I finished a few mixodowns this morning and sent them off to Nomar Slevik. I felt like as i progressed through those mixdowns, they were getting harder. By the time I did the lastone today, I had no confidence in what I was doing. Everytime I listened to the track I just felt like something needed to be changed or that I just didn’t quite understand what I was hearing. Such a strange feeling.
I still don’t know why I had such an un easy feeling about it. Maybe because I didn’t do the normal work flow. I usually mix on the headphones and then check them on my monitors. This time I didn’t have a chance to do that. I didn’t want to wait until I have time to setup the speakers. I want to get this album done as soon as possible.
The next thing I have planned is writing a drum track for Cyrus’ song.
This morning I mixed down a track that will be on the upcoming EP I’m doing with Nomar Slevik. For some reason I don’t have much confidence in this song yet. I think I am just being hard on myself. I’m sure the mix is fine, but I still feel like there is something wrong with it. I’ll check it again tomorrow before I send it off to Nomar to do the mastering. All the other tracks I did for the EP I’m confident in the sound but this one just has me questioning it. Everytime I listen to it I feel like there needs to be an adjustment on something. Maybe I’ll try mixing it again.
After I get those tracks out the next project is writing drums for a track by Cyrus FX. I started it in Pro Tools. I don’t know why I did that. Pro Tools just doesn’t work for me when it comes to composing. I’ll have to import that in to Logic to finish it up. This one should be neat. I’m doing some crazy efx with the drums. I’ll write about the efx I did and maybe a clip.
I decided that I’m going to see what happens if I devote the next year to music. I read all the material and keep reading the material about how to be a successful musician in this “new time for the music industry.” Truthfully after awhile they really just say the same think and sometimes seem to almost plagarize. A good example would be this limted time only free e-book I read by this tabla player from the UK. It had a good title and the hype on it seemed good. It said the author spent time researching it and that it was something that is worth approximately $50. How can a pdf file be worth more than a printed publication? All the book really says is the same thing you can find for free.
I feel like I know most of the things that many of these so called experts on how to make money off music in web 2.0 say. I really don’t find any of these people interesting enough to want to give them money. I figured I might as well take all this stuff I know, and try to make it work. In reality after thikning about it, I honestly feel that nothing has truly changed much these days than in the old days if you are a small time musician.
So I will start my 1 year of improving my music career. I’m lucky to have the support of my family and friends. So I’m feeling confident cause when the bad moments come I know they will be there to at least say I did my best or offer advice. I know it will be hard and things won’t always goes as planned.
It does seem like an upill battle because I’m in a foreign country with a network of 0 in this country for my goal. I have only a small amount of money I can devote to this and I’m not going to quit my part time job. In fact I’m probably going to find one more part time job. All that means is that I have to make sacrifices in time and other things to make it work.
Good luck to me.
I’m about the do some work in Pro Tools LE. It’s not a bad program, but it’s just lacking in a few departments. Here’s my list of things I don’t like about Pro Tools LE.
1. I’m stuck with the M-Box. It’s not that I don’t like the M-Box, I just view it as a giant dongle. Sometimes I just wish I didn’t have to use it. An example would be when I am doing some sample editing. I just wish I could use my preferred device which is a Motu Ultralite. For some reason I just like the MOTU better than the M-Box.
2. Lack of MP3 Export. Every single DAW has this. I don’t want to shell out more money just to get this feature. It would make things more convenient. It would be one less step to make a test mp3. As it is now I have to bounce it out then convert in another program to mp3. Now that I think about it, it’s not a big deal, but just more of a convenience.
3. Limited track count. It would be nice to have more tracks available. It’s not a super big deal since I have only maxed out my tracks once. This is where Pro Tools really acts like those old recorders. Got too many tracks? Gotta bounce things done to make room.
4. I just recently experimented with using an OMF file. Damn that made things so much easier. Just wish Pro Tools LE could open it with out having to shell out some cash for it.
5. Plugin delay compensation. This would be another thing to have. It’s one of the biggest complaints from Pro Tools users. I don’t think I need to go into the reasons for this.
6. More insterts. I need more inserts on the channel strips! Sometimes I go crazy with the effects. Usually this is happening in the sample editing stage. I don’t really use any dedicated program for sample editing. There just aren’t any great wav editors for Apple computer. I used to have Peak LE. However that thing just sucked. It’s the only piece of software that i regret buying. I miss using WaveLab or Sound Forge.
7. This is probably my biggest complaint that seemed to have developed recently. Anytime I unplug the M-box from USB port, my macbook will crash during shutdown. If I want to unplug it I have to shutdown first then unplug it.
There’s my list of things I dislike about using Pro Tools LE. Truthfully though I do like using it. It’s not bad just lacks in those areas. I really don’t mind it that much. In my view when you purchase an M-Box or any other Digidesign piece of hardware you are buying a piece of hard that just so happens to come with software. Unlike other bundles by other companies which are giving you software that come with hardware. If you view from the hardware that comes with software perspective than it makes more sense. If you buy the more expensive gear you get more features. To support this idea that software comes with the hardware, look at the price of the Pro Tools software. The upgrades are super cheap.
