john

I must be getting confused these days… I was sure I had replied to this Greg! It’s good to get the backstory to how you got to this point in your video journey. Tempted by animation, such as aftereffects or creating your own footage? There’s quite a few possibilities that make it feasible. Dont get me wrong, I have enjoyed making videos in premiere pro using stock footage, but I found I really enjoyed animating in After Effects and combining that with Stock footage. I started with doing odd videos for Songstuff, and started animation with AE doing intro sequences for Songstuff, and a couple of years ago I put together a music video for a Deep Red Sea track based purely on Stock footage. It was a pretty good experience all in, seeing how far I could push it, trying to create a video narrative from the stock footage that went with the song. Pretty difficult to do due to continuity with the video models / actors. I have a few ideas for creating some music videos, creating my own footage. It doesn’t need to be a grand extravaganza. Just a simple plot line working with what I have or can easily assemble. I’d like to create a street dance seen (not me dancing. I can’t dance due to back problems.) I would like to try an action sequence, a stop motion sequence, and a drone sequence and a bunch of others… for the learning if nothing else, and combining live footage with AE animation using green screen. Hey, be ambitious, why not?

and you can always click here…

@Mahesh @Peggy

Good points well made VX. Speaking for myself I am generally happy to help, and I know the other staff are the same. I am busy, pretty well all the time, creating new articles and content, implementing site improvements, promoting the site, maintains and upgrading the server, creating graphics or videos… it’s a long list…. so if you contact me asking for my specific input, it is good because it’s like tapping me on the shoulder and saying “hey”. I am likely to ask you to post your question on the boards so that I can answer there and that means that other members can read the question and respond, maybe apply it to themselves or offer some additional information or ask a related question. I would also recommend that members use the tagging option, like @VoiceEx, which should nudge VX that I am talking about him and want to include him in the conversation. Using that option with all members is a good idea. Still, it can still be a good idea to message staff in PM to make sure you get their direct input.

Hi and welcome to our community forums, Sweet Marty Music. I split your post into it’s own topic. Although new members often answer the questions in the topic you replied to, they don’t often receive replies there as the topic is all replies to the questions in the original post, but instead new members usually create a new topic to introduce themselves to the community. I took the liberty of using your post to create this introduction topic. I hope you don’t mind.

Yeah it was the infamous Mike Hunter’s crack of Cubase for my Atari ST iirc. It was used by pretty well everyone I knew back then, in studios and at home. When I moved to PCs I moved to Twelve Tone’s Cakewalk, which I used through the Sonar years until I started using Studio One 3.

There’s a big difference between genuine double tracking, which is about added depth to a voice with no autotune etc… just a simple second take where you tried to match your timing. Modern day double tracking as generated by some autotune/harmony engines are very different.

Hi Gang As you know, we are building Songstuff U.K. and the Independent Music Stage, with an audience of listeners (not artist focused!). The idea is to generally promote indie music, but specifically to promote Songstuff members alongside indie artists we encounter and mainstream artists to those listeners. By including mainstream artists, alongside the best independent music, we hopefully create great playlists. It also means we hopefully introduce some indie artists to some mainstream listeners! We need your help in a few ways… in two distinct channels: Artists Listeners Just now, on the artist side, we are looking for: Indie artist recommendations and introductions Refer members to Songstuff Your BEST music We run playlists on: YouTube Spotify Soundcloud We want your help to grow our low listener/follower base (of course). We want to reach listeners, keeping promotion to artists completely separate to promotion to listeners. Please: Like, follow and share our accounts/profiles Like and follow playlists that you genuinely like Share our playlists In the future we are considering adding shows as a podcast/internet radio station. If you would be interested in potentially becoming a show host please send me a PM. Cheers John

What would/do you look for in a songwriter? What would/do you look for in an artist? What would/do you look for in a producer? on a separate note… What would/do you look for in a collaborator? and on another separate note… What do you look for in a music community?

You could always start that topic yourself….

Q): Do you believe that a person like the one I invented in the thread, should get into music professionally? No. They have highly unrealistic expectations. Plus, they seem more interested in making money than they are wedded to how that money could be made. By all means make music for fun. Q): Do you believe that any person should make music? They should, if they want to. Q): Do you believe that any person can make music? What is music? One man’s music is another man’s clatter. Q): Do you believe that there is some kind of criteria for making music? An ability to make noise. Q): Would you tell someone NOT to get into music? I would happily tell someone that, in my opinion, they should not get into music. I would probably stress it was just my opinion, but I would also happily explain my reasoning. The reasons may vary, but in the scenario presented, if I thought it was damaging to them. I wouldn’t say that they lacked the talent. That is far too subjective. However if their reason was to make money I would happily tell them that even for those who work damn hard, they stand a better chance of winning the lottery than major success. Talent is not necessary to have some success, but it does make it considerably easier. Hard work does make considerable difference. If they lack enthusiasm and hard work and have no artistic drive or sensibility especially. I would be more inclined to say something if they asked me for my opinion.

