0 - be sure that's what your soul is asking for
1- if you struggle, stop affirming, start asking instead
2- no one has to believe in you except yourself
3- it could be worse, you could be old
4- there's enough free stuff (so to speak) out there to make it work,
it will be up to you to give back
5- do what you love only
6- GO LIVE. people don't get famous on the internet, that's bullsh*t
7 - be aware it's a business, be smart

I belive in you, iyam
good luck

oh? P.S : work you *ss off

 

Electronic music: you can do anything with the included sounds and synths, if you know what are you doing.
For quality band, orchestral and world instruments - Kontakt, Uvi, Engine, Play and so on. You generally can't approach decent level of realism with freeware (especially woodwinds).

 

Take a blank sheet of paper and divide it into two columns. In the left hand column make a list of no more than five things that you dislike about yourself. Not an essay - just bullet points. In the right hand column make a similar list of five things that you really, honestly like about yourself.

You should now have one page of paper with ten items. Five negative things on the left, five positive things on the right. Cut or tear the paper in half to form two lists; a negative one and a positive one. Burn the negative list. Reduce it to ashes. Flush the ashes down the toilet.

Now, look at the five things that show how wonderful you truly are. Carry those things forward as you continue to make progress in your music. Repeat the process as often as you like.

 

"Many shitty songs and even more unfinished ones. But then you get better, and people start loving your stuff, then you build confidence and you start believing in yourself and your productions then sound confident. It's all part of the game."

This pretty much sums it up.
There are no shortcuts,sorry.
Music production is one of the hardest things to master in life.

 

Thats a thread I will be watching closely!

 

You have my sympathy, up to where you lack perspective. Likewise, you don't provide much perspective on what it is that you want to accomplish, just that you're financially frustrated, and are overwhelmed by the impossible or undeserved success of others, or by the sheer uphill climb it is to gain knowledge, skills, experience, and wisdom - not to mention connections and guidance.

You say, "The music world SUCKS when you're young." Dude, the music world sucks, period. It always has. What you're describing is what sucks for being broke. Age has nothing to do with that. If anything, it's "easier" for younger people to get some revenue-generating buzz going in the social hive in which younger people live, rather than in the far-less-social years beyond age 30. If you end up getting married and having kids of your own, bye-bye production-time - unless it's a full-time, bills-paying career, in which you're doing production work for others with little time left for your own creations.

I quit making music in 1994, because my art had driven my life into the ground, and the operators at the Suicide Hotline were getting to recognize me by voice. I had been making music for 15 years before that, when all I'd had was a four-track cassette deck and whatever instruments and effects I could scrounge or borrow (no trust-fund for me; always broke, and sometimes homeless). For 15 years, I swore-off music-making, but when a 20-year-old showed me Garageband on the Mac seven years ago, a light went on in my head, and it seemed "safe" to make music again. I re-built my songwriting and musical craft from the ground-up. Since then, I've completed and released over 100 albums and EPs.

However, this month I decided to stop actively promoting and maintaining the presence of my music online, since I realized that it's been seven long years of work for nothing. There have been some much-appreciated sales, but I figured that the cost of the labor itself and the hours worked over seven years totaled at least $100,000. It's not that my music has not been profitable, it's that I felt that the extra labor involved had grown too precious for me to continue to squander the time on it, and it was leaving me too burned-out and frazzled to create any audio-art and to study new software and techniques. "Amatuer" means "for the love of it;" I don't mind the label at all.

If I sometimes come across as blunt and curt in this forum, it's because I have little patience with others' whining or their refusal to gain real experience and skills, especially since digital technology now makes it so easy to create and produce things which, 20 years ago, had been impossible without major, major funding. It's also that this technology makes it possible with scant knowledge or no real skill in music to cobble-together professional-sounding, if musically-rudimentary, product. If you have a computer, a DAW, some free or cracked effects and virtual instruments, and a $100 condenser microphone, you have the equivalent of a record company's largesse 20 years ago. Such resources were rare and limited, and access to them was granted by one's music being marketable and one's personage being mediagenic enough for record companies to take a calculated financial risk.

Now that people who can't carry a tune in a bucket are international "singing" stars, thanks to Melodyne and Auto-Tune, it kind of throws the whole idea of striving toward excellence out the window. Now that people are concentrating on "making beats," why even bother with the idea of making music? Why can't I just squeeze something out of a tube, pour water on it, and take credit for how great it sounds?

Find your "voice" and discover what's unique about what you do. That may take some time. It took decades for technology to catch-up with me. I had to wait until middle age to be able to do what I'd wanted to do since I was 12 years old. I expect no one to give a shit; I expect no one to help me. I just do what I love to do, and I do whateverthefuck I want with it.

