Disqus - Latest Comments for blinder

Re: The case for recording yourself (4 reasons why you should)

blinder — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 11:43:19 -0000

as a counter to this, i feel it's really important, at some point in your career, to have someone else record and mix your music.

i spent years doing my own thing, with mixed (mostly on the mediocre side) results, then decided as an experiment that i would book some time in a local studio. luck would have it that i had just met a new friend who owned a new and up and coming studio, so i booked time there.

it was scary (not my first time in a studio, but my first time as a solo artist) but let me tell you, i learned so much and not just the technical side. i worked with a mix engineer who was just amazing (he and i became fast friends) and he taught me about editing, and how to balance a composition, how to hold interest through mixing. he taught me about EQ and compression and how to manage gain staging.

Aside from just learning, having another critical (and trained) set of ears has been essential, i learned to not be afraid of editing, ditching stuff that wasn't important. in fact, i learned how to really write from this experience. i've now done 3 trips to the studio, and each time i learn something new, something crucial.

yeah it is expensive. yes there's a considerable amount of anxiety associated with it (especially given that i had been in a isolated cocoon and had never let anyone into this music world of mine) but i really think everyone should try it... record a record at a studio, have someone mix it, then take it to a mastering studio and let a professional do their thing (i could go on and on about the importance of having a professional do mastering)

so yeah i do a lot of my own tracking, and i do some mixing, but having that other set of ears and hands has, i think, let me produce something i'm more satisfied with. it has let me actually feel like a piece is done.

Re: Why so many of us are doing music promotion wrong

blinder — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 11:41:06 -0000

yeah it's shameful what some people do to stand out. i've grown so tired and disgusted with the whole thing (promotion) where i've just stopped even doing what little i did. whenever i put out a release, i used to write about the technical aspect of it and post it to a relevant music making subreddit on reddit. but even that now, no one cares. so i've adopted a focus on the music and only the music approach. yeah i'll post about things to my fb and twitter feeds when relevant, but i just can't stand to do anything beyond that. if people find this music. awesome. if not? it isn't the end of the world. i used to have this itch in the back of my mind that thought some measure of approval from strangers was important. after spending the last year or so trying to do some amount of promotion, well i've been cured of that. it's not that i'm bitter, not even a little. it's actually liberating. one less thing i have to worry about. one less thing that needs energy to spent.

Re: The #1 reason why not ENOUGH people are listening to your music

blinder — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:44:44 -0000

i've found this to be an interesting concept. and upon first learning about it through your course i'm really struggling to actually come up with what an avatar would be for my project (sky flying by). i honestly do not know, apart from friends, who my listeners really are. my friends are completely random, no real discernable pattern with the exception that we happen to be friends. when i look around at facebook likes on my page or on bandcamp, these people are as random to me as anything. yeah there are commonalities, such as these people like some of the same bands i do, but to me that sounds awfully flimsy to base an avatar on. it's one of the reasons i don't really do promotion, to me it's all chaos, random chance... and finding the order in it is really my starting point, so it's like i'm starting further back.

Re: Why You Will Fail if You Treat Your Music as a Business

blinder — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 19:51:59 -0000

well said! but i tell you what also helps remove the fear of what someone may think of your music is, getting shit on. i've been in bands and been doing this solo thing a while, and i've received all manner of reviews and messages (letters, emails etc.) from individuals. my favorite is still the time when someone told me i should just kill myself my music was so bad. i've gotten more than my fair share of bad reviews, and horrible messages but what that has taught me is, it doesn't matter. none of it. once you get that horrible review or a cruel message from someone you have a choice, do you feel sorry for yourself and just give up, or do you decide that it doesn't matter and you continue on with your art. i found that simple act removes the fear of what or how your music will be received. i mean what's the worse thing that can happen? no matter what you can come up with is probably not anything that changes what you do and who you are. so eliminating the fear is to not care, or more to the point, put your care in what you can control. you can't control what people think/feel about you and your art. but you can control what you do next. also what has helped me is, a buddhist concept of just not having expectations. make music, and have no expectations for how it will be received. without having any expectations, good or bad means, what ever happens, happens. there's no fear in no expectations :)

Re: Win a lifetime membership

blinder — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 11:10:02 -0000

Why do i think this program could help? well, i'm an idiot. i have no idea what i'm doing. this whole solo thing started as an accident that i just backed into, simply because i didn't know what else to do. figured it's time after all these years of just toiling in total obscurity to start getting a clue. yeah i'm not looking for anyone to do my homework for me. i just want to learn enough so i have a direction to practice in. this whole solo music thing is isolating and without any real feedback or guidance it's hard to know if you are headed down a dead end or on a real path that leads somewhere. like i said, i just want to find a path. i'll do the walking or climbing, it would just be nice to be less of an idiot so i'll be able to identify the paths from the dead ends.

