CarsonStevens

I feel ya, man. The last woman I was seeing would go "uh huh" when I mentioned I finished recording a new song and then promptly change the subject. We're not together anymore.

On the other hand, I do sometimes wonder why I'm "wasting" my time writing and recording music that I want to put on an album, despite being too broke/not confident enough in my material's potential to actually make that album "properly" and stick it up on iTunes. I mean, it's gonna sound like I recorded it in my bedroom, which I did. Who's gonna buy that?

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food1010

Well, it's not too late. I mean, sure it sucks that you're not where you wish you were by age 30, but if you keep worrying about the past, you're going to say the same thing when you're 40, 50, etc.

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Only play what you hear. If you don’t hear anything, don’t play anything.
-Chick Corea

Joshua1207

If the music is good people will buy it. Lo-fi is prominent in the indie community. Some of my favorite Best Coast songs are their lo-fi, bedroom recordings.

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Hail

animals as leader's debut album was made in a bedroom



you just have to have solid technique, decent-quality instruments and hardware, and a lot of patience

lo-fi's cool but fuck best coast, poseur garbage

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amonamarthmetal

Yea... With help from Misha Mansoor.

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My name is Joe. call me Joe.

Click here if you like arpeggios

91RG350

The Stones played O2 last week at an average age of 70 or something. Im not sure how much practice you can fit into the next 40 years..... my guess is that you still have time to "get good"...

And for the various people in the mindset of "who would ever want to hear my music...whats the point...etc".... stop giving a shit. You're doing it for the wrong reasons. I would guess that the majority of famous folks got famous because they honestly didnt care what people thought of their work.

Sorry to be narky...its been a long few days at this end.....

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Hail

yes, with help from a bedroom guitarist with a pod HD500, a bunch of random clips on soundclick, and a lot of patience

you wouldn't know either of their names if they hadn't done bedroom music a couple years ago.

plus, aren't they both like 30 now? TS, get poppin

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Jehannum

As long as one person hears and genuinely likes your music (not just because they're a friend or girlfriend) then that's okay. It's not going to fund a mansion in the Bahamas but it's validation.

francesco18

As a listener I don't give a rat's ass how old are the musicians I'm listening to.

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yo dawg, I heard you like masterpieces : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyX7vc0k5_k


Michael Gira in a nutshell

Freepower

When does music have a point?

Does your music fit the criteria?

Solved. ^^

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Youtube (Lessons + Music)

More than 30 MP3s

CarsonStevens

Yes, well, there's the thing. I'd guess AAL used much, much better gear than I have.

I'd say my equipment is "okay". My mixing skills are vaguely passable. Honestly, I don't know if my technique is any good. My instructor doesn't have any major complaints when I play tracks for him, and my friends like 'em. I don't get much feedback here, but it's been favorable so far.

I *could* just be stressing over nothing, but I feel like I have to figure out how to strike a balance between "don't release anything until you're a great player" and "I may never be a great player, or it may take another ten years and I don't want to wait that long".

A friend of mine told me recently "You're never gonna be 100% happy with your own stuff, because you can hear all the mistakes". I'm trying to take that to heart, but I hate having to finish a song by saying "You know, that bend isn't perfect but I literally can't do any better."



Well, this is absolutely true. I enjoy my own music, or else I wouldn't be making it. I hold no illusions that I'm going to ever make anything more than beer money off of whatever I record, though.

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Hail

yeah, a pod HD500 and a mid-range 8-string is top of the line

iirc for bass they literally just took a 6 string guitar and used an octaver

there are tons of resources for help mixing and DIY projects, and it's all a matter of fiddling around. my favorite electronic artist uses FL studio 8 and no speakers and his mixes sound amazing

recording is all about doing it until it's perfect, even if you can't play it perfectly in one take. DIY isn't that hard. you might spend an entire night getting one lick to sound right, but in a couple months it's high-quality, your skills are improved, and you have something to release.

nut up or shut up. i'm saving up for recording equipment because i'm in the same boat, but all that time is going into improving my playing and writing until i have good enough equipment to refine and release it rather than "but but but but but"

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Xiaoxi

This tends to happen when I look at a score from Brahms.

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Modes and scales are dumb and useless. Stop learning them. No, seriously.

Analyzing Brahms: Insights to Help Us Improve Our Music

Nelsean attempting to pronounce my name lol

I got Last.fm. Don't know why...

