Recording

Action Rush Premiere

Filmed, Edited and Scored by Dan Mehta

actionrush.com

danmehta.com

Purchase song at

danmehta.bandcamp.com/track/action-rush

Action Rush

New Song written and recorded tonight. Started at 11:00pm, ended at 3:00am. Video coming soon.

Lone Peak Outfitters

New Amazing Video by Lone Peak Outfitters and filmmaker Bobby Foster Music by me. I’m honored that they used my song “Pressure”. Please check out Lone Peak Outfitters if you want to go on some exciting fishing adventures

The Scenic Loop

New Song recorded today

Part I (For Now)

I drum a lot and I always hear ideas for songs in my head while I’m playing so I had the notion of just recording what I’m improvising on the drum set and translate it into a new song. Here is the first song as a result of my improvisation. It’s called Part I (For Now) because the ending guitar progression is something I wrote many years ago and I’ve always wanted to write a concept album around this progression. So this is going to be maybe the first Part of the album or maybe not. Only time will tell. I hope you enjoy.

-Dan Mehta

Linkedin

http://www.linkedin.com/in/danmehta

Some New Music!

Con Cuidado

I recorded this song awhile back around I think April 2011. It’s one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written because It’s so different from anything I’m used to writing. I’m really proud of this song and I hope you enjoy it.

The Office

DRUMS ARE FUN IV

Pan Roast

Society for Handicapped Children and Adults

New video made by my Uncle Vinnie for the Society for Handicapped Children and Adults. This is a great organization and I'm very honored to have my music in this. For the Special Needs Ball, I actually filmed some of those shots with my Uncle & cousin & had the most amazing time. Thank you all for the amazing experience and I hope the Organization continues to be successful.

2011 Rapha NE Gentlemen's race

New video by Rapha. Filmed and edited by my great friend Stebs and his production company Paper Fortress. My song Galena is used in the video. I’m always honored and amazed that people like to use my music in their film projects. I’m happy to be doing what I love and I thank all of you who support me.

SUPER 8

Another great video by my great friend Jenny Woo with my music. It's an interview with JJ Abrams and Michael Giacchino who is one of my favorite film composers. They talk about Super 8, Alias, Lost and other great things. To have my little cue follow their interview gives me the chills. Thanks again Jenny. Music Cue is "Galena"

Workout

So today was probably one of the hardest workouts yet. Since I last worked out with Phil last thursday I caught a cold. Yesterday I felt I recovered so I ran a mile and felt pretty good and I decided to work out with Phil today. The workout started off pretty nice where we alternated from rowing 500 meters to jump rope. Then we moved to a type of strength and cardio exercise where I basically pick up and slam a giant sludge hammer to a giant tire. We alternated starting with 10 reps to 20, 30, 40 and 50. I like this exercise a lot and my arms felt awesome after we were done. To the final exercise and possibly the one I hate the most were thrusters. I’ve never had great legs and my thighs are my biggest weakness. Whenever I ever work them out I am sore for days. Anything that involves squatting I can’t bear. But I got to get through them. I’ve never done a thruster in my life so Phil showed me and I thought okay, I am going to suck at these. We had a 45 lb. bar with 2 ten lb. weights so a total of 65 lbs. (I know I’m a wuss). So the exercise went like this. You do 10 thrusters then bear crawl for about 10 yards then bear crawl backwards. Next set you do 10 thrusters then bear crawl back and forth 10 yards twice. Then repeat all the way till you bear crawl back and forth 5 times. It may sound easy but for me I couldn’t do it. The first one was okay but bear crawling backwards was so hard. I kept trying to drink water to cool off but I felt the water was just sitting in my stomach. After the 3rd set I vomited all the water and got right back on the mat to finish my set. I had to keep stopping but the mat was so hot from the sun heating it up I knew I couldn’t stay there very long without burning my knees. I kept taking big breaks in between sets because I was just so out of breath but this is where you are really working out. When the pain is unbearable and you feel you can’t go on, now your body is working for something greater than you can imagine. After about 45 min. I was at my last set and Phil decided to make it my goal to do it under 3 min. That’s 10 thrusters and bear crawl back and forth 5 times. Sure enough I get through the 10 and start bear crawling but I’m basically just lunging myself and crawling on the mat barely able to move in unison. But I finished my reps and in time barely and called it a day. It’s great having Phil to motivate me and I knew if I was doing this by myself I would have gave up after the first set. Thanks Phil for being an awesome trainer. Can’t wait for the next one.

