Mpache Posted June 9, 2020 Posted June 9, 2020 8 hours ago, Mel81x said: Putting aside the negative rating and the blocking. Did you get a refund? I didn't, and to be fair to her, I don't have a reason to ask for one because I paid for the lessons she gave me and not the ones she didn't do. I genuinely learned a lot from her and don't see a valid reason to demand a refund. Obviously I'm pissed at her lack of professionalism but I'm not going to develop a vendetta and lie to myself.
Dr. Gonzo Posted June 9, 2020 Author Posted June 9, 2020 13 hours ago, Mel81x said: In other news, the band finally had time to sit down and write some music out and we came up with almost a minute of something we're flushing out. Comments for improvement are always welcome. The idea is to transition towards something heavier as the song starts building up. Keep in mind that this is still early days and the guitar is not tight and I do plan on ditching the harmonized vocals. https://voca.ro/ke6DlbBRc2G I can feel the song building up into something heavier in what you've got there. I don't really have any feedback at this stage though, I'd say "mess with the mix a bit" but I feel like it's early days and it's not ready for mixing yet as you're just fleshing the ideas of the song out now.. so it's too early to say that or give any feedback on the sound other than saying: I think it's working out, the way you're building up the heaviness of the song the way you're intended to - I feel that buildup when I listen to it. So job done there!
Dr. Gonzo Posted June 9, 2020 Author Posted June 9, 2020 4 hours ago, Inti Brian said: doesn't it seem a bit early in your music career to try to cash out? Also if you're going with music merch, I'd stick with the stuff you can see pretty easily when you do a gig when you're starting out. Albums, t-shirts, stickers, patches (probably not that big of a thing outside the metal/punk scenes though) - shit like that. I can't imagine anyone buying a coffee mug when they go out to a show - though fans might order it online to have it delivered to them (as you're doing now). But I think the expense of having mugs printed at this stage isn't worth it when that money could be going into building up your reputation as an artist first. After you build a following, that's when you should try to cash in with merch.
Mpache Posted June 9, 2020 Posted June 9, 2020 2 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said: doesn't it seem a bit early in your music career to try to cash out? Also if you're going with music merch, I'd stick with the stuff you can see pretty easily when you do a gig when you're starting out. Albums, t-shirts, stickers, patches (probably not that big of a thing outside the metal/punk scenes though) - shit like that. I can't imagine anyone buying a coffee mug when they go out to a show - though fans might order it online to have it delivered to them (as you're doing now). But I think the expense of having mugs printed at this stage isn't worth it when that money could be going into building up your reputation as an artist first. After you build a following, that's when you should try to cash in with merch. I'm using Teespring. All free and you technically pay them when you buy someones product. I earn the commission rather than them.
Dr. Gonzo Posted June 9, 2020 Author Posted June 9, 2020 21 minutes ago, Inti Brian said: I'm using Teespring. All free and you technically pay them when you buy someones product. I earn the commission rather than them. Either way, I'd spend less time worrying about merch at this stage and spend more time focusing on honing your craft. If you ever do want to end up selling merch, you'll probably have to gig first and gigging in itself is a whole different experience to just performing songs in a studio. Putting it simply: who would buy an artists merch when they really don't have all that much music out and available and don't really ever play any shows ever? First you build the following, then the merch and the sales of merch are something to worry about.
Administrator Stan Posted June 9, 2020 Administrator Posted June 9, 2020 13 hours ago, Mel81x said: In other news, the band finally had time to sit down and write some music out and we came up with almost a minute of something we're flushing out. Comments for improvement are always welcome. The idea is to transition towards something heavier as the song starts building up. Keep in mind that this is still early days and the guitar is not tight and I do plan on ditching the harmonized vocals. https://voca.ro/ke6DlbBRc2G 34 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said: I can feel the song building up into something heavier in what you've got there. I don't really have any feedback at this stage though, I'd say "mess with the mix a bit" but I feel like it's early days and it's not ready for mixing yet as you're just fleshing the ideas of the song out now.. so it's too early to say that or give any feedback on the sound other than saying: I think it's working out, the way you're building up the heaviness of the song the way you're intended to - I feel that buildup when I listen to it. So job done there! I like it. Especially as an intro to build up to something emphatic. Sounds as if it could be quite a dark song. Agree about the vocals.