Re: Make great sounding recordings with this FREE resource

blinder — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:55:12 -0000

thank you :) working my way through your rethinking mixing series. totally eye opening.... now back to our regularly scheduled program....

Re: Make great sounding recordings with this FREE resource

blinder — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 13:39:02 -0000

yep love the RR. i even bought graham's rethinking mixing video series. about half way through it and it's actually been hugely educational. the crap i'm learning in that i would have never thought (like mixing in mono, i had knew that it was good to check mono for phasing, but to actually mix in mono, damn, pretty brilliant)

Re: Module 3

blinder — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 19:41:59 -0000

oh brilliant :) carry on then!

Re: Module 3

blinder — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 16:37:28 -0000

so first off this is awesome, and i think it'll be really helpful. second.. you should check out superior drummer 2 by toontrack. the realism (with mic bleeds, multi-outs) is sick.

Re: I need your advice (please!)

blinder — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 18:25:20 -0000

yeah this strikes pretty close to home. being a loner/introvert myself, i have to figure this out as well. i just don't like being around people most of the time, and it's physically exhausting to be constantly networking/communicating with people.

Re: I need your advice (please!)

blinder — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 18:22:36 -0000

"keeping fans interested"

oh yes, that's a huge issue i'd love to see further explored

Re: I need your advice (please!)

blinder — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:07:55 -0000

i'd like to take the second part first.

my biggest frustration is my inconsistent attitude towards my music and my almost manic compulsion to go from lying to myself to being overly brutally truthful. the lack of middle ground is what is most frustrating. i will go from thinking, "hey this stuff i just made is pretty good, i might be getting the hang of this composing/producing thing" to "i'm an out and out fraud. i'm wasting my and everyone else's time with this drivel."

i really want people to enjoy this music, and i have a real need for folks to pay attention, but this is one of those very brief windows of honesty where most times i can make myself believe that it doesn't mean anything to be noticed. and then the brutal honesty sets in when again, no one will pay attention because i'm a fraud, a waste of time, and producing of no real value, so that's why things haven't "worked out" (where "worked out" is some arbitrary value of being noticed.)

i know i have a lot of work to do. years of practice and things don't just happen. like in producing music there is no magic bullet, there isn't any one thing that any one can do to make the music better. it's all just a collection of small moves in the right direction. but that's my frustration. i don't lack patience. i'm the most patient person i know, i just wish that i could be less manic in my own head around this music thing.

so that brings me to the first part. you know what i'd love. critique. i know that is beyond demanding, but you asked so i answered. i shan't hold my breathe, but i think if someone could just be honest with me, directly, it might help regulate the manic-ness of my internal dialog around my music.

Re: I need your advice (please!)

blinder — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 12:55:29 -0000

oh jeepers, #2 here, yeah, i know this frustration. i keep thinking to myself that i just lack the "secret sauce" to making a decent mix. but what i've learned is, there is no secret, it's just practice practice and more practice. yeah the stuff i mix now sounds better than the stuff i did 6 months ago, but where i'm at now still sounds unpolished and unprofessional. and that drives me up a wall. so, i'll just keep on practicing. i have learned things like parallel compression which has really helped me in creating fuller sounding mixes, but over all tonality is still either really dull, or so rumbly bass heavy mud, i very very rarely find a pleasant in between. i have from time to time but that's mostly been happy accidents. i want to get to a point where i can do it on purpose.

Re: Leaving a legacy and why musicians fail (plus something BIG)

blinder — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 12:48:29 -0000

i'm not a parent... but sounds like you are doing it right :) i think the amount of courage you have is inspirational. i'm not ready for that kind of leap, i believe i have the courage, but there's a huge difference between courage and just being recklessly foolish (which clearly i would be). to answer your question, i'm just trying to figure out the angles to this music thing. there's a release coming up, a collaboration i did with a friend, but ultimately, my plans are just to keep my head down, stay busy, make things, put them out there and move along. as for a legacy, that's an interesting and intriguing thing to consider, but i'm just not prepared to think of it... i think in order to consider a legacy one has to have someone else in their life with which to leave said legacy. i have my best friend, which she's the only person who would appreciate it. i guess that counts.

