An Indie Musician's Diary VOL. 1

Jan 16: Cold in the Studio

Cold!

All last night a freezing storm raged outside, plastering snow on the windows.

It was only 15 degrees Celsius in the studio this morning. Brrr! Hope they can fix it today.  They came by many times and did what they could but it looks like they may have to replace one of the radiators - the one in my studio, (of course!).  Until they fix it, I will have to use a space heater. (Not good for the guitars as it reduces the humidity in the room which should lie at about 50%.)

Call to action - I need more YouTube subscribers!

After reading a how to guide about YouTube from CDBaby I decided I needed to write a call to action on Facebook for new subscribers to my YouTube channel. If I get 100 subscribers or more, I can change my YouTube URL to something more rememberable. As it is now, it is one long chain of unremarkable letters, numbers and symbols. That means it is hard for people to find me. 

In addition, if I get more contacts with people (I subscribe to those who subscribe to me), then I increase my network and when the album is released it will spread more easily through YouTube. 

I would say that having a growing presence and increasing numbers of followers on YouTube is vital as is a growing email list. 

I have to be more regular in my posts on Reverbnation, YouTube and Facebook Live. I just want to focus for about two months on getting this first album done. Somehow I am reminded that I can't just do the album, I need to work on the stats constantly. Talk about press.....sigh.

I did a drive and now Im up to an amazing 36 subscribers. I must be doing something wrong.

This is the dilemma: I have to vreate videos regulatly in order to get more subscribers. So, because I need to get the music done first Ill justput the idea of improving my numbers aside for now...

Learning & learning by doing

I learn by reading and then applying. Otherwise I lose what I just read. 

Videos: 

Today I finally got done with the finishing you mix video by David Glenn. I took notes too. Amazing what some of his plugins cost! I will have to make do with what I already own this time around, trying to imitate what he did as close as I can. The principles are the same even when the tools look different. MusicHelpTechGuy (YouTube) does all his mixing and mastering with factory plugins found within Logic Pro X. If he can so can I. 

I did buy the Magic AB plugin and (still) need to remove some projects to make room for the installation of it. And I haven't really located the tracks that I will be using for reference tracks. Lot of work to be done before I get into mastering. 

I like his approach but then as he demonstrated, he lost me. So I'll take his bullet point list to heart and let the professional demo go. 

PDF: Today, I'm reading through "How to Master a song from Prosoundformula - just to get  my mind ready to tackle this. 

Mixing

I heard some pops in the lead vocal last I checked (after a major glitch). I will try to address them. Seems that the limiter plugin usually causes these pops. 

I also have a harmony I want to add. 

Backup today: black hard drive (every other day red)