Earth Matters – Imagine
Earth Matters – Imagine
ARTIST NAME: Earth Matters
SONG TITLE: Imagine
GENRE: Pop/Singer-Songwriter
Website
Earth Matters has been described as “positive music to inspire change around the world”.
Doing plenty of souls searching, one night while performing drums and enjoying every minute of it, I decided to pursue my dream of making music full-time, and traveled from my hometown, Mexico City to Boston, where I quickly realized I was born to rock!
After completing my music production studies from Berklee College of Music, I decided I’d make Miami my base of operations.
Miami was not easy at all. After knocking and failing to open so many doors and going through plenty of ups and downs, I was able to establish myself as a music producer and engineer.
Everything started to go awesomely, but something rocked my world more than anything I’d experienced…I became a dad. It was then I woke up and realized we’re not doing the best we can for the survival of our species and now, as a father to 3 energetic and spirited girls, I’d like to leave this earth in better conditions than I found it. This is how Earth Matters was born.
Inspired by my main influences, including The Police and The Beatles, Earth Matters is a music and media project to help us become the best version of ourselves we can be, so we can live better lives and connect with our Gaia…Mother Earth.
There’s a lot of work to be done, so we might as well start somewhere! And the best place to start is ourselves! We wait for someone to bring change without realizing we can change ourselves.
Earth Matters is a music and media project that seeks to change the world, one song at a time!
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Tell us your definition of being a talented artist.
My vision of a talented artist is a person who uses his creativity and imagination to express the most powerful human emotions that connect us with one another!
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Share your opinion with us on digital distribution.
I love digital distribution because it has made audiences and artists come closer together. There is no other era I’d rather live in because today we can connect with people from all over the planet creating a sort of digital revolution! Digital distribution has facilitated this communication between artists and fans.
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Send a message to those involved in helping you with this project.
Special thanks to everyone who has taken me this far on this musical journey, including my parents, family, and friends.
Special thanks to those musicians who have added their unique talents into the music and to all the fans that believe we can make this a better world for everyone on this planet.
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Describe how you get involved in music.
Growing up, most of my friends were partying while I was practicing drums and rehearsing with several bands.
I really felt a connection with music from early on and this is why music is a part of who I am, not just what I do.
I learned piano but at a talent show at school I heard a drummer perform “Sunday Bloody Sunday” by U2 and I was immediately hooked. That led me to recording, which eventually led me to production.
I’m currently learning guitar and am always trying to improve on what I already know.
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Tell us about your childhood experience.
I grew up in Mexico City and had a really blessed childhood. My brother was a fan of Iron Maiden and other heavy metal bands, but I was more attracted to music Led Zeppelin, The Eagles, Elvis, and The Beatles.
It was a lot of fun growing up. My friends and I were always creating something, like movies when we got our first video camera, and of course, we definitely created some trouble every once in a while too.
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Tell us if you are a starter or an established artist at the moment.
I’ve been living from music for over fifteen years now. I started as a drummer and drum teacher and transitioned into music production and engineering where I worked with many artists both established and independent.
Along with the drop in CD sales that happened in the industry around 2005-06, I had to transition into looking for more sources of revenue. That’s when I started creating my own music. I developed an instrumental that serves those looking for relaxation music, called Musical Spa.
Earth Matters is a brand new concept I came up with so I look forward to watching it grow!
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Tell us your opinion on old music and new music in terms of preference.
I love both new and old music. And I’m a true believer that there are good musicians and singers in all genres. That being said, I was spoiled, as I learned to record live with the bands playing together. There’s something magical about that. I’ve never been able to reproduce this live feel, but there are a lot of advantages to recording these days that weren’t available in the 80s and 90s, so there are always good ways to combine both eras to make great music!
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Elaborate on the themes of most of your songs.
I am concerned about the ‘Earth’ and all of us living here. The way we’ve been living is simply not sustainable. That’s why I am covering songs that will hopefully inspire positive change in people.
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State your greatest performance.
I had a lot of opportunities to perform as a drummer with many bands. I performed an evening in a very big park in Mexico City. That was just magical. I felt a strong connection between us and the audience.
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Tell us the greatest mistake to avoid while recording a song.
A lot of people get into perfectionism, which as Grant Cardone says, typically leads to procrastination. You should make decisions and move on. If you hear something you don’t like the next day, you can always go back and re-record. So spend more time “doing” than “thinking” in the studio.
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Tell us your definition of a hit song.
To me, a hit song is one that delivers a memorable chorus and music within a few minutes and produces a positive reaction in a considerable amount of people.
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Tell us what you know about your fans.
I know that like me, they are committed to learning, connecting and doing things that will create positive change around the world.
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Describe your mood during recording or performance.
I am always excited when I’m recording. I never know how songs are going to turn out so it’s like rediscovering the song every time you hit the record button! Performing is wonderful because you get to transmit what you created to an audience. Pure magic happens when you perform!
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Discuss your songwriting.
I normally start out “hunting” for a melody. Most ideas come as a little motif, that later develops into a full verse and chorus. Once I have that I keep working at it until I have a nice song structure.
Sometimes the lyrics are temporary and I tweak them as I go. I’ve done full songs in a couple of hours, but I’ve also done songs that I need to put on hold and come back to them, so it can be a couple of months before I finish.
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Discuss your recording process.
Once I have a basic idea and song structure, I’ll record a reference guitar and vocal so I can sit back and hear it back. Sometimes I end up discarding the idea if I feel it’s not unique enough, but if I choose to work on it I typically start with any loops percussion and drums. Then I record bass, keyboards, and guitars. I leave any vocals and lead guitars until the end.
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Discuss the difference between live recording and studio recording.
There’s always a time and place for both live recording and studio recording. Recording live you’ll have a more polished song but a powerful one, whereas with a studio you get a chance to perfect the sound further which makes for a nice recording too.
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Discuss how you experiment with different sounds.
I love experimenting with different sounds. I am a fan of old school sounds like Rhodes, pianos, etc., but I also like experiment with new sounds and bringing a more modern and polished sound to the music, like processing the drums to get more “power” out of the music. Especially when creating I’ll sometimes throw something I haven’t used in a while. Sometimes it works and others it doesn’t of course. ;).
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Elaborate on the song.
I’ve always wanted to cover ‘Imagine.’ It is such an iconic song I consider it part of my influences. It reflects the dreamer that was John Lennon, and his dream, which I share, about a world united by love, peace and living in the present moment, or as he says, living for today! I wanted to give it my own interpretation though. I play the piano but my typical arrangement features more the rhythm guitar instead, so I wanted to sort of “personalize” it!
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Elaborate on your artist name and the title of the album.
‘Earth Matters’ is a project to inspire positive change around the world. It’s about focusing on what matters most to you because when you focus on becoming a better version of you, you’ll make wiser decisions for you and this will impact the beautiful planet in which we live. This is why ‘Earth Matters’ more than anything. It is our time to shine on this planet!
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Share your press release and review with us.
Taking his own approach on the iconic song “Imagine,” producer and artist Ivan Valles celebrates life, love, and music through his project, Earth Matters, positive music to inspire change around the world.
With singer/songwriter inspired colours, ‘Imagine’ takes us on a journey to a world of dreamers that come together for peace, love, and harmony through music!
