Jump to content

Anti-Doom and Gloom?


richardmac

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 136
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • Members

I made those clips for feedback on these forums :lol: That's the only reason they were posted up to begin with. I've also demo'd my main music for a national act I know here locally, and they dig it. They know where I am heading with it, and they look past shoddy recordings and listen to the potential. I sound much better live than recorded, due to my {censored}ty rig, although I am investing serious time & money into setting up a nice home recording setup, that I can record cd-quality material on. I can only recorded 1 track for 3 min, or 3-4 tracks for

 

I work around the limitations atm, but I am building a DAW in the next couple of weeks, getting a mic pre, some good mics, doing some proofing, etc.

 

BTW if you need help with videos lemme know, I can help :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Poker is a provocateur Extraordinarie !!



.... and quite a snappy dresser !!








Did you leave " a thick skin " off that list U&I ???




.

 

I have thick skin too, but when a muso slams me, I like to hear what they consider "great" playing. Usually it's some lame ass rock music or country b.s.

 

I've gotten more thumbs up, then down by people around here btw :p

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Moderators
I have thick skin too, but when a muso slams me, I like to hear what they consider "great" playing. Usually it's some lame ass rock music or country b.s.


I've gotten more thumbs up, then down by people around here btw
:p

Well, hang on, because there seems to be a lot more money in the "lame ass rock music or country b.s." genres than in death metal (or whichever variant you are into)...putting down entire genres will not gain you many supporters here...I'm jus'sayin'...you maynot like it, but that doesn't invalidate it. :wave:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

I dunno, I kinda like Khem's energy and attitude. It reminds me of me at that age.

 

 

 

Yep, I wish I had far more belief in my abilities at a younger age.

Never put myself out there due to lack of confidence, and at 42 am now doing a remix for someone, a collaboration on an album (due next week) and will be working on an Alternative Folk Pop / Clicks'n'Cuts electronic music hybrid with s superb independent singer songwriter from Canada at the end of this year also.

That said I'm still flat broke, yet to break even on mastering and gear expenses for the last release but I have gotten some very good, constructive and positive feedback this time around.

And I actually released an albums worth of material that "I Like" first and foremost instead of appealing to other peoples tastes or desires.

Even inspired a few people along the way (which has kind of blown my mind - never thought I'd be that guy).

At the end of the day I am finally doing what I love.

That is indeed a good thing (even if it's not to everyones tastes or likes).

You have to be true to yourself first as people clue into dishonesty in what you produce very quickly (one of the reasons why a lot of contemporary (read commercial music) seems to suck so much these days) IMHO.

And I have started networking with some very talented people who kind of force you to up the quality level of your own material which is both exhilarating and a wonderful challenge.

Lesson No.1 - you're never too old for criticism or too old to learn for that matter.

Lesson No.2 - irrespective of genre you will find good and bad in everything.

Lesson No.3 - I have discovered a love of Arvo Part, Debussy and Gorecki (me and classical music - never thought I'd go there but hey it's inspirational stuff).

 

 

PS: Reading everyones experiences in here is truly eye opening indeed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
Well, hang on, because there seems to be a lot more money in the "lame ass rock music or country b.s." genres than in death metal (or whichever variant you are into)...putting down entire genres will not gain you many supporters here...I'm jus'sayin'...you maynot like it, but that doesn't invalidate it.
:wave:



Yeah I know that daddymack. I had an old drummer quit Death Metal and go to Pop for the money :lol:

I don't write for the mainstream, So to me "making it" has a different meaning that it does if I wanted to be an R&B singer for example.

I live on the fringe of society, my music appeals to the fringe, and I make money from the fringe. Which is a much, much smaller piece of society, but it's the only part of society I hang out with.

"Making it" too me is getting people wild and out of control on a nightly basis. The money is secondary.

People who tell me I can't "make it" usually refer to what most think about pop music(rock/rap/country) musicians get. I don't want/need any of that crap though. making a decent income(which is way less than what some here expect) Some extracurricular activities with the drunk chicks, some "medication", and breaking the rules on a nightly basis, and I am the happiest camper in the world, as I have "made it" imho.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
There's a lot of jaded musicians here.
:p

Can't speak for anyone else but I'm definitely not in that category. Ask me about the future for musicians in terms of career prospects and such and I can't give an optimistic answer. Ask me about music itself and it's a different story. I think there's a lot of great music being made out there AND I firmly believe my next album is going to contain the best work I've ever done. Will it sell more than a few hundred copies? Probably not but if those few hundred people are touched in some way by it I'm happy - and consider myself successful (even if not in financial terms).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Doom and gloom? A good friend of mine plays mainly Mexican music and get's paid pretty nicely. 3-400 bucks a week part time, no CD sales. That's not getting rich, but it's not a bad part time gig. Unfortunately, their polka sounding party music make me ill, but music is music..........right?

