General Music Chat

I've posted here on the mix seeking bandmates for lenghty time.So i;ve decided to persue my own three solo projects.Thee Olde Grey Moon,Our Sin,and Blood Mountains.

My fiancee and I have agreed to purchase a four track recorder,a cheap drum machine and a few more electric guitars.

Barely anyone has contacted me and been truley sincere about exploring
music genres.Thus it's apparent to do it all myself.

I've even hired my own artist for inlay art.Furthermore I can have tees made for under a hundred bucks.

So what's the question then? Do you have some recordings done? Your profile doesn't show any audio/video listed.

I'm askin is it worth the time effort and cash do this?
Can self promotion work for a vertually unknown artist? Sorry if I didn't elaborate the question further?
?

How many other known artists fully self promoted their music as a solo project?

Rather than four-track, I chose the computer route. There are some advantages:
-- no dickin' around with tape
-- unlimited tracks
-- easy editing and processing

... and disadvantages:
-- cost
-- learning curve

Unless you're doing no overdubbing, you need a full-duplex sound card -- not a standard item. Lots of memory is necessary for processing at good qoality. I chose a dual-drive system, with programs on one disk and sound files on the other. And a fast processor.

If you go this route, don't take the so-called computer "experts" at their word. Their knowledge tends to be about what works for the standard user. The needs of a music recording system are often the opposite of what they recommend. So you have to do your own research, talking to your sound card manufacturer, etc.

There are dedicated to digital recording systems available commercially. They're good, and portable, but pricey.

I'm askin is it worth the time effort and cash do this?
Can self promotion work for a vertually unknown artist? Sorry if I didn't elaborate the question further?
?

How many other known artists fully self promoted their music as a solo project?

Well.... If you like your songs it's worth the time and effort. Also by recording your songs you'll have something you can give other players to show what you're into.
As far as the self promotion thing. Why not? You can sell yourself as an artist or a song writer. Many song writers are unknown.
I would go with the computer recording system myself. If you have a decent computer already you don't need to spend alot of $$ on gear.
DaveGTD said "you need a full-duples sound card". I assume he's talking about if you need to record more than 2 tracks at the same time. If so you can pick up decent usb interface's pretty cheap. Check your fav online music store under computer recording. BUT, You CAN use your stock sound card to make decent demos that will sound better than a anolog 4 trk recorder. Just get some recording software. We tried that Magix recording software from Circut City Many years ago.. I think it was like $40.00. Using a PC that had 256 ram and a slow ass processor, we recorded one track at a time and were able to get 20 trks with effects before dropping out. Very easy to use.
I now use a bad ass PC, Sonar 6 producer and a Motu 828MKII.
PC in my opinion is the way to go. Alot of options to expand.
Good Luck.

It most definately is worth it and doesn't have to be seriously expensive while you are finding your feet.

There's lots of software available to use now just need to shop around to find one to suit and like the other guys have suggested, get a decent soundcard first

The recordings I did a couple of yrs back I did using Adobe Audition 1 (Formally Cool Edit Pro) probably costs around £200 and a £2.50 PC condencer mike lol and opened up a free myspace account like everyone else and stuck them on there!! Ok, not brilliant recordings but gives an idea of what I'm about to attract other musicians etc. You've also got youtube as well as another option of getting your songs heard. Obviously the more financially better off and experienced you become, the better your equipment and quality of your recordings. All these musician sites are brilliant for chatting and getting advice and finding out the best places to gig and ones to avoid. Finding bands to do support slots with etc you are getting your music heard internationally without leaving your bedroom in effect but hopefully people who have heard you have liked what you do and want to see you gig and so your little empire grows


