I thought I would post my progress on where I am currently at so you can check out what I am doing or have done. Right now I am adding music. I have literally thousands of albums to go through. I am going through each letter of the alphabet and am starting the F's today. I have already added bands that start with numbers/symbols and that start with the letters A through E. I am taking my time and trying to only add bands/albums/songs that are in line with a sound Biblical worldview. I am also only adding them if they sound good and have a good radioish flow LOL.. is that a thing? Also, I have decided not to add songs that are not in English. I am accountable for everything I play and if I cannot understand what they are singing about, no matter how much they rock, I am not adding them. Trust me, this is really hard. I have not added a ton of awesome songs due to less than par production. I do think it is sounding great so far. Anyway, will continue to keep you up to date. Thanks again everyone for you love and support. You guys and gal are the DEADest!
Also, not sure if you noticed or not, but I have been adding bands that have never been on the station like White Heart, DeGarmo & Key, Chasing Furies, etc... I think they fit nicely with the overall sound I am going for... Christian Rock! yeah!!!
I've noticed the changes. Love White Heart. You're starting to put a hurtin' on my wallet.
David
lol... right on brother.
OK, so I am actually a little ahead on adding music to the station. I have a set day I need to have it all added and I am on track. I finished up the letter L. Having said that, it included the band Liberty n' Justice. The bass player and founding member Justin Murr was a good friend of mine. He went home to be with the Lord last year and it was a little hard when listening to the songs. I miss him and will miss hearing new stuff from him. R.I.P. brother.
Sorry to hear about your friend Justin Murr from Liberty n' Justice, I like them and think it's cool that they included artists from outside the technical Christian realm. I'm really liking the music that's piling in, started freaking out when I heard "Memories" by Manic Drive along with Mad At The World "Back to You" and Justifide "Goodbye With Out You"! I see Maylene & the Sons of Disaster made it in and some others as well! Would be sweet to hear some As Cities Burn, the Chariot, Close Your Eyes, Dead Poetic, Kids In The Way, Phinehas, Pivitplex, Saosin, Satellites & Sirens, Secret & Whisper, just saying!
Today I hope to finish up the letter P and get into the Rs... Hey, I'm a pirate, LOL. I have a goal to have all of the music added by March 13th. Then I can get into finishing up the website and have it ready for launch. This has been really hard, I am passing on a lot of great music... mainly due to poor production or just no real value in the lyrics. I still believe that what I do add, it is gonna rock. I am hoping you all like what you are hearing so far. I have a set vision of what I want the station to look, feel and sound like. So far, I am pretty pleased with the progress. Thank you all again for your feedback, thoughts and prayers. Keep 'em coming.
I think you are doing awesome on the music selection. I've always been a fan of the songs that there is no doubt that they lift up Christ. But I also love the ones that are about the struggles we have as christians on this side of heaven. Great job Tom!
So... I have figured that new DEAD will have almost 7,000 less songs than before! When I finish adding all of the music, we should have roughly 10,000 songs or a little less. We used to have almost 17,000. I have been way more selective and I really love how it's sounding.
So if we have any suggestions that are appropriate maybe you would consider adding them? 🤔😉
Alright... I should have all of the bands that start with the letter T added tomorrow and well into the U's whoohoo... I should be done Thursday! Well, with adding the music that is LOL....
Almost there!
Keep up the good work Tom!
Thanks brother...
I was just perusing the music pages and saw that The Letter Black made the cut. Glad to see! I was worried after they didn't show up during the 'L' uploads before.
Yeah, I know that throws people off but The Letter Black is part of the Ts as are all the bands that start with "The". We programmed it to list them under the Ts as well as the first letter following T, as was the case for The Letter Black showing in the Ls... I love that band...
