08:00

http://www.lnjphoto.com/Music-Project/Demos/The-Panet's%20-Changed.mp3
Fixed the link to the song Sorry gang.

The Planet's Changed Demo

2006-01-24T22:39:00.000-08:00

Been working on some new songs this week . Felt that this song should be out here . So here it is . Hope you all enjoy
Joe

Woke Up This Morning Rough Sketch demo

2006-01-19T15:10:00.000-08:00

Been working on some new lyrics for Woke up This Morning this week. The recording has not been to Marks studio and we need to re record the vocals. Just too many mistakes in the first round of recording. However I’m going to give you all a preview of the song.

Please understand it’s just a rough sketch of what the song will become and try to over look the vocal mistake. I hope you all enjoy the 2006 version of Woke This Morning.
Joe
http://www.lnjphoto.com/Joe/woke-up-this-morning-ver2.mp3

Our studios

2006-01-18T10:45:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone, this is not really an update just going to let you all see how it’s done.
The pictures are from both the studios we are doing our recording on.
The first photo is from the Santa Cruz Ca Studio where the main tracks are being recorded and then the second photo is from London Ontario Canada where Mark St Martin is doing the final mix down. Also most of the Guitar leads are being recorded at the London studio by Peter Dawson.

We are learning allot about computer based recording and how it works compared to analog recording. My first recordings were done on a Tascam system back in the 80s and with a good engineer the sound is great. But with the Computer based recording you can do so much more and you can get great quality from a system like Adobe’s Audition software. Part of our goal at the J Martinez Project is to get other Musicians to ponder going at it on there own. We have the World Wide Web now and back in the 80s most of us musicians would have killed for something this powerful.

James’s Watson of San Francisco state universities sent me a recording that he made in about an hour and the sound was better than I have seen from major studios.
The point is if you can learn the recording ins and outs you can make your own record and then with the internet you can market it yourself and who knows perhaps even sell a few copies. MP3’s are used with many types of hardware and you could offer them right off of your website and sell them for a much better price to the consumer that the Mega outfits who are charging as high as $20.00 for a CD.

Think about it if you dare to, your chances of getting a record contract are slim at best. And for the most part modern RIAA outfits don’t really want solid well played music. If your not pretty or can be marketed to the kids they really have no use for you. Further more why would you want to have a contract with a company who would change you make you look like a Porn Star? Take a look at what the MTV/RIAA Crowd did to Gwen Stefani and No Doubt and you can see how a band goes from being one thing into another completely different thing.

Its about the music and musicians not how many Made in China Shoes we can sell.
Well back to the studios
Joe

Hello everyone

2006-01-17T15:34:00.000-08:00

Hello again everyone, been very busy the past few days and have not been updating. Sorry about that.
This week we will be working on a new song for the project called “Sitting at the Kitchen Table. It’s a little more of a ballad than the first two songs. I hope to have it ready for a mix down in a few days.

Mark has been testing Cube and all is going well so far. James Watson has also been recording for his own project and his music is absolutely beautiful.

Also as the project starts to grown into its own be on the lookout for other artist and even more Indie music. Rumor has it that Matt Sotomayor will be working on an XfactorDX Project. Matt has some great Poems and it should be a interesting set of songs.

Anyway it’s time to get back to the studio and record ,So all of you have a great week and keep looking back here for more information on the forth coming J Martinez Project Album “ The Planet’s Changed”.

Take care all
J Martinez

Studio Test Demo , Another Drink

2006-01-13T05:38:00.000-08:00

Here is a studio demo for you folks to listen to, It’s not a finished product some its sound is not all that great at this point. But I wanted to get something out there for you all to listen to. The song is called another drink and was written in 1987.
This song was never played live and has never been heard by anyone other than my Wife.

It’s about someone in my past who truly took the wind out of my sails. All of the songs on the J Martinez Project are about real life fears and feelings. Again I hope you all enjoy this rough demo. Thanks to Mark for getting this back to me and the Guitar lead is by Peter. Man can Pete play a guitar.
http://www.calrace.com/Joe-M/Demo-tracks/AnotherDrink1.mp3
Just click the link and it should play in your windows media player.

