Singer/Songwriter • Genre: Pop
Carl Martin is a bilingual music artist, originally from Peru, whose style is inspired by pop greats including George Michael, Stevie Wonder, Ella Fitzgerald, Natasha Bedingfield, and Christina Aguilera.
Carl is a prolific artist, having created, recorded, and released one brand new song every month for thirteen consecutive months between June 2016 and June 2017.
Carl is fiercely creative, and armed with a clear vision for his art; a vision which he pursues relentlessly with passion, intelligence, and commitment.
Jimmy’s Role:
Since 2015, I have worked closely with pop music artist, Carl Martin, acting as his lyrical editor, band director, guitarist, pianist, business management assistant, and musical co-arranger.
I also offer him guidance and feedback regarding artistic direction, image development, and promotional endeavors.
Working with Carl keeps me on the edge of my seat... in the beginning of the week we may be in the studio working long hours on original music, and later the same week, producing videos or appearing live in concert.
Carl is a prolific writer and has cultivated a very efficient creation-to-release process that consistently yields an incredibly high output of new material.
It’s a pleasure to work with and for him.
Crossovers & Collaborations
Carl occasionally makes special guest appearances in Jimmy’s solo projects, as well as with other artists in Jimmy’s collaboration circle..
He was part of the “Maniac” live concert performance and music video, and he sometimes appears as a guest singer with the acoustic trio Koko, Pan, & Oberik, and Veronica Kole.
Jimmy’s Reflections
Working On “My First Step” with Carl Martin
“Carl Martin’s first full length album, My First Step, took just about two years to create.
We worked at three separate studios, with a wide cast of studio musicians, and developed, edited, and selected songs one right after another.
BEGINNINGS
Carl had something-like-40 song ideas that we recorded as basic demos on my iPhone, and then chose the most interesting ones to advance to the next level.
Many of these songs came to fruition during writing sessions in a glass enclosed hallway at the back of Carl’s apartment building often late at night when the place was empty, so we were able to play and sing loudly.
In total we completed 13 songs, and I genuinely enjoyed my role in each of them.
CONKLIN STUDIOS
Four of these songs (“Bye”, “Eagle Heart”, “Odd Feeling”, and “Seven Mirrors”) were produced by Mark Conklin.
By the time I joined Carl’s team these songs were musically complete, and Carl was beginning to record the vocals.
My job was to help with diction, performance energy, and lyrical editing, as well as offer production insights..
These early sessions had us really feeling each other out stylistically, and establishing the parameters of communication, collaboration, negotiation, and of course, creativity, that we would be working within during this project.
I got a solid sense of Carl’s vocal ability and quality being in a role that only required me to focus on that aspect of the project, since everything else was done.
SONIC BOOM
Almost immediately following the conclusion of the first four songs, the project moved over to Sonic Boom Studios in with musician and producer, Anthony Krizan, who was the guitarist for 90’s pop alternative band, The Spin Doctors.
Since I was to be present for the entirety of this project, I had more of a platform to help arrange, write, and perform on the music, and not just the lyrics.
We did the next five songs with Anthony (“Werewolf, “Close to Darkness”, “Shot at Love”, “Breathe”, and “King of Lies”), and my roles were diverse.
I wrote the chord arrangements, helped choose the keys, and crafted the structure and lyrics with Carl.
Once in the studio, I often found myself as the first one to record, laying down the foundation on 12-string-guitar or piano depending on the song, as Carl sang the scratch vocals.
EXPANSION
One of the things I feel most proud about is the amount of piano, synthesizer, and keyboard parts I wrote and recorded.
Typically, I’m used to being a guitarist in the studio, so it was a lot of fun to explore a different role.
Anthony handled all the electric guitar, bass, and drum performances, allowing me the chance to watch him craft amazing parts, leaving me with some new approaches and ideas which I am grateful for.
VTX STUDIOS
Lastly, the project moved over to VTX Studios with Vince Troyani, who is one of my regular team members.
Carl was looking to work a little closer to home, and at a studio where there was more availability that matched his schedule.
Vince worked out perfectly, and we recorded the last four songs there (“My Home’s Your Home”, “My First Step”, “Until the Sun Turns Blue”, and “Corazón”).
My work on these songs was more guitar driven, except Corazón, which was my only piano song at VTX, but the others had me recording electric guitar for the first time.
I got to play my first solo on a Carl Martin song, “My First Step”, which also happens to be the title track.
TIME FLIES
By this point in time, we had been working on the album tracks for about a year and a half, so it’s interesting for me to look back on the album and remember where I was during each phase, or who I was for that matter.
I can recall certain people coming and going from my life at that time, and other major occurrences in life, like festivals I attended, and even solo projects I was working on.
THE DUST SETTLES
After the last song wrapped up at VTX Studios, Carl and I didn’t connect for a few months, as so we went on a brief hiatus.
He went to Peru and I embarked on my summer travels.
FINAL TOUCHES
In August 2017 we reconnected and set the album completion into play, when my role switched to co-managerial.
I was acting as his project manager, overseeing the completion of My First Step’s booklet insert with graphic artist and photographer Katy Ann, and getting the mastered audio files created with my longtime mastering engineer, Dennis Drake, owner and operator of The Music Lab, in Holmdel, NJ.
As I drove home from the session and listened to the album in its final form, I found myself very satisfied, and impressed.
It felt like a secret reward to be the first person to ever hear the album in its complete for.
REFLECTION
My mind was bouncing all over as I remembered working on each of the songs… recalling the weather, the person I was dating at the time, the state of my life and household, and which of my own songs I was working on.
How interesting for me to be doing a pop song like “Seven Mirrors” at the same time I was working on my solo project “Maniac”, which is on the polar opposite side of the spectrum.
I was thinking about how one song was feeding into another, and how everything was feeding into the collective inspiration and creation process.
DEPPER MEANINGS
Now that some time has passed, My First Step has a deeper meaning to me, and I have in many ways made a lot of my own first steps during this project.
Some very personal and tucked away for me and those involved, and others that were more public milestones, like headlining B.B. King Blues in New York City, performing twice at the Boston Hard Rock Cafe, and going on tour to Bermuda with Veronica Kole, who is also part of the Carl Martin universe. It’s all simply amazing to me, and I’m grateful to have been a major part of this journey.”
