Phill Mason

30 Day Challenge Music Video Now Available For Download

Can you believe another year has breezed past and here we are again at the beginning of August 2009 and that means only one thing, it’s Thirty Day Challenge time!

This years Theme Song Music Video sees a collaboration of people from all over the globe and to celebrate this, I have made a High definition version available for download. Now as many of you may know, the 30DC and all it stands for is Free and the training is absolutely amazing this year - best ever.

So why the paid download? Well, to keep in keeping with the 30DC’s preferred charity, we want to give a little back and help those less fortunate than us, so all proceeds from the Video and Audio downloads will be donated to the Kiva charity and this is how you can help.

We’re keeping it really simple - $2 for the HD Video and $1 for the MP3 Audio.

Simple click the "Buy Now" button and you can securely pay with your credit card via Paypal. It’s been suggested that I include a "Donate" button for those who can afford it and would like do donate additional contributions to the Kiva charity. There’s no download attached to the "Donate" button, it’s simply that a donation. If you want the Video or Audio, please click the relevant "Buy Now" button for each, thanks.

Donations Only	30DC HD MP4 Video	30 DC MP3 Audio

As soon as you’ve paid for your item, click on "Return To Merchant" on the successful payment page and your download window will automatically popup and begin.

I hope you enjoy watching the video as much as I did making it and if we can make a small difference in someone’s life, then it’s been well worth while, thank you.

Thirty Day Challenge Music Video 2009

30DC Theme Song, Lyrics & Chords Now Available For Download

Hey gang, it’s finally time to get busy with your video and audio creations for this years Thirty Day Challenge Theme Song Music Video. The 1st notepad mix of the song is available for you to use as a guide so you can record yourself singing parts, playing along or miming the song and then submit your parts to us, so we can include you in this years video collaboration. There is also an MP3 available of just the backing track, without the vocals on, so you can really go to town.

How To Record Your Content For The 30DC Music Video

How To Record Your Content For The 30DC Music Video

This audio below is not a final mixed version and I’m always super apprehensive about releasing this kind of unfinished work to the public, but of course this year is different as it will have you guys mixed into the track also. Some of you will want to actually play musical parts whilst some of you will want to mime, either is cool with us and we welcome all suggestions. Be as creative as possible with your video ideas and please do read and digest the lyrics as the message in the lyrics portrays what we as a team want to achieve by taking the 30 Day Challenge.

Here is a draft mix of this years 30 Day Challenge Theme Song so you can learn how the track goes - right click and "Save As" to download - enjoy.

Thirty Day Challenge Theme Song 2009 - Full Track- MP3 Audio.

Once you’ve got use to the full track above, you may find the MP3 below really useful! Its just the backing track without any vocals.

Thirty Day Challenge Theme Song 2009 - Music Only - MP3 Audio.

Additional Info Below For The 30DC Dancers

Hey guys and gals, we made the video below last night to give some suggestions for possible dance moves for the music video. Feel free to take from it what you want, do more, do less, but hopefully it will give those of your who said you’d like to dance in a group, a little inspiration - have fun.

30DC Dance Ideas

I’ve had several questions over the last few days, so here’s an update about what’s happening next in the 30DC Theme Song Collaboration.

We now basically have an entire band on board a few times over - guitarists, drummers, bassists, piano and keyboard players, a few classical players and a handful of singers. As well as some great vocal talent on board, we also have a couple of groups of singers, some dancers and people who will hold up placards with messages and lyrics on throughout the video - great! The creative ideas floating around have been amazing and I can’t wait to try and fit it all in the video, (cue 10 min album track).
 
The 30DC Theme Song is in the early writing stages, I have a couple of notepad ideas roughly recorded but I need your help before I go too much further. The song needs to be uplifting, inspirational, melodic, memorable and toe-tappingly groovy.
 
The lyrics - the vocal hook. I would like you to get your thinking caps on and ask anyone and everyone you know who’s been involved with the 30DC to come up with a lyric or a line that sums up the 30DC. What is it all about? What does it mean? How does it make you feel? Can you sum up the Thirty Day Challenge in one line that will work well in a song?
 
You see singing the lyric "Thirty Day Challenge" is not exactly the most satisfying lyric to sing and I reckon we can come up with something more catchy that could be influential in more ways then one.
 
If like me, you’re sick of hearing Tina Turners - "Simply The Best" at every conference you attend as the "Go Get Em" theme, then lets try and replace it with with the 30DC 2009 song. How many times have you heard James Brown’s "I Feel Good" play in a film or TV advert? About a Gazillion (big number) I imagine, because it has a great vocal hook and a brilliant lyrical message.
 
Can it be done? Is the "30DC 2009 Theme Song Collaboration team" up to the challenge? Please comment below.
 
Below are a couple of common questions I’ve been asked:
 
So what happens next?
Once we’ve got the magical lyric, I will form the song around it - and at that point I will be able to start to give parts of the song out for players/singers/dancers to learn, rehearse, practice or mime to.More detailed info about how we will record this to follow soon.
 
Which Video Format?
Just as a side not, don’t panic about this too much, but just have in the back of your head that I would prefer the video to be shot in 16:9 HD (High Definition) 720p to be exact - that is 1280 x 720. Now before you panic, I will also be taking standard def DV video which is either 720 x 480 or 720 x 576 pixels depending on where in the world you live. If you can shoot in Full HD 1080p that’s fine also, but I would like to avoid low res, grainy webcam video if possible. Perhaps you have a friend who has a camera you could borrow?
 
I’ll also post this up on my blog, so please visit my blog http://www.phillmason.com/ and leave your comments with your answers/ideas for the lyric of the century.
 
Thanks guys and I look forward to your ideas.
 
All the Best
Phill Mason
E:  30dc2009@phillmason.com

P.S If you have any additional questions I haven’t covered here, please leave them in the comments below and I will make a video that covers the most popular ones.
 
P.P.S You can also stay up to date by following me around here: http://twitter.com/PhillMason or http://www.facebook.com/PhillMason
 
P.P.P.S Nope, I got nothing!!

How could I possibly post a happy birthday video to Ed Dale a couple of days ago and then completely forget about the one and only HarmonicBarbie? Simply put, I couldn’t. Now either there’s a new trend being set here or I’m a sucker for a Happy Birthday vid. It’s not like I love being in front of the camera or anything!

Anywho! Barb has been a faithful online companion for around three years now - basically since I did my first 30 Day Challenge and even though we’ve never met, we’ve become good friends and I have the utmost respect for Barb and I look forward to the day we finally meet. Now it was clear that I couldn’t just pick up my guitar and sing into the camera another blues tune, so aside from battling Man-Flu, (listening out for sympathy) I needed to come up with something a little different. Here’s what I did.

I sponged the video from Youtube of Barb’s Dad playing a harpsichord they had for sale and attempted to write some lyrics and come up with a melody that would fit, well almost fit, well kind of. Twas not easy as my monotonic, minor, melodic baroque was a tad rusty, but this is what I came up with none the less - enjoy.

Song writing video about tips and techniques for laying down individual tracks to build up the parts of a standard rock band. Drums, bass and two guitars. This is a funk rock style guitar riff I’ve had in my head for a while and I was recently asked if I would make a video showing how I put songs together, so here it is. Please ask any questions you have and please leave your comments. Let me know if you would like to see something else in the next Studio Session. I hope to do several of these as the rock is released.

Don’t forget to wheel your big speakers in and crank it up to number 11 - it is Rock after all!

media.phillmason.com/102bpm%20Heavy%20Funk%20Rock%20in%20A.flv