How do I get where I want to go?

[Noddy301]

Need a little guidance fam...I know that ANYONE can make beats or record vocals and call their self a producer. However I want to MAKE IT and I believe I can make it. Nevertheless I know that opportunities come like avalanches in Florida. I cant express how much I appreciate you guys each and everyday for at least giving a young blood a chance and confidence. My teachers tell me all the time, son you are VERY multitalented and you are made for T.V. However I dont know what will take me there. I plan on going to college and taking some type of music major but i dont know what may suit producers. I plan on investing in realestate but i dont know whats risky and whats not. I plan on being the NEXT BIG THING but I dont know what will get me there....Im very confident in myself so thats not a problem, however I need to be asured that if I work HARD as hell and dont let ANY body work harder I will get where I want to go...Help yall little brother fam

~Noddy

[Mindset]

Stay in school, go to college, major in music & also do business also. That's the best advice I can give you homie. The risk of this business with no education runs just as high, if not higher than any other profession. You NEED to know what your doing. School will help you out with that a lot. Companies would hire you faster if you had a bachelor in music & a bachelor in business than someone who can make beats on the street. That's just real talk... Though those people on the streets that make beats, are not going to fail 100%, some will make it (a very tiny amount) 95% will not. When you step into a studio, and there's AKG's president, and Yamaha's president, along with Interscopes' president, and they talking business, it will look a lot better if you can conversate on the same level than being like huh and what.

The next advice I can give you is keep doing you homie. Your character will also help you through.

Personally, I feel like I learned more in the school I go to than if I went to the nearest community school and got taught there. Only because I'm taught by real professionals in the music industry, that run with names in the industry, that already made it in the industry and settling down. Not some professor who just got out of 8 years of school to teach, who doesn't appreciate the sound as much.

Anyways,

Here's the thing, you can't do it all by yourself. Hell I can't do it all by myself. That's why there's a need for Mangers, supervisors, financial advisor's, presidents, and labor workers. You gotta pick exactly what your aiming for and set goals homie. Then do whatever it takes to get there. If your going to be a producer, learn mixing, arrangements, etc, if your going to be a mastering engineer, learn and get to know people within' that field. If your a sound engineer's and that's what you like to do, than learn about sound, and everything about sound, learn how you can manipulate sound, and use your tools to do whatever you want.

[BillyBo]

^^ what he said, lol.

[Mindset]

I think you nearly got your talent down, but will always progress in your style of music, and it'll become even better. So I think that you should start concentrating on networking with individuals who are going somewhere, weither that will be free or $$. A lot of 'blowing up' is who you know, just it's usually more than what you know. What your next step should be is set yourself up by becoming more of a professional in what you do. It's kinda hard to explain, but there's 2 breeds of individuals in the music. The ones who say they gonna get it, and they take small steps, and go nowhere. And then those who go out and make things happen, those who no matter if it looks like a slim chance, they take it. Some say it's called luck, I say it's the rewards for being persistent. You should be compiling a list of 1 potential clients, producers, engineers, artists etc. Another is full of actual networked people you deal with on a day to day basis that can get you some where. Each individual has it's own special talent they can bring to the table, in your case, each individual gots what you need to succeed.

Say Change, he can help you with marketing/advertisements, shows, etc. I can get you some of the business side of things, and the engineering side, BKnot is known for his information, he'll keep you up to date with the music world of today, Stray can help you with arrangements of music, Ment has real knowledge in business just like me. You see, these are only examples of what a team can do for YOU as well as what you can do for a team. You get w hat I'm saying? I'll be burnt if I had to do EVERYTHING by myself, and didn't have a set of dedicated individuals who specialize in whatever they do the best. Get yourself first, a list of people who are connected, and have skill, and what they can do for you. Networking my friend. Network. I couldn't do what I do if I didn't go out and network with other peoples. Along with dedication lol. Hit the blocks up son, you'll be surprise who you'll meet. I met a lot of local artists who in the local scene are giving a name for themselves, and which turned into clients for beats. All I was doing was out hustlin' CD's with folks.

There are a lot of people out there willing to help another person out, because someone helped them out when they were in the situation, because they know how it felt to have a dream and want to make it real, because of the knowledge is valuable and they want to pass it on, because of their love of music, because they love your stuff and are fans.

Enough Said dogg
BLOW UP THE INDUSTRY
Your ready dogg. just need some guidence.

