The Green Planet Project Story

January 15, 2015, the first day of Rock n Roll Fantasy Camp (RRFC)...it was Thursday, early afternoon and I found myself surrounded by excited campers ready to embrace their heroes. I didn't know anyone and wasn't sure what to expect...there were many campers attending for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th+ time....how intimidating was RRFC going to be? 

 

After checking in at the Foxwoods Casino, campers were invited to choose between several jam sessions - odd time, blues, classic rock, etc....of course I chose classic rock and quickly found the jam room...I knocked and Joe Vitale opened the door, I recognized him immediately. He recognized me as a drummer with my long sleeve Zildjian tee shirt and invited me in. Also in the room were Gary Hoey, Trish Tyler Ferrett, Brooks Ferrett, Ken Steinhardt, and Anthony Cerillo. Anthony (Ant) was actually participating at camp as a drummer and offered me the throne to jam with Gary on a few songs.

 

Soon everyone moved to a gathering area to meet their assigned bandmates for the next 3 days. While waiting, I met and began a conversation with Ken Logerwell before meeting my bandmates which included Mike Tilbury and Rey More'. Over those next few days I noticed several mysterious "participants" at camp which drew my attention. They were not campers but they were performing with the Camp counselors. Jeff Morris and Rachelle Rae (participating in the Producer Camp being held concurrently) were talented people I wanted to meet and collaborate.

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After 3.5 days of eating, drinking, and sleeping nothing but music with talented campers, hired guns, and music legends, you never want the experience to end. At this particular camp, a strong bond had formed and left many campers wanting more...including me.

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When camp ended, I read Joe Vitale's book "Backstage Pass" and recognized the importance of the studio in his career. As a result, I decided my musical future would be about recording a legacy and began making investments in building a home recording studio. What better vehicle to continue musically collaborating with my new friends than to establish a "Home" studio model whereby musicians record from home and then upload to Green Planet Studios for mixing, mastering, and global release.

 

When we began, it was an experiment...we didn't have all the right equipment and recording skills and as a result, the early albums (Ready To Play, Whole Lot Of Love) were quite primitive. Drums and vocals were recorded live to 2 track via USB stick from a Yamaha MGP32x mixing board. Those files were then imported, lined up in Cakewalk Sonar, and engineered into a complete mix. However, while recording "All You Need Is Love" in 2016, additional investments were made to move the drums from Yamaha Live 2 track to 12 independent digital interfaces, finally enabling the "potential" for professional quality drum sounds. Beginning with "All You Need Is Love", I tackled my engineering learning curve from release to release with trial and error techniques. Since 2016, the engineering quality of Green Planet Project recordings has continued to improve, especially with the latest releases.

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The range of material the contributors wanted to cover required the group to expand. Through outreach to fellow RRFC campers and/or introductions to camper friends, the group has grown to more than 48 individuals over the last 9 years...and still growing.

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Why do we do this?

What we aspire is not easy...first, you need professional-level talent to replicate what people expect to hear when they listen to a song they have known for years. Secondly, your network of pros also need some computer expertise with recording from home....not everyone is fully prepared and/or equipped. Then, there is the audio processing learning curve...Youtube has helped but it's continual trial and error. If you make it through the first 3 steps, you then have to find resources and allocate costs for mastering, cover song licensing, and digital distribution.

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So why do we do it? There is no commercial financial motive with streaming compensation at $.001 per stream or $.99 downloads and the cost to produce, release far outweigh the money generated.

 

There are 2 fundamental reasons...

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1. It's fun, rewarding, and allows distant musicians the ability to work together. Blending different combinations of musicians has enabled the Green Planet Project to release more than 104 diverse songs. These songs provide a professional demo of each contributors' skill and talent so they can use their Green Planet Project contributions to drive interest in their local musical endeavors.

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2. Perhaps most importantly, we were encouraged to think of charities during camp and thus benefiting a charity through our work was an initial driver in investing hours to reproduce covers. Through our personal experience and passion for charitable fund raising, 2 albums were recorded for charities and underwritten by Green Planet Project members - Whole Lot Of Love - a benefit for Myclubhouse (now known as Cancer Bridges) and All You Need Is Love (Save The Children). More information regarding the charities associated with Green Planet Project releases can be found here. Should a  charity wish to partner for fundraising on unreleased Green Planet Project material, we welcome the opportunity and interested parties should contact us.

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