Hello all I am a Sonic Academy subscriber that started producing at the end of June during this past summer. I had no idea what an LFO did, what an oscillator was etc. The only prior experience I had was sequencing in an MTV music generator back in high school and I was pretty mediocre at that. On a side note I did start DJing my senior year in high school 10 years ago, so I would imagine that did contribute a bit.
The story goes, I ended up going to a show in Asheville last June, and heard some productions by “In Plain Sight” (Lucus Ledford, Ezekiel, and Nomad in the Dark (Sasha named this guy in the DJ mag top 100 as his favorite producer a few years back)). After hearing some amazing tunes they made and played, I chatting with them about getting started with music production. Within a week, I took the remains of a small inheritance and bought some Yamaha HS80 monitors, DAW’s, “A SONIC ACADEMY SUBSCRIPTION”(after searching for production videos on youtube), Audio interface, APC 40, M-Audio Keyboard, acoustic panel materials, and several vsti plug-ins. Unfortunately, my first weeks were spent trouble shooting several technical issues with PC sound but I soaked up every Tutorial I could. I finally exchanged my USB Audio interface for a focus-rite pro saffire 24 and began writing my first track (which is the one linked Below) in mid July. This track was a result of going on my first trip to the beach without my mother that recently passed away to cancer, which served as my motivation to write the track (check the title). Around the end of August I had a first attempt which I was planning on using as a practice track. I knew I needed a lot of work, so I sent this practice track to some producers I had met over the years from djing, promoting, and of course yours truly (rolls the white-noise)… PHIL, so they could rip my track apart and I could make improvements on the next track. Happens by chance that one of them (“Summer” Brendon Collins) was being charted at the time by Hernan Cattaneo and he was in the process of starting a new record label. Of course he ripped my track apart and pushed me to make it better because he believed that the track had potential. I felt very overwhelmed at the time because (1) I was a noob (2) and I had no idea what I needed to do (3) I did not ever suspect that something like this would happen so soon after reading bios of producers such as Jaytech taking 2 years before he was ready (although, I still don’t feel like I am 100% ready at times) (4) I live in a very small town “Bristol” (that claims to be the birthplace of country music) in the mountains of Tennessee/Virginia, and nothing like this happens to DJ’s around here.
Chapter 2… 
So I sent Phil a nice little PM and he quickly got back to me and gave me some straight to the point feedback which helped take the track to another level. Finally in mid September (after 2 more submissions) and flirting with the deadline, Tulipa approved my track and sent it to the mastering studios, “Intellectual Mastering”, where the final stage of the the production process took place. Of course the very last step was signing a contract. (and I would love to give you the play by play but I am sure Sonic Academy could spare this mundane event regarding pens and legal stuff)
Anyhow, I hope I didn’t put you all to sleep with a long post, but I felt I should post something here, since Sonic Academy gave me the training and the help I needed to to succeed in such a short time and allowing me to become an active part of the music I love. Most importantly, I hope this gives somebody motivation to pursue their dreams.
Ohh yeah, I am going to post this in two areas and feel free to delete one if its against some forum rules. Haha
Feb 10th 2011 on Tulipa Recordings.
Will McGlone - Not Forgotten (Original Mix) [Tulipa Recordings]… (PS…soundcloud didn’t encode the greatest)
[url]http://soundcloud.com/willmcglone/will-mcglone-not-forgotten-original-mix[/url]
This track Will be released on a 14 track compilation “Pedal One”, Featuring original tracks from artist Jeff Bennett, Andy Newland & Oscitone, Summer (Brendon Collins), T-Lectual, Nomean, Yuuki Hori, Fabio Scalabroni, Andrea Fissore, Solium, Felipe Blandon, Phanton, Will McGlone, Koen Schepens, and JonQPublik.
[url]http://soundcloud.com/tuliparecordings/sets/tulipa-recordings-pedal-one-tulipa004[/url]
Amazing story man :D, im sorry about your mother…Nicely done dedicated track. This gave me alot of inspiration thanks for sharing.
[quote]Subject 1 (15/01/2011)[hr]Amazing story man :D, im sorry about your mother…Nicely done dedicated track. This gave me alot of inspiration thanks for sharing.[/quote]
Thanks 
I can’t believe this happened. I remember thinking how long the release date was and now its just a few weeks away. You better bet Beatport screen shots will be all over my face book
Yeah sorry about your mum - and best of luck with the realese and also thanks for sharing your story - best to remind us when its out again as us old farts will forget
[quote]slender (15/01/2011)[hr]Yeah sorry about your mum - and best of luck with the realese and also thanks for sharing your story - best to remind us when its out again as us old farts will forget :)[/quote]
LOL, I will be a spam bot that day.
Great story! Im glad to be a small part of it.
My father died of lung cancer when i was 19 and i used my inheritance to buy studio gear too… A yamaha an1x, a3000, absolute 2 speakers and a pc. He definatly inspired be to make a go of music rather than the run of the mill jobs. He worked in a job he hated and before he died he told me not to make the same mistake he made. Im soo thankful he did… I couldnt love my job more now. Life is sooo short shame to waste so much of it on a job you dont like.
Congrats on getting signed so early! Heard your track on soundcloud, it is actually really good for the time you’ve been on this path, keep at it.
[quote]phil johnston (16/01/2011)[hr]Great story! Im glad to be a small part of it.
My father died of lung cancer when i was 19 and i used my inheritance to buy studio gear too… A yamaha an1x, a3000, absolute 2 speakers and a pc. He definatly inspired be to make a go of music rather than the run of the mill jobs. He worked in a job he hated and before he died he told me not to make the same mistake he made. Im soo thankful he did… I couldnt love my job more now. Life is sooo short shame to waste so much of it on a job you dont like.
