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.
- Frequencies: In mixing we want to eliminate frequencies that are bothering us - muddy or screaming, distracting us from the sound we want from each individual track/instrument. In mastering, we aim to retain all the frequencies but enhance them to make the mix sound balanced.
- Plugin presets: Never use one single preset for the entire mastering of a mix in the mastering stage, never ever. You simply can find the best solution to changing 8 different variable like EQ, compression etc. with one single plugin for a 50 track mix. No way. You can use a preset for a single effect like compression to find an approximate level in the mastering stage. And then tweak it from there. In the mixing stage, use presets as a coarse targeting tool, but never in mastering.
- Loudness. In mastering make sure that the mix sounds big on any speaker - even at low volumes. Anyone who cranks up a song to rock concert volume can get tricked into thinking that they did a great masterings job. If a mix during the mixing stage sounds awesome at a low volume and in mono it will sound fantastically huge at higher volumes in stereo once it it mastered correctly. Shoot for huge sound at low volumes, in mono for your mixes and. master it in stereo so it sounds marvellous even at low volumes.
- Don't confuse harshness with loudness: It's not easy to make a track sound great at low volumes. It is easy to roll off the bass and add top end and crank it up to sound really loud and really harsh. A balanced master takes conscious effort. Go for a full and warm sound that translates well to all types of speakers - car stereos, earplugs, expensive surround systems with subwoofers - everywhere! This is called sonic consistency. It's always better to sound better than louder. Warning: Don't ever try to make your master any louder than a commercial records!
- You can't master every song in the same way. But in order to put an album together, you might want to use similar plugins on each track but apply them a bit differently to each song. Every song is unique.
Remember: there is no "magic bullet" in mixing or mastering. Every song requires it's own unique care. You can't copy and paste plugin settings. "The fact is, it is the culmination of all the little things that you do that add up in the end to create a great final result!"
- Think albums, not individual streaming mp3s: Many artists today release singles once a month to keep their fans happy and to increase sales. A few, after a while, clump some of those songs they've released together, maybe remixing a few to release an album. If they don't keep the goal of releasing the album in the back of their minds as they release their singles, they risk having masters that don't fit together all too well in the final album. Singles get attention but an album is a story. The songs have to work together on it. So, if you master singles, keep you upcoming album in mind!
- Overcooking: Don't over process your tracks! Turn the compression off and see if it really did what it was supposed to do. The more you compress, the less natural sound you lose. Likewise with every plugin. In mastering it is super easy to overcook the final mix. Make small incremental adjustments and be careful. Every plugin takes the entire sound and recalculates it based on it's algorithm. Everything you do to "enhance" it can simultaneously steal away from the natural power of the song, so be careful and don't overcook it.
Every plugin has its pros and cons. Think about that before you add a plugin. It isn't just the number of plugins but also the amount of each plugin applied that can ruin your master/mix
- Finally, one big mistake to avoid according to Rob is not referencing enough: Check to compare your master to commercial ones on as many different speakers as possible.
A great pdf!
Songwriting
I am writing new music again. That's what I do. I use a great homepage to figure our just what chords I am using when I write new songs. Here's the link to Chord Designer: http://www.chorderator.com/designer/
Tips: If you want to read how I write a new song, why not check out my LinkedIn page. There, I wrote four articles on how to write music for Indie Musicians. It's too much to fit into my diary day....
Subscribe
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Friday! Time w hubby night! We just ate waffles and now we are going to see the other half of Ben Hur. Have a great weekend!