john

Knowing that, a simple practice regimen that reflects that reality should be easy to put together... learn a bit, play a bit, learn a bit, play a bit blah blah what I often do is, learn a bit, shift to learn something completely different, shift to learn something else etc. practice for me is also divided up: play it it slow and accurate play it as fast as I can, mistakes be damned! Lol play it at the proper speed at each cycle through the 3 I work on different aspects of detail this keeps me fresh and interested. If I do find myself drifting, I play a different song, even a different instrument, and then come back to it. not only does it help my head, it helps me remember it more effectively.

Hi Polly I don’t think it is that uncommon a feeling. It is linked to the same part of us that gets tired of something on repetition. Some people are more attuned to new ideas, find themselves fascinated by the new and original. As soon as the ideas are old hat, they lose their appeal. The fact it is cyclic probably means you notice new things you hadn’t noticed before, and it is kinda cool again until that too becomes old. If you partially derive self worth, or your worth as a songwriter from appeal, and that is linked to how fresh something sounds, it would be quite easy to feel that way. As most of us do strive to be original...... as to sections, no folk section. We did try genres once before but more people complained about having multiple boards to visit than complained about mixed posts. Truth is, before you know it, every sub genre wants a board.... and then you have loads to look through... and most will be pretty dead, even with a busy community.. What I would encourage you to do is to use tags. So use a folk tag. It helps us all if we can identify what type of music it is and also what kind of critique someone wants : #folk #vocals #general mix Cheers John oh and welcome aboard!

Do you make music? Why isn’t your friend posting?

Thanks for the recommendation Tim.

The piano and Joshua Bell samples are awesome to listen to. I just can’t afford them. Typical. Next sale hopefully! Did you use the JB violin on a recent track or two?

Thanks, option is added.

I try, I try! Lol

Hey Sun Welcome to the Songstuff family! There are some pros, semi-pros amongst the member ranks, a good number of experienced and accomplished amateurs too... but loads of people at all amateur levels. Quite a few who aspire to doing something on a professional level at some point, including a motivated bunch who are actively releasing EPs and albums etc. I love seeing such creativity and productivity! You will learn as much, if not more, by giving critique, if for no other reason than you don’t have personal attachment to the work being discussed. Top tip, offer advice but don’t be invested. It is their song to use or lose your comments according to their own vision. Taste is personal. We can all only talk with any real authority from our own perspective. It saves arguments, especially when people having their work critiqued may be unprepared. I was thinking of running a workshop about effective critique, and we have thought about doing some basic videos to help people get in the groove. Hopefully we will get to both soon. it’s a fun process, especially amongst a truly mixed crowd who are united by one thing. Their love of songs. I hope you enjoy yourself here. Any questions? Please don’t hesitate to ask myself or one of the other site crew.... though I know the members are very supportive. Nervous? Just remember, no matter who they are, or where they are in their own path... here on this site... in their craft... they have all been where you are, or will be where you are some day.

Hi You don’t need to purchase a license. Certainly not for most non-commercial covers. It generally comes down to who the publisher is. What you need is permission to cover the song, and that is in essence a license, as you will be told exactly what you can and cannot do with the song. The old way to do it was to contact the publisher laying out your intended use. Some were quite friendly and would give you permission for non-commercial release. Some would try to charge you a fee, and others still would ignore you. In the last two cases you had not obtained permission (assuming you hadn’t paid the license fee) so you would be in breach of copyright if you use the song. The modern way is that a number of publishers have “pre-cleared” non-commercial releases,often in a deal over YouTube advertising income from the video in question. That means you can perform and release ON YOUTUBE ONLY songs by artists on their roster. They often have conditions as a part of the pre-cleared license. Many artists doing covers on YouTube may not be making a full commercial release, but many do earnmoney through the YouTube advertising program. You might like this topic, but definitely checkout this post, watch the vid and follow the link

Just in case you aren’t aware of him... You might enjoy this

Welcome to Songstuff! What do you hope to get out of the site/community. love what you posted. Reminds me a little of “Rico”. I look forward to talking music with you.