Peter Dowson Joins The J Martinez Project

2006-01-13T01:17:00.000-08:00

J Martinez Project updates 1/12/2006

Today Mark and Pete worked with Another Drink and got a great lead track going that is very tasty to say the least. Will be posting some samples very soon of both the tracks that we have been working on. At this time I’m very happy to welcome Peter Dawson of North Bay Ontario Canada. Now with Mark St Martin and Pete working on the project I feel it has a much nicer sound and a better chance of getting some air play on the Indie circuit.

Next week the project moves forward with some press shots of J Martinez and Mark St Martin. So far the musicians of the project are Joe Martinez Guitar and Vocals and Mark St Martin working on Bass lines and some lead guitar work. Pete Dawson is also bringing a great new sound to the project with his world class lead guitar playing.

We will be updating this site as often as we make changes or add songs or new members to the project. Next week Old Susanna will be started with guitar and vocals. Perhaps this song offers the most complex Bass and lead guitar lines for the entire project.

Till next time take care and God Bless from all of us at the J Martinez project.

J Martinez Project
Joe Martinez Guitar Vocals
Peter Dawson Lead Guitar
Lynn D Steed Manager

Album Production by Mark St Martin.

Please support the Indie Power Pop Music.

Welcome To The J Martinez Project

2006-01-12T02:13:00.000-08:00

The J Martinez Project.

Hello to all of you on the World Wide Web and welcome to the J Martinez Project.
So what is the J Martinez Project? Well in short it’s the attempt of some old musicians trying to make a difference in modern music. I have felt for years now that the record companies of the RIAA have done more damage to music than anything. The fact is most good musicians can not nor ever will get a chance at a record contract.

The Indie movement is a great chance for many would be Rock Stars to get there music out and heard. The J Martinez Project will be recorded in a home studio and then mixed down in London Canada by our Producer Mark St Martin. We are using cool edit pro at this time for our recording and are also looking at cube for an even better sounding record.

Our songs are mostly Power Pop and we are trying very hard to get a sound that will be good and clean for everyone to enjoy. I also would like to recommend Live 365 as a great source for getting to know all of the great bands that are out there. Together we can make the music business more open and get more types of music out there for music fans to enjoy. Please check out http://www.live365.com/stations/powerpop2 for some great Indie Rock N Roll.

Thanks for coming to the J Martinez Project and I hope you enjoy our music.

The Planets Changed Project Update

2006-01-12T01:59:00.000-08:00

J Martinez Project

Updated 1/11/2006
Mark St Martin has been working very hard on making the Planet’s changed album come to life. The Planet’s Changed is now on its way to being finished and another drink is coming along. Marks ability in the studio is unsurpassed considering the tiny budget of the J Martinez Project.

The third track on the album is now being worked on and will bring a new sound to the J Martinez Project. The buzz around the title track has been very encouraging to both Martinez and Producer Mark St Martin. Joe Martinez has been considering changing the name of the project to the North American Music Project. Then again maybe not J be sure to check out the Planet’s Changed Blog coming soon.

CD Working Name, The Planet’s Changed.
1 The Planets Changed. Studio Demo Available Jan 8th 2006 ***
2 Wrong Side of Town.
3 Woke Up This Morning.
4 What do we do?
5 I used to be lonely
6 Old Susana. **
7 Dismal achievement.
8 Like I said when we were young.
9 Sitting at the kitchen table.
10 Rock'n in the eighties.
11 Redline 2006
12 Redline Reprise
Note
Old Susana was a poem written by Stephen Foster.
http://www.love-poems.me.uk/biography_foster_stephen.htm

Lyrics by J-Martinez, James Ostrowski, Clyde Schaffer, Lynn D Steed.
J Martinez plays BC Rich Guitars, Fender Guitars, and Cort Guitars.
The J Martinez Project uses Behringer Amps and Behringer effects pedals.
Bass Ken Gregg, J Martinez. J Martinez plays Jay Turser Bass Guitars.

http://www.bcrich.com/ Makers of BC Rich Guitars
http://www.fender.com/home.php Makers of Fender Stratocasters
http://www.behringer.com/ Makers of Guitar Amps and much much more.
http://www.cort.com/ Makers of Cort Guitars. Nice Prices and very nice Guitars
http://www.innlinegraphix.com/ Best Graphics for the best prices.