GregB
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Blog Comments posted by GregB
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Hi Mahesh
Any update on this post from Oct 4 regarding the Songstuff Vocal Coaching Academy ?Greg
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Sorry to hear that Mahesh. It's very dispiriting when a) a complete b*stard messes with your stuff for absolutely no reason, and b) you have to expend considerable time and energy rebuilding.
We all get caught up with maintaining presence in the virtual world, but it's all an illusion ready to disintegrate. I hope you can avoid becoming too disillusioned, angry and frustrated. You can still go out with your acoustic guitar, put your heart and soul into playing/singing your songs, and entertain others.
Best wishes,
Greg
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It also helps to be young, project 'sexiness', and be totally assured of one's self-worth.
Counts ME out (old, bald, self-critical)
Anyone else?
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Hi John.
My heart always sinks when "genre" is discussed. The categories are far too confusing, and most overlap. I think there's only about 10, but the industry thinks there's between 50 and 1000.
So ... what do YOU mean by the 'electronica' you're looking for?
EDM? Anything with synths? Complete absence of acoustic instruments? etc. -
Whooshka! Making a public statement of so many goals is a great way of staying focused and motivated.
Congrats
Looking forward to seeing/hearing results as they become available.
Greg 👍
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Pass 2 has much better spacial balance
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Well said. Perhaps such insights can only percolate then crystalise after many years of experience and self-analysis.
It was only in my 40's that I gave up trying to 'fit in', career-wise and socially. I realised my own strengths were in being:
- a loner
- a jack-of-all-trades (musically and otherwise),
- comfortable with logic, planning and management,
- able to work hard and all hours.
- agreeing a job rather than just receiving instructions,
- able to bank on remaining healthy enough to complete whatever I set out to do,
- confident in my skills,
- resolute and NOT biting tongue when discussing options
- distant enough to see the trivial and funny side of everything, regardless of prevailing emotions
As a result:
- the crippling headaches throughout my adulthood just disappeared
- I slept well and looked forward to the day every morning
- I finally embarked on a productive musical journey when I turned 50 (4 albums, 54 tracks)
It's such a shame that children and young adults aren't given the confidence to identify and work with their strengths. Instead, society is still hell bent on hammering round pegs into square holes. More accountants and lawyers, anyone?
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Hi Steve.
Without any relevant experience/knowledge myself, and depending on whether you're a writer, a performer, or a producer, I'd simply suggest you talk to someone who you believe is successful in that field, even if only to get names of people and services they use and recommend. I think that most people, even if busy, are helpful if the questions are short and sharp.
But keep your bullsh*t detection meter turned to 11 as many people tend to inflate their 'success' for appearances and ego.
Greg
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5 hours ago, Steve Mueske said:
I don't want it to become a quagmire.
Sorry to hear that you're feeling stressed, but I'm not sure how hiring strangers will alleviate the quagmire unless you're an excellent manager of others.
But then again, perhaps this is unnecessarily negative as I'm a control freak, cynical, and generally distrustful
My lowly goal has only ever been to make music that I'm proud of, and get it heard by more than just friends and family. Money would be nice, but music has never been my profession.
What's YOUR goal? Specific $$/pa? Number of YouTube views or Spotify listens? Press articles? Music reviews?
In the next few days I'll be posting a long article just on my experiences with 'Publishing' which I've just untangled and looks to be far more lucrative than streaming.
Cheers,
Greg
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Sorry for the obscurity ...
6% was the number of Catholic priests to have been 'moved on' due to nefarious activities with children when parish records were investigated by journalists (dramatised in the film "Spotlight") and later confirmed in several government-led investigations around the world.
The quick wry 'humour' is now hung out and blowing lifeless on the winds of turgid exposition
Greg
PS. I was raised by rabid Catholics and schooled by Jesuits, 'priest' is just a trigger word for me.
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Hi Peggy
I agree with what you say about stats, but it's also about how statements are framed.
