It's very complex, difficult, expensive, interesting and fun to be an independent music producer. Volume three covers my attempts to: make acoustic improvements to the studio; cut down my production times; learn the art of mastering in-house ad muc...
Glad you're here and I hope this continuation of Volume 1 of the Indie Musician's Diary will be both interesting and encouraging to you.
The process
As in Volume 1, This is my process of becoming an audio engineer and dropping my first album, Change My Mind. We start in volume 2, where I left off in volume 1: I have two songs, (Every Day and Don't Worry), cleared for professional mastering and one song, (Just How Good), close to being cleared. All three were co-produced with Per G Imsen of Sonic Media. He has done a great job mixing all three and now I move on to the song that I have been mixing.
In many ways the songs evolved as I went along. I did a demo before I went to audition in Nashville over a year ago (see volume 1) and it was not professional. I have since worked on increasing my understanding of editing and mixing in Logic Pro X (with Waves plugins) and even of the music industry. I have also, since then, enriched each song. My voice has become better trained and I have had to re-record both song and guitars and I've added synths, beats, loops and more as I have gone along. I have learned gain staging and mixing techniques that make the demo track so much better.
Also in volume 1, I shopped around for a mastering solution and landed on a professional mastering studio in Australia.
Now it is time to wrap this album up asap. I have so much more music to put out there and I just want to get done.
My goal is to have at least half of the album ready for professional mastering before Christmas and to get the whole thing published Feb 14th. It is just a random date but it keeps me in line and working to have a drop date. I don't mean that I am going to make it by Feb. 14th. I just have that as a target date.
But, seriously, the industry and the opportunities within this industry are changing at a rapid pace and I can barely keep up with it. (i.e. the new Music Modernisation Act; the fact that musicians can upload their work directly to Spotify and get paid; new plugins; merch options etc.) I hope that you get an understanding of how interesting and how complicated this industry is as you follow along.
I am just one of millions of indie musicians trying to get heard in the noise. It is tough to say the least to do that. This book will help you understand the complexity and see a way to do this.
My hope is that for every right move I make, I will have an advantage over those who don't try as hard. In the end, I am only competing with myself.
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The picture at the top: I've been playing around with different album cover design ideas. Here is the latest. Not satisfied yet. What would you like to see on the cover? This one is another example.
It's complicated:
While I continue to mix my music I have to "row many other boats" in the same direction if this whole project is to make a buzz at the drop. Most folks don't realise that releasing an album requires tons of work. You can't "just make music" and then upload it to Spotify. (Well, yes you can...but it won't create a buzz automatically. No one will find it. Many things have to be in place for the album to "rock", no matter what the genre.)
It is not just the creation of an album that needs to be done. For an indie artist the odds are against us compared to the "great" artists that are signed and have a whole team working for them, registering the music, promoting the artist etc. But every little bit we do in the right direction, according to our abilities and budget helps. (But look at Drake and know, it is possible to create a mega buzz and not be signed.)
Social Media Trends
I spend a couple of hours a week on social media, creating posts and reaching out to new fans and collaborators on it. I've been spending my time to learn the ropes. How to post effectively and get results without paying any money. It is a slow uphill battle.
Instagram is growing slowly and Instagram TV may be a great way to increase buzz and get followers. I usually take a pulse at the end of each year to see what is doing the best. I am getting tired of Twitter and Facebook and moving towards Instagram, Pinterest and Gab.ai. When I get closer to the album drop, maybe I'll do some live stuff on Periscope and FB. For now, I am trying to get the music done.
I spend at least an hour a day practicing guitar and singing and that is not enough.
I spend 4- 6 hours a day mixing/editing
! spend 1/2 hour writing per day.
It all adds up. There are only 24 hrs in a day.
It seems that there are various periods of time for an indie musician: recording weeks; editing week: mixing weeks and so forth. I still haven't found a rhythm but I will, hopefully. I am in a mixing/learning the ropes of promotion stage. In the following months I am going to zero in on how to make this debut album drop as big as I can considering my situation and my stressed budget..
I believe that getting the proper information, having discipline + doing the right moves efficiently will get it to a buzzy drop. Maybe I won't get as much ear as Beyoncé but I will do my very best. I hope you can get some tips and be encouraged along the way, too!
In volume 2 I hope to address the various aspects of releasing an album well:
- registry
- art
- meta data
- promotion
- asset maps
- distribution
- sheet music and more....
I am going to have to look into all of this asap. And I will give you some insight into it as I can.
For now let me drop this great article that any indie musician can benefit from.👇🏼
GREAT ARTICLE !!!! Read it if you are about to release an album. It has all the basic and necessary tips and warnings for an indie musician about to release an album. A must read. https://blog.landr.com/how-to-release-an-album/?utm_source=landr&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Cross-sell_EN_20180930&utm_term=en&utm_content=01_DistroPushE