Nail in the tire

Nothing like getting into the groove with Eating Healthy and Exercise to find out your catching a big cold. I was really excited to finally becoming really active again. Now being sick and not being able to workout makes me feel like crap. I feel like I'm losing all of what I worked for. I guess the only good that can come from getting sick is that I usually lose a couple of pounds but I'm losing the little strength I have. But since it's memorial day weekend I haven't really been the healthiest I could have been. But I can't use my sickness as an excuse to eat bad. I should be eating healthier since I am sick. I hope I get better soon because I really want to start exercising again. Sorry to come on here and pout about it. It seems like that's what a lot of us do on blogs. Well I'm going to stay positive and hope that this cold blows over.

Workout

So today I trained with my great friend again, Phil Forteza and he taught me how to do Matadors with a jump rope. They were hard at first but I slowly got the hang of it and now I’m excited to master them. So our reps were 50 matadors then 50 seal sit ups. Then 40X40, 30X30, 20X20 and 10X10. I’m not great at sit ups but good thing Phil helped motivate me. Then we moved to Bumper plate burpees. It’s like a regular burpee but when you come up, you have to lift a 25 lb. weight all the way straight up. We alternated starting with 1 burpee, then 2, 3 all the way to 10 in a row. I had to take many breaks in between but it felt great knowing I finished all my reps even though I got weaker. Then we moved on to boxing which is my favorite part. I don’t know the actually names of the moves but what I have learned so far is jab, cross, upper cut, hook, ducking, leaning back and follow through with a cross and some blocking. It was fun doing random combinations like I was a real boxer. I can’t wait to learn more of boxing because I love the sport. Muhammad Ali Is one of my heros in and especially out of the ring. After sparring we did some stretching and called it a day. Even though it took me a long time to get through each exercise I still felt good knowing I can push myself to finish. I felt like giving up but I just had to catch my breath and give it my all. It’s always great to have a helping hand to support you through your weakest times. Thanks Phil for the awesome workout and can’t wait till the next one.

Outside In. The Story Of Art In The Streets

My Great Friend Jenny Woo made this video of the premire to the film "Outside In. The Story Of Art In The Streets" and it has my composition "Galena" in it. Great job Jenny and thanks!

Workout

So today I met with my great friend, drummer, film maker, martial artist Phil Forteza to workout. He is an expert trainer so I thought I'd try to keep up with him. It was one of the most grueling workouts of my life. First we went running up and down hill (about 2 miles)l, climb up 4 flights of stairs then back down, bear crawlers down stairs, Seal sit ups then box jumps over these giant steps, dead lifts, pull ups, push ups, boxing then stretching. I don't think I'm missing anything and I don't really want to think about it. Now I'm finally home and I ate up my whole kitchen which I probably shouldn't have did.

I ate a little Cesar Salad with a little too much dressing (oops), Chicken Breast, steamed broccoli and edemami, and some fruit salad and a little bit of dark chocolate and almonds. Now I just want to pass out. But I can't wait to train again. Look out Pacquiao!

Thanks Phil. Check out his website at

http://www.philipforteza.com/

DRUMS ARE FUN III (Mini Drum Kit Edition)

PART III

Drums are my favorite instrument to play. In this video I’m featuring my mini drum kit. I took my 14 inch tom and converted it to a bass drum with only some scrap wood and PVC. I love trying to play the craziest stuff I can think of. I’ve been playing drums since 2000 and I’m just as enthused about it now from when I first picked up a pair of sticks. I decided to start posting my drum videos for fun because DRUMS ARE FUN! and I always believe that you should do what you love. I hope you like it.