- is this data real rather than a Spotify-inflated marketing smokescreen? (Is it independently audited?)
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"earning enough to live" ... what does that actually mean?
- Enough to raise a family and pay a mortgage?
- Enough to cover the artist's expenses like manager, advertising, insurance, equipment, travel and accommodation, services (like websites, recording), etc..?
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In the U.S. the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour (about $15,000 annually).
https://www.minimum-wage.org/federal
I certainly could not live on that, and I'm retired, married and live in my own house! - I believe that most 'artists' still live with parents or couch-surf due to poor income
- "36,100 artists generated between $10k and $50k on Spotify last year". Quick back-of-the-envelope calcs indicate less than 20,000 of these artists will earn over $20,000. And that's world-wide!
Cheers,
Greg
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Personally, I find perspective is everything.
When I'm struggling with 'keeping up', I remind myself that I have a roof over my head, food on the table, a few friends I trust and can rely on, some things I can truly laugh at, and I enjoy music and also creating it regardless whether anyone else ever hears it.
I'm NOT in a war zone, or drowning in my own lung fluids, and am generally well in mind and body. Other problems pale by comparison!
Greg
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Why SHOULD any music, new or not, 'catch on'. Popular does NOT necessarily mean good. It can simply be fashionable or hit the social mood.
Pop caught on because it was different from the existing staid and stuffy. Prog finally gave virtuoso players a stage to shine. Punk caught the anger of the time.
Perhaps, currently, in a time of uncertainty, the rise of the right wing and authoritarianism and corruption, the difficulty of getting housing or good jobs, overpopulation and environmental collapse, young people are looking back to times when things seemed better.
But enough of comedy. On with the show!
Greg
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Hi Peggy. Thanks for that.
As mentioned recently to John, BLOG activity unfortunately isn't reflected in the Community Forum. I was only notified of this Blog post due to the '@ gregb' tag in the text.
Until broader community notification is addressed in future site redevelopments perhaps you could re-post in the Forum's "Videos and Images" topic to raise the Channel profile beyond us 20 or so creators.
I have great appreciation for all your behind-the-scenes work.
Greg
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22 hours ago, GregB said:
The oddity about Songstuff is that 100 people can "view" a post but no-one comments.
Apologies - brevity can be a curse sometimes. My extended thought was that if I click on something that catches MY interest, most times I have a "view" and feel a compunction to express it to the writer. I've always assumed that forums are for the 2-way sharing of views (unless the comments are likely to cause hurt although these days possible 'offense' is tough thing to judge).
So 100 views without a typed or icon'd 'response' can be taken to mean -- the 'readers' are generally disinterested, jumping around aimlessly
- they're looking for something specific and can't find satisfaction
- no-one cares about what you've expressed
- people totally DISagree with what you've said but are too polite to say so (yeah, right!)
It's a shame because, along with most of the 'regulars' here, I take time to formulate long-form pieces about different aspects of the challenges of creating music.
But, when all is said and done, it's really a non-issue in the great scheme of things and in a world that is rapidly going down the toilet. I became more active on this site over the last 6 months because exposing my soul in an open forum seems to be quite therapeutic. Perhaps linked to being raised in rabid Catholic environment at home and school?
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On 12/26/2021 at 10:51 AM, VoiceEx said:
1) Do you feel like people care about the music you share on Songstuff?
2) Have you made any real fans here?
3) Have you made any real friends here?
4)Would you be willing to collaborate with someone from Songstuff?
1) Do you feel like people care about the music you share on Songstuff?
No.
It has served a different purpose ... organising thoughts and writing for its own sake ... BUT if just one person listens/likes the music then I'll have doubled my audience!
I also have to admit that I've always enjoyed pontificating, even regarding music where I have no credentials.
2) Have you made any real fans here?
No.
I'm not into fans. Sounds like hard work and responsibility!
3) Have you made any real friends here?
No.
