Inexperienced Musician. NEED HELP

[~Twitch~]

Hello

Im new here, and I was hoping someone here might have a solution for me.

Im disabled. I have epilepsy and stress is one of my "triggers" for seizures, so as a result I am unable to perform publicly.(Ive tried... )

Considering my situation, I was wondering what the best coarse of action would be to promote my music. Ive done some home recording on my own for about the past 2-3 years. I play guitar mostly(acoustic as well as some "heavy" stuff), but since Ive been by myself without access to other muscicians Ive basically turned my computer into my band. I mess around with stuff that ranges from Acoustic pieces, to guitar incorporated Techno, to a style that draws from so many other styles of music, I dont know what to call it.

...but, I digress.

Tips, pointers, and other recommendations for the budding home recording artist would be GREATLY appreciated.

-Thanks

[Mindcore]

What goals do you want to accomplish?

There are many sites you can put your music on to get some exposure, Myspace, etc. If you just want people to listen, and hopefully enjoy your music, hit the sites. If you do a search you will see that lots of people have listed some of the better ones.

Sadly, you are missing a large part of the fun in creating music, and that's performing it for others. I can't imagine what it is to have your condition, but I've had some bad shows that made me want to pull my shirt over my head and run for the hills, that happens to everyone. I would suggest that you play infront of some friends, or family that you feel comfortable with, get a feel for performing infront of others at your own pace, and in complete comfort. There is no fear with Family, they love everything ( trust me I know)

When that becomes like second nature, then perhaps you can try branching out a bit.

Have you tried having other musicians over and jamming a few tunes? If you can do that, it will go a long way.

Also, go to local shows, check out what other people are doing, be part of the scene, even if you're not playing. Keep a few CD's with you and hand them out to a few people. Word of mouth is always the most effective.

First thing though, post some tunes in the music forum here, get some feedback and such, it's a great learning experience with unbiased criticisim.

Oh, one more thing, look for podcasts with your style of music and and submit some of your songs.

HTH

[~Twitch~]

Mindcore wrote:

What goals do you want to accomplish?

Hopefully, someday I'd like to form some sort of career with my music. At some point in my life I would like to make more than $550/month. Maybe I could eventually start to make a little money on the side w/my music. Though all of my profits would have to be through cd sales, I wouldnt be able to reliably play gigs.

Mindcore wrote:

Have you tried having other musicians over and jamming a few tunes? If you can do that, it will go a long way.

Im trapped in Arkansas for right now(living w/family), but Im about to move back to Memphis, TN. But right now there arent really any other musicians around who arent 55+ and into Bluegrass.

...But thanks for the feedback.

I'll try and put up links to a couple of my songs soon, and see what you guys think.

-Thanks

[grn]

Well if you get yourself a web site, you can sell your CD's through CDBaby (cdbaby.com) and get them on iTunes and other digital services and make some money that way. Like Mindcore said, you can then post some songs on Myspace, Purevolume, and every other site you can find - to promote your web site and ultimately your CD.

You could probably also get radio play, if it's good enough, on college and community radio depending on the genre. From there you can try to license your songs for use on television and in movies. Licensing is how you're going to make the most money probably. You can also try to shop your songs around to other artists.

Locally, contact the newspaper and record shops and tell them you're coming out with a new CD and hype it up. Contact all the local television and radio stations. Put out free stickers and flyers.

You won't get famous without touring, but if your music is top notch, you can live off of it if you work it. Just keep looking for opportunities. You might even capitalize on the fact that you can't perform live, so that if you get a following and you do happen to perform... even once, it will be huge.

[~Twitch~]

Thanks

Man, this forum is great. Everyone actually tries to be helpful, and courteous.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Does anyone have a particular site that you think is best for hosting your songs(right now free would be preferable).

I recieved Magix 2005 for a Christmas gift, and after spending some time with it even my amateur ears could tell it was crap. Ive invested in a new Audigy2 Platinum sound card and picked up a copy of Adobe Audition 2.0(I used to be a fan of Cool Edit Pro back in the day), so hopefully sometime soon I can get some of my new stuff recorded and put it up somewhere for some criticism.

Im on dial-up though so it will prob. take a whole day just to put up 1 or 2 songs.

[~Twitch~]

First off, sorry for the double post.

I tried posting this in the "MP3 Mixing Clinic", but got no response. Im new here, so Im not exactly sure where I should put this. Since this is the thread I initially started, I'll put it here too.

Hopefully someone can give me some feedback. If this is in the wrong place, can a moderator move it for me?

- Thanks

Heres the link to my song --> No Goodbyes Lullaby

[Hugo H]

I tried to get at your file and couldn't access it; the site just wouldn't start the download for whatever reason. I did notice that it's rather large because of the resolution you've chosen. You might drop that down a bit and save yourself some upload time.

As far as websites to use go, I'd suggest SoundClick. Incidentally, they use a resolution of 128k there.

And if you're looking for feedback about the song, as opposed to the quality of your recording techniques, you might want to post this in the Songwriting section.

[~Twitch~]

Thanks for the advice.

Heres the Soundclick link: --> No Goodbyes Lullaby

Hope you enjoy.

[SoundofMind]

Hey Twitch your music is beautiful
and very well done, i really enjoyed. Very nice guitar you played there, and nice use of pads. I simply loved this song
Too bad you cant play live , one of those things i would pay for
Everything people said here was very helpfull. You should really record an album and put into the internet
I wish you the best of luck

[SoundofMind]

By the way, you dont sound like an Inexperienced musician at all
Maybe inexperienced in marketing

[~Twitch~]

SoundofMind wrote:

Hey Twitch your music is beautiful

Thank you

SoundofMind wrote:

You should really record an album and put into the internet...

Im actually thinking about it now. I only have legal rights to 'No Goodbyes Lullaby' and a couple other of my songs(I'll be posting links to them in the songwriting section in the next couple of days), so after I get a few more of my songs copywrited, and record a few more things that've been in my head for a while, I'll prob. put out an album.

SoundofMind wrote:

By the way, you dont sound like an Inexperienced musician at all
Maybe inexperienced in marketing

I guess that would be more accurate, but compared to some people Ive met before, I am completely inexperienced.

Thanks for all the constructive feedback.

-Peace

[EdJames]

Hey man, hit me up on MSN or AOL (themyt1@hotmail.com or "The MyT" respectively) and I can talk you through an exact setup which will maximise your sound at home. In addition I can offer you hints on how to mix these tracks.

I'll wait to hear from you.