I’m playing

Pearl Drums

12 X 14 Floor Tom converted to Bass Drum


Pearl Piccolo Snare 3 X 13

Zildjian Cymbals
K Custom 20” Dark Ride
K Custom 14” Dark Hi Hats

The Airliner

Steel Sign

I am very blessed to have such amazing friends. My great friend David Espana made me this steel sign with my logo on it. He is very talented. If you need any metal craft work done check out his company “Espana Metal Craft” and you can reach him at espanametal@yahoo.com. Thank you David for my awesome sign.

Trespassing

Trespassing (Music from the Film "Kazoku: Brotherhood") by Dan Mehta

I’m working on releasing my original score to the film “Kazoku: Brotherhood”. Here’s the second cue from the movie entitled “Trespassing”

Sincerely

Dan Mehta

Begin The Mission

Begin The Mission (Music from the Film "Kazoku: Brotherhood") by Dan Mehta

I'm working on releasing my original score to the film "Kazoku: Brotherhood". Here's the first cue from the movie entitled "Begin The Mission"

Sincerely

Dan Mehta

Kazoku: Brotherhood

This is the first time I’ve ever put music to a real film. I am so humbled and honored for the chance to do this because it has always been my dream. I can’t thank enough Mr. Philip Forteza who is the director of the film, the drummer for my band Fairlane and a long time close friend. The premier for the film was last saturday April 30 2011 and it was one of the craziest and amazing days of my life. It was a crazy weekend as well because I drove to Las Vegas with my friends friday to compete the next day with the Youth Valley Jazz Band and flew back to Los Angeles for the premier. I’m not going to lie but I felt real cool knowing that I’m going to be performing Jazz in Las Vegas than going to my film premier in Los Angeles all in the same day and I didn’t have to pay for my room or flight ticket. So this is how my saturday went...

Woke up to free continental breakfast in the hotel which is always awesome. I ate apple jacks, fruit loops and a bagel. Went to the Heritage Festival where the Jazz competition was taking place. The drum set the Festival had was pretty good but good thing I brought my own cymbals. We played 3 songs and then the judge comes and critiques us. He didn’t have any critiques for me. All he said was great job (YES!!!) After the performance my friends and I headed straight back to the strip. We went to the Nascar Cafe in the Sahara Casino where my friend Frankie was going to do the 6 pound burrito challenge. I just ate hot wings. He got about half way but I had to leave to the airport to catch my plane. As I was getting through security I got word that Frankie didn’t complete the challenge but he got a lot of free prizes already. Arrived in Los Angeles then went straight home. I took a shower and went straight to the premier to help set up. The premier had a great turn out and I got to see a lot of old friends and made a lot of new ones. To see the film on the big screen and hear my music loud through amazing speakers was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I want to thank everyone who came up to me after the film and complimented on my music. You don’t know how happy that made me feel. The party didn’t stopped there because right after the premier Phil, a bunch of our friends and I headed to Page 71 Club and lounge where they were playing awesome Dubstep! There was a long line but Phil knew the manager and we all got to go through the back room. I felt like I was on the show Entourage because we didn’t have to wait in line because we were VIP. We celebrated a closed chapter and we were already brainstorming ideas for the next film. After the club closed at 1:30am we headed to Dupars for a late night dinner then finally home for some sleep. It was an amazing day and I’m so happy to be doing what I love. Thank you everyone for all your love and support. Life is an adventure and I’m enjoying the ride.

P.S.

I’m going to be releasing the film score soon for purchasing

Also some new music and videos will be coming out soon.

Stay Tuned

-Dan Mehta

My First Website

I’ve been working on this for the past couple of months and now I can say that my site is LIVE! Let me know what you think

danmehta.com

Hot Chocolate

I have an obsession with Hot chocolate and one of my favorite recipes is Orange Abuelita Hot Chocolate. It’s mexican chocolate mixed with milk, orange syrup and topped off with butter. It is amazing. It’s perfect for a cold night, rainy day or even sunny day which was when I filmed it.

