Progress diary by Charlie Barrett

Misty Cover discussion

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-07 13:36:45 UTC

Today I got our cover of misty ready to be posted. I noticed it was trending on TikTok so jumped on it. I sent to Harry and Pedro my final video and Harry told me to turn down the kick. After listening again with this in mind, I turned it down as it make the lows a bit muddy.

Personal Website

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-07 13:37:33 UTC

Today I started on my personal website. I have the domain name charliebarrett.me.uk, so I worked out the basic layout of the site. The first issue I cam across was not having all photos of myself in one place for easy access. I will set a task for myself on reminders to do this

Montpelier Heights Notion

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-07 13:38:43 UTC

Today Harry and I worked towards creating a promotions/booking agency. This involved creating and email, ticketing website and a partnership contract. I also created us a page on notion. This will really help us get our ideas down and see the vision of where we want to go

Ghantt Chart

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-07 13:40:40 UTC

I have created myself a way to track the songs I am learning for my gig coming soon.

Booking Agent Interview

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-09 12:05:54 UTC

Today I had an interview for a work placement at Runway Agency, this is something I believe would really benefit my portfolio as I am building my own booking agency

Montpelier Heights Booking Agency creation

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-09 12:07:56 UTC

Today, Harry (business partner) and I went though all the back end that we needed to start our business. We created an email, a ticketing site, a privacy policy and a logo. I have had an issue with the logo not being as high res as we wanted so this is something for me to look into

Developing ideas for Riley

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-09 12:18:15 UTC

Today I also went through recording of Riley's tracks (I am sessioning in this band) and I worked out some parts that would sit on top of the arrangement.

Advancing and Tech Spec

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-10 16:00:25 UTC

Today I created 2 templates for booking gigs, the first being an advancing sheet and the second being a tech spec. This means that when we send out documents they are in our style, with a uniform look. This goes along with the values we set for the company.

Venue scope out

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-11 12:12:32 UTC

Today I went to The Rooms in worthing to scope out the venue for my function gig next week. I found out what time load in was, what gear they had (which was none!), where we load in from and what time curfew was

Mia Nicholls Headline Poster

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-12 11:44:51 UTC

Today I worked with Mia to create a poster for the gig I am putting on through Montpelier Heights. I had made an original draft but she wasn’t happy with it at all. So she sent me a poster she made. I then took that poster on canva, edited it and added all of the required pieces. For example, I added the Folklore Rooms logo.

Progress towards self reflection

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-12 11:55:09 UTC

Hyper - Achiever || Dependent on constant performance and achievement for self-respect and self-validation.
I completely agree with this characteristic of mine. I found that while I was in the Christmas break, I felt a sense of worthlessness. I had no drive, I had no goals because I was at home doing nothing for 3 weeks.
Hyper - rational || Intense and exclusive focus on the rotational processing of everything.
I also agree with this. In my musical journey I am at a point of understanding where I have a high level of music theory knowledge. This knowledge is useful when presented with a new piece of music, so I can understand it instantly by looking at the chords. However, during the creative process of creating music I find that I am in a box because I have to define every chord choice in my head. This leads to me creating chord progressional that all sound super similar.
Avoider || Focusing on the positive and pleasant in an extreme way. Avoiding difficult and unpleasant task and conflicts.
I often find myself trying to get out of doing things that put me in a place of conflict. This is something I have made a note of and are actively trying to work on.

Practice for function gig

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-14 14:47:56 UTC

I have a gig on the 23rd of Feb playing at an awards ceremony. We booked a 4 hr practice today and went through all the songs.

Moonlight Cafe Sheet Music

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-14 15:16:23 UTC

Today I practiced with my band Moonlight Cafe, we had a new member of the band join us to play keys. We've had lots of trouble trying to find a vocalist so instead we've decided to go the instrumental route. This means we will have to re-structure some of our songs. For this practice I wrote out one of the tunes for the keys player we had coming in so the practice would get underway smoothly.

Folklore gig rundown

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-14 17:54:35 UTC

Today I went through the document I got sent by the Folklore Rooms and took out the pieces that the artist would need. For example, load-in times and locations ect.

