Mahesh

Hiya Tony, Welcome to Songstuff. Jazzy RnB - that sounds just like the kinda music I like! What kinda artists or influences do you resonate with? Look forward to hearing some of the music you have to share! //cdn2.songstuff.com/uploads/emoticons/default_smile.png

While the pre-production for my upcoming EP/album is in progress, I have also been preparing a lot of assets for the upcoming music releases - an updated EPK, a well thoughtout and designed brandkit with logos, colours and fonts to use etc. It's a lot of work! Work that I personally believe helps me in my music career and help me take the next leap with the next release. But I know many musicians who do not care about these sorta things. I mean, I understand if you do music part-time or as a hobby. But are there any professional musicians here who believe that marketing your music is an irrelevant effort?

On the day of each gig, I may feel some butterflies in increasing levels as the gig draws closer. I guess it's my body's way of prepping for a session of focus and efficiency on stage. This feeling goes away 10 seconds into making my very first sound on stage. I've not been able to avoid this experience but have come to accept it in a way which has helped so much. On the other hand, if I'm stressed out for some reason or am feeling quite unexpectedly nervous or anxious, listening to music helps! I listen to my favs - John Mayer, Damien Rice, Nocturnes by Chopin, Chet Baker, etc It sure calms me down or at least distracts me from the thought that I'm anxious. I avoid too much socialising but enjoy speaking to a friend about something irrelevant to the day's events. I also keep myself hydrated and avoid any alcohol just before getting on stage.

I've always gone story based so far. But I have not released a lot of music videos in my music journey. This time, there is more attention being given to the visual aesthetic, colours used and the cinematography style to align with the Mahesh Music brand kit set up for 2024. It's the first time I've done so much prep work ahead of impending releases and tour, but I'm curious to see how it will all turn out.

The song Gravity by John Mayer changed everything for me. I was 15 years old at the time. The songwriting on it was incredible. It was the first time I even was fascinated so much with the songwriting and what the lyrics meant. I knew my perception of what music is about had changed that day. It has made me the musician and performer and writer I am today. At 32, I am getting my first tattoo this weekend, it happens to be a line off the song - "Keep me where the light is"

There are similarities and differences for sure. I feel the mainstream marketing approach is very much based on catering to numbers, especially when it comes to music style, length and format. I do not relate to that. Although I do believe some of the techniques and strategies they use are powerful in building connections. I tend to borrow these ideas and then try to incorporate that within my own demographic, my personal musical style and what my music should be portrayed as. For this current project, my wife has been helping me with doing some local fan audience market research. This will help me understand what my potential audiences already are like and how I can position my own music to these people in a friendly, interesting, sincere way. So far so good lol

Making a record is so much work! In the past 2 years, I felt like getting things set up for the actual work would be the hardest task - putting together a team, curating the songs, figuring out the budget etc. Now that these things are out of the way, I expected to feel a little relieved about it. I'm only intimidated about the things to come - getting the second round of demos recorded with the musicians, setting up the crowd funding campaign for the all the logistical costs, reviving my fan following to the level of excitement of my previous release - which was years ago. Sigh. Feels like and probably is a gazillion things that is NOT making music before actually getting to those fun bits. 🥲 One day at a time - that's how I've been able to keep my cool, really.

Such rooted influences on this record! The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Simon and Garfunkel - I hear them all on this (ofc the signature Norah magic). I think I needed some fresh music that felt soo comfortingly nostalgic. Just thought I'd share it if somebody is feeling a little stuffy in these times and days.

I fear that I do. I remember when I was much younger how I was spending way more hours just randomly listening to all kinds of music or the music I love. It just doesn't happen the same way anymore. Sure, when a favourite artist of mine releases a record, I spend many hours on repeat for weeks and months and let myself believe I've rediscovered that simple joy of having a listening habit. The more this professional career of being a musician has taken over, there's just been so many things going on that you just don't get the same time, mind space or energy anymore. I have been trying to address this fear or concern of mine by creating curated playlists for different activities or moods. But yeah, looking to hear your thoughts. How often do you listen to music these days? How about compared to before? More or less?

Haven't heard of it but will totally check it out. In order for you to get things going with recording as you have described at home, you'd need the following A computer An audio interface, which is what you probably referred to here in this quote. It could be any of these brands but the most common one used by many around the world for home recording is Focusrite 2i2 or 4i4. The former is cheaper and does the job very well. This will allow you to plug both the guitar and vocals and record them both at the same time if you choose/want to. A good vocal microphone : There are two kinds of mics we'd be looking at here - a conderser mic or a dynamic mic. A condenser would work best for vocals in a good room that is acoustically treated. For home recordings, I suggest you get a nice dynamic microphone. An SM57 or a Sennheiser e835 are my suggestions. Very versatile, can be used not just for vocals but other instruments too. If you have the budget, an SM7B is an incredible purchase. This is my vocal mic at home and I would not trade it for anything. A good space to record that isn't too noisy A DAW / Digital Audio Workstation to record, mix, master and produce your music. Reaper or Cakewalk is what I suggest. Both are absolutely free and yet have industry grade tech going into handling sounds. They have loads of stock effects that can help you do everything from scratch and reach the full and final product. I suggest you look into these to begin with. Once you have some of these things set up and you are getting into setting up the DAW, I'm sure you will have some questions. Pop back in here or create a new topic and I'll be sure to come back and send some resources your way!

I'm so glad you're as obsessed as much as I am! I finished watching the breakdown a couple days ago. (it was a packed 2 hours 😅) It amazes me to see his approach to using the harmonies to guide the non tempo lead vocal performances by the featured artists. @john here it is bud.

Just curious, I hope you realise this introduction topic is from 2016 @Bridget Murphy. Did you actually mean to interact with the OP?

I'm a huge fan of his music. Though I will admit some of his music is probably too advanced for my ears but his genius musicality and understanding of sound is hard to ignore. He released his new album DJesse Vol 4 today. Just started getting into it but based on the singles he's released, I love the album already. Been obsessed with the collaboration for his fully vocal rendition of "Bridge over Troubled Water" with Yebba, John Legend and Tori Kelly.

Looking forward to hearing more mixes John! You have been at it lately!

We are in the era of free VST plugins for music production. There are so many free ones out there and really good ones at that. I know we already have a topic specific to free plugins but I wanted to point out this developer and their plugins because it is SOOO good. You'll find all of them for free download at https://analogobsession.com/ I'm particularly a fan of the LALA Leveling Amplifier which I have been using for vocals and the Pultec EQ emulation plugin called Rare. The latter sounds soo good on the mix bus. Anybody used them at all? I highly recommend you check it out if you haven't already.