john

There is one easy solution (easy huh?). Create awesome music. If it really bothers you, also learn how to promote your music and any other awesome music you hear!

hey Jaymen Welcome to Songstuff! Good to have you with us. It sounds like you have a strong self identity and a good level of confidence. It’ll be good to see you walk the walk as good as you are talking the talk. By that I only mean, it sounds promising, and I’m looking forward to seeing you blazing a trail. It’s nice to hear ambition. For clarity, this is a music community. It looks like you are aware that there’s a lot more to it than that. Our staff do run a record label/publisher, so, down to business, I have a few questions: Why do you want to work with us? Out of interest, how many record labels have you contacted? Can you post up a link to your music or send it via the PM system? Can you send through your numbers? (Sales, streams and downloads per platform, your socials, your mailing list numbers etc.) How often do you post on socials (per platform) How often do you message your mailing list? What is your current plan? Do you currently have any budget? What is your main current music website? When did you last release music? What are the stats on your last release? What release got your biggest numbers, when was it and what were the stats? How many songs/EPs/Albums have you released so far? What are your current goals? What questions do you have? Please answer what you are willing to make public - in topic, and what you don’t want to make public please use the PM system. Welcome again. Cheers John

Hey there Emmanuel, Welcome to the Songstuff community!

Hey Dave Welcome to Songstuff! I look forward to hearing your tracks. Are you getting out playing any gigs? Cheers John

Hey Dave What was your audio mastered to? When you say it sounds ok on your studio monitors, do you mean: your master audio the audio on your master YouTube format video (if different from above) the audio on a streamed (ie post upload) video playback Lets call your studio monitors your A rig and your TV via HDMI your B rig. If 1 sounds ok on A try seeing if 1 sounds ok through your B rig. If ok, then move on. If not, it’s worth checking if audio compression is on in your TV. If 2 is ok on A, fine. if it isn’t ok, then it would be worth checking your codec choice and settings. If 3 is ok on A, again fine. If not ok, recheck mastering levels and correct codec choice. Ensure all settings are the recommended settings for YouTube, in case YouTube has applied a hard limit on post upload conversion. Worth checking the recommended file format is a match too. If ok on all of the above, then go through the elimination Greg suggests. It does sound like a compression limit is being hit, it could be due a codec or inbuilt compression very easily.

Hey there Neuroron! Welcome to Songstuff! Now you’ve reduced your hours, do you have plans for your music? By that I mean, you could be planning to have more hours to more of what you’ve been doing up until now, or do you plan for something new? New music, new goals, new media, new marketing & promo? You get what I mean

Hey Gang What indie artists would you recommend in 2024? Can you post links to specific songs, videos preferably? All genres are welcome. I’m really looking forward to discovering some fantastic artists and awesome music! Cheers John

You probably know this, but, just for clarity, idiomatic commonly applies to a language, it isn’t exclusive to music. It just means full of idioms. In written language an idiom is an expression where the meaning is not predictable from the normal understanding of the word/elements that make it up. For example, “kill two birds with one stone” or “it’s a piece of cake”. Idiomatic writing, at least in terms of music, is when it is written for a specific instrument, in a way that takes advantage of that instrument's idiosyncrasies and particular capabilities… and that includes the voice. I thought you might find this an interesting read: https://theidiomaticorchestra.net/idiomatic-practice/ According to the Semantic Scholar “Like spoken utterances, musical passages can be characterized as more or less idiomatic depending on the extent to which the music relies on instrument-specific effects.”

