Grey Smith - White Noise
Donation protected
To my Family,
When this Grey Smith project began at the end of 2017, I had no idea what would become of it. I was absolutely terrified of leaving my whole life behind to pursue a lifelong dream of fulfilling my obligation to give a voice to all that was inside of me and create the best music in the world.
I released one little demo of what would end up becoming "With the Fear that taught me" on Ghost Notes. Although it was just a sketch of an idea, many of you saw the message and the meaning in it and decided to give of yourselves to help me put my fears and obstacles to the side and afforded me the opportunity to focus on crossing the finish line with an amazing piece of art.
Ghost Notes turned out more incredible than I could have ever dreamed of. You all relentlessly supported me through the countless nights of sleeplessness, the frustration, the cost of high level production and marketing, the rigors of raising a wild baby girl, and the dark days that hosted the voice that demands I give up.
I left my career, my wife, my home, and everything else that represented the life I had built. Ramona came with me.
Despite having my studio raided by the DEA and having to break into the studio to get my gear back, sleeping wherever we could, recording in various closets and hotels, having people in my corner start lying and shooting heroin, we were able to pull this off. Mona and I spent the year leading up to Ghost Notes sleeping on an office floor and showering at people's houses. She loved it, but the whispers in my head telling me I was a bad parent and an irresponsible moron for leaving all I had built.
The day I saw my face in Times Square I knew I had made the right decision.
Currently Ghost Notes has almost 200,000 plays across all platforms.
Among all of you combined, this project received around $40,000 thanks to you guys passing the hat in private or donating directly on here.
I've received messages from all over the world regarding how much the music means to people and some incredibly meaningful relationships have formed as a result. My story was published in NBC, ABC, Fox, and 169 other media outlets. I recently got to open for one of my childhood heroes, GZA.
The album only came out 4 months ago.
It's truly incredible to realize. I get so focused on the micro tasks involved with all this stuff that I forget to step back and look from a distance.
While it's all very overwhelming, I have been steadfast in my efforts to learn all that I can about marketing, video production, and the myriad components of this endeavor that are relatively new to me.
I do all of this myself. Every piece of it. I honestly wouldn't have it any other way, but some days I am forced to look the immense difficulty of this whole thing in the face and remember how much work this is.
What's next:
-Grey Smith shows
-Video shoot for one more song from Ghost Notes
-Marketing
-Making White Noise
-Writing, producing, recording, mixing, and mastering
-Printing hard copies and shipping
-Shoot the debut video
-More marketing
-Going on my first tour run
That was intimidating to list just now. Within the above items, I am now aware of how much work all of that actually entails.
I'm going back to work as a psychotherapist part-time to help offset the cost of this all. While $9,000 dollars seems like a large sum of money, it's about 25% of what the last record costed and White Noise is going to have more songs than it did.
I'm confident that we will pull this off like we did the last one.
The Universe did not bring us this far to stop now.
You guys are everything to me.
Let's get this done.
- Steve Hall
Donation Packages:
$10 - Digital download of White Noise and Ghost Notes.
$25 - Signed hard copy of White Noise and digital download.
$40 - Signed Deluxe hard copy with booklet of White Noise, digital download of White Noise and Ghost Notes
$50 - Signed Deluxe hard copy with booklet of White Noise and Ghost Notes, digital download of White Noise and Ghost Notes.
$100 - Signed Deluxe hard copy with booklet of White Noise and Ghost Notes, digital download of White Noise and Ghost Notes, Grey Smith t-shirt, invite to private listening party for White Noise.
$250 - Signed Deluxe hard copy with booklet of White Noise and Ghost Notes, digital download of White Noise and Ghost Notes, Grey Smith t-shirt, invite to private listening party for White Noise, cameo in music video.
$500 - Have your name put in the Thank You section of the album.
Signed Deluxe hard copy with booklet of White Noise and Ghost Notes, digital download of White Noise and Ghost Notes, Grey Smith t-shirt, invite to private listening party for White Noise, cameo in music video, and one song for you or a friend produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered.
$750 - Come to my studio and see how these songs are made.
Have your name put in the Thank You section of the album.
Signed Deluxe hard copy with booklet of White Noise and Ghost Notes, digital download of White Noise and Ghost Notes, Grey Smith t-shirt, invite to private listening party for White Noise, cameo in music video, and two songs for you or a friend produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered.
$1000 - Private Lessons
Ever wanted to learn how to do anything musical? I produce all my music myself and would love the opportunity to teach you any aspect of performance, production, or anything else that you’d like to know about being a DIY independent musician.
This package includes 3 lessons in person or remotely for anything you choose.
Come to my studio and see how these songs are made.
Have your name put in the Thank You section of the album.
Signed Deluxe hard copy with booklet of White Noise and Ghost Notes, digital download of White Noise and Ghost Notes, Grey Smith t-shirt, invite to private listening party for White Noise, cameo in music video, and two songs for you or a friend produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered.
$2500 - Executive Producer credit.
At this level of funding, you will be one of the biggest backers of this project and will receive your name listed as an Executive Producer and receive a portion of the royalties.
Come to my studio and see how these songs are made.
Signed Deluxe hard copy with booklet of White Noise, digital download of White Noise and Ghost Notes, Grey Smith t-shirt, invite to private listening party for White Noise, cameo in music video, and a five song EP for you or a friend produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered.