www.myspace.com/asirenstear

One thing that you should be aware of is that with SOME stock computers you can get by without adding anthing other than the necessary software.
Listen to my song "Foldks I Knew (If You Catch Me Crying)," and you'll see what I mean.
The software was only $70, but it could easily do all I wanted; there's about a dozen separate tracks, & I added some echo/reverb . . .
My computer is a 5 year old Sony VAIO, 100% stock off the shelf.
1.6GHz, 80MB HD...
Not the best, but you CAN do it.
.
Now, here's what I wish I had in this computer:
> More RAM; 1 - 2 GBytes of RAM would be nice.
> A 2nd Hard drive.
.
The 80 Gbyte HD I have seems to be adequate, size-wise. But it is writing/reading so often that it slows everything down. One program has to wait for another. . .
With a 2nd hard drive, one could be doing it's thing, while I'm recording on the other . . .
One more thing;
When you go to buy RAM, remember this rule of thumb: more, more, MORE.

My fiancee and I agreed to purchase the analog first due to lack o green.
Eventually we'll do digital.I wanna get the underground feel of my music to Europeian crowds first.Cuz now I feel my style aint to appealin for commerical crowds.

Thanks for the input and postive responces guys and gals!!!!

I think it'll cost you more money to go Analog, and you won't be able to add the standard effects (like reverb), and you limit yourself to the number of tracks, and then you're going to wind-up with out of date technology, you won't be able to post analog recordings (no such thing as an analog MP3) and you're going to have to upgrade sometime in the future to transfer the analog to digital, and then it still won't sound as good . . .
. . . you're opening up a time-consuming and expensive can of worms . . .
.
But, good luck with your recordings . . .

It depends on what your trying to accomplish for the end product. For just turning song ideas into music there are many recording and editing programs that are cheap or even free and semi easy to use. If your looking for studio quality sound for demos or songs then it can get to be expensive, complicated and time consuming. The samples on my profile page are just songs that were done by me using tracks in my room or my band practicing (in the garage) recording song ideas for future gigs using free recording software, cheap mics and a laptop. The sound quality is not that great but it doesn't need to be it's just for putting the songs together.

What do you have to lose besides your sanity? I say do what makes you feel good.

And use an analog mixer. Forget the digital crap, unless that is paramount to what you are doing.

If you stay true to what you like and know, you will no doubt be a success at whatever you do.

The point is he mentions he has little money at the mo, but surely analogue recording is going to be way more costly in the long run and time consuming. I'm assuming you will be recording your music onto cassette tape and posting these out to Europe?

My fiancee and I agreed to purchase the analog first due to lack o green.
Eventually we'll do digital.I wanna get the underground feel of my music to Europeian crowds first.Cuz now I feel my style aint to appealin for commerical crowds.

Thanks for the input and postive responces guys and gals!!!!

How does free for digital recording software grab you?

http://www.reaper.fm/

Hey oursins,

Each person that has recorded will probably tell you something different. You see everyone has their own taste. I will totally agree with the computer recording. If you check out my background, I have been recording for a long time. I did it the analog way for many years. I had to learn all over again to go digital.
It is so nice now to have a complet digital studio. I can get the analog sound if needed, but I am not trying to be Arista records.
All of my earlier records "years ago" were analog. I think the things that I am doing in my home studio today sound 10 times better than any of those did and they were done in multimillion dollar studios.
Check out my site and see what you think of some of the tunes I have done on the From The Heart CD.
I would be glad to help you get started in the digital world of recording. I would strongly suggest that you STOP spending money on analog stuff. You can get so much more for your dollar going digital. Lots of stuff is free. But you can get set up with good stuff a lot cheaper than doing the analog thing.

Check it out and email me at bsjones11@bellsouth.net

The main reason I chose analog recording it's cheap one hundred bucks.
Second i have a friend who'll record my 3 solo demos to digital.
Third it's the only cost effect way my fiancee and I can do it.After so many tees buttons are sold we can buy a digital cd recoreder for 700.
two other friends plan to help with art work and inlay design via computer.
In the meantime we plan to buy a cheap drum machine 160 and a proccessor pedal for 60.

It's all about savin moolah.