Imperative Steps For Becoming Recording Artist | Lifestyles with Tia If you are making music to express yourself, not to make a living, I respect and honor that. Self-expression is definitely what drives me as well, which is why, until recently, I didn’t necessarily follow this advice I’m about to share. That’s also why I am sharing this with you because when I look back I wish I had made more music and done these things earlier, so I could have been making music full time sooner. It is an amazing job!!! "Lifestyles with Tia" is just I'm saying that there are millions of talented musicians who already know how to make music. My intention is not to share my thoughts on composing, but instead speak to creating a finished product from start to finish. The goal of this article is to help you create music that is as professional as possible without breaking the bank. Realize that the songs you hear on the radio often can cost up to $50,000 or more (for just one song!). I want to share what it takes to make a professional sounding song for anywhere between $100 - $1,000 so that you can confidently share, distribute and ultimately sell your song. These steps more beneficial whenever you will start a career in recording artist
Steps to making professional music Write Your Music It’s not just about writing, but composing and delivering
Write all the time, as much as you are able, whenever you feel inspired. I wish I would have taken this advice. For real, notebooks are cheap, pens are cheaper, put one in every place you feel inspired - the toilet, outside the shower, the car (but don’t write while driving!) etc. Or if you are tech savvy then do it all on your phone. For me it’s a mix, I have an old love affair with notebooks and just love going back many years to see how I wrote, but using your phone is super convenient and you probably always have it on you. Just save and save and backup and backup everything.
Make a playlist of your favorite songs and continually add to it Listen to ALL types of music. Pop, Indie, hip hop, classical, rock, music from other countries. Save all these songs somewhere on a playlist and continually listen to them over and over again. The more diverse your playlist of songs, the more diversity you can have in your sound. At the end of the day, all of these songs you are listening to have something (or many things) that are amazing about them. Take notes about each so that when it’s time to make your music, you incorporate as much as you can from proven songs that have garnered attention and appreciation. NOTE - I did not always do this, and I can see now that this would have helped me so much if I had!
If you only listen to a few artists often, you may end up sounding like them, and that isn’t really fulfilling or cool! So make sure you listen to as many artists as possible, so that you can develop a unique sound. It also will be helpful to
understand the psychology of each song you put on your playlist too. You’re going to need these songs handy so that you can listen to them side by side with your completed song when you do Audio QA.
FIND BEATS
Always be looking for and listening to beats (aka crate digging)
By now you should be having a lot of fun. You are listening to lots of great music that is giving you some amazing inspiration. But now you’re going to have to start making some tough decisions. The first tough decision will be to find some beats you like that you can eventually record yourself over.
MAKE A SCRATCH TRACK Recording, mixing, and mastering is not cheap. And if you happen to be a band, it’s not only expensive, but incredibly time consuming. This is why I suggest that you start with a scratch track. A scratch track is simply a rough version of your song. Record it on your computer, but buy a decent mic though.
GET FEEDBACK ON YOUR MUSIC Take that scratch track and literally let every person you know (that you trust to be truthful) listen to it. Ask your friends on Facebook, email it to people, especially “music snobs”, other artists, people you know that hate the music you like, and who you imagine will be your biggest fans. Get as wide of a sample as possible. This can seem intimidating given it’s obviously not mixed, and probably not how you want it to be ... but that’s not the point. This is a great chance to experience what it’s like to be heard. Let them know it’s a scratch, a draft, unmixed, etc - but also and most importantly, let them know you are not looking for kudos, you are looking for real, honest, candid feedback.
FIND A MIXING ENGINEER FIRST This part may seem strange to many people, but let me explain why. Traditionally, you find a studio you want to record, mix and master in - but that’s actually really hard (and expensive) to accomplish. Recording is a craft in itself, mixing another, and mastering another. RECORDING YOUR MUSIC Now that you’ve found the right beat, wrote a catchy song over it, gotten people’s approval and have practiced it inside out ... it’s time to record it. Here’s where you have to get VERY professional. You’ll need to find a local recording studio where you want to get in and get out as quickly as possible so that you keep your costs low. Recording studios can cost anywhere from $50-200 bucks an hour depending on where you live. Just google your city name + recording studio, call them up, and ask them how much they charge an hour. Your goal is to spend 2 hours TOPS in the studio
because you know your song inside out and you know exactly what you want to do on your song. I memorize my lyrics before hand, some artists don’t like doing that but for me it makes the process SO much easier. Make sure the studio you choose is professional and has samples of songs similar to the genre of the song you are creating.
Thanks……