Monthly Archives: July 2013

Want a discount for your Custom Song? Help us out on facebook and elsewhere!

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There are numerous ways you can get discounts for helping us out on-line. For any of the offers involving facebook. Please use the following link:

Custom Serenade on Facebook

1. “Like” us on facebook. -$2.00 from you order.
 

2. Write something positive on our facebook wall -$5.00

3. “Share” one of our posts on facebook. Merely push the share button!

4. Link to us as your status update. Write something like “I want one of these” or “Wouldn’t this make a great gift?” and then link to https://customserenade.com

facebook -$3.00
twitter -$3.00

4. Write a blog post about us which includes a link to the website. -$5.00

5. Trade links with us. -$2.00

6. Recommend us to a friend. We will credit you with 10 dollars for every customer you refer to us after they have placed an order.

7. Check our facebook page frequently. We often offer huge discounts there!

We will ask you to provide us with links so that we can see any of the above actions, but GO FOR IT. Do as many as you’d like! They can really add up to some great savings!

Custom Serenade’s Very First Custom Song

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Custom Serenade was born out of sheer demand. Something about my style of songwriting spoke to the crafty gift giver and people started asking me to write songs as gifts. The first custom song that I ever did was actually recorded on a cassette! You can read more about my songwriting adventures before the incarnation of Custom Serenade here.

Custom Serenade became official just as high speed internet and digital recording were becoming options in the home. I recall just having gotten a pro tools set up for my wavy dome looking imac and being simultaneously baffled and amazed by how it worked when I got a message on Friendster (that’s right…Friendster) asking if I could write a custom birthday song for a friend.

So, I fumbled and flopped through the complicated world of computer recording, learning as I went along, and the result is the custom birthday song I’ve posted here. I hadn’t learned to use MIDI instruments yet and everything was recorded very much as though I were using an analog 4-track. It is a little rough around the edges but I thoroughly enjoyed working on it, and it served the purpose that custom songs should serve. It conveyed the sentiment of the clients through an original melody, and with lyrics that celebrate all of the unique qualities of the recipient. The folks that commissioned the song were very happy with it!

Lots of people heard it, and it is funny that my friends split into two groups: Those who told me that I should think of a business name and print up business cards, and others that told me I should create a website. Thus was life at the dawn of the new millennium.

I do not remember whether I got business cards before or after the creation of the Custom Serenade website, but I am happy to report that at the time of posting this I have both. If you are reading this you have obviously found the website, and if you would like some of my business cards please contact me! I’ll send you a whole bunch of them!

The Strangest Custom Song We’ve Ever Done

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The average custom song order consists of a generous soul (or souls) getting a song as a gift for a very lucky soul, and typically the song will be about that person. Once upon a time however, we had a client with a different idea.

Instead of commissioning a song about the recipient of the gift, this crafty gift giver hired us to write a song about a keen interest that he had. What was this keen interest? Satin Bower Birds.

This song was one of Custom Serenade’s first orders, and it came at a time when digital recording was new and I was still figuring out everything that was possible. The client also gave me the green light as far as being creative and, well, weird.

While doing some research to find some interesting facts about these lovely creatures, I stumbled upon some samples of the sounds they made. I decided to use them. I had just gotten a Theremin. I decided to use that too!

So, although the recording sounds a bit primitive by our current standards, we still consider this to be the most unusual song we’ve done to date. There is a close second, but we’ll save that for another post!

Why Custom Songs are the greatest gift on the planet: 10 Reasons

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1. They aren’t fattening and won’t rot your teeth.

2. They do not wilt, fade, or require watering.

3. They are totally green! When you buy a custom song from customserenade.com we will email you an mp3 packed with musical goodness that celebrates its recipient. There is no packaging, no shipping material (or cost), and nothing to throw away.

4. Odds are the recipient doesn’t already have one.

5. The surprise element: Most people don’t even know about custom songs, much less expect to receive one.

6. Custom Songs don’t take up room in the closet or garage.

7. No other gifts convey your feelings and thoughts the way a custom song does. Whether you supply us with information or actual lyrics, the person that receives the song as a gift will know how you feel about them.

8. No batteries required!

9. Music is the universal language of love!

10. Custom Songs are collections of thoughts, memories, and feelings presented in the form of melodies and lyrics that will form the ultimate tribute to their recipients!