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English · Tips

Confession #2: How To Stay Motivated

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It’s been said over and over and over again – Plan, plan, plan!  Planning is key for anything you want to achieve in life.  This is so, so true and although we know it’s true, we keep neglecting to do it! (myself included!)

I want to put a new spin on the planning concept though, because I think there are more benefits to be had than the obvious ones…

We all know that motivation starts with the vision.  Your motivation is at its peak and it gets the ball rolling.  “Yes, let’s do this!”  The absolute last thing you want to do is plan at this stage—  “I just want to get stuck in man! Time is ticking!”

But planning is THE key to maintaining that motivation throughout the project period.

Let me illustrate by way of example.  I have had my own home recording studio for a number of years now, and the problem I constantly fight, is the urge to want to get stuck into recording a song idea without first clearly laying out the song structure.

It’s so easy these days to make a track from nothing.  With the advent of MIDI, laying down a complex piano piece, synth or cool beat has never been easier.  But more likely than not, if you dived straight in, without concern for the overall structure and feel of the song you’re trying to create, you’re simply not gonna be happy with the final product.  This is because inevitably you get carried away with this cool riff here and that cool riff there that you eventually lose sight of the song.

Bear in mind, this is after hours and hours of work.  When you have spent the greater part of a weekend on a song and aren’t happy with the outcome this can only lead to demotivation.  Suddenly your dream of making a kick-ass song that got you so fired up in the beginning is now lost and you wallow in your sorrows for the next few days.

Guess what?  You’ve just wasted the greater part of a week sulking and not being productive.  Maybe you even re-visited your track with more time spent and more demotivating results.  This time could’ve been spentproductively in planning.

Planning of course will have proved fruitful in the tracking stage – if you know the song structure, you know which instruments to use and where to place them to create the feel you’re going for.  This hands-down beats trying every instrument in the book and every placement under the sun.  Better still, after the week or so spent planning and tracking, you now have a completed song that you’re proud of.  But that’s not the best part.

The best part comes as a result of effective planning, and as a result of a finished product you can be proud of:  continued motivation!  That same motivation you had at the start of the project you now have again because, well, you created something awesome!  You took the tools that you had, you thought about it proper and you applied it to make something great.  If anything its more motivating than the start! Instead of being a pipe dream, making a great song is now a reality and you now know you possess the power needed to do it again.

The same applies to any industry.  If you’re a painter you don’t just try every single colour in your palette and paint every single part of the canvass hoping for the best?  If you do, you’re going to make a complete mess.  Same goes for the business executive with a new initiative.  You don’t simply dive in because chances are, you’re not going to work effectively.  Mistakes will be made requiring you to put more time and money into the project than you really should have, simply because you didn’t plan properly.  A loss of time and/or money with no/sub-par results leads to… demotivation and even self-doubt!

Motivation is the driving force behind any project we set our minds to.  It’s what gets us up in the morning when it’s cold and dark outside. It’s what keeps us working whilst others are out and about partying or watching series.  It’s what makes us save and invest rather than go away on that summer holiday.  But fail to plan and you will waste time and money on an outcome that is less than desirable.  And guess what?  You’re gonna wishyou were in bed, out and about or on that summer vacation.  Because then at least you would’ve enjoyed yourself.

The lack of planning spells death to motivation and ultimately death to your project, goals, dreams and careers.

Keep the fires of motivation burning.  Never stop planning.

Sean David is a self-established music entrepreneur, singer/songwriter and journalist.  

English · This & That

Mirage Of Deep – Northern Lights: New Album Review by Darren Pearson

Music2Deal3 Comments

Greetings from London M2D member & reader,

Something different here for us here, thoughts most welcomed.

One of the perks of being privileged to have a strong network of talent & creative people in my beloved world of Music, is that I’m fortunate to occasionally get insights to new releases/draft tracks  per invites from artists/labels  & DJ’s. This could be ahead of a formal label release-date (in this case released via the excellent Lemongrassmusic label in Germany) and sometimes, it’s simply from one creative music-soul to another for an informal ‘whaddaya think so far?’ view on their current work-in-progress.

This scenario & background is what led to the production of the following review. Nacho Ferrer (or the excellent soundscape-painter & artist known as ‘Mirage of Deep’) reached out to me a few months back for such a view as we have spoken about music on many occasions.

