john

Hey Jesse Welcome to Songstuff! How can we help you? We aren’t the busiest site on the internet, but we do have a friendly bunch of members ranging in experience from beginners to the highly experienced. Good thing about it not being the busiest? We can all do something about that.

Hey Ken, welcome to Songstuff! Dive right in. If you need any help just ask

Hey Mary Great to meet you, welcome to Songstuff! Do you write for specific genres?

Hey Richard, welcome to Songstuff Looking forward to hearing your songs

Hey Nigel Good to have you with us Good luck with your album. Shelter do a lot of great work. I hope it goes well.

“It’s all going well...” Famous last words. The title of the post pretty well gives it away. Just as I got it all working together, I was touring about trying instruments out, and the DAW froze, along with the whole PC, a high pitched whine came out the speakers and I had to reboot. Within an hour it had happened another 3 times. I suspect a dodgy VST. I hope it is a dodgy VST. At least that would be an easy fix. So tomorrow it’s Windows 10 Event Viewer time, pouring over event logs to see if I can spot the problem. Joy. It’s rarely that easy.

A beautifully languid vocal. Liquid velvet. Good job. It might not be a Finneas O’Connell, but you did a pretty good job all in. The only negative I would mention is with the mix. The instruments and the vocal sound detached, in a different sonic space. It’s not too hard to bring together and hardly a massive problem by any means. Great job. Keep on like this and you will need to drop the sub and become known as Vibe. Lol

Hi Garkal! Welcome to our community! Dive in and please be active. Remember when you post a song to get critique to say where (if anywhere) you would like reviewers to focus, and remember they are just trying to help. Please also critique the songs of other members, as well as helping them, it’s a great way to develop your own skills and it helps keep the community flowing. Have fun!

If there was one pearl of wisdom I could share with you about software and content licenses when migrating your core music PC, it would be this... AAAAAARRGGGHH! Dear Gods of music, enough already! I just wish that larger chunks (if not all) of the process could be automated to take some of the pain out of the process. On a bright note, I am almost there with this stage of upgrading my studio! The core studio software and hardware is working. A fair amount of set up for the streaming PC is still required. Still, some good progress was made today. Music fans really have no idea of the pain we endure in order to bring them music, do they?

Prompted by Steve Mueske’s blog post about LFOs I thought it worth while to talk a little about hearing range. At it’s best hearing is quoted at about 20Hz to 20kHz, but that begins deteriorating at about age 8. That is the range much audio gear is designed to. Of course there is quite a degree of variation between people. The lower bound can be as low as 12Hz and the upper bound can be as high as 28kHz. That said, the human hearing is most sensitive to frequencies between 2kHz and 5kHz. The expectation is that by the time you get to about 35 that the peak of 20Hz to 20kHz would typically be closer to 80Hz to 14kHz for a man and 60Hz to 16kHz for a woman. By 50 that could be 160Hz to 10kHz for a man and 150Hz to 12kHz for a woman. Hearing Range Test If you try the test, use headphones, and please post your results in the comments... at what frequency do you start to hear it, and at what frequency do you stop hearing it?

Welcome to Songstuff Good to have you with us

It always amazes me how many songwriters don’t. In the U.K. there is no central registration. All protections are inherent on creation or publication.... however, those writers/artists still make their music available in the USA... registration seems like a no-brained.

awesome!

Hey Steve 2-3 tracks at a time if that is ok? Sometimes I might be looking for something specific, or have a different limit, but if so I will say mention in the submission call.

Oh they tried pay to play... I’ve never done it and never would. I paid in hours of practice, hard work, passion.... pay to play here was venues squeezing the life out of musicians, taking advantage of their desperation to be famous. It’s been a long, long time since I had the remotest of interest in fame (think I was 19?), but I resent the implications of Pay to play. It’s like getting a plumber to fit a new kitchen and bathroom and then expecting him to give me money... and when he complains, saying “but think of the exposure” lol No chance.

So, I have been reworking my studio. The purpose has been to update my core system while preparing it for future developments, both for my own music, Deep Red Sea, and of course Songstuff. The feature photo for this post IS NOT my studio, but it does feel like that sometimes! That’s why I chose it. One big change ups setting up the studio as a viable streaming studio. I already have a couple of good lights and a green screen, along with a couple of decent back drops... I have a good DSLR I can use as a main camera and a webcam I can use for a second view, and I could use my phone as a 3rd shot. I have upgraded the RAM on my music system (which is my old general PC, repurposed for music) to 64Gb which is awesome. With an SSD primary drive it should be pretty fast and quiet. Meanwhile, I have repurposed my old Music PC as my general PC, but it will now live in the studio and also by my live stream controller! Awesome! All this came about because the RAM on my old music PC was maxed out at 16Gb, and it was struggling... something had to give and I would much rather see the potential benefits that simply see limitations. So, my now newly upgraded music system has had a mini makeover, most software already installed.... so I should be good to start recording this weekend.... but... I have the beginnings of laryngitis! Eek! So no vocals. On a good note, hopefully, that means I can do the Deep Red Sea mix of Sleep (great track by Mahesh)! About time too.... I’ve also started going through my tracks trying to sort out what will be on my EP. They are largely pre-written. I have a couple of different tracks written for an open tuning on my guitar. We’ll see where they fit best! Happy days!

