Jamie
DIY Indie Artist Series
Jul 15, 2012
Hey fellow indie artists, music makers, and home recording studio fanatics!
I thought i'd post up some info about a project i think you'll find very valuable and helpful for you.
There’s too much back and forth about who’s finding success and why in the DIY independent artist scene, so we’ve decided to go out and do some deep investigative research to pull all the info i can together, and focus on deep patterns and strategies across several facets of how successful DIY’ers have put their career together, what they’re doing, how they manage it, and hopefully uncover what some of the underlying reasons why it’s all working for them, are.
Purpose = Going beyond “surface level” exploration, research, and interviews, on the successful indie artists and bands that are thriving today. Cluster and define correlations and key strategies that are common and prevalent, as well as highlight the business models that are working today. Get candid and get to the “core” of what actually is THE THING that is making some people succesful today and why as Independent artists in the new music business…
Theres a lot of doom and gloom out there… There are a lot of skeptics, naysayers, and doubting thomases out there that perpetuate a vibe of hopelessness in regards to the DIY movement… This is not only unhealthy but destructive, and it ain’t where or what we should be focusing on.
My aim is to get to the CORE stuff. Get past the pleasantries, and really try to get to the heart of what is working for those that have been successful, to identify the patterns, and try to put together the correlations so that we can all try to learn these things, and do it in a modern way.
What do you think? Is this is a good idea? Is this project something you’re interested in hearing more about?
I need you to let me know of any succesful indie artists you know of who should be included, and/or you’d like to learn about…
Also, if you have any (factual/reliable) stats, figures, percentages, links, or anything else that’s relavent to this project on the DIY independent that you could contribute, we’d appreciate it!
I have been compiling all the names of succesful Independent Artists/Bands and stories from the DIY/Indie industry innovators like Ariel Hyatt, Bob Baker, Derek Sivers, Viny Ribas, and have been polling and surveying groups and my online audiences. If you have any pieces of info or names to contribute please let me know. just comment below, or email: me @ jamieleger dot com.
If you want to be notified via email with updates you can go to https://www.jamieleger.com and subscribe and i’ll keep you in the loop.
Follow me on twitter @jamieleger
God Bless,
Jamie
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How to Set Reverb Parameters
Dec 23, 2011
Predelay conveys a sense of how close to the instrument we are. If we're sitting right next to the instrument in a big venue, we will hear the direct sound immedi- ately, and the reveberated sound a little later (long predelay). This gives us a lot of instrument articulation and sense of immediacy. If we're sitting in the back of a long, narrow cathedral, we might be hearing the early reverb from up front right along with the direct sound (short predelay). This might give a bigger, more “washed-out” or faraway sound.
Decay time tells us something about the size and nature of the space we are in, and also gives information about the volume of the instrument. Very soft sounds decay quickly, but very loud, dynamic sounds can also appear to decay quickly, because the direct sound tapers off quicker.
High-and Low-frequency damping tell us something about the kind of room we're in. An empty cathedral will sound very “splashy” and also muddy with low- frequency resonance. But a cathedral full of people will have a lot more highs and extreme lows absorbed. A living room or soft-furnished nightclub will sound even more muted, regardless of the actual decay time.
“Size” and “Density” controls give us some degree of control over the ratio of “early reflections” or distinct echoes, compared with more“washed out” reverber- ant sound. In an empty cathedral with lots of stone pillars and hard wooden pews, we are likely to hear a lot of broadly mixed-up, diffuse reverberation (high- er density). On the flipside, in a small cinderblock room full of people, a lot of the reverb we hear is likely to be from direct refections off the nearby walls and ceil- ing (lower density). Again, this exists independent of the decay time or predelay.
For instance, somebody sitting onstage in a basement party with a lot of people might hear a long predelay, very little density, lots of high damping and medium low damping, and a long decay. Someone sitting in the back of a plush nightclub might hear almost zero predelay, lots of low-and high-damping, short decays, and medium density. Somebody sitting in the middle of a massive arena concert might hear medium-long predelay, very low density, and very short decays (because of the surrounding crowd absorbing all the weaker sounds).
This last example leads to possibility of using distinct delays (or echoes) in place of or in addition to more diffuse reverberation. It's harder to find a better example than the stadium rock staple of Gary Glitter's “Rock and Roll Part 2” (which is a bizzare phenomenon unto itself in a whole lot of ways).
