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I spent a good portion of the other evening gathering up my own CD-Roms and music tracks for organization, based on my writings about creating a laptop music arsenal. It was a daunting task. Nobody said it was going to be easy, but maybe you know differently.
I have done this before, but have since flooded my desktop with so many different types of media, including films I’ve directed, that it was definitely time for a clean-up. Your desktop might need a clean-up, too (just guessing).
One thing I noticed, as I beat myself over the head with this task, is that I had so many different “versions” of single songs that they were labeled in too many different ways, taking up a ton of space on the disks and making me feel less likely to go through them all. Now I have no choice, thanks to my fickle tastes (especially with all the mixing down I’ve done).
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I am HAPPY with the time I spent completing this task. I have found a few gems. I hope you do too.
Stay focused, stay focused, stay focused. Stay on, stay on, stay on. We are often our own worst enemies within this process. Again, it’s not easy. The proverbial potato chip notion that “no one can eat just one” is so very true indeed, but when it comes to some of you being confident with just “one song,” you’re gonna have to eat just one and hold back. If it’s not working, then go for two, then three, and so on; just be careful not to promote so many at a time that you lose sight.
I learned a long time ago not to write for the masses. It’s not a good way to start out. Sure, everybody wants to have a hit song, but I can assure you that, the one song you write that’s from the heart and tells a unique tale will be the song that grabs its fair portion of listeners. Alternatively, if you have a song collecting dust that is otherwise “ready” (or perhaps needs some more work), follow this link (as I address using music producer software), to help you get that song out there.
More to come.
© 2010 – Paul Alexander for: www.MusiciansCompanion.net – All Rights Reserved. Paul Alexander Music: http://www.PaulAlexanderMusic.com – The Official Home of Paul Alexander Music.
Be not afraid to get yourself into great physical shape, whatever that means to you individually, so that you can really shine onstage. You are going to have to stand out in some special way if you want to captivate your audience, and the best way to do this is to be relaxed and to be yourself. While this is common sense, it certainly bares repeating for many of you.
You have your songs, your “look,” (perhaps) a solid following, and you’ve been at this for a while. I say kudos, but you say “who knows?” The singers, songwriters, and musicians my heart resonates with the most are the ones who are going it alone, fighting to overcome great adversity, and/or are with a band that can use a healthy, compassionate, and genuine infusion of self-esteem. After all, it is often the case that, the more talented you are or the (more) glowing potential you show, the (less) many people will want you to know. Regardless of whether or not you have the best music producer software, music creation software, or other equipment, you should still be making music and getting digital music distribution.
From pen to paper, the craft of songwriting is so primal and primitive to some that they often forget that it is a gift; a tiny seed that holds the promise of growing into the very largest of productions. For those of you who feel like you are “dying with the music inside you,” I ask you and beg you (from my own periods of discouragement) to consider just how very important you are. You are the creator of inspired life through your music, no matter how light or how dark your work happens to manifest. Therefore, you are the giver (if by nothing else, than by default), as the by-product of being the creator. You are the giver of a kindred hand and spirit. In your unconventional message, through the psychic imprint of who you were or where you were at the time you wrote that piece, you extend forever that needed sense of identification and personal recognition to the listener who has arrived at that emotional or spiritual point at a time that was different than yours was, yet finds the much-needed company of the kindred spirit who is on the same wavelength within the song. It’s deep, but it’s also true. Additionally, it’s there whenever the listener needs it.
Often worth thousands upon thousands of therapy bills, you offer it (often-times) in a 3-5 minute, single session. Yes, you are very important indeed. That’s even if you find yourself wounded in some way when considering how to share the gift. Do not worry. Be not afraid. It is your calling, or you wouldn’t be able to write songs or make music. The way will pave itself, you will be guided when ready, and guardians/messengers will meet you along the way to provide the road maps.
If you are suffering in any way, you will heal yourself by healing others. You would not be here otherwise. You might have notebooks upon notebooks filled with lyrics and music, but because you haven’t recorded them, you think that they don’t matter. They matter. If they didn’t matter, you wouldn’t have written them. There are songs in those notebooks that can improve a someone else’s life (if not your own). That song might be the one message that somebody needs to hear.
Get yourself energized. Drink plenty of healthy fluids. If you smoke, quit, even with the help of a medication if necessary. You don’t have to carry bad lifestyle habits, despite some of the stereotypes about musicians and songwriters. Get out of your chair, exercise, raise your pulse, pick up your instrument, pen, and paper, and hit the “record” button. Get your songs ready and book that show.
We arrived not so long ago in a digital age that is too often changing its way of recording and storing music files. This seemingly plentiful digital world can, in fact, hinder (and not increase) your determination and level of creative output when recording and actually FINISHING your songs. Some of you might not understand what I’m getting at yet, while others not only understand, but have been actively scratching their heads with a general feeling of being “stuck” and “confused” regarding “what to do next” with their finished/unfinished music for YEARS.
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When musicians and songwriters don’t feel they are using the latest and greatest recording equipment, their self-esteem often suffers because they are placing “the cart AS the horse.” The result of this is that you don’t “move” or “make progress.” From (questionably) primitive CD-Rom music data storage, to wavs, mp3’s, memory sticks, micro-sd cards and the like, the list goes on and “tweaks itself” accordingly in order to resonate with the most recent digital “trends” in music recording and storage. Yet, many of us still have the technologically obsolete but BRILLIANTLY trustworthy Type II high bias or Type IV metal cassettes on the trusty old 4-track mixer, while suffering from the ILLUSION that this is “inferior” or “passe,” and therefore, your music must be “inferior” or “passe.” Nothing can be further from the truth.
When it comes to recording music in a home studio (or the closest thing you would call one), function should rule over form. I said it in the Musician’s Companion book, and I’ll say it again: once the recording is finished, the average music listener will not know how you did the recording, or how much money you spent (hopefully none at all), so long as the recording is clear, nicely layered, and well done (with highest-quality, up front vocals if the song isn’t an instrumental). This requires some mixing creativity on your own part (which I’m sure you have).
I love my Tascam 4-track. I admit it. It is so incredibly packed with mixing possibilities that it is seems “endless,” especially when doubling up tracks then ping-ponging to other single tracks. But all of us have, at a time, messed up somehow during this process and used up all of our tracks with no more space to add any more musical instruments unless you let another one go. There is a trick to fixing this, but it’s completely unconventional. It not only solved my problems, but some work I partially completed on my mixer received media praise.
If this is the case with you, and you are without music producer software benefits, you might have a not-so-fully-finished music/vocal recording that still seems too much like a “skeleton version,” and not enough like a finished song. The horrific result is that you abandon your musical piece entirely and become discouraged and/or avoidant.
Here is a quick recording tip even if you’ve already mixed down your recording to a CD or old cassette tape, allowed it to collect dust on your shelf for too long, but desire to bring this “forgotten about” musical masterpiece back to life.
1.) Take your CD or cassette player and run a line back into your 4-track mixer and record the entire song back onto a single track. You can also record the entire song back onto two tracks and bounce it back (ping pong) onto another available single track in order to “double up” the sound. You’ve just created 3 available tracks with the (present) song all on one track.
2.) Add some additional instruments and a vocal harmony.
3.) Burn a CD of the newly-polished, “completed” song you have just successfully brought back from the dead.
Do NOT give up on your songs. They do not become “new” until they are released, regardless of how old they are to you. Be creative and think outside the box when it comes time for resurrecting your well-deserved music.