Subscriber Mel81x+ Posted June 9, 2020 Subscriber Posted June 9, 2020 42 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said: I can feel the song building up into something heavier in what you've got there. I don't really have any feedback at this stage though, I'd say "mess with the mix a bit" but I feel like it's early days and it's not ready for mixing yet as you're just fleshing the ideas of the song out now.. so it's too early to say that or give any feedback on the sound other than saying: I think it's working out, the way you're building up the heaviness of the song the way you're intended to - I feel that buildup when I listen to it. So job done there! Yeah its still early days and we're looking to add something with a heavy fuzz to accommodate switching the pace to something a bit faster and definitely heavier. With businesses slowly resuming here everyone has been busy and we have two doctors in the group so we're being wary of their timings and work schedules too. And yes it is building up so its good to know thats translating to the listener. 6 minutes ago, Stan said: I like it. Especially as an intro to build up to something emphatic. Sounds as if it could be quite a dark song. Agree about the vocals. It started out as us just toying with odd timings but you're right its going to get considerably louder with two guitars and some heavier tones. The idea is to almost reach something that "Tool" does regularly if you like that kind of music. EDIT: Thank you both for the feedback.
Mpache Posted June 9, 2020 Posted June 9, 2020 17 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said: Either way, I'd spend less time worrying about merch at this stage and spend more time focusing on honing your craft. If you ever do want to end up selling merch, you'll probably have to gig first and gigging in itself is a whole different experience to just performing songs in a studio. Putting it simply: who would buy an artists merch when they really don't have all that much music out and available and don't really ever play any shows ever? First you build the following, then the merch and the sales of merch are something to worry about. To be honest mate, I agree with you. But I’m using this more as a donation ground to help improve my work. I need a new mic and need to be consistent in putting out songs. I sadly only have enough to be 1 of those options. I feel like a shithouse just outright asking for donations. I rather give something in return. This is for friends and family mostly at least for now.
Dr. Gonzo Posted June 9, 2020 Author Posted June 9, 2020 29 minutes ago, Inti Brian said: I need a new mic and need to be consistent in putting out songs. It's fine to do this, but one issue I have with many artists treating music as though it's content for their YouTube channels is creating music just because you need "content" can make for some pretty shite and uninspiring music. The most important thing as an aspiring musician is to constantly be practicing your craft and continually improving on what your best performance can be. Then comes the newer and better gear to make your recordings higher quality. Then worry about putting out music. Walk before you can run.
Mpache Posted June 9, 2020 Posted June 9, 2020 1 minute ago, Dr. Gonzo said: It's fine to do this, but one issue I have with many artists treating music as though it's content for their YouTube channels is creating music just because you need "content" can make for some pretty shite and uninspiring music. The most important thing as an aspiring musician is to constantly be practicing your craft and continually improving on what your best performance can be. Then comes the newer and better gear to make your recordings higher quality. Then worry about putting out music. Walk before you can run. Yeah, I would never feel urged to put out something shite. I don't put release dates on my songs until I am happy with them. I've been wanting to put a release date on my next song which comes out tomorrow, but I kept fucking up so I had to keep waiting to say anything. It's a tip a musician gave me to help me in growth. Improve a bit with every song, and be consistent. I'm happy to say so far I've been both. Small sample size though!
Administrator Stan Posted June 9, 2020 Administrator Posted June 9, 2020 7 minutes ago, Inti Brian said: Yeah, I would never feel urged to put out something shite. I don't put release dates on my songs until I am happy with them. I've been wanting to put a release date on my next song which comes out tomorrow, but I kept fucking up so I had to keep waiting to say anything. It's a tip a musician gave me to help me in growth. Improve a bit with every song, and be consistent. I'm happy to say so far I've been both. Small sample size though! I don't think you need 'release dates' for songs. It's not like there's teasers or there's that fan following/profile to impress or live up to. Release it when you feel comfortable and then take the feedback each time.
Dr. Gonzo Posted June 9, 2020 Author Posted June 9, 2020 The issue I've got with writing songs is I can come up with cool riffs on guitar all the time. But fuck me, it is hard as fuck to put them together in a way that I like the way it all sounds at the end. I also can't play the drums and I hear cool drum tracks in my head... I've tried programming them on drum software but it's never quite the same as I imagine it. I also think the drum software I'm using is a bit too complicated for me, as I never read the instructions or watched the quick start videos
Mpache Posted June 9, 2020 Posted June 9, 2020 3 minutes ago, Stan said: I don't think you need 'release dates' for songs. It's not like there's teasers or there's that fan following/profile to impress or live up to. Release it when you feel comfortable and then take the feedback each time. My friends are proud of what I'm doing and I want to keep them up to date. Thankfully that's all the following I really need and I want to also build an image. Otherwise, if we're talking about strangers than yeah I'm a completely nobody still and probably will be that way for at the very least a decade, if not ever.
Mpache Posted June 9, 2020 Posted June 9, 2020 3 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said: The issue I've got with writing songs is I can come up with cool riffs on guitar all the time. But fuck me, it is hard as fuck to put them together in a way that I like the way it all sounds at the end. I also can't play the drums and I hear cool drum tracks in my head... I've tried programming them on drum software but it's never quite the same as I imagine it. I also think the drum software I'm using is a bit too complicated for me, as I never read the instructions or watched the quick start videos That's the struggle for me too. I am not the best poet but I consider myself OK at writing music. My problem is coming up with a melody.
