New CD on July 4, 2015

Hello! It's Adam D. Glad you found the site and hope you become a fan! My latest album is available and easy to download for free from this site. You don't have to provide any personal information to get it. It's on the homepage, which you can find by clicking "Story" in the menu. Once you're there the button to click says "Download" and is near the top of the page.

The album is titled Perpetual Motion. It is an independent production with some of the best people and musicians I personally know. It's a special album—a sound I have been after for the majority of my life. The download button will launch a compressed ZIP file download that contains an okay quality MP3 version of the album, a format chosen for quick download speed. Also, the ZIP has an HTML page titled read me. You can open the read me in any browser and find a link to a high quality download exactly as it sounds on the CD. This option was left off the site because it only appeals to a small audience of audiophiles, and the download is very large. The possibility of accidentally starting the high quality download presents too big a hassle for most fans. The size is listed in the read me, and it's big so be prepared.

Here is a quick story about how Perpetual Motion came to be for anyone who loves stories. A long time ago on a way back Wednesday in 1995 I started studying guitar. I was heavily inspired to play guitar by the music of Jimi Hendrix and how he "made the guitar talk." I started listening to Return To Forever and Mahavishnu Orchestra in 1997. The leaders of both bands made their names playing with Miles Davis, one of my personal favorites and an all-time great. To some people these bands sound too heavy, but to me it sounds like a ton of fun. I spent the next 18 years of my life until now—the majority of my life—trying to get a sound that excites me as much as that music did when I was 17. Admittedly, it has taken me a really long time to realize my dream honestly, which I believe I have, because it's not so easy playing like musicians who I consider to be among the best ever.

However, there were other obstacles to be overcome during the production of Perpetual Motion to make my dream come true. I will mention each in brief in case it helps anyone going through a similar problem. There were a small number of players who did not work out. Artists can be strange. There was one particular artist who came highly touted as one of the best in the world, but did an awful job on my song. There was no way I was releasing my album with these takes, and worst of all the blame was transferred to me regarding the musical score, which the player was not trained well enough to read. Of course, this was bullshit. The only thing I recommend doing in such a situation is paying the musician the agreed fee, and then quietly moving on to better options. I recommend requesting a rehearsal or audition of your players to protect yourself. Show business thrives on confidence, so expect everyone you meet to claim they can play anything or do play everything. Hearing them perform your compositions before the recording date is the only way to know.

This won't make me more popular, but artists are always talking about "the scene" too. I have lost count of how many times a local has told me about all the players on "the scene" who can play my music. If you are a leader and hire talent to support the production of your music, you have to trust your own ears because your name and reputation is at stake. Don't look for others to understand or care. Although my music is too difficult for some musicians to play well, everyone who has graced my albums with their talent did a superlative job and has my immeasurable thanks and support.

The last obstacle I had to overcome was the production, specifically the mixing and mastering. Given the lack of response to my previous releases I am not sure anyone has noticed that Perpetual Motion combines the previously released Hypnotist and Robot Sex Machine. The reason I have done this is to improve the production. Without going into detail or naming names there were two studios I hired to mix and master the material. Both were reputable, but did an inferior job. I recently watched a sickening video on YouTube where an engineer aired texts musicians had sent to engineers complaining about various issues. The engineer who posted the video didn't realize he was being an ass. He thought he was shaming the musicians who had sent the texts, emails, and whatever. The advice I will offer musicians about dealing with engineers and studios is a move from my own playbook. Be generous. Acting arrogant or entitled will get you nowhere. If you can't afford to pay the going rate for a professional engineer maybe you're not ready to record your album. Also, you get what you pay for. The tact I took with the studios I tried was generosity. I told one of the studios that spending three days on one song was within my budget. If we were going to run over budget I would finance the extra that was needed. I just wanted it to sound its best. The studio assured me they could mix three songs in two days.

In each case, my own mixes were independently confirmed by numerous musicians to sound better than the professionals, without disclosing whose mixes were whose. I released my previous albums when I had the best mixes I could get. However, my production abilities have improved with time, and, after much scrutiny, I came to admit that my old mixes were better than what two professionals had done for me as an independent, but were not as good as they can be.

As of 2015 all of the pieces have fallen into place, resulting in a sound that truly excites me and is the best all-around music I have made in my 20 years of playing. Rather than profit from my venture, which is the product of this 18-year journey, I am making it available for free with the promise that you will never be required to pay for it.