Carpe Nota (L to R) is Ken Sundling, Phil Dernbecher, Pete Rubinetti, and Dan Pluta.

Project Carpe Nota

What happens when you combine four musicians with a common old high-school dream? You get Carpe Nota, an all original progressive rock band from Eastern Pennsylvania.

Whether you like progessive rock or not, (and these guys are awesome). What should appeal to the likes of you and I, and the multitudes of the 40 somethings out there, is that they are working on their dreams. Thus I was honored that they chose me to build their website. A crucial, if not THE crucial, piece of adversting to help sponsor and sell their music.

The price of access

It's also important to point out that without the support of a major label or sponsorship, it was very expensive to buy advertising and book events. The internet changed all that and much of the technology locked away behind the gates of large monopolistic firms is now readily available and cheap. Not only has this made getting the word out more affordable, it has also helped creatives gain access to work. Anyone remembering having to mortgage the house just to buy an avid workstation and a Sony BetaSP? If you couldn't afford it, then you had to be the lucky soul to work for a company that did.

Having said that. While the tools are cheaper and certainly more capable, the expertise and application of those tools still require the same professional finesse and tedious work. In short, you still have to be good at it.

There's still no "I" in T.E.A.M.

While I designed and built the site, I can't take full credit. Great looking sites is one thing, the message is altogether more important. You can't do that without teamwork, a good message, and copy.

You can see their site here: Carpenota.com I hope you like it.

Release. It's a good thing.

On March 7th, 2012 Carpe Nota has released their first album, fittingly named after their band, (which is Latin for "Seize the Note"). You can sample their tracks and purchase here. Congratulations to them!

Running a "hobby"

Running a band, even if it's a hobby, when done right is much like running a business. Where the band members become the business partners and employees to the 'company'. Likewise, it requires work and dedication and you'll have to either give up or put some things in your life on hold to make it work, (Tough to do when you have a day job and family hanging in the balance). It was a lot of evenings and weekends of writing, rehearsing and practice their music, with the only paycheck being the satisfaction of doing it, (The reality of making an "investment").

While on the subject of money, running a Band is not free. While an F-16 can can reach speeds in excess of Mach 2, without fuel, it will drop like a rock. So it is when it comes to releasing your music. You need the services of a good recording studio and engineer, such as Mark Cubranich of Westerland Sound Studio in Lansdale, Pa.

You'll also need someone whom can do the final mixing on your master tracks, which Carpe Nota turned to the services of David Yost at Concerto Recording and Mastering.

In addition to that, just like any business wishing to build it's brand, you need marketing materials; websites, posters, flyers and print materials for your CD.

Finally, you hit the ultimate obstacle, and that is you, and your willingness to make these investments. Everyone has to do their part to pony up, and not everyone does (I've encountered this before as you would be amazed how someone chokes even for a simple cover shoot and their personal commitment is $50! - Go back to your garage boy and come back when you're a man).

What has been an obstacle for others has been good learning experiences for Dan, Pete, Ken and Phil. Hard work and a good attitude pays off, and I look forward to seeing them play at their first gigs (which you can find in their news section here).

Gotta love "hobbies" like that!

-Keep Shooting.