 

@stevitch, I have to agree with you 100 and 1 percent with you on this one.

... I rest my case. Well said.

 

Oh too bad, cause I don't feel these guys are lady-killers. And they did bring something unique (no matter if you feel they're too hyped about).

Wait a decade, you'll see what the verb "to suck" mean.

You realize you do say that your parents are rich several lines below ?

You just need to train. Just like for any other occ, ability, work, sport, ...

Because, atm, you ARE an idiot. Sorry to say it straight. It's uncomfortable for anybody, and , guess what? IT does happens to everbody (except to underachievers and liars).
Nothing you can't change though.

Hears ? [x]
Hands ? [x]
Computers and several software ? [x]
Will ? [x]
What's impossible again?

So... you have supporting parent (oh , right, they didn't buy you some expensive software ... still they feed and host you, that's quite a support if you ask me)
As a young student you have PLENTY of spare time, no responsibility.
As a young man, your brain work like a clock and you easily learn stuffs.

And you come here moaning like this ? You have no idea how lucky and blessed you are. And that's quite a shame.
My point : get f%%%% back to work. It's perfectly normal to suck at something that complex in the beggining.
There's no point in whining about this on a forum.
If you feel it's impossible : give up. No shame, it's ok, figure out something else.
Otherwise, keep trying.

 

the real question is why don't you enjoy it right now

 

Oasis in 1991 LOL Everybody gotta start somewhere




Fast-forward a few short years ..

 

Last edited: Jul 31, 2016

@stevitch, I agree with you 99%. There's just one thing that I think people might understand the wrong way.

That's not true. 20 years ago, to have that kind of stuff put together, you needed a whole business operation running, with a studio space and a front office. 1996 was a time when studio equipment started to shrink. ITB mixing was barely viable. Ricky Martin's Living La Vida Loca, reportedly the first all-in-the-box number one hit, didn't see the light of day until 1999. I get your point that the equipment alone and its capabilities have shrunk to tablet size and cost, but you still needed musical, creative, and business skills to make it.

 

(on-topic) I wud advise u to keep practicing if it's not happening 4u creatively. Learn a new instrument? If ur rly stuck on the "how", then try 2 deconstruct a favorite song and recreate it in ur DAW. This can give u insights into what to do / not 2 do as well. Then u can remix. Then create. It can be helpful 2 look at stems / projects if ur rly a beginner, so ask ur friends 4 help, if they've done a song u like. Also, busking is still a great way of earning extra $ especially at this time of year!

 

This.

"Hard work without talent is a shame, but talent without hard work is a tragedy."

Also

“Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.”

You see when people say "this artist", "that artist", are terrible? How are they famous? How did they become 'successful' in the music industry?
Well because many talented people refuse to put the work in, or believe they can just become the greatest with just pure creativity. There is so much more to it than the basics. Those people that don't seem "talented" but are big in the industry, well, guess what? They work stupidly hard. My managers worked with Rihanna a lot and said her work rate was almost inhumane. She had 10 people with her in the studio telling her what to do, when to sing, when to take a sip of water, when to make a facebook post, when to do this, that blah blah. Literally 3 hours sleep a day for weeks, including gruelling travelling etc.. . It really does take insanely hard work. To the point you want success as much as the need to breathe.

A lot of musicians seem to be lazy. If you truly want a job/career in the music industry, then you'll quit music as a hobby, or even professional hobby. And make it a full time job (Or at least treat it like a professional job. Waking up every morning and seizing the day, making sure you do as much as possible to better yourself. Become more organised, just anything to help you further yourself. find a way to make money, possibly sites like Fiverr can give you little income to help. Dedicate yourself to it. It is an industry after all. There is more to making music in a studio. There are meetings, people you need to persuade. People that won't listen to your music if you can't even hold a short conversation or even be likeable. It's a rough industry as I said earlier. You just have to show how strong you are as a person and a human. Believe you are strong and go about it. if you want something. Take it. It's yours. Just make sure you want it so much you'll get it or someone with a better work ethic will take that opportunity from you.

 

and? those boys look pretty posh to me even so.. did you notice all those nice Marshall amps? they don't come cheap...
and their instruments don't appear to be MIM Squiers or Chinese Epiphone crap...

maybe they borrowed it all to get going? ( LOL )

 

Lots of very bad advice. Lots of good advice as well. I won't divulge.

My 2Cents,

Find something else that you think you can do as a living.

NOT MUSIC.

