There are many blogs, articles, forums, and just overwhelming information. And it seems there is a new model that’s being tested. From what I see and how the industry is “trying” to take advantage of this new model is doing what an “Indie Artist” would do.Go pick up “How to market yourself as an Indie Artist” and that’s basically it if you think about it. It boils down to:
Singles sold via internet as the marketing mechanism
Live shows to generate income
Utilizing blog, video blogs, podcast, and anything with the internet to get your name out there
Once you got that buzz going with your 10,000 downloads, 500,000 views on youtube, and etc…find a home with a very successful Independent company or Major company to back you up further.
That’s as simple as I can put it. Now with this ever changing technology music industry, to be successful in this industry is something that nobody have down as of yet. Why? Because it comes down to having a great “product”. What do I mean by Product? I mean the “music, marketing, the team, business, image, personality, motivation, ambition, dedication, and etc (you get the picture)” makes the product successful. It’s just like any other business. Quality matters and the public want quality products before they put $1.00 into your pocket to keep you going…
The concept is pretty simple, but it’s not easy to execute. The concept is to get into video blogging, put up a myspace, your own website, write/record music, do shows, generate some capital, create merchandise, and do it for 15 hrs a day keeping the worldly fans happy and being proactive and interactive. Why is it so difficult for so many people? It boils down to love for your craft and having so much heart to work extremely hard with belief that you can be the next superstar.
Reality check: I find myself in a daze wondering what makes me so different from the many producers/artists/songwriters out there. And I believe that being in this industry for 9 years (6 years of learning my craft and going through mistakes after mistakes, 1 year break to reflect, and 2 years getting back into it) and still have such enthusiasm and passion for music, the business, and just the whole entertainment industry is what’s making me different from everyone else. After my 9-5 technology job, I put another 10 hours dedicated to music related stuff from video blogging, recording music, writing music, producing music, building websites for music, interacting with others about music, thinking of new ideas to get myself ahead in music, and loving every step of the way are the qualities what makes me believe that I can be more competitive than many others in this industry. People struggle in their lives to find a passion in life. I found my passion and I struggle to become not just good, but the best at this doing what I can to let people hear what I create.
So back to the subject. What can an Artist/Producer/Songwriter do to become successful? I believe it’s Passion, Motivation, and Ambition. With that, it will open doors to other opportunities that will lead you to your destination. Those qualities will make you smart whether it may drive you back to school to further develop your craft, or hustle from studio to studio to learn from others, or being able to find reliable people that believes in you. At the end of the day, life is too short and you want to love what you do in life. Eventually and hopefully, things will fall into place. Just keep believing (not by thinking about it but by doing it passionately) and you will be successful.
I just started working with an upcoming Artist/songwriter named Jean Elizabeth. She’s incredibly talented and she’s probably one of the few encounters I met throughout my 9 years of being in this industry that have potential of becoming a star. Of course, becoming a star is more than being talented. And of course, it’s up to their work ethics, commitments, priorities, sacrifices, and intelligence that will determine their success.
Below is a clip of a new song that Jean and I wrote. Too bad I didn’t get the chance to blog the making of the track and because I have a lot of other videos that shows how I created the song, I decided to just show how the record came out. Let me know what you guys think. Leave me comments, subscribe to my youtube channel, rate the video, and if anyone have questions for me, please do contact me.
In my next blog post, I’ll be posting my first TUTORIAL about recording. Please do subscribe to my website (on the rightside) and youtube channel (link below)
In this very short video, you’ll see the process of making this simple track, writing the melodies/lyrics, and recording it in under 3:00 minutes. It’s not a tutorial (soon will come), but it’s just to give you a sense of what we do in 2 sessions. Sometimes I do get to finish all of this in one session and then mix the following day. Please leave me comments or ask any questions. Also if you can, please subscribe to my youtube page.
Some have asked me of the equipment I use to produce music and still give that professional quality. Below is the list of equipment. I’ll be working on a producing tutorial soon introducing what equipment and software I use. Now if you guys want a list of equipment I use to use to create professional music, leave me comments for such request and I’ll put up another post regarding that topic.