I’ve always love the process of film making and especially editing. Also since I compose songs for other people’s films and projects, I figure that I can make my own videos too and compose songs for them as a way of practice and just to get more music out there. The best way of learning is by doing so I’m going to try and write as many songs as possible and make fun videos. I hope you like the videos and the music and if you need any music, contact me and maybe I can have the privilege of scoring your next film or video project.

-Dan

If you like the song, you can purchase it here

danmehta.bandcamp.com/​

NEW LOGO...Kind of

Most of my songs are now on youtube so please check them out if you haven’t.

http://www.youtube.com/danielmehta1

Just putting the finishing touches on the music score of my Client’s short film which will be premiering in LA in two weeks. I can’t wait because it’s my first film score. I have some other awesome music in the works too that are going to be in some amazing videos so please stay tuned. Also I redid my logo. I’m obsessed with the FUTURA typeface because of Wes Anderson Films. Tell me what you think?

Thanks for listening!

DRUMS ARE FUN II

PART II

Drums are my favorite instrument to play. I love trying to play the craziest stuff I can think of. I’ve been playing drums since 2000 and I’m just as enthused about it now from when I first picked up a pair of sticks. I decided to start posting my drum videos for fun because DRUMS ARE FUN! and I always believe that you should do what you love. I hope you like it.

I’m playing

DW Drums
6 X 12 Tom
12 X 14 Floor Tom
20 X 22 Bass Drum

Chad Smith Signature Snare 5 X 14

Zildjian Cymbals
K Custom 20” Dark Ride
K Custom 14” Dark Hi Hats
K Custom 18” Dark Crash
A Custom 19” Crash

DRUMS ARE FUN

Drums are my favorite instrument to play. I love trying to play the craziest stuff I can think of. I've been playing drums since 2000 and I'm just as enthused about it now from when I first picked up a pair of sticks. I decided to start posting my drum videos for fun because DRUMS ARE FUN! and I always believe that you should do what you love. I hope you like it and there's tons of more footage to come. The video you see here is actually a 10 min. clip of just pure rhythm and off beat madness that I edited to less than 2 min. More videos are coming soon.

I'm playing

DW Drums
6 X 12 Tom
12 X 14 Floor Tom
20 X 22 Bass Drum

Chad Smith Signature Snare 5 X 14

Zildjian Cymbals
K Custom 20" Dark Ride
K Custom 14" Dark Hi Hats
K Custom 18" Dark Crash
A Custom 19" Crash

Friends

Friends from Dan Mehta on Vimeo.

Cast
David Espana
Julian Garcia

Lighting

Esteban Espana

Directed and Edited by
Dan Mehta

I've always had a big passion for film making and have loved making little home movies. Most work I do in film and entertainment is in scores and songs but I've always liked directing and editing and thought I should make some shorts for fun. My stuff may not look professional but I love doing it. I've never taken a class in film but I figure the best way to learn how to tell a story through films is to just make them. If you don't like my stuff, it's okay, I'm very open to criticism and hope to get feedback from all of you.

"Friends" is a short film about two friends hanging out, shooting the shit, catching up on their relationships, old love, without getting to emotional and deep. All the dialog was mainly improv, with a few notes here and there and was done in one shot. Then I shot B roll stuff to add around the dialog. All the dialog you hear is done in that one take though. Yes, you can notice a lot of continuity but that’s part of learning. Next film hopefully there will be less continuity. I look forward to your comments.

-Dan Mehta

Hiking and composing

I usually write all my music now either at home or in the studio but sometimes I like to get out of my comfort zone and just bring my guitar to places and jam. I recently went hiking with my best friend and brought my guitar. It’s easy to be cooped up inside all day but I’m always inspired when I’m outdoors. You sometimes forget how beautiful nature can be. Here’s some footage of the hike and in the studio for fun.