Music isn't about making a fortune. Sure everybody would like it. But in the history of music very few have ever really had a secure living from it. Plenty of famous musicians who will be remembered in the history books died destitute.

There are ways of making money out of music, but are they any more enjoyable than alternatives ? It's easier than you think to turn your love and passion into hate and self-loathing.

 

Don't get me wrong, I certainly feel a little guilty about defending Oasis.

But what you suggest is not quite the same as million dollar marketing campaigns.

 

@DoubleSharp of course I get the point, everyone starts somewhere right?
But from that pic they don't appear to be anything like starving artists.. or even hungry ones.

and in our little space here.. we have people who are doing what all they can with the limited resources they have...
some do it for love, and some want to make money at it... some people refuse even to use "enhanced demos" and
use only free plugs.. I admire them.. even if they don't have a marketing campaign floating them and telling everyone how
great they are...

Ultimately if you like music.. and want to make music.. you CAN. In that regard I say, stop complaining about your
artistic obstacles, and put that energy into creating, or learning, or something constructive.
Now, more than ever, the world is your musical oyster.
Gettiing rich from it.. well that's a whole other conceited ball of wax...

This is why all of this is here.. for us.. to make the best of it....

ever see this before? @SAiNT 's

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jul 31, 2016

I agree to @DoubleSharp
Having a love for music making and wanting to live from it is two different things. And if you start with the clear thought of making a living from it, you will fail.
Music is a passion. It is deeply connected to our soul. Trying to make music that others may like will fail. But making music that you like, will not automatically make you famous.

Contrary to some other posts I understood that while you have rich parents they don't support you. I also understood that your disability prevents making your own little money to buy an instrument. And so you work with what you get your hands on. And that is good. It's not the instruments that decide wether your music is good, it's what you create with it. If anybody here thinks Clapton wouldn't be able to touch your heart with a $140 Epiphone, that's where arrogance kicks in. Of course, you can make a good music even better with more thought-out instruments, but you will never make a bad tune good, no matter the instrument.

I grew up in a rather poor family. My parents were anything but parents. No details, but I was beaten up every day, locked up with a bucket to pee in every so often, was told to be an asshole, a piece of shit, a nothing. In short, I was physically and mentally tortured for at least 10 years (we couldn't find out when exactly it began, in therapy). I still see the hand of my father, with the hurting wedding ring. A symbol of love, used to express hate. I hadn't heard any music, except the one my father played on his record player. It were swing and rock'n'roll. I don't exactly know why I did it, but one day I took the old "Wandergitarre" of my father, that he hadn't touched for years. It was an all steel string accoustic guitar. I took it, went into the woods near our home to find a quiet place of my own and started playing. I only used the low-e-string, but I immediatly was in another world. I could express my feelings with notes. I started to cry. From that day on I was into making music. I lent a small book with lessons for a beginner. I learned that people always assume right-handed human beings. Because I was left-handed, but had no other teacher than that book, I went through the pain of learning to play mirrored (from my point of view). Up until today I'm not able to play picked or in high tempos. But as soon as I learned to strum just 2 chords, I also started to compose my own songs.

At the age of 18 I finally got free from all the pain and torture. I had nobody to help me in any way, and I didn't even had a start with furnitures, etc. I didn't care. I survived a hell, that was all that interested me. And I can honestly say, I wouldn't have survived without my music. The music expressed my feelings, and maybe because of that I soon had two fans. Both invested in instruments and soon we found ourselves rehearsing. I came up with songs and lyrics, the other arranged them and the third was our technician (being an electronics engineer trainee). First cassettes recorded made their voyage around town and soon we had our first gig (pretty much like on the oasis pic regarding stage and size, but without all those marshalls and monitoring), and other gigs followed. But never, never were we able to live from it, or get even more known than around town. I didn't care, it never was my motivation.

If your heart sings when you do your own music, keep at it. But do it for yourself, not to get rich by it, or famous, or make a living. Do it to free your soul, do it to be proud of your music sculpture. Be an artist, not a salesman.

 

@tulamide heavy stuff.. glad you survived that to do something positive.. peace man!
all the best from here on .. sounds like you deserve it somehow...

 

It is well documented that they recorded their first album with Epiphones. The first Gibson they got was lent to them by Johnny Marr (he was aghast when he saw their guitars). I also very much doubt that they owned those amps back in '91 (even though 2nd hand gear was quite cheap back then). As a roadie Noel Gallagher would have known where to borrow some gear, or maybe it belonged to somebody else playing there. At that time he was stone broke and living in a bedsit.

 

Last edited: Aug 1, 2016