john

I share the same general concern that artists collectively will reveal too much of what happens behind the scenes, blowing any sense of mystery, in an ill informed pursuit of engagement with no real filter (really folks, you use an audio editor… editors exist for a damn good reason. Add to that, you wouldn’t dream of going out to public jams or open mics until you at least understood the basics). It is not dishonest to show your best side via whatever medium. After all, 99% of us will self-edit to a degree. I certainly haven’t seen any livestreams coming from a toilet (yet!), because on some level artists understand that going to the toilet is fundamental to being a human, but it barely registers for artists promoting their music. Funny that! And yet I see it all the time, artists presenting a warts ‘n’ all view in the name of authenticity. It’s just like dating. It takes time for most people to see us for who we are, because we hold back some of it, for many good reasons. Do we need to see all the various stages of preparation someone goes through before going out with them in order to appreciate how good they look or that they went to some effort? Would it ruin the surprise? Absolutely. Undermine the anticipation? Probably. Ruin the impact? Definitely. Like video, podcasts, livestream, the issue is not technology. It’s how people use it. A little ignorance goes a long way. I guess what I am trying to say is…. Music is an entertainment industry. It requires some mystery to preserve it’s magic. Think of it this way…. You get to go see a world class magician. Sure, you know it’s not real magic, they are tricking you, but we enjoy not knowing how they did it. Would you prefer knowing how they do every single trick before going, or going along and enjoy not knowing? It’s also fairly obvious, but it’s easy to see the negative effect on all magicians if you start revealing tricks because many tricks share common elements and many many tricks will be ruined. I think it’s obvious when you think of it like that. If artists would only learn what to share, how and when to share it, they and the industry would benefit greatly. As it is, clubhouse offers a lot… but only if people know how to use it.

Hey Max66, welcome to Songstuff! Have you recorded any of your songs yet?

What’s your biggest issues with music production?

Hey The series of “What makes this song great” by Rick Beato is fantastic. A fun, enthusiastic analysis of some of the best songs of all time, well worth following along for any writer or arranger. His look at Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb is fairly typical of his analysis, picking up on a lot of beautiful detail woven into this great song. Enjoy:

It’s a good question. There isn’t a right answer. It all comes down to your strategy to get the response from your audience. There are things that influence you differently depending on where you are in your journey as an artist, things that are influenced by the days of week specific carts are published or the days when specific music press is published, or that are influenced by the week of the month depending on your audience demographic (for example if your audience is teenagers and early twenties who are unemployed, in college or weekly wage work, time of month has little effect. If your audience demographic is young professionals, then timing for the beginning of the month tends to be better because of payday). The type of music can influence the time of year for a release (winter more romantic and sentimental songs, spring more aspirational, summer more “in the moment” songs, winter more reflective songs. Of course how your music fits the schedule and sequence of your other music releases has an effect, but as an Indy, if your budget is small, tailoring your release to stand out from the myriad of other releases can be important. With charts in mind it can be an idea to let’s several days lapse before chart data is available for better chart position for press (if you have a strong following) or on the day before specific press hits the stands and the reason for low numbers can be put down to a new release (instead of a disengaged following or no following!) or releases being made in relation to events or….. well a load of reasons (I am sure I missed a really common one, but hey!). Phew! Like everything to do with making and releasing music, amateurs and professionals have different approaches. Amateurs artists think “That much effort makes it too much like work, too little like art.”, music business professionals think “Making music is too damn expensive with way too much competition as so many uncontrollable elements, it is criminal not to control what you can. Minimize the risk, maximize the opportunity.” Meanwhile, professional mainstream artists think “Meh I leave that to the business dudes”, and increasingly indie professionals think “I had to learn a lot of how the business works and I’m always open to find out more”. Mindset is the biggest difference between amateurs and independent professionals. So, if you have aspirations to be anything more than your average amateur, it’s good to ask questions! Point is, the devil is in the detail. To get better results you have to ask questions, learn, plan for your very specific circumstances, take action, analyse metrics, learn some more, tweak, rinse and repeat. Additionally… reasoned creativity is your friend! In music, learn from the flock, especially industry leaders… and the be inspired to do your own thing using the lessons learned.

A good cover, true to the original though it would always struggle as “not as good as the original” in a like for like comparison and at the same time it lacks anything really original to set it apart. As mentioned, great job with the vocals, and for that matter all the parts. Other than being a like for like cover, I only have 3 comments: It lacks the raw energy that the original delivered. In that, particularly the drummer hit the notes but missed out on the passion and dynamics. The bass level could come up a bit. As it is, it is a bit muddy. The guitar solo sound just doesn’t sit well with the other sounds. I did really enjoy it!