 

Maybe it's also a matter of stepping beyond your comfort levels and finding audiences where you never thought to look?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Moderators

The only guys I know in L.A. making consistent money playing are doing Nortena, polka Mexicana and mariachi...something this blue-eyed white man can't get away with... ;) and nearly every tour bus I see on the road is a hispanic band....so what does that say?

I think it says that culturally, Hispanic-Americans (or is that Latino-Americans?) are more into their music as a means of connecting with their roots, whereas caucasian Americans' culture is less defined, and less intergral to their sense of self? :idk:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I agree what many of my friends have said about Pamplamoose duo.

 

Talented as they are, if it was 2 dudes, they would not be doing tv ads. They were smart and capitalized on their talents, took to the web... but look at most responses... they like the chick. But yeah, there's a ton of Melodyne and Autotune in their to make things "too" perfect and she'll never be a Karen Carpenter, but success has come to them. The pressure to keep it going will be interesting. Big biz is more demanding than making YT clips.

 

OTOH speaking in terms of churning out music......... for decades there were dozens of new groups and many memorable artists each month. Today, most people could not name more than 10 groups of this past decade. I've asked!! Responses are Nickelback, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus... and then they have to think about it longer to come up with the last American Idol dude.

 

Is it because there is more stuff and 15 sub genres of any genre now? Or is it because nobody really follows the methods and the marketing attempts of todays musicians that think they can DIY what the recording industry has done repeatedly and continues to do with these Disney, Nickelodeon and AI created successes?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

OTOH speaking in terms of churning out music......... for decades there were dozens of new groups and many memorable artists each month. Today, most people could not name more than 10 groups of this past decade. I've asked!! Responses are Nickelback, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus... and then they have to think about it longer to come up with the last American Idol dude.


Is it because there is more stuff and 15 sub genres of any genre now? Or is it because nobody really follows the methods and the marketing attempts of todays musicians that think they can DIY what the recording industry has done repeatedly and continues to do with these Disney, Nickelodeon and AI created successes?

It's obvious that DIYers can't do what corporations do in terms of marketing. But they have no choice. Unless you're a young, beautiful, preferably naive person they can manipulate, manufacture, package, and profit from, you're not getting a deal with those people.

 

Now, as to the reason for less memorable artists in the past decade, I think it's because the old vehicle for marketing music, MTV has mostly gotten out of that business, and worse yet, they've locked it up so no one else can get in it. No one else is going to get a music channel on basic cable.

 

Music needs a presence on TV to reach people. Music fans need to be spoon fed. That's not a criticism, I would prefer to be spoon fed myself. Doing the work of searching for good music on the internet stinks. :lol:

 

I don't think it's a coincidence that music's decline has trailed MTV Networks' shift to reality programming. Where on TV are people getting their music news and info? Unless you stay up all night, you're not seeing the few hours of videos that MTV channels are showing. The artists that get noticed are the ones that get onto gossip shows or talk shows...those are the American Idol contestants and Disney products. Because they are getting the exposure on TV, they are also the ones appearing on the music awards shows.

 

The exception to that are the old, established acts like Green Day, Sound Garden, Social Distortion, etc. Thus the trouble of being able to name acts from the last decade. Unless you're a teeny bopper into Taylor Swift, you're not terribly interested in the new acts that get stuffed down our throats, and you're not going to commit them to memory.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

In the big scheme of things, I don't think things have changed too much. I'm an obsessive music fanatic and I wouldn't think twice about spending a couple hours looking for new music. I'm probably in the minority though. It's pretty easy now, though. Considering blogs showcasing new music like the Wire Magazine's, radio stations like WFMU, and places like Forced Exposure I easily find great new stuff all the time.

 

Social networks and media have also change the way things, though. Music fans tend to get turned on to music by people they trust - like friends or frequently read blogs and other online publications along with Twitter and Facebook. Everything is viral now. A friend of mine just clued me in on Bruce Peninsula and The Observatory. Another friend told me about the Shape of Broad Minds album, considering how much I like Jneiro Jarel/Dr. Who Dat? People in general find out about music through avenues that aren't really music-centric (like the AV club, and the Underwire blog).

 

Overall I think it's great time for musicians, being one myself. The old way is most certainly dead, but that's where the opportunity lies, I believe. It's not that things are inherently worse now, its just that people haven't quite figured out how to assess the current landscape, get with the times, and use the tools at hand to the greatest effect. Let's face it most muscians couldn't give away their music in today's world.

 

It's not strictly about music these day's, per se. There's a heavy social media aspect to everything. I'm not saying skimp on artistic quality. Quite the opposite actually - one needs to create almost mind-bendingly amazing music to even get noticed now. Instead of just trying to sell recorded music, some sort of multi-media project with music tie-ins, developing an ongoing interactive series featuring visual arts and music that is subject to fan feedback, and maybe producing music-themed documentary films are a good start. With these new time of new technology in a world that has shrunken dramatically, artists are going to have to get creative and branch out. I think that that is always a good thing. It sure beats complaining!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...