When this Grey Smith project began at the end of 2017, I had no idea what would become of it. I was absolutely terrified of leaving my whole life behind to pursue a lifelong dream of fulfilling my obligation to give a voice to all that was inside of me and create the best music in the world.
I released one little demo of what would end up becoming "With the Fear that taught me" on Ghost Notes. Although it was just a sketch of an idea, many of you saw the message and the meaning in it and decided to give of yourselves to help me put my fears and obstacles to the side and afforded me the opportunity to focus on crossing the finish line with an amazing piece of art.
Ghost Notes turned out more incredible than I could have ever dreamed of. You all relentlessly supported me through the countless nights of sleeplessness, the frustration, the cost of high level production and marketing, the rigors of raising a wild baby girl, and the dark days that hosted the voice that demands I give up.
I left my career, my wife, my home, and everything else that represented the life I had built. Ramona came with me.
Despite having my studio raided by the DEA and having to break into the studio to get my gear back, sleeping wherever we could, recording in various closets and hotels, having people in my corner start lying and shooting heroin, we were able to pull this off. Mona and I spent the year leading up to Ghost Notes sleeping on an office floor and showering at people's houses. She loved it, but the whispers in my head telling me I was a bad parent and an irresponsible moron for leaving all I had built.
The day I saw my face in Times Square I knew I had made the right decision.
Currently Ghost Notes has almost 200,000 plays across all platforms.
Among all of you combined, this project received around $40,000 thanks to you guys passing the hat in private or donating directly on here.
I've received messages from all over the world regarding how much the music means to people and some incredibly meaningful relationships have formed as a result. My story was published in NBC, ABC, Fox, and 169 other media outlets. I recently got to open for one of my childhood heroes, GZA.
The album only came out 4 months ago.
It's truly incredible to realize. I get so focused on the micro tasks involved with all this stuff that I forget to step back and look from a distance.
While it's all very overwhelming, I have been steadfast in my efforts to learn all that I can about marketing, video production, and the myriad components of this endeavor that are relatively new to me.
I do all of this myself. Every piece of it. I honestly wouldn't have it any other way, but some days I am forced to look the immense difficulty of this whole thing in the face and remember how much work this is.
What's next:
-Grey Smith shows
-Video shoot for one more song from Ghost Notes
-Marketing
-Making White Noise
-Writing, producing, recording, mixing, and mastering
-Printing hard copies and shipping
-Shoot the debut video
-More marketing
-Going on my first tour run
That was intimidating to list just now. Within the above items, I am now aware of how much work all of that actually entails.
I'm going back to work as a psychotherapist part-time to help offset the cost of this all. While $9,000 dollars seems like a large sum of money, it's about 25% of what the last record costed and White Noise is going to have more songs than it did.
I'm confident that we will pull this off like we did the last one.
The Universe did not bring us this far to stop now.
You guys are everything to me.
Let's get this done.
- Steve Hall
Donation Packages:
$10 - Digital download of White Noise and Ghost Notes.
$25 - Signed hard copy of White Noise and digital download.
$40 - Signed Deluxe hard copy with booklet of White Noise, digital download of White Noise and Ghost Notes
$50 - Signed Deluxe hard copy with booklet of White Noise and Ghost Notes, digital download of White Noise and Ghost Notes.
$100 - Signed Deluxe hard copy with booklet of White Noise and Ghost Notes, digital download of White Noise and Ghost Notes, Grey Smith t-shirt, invite to private listening party for White Noise.
$250 - Signed Deluxe hard copy with booklet of White Noise and Ghost Notes, digital download of White Noise and Ghost Notes, Grey Smith t-shirt, invite to private listening party for White Noise, cameo in music video.
$500 - Have your name put in the Thank You section of the album.
Signed Deluxe hard copy with booklet of White Noise and Ghost Notes, digital download of White Noise and Ghost Notes, Grey Smith t-shirt, invite to private listening party for White Noise, cameo in music video, and one song for you or a friend produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered.
$750 - Come to my studio and see how these songs are made.
Have your name put in the Thank You section of the album.
Signed Deluxe hard copy with booklet of White Noise and Ghost Notes, digital download of White Noise and Ghost Notes, Grey Smith t-shirt, invite to private listening party for White Noise, cameo in music video, and two songs for you or a friend produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered.
$1000 - Private Lessons
Ever wanted to learn how to do anything musical? I produce all my music myself and would love the opportunity to teach you any aspect of performance, production, or anything else that you’d like to know about being a DIY independent musician.
This package includes 3 lessons in person or remotely for anything you choose.
Come to my studio and see how these songs are made.
Have your name put in the Thank You section of the album.
Signed Deluxe hard copy with booklet of White Noise and Ghost Notes, digital download of White Noise and Ghost Notes, Grey Smith t-shirt, invite to private listening party for White Noise, cameo in music video, and two songs for you or a friend produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered.
$2500 - Executive Producer credit.
At this level of funding, you will be one of the biggest backers of this project and will receive your name listed as an Executive Producer and receive a portion of the royalties.
Come to my studio and see how these songs are made.
Signed Deluxe hard copy with booklet of White Noise, digital download of White Noise and Ghost Notes, Grey Smith t-shirt, invite to private listening party for White Noise, cameo in music video, and a five song EP for you or a friend produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered.
Organizer
Steve Coma Hall
Organizer
Baltimore, MD