For myself, any such writing is pure-pleasure as a combination of words and music is one of my personal life-loves so Sara had the idea to also share this review via the M2D blog. We both felt that it could be interesting for our music-lover readers to gain some insights into this  reviewers ‘process’ for producing such work and of course, as an introduction to the review itself so, here I go, please read-on;

Typically, I’m an early riser for various reasons so I get into my creative-writing at that time of the day when the house ‘sleeps’ and I can work undisturbed with headphones on.

To kick-off, I can tell you that I do not in any way plan what I’m going to write, I simply freestyle at the key-board, write up-notes and then combine all into (what is I hope) is a pleasant & engaging narrative for music-lovers like myself who are just well, hmmm, shall we say ‘deeply into many facets of music & appreciation both as an art-form & life-pleasure’. That’s the best high-level view I feel but says it all & will be recognisable by many.., of that I’m sure dear reader & fellow Musik-Hed. J.

Typically, my notes are abstract, one or two words, the occasional rough paragraph so would likely mean absolutely nothing to anyone except myself but hey, it works for this guy. I always seek to capture a range of input in a review so that covers the following areas of interest but I don’t limit myself, whatever comes to mind as (big-point here) it’s gotta come from the heart to resonate;

  • For mix’s; a good selection of tracks (the back-bone.., crucial in a good mix & overall ‘journey’ for me)
  • Are there any ‘jarring-moments’ in a mix. This is when I feel that a track detracts from the overall ‘journey of the mix’ hence the above first & major-point for me.
  • How the music was ‘delivered’ to my ears, how it made me feel so, the emotions evoked if you will.
  • Does the mix carry me and take me on a journey in music?
  • Are any life & music memories evoked by ‘the sound’?
  • What was the emotional-impact on me? (But not overdone I hope dear reader! J ) It’s just all from the heart & I strongly-feel the need to flex my creative-writing a lot more at this point in my life (something I’m very happy about btw.
  • What were the stand-out points in the track or mix? e.g.  a special-moment via the use of a specific-instrument.

So as you can see, I simply listen with a pen & notebook at hand, music playing and freestyle scribe all these thoughts, then pull them together in a review via 2/3 drafts until it’s honed etc.

I hope you enjoy the review and I highly-recommend that the review is read whilst listing to the individual tracks to give it the fine-detail context that many music-lovers will understand, i.e. maximise the experience…

Please enjoy and any feedback most welcomed dear reader!

Peace!….and Musica….

Darren Emilio

Co-founder/Operations Director (and Musik Hed ;)

Arima Lounge Events & Mgmt.

 

avatars-000071753861-9iwrsh-cropListen to the album: https://soundcloud.com/mirage-of-deep

 

1 – Northern Lights – The opening…Mirage of Deep (MOD) has a real-talent for painting a soundscape straight from the start, a fine example right here. Nacho’s love of music vs. the human-soul was clear to me some time ago per our online chats & track-shares in music & social-media world. I’m a big flute-lover so this track is right up my street, superb blowing from Ramon Reviara. The Asian influence is plain to hear in this track & is something that I put to Nacho recently i.e. you have an uncanny ability to recreate such sounds & so much so, that I had initially thought that MOD were an Asian outfit when I first heard tracks. That is an admitted generalization but I think it demonstrates very well, just how much talent MOD has in this space. The beats coupled with the use of my beloved flute make this very much a thinking (or Zen as I say) track for these ears. The female-vocal/chant is the perfect accompaniment for the soundscape that MOD has created here, a majestic piece of work in its scope & breadth.

2 – Totality feat. David Phillips & Alvin Mutlu – …I’m back in Calcutta immediately with this…and purely because of this opening-sequence…thanking you Nacho. The words and narrative are areas that Nacho does well plus, (and highly-relevant), we have chatted on-line about our emotional (as well as physical, yes its true) reactions at times to music. We’ve spoken in a way that confirmed to me that there are many, many such music-lovers whom also have a deep affection & love of, ‘the sound’. The flute here is wonderful and the echo only adds to the aural-vision painted. This whole piece is just mystical in its ambition and breadth to me. A wonderful female vocal that fits perfectly & upon first hearing, this track could have been made by a musician of Asia descent to my ears & this is again something I have mentioned to Nacho. Suffice to say, I wasn’t surprised when he advised that told me that this was in-fact, a common piece of feedback/compliment. This is also why we feel that music is the only one true global language as it transcends all cultures, colours & creeds, the wonder of the sound and Nacho Ferrer has such very good aural ‘vision’. The wavering of the flute @ 5.15…I think even Nacho would agree with me that this track arguably may not have mass-appeal but that does not take any kudos away whatsoever from this piece. It feels most appropriate for this track to be in the company of the other tracks on this album. What an experience on the ears Nacho…wonderful….gracias amigo.