In all cases, the above illustrations are not “rules” or “recipes”, they're things that have to be tuned by ear. The biggest mistake that beginners make is to flip through presets and stick with whatever one sounds least offensive, or most masking of a mediocre sound or performance.
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Artist Development Solution = Stay Focused and Do ALL You Can
Dec 21, 2011
What i’ve learned is that the best thing you can do is to keep your mind on your goals, and i mean, fixed firmly on your goals. When you run into snags, or distractions, or tussles with perfectionism… You have to think, what is the end goal that i’m actually trying to achieve here?
The real key here is the conclusion that you make after asking yourself that question. It should, and the trick is to use this question as a reframing exercise, and immediately regain a grip on whats actually important. Perhaps the biggest priority is getting the task done verses worrying about something tedious that has got your hung up?
The name of the game here is to build that into your conscious problem solving skills, this will keep you more productive and help you stay on target instead of straying of target, scattering your focus, or getting stuck on something trivial.
Welcome to DIY Artist Development. This is the new music business. Be strong in your resolve, and don’t give up my friends.
If we were able to simply go down to the local labels artist development office and pitch our act, get some pointers, and then go back and work on perfecting only my crafts… AND then, finally, when i had it all right, then i’d go down there, perform my stuff and blow em all away, and then subsequently the curtains would part, a congratulatory marching band came rushing out from the backstage, and a smirking CEO stepped on stage to present me with the deal of a lifetime that ensured my unobstructed guarantees of just making music, never worrying about money, and getting to live my life in freedom on my terms…
Well, then that would be just fine. I’d say to hell with the DIY route…
Unfortunately, thats not the case. So my goal is simply to keep my head above water, keep making progress in all the areas that are important, and do my best to keep evaluating my priorities, until i find myself where i picture myself, and continue to, very practically and realistically, dream about.
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Artist Development Problem = How Can We Manage All This?
Dec 21, 2011
One of the hardest parts of working online AS WELL AS being a singer songwriter producer in the new music business is the management of all the moving pieces, multiple hats, and thus multiplied responsibilities…
Update your social media properties, post to your blog regularly, keep all the music hosting channels up to date, work on your crafts, work on your crafts, write the music, develop your music, record your songs, update the website…AAAAAAAAAAHHH!
One thing i’m beginning to notice and wonder if this really is a fundamental change we must embrace to be successful in this day and age. The notion is that we CANNOT sacrifice doing these things, i mean we could…
But the prize will go to the those who do, and find a way to manage, until they can systemize, workshift, and the with a new found excitement – be allowed to recharge and refocus on ONLY the things he/she NEEDS and wants to do.
But at first, without the money, without the manpower, it must be a committed effort, on our part to do ALL WE can on our own. For most of us, it appears this is road we must go, if we make strides to prove that we DO what we can to have what we want.
Anyway, back to the concept. The idea i’m driving at is that there are certainly much more things that we must do today, and i cannot rationally expect to just be a singer, or just a guitarist, or just a songwriter, and be the best songwriter i possibly can, and focus all my effort and time on only that, NO???
So then does this mean that the focused mastery of learning one skill must be sacrificed, for some portion, some start-up-get-momentum and get ready to fly period of time, where in that time we scramble to put as much doing in as many of the right places for as long as we can keep our heads together, and then are finally afforded the ability of altitude in our vantage point once we’ve built our foundation.
So is the new paradigm learn as you go, is this model a learn what you need to learn, to do what you need/choose to do?
Because to me, this seems, irrefutably, to be the case.
What i’ve learned is that the best thing you can do is to keep your mind on your goals, and i mean, fixed firmly on your goals. When you run into snags, or distractions, or tussles with perfectionism… You have to think, what is the end goal that i’m actually trying to achieve here? The real key here is the conclusion that you make after asking yourself that question. It should, and the trick is to use this question as a reframing exercise, and immediately regain a grip on whats actually important. Perhaps the biggest priority is getting the task done verses worrying about something tedious that has got your hung up?
The name of the game here is to build that into your conscious problem solving skills, this will keep you more productive and help you stay on target instead of straying of target, scattering your focus, or getting stuck on something trivial.
Welcome to DIY Artist Development. This is the new music business. Be strong in your resolve, and don’t give up my friends.
I reached the maximum word limit, so i've broken this up into two posts. Read the next one, to continue... Sorry about that.
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