Fair enough. You are paying someone a commission without a flat fee. What I said above was pretty well that the PR companies / Publicists who provide that same service to musicians, promoting their music and developing their brand, work primarily on a flat fee basis. You can of course find individuals who will do PR work on a commission basis, but it’s not that straightforward because you need to agree exactly what they get a percentage of and they may well want to see evidence of how their percentage has been determined. Even when done carefully it can easily spark arguments and distrust. The trouble I find is not in getting people for such things, but keeping them, and maintaining a good relationship with them. Commission-only sounds great, but it doesn’t easily breed contentment or stable relationships. Still, it is possible. Good luck with it! I don’t know where you get “pay to play” from my posts Joel. It exists, but it was not something I was suggesting or advocating. Anywhere. Any time. Perhaps you misunderstood what I was saying about playing by the rules and sometimes you have to pay a flat fee for services or you simply don’t get access to the service? I was simply saying some aspects of the music biz run happily on commission or royalty, quite happily while others are traditionally based on flat fees. Some work on a mix of the two, and the combination is often determined by who you are as the artist, where you are in your career, and your prospects for making money. Modern music producers, for example, want flat fees if you are an unknown with no track record or you have a poor track record. If you have a big budget and a large pending campaign, a commission is more tempting and meaningful. Event Promoters often get a mix of flat fee and a net commission on ticket sales, but the venue pays them, not you. A street team or online street team is a bit different, and may be more of what you are looking for. They do a variety of promotion tasks and can be a great asset. They are often either fans or interns (people trying to get into the music biz working for free, commission or reward/prizes). I find that Street Teams work best with set, short term goals and rewards. An element of competition is also useful. For example: a basic commission based on tickets sold, plus... if they were selling tickets/merch directly or they had a tracking code for links that could be used to determine where sales came from, you can offer a reward to the person whose efforts lead to the most sales. Or as a blanket, “If we reach X sales, you all get Y as a reward” The rest of the what you are talking about is interesting but a very different topic from web marketing and promotion. To me, this is all blue collar, meat and potatoes, making a living stuff, practicalities and reality... nothing to do with fame. How big business works can be interesting where it teaches us lessons, but beyond that it’s often a distraction. Making money on the “web thing” isn’t a collar thing, it’s an age thing. Kids do it like breathing. Old timers feel excluded. Another interesting but different debate! Growing your fanbase is just being an artist, with a plan. One foot in front of the other. Something being new, or new to you is about not knowing and it is a challenge for learning... that’s it. Commission only hiring is very possible but it can be making a rod for your own back if you are not careful. It is not uncommon in sales though it is not always the best fit when all is considered. So much depends on situation, aims and the people involved One option not yet mentioned, collaboration (formal or informal) for marketing and promotion. Most of us have skills or assets to trade. Also, not without it’s problems, but it can be an important part of any artist’s strategy. I think we can all agree to leave the dodgy deals, sharp trading and lies to the sharks. Understanding them is about avoiding them, not emulating them.

Hey Kevin, welcome to Songstuff! I look forward to hearing your tracks. What do you hope to get from Songstuff?

Honestly, I don’t rate them. I can’t think of one serious case where they made a difference. I can’t think of one artist or writer that went through the process and it changed their lives.... with the exception of the massive marketing competitions like AGT/BGT, XFactor, American Idol..... but then you have to set aside any reservations and suspend belief, in order to believe they are honest and fair competitions. You also have to be prepared for those programs shaping you according to their vision and with TV ratings in mind, not your career. There are a load of stories I could share about those kind of competitions, but I imagine you are more interested in the ISC or John Lennon Songwriting competitions and similar. Competitions are businesses, not some sort of benevolent star factory. Prizes are donated because of the PR value. Money from entry fees covers judge fees etc. So if it isn’t transformative, why do it? Bragging rights? The trouble is, no matter the competition, they can all so easily be fixed, and the true integrity of the entity and individuals that run the competition is unknown.

Another great example of coming together. It’s a solution for actors/dancers/designers/artists etc. In one of our articles about videos and engagement I suggested reaching out to colleges and universities to find videographers/actors/dancers/stylists/designers etc. It is not problem free, but a little thought up front to how you interview potential collaborators and the terms of the deal can save you a lot of pain in the long run.

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Not yet though I did check it out. Like you I am interested to see what others think of it, though more from curiosity than any real intention to purchase one.

Oh one other... become more proficient with my bohdran.

Groin fighting? I am sure there are other names for that lmao Beat boxing and me.... well it’s not pretty and not impressive. Might be good as a comedy act! A realistic one for my list.... Get recording.

Ps, who is dismissing you as a bitter curmudgeon?