Hi,
I am new here and have recently started back to composing a bit. Many years ago...(back in 1981)...I stepped into a small home town studio and recorded a series of songs of my own. I was 18 years old then. I had been playing guitar and writing since the age of 13. I had grown up on Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, and the like, but Gary Numan was my music hero at that particular time in life.
Now, after a career in the Army, and life's happenings, I sit here with
Ableton Live in front of me on an old laptop I garnished from my grandson who was going to throw it away. I am learning how to play the guitar again to the proficiency I had when a kid. I have so much material running around in my head now as well, with this wonder of digital audio production software available now (gosh had I had this back then!!). I bought a used M-Audio MidAir 25, hooked in, and have been playing with it....like a kid in a candy store.
I wanted to ask the forum here some questions about approaching this now in this age, and this time in my life...very simple questions on what brings me here. Perhaps this will belong in another thread. If so please let me know and I will copy it there. I will also answer these questions concerning my viewpoint. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
I look forward to reading all the great stuff in this forum. Thanks:
1. What were your original intentions with starting to record at home?
Answer: Since hearing my cousins play (very loudly) Jimi Hendrix, Steppenwolf, Led Zeppelin at the young age of 7 and on up, I wanted to be a recording artist. I wanted to play drums like I was hearing John Bonham play. I took up guitar and playing in bands, but needed more of a way to "seal" that into something that I wanted to hear again... a recording. And I wanted it to sound good too.
2. How much time and effort do you dedicate to recording at home presently?
Answer: I am new at this technology we now have. Creating drum loops is starting to seem maddening for one thing. I trying to devote one hour a day to just learning how to use Ableton. I am also devoting time now to stopping, and writing down any little verse or idea I hear in my head. I have a full time job and a life, but this interests me to where I need to get it out.
3. Do you sell your recordings, or give them freely to the community?
If a song would sell, say to pay off my house or car, that would be grand. But I have lived through enough stuff and "been up against it" enough to realize that those things are not so important now. I honestly don't know what will come out of this, but my intention is to give back to the community in some way. By performing in a band for free perhaps, or giving my music away for some production or something like that? Solidifying my thoughts in a message given forth in a song via a recording, which could last forever and represent something, is probably the most important thing for me now.
Again, thanks so much!
Cedric