An Indie Musician's Diary VOL. 1

Dec 16: Mixing vs. Mastering

It's Friday!!!!!

Even Fridays I have this mental fight. Every day I have to fight a fight in my mind to get this music done against all odds...

The odds are really against me.

1.There is so much music out there already.

2. There are countless young and beautiful artists and songwriters out there to competing with little old me.

3. I'm older and less talented (but I have more time and experience to dip my songwriting spoon into.)

4. I don't have a band, an agent, a marketing professional or any other help (but I am free to call the shots all by myself).

5. The demand for the kind of music I do is small...but those who want it are hungry for more.

So I tell myself I'm going to do it anyway - against all odds. And I have to remind myself why I am in this business on a daily basis.

Why I keep doing this music: I know I am doing the right thing speaking about what I write about and sing about. This is where my joy is. I have to respond to a world that has pretty much given up and is spiralling into chaos - there is a better way that works - God's unconditional love and his rules bring loving order to their chaos. This passion keeps me going. And, more than anything else, there were two times when the Holy Spirit was so heavy on me that I know that he is the real deal. In his presence I received my calling and I intend to run with it as long as he supports me. This is the real life. Because of those two times I can never question his existence or his amazing love for me again. I am hopelessly hitched up with Jesus forever.

Copyrighting

I figured out that it's a good thing to order all my copyrighted songs onto one single Pages list so I know which one's I've registered and not and which files I have uploaded or not (lyrics, lyrics and chords, mp3 etc). I have a lot of work to do registering songs and the more I register the more is important it is to keep track of them. I have now included all the songs that are on YouTube music videos. So now they are legit and available to the public through CCLI. Better late than never...Boy, does this paperwork ever take time!

Music Theory

Today, I am looking at lesson 5 in the Udemy course and studying lesson three in music theory for producers (above).

Mastering

Learning the dos and don'ts of mastering: It is important to keep learning about mastering as I prepare the mixes for mastering. I am new to all this and must humbly study this intently in order to give you guys some great music. (If you think the technical talk here is boring, go to the next section.) I reiterate his points in compat form and in my own words here. Writing this stuff down helps me remember theory. Applying it in practice solidifies my learning.

10 Mastering Mistakes: I read a pdf from Rob Williams today, (www.ProSoundformula.com), called "10 Major Mastering Mistakes" that he gives out for free to those who sign up for his free Mastering course. It is a good read. (No, I am not endorsing him but I think he is great at what he does, so if you are mixing or mastering check him out!) These are the top ten typical mistakes that can be avoided if you do the mastering in a smart way.

- Remember mixing and mastering are not the same process at all: In mixing you are fixing and enhancing individual tracks, each instrument gets special attention and all the instruments are balanced in the mixing phase. In the mastering phase all these instruments are now treated as one track.