3 – Road of Life (Frontiers of Asia) – Love, love the opening sequence, this is one of those tracks that grabs the ears straight away & makes me curious for what‘s coming next. The use of the flute is sublime & blends so very well with the aural-soundscape ‘painted’ by MOD. Big kudos to the contribution from Jaume Pla Fraj playing the Bansuri here, excellent work. I find this a singular track and by that I mean, it reminds me of nothing I have heard before.., is unique & so stands out to this music-lover because of those attributes. The arrangement is excellent, the atmosphere superb and a bonus is that this is a track that I love to work to as it both soothes and inspires in a Zen-fashion & so aids my process, Zennnnnn..;). Oh & when the strings first commence & then fade into the main wall of sound…delicious, soul-soothing music here. Love the ending too, very well done Nacho.

4 – Hero’s (featuring Candela Ghelfi) – A great reworking of a classic Bowie track. I think this absolutely does justice to the original as well as enhance & showcase the song in a whole new-light. I love such reworking’s of classics so was pleasantly surprised to hear such a track from MOD as it was most unexpected but show’s good range & is a good idea. Saying this as this piece really adds a whole new dimension to this classic per the tempo, female-vocal & excellent guitar work. Although it’s a reworking, make no mistake, this is a very distinctive piece of work in its own right so should any first-time listener not familiar with the original (do such people exist!) then this is arguably the greatest homage that one artist can pay to another’s work. Short but very, VERY sweet, well done Nacho/MOD and Candela Ghelfi and a fantastic contribution from Victor Espluges on guitar.

5 – Restless Soul – The opening guitar oh…hypnotic & melodic, wonderful slow-build, a wonderful instrumental piece. The guitar work here is excellent & sounds so very well both against and with the soundscape painted by Nacho/MOD. I’m a big believer in a piece without a vocal being just as credible and powerful as one with, always have, always will. This piece makes that point very well in my humble view & I must confess I do love this track.

6 – Melodies of beyond (feat. Josephine Sweet – Sax! What a unique opening. This is a piece of music that ebbs & flows on the mind & soul. The use of synths and vocal is a perfect combination on this track, all elements work very, very well together. Very much enjoyed the change & complete stoppage of sound @4.30 and the bleed back-in of all, sax playing and then, the vocal drops…superb creativity to my ears & also slightly reminiscent of some Moby tracks at that very point but no poor imitations here. Love such creativity, not many can do this as well as Nacho/MOD has done here, well done. The ending is so crisp & clean too, I had such a wonderful early morning audio experience when I first listened to this at 5am in London with the birds singing their morning-chorus a while back. My ears love this track & they are singing MOD’s praises loud, great piece, a truly great piece of work from Nacho & Josephine Sweett.

7 – Divine Devotion (Interlude) – The opening sequence…oh my… I’m in another dimension with this & love the use of violin & double-bass. The combination of strings, synths and tone to create the soundscape here is just fantastic to me, “layering sounds on top of each other”* was never truer (*Little Fluffy Clouds – The Orb) This is an amazing piece of sound in my humble view, very well done MOD, well done!

8 – Vimana – This track just ‘grabs’ the ear straightaway if you’re a Lounger like myself. Any ‘pure-love-of-music in many forms’ Musik-Hed Readers will know exactly what I mean by this. I work whilst listening to such tracks all the time so this goes straight into my Zennnnnn-collection. Excellent use of the trumpet and, the Zita & Tempura combination is….superb Nacho. I hear waves crashing per the effect, there are so many subtle-sounds and element in-play here & all so very well blended. This is a fine example of a non-vocal track that stands in its own right.  i.e. any track, any genre does need a vocal to be superb, many music-lovers know this already thought of course but that point is I guess more for reader’s from other viewpoints than a simple & pure love of music., we are a culture within a culture I’ve found so must call it as I see & feel it at this point. A great & crucially for me, soul-moving track…a new immediate favourite in my collection from Mirage of Deep. Even more so with the use of Xylophone (RIP Gill Scott-Heron & Roy Ayers) In addition, I very much enjoyed the wind-down as much as the initial build in this track, a superb dismantling of the orchestra of sound that was just built plus, only then are there words, a just right female utterance with echo…ethereal..Mystical…all the above, nice.