So, as I finish up adding most of the music, I just wanted to fill you in on my thought process... my focus is first and foremost, the bands/music/lyrics must adhere to a solid Biblical worldview. Now, the songs do not have to mention Jesus every sentence or even at all, as long as the song does not go contrary to our faith. I don't mind songs about falling in love, or rocking the crowd, etc... just as long as it doesn't go against sound Biblical teaching. Secondly, I have really been focusing on production quality. I am finding that so many bands have put out amazing music but with terrible production. I never really paid much attention until now. I even have some albums that seem to have different production for each song. There are some albums where only a couple songs sound really good and then the rest have a different production and sound terrible. I am doing something different on the broadcast this time. In stead of adding a bunch of effects and compression, I have applied a more natural and raw overlay. Think of it this way, radio stations play all sorts of music, each with a different production. Then they apply an overlay of effects to try and make all the music sound the same... kind of like building a wall out of rocks. No two rocks are the same and do not all fit together tightly. You add cement or other forms of filler to make everything come together as one. It's the same way with radio... I wanted to add as little filler as possible and let the songs just sound like they do when playing them on your stereo. Anyway, my third focus was on the song itself... did it fit our format... did it sound good... did it rock or was it just filler. I really tried to make the station rock through and through. Well, that is what I have been doing for almost two months so I hope you all enjoy it. Sorry, four cups of coffee has put me in a posting mood LOL... thanks everyone again for your awesome support and for helping me on this.
Thanks for all your efforts Tom! It means a lot that you've taken the time to ensure that the biblical teachings aren't compromised and that we can listen far more safely here than on countless other stations.
I really try to share my love of these genres with my children but am very concerned with them picking up on underlying, unseen, and unhealthy messages from an otherwise good song. This station is perfect for this - I can listen with them and help them see that there is more Christian music than only P&W from church and popular Christian radio stations. P&W is good and necessary but is frequently a softer genre.
Your work is greatly appreciated!
Thank you brother...
The Letter Black like some others, is there also in it's original form Breaking the Silence, I loved their first song "Stand" when I heard it back in the day. I'm thrilled that the Ws are done and White Collar Sideshow along with We AS Human have also made the cut! You are doing an amazing job, tom! SO DIGGING it!
Yay... Today, I will have all of the music added!!!! Then on to fixing some things around the site. Looking forward to the 28th!
I did it!!!! All of the music, except the new stuff, has been added... It took nearly two months but it is done!
Congrats bro!!! Thank you for all the hard work!
Congratulations Tom! Great Work!
Thanks guys...
So, today is the first day since adding all of the music that I have just been able to sit and listen to the station all day while working and I got to say, I really LOVE the format. I am truly enjoying every song!!!!
Sounds good from here as well!
Its a great feeling to enjoy a project after all the hard work you put in.
Thank you brother
Ugh, so HostGator had an update for the forum and so I ran it and it wiped out my whole database. Thank GOD that I had backed it up but it is from two days ago so anything we posted between then and now is gone... this is frustrating but now I know to back it up before updating. Sorry guys and gal. Anyway, at least we didn't lose too much. Thanks for you continued patience and support. God Bless
Today I was able to add all of the album info we had on the old site. I still have many albums to go that weren't done but this will save me a lot of work. It is coming together a little at a time...
You're doing awesome bro! Thank you.
Thanks man... oh, also finished the Shop so now everyone can order their DEAD stuff! WhooHoooo!!!!!!
I fixed the Music page, it now features "Released This Day..." so if an album was released on this day in the past, it will automatically post it... I am still tweaking and tightening things and am pretty pleased with the results so far. I still have a lot of stuff to get done... some before launch, some during and some after but it's all part of the fun. So thankful you all are sharing this process with me. Your input, constructive criticism, suggestions, etc., have been truly encouraging and I am grateful. You all ROCK! 8)
So I decided to go through the music from the station from before and so glad I did. Found a bunch of newer singles released by several bands that I do not have in my personal music collection... Now, 1 more week!!!!
OK, so I finally was able to add a bunch of the album reviews from the previous site... I had to make sure we still had that album on the station and make sure that the artist and album was spelled correctly and then removed any that are from members who have not been on since forever... Getting there!
Take as much time as you like, I'm sure it's perfect already!
<3 E|
Hey Tom I had a question:
When listening on the go, I've used itunes to stream the station before. Will that still be available or is there a different way to listen mobile?
It should be the same...
I'll give it a shot. I haven't tried yet because the stream wasn't officially relaunched as of yet.
Let me know brother...