Hi Fluent Dunks Firstly, thanks for posting your video. I'd encourage you to offer some feedback to your fellow members for their videos. It helps keep the wheels turning and helps all artists to keep developing their critical skills I struggled a little to clearly hear your voice. You could maybe bring the vox forwards a bit in your mix. I'd also encourage you to be closer to the camera. When you were closer it was much more engaging. I don't really know why there was a large orange circle covering the right-hand side of the screen. It didn't add anything. Were you blotting something out you didn't want to show? Just like music needs different textures, you need to think of different scenes for your video. Particularly since Ren became popular single-shot videos are more popular... but he puts a lot of work into making sure that a single continuous shot is absolutely packed with changes in texture, light, space, etc. He keeps moving, and moving pretty quickly, in order to keep the scene changing. He scouts locations to make sure they will be just right for the video, he introduces actors into the mix, lighting changes, etc. In non-continuous shot videos, there is a load of scene cuts to cover cuts because of mistakes, etc, or because of lighting, better performance, and so on. Either way, there are a ton of ideas. If you were just doing this as a hobby I'd mention a couple of points and move on, but if you really want to move up, you need to keep upping your game, always looking for ways to improve, finding out what works, and doing more of that, and finding out what didn't work and changing that. Experimentation is essential and high standards are a must. As a rule of thumb, if you think you are getting away with it, you aren't. I hope this is of some use to you Cheers John

Hey DMSoundz, Welcome to Songstuff! I look forward to hearing your tracks!

It’s not a single, simple thing. Knowing your audience is the product of asking a great number of questions, and being prepared to look at the answers you receive in different ways. Once you have gained insight into who your audience is and how they are likely to behave, the dividends this can pay you as an artist are massive. For a start your audience targeting efforts become much more successful. For artists, the benefits can be success, connection, and growth. Knowing your audience can: Help You To Make Your Music Relatable If you understand who gets your tunes, you can craft songs that hits them right in the feels. It's about creating those "This is my song!" moments for your fans. While you might want to make your music for yourself, then maybe you are your ideal fan and you can offer one insight into what your average fan is into. Guide Your Promo Strategy Knowing your audience means you can figure out the best ways to reach them. If your fans are all about TikTok, you know where to focus your energy instead of wasting time on platforms they don't use. Help To Tailor Live Shows For a start you can book better gigs. Places where the regular audience is a good match for your typical fans. If you know your audience loves high-energy performances or intimate acoustic sets, you can design your shows to match their vibe. This way, everyone leaves the concert feeling like it was just for them. Inform Your Merch and Content Understanding your audience's tastes helps in creating merch they might actually want to buy and content they'll love to engage with. It's about offering something valuable beyond just your music. Build a Stronger Community When you know your audience and engage with them based on their interests, you're not just building a fan base; you're creating a community. This leads to loyal fans who'll stick with you through ups and downs. Inspire Your Artistic Direction Feedback and insights from your audience can inspire new music, helping you to grow as an artist and explore new territories musically. Knowing your audience isn't just about selling music; it's about building genuine connections, understanding what your fans love, and delivering it in spades. It's a win-win for everyone involved! You can read a full article diving into the subject by clicking on the link below: Know Your Audience

yeah, though typically, some more than others lol

Hey Fluent Dunks, welcome to Songstuff! Good to meet you. What are your plans for your music?

Hey Bridget, (Sorry for the quick aside Les) I haven’t heard ANY of your songs, and you’ve written 60? Can you share links to any? I’d really appreciate that. Maybe in your own topic. We’ve hijacked Les’s topic more than enough! Cheers John

When I say “11 Powerful Music Marketing Secrets” you might be forgiven for thinking “I bet they’re not powerful” and/or “I bet they’re not that secret”. True, you will have heard of most if not all of them. The secret is more, just how much power each one holds. The key to getting the most power from them is in using them together. Music marketing is not a black art, no matter what musicians tend to think. It’s a set of skill that you can learn, but you won’t learn them without effort. Yet, by learning about them, they liberate you by empowering you. We’ve included them in the list in the following article for a reason. Each is its own subject. We are not going to cram what you need to know about each into this article. What we do hope to do is at least help you improve your awareness of them, make you aware of why you should care and how they fit into the musical universe of an artist. We’ve tried to give you some context. 11 Powerful Music Marketing Secrets Beyond the article, we’ll try to connect you to relevant information. If it isn’t already on Songstuff, we’ll add it soon!