Hi Kellen, welcome to the Songstuff family!

Hey Kurt Welcome to the Songstuff family!

That is the core of it. You have what you have, make the most of it while you save and plan for something better. Believe me, this is a perpetual guideline unless money is no object. Even when money is no object you run up against similar restrictions with talent/skill/knowledge/ability.

Hi Scott! Welcome me to the Songstuff family! Great to have you with us! Dont neglect setting up your site, marketing and PR, release schedule, Street Team... etc. You will need all, and more besides, if your musical hard work is not to be wasted. If you need it in 6 months you should be working on it now. Luckily, you’ve come to the right place Cheers John

Great to see you back

Hi gang I thought you might like this... self-taught, Feng E, playing on the streets of Taipei, Taiwan

The real deal or Mike Hunter's crack? lol

Hey SHane Welcome to the Songstuff family! I've always fancied trying my hand at making a film. I've made plenty videos, and even enjoy working with special effects and animation. Some of the tasks are very similar to using a DAW. Good fun, if a bit computing intensive. That's probably one of the main reasons I haven't done more. My computer is ok for audio tasks but for video, render time is restrictive. Oh well. Another time! Good to meet you!

My suspicion is that the output circuitry is compromised, possibly with a cracked circuit board, or more likely a botched repair. It sounds similar to when the output jack has broken, one of the contacts has detached from the circuit board... and then someone has tried to solder it back on, and they have overheated the joint and the layers of the circuit board have separated. You then get pretty unpredictable behaviour. I suppose it is possible the output processing is malfunctioning somehow. Neither is easy to fix, if at all. The only thing you could do is try, at least running some diagnostics. Do you have any understanding of electronics at all? Do you have a multimeter? You could source a circuit diagram. The first thing would be to open the box and look at the circuit board. Look at the circuit board around the output connectors. Does it look like it has been re-soldered? It is likely to be obviously different soldering/ The circuit board may also look separated. Another possibility would be, similar to the separated laters, the circuit around the output has actually lifted off the board (also a symptom of over heating.). You could post pics of top, bottom and side of the circuit board around the output block connectors. Alternatively, put it into a shop and see what they say. It would be safer. Yes it would cost for them to look at, but not much. They can at least estimate a repair cost.

It is more positive. It is growing membership and activity.... and more activity creates more activity For me, music expresses and makes manifest my deepest emotions. It shines a light in the darknest recesses of my mind and pulls it all together. A thread. A simple song can elicit joy or sadness, or it can be that perfect accompanyment, the expression for what is already there that I could not find words for. It is as essential as breathing. Music allows me to speak out, to connect beyond myself with masses... and that is true through shared experience, no matter if I am the one playing, in the moment listening to other musicians, or both when I am playing with others. Be on stage. Playing one of your songs. Pour yourself into the moment. Push your thoughts and feelings out into a crowd. Watch them respond. Feel the emotion of the space. The beauty of connection. Like minds, for once sycronized. Outside of those moments, how can we not feel diminshed? Music may not be everything... but it is a damn big chunk!

It used o be a seperate plug in was needed. Now, it is built in. Instead of effect/change speed use effect/change tempo Job done

Ah. Ok Audacity is simply speeding up the audio playback, which changes frequency. You will find all the instrumentation has sped up, not just voice (unless it is vocal only!). YouTube is using a pinch correction algorithm with the sped up playback, to pitch the result down to the original pitch. That is also your audacity solution. You can calculate it.... but there will be all in one plug ins for audacity that allow you to speed up but retain pitch. I am away from my DAW so I can’t easily check exact options.

Always use reference tracks you like to make sure your mix is in the right ball park. It’s a good idea to mix for a plain, untreated output, because there are so many set ups out there. For example, you say it sounds good on your home theatre... surround sound? On what setting? Had you mixed it for surround sound? I would guess not. So unless you are mixing for t.v. I wouldn’t be too concerned. Focus on that reference track, and comparing your mix with that reference on multiple playback systems. The more you do that, the more you begging to get an idea how your playback system effects your tracks, and the more you learn to compensate.

Hey Thomas, have you opened the unit up?