Hi there Bobby Welcome to Songstuff! Do you play any instruments? Write lyrics? Produce beats? Other interests? Being prejudiced FOR something, automatically means you are being prejudiced AGAINST something else. That is the nature of prejudice. If we want balance, we need to practice balance… If we want compassion we have to practice compassion. Simple. Bias only leads to one destination. Luckily we try to keep politics and religion off the boards, and certainly any form of abuse or discrimination. Not only because it’s the right thing to do, but it’s also the peaceful thing to do. We want a place of mutual respect and tolerance. These are music boards, after all, and we are all equal in the eyes of our muse. Cheers John

Still working out some small kinks in my studio set up, but at least they are simpler issues. Today I was swapping my monitoring between my main monitors and my nearfield monitors. I spent an age trying to work out why I had no sound coming from my nearfields. I have 3 patch bays (2 balanced, 1 unbalanced, plus my interface routing matrix and any additional routing within my DAW. Phew! No wonder. The long and the short of it is that I eventually found the culprit setting…. Now I just need to work out the correct routing! So much choice is available within such flexible systems that the huge number of options can obscure the problem. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the flexibility but I just wish the software part of the equation made it easier to locate any problems. It could be something as simple as signal loopbacks. Software could then indicate how far that signal gets in the signal chain, including derivative signals (post effect or processing unit). Fun and games. It’s good to be back in amongst it.

Hi Denise Welcome to our music community. Looking forward to reading and hearing your works. Cheers John

Hey cooltouch! Welcome to Songstuff! Good to meet you.

So my Studio is ALMOST tidy. Cough cough. Tidyness is not my strong point. I have my doubts that my studio will ever be truly tidy. I just have too much stuff that gets stored in my studio. Old music gear, music books, cables… more to the point, I suck at putting things away. The good news is that my studio is up and running again. Loads to explore too. Not a completely new set up, but enough of a change that it will be a while before I am familiar with it all. The journey should be pretty exciting. So many sparks. So many revelations. That’s the joy of creating. Creation is boundaries encountered and overcome, revelation after revelation. The frustration of striving. The evolution of innovation. The joy of creation. Music is as pure an expression of creativity as you will find. Truly something of beauty. While music can, of course, be created without expensive computers, without interfaces and miles of cable, they certainly expand what is possible, the absoluteness of control, and the accuracy that expression is captured. All of which means having decent gear allows music writers and music producers to dream big and to capture what they dream in glorious detail. Wish me luck, fellow travellers. Exploring music, as either creator or listener, is essential. If we give ourselves over to it, if we commit to it, then we receive the greatest reward. Or I could just be warbling again. Me? Talk too much? Ok, you got me!

And there are producers working their ass off honing natural relatable stars for them to buy into as we speak lol

I mean, being a snob about normal ass is bad enough! Lol

Phew! It’s good to be back recording again. The first track in a while isn’t even one of the several songs I have been writing in preparation for being able to record again. Nope. The first track is something that came out of road testing my set up. I started with a melody, worked through some basic chords on my Nord, and then started building the track out on my DAW. Having put together a verse and chorus and laid down a “do do do” version of the melody, I started on writing some lyrics with the verse and chorus in a playback loop. I find that a pretty effective way of writing lyrics. Much as I often worry, when it’s been a long time between recording sessions, if somehow my muse will have left me, I really shouldn’t worry. I slip into a creative flow as easily as I breathe. My enthusiasm for exploring ideas far outstrips the notion of being stuck in a rut. I keep mixing it up, keep examining new techniques, so there is always new and exciting ground. Today I wrote 2 verses and a chorus. They work, but I am undecided if they are right for the song. Roll on tomorrow!

It’s the nature of the entertainments industry. Things are never as they seem.

post-it notes and a whiteboard are awesome planning tools. Combining them is great for task scheduling.

Remember my suggestion about creating a club about your music career? You can then add a calendar that details intended release dates (along with a discussion board, chat room, gallery & blog) so you can organise collaborators and team members for releasing and promoting your music. Just saying!

Hey Janice, great to hear how you have progressed your music! Well done! It’s also always good to hear where Songstuff has played a part in the success of members, no matter how big or small that role was.

Me lazy? I prefer, relaxed Most entertaining. I was chillin’ listening to John Martyn Grace and Danger, an album I haven’t listened to in years, and I thought I would re-read this blog post. Celebs. You think you know them and then you read this blog post and you realise there’s an entire side to them you just wouldn’t suspect!

Hi What production podcasts or video casts / livestreams would you recommend? Cheers John