The moment when a band is born, or when the first song materializes, are moments that are fundamental and at the same time full of expectations. They are stages in which one tends to plan to conquer the world or seek the record of Grammys won in a row. But often the details are not taken into account, the foundations are not planted well, thus committing a series of mistakes such that even the second date in the rehearsal room is jeopardized.
What I wanted to ask directly to someone who is in the music : Eddie Pinero.
Eddie Pinero, among other things, is an international speaker, YouTuber and founder of Your World Within. Eddie is considered one of the leading voices in the field of personal development, with his videos and speeches accumulating more than 200 million streams worldwide.
Here are a number of mistakes that independent musicians and artists tend to make:
1) Deciding one's music genre based on the indie charts
Consensus is a natural thing, it is something the artist must seek, because there is no art without an audience. But often the first 'unconscious' mistake is to try in every way to fit into a musical strand: "Now the audience listens to BadBunny /Drake / Justin Bieber, so we have to make a song that says those things, and dress like them." It's fine to be clear about the national scene, but the 'indie' audience is much more open than you think. They are more predisposed to listen to a sincere, pure, natural voice even if with a different style. You have to be yourself, without being ashamed to admit your weaknesses or uncertainties; or, conversely, you can show your muscles and tell the whole world that you are the strongest, the important thing is to be natural.
2) Thinking it's all marketing now
Today even more people misuse the word marketing, often associated with music. "That guy artist had a great marketing campaign/that guy is good at communication and that's it," and so on. Here, there is nothing more untrue. Especially today! 2018 has sanctioned the birth of the Dictatorship of Users, that is, all that mass of listeners not controlled by any media that organically creates the new trends; which advertisers and marketers then refer to. Sure, having your tracks on Spotify, YouTube or Deezer is crucial, but consent is not bought with ADV.
You have to be yourself at all costs, and read point #1.
3) Thinking that being independent allows you to 'know how to do everything'
You've formed the band and now you've got the songs too: now comes the best time to get help! Most musicians are convinced they can do it all, in addition to writing and playing music they believe they can be creative directors, filmmakers, recordists, social media managers, content creators etc; they tend to want to do it all themselves not realizing they have limited vision. If you have to go into the recording studio, look for someone who can be your producer, if you don't have budget ask a friend you trust: having an outside view allows you to make music more directly. Same thing for videos: you don't have to take on the role of director/operator/ cinematographer/editor just to brag about the word DIY (Do It Yourself), create a collective of people around you, broaden the horizons of your creativity
4) Looking for a record contract
Let's make a small preamble to point #4. The recording contract means that a person or company invests money in you with the desire to increase the invested budget. Therefore, it is a business transaction; it is not patronage. Therefore, the record contract is deserved, not asked for. Get noticed, play as much as you can, post your photos or videos consistently, be found in all digital stores; if the Dictatorship of Users (see point #2) elects you as their soundtrack, you will be contacted by all the labels. If, on the other hand, you are convinced you have a great song, but don't feel in the mood for life on the road, there is always the job of music author, which is increasingly in demand and has attractive income if you enter the publishing world.
5) Pretending to be a snooty rock star.
This point is the result of the previous 4, and it is the biggest mistake you can make. There are some clichés in the music world that are slow to die, such as acting like Liam Gallagher thinking it is okay to give such a strong self-image. Instead, try to go to as many concerts as you can, be in the front rows, support and endorse artists who are part of your music scene (and thus avoid bad-mouthing other bands), do public relations with industry insiders, and still be respectful and polite, all of which will help you improve your reputation. If you then add wonderful songs to this reputation, you will see that the fruits to be reaped will be better.
So how can you improve yourself ? How can you make people love your music and be followed and be successful ?
Look for a style that can be related to you, or invent your own ! Nowadays there are an infinite number of ways to produce music, let's say for example that you want to be an electronic music musician (you like Daft Punk, right?) Well, get yourself a music-sequencers (software that allows you to create music from 0, like Ableton, FL Studio, Cubase etc), go on Youtube and lose your days watching all the video tutorials possible and imaginable on "how to make a trap track on Ableton" etc, so you will have the basics to understand how the software you decided to use works that until yesterday you ignored the existence of. In time you'll start to understand the basics of how to make music from scratch, whether it's electronic, hip hip, trap and so on. Nowadays, in 2022, you can make music with literally anything.
If, on the other hand, you decide you don't want to produce music, but want to bring it live as well, technology can help you with that as well. You may wonder, do you need guitars? drums? flutes? violins? no! Let's mention again the Ableton sequencer, which is one of the best in the field , can also be used to create live music, in what are called live-sets.
Assuming that you have finished the recording session, that is, you have recorded your tracks in the studio etc., we prepare for live performance by trying to provide a sound as close as possible to that of the published tracks. While making the tracks in the studio, it happens that additional sounds are included that are not necessarily made by the musicians in the band, or session players are hired to make specific instrument parts. These sounds are represented by, for example: samples, VST string sections, harmonized choirs, modulation effects on vocals, synths, etc...
Hence arises the need to make sequences and to prepare a suitable set up for live-show :
What are Sequences?
- -Sequences are tracks that are to be launched during the performace and will be part of it; they are additional sounds and rhythms that are to be played by our PA system at the same time as the music played by the musicians.
How to play the sequences?
- The sequences are played by a player, which can be a PC or a real hardware device.
Who plays the sequences?
- It will be crucial to identify the member of the group who has the most leeway to take charge of pressing the play button. Often the delegate is the drummer, or the keyboardist, but clearly there is no definite rule.
How do I synchronize the sequences and how do I play in time?
- It is critical that these sequences be synchronized with a metronome and that the metronome have a different audio BUS OUT than the tracks, so doing so will send the two separate streams to the audio mixer. The sound engineer will be able to manage the listening by sending the tempo beat and other elements of the band to the musicians, but will exclude the click channel from the master out (Wouldn't it be nice to have the metronome fired at the audience!). The band (or some elements) can basically have the metronome in their headphones and perform the song in sync with the sequences.
Which player to use? Do I need software?
- As mentioned earlier we have two possible players, a PC (or Mac) or a specific apparatus. If you decide to use the PC, you will need to have a multichannel sound card at your disposal, and in particular it will need to have multiple separate BUS OUTs. You need to have sequencer software that can handle the various tracks and their outputs from the sound card, there are a myriad of them, such as: Cubase, Pro tools, Ableton, Studio One, Reaper, Qlab, etc., etc.
- In the second hypothesis, on the other hand, we will use a specific player, the market offers various possibilities, but even in this case we will choose an apparatus capable of managing multiple BUS OUTs and assigning separately the musical audio from that of our metronome.
But here now we get a little too much into professional and technical language! Come back later, when you have learned all the basics of how to use technology in 2022, to become (or seek) an music artist
Thanks for joining us !