9 – Hechizo de Luna – Always such interesting opening sequences with MOD’s work, Nacho’s work is wonderful to this Musik-Hed’s receivers & can instantly send’s me off to places & spaces in my minds-eye..so much of any such thinking is fuelled by MOD’s work, regular plays here etc.

10 – Petals of Tears – Another mystical opening…and the use of violin, string & piano is a very good combination here.

11 – I hear Dreams – The best opening for such a track that I have heard in a long-time, immediately moved & transported to places & spaces, Zen music for my mind and soul, THAT is what Nacho Ferrer does to me and for me. During chats with Nacho & despite any language barriers, with the tech around now, we speak well & always understand one another, always.

12 – Divine Interlude – Double bass wonderful and deep, always loved such string-work. The combination of violin and double-bass is wonderful instantly drags on your soul, this is how I felt listening to this Nacho/MOD.

13 – Cloudless Sky (Remix) – Again, love the opening-sequence, I can only use the same descriptive-terms used in track 11. I had ‘Blade-Runner’ moment listening to this; it’s majestic in its ambition, wonderful.

14 – Sudden Flight –  A dreamy track to end this cinematic presentation of sound-scapes, very fitting, it feels and sounds like an after-thought, a wind-down with beautiful strings & a almost classic female voice, the drums are very cinematic, this tracks works on that level in all respects.

© Darren Pearson @ Arima

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English · Tips

The Student, the Craftsman and Case Studies about Being “Stuck”

Music2Deal2 Comments

Below are a few real life “case studies”. These are real people and real situations.

As a music pro, I use a similar approach to my work as I did in my time as a lecturer. The end result is a good product, but I also want to develop and help in the long run. I want to open doors for the artist. I have no interest in forcing an artist in a direction he/she does not enjoy.

Seeing a musician struggle is no joy for me and in these examples I wish the outcome had been different.

However, maybe these cases can help you – and may help explain why some very talented artists are stuck in first gear. Maybe these examples make you see that much of your career is determined by pen on paper writing.

Improvement Made Easy – Forgetting You Are an Artist:

The Student:

I was a full time lecturer for songwriting, composition and audio production. Students paid for my classes, so they were motivated to learn and listen and were open to new ideas for their music. The lecturer suggests homework and areas to study. After learning something new, a student often cannot wait to try it at home or apply it to something he is playing. The student is excited; he feels like he received a gift that will help his music.

You will notice progress and improvement comes easy and energy is high.

The Craftsman:

My composition professor taught that seeing yourself as a craftsman rather than as an artist is a healthier and more effective attitude. If someone wants a chair build to specific measurements, a carpenter builds it for him. If the carpenter has never worked with the desired wood, he might sit down with a test piece to get a feel for the material. Working with the desires of the customer leads to experience with a new wood, working in a different scale, a different style, etc… As a result, one notices that learning new techniques and experiences comes naturally.

For both the student and the craftsman outer stimuli can lead to growth. Both are still free to follow their personal ideas with their music or their personal woodwork, but both have more tools and techniques available to them than before the interaction.

Now imagine both situations with an artist (or a cliché of an artist).

The Artist:

A songwriter / producer / A&R suggests the same areas of study as the lecturer. The same changes and suggestions that were a gift that excited a student can feel like an intrusion to an artist. So instead of being thankful for a gift, studying it deeply and then seeing if it is possible to make it work, the artist simply rejects it. There may be a lucky break and a filmmaker hires the artist to record a very specific song for a specific scene that happens to fit his current style. Instead of going to the “woodshop” / library / taking lessons the artist writes what he always writes, “because he is who he is”.

You will notice that there is no progress, no improvement, no new technique and no new experience. The student and the craftsman will soon have a vast array of tools and techniques, while the artist is stuck.
Next, look-up “neuroplasticity” and make sure you are not stuck as an artist.

I have noticed that artists with a strong sports background are usually a joy to work with – simply because they are used to training and trying new techniques to improve their skills.

Case Studies

1: 1000 Gigs
Issues:

• Will not work with a co – songwriter
• No Sound B
• Trying to fix writing issues in post production
• Strategy determined by personal preference, not material / professional considerations

This is a great case of how ineffective it can be to rely entirely on your own songwriting / creative direction if you are not a professional songwriter.