Function gig chord charts

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-14 17:59:26 UTC

To help with the function gig I am downloading the sheet music for the tunes that we are doing to I don't have to rely completely on memory

Advancing sheet send off

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-16 17:53:29 UTC

I sent out an email for the gig we are puuting on the 20th of march

Another email in regards to the 20th gig

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-16 17:53:54 UTC

Colour Scheme

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-18 20:12:21 UTC

Today, Harry and I came up with a definitive colour scheme for our brand. You can see the iterations we made on the right hand side

Brand Doc

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-18 20:15:45 UTC

Today I also started work on our brand doc. This will help us really define what Montpelier Heights really is. I have included our mission statement and vision statement. The branding, marketing and clientele also are explained here.

13 week plan

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-20 12:53:50 UTC

Today Harry and I started on our 13 week plan for gig marketing. This will be a template that we use every time we plan and market a gig.

Tiktok post

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-20 12:55:59 UTC

Today I made a Tiktok playing over the changes for beautiful love by Anita O'day. I decided to do this as I was practicing over the changes for my gig this Friday.

Meeting With Meg

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-22 19:31:40 UTC

Today I had a meeting with Meg and Harry about where we should go with Montpelier Heights. She showed us what to write out for a contract and advancing sheet. After the meeting was finishes, Harry and I went through and made the edits Meg suggested. We also looked at our 13 week plan and made some edits to it

Gig for Riley

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-22 19:34:05 UTC

Today I played at the Waterbear venue for Riley, I played well and really made a conscious effort to actually improvise in my solos. This went okay… I did make a few error but in the heat of the moment they were fairly minuscule and didn’t really affect the performance as a whole.

Practice from Riley

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-22 19:35:39 UTC

We practiced for an hour before the gig to get ready

Gig Practice

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-22 19:36:15 UTC

Today I met with Harry and Ahdam to practice for our gig tomorrow at the awards ceremony

Bio Draft

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-23 12:52:29 UTC

I started work on a bio for Montpelier Heights. Started by putting everything about the company into Chat GPT so it could get a good idea of what to write about

Revisions of Bio

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-23 12:53:57 UTC

I then took the bio Chat GPT gave me and put it into Notion so we could make notes on it. I then started revising it on chat GPT, editing the parts that we didn't like

Final Bio

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-23 12:56:54 UTC

I then comped together the best bits of the revisions made to the bio. I then took this comp and put it back into Chat GPT to give me one last bio to use.

Post gig rundown

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-26 11:07:14 UTC

The gig went fairly well yesterday, the jazz set went down really well. We fit the vibe perfectly and got lots of good feedback. However, the second, more pop set, didn’t get many people dancing. I feel that this was due to such a late start time (we started at 10:45) and everyone just wanted to go home. We started with the girl from ipanema and I feel like this was the wrong choice, we should have started with a banger. Something people could have really danced to. Lady, isn’t she lovely, crazy and Mr magic got people dancing so I think these songs should stay. However, Valerie, I need a dollar and sunny broke the dance floor.

Spotify playlists

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-27 12:45:44 UTC

Today, Harry and I created a Spotify account for Montpelier Heights. We then made 3 plays list: Our Top Picks, Fresh Finds and Upcoming Gigs. This will allow us to build our brand and keep people interested in what we are doing. To make the playlists cohesive, I made covers for all of them in a very similar style

Instagram bio

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-27 12:47:53 UTC

I also looked at our Instagram account, making sure to optimise it and make sure it looked the part.

RnB night venue booking

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-28 21:21:41 UTC

Today we sent an email to enquire about use of The Waterbear Venue for an RnB night

Artist List

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-28 21:23:59 UTC

Within Notion I made a page for contacts. Within this page, I made a section for artists. Within this we can arrange and organise every single artist by genre and pull with their name, contact details and Instagram link.

Notion pages

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-28 21:24:31 UTC

Every one of these pages has it's own list that we can access contact info and a brief description

Venue list

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-28 21:26:20 UTC

Notion rework

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-28 21:30:06 UTC

Today I carried on work with the notion and touched it up as to make everything more easily accessible. For example, when you go into the RnB night on Notion, the name of the Headliner, Support and Opener will take you to their individual artist page. (See Below)

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-28 21:30:45 UTC

Artist booking message

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-28 21:31:30 UTC

I drafted out an email to send to an artist's manager to book them for a gig.

