EP On the Horizon

Hello! Man it's has been a while since I've last posted. I have had a pretty busy summer and fall, after graduating college and looking for a job and apartment I've finally struck a rhythm of balance between work and life. Since work does not usually assign homework, I've found that any time after work is mine for the taking!

I have been continuing to work on music and slowly continue on the road to release an EP hopefully in the next few months. It's really been a long journey and I've written a bunch of songs and after sifting through them, I finally have four that I am happy with that I consider quality and something I want to put out there. Out of these four, the first three are completely written, and mixed, but have yet to be mastered. The forth is one that I consider my best work yet and I am really excited for you guys to hear it. It's still in the works and I haven't completely finished writing it but it's coming along nicely. So, to summarize, I've got my space suit on, my seat belt on, my tray table in the upright position, and I'm starting to hear that countdown for takeoff! These are exciting times for me and, I'm really excited to show you what I've been working at!





If you're curious, I'm quickly going to describe my song writing process:

My writing process is to search through my library of software instruments I have and find one that inspires me. I'll play around with it on the keyboard with the goal of coming up with some catchy melody or arrangement. It is my goal to find a catchy tune but it's really a trial and error thing and it can take a LONG time to get something I'm happy with. Then, I write different instrument tracks on top of that one and put them all together. Finally, I rerecord certain software instrument tracks on real instruments if I have them and shift the tracks around until I'm happy with the overall structure of the song.

The next step is mixing and this part takes pretty long too. I try to set the different instrument tracks at the right volume so that they can be heard easily so any one track isn't overpowering the rest. Then I pan certain instruments to either the right ear or the left to give the song depth and spread the different tracks across the stereo space so that they aren't all stacked on top of each other. At this point I am listening to the songs on my headphones, car speakers, studio monitors, and at work on earbuds to listen to see if that bass is too loud (ha, impossible! ) or if other instruments are loud enough. Hearing the same music on speakers of different quality and size helps because ideally one wants to mix the music so it sounds good no matter what is it played through.

After that I take the mixed song and master it using different filtering tools, compression, and limiters so that its more polished for the final product.

Wood + Aluminum = Whoa.

So while I was looking through design blogs last night I came across this gem! 

These are stools that were built by casting wood with aluminum and the result is incredible. I am definitely a sucker for natural wood grain and the fusion of the molten aluminum burning the outside of the wood yields a pretty spectacular result. I think these materials should hang out more often! Check out the designer Hilla Shamia’s website http://www.hillashamia.com/ for more.

Designing a Desk Lamp

Hey, I'm back! Over my last winter break I was splitting some wood from a plum tree that we had to cut down in our yard and found that once split, the grain of the wood was surprisingly pretty and colorful. This really inspired me to design a desk lamp because I really needed one for my apartment and after reading and looking at design blogs for years, I was itching to really design something myself!

The wood was primarily hand carved out of plum. The lamp part, I recycled from an old broken desk lamp from my freshman year and attached it all with some epoxy.

Total cost of this project, $4.55 for the epoxy ;)

Desk Lamp Design Project from Gerry Mayer on Vimeo.

Album.

Oh, I didn't see you there! I have exiting news. *drumrollplz*

I am working on an album. 

Here it is. It might be blank now.. but soon it will be filled with music! Conveniently, it's a cd titled DVD-R. (see what I did there?)
All joking aside, I have a definite album title and theme and a couple of finished songs to boot. I am really excited and now that this is up on the blog theres no turning back, full speed ahead, four sheets to the wind, I'm in it to win it, it's not over until we decide it is, ain't no stopping us now, to infinity and beyond, you are not the father, do you feel lucky punk, AW HELL NAW!, etc.


Oodles of Toodles,
-G

New Demo: Keep Walking

Hey there everybody! Heres little original demo I've been working on for a few weeks and I finally feel like I can release it to the world. Its just an instrumental right now but I think you'll like it!

Let me know what you think.
-G

 Keep Walking by gmay3

Justice Has Been Done

     Just last night, as I finished up some last minute studying for my final exam the next morning I got news that Osama Bin Laden had been killed by the United States. I was instantly overwhelmed with a mixed feeling of success, patriotism, and most importantly, hope. It was almost impossible to continue studying because I couldn't focus on anything other than what was truly important to me at that moment. As I continued the night blasting the National Anthem and other patriotic songs, I was filled with pride. The next day after the exam, I still couldn't think of anything else but the news. We finally got em!