I was really looking for you to suspend reality for a moment. That’s one reason why I chose David Bowie. Were I to talk to him now, it would be a pretty one sided conversation! You could be stranded in a Costa while your partners were off clothes shopping, snowed in at ski lodge, their car broke down outside your house or holiday home… whatever scenario floats your boat. The important part is that you caught them in a particularly sharing mood with time on their hands with them actively looking for connection. In part it was just interest in who people would choose and why, but perhaps also what information would they be looking for? What it isn’t for is for you to reveal your highly detailed plans on how you intended to kidnap Robert Plant, tie him up while you find ways and means to persuade him to talk about the inner workings of Led Zeppelin. However, tomorrow’s question might now be “Explain, in detail, how you would kidnap Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones and persuade them to play a one-off gig at a venue local to you with you going to the post gig party and of course you get to jam with the lads and all the march they’ve ever released.” A similar question about Pink Floyd comes the next day! Or you can just get hung up on the reality bit lol

It’s a striking version. @Pantonal I’d love to see the breakdown.

Hi Gang I thought I’d ask a few questions about artist’s attitudes (I’ll post another about songwriter’s attitudes). It helps when it comes to creating new articles, but more than that, it is good to understand what is important to members and why! If you answer “None of the above” to any of the questions, please post your actual answer as a reply. I look forward to your replies and poll answers! Cheers John

Hi I wanted to drop links to an awesome and quite inspirational drummer with a popular YouTube Channel. Here’s a few videos of his remarkable talent and fantastic showmanship… Cheers John

Hey Ste Welcome to Songstuff dude! I’m looking forward to hearing your tracks. The site’s been going for a long time. Activity can be up or down but we know why, and we can do something about it. What year are you in at Uni? Onwards and upwards. Cheers John PS Good luck with your collab projects!

One is from Spitfire labs (their stuff is always awesome) https://labs.spitfireaudio.com/uilleann-pipes and Dicky Deegan’s Uilleann pipes https://xtant-audio.com/product/dicky-deegans-uilleann-pipes/

Hey Mitch, Welcome to Songstuff! Maybe post it up in our collaboration board. At least people go there looking for collaborations, whereas here they are looking at member introductions.

There are a couple of awesome Uileann pipe VSTs…. I tried them out a couple of years ago. I’ll need to dig them out. Not perfect, but good.

Hi Gang If you could talk to any single musician/songwriter/artist/producer, in a long 1 to 1 conversation, who would it be and why? With me, I'd choose David Bowie. He loved art for art's sake, he was intelligent, a great lyricist and composer, as well as a multi-instrumentalist, he helped shape music as it is today, and he lived through so many re-inventions of himself as well as some hugely exciting times for the music industry and the world at large. Bowie has worked with an impressive range of other talent and lived within so many music and art scenes. Add to that, Bowie was such an engaging and forthcoming kind of guy. I could learn so much from him. Cheers John

Hey If you've ever recorded at home then you have had one or all of these experiences: Soundproofing - Controlling sound IN or OUT External noise spilling onto your recording Performing or monitoring music and annoying neighbors or family members Sound Conditioning - Managing the characteristic response of your recording space The environment amplifies unwanted noise within your space Hot frequencies in your room Unwanted natural room reverb long decay time The tonal balance of the space colors the sound in an unpleasant way Acoustically treating your recording environment can make a world of difference to the quality of your recordings. While acoustic treatments don't stop the sources of noise, you can change how your recording environment responds to noise. With sound conditioning, you get to shape the characteristic response of your studio space. Yes, with AI you can now remove a lot of room reverb, but ultimately it is better to not record unwanted reverb in the first place. You might have even tried some previous DIY acoustics with egg cartons and similar to reduce unwanted sound, without much of a clue of what you are doing. Below we've pulled together an introductory article outlining the fundamentals of acoustics as applied to recording studios: Acoustics 101 for Recording Studios This article introduces key concepts and discusses what practical steps you can take to shape the sound of your studio. Comments and suggestions are very welcome.