1) Microphone – Audio Technica (AT4060) (I compare that to the U87’s)
2) AD/DA Converter – Apogee Rosetta (A Standard and sounds great)
3) Keyboard – M-audio Controller (cheap and it works)
4) Monitors – Tanoy Speakers (8 years and still working fine without any issues)
5) Monitor Amps – Alesis (8 yrs and it’s rock solid no issues)
6) Subwoofer – I find the KRK’s midsize work great. The bigger they are, the better you’ll hear the very low end frequencies you’d want to clean up.
7) Fantom xr76 – Older sound Module Roland xv3080 – Real old sound module but still sounds good
9) Avalon M5 – Mic Amp ( I love this equipment. Rock Solid and the headroom is amazing)
10) Computer – Custom built for under $700
11) Used PCI pro tools
Yea, this is a little over 10k, but it’s worth it. I didn’t include my soft synths, but I will eventually. I built this studio in chunks and learned how to use each piece of equipment. The trick is to buy equipment you need and understand how it works. Same with software. A lot of people buy equipment that they don’t even use it. If you go to a Major Studio, 50% of their equipment is turned off. It’s old, out dated, and hardly used because the plugins work great and the workflow is better to do it digitally. Leave me comments please.
Photographer Nini Kim Nguyen taking more pictures of me. We try to practice as much as we can as not only it’s fun, but it’s really the only way to get a strong understanding of taking artistic pictures which we want to get into. Playing with the shutter speeds, aperture, iso, natural lighting, shadows, and then post production. I hope you guys like
To be honest, I’m trying to figure that out myself. Major Radio stations are owned by Clear Channel. I’m pretty sure Payola still exist and program directors are corrupted? This is probably more of a venting blog about Radio. Are there any pop stations in the US that don’t play the same 10-20 songs every 30 min? Are people actually requesting for these songs over and over even after 6 months?
So the question is why do these program directors play the same playlist? I’m so tired of the Ne-Yo song “Mad”, and Lady Ga Ga “Pokerface”, and the Jamie Foxx “Blame it”.
I can drive 30 minutes to a location and hear the same song played twice on 1 radio station. What’s worst when I’m flipping to other channels, I hear the same songs! It’s not like it’s a coincidence. The chances of them playing the same song is so high because there’s only a limited amount of songs being played. So what’s the solution to this? I turn off the radio, load up songs I want to listen to, and then find out from my peers on what’s the latest hot song. Radio doesn’t give us the latest hot song. DJ’s aren’t breaking records like they use to…..When I’m hanging out in a club, I hear DJ’s playing stuff 4 years ago and back. Where are the new records that should be broken? Services like Digiwaxx suppose to be that type of service where they get records from Indies and try to establish reviews and if they like it, they get played in a club. Not once in a few years have I heard any DJ’s from NY break a new record. They all play the same top 40 club songs. It’s boring, it’s crazy, and very annoying…..
I believe if the public demand for better music and actually push for new music on radio, then it would boost the chances for talented Artist/producers/writers to become successful. Any comments? Please do leave one…..
It’s been about 2 weeks since I bought the Canon 5d Mark ii. And this is the first time I shot video on it. I did the track in less than 60 minutes. Just building up a foundation to the track and then later on do some real production to it. What I usually like to do is lay down a skeleton track, see if I can sing a melody to see if inspired melodies are delivered, and then write to it with a certain arrangement to the track. After it’s written (which isn’t on this track specifically), I then start “real” production. If live strings are needed or adding more drums and other sounds, then that’s what I need to do.
So here’s a clip of laying down the foundation to the track. Leave me comments or questions on my forum so I may answer it. Thanks
We were in this shadowy area. I wish there was more light, but we played with the shutter/aperture/iso and achieved these results. We are still learning how to use the Camera so we can achieve great results for our music video. No manual controls just yet until June 2nd for video so it’s better to test with photos. I’m working hard to achieve quality. Leave a comment on what you think?
Richard M. Ponce: “A Flock of White...
Shavon Grass: I would be interested in submitting...
Khoa Le: Major labels shot themselves in the foot....
Robert M: Great topic and I think I can add...
Khoa Le: You too Tuan! It’s always nice to...
Roland xv3080 – Real old sound module but still sounds good
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Richard M. Ponce: “A Flock of White... Shavon Grass: I would be interested in submitting... Khoa Le: Major labels shot themselves in the foot.... Robert M: Great topic and I think I can add... Khoa Le: You too Tuan! It’s always nice to...