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...
October 22, 2018 Contrary to popular opinion, making music is not glamorous. It is a lot of hard work. When I tell someone that I am a music producer, they think it is so cool. Nope! It's just hard work at this point. No glory, no published results, just headaches and sweat.
There are so many things a typical indie musician/producer must do to get the music out - here are some of the headaches I face:
Money or the lack thereof
The biggest headache is probably making ends meet. I do music full time but don't make anything from it (yet?). My husband is so kind to make this happen and we live simply. That is why every little bill is difficult and costs are weighed carefully. The accountant just gave us a clue what this year is going to cost us, and i have a mixer friend to compensate for some help I have gotten from him recently. An then there is the new interface I just paid for....the studio needs acoustic treatment.....it goes on and on.
I'm tempted to go back to work part time but my hubby says no....we'll just have to get by. I tried crowdfunding and Patreon but get a limp hand back for the most part. Thanks, though, to the few who's support on Patreon encourage me to go on.
Hardware replacement
Some things just have to work in order to be able to create music at all. One of those things is my audio interface that translates analog signals to digital. You know, a box that you plug microphones and instruments into and it translates the sound into 1s and 0s the computer can understand. No interface = no music.
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I recently found out that I needed to replace my outdated Propellerhead interface with a new one and was shocked how much the prices have gone up. I shopped around and considered my needs: I needed to be able to record a guitar and a voice at the same time and needed two earphone outputs instead of one (that the Propellerhead interface has), and found a B scale Focusrite on sale at Gear4Sound. It will be here within a week. Price: 2034 SEK, ($226). Ouch, headache. Why did I need it now? Well, when I recently upgraded my OS to a new one, the old interface was no longer compatible with my Mac and everything I tried to record sounded horrible.
Getting the hardware to work with your computer/DAW:
The next headache is going to be to get this new interface going. There is almost always, registration, downloading files etc and reading the manual.
Program issues
Another headache is the time drain caused by program troubles. I opened my Macbook today and found that my Trend Micro Antivirus was inactivated. It took over two hours on support chat and a half hour support call to get the problem solved. Ugh we disabled something in the utility defence system and then things worked smoothly again. I lost the greater part of my day because of this.
Oh, and then there is the time I upgraded to High Sierra on my Mac. It led to me having to update my Waves plugins, buy new licenses etc. What a headache. You learn after a while to think twice before upgrading. Upgrades ALWAYS cause program incapability issues and waste valuable time!
If you have a PC you need to your this driver as well.
Talking about headaches......Oct 24 I got the box in the mail and it was damaged. After all this expectation! So, I'm sending it back and we'll see what I buy instead....UGH!
Bookkeeping headache more or less:
I just switched to another company that is going to be half the price and a whole lot more friendly than the one I had last year. The old bookkeeping service was a headache and saving cash makes this a headache less. Still it takes time to keep my books in order and I will do that....
So I guess I create a lot of the headaches I have, but they are necessary in order to make music.
So much for the glamour of being a music producer...
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FREE: When you subscribe to my homepage, https://www.featherheadmedia.com, you'll get a free, original, instrumental song to download. There, you can be apart of this process by listening and giving feedback. You'll get updates and prerelease info. Sign up!
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If you give I'll give back!
Give a gift of or over $20 on Digital TipJar/Patreon and you'll get
- a song I wrote and
- an ebook to your mailbox, just make sure I get your mail address!
- you'll be one of the ones listed in my thank you page of my liner notes
All encouragement over $50 on Patreon or on Digital TipJar will get you
- a download card of the entire new album, Change My Mind. The cards will be printed when the album is finished and up on all digital outlets (we are shooting for Spring of 2019)
- a thank you in the liner notes! And, you will receive my latest ebook and an original song right now while you are waiting for the download cards. THANKS!
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