An Indie Musician's Diary VOL. 1

Finishing a mix & mastering tips

What I've been doing lately - focusing

Lately I have been focusing on the music and this has forced me to make this decision. I will post no more spontaneous videos, Facebook Live or anything else until the Music is out on Spotify. I have to do this in order to get momentum and get done with the album asap. I love sharing what I'm thinking about, but I've seen that people don't seem to appreciate my spontaneous stuff. I'm not hitting home when I share spontaneously. People have short attention spans, I need to weigh every word and keep the videos upbeat, short and sweet using a manus and edit them well. I need to create beautiful and eye-catching thumbnails to get their attention too. Making professional videos with great content takes a great effort - time that I could be using for other things like making music. So. I am taking a pause from video making except for an intro video for Patreon until the music is out. 

This was the last drop: The past week I posted a Facebook Live video called Jesus is not your Puppy. It was a spontaneous sharing kind of thing. I took the time to edit it, add some real content and titles and sound effects and then posted the finished version with end cards, links etc on YouTube. Then I posted all the places a musician should on all my social media areas and waited over the weekend. On Facebook I got six likes, one share and that's it. On YouTube, I had a total of three views.

 So I went to YouTube and changed the video to a linked version (no longer public).

I think what I am learning is LESS TALK AND MORE PROFESSIONAL ACTION. It is a hard world out there and not everybody thinks a 55 year old blonde is worth listening to, even though she has a lot to say, share and sing about. There is a great deal of noise to penetrate and who know if I am getting shadow banned? If I post anything it better be the best, thought through and powerful. Less is more. 

I think we indie musicians float around in this great ocean with no land in sight wallowing and grouping after a unique core message and the group that wants to hear it, telling at all the boats passing by. All the while we just have to be ourselves and do it well. 

The good news is that ReverbNation is growing rapidly with now over 315 fans. 

Finishing a mix - I just need a plan

After three years of working on this album I just want to get done and give the world my precious gift to society.  Undoubtedly, the last couple of months have been awesome for me - learning all sorts of new tricks, getting closer to a final mix on three of my most complicated songs and learning mastering. Its been fun but I want to move on and do other projects. My fans are losing their patience as well. So I need to get done for their sake.

Besides uploading to OS Sierra, the latest Logic Pro X and buying the SSL - G (which I already after one day love.) I am back to work and wonder, "How will I ever know when I am done." This video was smack dab, bullseye what I needed today. I encourage you who do mixing to give him a listen. 

I have found that the last 10% of the mixing process is much more difficult than the first 90. Why? Because the last 10% of mixing a song is made up of subjective decisions.

Just like the extra icing decorations on a birthday cake, the last 10% should make all the difference, maximizing the attractiveness and quality of the product to the lowest price for the best outcome.

Look at it this way In the beginning you have a song idea. That is your recipe.

You create the lyrics, think out an arrangement,  record each instrument, comp the takes and fix each track, cutting frequencies that ditract. (That's like cutting away the edges of your butter before adding the exact right amount of it to your batter). You do a static mix in mono and adjust EQ and compression here and there in the context of the mix. Your cake is baked and cooling.