Personal Notion rework

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-29 15:05:45 UTC

Today I reworked my personal notion, this mean I will be able to see my social media plan very efficiently

Huberman style routuine

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-02-29 15:07:11 UTC

I have an idea for a social post about doing a Huberman style morning routine and seeing how it effects my life. This is both for content and personal growth

Booking Georgia

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-03-04 21:08:19 UTC

Today I messaged Georgia and got her mangers email to send the offer to

Practice with Mia Nicholls

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-03-04 21:09:44 UTC

Today I practiced with Mia, making sure I got the structure and chords down for her songs.

6th month goals

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-03-04 21:10:22 UTC

Our goal for the 4th of Sept is to turn a profit on 5 gigs. This is a SMART target.

Gig finances

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-03-04 21:10:41 UTC

Today we ran over a budgeting spreadsheet with Meg to find out how much profit we would take home.

Message for the blogs and magazines

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-03-04 21:11:07 UTC

Today I drafted up a message for us to send to blogs and magazines requesting their presence at our launch gig on the 5th of June

Photo shoot

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-03-08 03:00:27 UTC

We got some basic photos taken today so that we could put them together for our launch post and early promotion images for MPH

Booking new gig

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-03-08 03:01:24 UTC

Today, I penciled in a gig on the 20th of June for FARI to headline, Riley Viljoen to support and Ponceau to open

Sending the offer

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-03-08 03:02:28 UTC

I sent the gig offer to FARI and Riley today

Buisness bank accounts

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-03-08 15:14:38 UTC

Today i started the journey into business bank accounts. I feel that if we are going to push forward with Montpelier Heights we should be able to see all of our finances easily and separate it from our personal finances

Website inception

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-03-08 17:19:49 UTC

Today I started work on the website. We will need to figure out a budget for it so it is not a waste of money in the early days as we could potentially just run the buisness through instagram

Logo mood board

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-03-12 10:16:59 UTC

Today I started work on making a mood board for our graphic designer to make a logo that we want.

Practice with Mia Nicholls

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-03-12 10:30:55 UTC

Today I practiced with Mia Nicholls and went over the setlist for our gig next week

Bursary inovice

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-03-13 10:57:03 UTC

Today I created an invoice to get a bursary for my internship at Runway Agency

Research start

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-03-14 14:54:41 UTC

Today I started researching pop up gigs for Mia Nicholls.

Meeting with Joe Newman

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-03-19 20:03:11 UTC

Harry and I met with Joe Newman today. We spoke to him about contacts, artists and where we would fit into the scene. As he works for Alphabet we would be his direct competitors but he said instead of being competitors we should try and work together, maybe even promoting events for the Alphabet shows he is putting on

Research with Harry

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-03-19 20:03:59 UTC

After our meeting with Joe Newman, Harry and I sat down and researched potential clients. This meant going through and listening to everyone signed to TruThoughts Records, who’s playing at jazz festivals etc…

Practice with Mia

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-03-19 20:04:37 UTC

Today, Mia and I practiced for our gig tomorrow. We ran the set and made sure everything was okay

Creation of an LTD company

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-03-22 21:49:45 UTC

Runway internship

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-04-14 13:04:35 UTC

Today I started at Runway as an intern.

What do I want to achieve?

A good understanding of how their operation works
Expand my network
Get 3 useful contacts

Internship finish

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-04-14 13:06:31 UTC

I finished my internship today. Going back to the goals I set myself I feel like I achieved what I set out to do.

I have a good understanding of how their business works
I expanded my network by organising a meeting with Will in 2 weeks
I have 3 useful contacts - Matt, Steve and Zac

Montpelier Heights

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-04-14 13:07:13 UTC

Self Employment - Session work/Guitar playing/social media

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-04-14 13:07:40 UTC

Corporate/office work - Professional work

8jy8pjxjxj — 2024-04-14 13:08:05 UTC