Update - D x 4

I guess we are now investigating launching our own record label. Daniel came to rehearsal today with his music, "Two Silhouettes", and a CD of piano music his aunt recorded last year. After rehearsal Daniel asked us all to listen to the CD. It was absolutely beautiful. His aunt is an artist, she conveys feelings through her music like I don’t think I have ever heard, or felt, before. After we listened Darrell said what we were all thinking, "that was nice, but why are we listening to it?" Daniel’s response was interesting. He said, "my aunt made this CD last year as a Christmas gift for family and friends. Since then she has had several people tell her that she should get an agent and get a recording contract with a label. She hasn’t really done anything with it, she doesn’t know where to start. I was thinking about her the other night while looking for music for us to sing. Aren’t we basically talking about starting our own record label to produce our CD? If so, I thought, maybe while we’re working out the logistics of our CD we could also look into doing something similar with my aunt, what do you guys think?"

My first thought was this was just supposed to be some fun and now it’s starting to sound like a job or something. But before I could say that Dwight spoke up. "Daniel, didn’t you say your aunt has already recorded one CD?" Daniel responded with a "yes", and Dwight followed up, "so she has one finished CD that could be produced, copied, and then just needs to be distributed right?" Again Daniel responded, "yes". "So", Dwight continued "couldn’t we use that finished CD as our test product to try some different marketing?"

As I looked around I could see that everyone was getting into this idea. Could we launch, and run, a record label? What would we need?

Doubts were still running through my head but each time I started to voice them one of the other guys would start talking about another idea. The next thing I heard clearly, I think it was Daniel, was a comment on marketing and distribution. I was pulled from my own thoughts by Darrell asking me a question. "David, David," it took me a moment to respond with a mumbled, "what?" Darrell poised his question again, "David, don’t you already have a website?" I was to embarrassed to admit that my ‘website’ was nothing more than a domain name that I paid for each month. Before I responded Dwight said, "Yeah, I saw the notes on that, isn’t it davidlsullivan.com?"

Finally I found my voice. "Okay guys", I began, " I have a domain name already registered but I’ve been dragging my heels getting it operational. I don’t really know anything about building, or operating websites. So, it’s just there." Now the guys were all smiling at me. "What?", I asked feeling a little defensive. Darrell was the first to speak, "so we have a domain that we can build on, what do we need next." The next two hours flew by as we talked about what the website should look like and how we could use it to launch our record label.

So, I hope that in the next few weeks I can announce the launch of our new website, davidlsullivan.com which will be our marketing and distribution for our as yet unnamed record label. I almost suggested we could be consistent and launch davidlsullivan records, but I am really not that egotistical.

11/3/09

Today has been a productive, and interesting, day. D times 4, or Dx4, gathered at my house to review arrangements and rehearse. We are an accapella quartet with an interest, and emphasis, on doo wop music. We are all in our late 40's or early 50's, so this is music we have all heard, and sung, all of our lives.

We decided on the name Dx4 because all of our names start with Ds. I’m David and there’s Daniel, Darrell and Dwight. I don’t think all four of us have ever actually performed together before but I have sung with each of the others in other quartets, or groups, at different times and different places. Daniel and I even sang with a quartet that sang the national anthem at some local sporting events. Darrell and I were in a men’s small chorus which sang in local churches and Dwight and I met singing karaoke at a local club, we harmonized so well together some people thought we had rehearsed before we got there. We are all from different backgrounds, but we think, and we hope, that we can come together and sing well together.
So today we started our actual rehearsal. Each of us brought our favorite songs, some arranged for four part harmony, some not, but between the four of us we can take care of that. We started off a little rocky, but once we got going it was really difficult to stop.

When we first talked about singing together we were talking about singing just for fun, maybe an occasional church or baseball game, nothing big. Then last month Daniel came back from a trip to Disneyland and told us about the quartet wandering around California Adventure. That really piqued my interest, an accapella quartet walking around the streets of California Adventure singing doo wop songs. It got me thinking that maybe there is enough interest is such a group to be worth trying to perform a few places and maybe even put out a CD. Now, I have no delusions of grandeur. None of us do. Still, it would be fun to hear our music, our voices, being played on somebody’s CD player, and maybe even have an opportunity or two to perform somewhere.
So with that in mind we started rehearsals today. We aren’t quite ready to book a studio, but it sure was a rush when Darrell started the bass line to "Blue Moon" and we all came in on our different parts. My dog seemed to like it, she didn’t howl or bark, so I took that as a good sign.

Before next week we will each rehearse on our own and try to bring at least one piece of music, each, arranged for four part harmony.