All a muso really wants to do is play music, right? Play your instrument or sing, join a band and rock & roll all night long! That's the dream we all chase, and dreams do come true. But for those who want to take things into their own hands and do it independently, there's more to it than just playing and writing great music.
There are various "business" aspects that a muso needs to handle if you're doing it independently. Here are a few points to get you thinking and I hope to elaborate on them in a series of posts.
Assuming that you've written 20 good songs. What next?
Pick the best 10. Be harsh, be critical. No, your girlfriend's and her mom's opinions do not count.
Get those songs recorded. If it financially permits, record a full 10-song album because the fact is, pressing 10 songs for an album or 5-6 songs for an EP does not reduce the cost of pressing the CDs. The number of songs does not change the cost of pressing a CD as long as the songs are within the size of a CD's capacity. The only cost you'd save is actual recording costs.
Recording options. There are various options you could choose from. Recording independently does not mean recording it badly. It does not mean it has to burn a hole in your pocket either.
1. Based on my previous post, recording gear is cheaper these days and with some skill and gear, you can start recording yourself in your bedroom. Or,
2. You can hire a recording engineer that owns an independent home studio. You can produce it and the recording engineer simply records and mixes and gives you the final product or you could have him co-produce too, if he is up for it of course.
3. This would cost the most. You can hire a producer and an engineer that can get you to create magic with you to be captured on tape.
I'll elaborate on the roles of the recording engineer, mixing engineer, editor and mixing engineer in the coming posts.
Mastering. I believe this is crucial. I mentioned this in one of my posts here. You will want to master your CD before it goes for pressing. This gives your CD the standard listening levels that can compete with all the other international CDs out there.
More "business" side of things in the coming posts.
Assuming that you've written 20 good songs. What next?
Pick the best 10. Be harsh, be critical. No, your girlfriend's and her mom's opinions do not count.
Get those songs recorded. If it financially permits, record a full 10-song album because the fact is, pressing 10 songs for an album or 5-6 songs for an EP does not reduce the cost of pressing the CDs. The number of songs does not change the cost of pressing a CD as long as the songs are within the size of a CD's capacity. The only cost you'd save is actual recording costs.
Recording options. There are various options you could choose from. Recording independently does not mean recording it badly. It does not mean it has to burn a hole in your pocket either.
1. Based on my previous post, recording gear is cheaper these days and with some skill and gear, you can start recording yourself in your bedroom. Or,
2. You can hire a recording engineer that owns an independent home studio. You can produce it and the recording engineer simply records and mixes and gives you the final product or you could have him co-produce too, if he is up for it of course.
3. This would cost the most. You can hire a producer and an engineer that can get you to create magic with you to be captured on tape.
I'll elaborate on the roles of the recording engineer, mixing engineer, editor and mixing engineer in the coming posts.
Mastering. I believe this is crucial. I mentioned this in one of my posts here. You will want to master your CD before it goes for pressing. This gives your CD the standard listening levels that can compete with all the other international CDs out there.
More "business" side of things in the coming posts.
i like the title "going independent"
ReplyDeletesounds like an adventure :)
It is quite an adventure actually. One that I am still on and I'm lovin it! woot!
ReplyDeleteI think this series would be like a 100 part one. hahaha. And that's me trying not to be long winded. lol. i hope these posts are making sense. i mean, i wish i had this info when i was doing it coz i had no clue and i had to do it all trial and error. haha.
ReplyDeletethey make sense! make them longer! haha :P
ReplyDeleteWhere is the 2nd part?!!!!
ReplyDeletehehehe....no pressure!
Part 2 is on it's way Dan.
ReplyDelete