[Noddy301]

WoW! I greatly appreciate it man. I WILL go to college but somehow I get the impression that Im procrastinating alot when it comes to this music thing. I continue to tell myself that Im NOT ready; wait until I go to college and THEN jump head first into this whole thing. Im not sure if thats procrastination or my conscience...which one is correct?...Man Thank You ALOT....I swear if i had that 1,000,000 I'd give it to ya

[mrT]

Originally Posted by Noddy301

WoW! I greatly appreciate it man. I WILL go to college but somehow I get the impression that Im procrastinating alot when it comes to this music thing. I continue to tell myself that Im NOT ready; wait until I go to college and THEN jump head first into this whole thing. Im not sure if thats procrastination or my conscience...which one is correct?...Man Thank You ALOT....I swear if i had that 1,000,000 I'd give it to ya

If you want to be a producer... college is a waste of good $$$ that would buy you equipment. Nothing a college will teach you will make you successful in music. And Don't just go for "music." I've got a %99 feeling that that would be completely the opposite of what you want. The sad news is that if you really want to make it you just gotta work your ass off. Play shows, sell beats, develope your skills on your own. If you spend four years as a musician you have a leg up on those just getting out of school with no expirience (and HUGE debt). In the end it's all about what YOU can do. If you can show them you know just as much as someone with a "degree" and you've got 6 years more expiriece actually doing it... that is an advantage.

The only place that degree will help is if you wanna be a suit...

[Noddy301]

Originally Posted by mrT

If you want to be a producer... college is a waste of good $$$ that would buy you equipment. Nothing a college will teach you will make you successful in music. And Don't just go for "music." I've got a %99 feeling that that would be completely the opposite of what you want. The sad news is that if you really want to make it you just gotta work your ass off. Play shows, sell beats, develope your skills on your own. If you spend four years as a musician you have a leg up on those just getting out of school with no expirience (and HUGE debt). In the end it's all about what YOU can do. If you can show them you know just as much as someone with a "degree" and you've got 6 years more expiriece actually doing it... that is an advantage.

The only place that degree will help is if you wanna be a suit...

OK now im confused

[BillyBo]

if i'm correct (cuz i know him) mrT is speaking from experience, and from some of his friends' experiences that a degree wont necessarily get you anywhere with music. you have to walk on your own 2 feet, a piece of paper wont get you a gig, or a seat in the producer's chair. it can help, but a degree with no experience is as good as no degree and no experience. experience being the key.

sorry if i'm off mrT. ???

[Noddy301]

Originally Posted by BillyBo

if i'm correct (cuz i know him) mrT is speaking from experience, and from some of his friends' experiences that a degree wont necessarily get you anywhere with music. you have to walk on your own 2 feet, a piece of paper wont get you a gig, or a seat in the producer's chair. it can help, but a degree with no experience is as good as no degree and no experience. experience being the key.

sorry if i'm off mrT. ???

Wow ok NOW im starting to understand where yall are coming from...i understand a piece of paper wont get you a degree but it MAY give you a chance as far a networking...right?

Thanx Mr.T and Bo

[ammarg89]

All the good advise has been given, my word to you would be
DONT SMOKE THE FOLLOWING!!!
CRACK
CRYSTAL METH
MESCALINE or PEYOTE(unless of course your native american)
HEROIN(JUST DONT TAKE IT)

And stay away from prostitues half of them got ghonnoreah, or some sort of shit, so when you do make it youll be able to use it, know what i mean.

Thats all i have to say, anyways im just 17 so dunno if my advise would be any good.

[Noddy301]

HaHa Im feelin u dogg

[Mindset]

Yeah, JUST school won't help, I'm going to school for the piece of paper basically. I'm backed with experience though. Also, there's other details in the school I go to that I learn. Some things you can't learn by just going out and buying thousands of dollars worth of equipment, granted that it will help you though. Put someone with a million dollar studio in front of them, and give me just a simple $1000 setup, and I'll mix better than the man that knows jack what he's doing. Just because a person has invested tens of thousands of dollars for cool looking equipment, doesn't mean he'll know how to use it properly. Hooking up a home studio is different than hooking up a full fledge studio. There are a lot of people who do know what they doing though, I'll say that. But this business is hard dogg, I would say it takes more than dedication to make it, even experience. A good engineer uses his tools properly. I've ran into a LOAD of people who think they know what they exactly doing, and think they are a real engineer, but yet for instance, something simple like running reverb as an inline patch, or they'll say that mic's are all the same. That my Nuemann TLM 193 sounds the same as a U-87, or a 414. Or they'll say sweep the frequencies, when your suppose to know all frequencies off the top of your head. There's plenty of people that are good at what they do, but in this industry, you have to be great at what you do. To do that, you need to gain knowledge about your tools, and also network. Everyone know's the networking part of things. I myself, still have lots to learn, but I gladly welcome the knowledge lol.