I had a singer/songwriter referred to me who has played over a thousand college gigs. He was a good-looking guy with a great voice. He was very hard working and technically solid. He had been pitching and gigging extensively and seemed to be stuck at his current level for a number of years. His latest feedback: “Too AC” (AC is adult contemporary). He contacted me to produce him (as in record and mix not “produce produce”) and to give him a more modern, less AC sound, so that the A&R who made that comment could sign him.

Listening to his music, I heard a sweet voice and a sweet guitar, playing sweet chords with exactly the sweet arrangements one would expect in his genre. All the vocal lines were sweet and too safe. The issue was clearly not the recording and mixing – it was in the writing and performance. Everything was a little one-sided. There was no dissonance to balance all the sweetness. This artist had mastered “Sound A”, but he had no “Sound B”. Unfortunately, this meant that half way through the first song, most listeners (especially the college students he targeted) lost interest.

Not only did he not have a “Sound B”, his “Sound A” was for a much older audience. Like so many artists, he was too close to his material to notice these issues. He had also never worked with a professional songwriter, and so never experienced a more nuanced writing. He was willing to spend money on a new mix, but working on the actual songs was not an option he was willing to consider. A while later I listened to his new EP, which contained the same music he had been recording for the past ten years, with all the same issues. He will take it on the road to the same venues.

Case 2: A-List Hollywood Movie Licenses

Issues:
• Will not work with a co – songwriter
• Wrong sound for the voice (never worked with an “old-fashioned” producer)
This is a study of the importance of an “old-fashioned” producer who helps with the direction of the music or a co-writer who knows how to feature a voice. I recently met a singer who had put his band on hiatus after working very hard for ten years to put the band on the map. The band had recorded several CDs and, through personal relationships, was able to place a number of songs into Hollywood films with top talent.

Through hard work and this unique lucky break, this indie band was exposed to millions of listeners. To his shock and surprise, these listeners did not translate into sales, or fans, and the band failed to make any progress. While there was nothing wrong with their U2 / Coldplay–style music or their performance, in ten years, no one picked up on the one crucial detail holding the band back – the vocals did not fit the music. The voice is the focal point of any song, and the music should be written to make the vocalist shine.

While the singer wrote the songs himself, he wrote and arranged them to be sung by Bono or Chris Martin. His voice was different: smaller, more singer/ songwriter in style. Furthermore, the background vocals were not arranged to support him, nor did the band ever try a microphone shoot-out to find a more meaty vocal sound. So for ten years he worked very hard writing music that drowned his vocals. His best efforts and a one in a million connection were less of a factor than the issues in writing and
producing.

Case 3: Electronic Music Guy

Problem:
• Royalty obsessed
• No control over harmonies

A strange paradox exists in the professional music world. Professionals who actually make money through royalties often seem to get to reasonable agreements quickly. They also know that sharing royalties can work in their favor. The people who are the most unreasonable and over-protective about royalties are often people who never made any money or who are inexperienced. I am not saying to be careless, but the old line that 50% of something is better than 100% of nothing is very true.

I met a talented electronic music guy who regularly came up with catchy ideas. As he had no concept of harmony or how to structure a song with harmonies, his ideas never translated into great songs. Despite a million different sounds his songs usually ran out of steam long before the end. At the same time he was too much of a free spirit to buckle down and learn the songwriting craft. He enjoyed playing with sounds and coming up with vocal ideas. The easiest fix would have been to work with a co-songwriter to combine both strengths for great songs. In that scenario we could have knocked his album in shape in a couple of sessions. Especially since he wanted to produce himself, he would have only needed “pen on paper” work.

However, for him sharing royalties was unthinkable. Not an option. Not being able to write good songs, not willing to study harmony, he asked me to be his “project manager”. For a while he visited me once a week to play his songs to me. As instructed I gave him feedback and tried help him getting his material in shape, without touching it.

Thankful and excited about the points and the chance of progress he went home, where his limitations as a writer caught up with him. I’m sure you can imagine how frustrating that must be – stuck between knowing you cannot go all the way alone, but unable to share credit.

As I said earlier 50% of something is much better than 100% of nothing.

I hope this text helps you to avoid some of the usual pitfalls.

 Lars Deutsch