[/quote]
That pretty cool that we have a similar story, the money I inherited was from my grandpa, because he, my grandma, and my mom all died in sequential months. After some crazy legal stuff I ended up getting a small share of the property they owned.I wish I was in the same situation as you but I am currently in college full time so I become a drug dealer opps i mean pharmacist… and I know I would be much happier to work in a studio, but those jobs are hard to get around here and I know many students that have gone to top rated American sound schools and ended up with a lot of debt and shattered dreams.
[quote]djzmo (16/01/2011)[hr]Congrats on getting signed so early! Heard your track on soundcloud, it is actually really good for the time you’ve been on this path, keep at it.[/quote]
Thanks for the kind words of encouragement and feedback. I still am learning but everything seems to be clicking quite well after a couple rounds of over complication. I kinda of wish I knew somebody that lived in the same area, that was a veteran producer so I could see things done first hand, and ask questions as they happen. Ohh well.
Anyways thanks once again
Congrats. Nice tune.
[quote]DjWillMcGlone (16/01/2011)[hr][quote]phil johnston (16/01/2011)[hr]Great story! Im glad to be a small part of it.
My father died of lung cancer when i was 19 and i used my inheritance to buy studio gear too… A yamaha an1x, a3000, absolute 2 speakers and a pc. He definatly inspired be to make a go of music rather than the run of the mill jobs. He worked in a job he hated and before he died he told me not to make the same mistake he made. Im soo thankful he did… I couldnt love my job more now. Life is sooo short shame to waste so much of it on a job you dont like.
[/quote]
That pretty cool that we have a similar story, the money I inherited was from my grandpa, because he, my grandma, and my mom all died in sequential months. After some crazy legal stuff I ended up getting a small share of the property they owned.I wish I was in the same situation as you but I am currently in college full time so I become a drug dealer opps i mean pharmacist… and I know I would be much happier to work in a studio, but those jobs are hard to get around here and I know many students that have gone to top rated American sound schools and ended up with a lot of debt and shattered dreams.
[/quote]
im a “pharmacist” too
Nice story mate, sorry about your mum 
Really inspirational though and so glad to hear that Sonic helped you too! Thanks for posting and sharing your story!
Nice tune!
Congrats brotha! Best of luck to you and keep working hard at it. Even the best get better over time. Always keep learning.
it very good for your first track… now following on soundcloud and track shared on facebook.
all the best.
i gotta say i was quite surprised at ur track ,as the others have said sorry about your mum , im sure loads of people myself included have suffered devastating losses ,
But aside from feeling for you and sympathise how your life must have been, the music is what your trying to channel your energy and emotion through, so ill say this, really you obviously have a raw talent so keep doing what your doing and proper soon you will really get there.
although not my cup of tea, really impressed man:cool:
Congratulations man, and great track, especially for your first. Keep at it.
@ jwalley08, Roben, howiegroove, djmarcatkins, egg2, gedeon: Thanks for the encouraging words and reading my novel.
@ Subject 1: Haha, My little brother tried being a pharmacist without going to school and it didn’t work out for him too well
@ djmarcatkins (and everybody else): Feel free to add me on face book “Will McGlone”
[quote]Subject 1 (16/01/2011)[hr][quote]DjWillMcGlone (16/01/2011)[hr][quote]phil johnston (16/01/2011)[hr]Great story! Im glad to be a small part of it.
My father died of lung cancer when i was 19 and i used my inheritance to buy studio gear too… A yamaha an1x, a3000, absolute 2 speakers and a pc. He definatly inspired be to make a go of music rather than the run of the mill jobs. He worked in a job he hated and before he died he told me not to make the same mistake he made. Im soo thankful he did… I couldnt love my job more now. Life is sooo short shame to waste so much of it on a job you dont like.
[/quote]
That pretty cool that we have a similar story, the money I inherited was from my grandpa, because he, my grandma, and my mom all died in sequential months. After some crazy legal stuff I ended up getting a small share of the property they owned.I wish I was in the same situation as you but I am currently in college full time so I become a drug dealer opps i mean pharmacist… and I know I would be much happier to work in a studio, but those jobs are hard to get around here and I know many students that have gone to top rated American sound schools and ended up with a lot of debt and shattered dreams.
[/quote]
im a “pharmacist” too[/quote]
“LoL :P”
[quote]DjWillMcGlone (16/01/2011)[hr][quote]phil johnston (16/01/2011)[hr]Great story! Im glad to be a small part of it.
My father died of lung cancer when i was 19 and i used my inheritance to buy studio gear too… A yamaha an1x, a3000, absolute 2 speakers and a pc. He definatly inspired be to make a go of music rather than the run of the mill jobs. He worked in a job he hated and before he died he told me not to make the same mistake he made. Im soo thankful he did… I couldnt love my job more now. Life is sooo short shame to waste so much of it on a job you dont like.
[/quote]
That pretty cool that we have a similar story, the money I inherited was from my grandpa, because he, my grandma, and my mom all died in sequential months. After some crazy legal stuff I ended up getting a small share of the property they owned.I wish I was in the same situation as you but I am currently in college full time so I become a drug dealer opps i mean pharmacist… and I know I would be much happier to work in a studio, but those jobs are hard to get around here and I know many students that have gone to top rated American sound schools and ended up with a lot of debt and shattered dreams.
[/quote]
I worked in a music store for 3 years when i was 19 selling synths and studio gear… great access to loads of kit and learned loads about different studio gear for demoing purposes. Was a key stepping stone to being better at production. was able to get all my kit at trade too.
Ran the studio after work so i was like 9-5 in the store 6-11 in the studio 6 days a week for 2 years. then made a tune and got job in a better studio producing and remixing… got signed not long after that. Hands on experience is the only way really.
Nice tune, lots of potential. Are you open to the idea of a remix?