[mrT]

Originally Posted by BillyBo

you have to walk on your own 2 feet, a piece of paper wont get you a gig, or a seat in the producer's chair. it can help, but a degree with no experience is as good as no degree and no experience. experience being the key.

That's pretty much it. Not to knock on school. It has served many well. But there is no need to go into THAT much debt to learn something that you say (as an assistant) could have been PAID to learn anyhow. If you want to get into recording as a job just get a good demo reel going and hope you impress someone. Will a degree help your chances? maybe... maybe not. If you suck nobody's gonna care about your piece of paper. And likewise if you know your shit and do excellent work nobody cares if you don't have it. I'm more inclined to think that the degree is worth more for the connections that come with it than anything else. I don't mean that to offend anyone either. I know what you learn there is good stuff but it's also stuff that you could learn by doing it for a while. So to each his own. I go to college but for something completely different. I'm hoping to make a career out of recording still but bills must be paid. Sometimes I regret this but it's too late now...

[mentalattica]

I agree with most of what's been said. School is a good outlet to find other people to hook up with that have the same interest and goals, but on the other hand so is the internet...lol Just network any way you can, that's the best advice.

You can also meet the 'wrong' people also, who have the same goals as you but will use you to get where they want to be and drop you off on the way leaving you at square one. So make sure you make your own decisions.

I remember seeing this thing on Eddie Murphy a few weeks ago and a student asked him "what advice do you have for us (upcoming actors)?" his advice was probably some of the best I've ever heard from an entertainer. "Don't take anyone's advice" he went on to tell a story about how he begged Rodney Dangerfield to watch one of his stand up routines and after the routine Eddie asked Rodney how he liked it. Rodney said "you need to clean it up, you say too much bad stuff and use too much bad language..." Shortly afterwards Eddie BLEW UP! With Delerious and RAW, he said he bumped into Rodney Dangerfield later on in his career and Rodney's response to Eddie blowing up was "Damn, who woulda known?".

[Mindset]

[QUOTE=mrT]That's pretty much it. Not to knock on school. It has served many well. But there is no need to go into THAT much debt to learn something that you say (as an assistant) could have been PAID to learn anyhow. If you want to get into recording as a job just get a good demo reel going and hope you impress someone. Will a degree help your chances? maybe... maybe not. If you suck nobody's gonna care about your piece of paper. And likewise if you know your shit and do excellent work nobody cares if you don't have it. I'm more inclined to think that the degree is worth more for the connections that come with it than anything else. I don't mean that to offend anyone either. I know what you learn there is good stuff but it's minimum of a bachelors degree to work here in this department, and also the financial department & sales. Don't go to school, go and try and persue music, but this IS a hard industry to win over. Out of 10,000 people, maybe 20-50 may succeed fully in the music industry or even lesser. 30 years old, and lost the battle, with no degree. IDK, I don't want that to be me... or anyone else. MrT has some valid points, because he speaks from experience. However, I'm also speaking from experience, and I'm only 24 years old. Wish yall could meet my teacher J ames, he's a freakin' genius. He made me realize that there's more to it than knowing how to set shit up, and hit the record button, or just putting reverb or delay or compressing something... Without million dollar equipment to learn on, a person comes out to a big time studio to get hired, and they ask him a question like how much experience do you have. You answer back oh yeah plenty, and they ask you with what type of equipment. You answer them back with a lineup of equipment. So what if you know how to use a mackie onyx, or how a B-1 sounds, or how to hook up a DBX166 comp. SO, they could either hire you or not. Lets say they DO hire you. They lay you down on say a smaller SSL console like the 6000 and say work it...

1. You don't have ANY experience in equipment that's like that. You rmixer at home has 2 busses. The SSL 6000 has 32 busses.

2. Your fired, cause you had to "learn it first". Someone's paying $600 dollars an hour, for you to track their work, and your goofing off saying "oh this is where the so and so is located at, but what is this??"