Re: 15 free video answers to your music questions

blinder — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 13:04:02 -0000

andy, thanks for doing this. i was wondering if you would be thinking of doing this semi-regularly? in that i had a question, just never got around to posting it. mostly around audience apathy. how do you even deal with that. i have a very small audience that i try to engage with, but that it either goes unnoticed or there's just such a strong sense of apathy that yeah, no one just seems to care. i wonder if you ever had to deal with that to any extent. i've been doing my best to ignore it, and 99% of the time i just keep on truckin' but like any other person who does this music thing, that 1% of time causes some consternation.

Re: About Andy Othling (My Story)

blinder — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 20:31:14 -0000

like so many here, my story is quite similar to yours. i started playing music as a very young child, playing drums. grew up in the punk/hardcore/straight edge scene. learned to play guitar, played in bands, did some touring, some recording. went to college, was in a band (drums) recorded some. after college got a job in start ups (mid 90's) and started doing the solo thing. years went by, was growing my career and music was just this thing i did here and there. mostly just collecting some random pieces of gear and recording unfinished post-hardcore instrumental songs.

time went on and i started posting my unfinished train wrecks for a small group of friends to hear. did that for a couple years, then i decided to really started to do something. started making more fully baked compositions, instrumental things, still 100% drums/guitar/bass driven. it was about this time i adopted a name for this thing, and have stuck with it. it was also this time that i had to start dealing with all sorts of real issues in my life. being diagnosed with major depressive disorder and asperger's syndrome, years upon years of therapy to get to that point. was put on meds to ease crisis but it was then as my last relationship was falling apart that i needed something to look forward to. that's when i had the bright idea of doing actual releases. why not try it. so i did and oddly enough it worked. after a year of working on a release (which was rubbish) i noticed i didn't need the meds so much so i weened myself off them.

then i started actually letting other people into this creative yet completely isolated bubble of mine, working out of a studio and caring about how these records sounded has just taken my music to places i didn't even know existed. yeah there isn't a big audience, i believe that a large audience is not in the cards for this thing i do (sort of like how i'll never walk on the moon, or have a family) it's just the reality of it, and i'm okay with it. it's doing its job. i don't have to take meds, major depressive disorder has only been a minor annoyance for the last couple years and i finally have a way to express things i feel… us aspies are not really good at verbalizing such things. and like i always say, some people like to play golf, i just like to make records.

Re: The best way to get people to check out your music.

blinder — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:39:18 -0000

interesting. i never really consider youtube. a bunch of my stuff has ended up on youtube, but nothing i submit (which is weird, but so far everything i've seen provides proper attribution and linking and what not)

so given that is it still better to start your own youtube channel?

hmmm guess it's time to get more creative with this distribution thing.

Re: Why annoying promotion doesn’t work

blinder — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 09:50:42 -0000

i hate to be one of those people, but "this" cannot be stated hard enough for this piece. so many artists spend so much time and effort on "promoting" and just appearing to be desperate to get their music heard that well, there's actually very little (in terms of substance) to hear. sfb has a what i call a 100% organic micro-audience. very little promotion happens, just the odd fb/twitter post letting whoever cares to know that things are happening. yeah using the term "micro-audience" is probably overstating it, maybe nano-audience? but it's a good group of folks who, i believe, legitimately care about the music and what is going on. nope, not the most vocal bunch, but retention is very high.

at the end of the day i don't spend a lot of time worrying about numbers. to me this music thing is like, well, for me it goes something like this: some people like to play golf, i like to make records. it's something i always will do, it serves a vital importance for me, and sharing it with others is just icing on the cake. so, i don't spend a lot of time promoting. what happens will happen on its own.

Re: Why you don’t need expensive equipment to record songs you’re proud of

blinder — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 11:13:28 -0000

sorry for the confusion with the logging in. this above was my post. didn't mean to post as "guest" (i hate anon posting)

Re: http://skyflyingby.tumblr.com/post/5895728330

blinder — Fri, 27 May 2011 10:47:27 -0000

there's always room for more cowbell. if there's too much cowbell, then there still not quite enough.

Re: Member of ASCAP

blinder — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 19:57:36 -0000

hehe, actually its more about when more of my stuff gets used in film, cue sheets from ascap make sure that the licensing doesn't get screwed up. also, heh, ascap members get some pretty awesome discounts on gear. now that is just awesome

Re: A Quiet Update

blinder — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 11:23:36 -0000

oh huh, i guess replying does work. ok. see above. thank you for the support :)

Re: A Quiet Update

blinder — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 11:21:47 -0000

@MonTemplar ok, i will. thank you :)