73 - Recording Vocals. Again.

I have come up with a really good way to see if a vocal track is good enough, in terms of the audio quality. Solo the vocal, turn the volume up, and turn off any eq and effects. If it sounds good enough for the CD just the way it is, you've got something. If it sounds like it's coming through a bullhorn or a drive in theater speaker, you need to re-record it, because no amount of eq in the world is going to be able to save it.

Sadly, for me, this is the conclusion I reached when I tried fixing the vocals to my title track "Every Single Day" last night. It's time to admit defeat. It sounds terrible. So tonight I'll re-sing it.

It's the room, really, but I don't have much to work with. So I'm going to employ a trick that many home studio people don't, but a wise few do - I'm going to deaden the area directly around where I sing.

I was recently at a JPF showcase, where one of the members, Andrew Karpinski http://www.stonemarmot.com gave a demo on how he made his own device to deaden the sound behind the microphone. I'm going to build two of those today - a small one to go behind the microphone, and a large one to go behind me while I sing, at head level. It will no doubt be ugly but I bet it helps. A better vocal mic would help, too, but I can't currently afford what I want (AKG 414.)

As thrilling as this blog is this morning, I have to go eat breakfast.

72 - Freebies for Family and Friends

As everyone who knows me knows, I'm coming out with a new CD very soon. I expect to have them in my hands before October 1. I have about one week left to finish mixing/mastering. The problem with having your own studio is that it's hard to let go of songs. You're still tweaking them.

Side Note - I just posted a song from my new CD on bandcamp. Check it out if interested.

I'm ordering a small order (100) of my new CD, and when I sell out, I'll order more. If I sell out in two weeks, I'll order 1,000. If I sell out in six months, I'll order another 100. All of my friends and family want copies for free. Actually, that's not totally factual. Some of my friends and the majority of my family WANT to support me and want to buy the CD. Others expect it for free. Some artists say "Hey, this is putting food on my table." But my friends and family know that's not true! It's a hobby. It's more important to me than I can say, but it's not my job.

So here's what I'll do. When my friends and family want a CD, I will tell them I'll be happy to burn them a copy for free, but I can't give them a factory-made copy because I need to sell them to get back the money I put in making them. So if they don't mind a hand-burned copy, that's fine. If I give them a copy of the actual CD, I can't turn around and sell that CD for $10, therefore I'm losing $10 every time I'm giving out CD's. I have 100 friends and family members. I could give them all away for free and lose a thousand dollars. Um, no.

Gifts are different. If you give a CD away for a birthday present or other present, then it's the same as a $10 gift.

Anyway, here's my thought - your family and friends are not out to rip you off. They don't understand why you won't give them free copies of your CD. They can get other music for free, but not yours? They've got a small point - it only costs you about 20 cents to burn them a no-frills copy. But it costs you $10 to give them a real factory made CD that you'd sell to someone at a gig. I think all we need to do is make people aware of this and they'll be totally cool with the no-frills burned CD. Hopefully they'll also want to own the real thing. The more CD's you sell, the more money you can put into music, the better your music can sound. (I'm saving up for a better vocal microphone.)

71 - Jehovah's Witness

I'm off topic today. The Jehovah's Witlesses are invading our neighborhood. The cars are parked along the corner of the street and they're gathering their brochures and putting on their best cheery smiles. I put a sign on my door - "No Jehovah's Witnesses! Do not knock or ring bell! Thank you."

No, really, I did. My wife is still sleeping. These fools will knock on my door, the dog will go nuts, it will wake my wife up, and they will tell me that I need their version of God. No, I don't. Nor do I believe that this practice should be legal. Not the nutcases - but the act of knocking on doors and pushing your religious beliefs. I don't care what people believe in. You can believe in a big man in the sky, or worshop the sun, or some big fat guy, or Jimi Hendrix for all I care. Don't knock on my damn door and push your agenda.

There. Now I feel better.

I'm off to the Y today to run and do some light weights. Then I'm coming home for a massive marathon mixing session. And maybe redo the vocals I botched last night. My goal is to have this mixed and mastered by the end of the month. Since I have two weeks left, I'd say I'll reach my goal, but those two weeks will sail by if I don't get to mixing. So Y, then maybe groceries, then singing and mixing. The moral of the day - do not procrastinate about mixing. That and don't talk to Jehovah's Witlesses.

70 - Writing, Performing, Recording

This may not work for everyone, but it's working for me. The usual order is to write a song, record it on a CD, and then perform it. What I've discovered is that in the process of performing songs, I learn what they sound like when played different ways, ie different arrangements, and therefore end up with what I think is the best version of the song. So it's a tad weird to record a song and then end up playing a better version of it live.

The solution is to start performing the song before you record it. Once you've got it down and you think you've found the best way to sing/play it, then record it. I've done this for my new CD and it's definitely helped a lot.

Just a quick little tip on this fine Saturday morning. I'm going to put all of this stuff together in book form one day. So I can be an "author" and stroke my own ego.

69 - Success in Music

Is your goal to be a rock star? It would be pretty safe for me to bet you. You'll lose. Does this make you a failure? Why do we define success, so often, as being able to hit the highest possible mark? It really puts a negative spin on music.

I'm thrilled to be a musician and a singer/songwriter. I have zero expectations of making it a career, and I don't want to make it a career. I love music. Have my whole life. I'm lucky to have such a thing... I know guys who jump from hobby to hobby, dumping each one when they get bored, looking for something and never finding it.

Not me. I play a gig and I get in the zone and really feel it, and someone gives me a compliment or buys a CD, and I feel awesome. I think it's great when a little kid comes up shyly and puts money into the tip jar. They're seeing live music! Maybe it'll have an influence on them. Maybe they'll want to play an instrument, if they see it enough themselves. I thought it was cooler than hell when I was a kid and we saw someone play live music.

To me, those who are have some musical talent and love playing music are very fortunate. And even though you love it, there's no reason to not make a little money doing it. We all need money. So long as the money doesn't become the major thing... unless of course you're trying for a career in music.

I just got a Telecaster and I joined a Telecaster forum. Those people are nuts. They're totally in love with the Tele. Me too. But you read some of the threads and it just jumps out at you, what these instruments mean to these people. It's awesome. No one is talking about making it. They're talking about what the best pickups are and such.

But... soooo many people are holding out for stardom. They want to become a superstar and anything else won't do. This can be dangerous and destructive, and in some cases, can end up actually killing the person's love of music. They put so much pressure on themselves and when they fail, they feel like they've failed in life. Nonsense. The Music BUSINESS is a business. A lot of things have to click to be a superstar and the odds are that it won't happen for any of us. There's nothing depressing about that. Music is supposed to be fun, to enrich your life. If you can make a living at it, in any way shape or form, and that's what you want to do, great. If it's a hobby that you love, great. Whatever the case, just enjoy it. That's my take.