I can have long written jovial conversations with anyone if they are interesting, pleasant, and can SPELL, but a 'friend' is a tag I reserve for only a handful of people who have proved worthy and I know IRL.
4)Would you be willing to collaborate with someone from Songstuff?
Yes.
Always willing to give it a crack, but it has only ever worked, for both enjoyment and outcome, twice in my life ... and each led to an album.
The oddity about Songstuff is that 100 people can "view" a post but no-one comments. Also that the site allows 'guests' ... I just don't see the point - people would join if that was the only option.
Cheers,
Greg
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I'll have what HE's having!
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Hi John
I know age is no barrier but, turning 70 this year, I have, in my my own mind, closed my late-in-life creative burst with a sigh of great satisfaction at having been able to (quite unexpectedly until it all happened):
- Write my first song at age 50, including it in my first co-written album in 2002 ... a wonderful but inexperienced foray into a commercial studio: "Not All It Seems".
- After retiring from my IT career, cowrite and record an album in 2015, this time home-produced and with a different collaborator: "Prescient".
- Complete my magnus opus 30-track debut home-produced solo album in 2020: "The Flat White Album".
- And, finally, in 2021, home-produce my fourth album, a solo re-imagining of the original 2002 album, hence called "Not All It Seems - Redux".
Plus created music videos for 51 of the 54 tracks.
Not burnt out, per se, just feeling the whole songwriting/producing challenge was grabbed by the throat and bent to my will. I'll keep on noodling on guitar and piano, but I've felt I've found a neat place to stop with all the technical stuff ... there's no longer a need to battle the expense and frustration of continuous OS/hardware/software upgrades and glitches 😄
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Hi Peggy
To get that independent appraisal from 'trusted sources', I found a local studio that had produced music 'sounds' I really liked (e.g. more indie/acoustic rather than pop/rock) and asked if they would critique my album mix/master prior to release. It was to be specifically about the technicals and NOT whether they liked the music (which I think helped remove any potential awkwardness for them). Fortunately, they were happy to oblige and weren't at all sniffy about people doing stuff at home and bypassing commercial studios. They would charge their normal hourly engineer/producer rate.
I brought in a stick with the WAVs and we sat in the control room. The husband and wife team (both writers/performers themselves) went through, one track at a time, doing a real-time analysis in their familiar listening environment. Their listening skills were astounding in identifying issues I had been deaf to, often stopping a track and pointing out things. e.g. the 'bloom' of the kick drum needing compression, holes or crowding in particular EQ bands, flamming of instruments. Once pointed out, the remediation was relatively quick and easy for me back home, and the resulting tracks were definitely better.
We got through approx 6 tracks per hour. They'd sometimes offer production comments, e.g. could do with shaker/tambourine here, consider doubling-up the strings there, use a Verb on the master track to bind everything into one 'space'.There were several benefits of the experience:
- relatively cheap and under my control (I could stop at anytime and not continue)
- because they were husband/wife, I got two people and twice the experience for the price of one
- besides writing/production/engineering, she was a singer/percussionist and he was guitar/bass/keys/drums
- we were roughly the same age and they were nice people - we got on well
- they used the same DAW as me, so some advice was highly specific and relatable
- I learned a lot in a short time, and that knowledge could be applied to everything in future
- it was a magical experience listening in a professional environment, and huge fun
- they were quite complimentary, giving me confidence that, while I am no doubt an amateur, I wasn't too far off the mark in terms of playing, recording, arranging and mixing
This approach to having a final review by studio professionals was applied to the last two albums, a total of 42 tracks. Well worth it and great memories too.
Regards,
Greg
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My lowly goal has only ever been to make music that I'm proud of, and get it heard by more than just friends and family. Money would be nice, but music has never been my profession.
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Rewire the Voice : Beginnings
in Rewire the Voice (A Modern Vocal Approach)
A blog by Mahesh in General
Posted
Well done! It sounds like a great niche business doing something you obviously REALLY enjoy. And it's always a great buzz when people show improvement under your tutelage.
👍