Naomi Carmack
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Biography
Naomi Carmack
Since I was very young I have wanted a career in the music industry. I hope to one day follow my dreams and record an album. This is a little bit about my singing and what I have done so far. When I was 11 years old, my friends and started a little singing group called "New Release". A typical pop girlband. We basically giggled, fooled around a little with writing songs and recorded one song in a studio. We were New Kids On The Block fans and our first (and only) song we recorded was inspired by one of the members of that group - Jordan. In fact, that was the name of the song! We were kids, and once we started fighting about stupid things we eventually ditched the whole idea. I don't think some members took the gig seriously, but I did. I decided I was not going to give up on the dreams we had shared and the music I wrote. I wanted to go somewhere with this.
At 12 years old, I had written another song that I really believed had potential. It was a dance/hip hop tune called "Be My Baby". I didn't have enough money to get myself into a real studio, but with the financial support of family, I recorded this song on a $200 budget (this was September 1991, things were a bit cheaper back then, but this was still DIRT CHEAP!) We recorded the song in one night. Another man recording his own rap tracks had stopped by for a listen. I asked him if he would contribute a rap in the song and he gladly helped. He said he'd do it overnight and by the time I came back to hear the final cut it would be there. Him and a friend wrote and recorded a rap for my song, and what they did for me blew me away! here I was, 12 years old, and actual musicians were working with me. I give credits to the man who produced it for such a deal - Fred "Lovelace" Pradel. The song turned out better than I expected. Yet after being recorded, it sat around in my house for two years, I sent it to a few record labels, but only recieved letters telling me they didn't accept unsolicited material. I didn't want to give up on it.
In 1993, the local Top 40 radio station Power 92.5 FM held a contest called the Powermix. They were accepting demos of local artists to find new talent. I thought it was worth a shot, so I entered "Be My Baby". I actually won third place! One of the proudest moments of my life! I was ecstatic that I had done this. I won $2000 in prize money and the song was put on a compilation CD released in local record stores. The proceeds went to AIDS Research. The two other artists featured were second place Rebecca Sather with "Never Leave Me" and first place went to Nicole Jones with "Start Love Over". one of the biggest thrills was meeting Canada's top DJ - Chris Sheppard. He is the dance music authority in Canada and was once in B.K.S.. Now his new project is Love Inc., a successful Canadian dance act. Chris remixed the tracks for the CD. Each winning demo was to have the original plus two remixes done by Sheppard. This was very exciting, except for the fact that two years beforehand when I recorded "Be My Baby", I had never purchased the master reel...dumb mistake. I went back to the studio and they "graciously" informed me that the reel no longer existed. Without this master, the song could not be stripped down to it's elements and be remixed. I was not impressed with this, but it didn't bother me too much because I still got on the album with the one track - the original demo. Shep expressed that it was a bummer that he couldn't work on my song, but he was wonderful nonetheless. I learned a great deal from my time with him.
I attended one of his workshops on music production and the Canadian music industry. I hope to one day have a chance to work with him again and make the music right. The CD was completed and released in Spring 1994. Now I was 15 and my voice had matured from the "Be My Baby" recording! It has strengthened and my passion for singing has grown much more. it wasn't a sales success but a personal success for me. A start to something that many people dream about and never do. I was the lucky one. The next milestone was almost a year down the line, when an online pal emailed me and congratulated me on my nomination....I am going, "what are you talking about?". I opened the newspaper to read that I was nominated in the Best Dance/Rap Artist catagory of the Alberta Recording Industry Awards 1995. WOW...that was something else. Like they always say, it was just an honour to be nominated - and that's the truth.
I never got the chance to go to the Awards ceremony and I didn't win. But hey, some people out there actually knew my name. Since then I haven't recorded anything. I have written many songs in my life, and now at age 22, it's time I do something about that. This is my goal and no matter what I end up doing, whether it be music management, recording engineering, roadie (well maybe not roadie) or the true dreams of singing and songwriting, I want to make my career in this business. My true success is the enjoyment I recieve from doing what I love, and letting my voice and words touch the hearts of others and leave smiles on their faces.
At 12 years old, I had written another song that I really believed had potential. It was a dance/hip hop tune called "Be My Baby". I didn't have enough money to get myself into a real studio, but with the financial support of family, I recorded this song on a $200 budget (this was September 1991, things were a bit cheaper back then, but this was still DIRT CHEAP!) We recorded the song in one night. Another man recording his own rap tracks had stopped by for a listen. I asked him if he would contribute a rap in the song and he gladly helped. He said he'd do it overnight and by the time I came back to hear the final cut it would be there. Him and a friend wrote and recorded a rap for my song, and what they did for me blew me away! here I was, 12 years old, and actual musicians were working with me. I give credits to the man who produced it for such a deal - Fred "Lovelace" Pradel. The song turned out better than I expected. Yet after being recorded, it sat around in my house for two years, I sent it to a few record labels, but only recieved letters telling me they didn't accept unsolicited material. I didn't want to give up on it.
In 1993, the local Top 40 radio station Power 92.5 FM held a contest called the Powermix. They were accepting demos of local artists to find new talent. I thought it was worth a shot, so I entered "Be My Baby". I actually won third place! One of the proudest moments of my life! I was ecstatic that I had done this. I won $2000 in prize money and the song was put on a compilation CD released in local record stores. The proceeds went to AIDS Research. The two other artists featured were second place Rebecca Sather with "Never Leave Me" and first place went to Nicole Jones with "Start Love Over". one of the biggest thrills was meeting Canada's top DJ - Chris Sheppard. He is the dance music authority in Canada and was once in B.K.S.. Now his new project is Love Inc., a successful Canadian dance act. Chris remixed the tracks for the CD. Each winning demo was to have the original plus two remixes done by Sheppard. This was very exciting, except for the fact that two years beforehand when I recorded "Be My Baby", I had never purchased the master reel...dumb mistake. I went back to the studio and they "graciously" informed me that the reel no longer existed. Without this master, the song could not be stripped down to it's elements and be remixed. I was not impressed with this, but it didn't bother me too much because I still got on the album with the one track - the original demo. Shep expressed that it was a bummer that he couldn't work on my song, but he was wonderful nonetheless. I learned a great deal from my time with him.
I attended one of his workshops on music production and the Canadian music industry. I hope to one day have a chance to work with him again and make the music right. The CD was completed and released in Spring 1994. Now I was 15 and my voice had matured from the "Be My Baby" recording! It has strengthened and my passion for singing has grown much more. it wasn't a sales success but a personal success for me. A start to something that many people dream about and never do. I was the lucky one. The next milestone was almost a year down the line, when an online pal emailed me and congratulated me on my nomination....I am going, "what are you talking about?". I opened the newspaper to read that I was nominated in the Best Dance/Rap Artist catagory of the Alberta Recording Industry Awards 1995. WOW...that was something else. Like they always say, it was just an honour to be nominated - and that's the truth.
I never got the chance to go to the Awards ceremony and I didn't win. But hey, some people out there actually knew my name. Since then I haven't recorded anything. I have written many songs in my life, and now at age 22, it's time I do something about that. This is my goal and no matter what I end up doing, whether it be music management, recording engineering, roadie (well maybe not roadie) or the true dreams of singing and songwriting, I want to make my career in this business. My true success is the enjoyment I recieve from doing what I love, and letting my voice and words touch the hearts of others and leave smiles on their faces.