     To fully appreciate the gravity of the events that had taken place the night before, I needed to bring myself back to my sixth grade class room when our class was first told what had happened to the World Trade Center. I remember how confused we were and how that day the teachers gave us a lesson they had never planned for. They taught us what a hijacking was and that terrorists were people that wanted to intimidate those by using fear and acts of senseless violence. Just like learning a new topic in math for the first time, we didn't understand it. When the teachers tried to answer our questions about what happened they struggled to find the words. We were used to the teachers having an answer to any question we could ask, and for the first time they had none. A little while longer we heard that everyone from our school was being evacuated because across the street was a government testing facility. Everyone was terrified. No one knew who was being targeted during these attacks and everyone felt that they were next.

     I remember coming home and seeing the towers burning on the television with people jumping from the 40th floor and not even being able to understand it. Smoke filled the air and people ran in the streets covered in ash. I was too innocent to realize what was going on. After a while, when all the news came in, we knew what had happened and where the planes had crashed. America, though hurting, stayed strong. Maybe even stronger than it had been before. We went to war, to stop the man who had planned the attacks which tainted our childhood. Everyone was bound together and a flag was flying at every house. As I got older I realized the full horrors of these attacks but I will never be able to understand the motivation behind them.

     Ten years later, we stopped him. We found a needle in the worlds biggest haystack the way only America could. No other country would have dedicated ten years of resources of to avenge those who died on September 11th and keep our country safe. As the flags start to fly in celebration today, take a moment to appreciate everyone who has served and is currently serving our country. As the country eventually mourned and moved on after September 11th seeing no hopeful outcome, their patriotism has never wavered since that horrific day. There are a lot of things to be said about America but for now I think I'll choose just one:

The strength of our country is the result of our commitment to each other, for each other. For that, I am proud to be an American.

Why I Lead

There are several reasons I am really interested in leading a break trip. Ever since the spring semester of my sophomore year, I cannot ever go back going home over another fall or spring break again. This is not because I don’t like being home, but is because I want to make the most of every opportunity to challenge myself to serve. Going on these break trips has been moving to me but being able to lead a break trip is a whole new exciting challenge in itself. Ever since my first trip to Ft. Smith Arkansas, I have not been the same. This trip opened my eyes to the issues of poverty, redefined what I believed to be a good community, and showed me the potential that I had to make a change in the world. This first trip stuck me so deeply that in many aspects of my life my opinions had done a full 180 and put life into perspective for me. I finally saw what so many other students and faculty member of the Villanova Community saw. After a whole year of feeling overwhelmed and a little out of place, I finally felt at home here at Villanova. My first trip exposed me to so many caring and genuine people and two trips later, I feel as if I am in the center of the amazing break trip community here at Villanova. After this first trip I remember telling my parents that I wanted to serve on every break trip until I graduate. Two trips later I feel the same way. On my second trip I found myself discovering new things about the two different trips. I started picking things I liked about the two very different leading styles that my first and second trips had as well as the differences in reflections. This was the first moment that I realized why I was figuring all this out in my head. I wanted to lead. With Paul on my first trip and my second trip to Marion South Carolina, I was able to talk to Paul about these differences. We both shared what we thought were the core ideals that we thought made a good Habitat Trip. After talking to Paul I knew who I wanted to lead a trip with. I didn’t know when I would be ready, because after my second trip, I knew I wasn’t quite ready but I wasn’t sure exactly why. On my third trip to Franklin West Virginia, my mission was to determine if I thought I was ready to lead or not. Again I made these comparisons of different leading styles and choices. I had a clearer image in my mind of what I wanted to focus on when I lead a trip. As the week went on, I felt as if I had a significant presence in the group. When I talked, people listened. When I set an example, people followed. When we reflected, I knew what the real message and purpose of the reflections were. Even knowing the purpose or core messages behind the reflections, I wanted to hear what my new group had to say about everything before I offered my input. This was sometimes challenging but it was very rewarding to see the group develop together and find the purpose and message behind the reflections. After this third trip, I totally get the meaning of these break trips. I completely understand Habitat for Humanity’s mission and feel as if I can do a good job representing them as a student leader.
Another main reason why I want to lead is because I absolutely love working with Habitat for Humanity. I remember feeling completely overwhelmed with the amount of generosity, love, and appreciation from all the communities I have served with. What makes this such a good system is that I felt the same way about the community. For sharing their homes, their meals, their stories, and their pain with us. For taking the time to teach us, about poverty, family, community, and even how to hammer a nail without hitting our thumb. I have appreciated everything these Habitat for Humanity communities has done for me and I know the feeling is mutual with them. I have described this work as a complete win-win situation because of this mutual appreciation from both sides of the organization. This is like an infinite energy source for me, and I can’t wait to make one of these amazing experiences our own. I want to discover my place in the break trip and service community here at Villanova. I appreciate the service break trip community at Villanova so much and I really want to give back, which makes me so excited to lead a break trip with Paul.