This is how I go forward with my music - the real story from November 2017 and towards the album release but it took Volume 2 to get the whole way there. Creating, editing and mixing music is a complicated effort but loads of fun.
For all you who wa...
It was Valentine's Day! Maybe the hardest person to love is yourself! You keep pushing yourself to do things and be things...take a day to love yourself too! Just be
Jesus said we should love our neighbours as ourselves. If we don't love ourselves, then we can't love others. Love yourself today!
Back to the grind
O.k. while I am trying to love myself despite the fact that I am not yet done with my debut album, I dive into the next video (seen above) about how to get the vocals to sound rockier. This is something I am shooting for in the main track and a few others on the Change My Mind album.
He's got some expensive plugins and hardware but the idea is to layer the background vocals and give them just that amount of reverb, compression and "stuff". One of them, the CLA vocals plugin is on sale for 39 USD but I can't invest in that now. (The accountant bill from yesterday). So I keep doing my best with what I already have.
I updated my LinkedIn and MakerSupport pages. I saw that I need to update the Change My Mind project film on YouTube. Ouch. In the video I said I'd release it by 2017. I won't until this year. Never, ever say today or tomorrow I will do this or that Just do it. (Learning the hard way!) Just drop that album or single when it is completely done.
Networking - got a few new subscribers on YouTube through subscribing to others on FB network. too much trouble chasing subscribers. Not going to do that anymore. Time waste. If I scratch their back in order to get them to scratch mine, it really isn't worth much is it? Better to just create and let them find me. Decision made.
Organisation leads to progress
Wunderlist app on my Mac = Great move! I just downloaded the Wunderlist app for my Mac and synced it to my phone. Now, as I listen to my music in the mixing stage, I can write down what needs to be addressed, a sorts check list for all the fix that needs to be done. No more loose paper notes getting lost. All fix notes in one place. And as soon as I fix the problem it is removed from my list.
I even made a list for the release of the entire album. I don't know if I need to do everything on the list yet, but I can prioritise the things on the list, add and subtract as I go. This list is from Ari's book plus my own ideas, found in various blogs.
The work of an indie artist releasing an album is daunting. I wish I had a team that would do some of it but we are not there yet. I am going to ditch preorders with this album and no more campaigns. So I just remove those. Easy as cake. I really recommend every indie musician/producer to work with Wunderlist. If you get and idea you add. When the job is completed delete. I have a copy of the final workflow saved to reuse for the next album release.
Remember, everything you do that someone else misses puts you in an advantage in the noise.
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Wunderlist is especially great for making do lists within the mix
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You will grow to love working with this app and best of all, it is free!
Video Tips
A sample of his week's video gems: I usually listen to these while I eat lunch or when I need a break.
#1: Always mix in context not in solo. ( I sped read through this. Been there, done that wrong! Oh, man) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysh0mPqCUHU The solo button is the one worst button on your DAW. (Jason Moss) Especially important with electric guitars with a lot of fuzz, but, yeah, everything!
#2. Eyes Out: Practice so much that you don't have to look at where you are placing your hands on the guitar. (pretty obvious isn't it? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6544Zdj0z0 (Stitch Method) Practice makes perfect. (I still look at times...)
#3: 5 Quick Master Bus Mixing Tricks (Warren Huart) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9McdQrolxc Over my head at the moment....sad but true. :-(
#4: Mixing in the Box. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoQjWZpt0KI Man, everything is so tight! I went into the song Change My Mind and did a major overhaul. Sounds sharp now! Yay!
#5: The First Rule (Musician with a Mission) https://join.musicianonamission.com/woohoo-first-rule-music/?Id=41236&Email=elisabeth.kitzing%40gmail.com&ptpd=0 The myths and methods of mixing. You can do it with stock plugins and a poorly audio treated room. Good news. I knew this already but did you. This guy is just leading up to the sell (came later in video #2) I don't need any more gurus at this point. Sorry, no.
#6 Cleaning up guitar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhY6FIz7M88 used this one this week too.
Magic AB
I found and bought some reference songs to use in the Magic AB app, songs that have a power and balance that are in the direction I am shooting for in the song I am mixing now. I spent some time reading through the manual and then took a nice long walk to let it sink into my brain. It is important to take long walks and exercise. (Oh, that winter would pass! Makes things so much easier!)