Dr. Gonzo Posted June 9, 2020 Author Posted June 9, 2020 Just now, Stan said: I don't think you need 'release dates' for songs. It's not like there's teasers or there's that fan following/profile to impress or live up to. Release it when you feel comfortable and then take the feedback each time. I agree with that. I think release dates just add unnecessary pressure and can rush things that don't really need to be rushed. Back when I was 16 or 17 I was in a shite funk-rock band and at some point for half a year we had a goal of releasing a new song each week on our Myspace page. Our first couple of songs, which were ones we'd been working on for months really... those ones weren't too bad. It was the songs after the first two that were... rushed, forced, formulaic (writing songs to a formula like it's a math problem is a horrible way to write music) and really... just not very good songs. They weren't fun to write, they weren't fun to play, and they certainly weren't fun to listen to. You should feel pressure to write music and be consistently making music if you want to be an artist. You shouldn't feel the pressure to feel you need to have a finished final product based on arbitrary dates you've set for yourself though.
nudge Posted June 9, 2020 Posted June 9, 2020 15 hours ago, Mel81x said: In other news, the band finally had time to sit down and write some music out and we came up with almost a minute of something we're flushing out. Comments for improvement are always welcome. The idea is to transition towards something heavier as the song starts building up. Keep in mind that this is still early days and the guitar is not tight and I do plan on ditching the harmonized vocals. https://voca.ro/ke6DlbBRc2G Ooohh I like the sound. Made me wonder where that buildup leads to... I have no other comments as I have no clue about making music tbh, but it does sound very intriguing... Agree with @Stan that it has a certain "darkness" to it, love that.
DeadLinesman Posted June 9, 2020 Posted June 9, 2020 4 minutes ago, nudge said: Ooohh I like the sound. Made me wonder where that buildup leads to... I have no other comments as I have no clue about making music tbh, but it does sound very intriguing... Agree with @Stan that it has a certain "darkness" to it, love that. This kind of darkness?
Subscriber Mel81x+ Posted June 10, 2020 Subscriber Posted June 10, 2020 7 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said: The issue I've got with writing songs is I can come up with cool riffs on guitar all the time. But fuck me, it is hard as fuck to put them together in a way that I like the way it all sounds at the end. I also can't play the drums and I hear cool drum tracks in my head... I've tried programming them on drum software but it's never quite the same as I imagine it. I also think the drum software I'm using is a bit too complicated for me, as I never read the instructions or watched the quick start videos This was me a while ago, id write a nice riff and then I wouldn't know where to take it and it all stemmed from not knowing enough about other instruments and how they sat together especially the one instrument you complain about drums. I don't know what it is but for some reason I can play bass with a drum beat at the drop fo a hat but if you asked me to come up with something innovative for drums I'd totally get lost. Then I started doing something I never thought would be helpful and I actually started writing drum music and the doors just opened and got wider. For some reason, if i write it out I can visualise drum beats and how I want the bass line to fit in the drum beat structure. That little piece you heard had the drums written out before we started doing our own recording and its also the reason the drum swings a bit towards the end its because the drummer and me sat down and wrote it. Drum machine are a PITA, I always feel like I am banging pots and pans when I try them out haha. Oh and a MIDI keyboard helps a lot when you're doing drums and they are cheap ... hint hint.
Mpache Posted June 11, 2020 Posted June 11, 2020 Made a tribute to the great Pau Dones. RIP. It's also my first attempt to mix something so apologies if the first half of it is very meh
Mpache Posted June 11, 2020 Posted June 11, 2020 On 09/06/2020 at 15:51, Stan said: I don't think you need 'release dates' for songs. It's not like there's teasers or there's that fan following/profile to impress or live up to. Release it when you feel comfortable and then take the feedback each time. BTW, I didn't agree with you the other day but I do now. The last few days have been rough for me in my social life and now I can feel free to not have a "release date". So I'm probably going to be a bit smaller now
Subscriber Mel81x+ Posted June 12, 2020 Subscriber Posted June 12, 2020 On 10/06/2020 at 16:15, Inti Brian said: It's here. Nice harmonizing towards the end.
Dr. Gonzo Posted June 23, 2020 Author Posted June 23, 2020 I have definitely not been playing guitar enough these last few weeks. It's a shame really.
Subscriber Mel81x+ Posted June 24, 2020 Subscriber Posted June 24, 2020 9 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said: I have definitely not been playing guitar enough these last few weeks. It's a shame really. Work I presume?
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