An Indie Musician's Diary Vol 2

Doing Music Faster & Celebrating The Small Wins

Oct 5th 2018

There are many reasons why I am not yet done with this album.

- I'm writing books at the same time - to share my experience with you.

- I am new at this and educating myself as I go and what I need to know is pervasive

- I am human, I get sick, need to do chores, do exercise, hang out with friends etc.

- lack of planning, bouts of disbelief in my own abilities

And, when I saw the above video, I could only nod my head in agreement. There are things we indies can do to save time as we create our music. That way we can make more music and do it faster without reducing the quality.

Rob Mayzes mentions

Don't automate the lead vocal. (I have two lead vocal tracks and four harmony tracks and I have automated every single word, phrase and breath.  Using a fast compressor and then a slower, smoother one directly after is a good one. Do automate it where it needs it but don't over do it. 

I would argue that proper gain-staging and compression is more important than automation. Use gates instead of automation to get rid of the noise floor. You'll save time. 

Save time by avoiding recording live drums (and live stand up bass, my add)

 I found that, even though I had a recording studio, a studio technician and an experienced studio drummer while recording my songs, it took quite a lot of work to get each element to sound its best in the mixes. The kick was too thin so I had to enhance it and change its sound. There was bleeding of one thing into another because of mike placement that had to be EQ:ed away.  There were timing issues and more. It took a lot of my time to get it right.

The same is to be said about live stand up bass. The long low frequency waves created distortion (especially in my home studio but even in the recording studio). I had to replace certain notes (square waves, distortion I couldn't fix), I had to automate away slaps and buzz noises. It took me ten times to get it right. I never had these problems with the same bassist when he played an electric bass! You can never replace the great sound of a stand up bass with a midi one, but make sure that you have bass traps and proper acoustic treatment in the room you are about to record in if you do. 

Leave advanced mixing techniques aside.  He recommends being great at the basics instead of compression. EQ, static mixing, etc. Now, I have the ambition to being good at those more advanced methods like automation, parallel compression and triggering (chains). I have "wasted" a great deal of time learning this but I think it is worth learning. It won't save me time and the basic methods have to be in place first but this it is worth the time in my opinion. 

Let someone else do your mastering. I agree

Don't get stuck constantly buying new plugins and gear. Use what you have and do it well. Buy only if you really need it to improve your sound. 

I'd like to add these simple ways to save time: 

Don't be a perfectionist:

If there is anything keeping me from releasing my music, it is the high expectations I have for quality. That sounds good but it is a bell curve. At some point you find yourself making dead end decisions or you make changes but the mix isn't getting better. You then have to ask yourself, "Aren't I done now?"

Wasting time is usually because we 

1. Don't plan our time

2. Don't know what we are reaching for. (Need reference tracks)

3. Are doing things in an ineffective way

4. We are not pacing ourselves

5. We are lacking a time limit

I'll use and example of insights I have reached in the area of effectiveness through this process: Nowadays, I don't go into flex pitch mode and change every little quirk on every single note. I did this in the beginning and it ruined the track. Instead, I use control+A and mark all the notes, quantise them and make changes only to the notes or curves that really need it. You can easily kill the dynamics of the vocals by stretching everything to where you want it to go and you waste valuable time doing it. Don't.

Tips to mix effectively

Plan your day, every day

Take breaks often - you'll mix more effectively. If you sit too long your ears don't hear what needs to be changed and your back hurts too. Take breaks often.

Have a due date: Plan when you want to be done.

Use Wunderlist and list up all the things that you need to change in order for your mix to be master-ready. When there are two or three left, let someone who knows music give you feedback. Maybe you are already done. 

Use reference tracks to check your progress. Then you are not just shooting in the dark

Celebrate your successes. I celebrate my small wins by writing the Indie Musician's Diary. How do you celebrate? See the video below before you continue reading.

Celebrating the small wins

I love the next video. As an indie musician you need to work on the mental aspects of it in order to keep going. You need to regularly pep yourself in this industry. Yeah, you are a drop in the water but your drop is unique and important. If you minimise yourself, you will never be able to keep being enthusiastic about doing your music.

My "reflection cycle" is every Friday; I look back in the morning about what I've learned. 

This week, I learned the difference between reverb, delays, spreaders and how to used side chaining to control vocal delays. 

This week I finished automated the vocals, fixing the drums, piano, strings, 

I feel the win. I put on the track The Vine yesterday and I heard how the delay is working better than the reverb I once had. I'm not done but 

Share your small wins with others. I share them with my husband and Wattpad. The bigger ones I share on Facebook and Instagram. Where do you share yours? Leave a comment below. 

Links:

More from Rob https://members.musicianonamission.com/category/vip/guides/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQCcRArv4wY