....
well even school couldn't help you then lmfao.... HOWEVER I go to school, I have the SSL6000 console right in front of me every day, and other studios have their own equipment, digital, and analog of course.... Put me in the same studio, I know how to work it. Maybe with more experience, I'll have them tracked, mixed down, and ready to go within' 4 hours, instead of their regular 7 hours... So we don't get paid the extra ** hours, but they come back, and bring more clients because you are good. hell they think you are GREAT.

So then, what's more better??

Buying the SSL console at $300,000 and learn it on your own
or spending $10 to learn it in school.

Unless you have the money don't waste the $300,000 on a SSL console lmao. sure you would have a new ssl console, but um... it won't fit in the 2 bedroom apartment. And why spend $300,000 and not go pro?

* Experience is one of the things you need
* Someone who knows more than you teaching you is very effective (taking the 10 years it takes you to learn it and shoving it down in 1 month, spend that extra 9 years 11 months gaining experience and more, or be 30 with 10 years of learning... your choice)
* Network - Very Very important. If not going to school to learn, go to school to network lmao.
* this industry is FAST, like a speeding bullet, if your not ready, it will pass you by with a blink of an eye. It's better to learn all you can in 1 year and use 9 years to gain experience or whatever, than it is to learn everything you can in 5 years and gain 5 years experience.

[Mindset]

Whatever you do, everyone's right... Experience definitely helps.

[mrT]

If a recording school can get you a $600/hour gig right out the box I'm switching!!! But I just don't see that happening. My guess is that if a studio hires you they'll make damn sure you know how to work their shit before they charge someone 6 an hour for your services... If I'm not mistaken Steve Albini only charges $650 A DAY for his services so if your making that kind of sctrach by the hour you are either a recording prodigy or you've got rich and stupid clients...

But I do get your point and agree. But I'm inclined to think someone would help you out if you'd never used that ONE particular console before. And what if it's a n old Neve or another console you never saw in school?


The skills you have and can demonstrate will get you the job. period. How you get those skills is up to you. Nobody cares how. Only that you have them.

[Mindset]

That's true... Being here in school landed me connections to investors for a whole lot of $$, and a track for upcoming artists, and I got to talk to Yamaha & AKG's presidents hehe and OpenLabs too.

BTW, Studio D gots a Neve console too So we work with 3 digital consoles, and 3 analog consoles, SSL, DM2000, 02R (which I don't even count), this Yamaha one that I can't remember the name but it's $25K, a NEVE console, and a digidesign console for video editing, and post production. I forgot which one that's called too. Also another DM4*** something. And a Soundcraft mixer in the mobile truck. So we get to work on various equipment so that we can go into any studio and work with their equipment. I already knew how to work with the SSL6000 cause we had a similar SSL console in the studio I worked at few years ago... idk, this school teaches you on a personal level, instead of a student - professor level. Which I learn a lot more. I already had 5 years backing, not including when I was messing around with pro equipment but not totally serious.

[Noddy301]

Yall are some "Life SAVERS"....dont stop the conversation there lol

[Mindset]

lol my fingers hurt from writing so much on this subject on each post haha.

[Noddy301]

Man thats an HONOR that you and others are willing to have fucked up fingers just to help a young cat like me make it....I Love Yall No Homo lol

[Mindset]

lmao, hey Noddy have you gotten a mic yet???

[Noddy301]

na man...i dont know where to get the right one...I dont wanna waste my money on bs...u know

[Killah_Trakz]

son hosnestrly no one know the ingredients to make it anymore, before it was image then raw talent, then move a few units and show proof. Now you have wackness flooding the earth and i wake up like shit icould do that but im still here. My best advice dawg is too grind and churn tracks as much as you can, collabo with the world, flood myspace and the net as much as you can and trust youll see a big big difference.

[Mindset]

Well I think it was a discussion at first of what the core ingredients that were needed to go somewhere in this industry, but became a disagreement of school & not going to school. I mean, there's things that are needed to be done depending on what your trying to be. As an Artist, things are a little different than trying to become a studio engineer or producer & make it. As an artist, you'll need the image & raw talent etc. As a studio engineer you need to show that you know how to work the equipment, as a producer you need to be able to arrange music & envision the music as good as possible.

I myself, was stating stuff other than becoming an artist.