Patch bays. To the soft-studio generation patch bays are obsolete. Yet as you accumulate studio gear their need is just as vital to a studio as they ever were. They are the hub that is in the middle of a well organized studio. They provide a central location for connecting together your gear, but they also protect your gear. Patch bay connectors take the wear and tear, saving the connectors on your expensive piece of kit. They also save you looking about the back of gear to connect your equipment, improving your work flow. Patch bays come in several forms in a studio: Unbalanced Jack Balanced Jack XLR (Balanced) Phono Midi There can even be network or other patch bays. With Jack patch bays, there tend to be two rows, A and B. There’s a default connection type between Corresponding A and B connectors: Normal Semi-Normal Open or Through Parallel These connector types dictate the way each top row connector relates to it’s corresponding bottom row connector. This includes what happens when a Jack is inserted into A or B My memory of setting up patch bays in pro studios was dominated by a lot of soldering, as the rear of the panel was wires being attached in configurations that set up the connection types above. Flexibility was key. It was fairly easy for studio owners to have cheap, custom patch bays…. With the investment of a little effort. Because of that effort setting up a patch bay generally took some planning. While convenience (after set up) and protection of connectors were key benefits of patch bays, they also mean investing in more cables. A single non-patch bay connection takes a single cable. With a patch bay a connection requires 2 or 3 cables. That’s a lot of cables to trail about! As a result, studios often make use of multi-core wiring looms to reduce the mess. Like patch bays, wiring looms come in unbalanced and balanced varieties. So, why this post? Well, I just finished rewiring my studio. I already had an unbalanced Jack patch bay, but I added a balanced Jack patch bay. I have a feeling an XLR patch bay is in my near future. The back of my rack is a jumble of wires, made a bit more manageable with 7 or 8 8 way looms. That means going through every connection in the patch bay and configuring it correctly. For me most are normalled or semi-normalled, alongside perhaps 10 open/thru connections. And so…. Breathe. Today, connect two devices by midi, and that’s it. Time to tidy away unused cables etc. and the studio should be ready. Basic audio connections are tested, so my test project will be used to test all connections, including connections to and from a PC I use for live streams. I also need to go through my checklist for optimising a Windows 10 system for music: 34 Tips To Optimize Your Windows 10 PC For Making Music Then experimenting with updated DAW features begins in earnest!

Did you mean to post a reply?

Hey there Adam! Welcome to Songstuff What sort of music do you make?

lol Apparently 80%+ of Facebook posts are written in the bathroom! What is it about being in the bathroom inspires you? The ambient reverb? Lol

On a bright note that means you aren’t constrained. Less previous or self-made restrictions in place. The freedom to go anywhere and do anything!

I’ve joined and nosed around a couple of times. Nothing more serious so far. As ever, I scratch my chin and think hmmm… how could musicians use this? And is it better than what else is available. It has some potential, at least!

I moved your topic. You posted to the lyrics critique board, but didn’t post any lyrics

Hey Alexander Welcome to Songstuff! Great to have you with us! What are your hopes and plans for your music? Cheers John

A lovely piece, played beautifully. Good job!

Hi Juy, welcome to Songstuff!

Hey there, a big welcome to Songstuff! Looking forward to hearing your tracks

Hi and welcome to Songstuff! If you remain solo for the foreseeable future, what would you do with the music and your time?

Pretty good Denis. The guitars, sound & performance, really work. The vocals are not bad. The vocal sound could be a little brighter, it’s a bit muffled and the sound needs work. Look at a ducking EQ on the guitar controlled from a compressor side chain on the vocal channel and using a stereo slap-back delay for some room ambience without the muffle. You can hear uncertainty in your performance at points... that could be general lack of vocal confidence or lack of confidence in this particular song or simply nerves. In particular I notice some lack of control on the few vocal runs. Nothing big. Something that could be corrected by breath control and practice. Additionally there are a few points where you are a little bit flat, not badly, but noticeable. Yet again breath control and practice coupled with some ear training should do it, though perhaps practice recording vocals with only one ear in your cans (hearing the fold back mix) and the other ear listening to the performance in the room. Vocal performance when you open up on the higher ornamentation your voice is much stronger. The one thing I think that would make a huge difference to the vocal performance is feeling. Feel the words. Thinks about the emotion, the emotional journey. If you feel it, your audience will feel it. If you don’t? Well it’s a lot less engaging and you will find it harder to connect. Overall, I enjoyed it. I am being deliberately picky to give you feedback for areas to improve. I hope this helps!

Well, when you break copyright law as a meter of course, it’s bound to catch up with you.

Have you set up a mailing list Jim? There are a load out there. I’ve looked at a bunch and compared features, pricing plans and use-ability, and mailer lite is the one I would recommend. It’s only downside is the lack of other platforms integrating it. Otherwise it has a free plan with a load of great features other mailers don’t offer until you reach the $70 per month on their paid plans. Mailing lists are vital to developing a relationship with your fans,and these days paying attention to fan engagement is fundamental to growing your fanbase. Autoresponder features of your chosen mailer are a core tool for indie artists.

nice tidy set up Greg. I liked the predecessor Yamaha NS10 (inspired the HS range) but it always had a poor bass response despite the rest of the frequency response being pretty flat. I believe the HS range has the same issue. Do you do anything to compensate or otherwise deal with it? When I used them I simply turned up the bass boost in my output stage during mixdown, and then reset it to zero for rendering. Otherwise my mixes would be too bass dominated.

Hey George Welcome to the Songstuff forums!

Hey Overviews and feature tours are very useful. Worth keeping up to date with updates too.