CarsonStevens

Heh. Well, in my case, it's not like I'm recording a Squier into an MG with a Rock Band mic. I like the way my instruments/amp sound, and I have a good array of pedals. Honestly, I think one of my biggest niggles is that I don't know if I'm expecting too much. Like, sometimes I have the feeling that I'm getting as good a sound out of my stuff as I'm gonna get, and no, it's not gonna sound like a pro recording no matter what I do to it. Other times, I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing and my stuff sounds like shit. Then I wonder if I feel that way because, again, I'm expecting it to sound like a pro recording when it's not gonna.

I mean, people say "develop your ear" - but I think I lack the experience to know if what I'm hearing sounds good. My frame of reference is my CD collection.

Right now, I think I get a good set of drum/rhythm/bass/vocal sounds, but coaxing a good lead tone out of my instruments seems like an exercise in frustration.



Yeah, Lord knows I read as much as I can. I definitely fall short of the guys in the recording forum, but I'm not all "herp derp, copy-paste my guitar and it's as good as double-tracking", either.



Sigh. I wish my stuff sounded half as good as other "bedroom artists".



This is mostly true, for me. I'm still learning how to play, and sometimes I honestly think I'm trying to do stuff on my instrument that just doesn't sound good... like note choice, etc. So, there's that. On the other hand, I'll nail a solo in what I think is a perfect take, and then listen back to it and I can hear all sorts of flubs. Then I put it in the mix and it sounds fine. Most of the time, anyway.

But I do realize I don't give myself enough credit. I just last night finished a track that I recorded originally after I first learned how to write music. The original was... terrible. I also recently rewrote and re-did a track that was one of the first songs I'd ever written. The new version is worlds better than the original. So, I am improving in very obvious ways. I just... don't know if I'm there yet. It's really hard to tell.



Yeah, I hear ya. I really, really don't know if what's going on in my case is my gear, my skills, or my inability to give myself any credit. I just don't wanna be that guy who thinks he's hot shit and uploads a YouTube video and it becomes the next "Friday".

I'm probably just irritated because, as I noted earlier, I basically just said "**** it, this solo is a lost cause and this song has been sitting on the shelf for years. Just mix what you have and be done with it." I mean, I don't even have enough for an EP yet and it's been a few years. 'course, I was terrible before, now I'm... vaguely... not? I guess. All I know is I'm not entirely happy with what I do have.

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Sleepy__Head

Yeah but without heroes you'd only stagnate ...

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Hail

http://www.owlchallenger.com/discog.html

he has 25 albums in the last 4 years. he's 22 years old as of a month ago.

some of his old stuff is horrible sounding. just do it. your ear comes with doing it. it's not that hard. do it. want to write? do it. want to get a good recording sound? play with it until you get it.


if you get frustrated and give up, maybe you just don't give as much of a shit as you say you do. your "CD collection" is more than enough to train your ear, especially if you transcribe it and listen to music regularly.

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CryogenicHusk

^^ inspiring post right there. I tend to care too much too... Not so much about the sound quality itself, but about my songwriting... I feel it's all over the place and not cohesive. I'm thinking I should just record myself for practice and put it up on bandcamp/soundcloud and see what people have to say. Should be educational. I've only done it like twice but have wanted to learn how to mix and master, so it'll be good practice.

CarsonStevens

Indeed. Thanks, Hail. Regardless of how cranky I get about it, I'm not giving up. As I said, I am getting better, and I've written/recorded some stuff I genuinely like.

My skills have improved in leaps and bounds recently. It'd be stupid to give up now, you know?

I guess my next step as a musician is to realize that not everything I 'touch' is going to be gold. Everyone has their singles and fillers, and I shouldn't be afraid of recording fillers.

But, back on topic - yeah OP, I feel ya. It's a rocky road sometimes.

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Slashiepie

Since Hails is offering motivational talk.

How the **** do you guys finish songs?

Of course the answer is, just finish the goddam thing.

I suck at it. Do any of your guys pressure yourself by placing deadlines on things ?
Should i make a pact to myself: "you either finish it or delete them" ?

I have so many incomplete recordings that i actually love and instead of finishing them i play it them for hours, then "get satiated" and get inspired to move on to a new thing.

I keep saying to myself that i'll come back someday and finish them, but even there, theres always a new idea getting in the way.

Not so much an issue of quality, but an issue of never feeling like something is complete and not having the need/urge to finish it.

Am i really fooling myself by telling me ill come back some day and rework on my treasures ? have any of you left incomplete songs only to come back years afterwards and finish them?

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