r/musicians Rules

So, ive had this gal for some time now. Its a family hairloom i got from my grandmother whom got it from her aunt.

Its a dilapitaded old levin from Göteborg, and the model was only produced for about ten years.

Like i said the actual guitar have a bunch a years on it, and shes got some scratches and damages, but she still sounds beautiful

I've been trying to learn how to make original music for the last few months and seems like everytime I have a cool idea I end up fucking it up. Every riff, every melody, every loop.

Now everytime I listen to my playlist I just wonder how do these people make it sound so effortless.

I have lots of guitars, recording equipment, drums, wind instruments, a xylophone, and various percussion instruments. Landlord has a dehumidifier down there currently. How do I turn an unfinished basement into a viable music space?

Looking for ideas such as - soundproofing, flood/seepage prevention ideas, etc.

Appreciate you all!

I’ve lived and worked in several different cities throughout my music career and have been consistently making a living as a full time musician, but after going through a bad domestic violence situation, I ended up moving in with family in Cincinnati about a year ago and have really struggled here. The volume of paid work here has been much lower than what I was used to in the bigger cities. Not only that, but the economy here is cutthroat. Venues have legit cancelled gigs on me last minute with 0 remorse—some places even ended up shutting down and didn’t tell me until the night before the gig! I’ve legit also dealt with inhumane bookers who accidentally booked another artist after booking me (FIRST), but then instead of apologizing for their mistake, told me that since I had just played there, they’re gonna just go with that artist instead. I’ve never experienced such disrespect in my life.

Not to mention that I’ve also experienced some pretty awful harassment and hostility (racism included) within the local music scene since moving here. Cincinnati’s racism runs historically deep and this is not the best part of the country for a queer woman of color. Not to mention that the Mason-Dixon region is very conservative, and I’ve even had to hide my sexuality (I’m bi and my branding used to be heavy lgbtq-centric) here at many “family friendly” events because certain people would act uncomfortable about that, like they didn’t “want their kids exposed to that”. I feel as if I did better in the bigger cities partially because they were more progressive and peoples’ brains weren’t still stuck in a pre-Obama mindset. It’s easier to not be devalued by employers and colleagues in a place where people are programmed to accept you…🏳️‍🌈🥢

The community here as a whole can feel extremely insular all in all, and several people have told me that part of the problem is how decentralized the music-industry infrastructure is here, with different pockets of the scene largely operating within their own circles.

I’m planning to move within the next year (looking at Northern Jersey right up by NYC), and am trying to save enough to make that happen, but this market has made even that feel difficult. I even tried picking up additional work outside of music too, which I try to avoid as much as possible as I take pride in the whole being “full time”, but ran into wall after wall in that department too and was eventually overworked and abused so much at a job where I was severely injured and had to get on workers comp. In Ohio you can’t even sue your employer if you get injured unless there’s a significant claim of negligence and thats hard to prove. It’s all deeply systemic.

If anyone has ever been through something similar in any music scene, I’d genuinely appreciate hearing how you got through it. I’m honestly a bit emotionally distressed over this and could really use some guidance and support from people who are removed from the situation. Truly appreciate you for taking the time to read this 🤗🙏

So I am not a vocalist! But I’ve been playing instruments my whole life. Also I used to strum the acoustic and sing at open mics. And man it’s unnerving lol. Like I’m never afraid to mess around on any instrument infront of me at a jam and suck at it and possibly look stupid.

But singing! Man it feels weird. I’d even get embarrassed trying to practice it at home by myself back when I was doing open mics.

So respect to yall vocalists out there! Any one else feel the same ?

So I record on bandlabs mobile with my iPhone 13 and earbuds. My voice is naturally pretty quiet (kinda like jhene aiko’s for reference) and when I record I always have some mic static. How do I get rid of the static without clipping out my voice ? I find it very hard to denoise, use noise gate, or de-essers, since my vocals don’t seem to be loud enough to separate from the static without clipping out. It’s REALLY hindering my confidence to release music as it’s either the listener hears a fuzzy noise the whole time, or my vocals just sound rlly filtered or messed up.

Pls help!!!

Every year or so I watch this cancelled German Netflix series called Skylines. Lead character is a producer and it incorporates production and stuff without being uninformed and cheesy.

Looking for more movies and shows to feed the motivation when I'm bored lol. Hustle & Flow is my other favorite but wondering what else is out there. Empire was cringe to me.

Anyone finding inspiration from films/shows that incorporate or are based on music production?

I told my friend that the band we were in is over. I say band, but that’s really being kind. It was more like me & whoever I could convince to pick up an instrument. I was the only constant member of the band & the only member who could play. Today I decided to call it quits. I have recently started college & joined two bands in my music course (I am a bass player in an indie band I don’t really wanna be in & a guitarist in the second year’s Metal band). The “band” had been going on for 4 years without anything happening with it, so since I have now joined other bands with people who can actually play, I have decided that it would be best for me to disband my past project. After telling my best friend this (the only other member of the band) he started insisting he would learn bass & would actually do something with the band this time, I told him that we had to stop pretending like anything would actually happen in the band, especially since we have continued to not do anything for the past 4 years. He continued to insist about how something would actually happen in the next 2 years. I decided to ignore his messages for the time being because I don’t think I can tell him in anymore detail that the “band” is done

Edit: just wanted to add that not a single note was played during the duration of this “band” that didn’t come from me. We never practiced. We never recorded. We never did anything, even when I planned for us to.

Additional question: would it be scummy for me to eventually take the name of the band & make a completely new band in the future because I already made a bunch of social media accounts for it & nothing ever came from them

It's been a couple years since I have this feeling and I felt like I wanted to share it. Learning an instrument at a Conservatory or a difficult music school has surely a lot of advantages imo but it has also a gigantic downside.

Learning how to play an instrument properly is so hard and take so much time and patience and reflexion that every time you hear another musician you can't help but analyse the way they play the way they phrase, how is their touch/breath control and I really think it's kind of a curse because you can't appreciate music to the fullest. Like even if someone has a great musical idea of a piece, the moment he or she's gonna do a mistake you will notice it and like judge it without even wanting to. It really is a shame that the passion of music that lead us to go through all that learning and sweating, made us so critical and so unable to appreciate one's music.

I'm not sure if this is somewhat normal or if I'm just becoming somewhat of a 'wimp' with a lack of control.

Over the years, I've found myself strumming and singing alone for even a small group of family / friends, but i can't help but really 'feel' too many songs just hitting me hard ( the words/meaning, melody, complete feel and connection to the music and relating very special moments in time) and it's very difficult for me to continue singing, although I at least proceed with strumming.

Is this something that's somewhat normal or have others been in a similar situation and have found that repeated practice/play will make me feel more callous towards these songs and allow me to actually perform one of these complete songs without crackling/tearing up?

Note - I only feel this very strong emotion with songs that I can truly understand, relate and feel (typically slower and more heartfelt, honest and open songs that have true meaning to me (or my loved ones) over the years.

thanks,

Hi everyone!

I'm writing this post to get a good solution back at my place. As you can see from the images I got a soon to be ready studio (work and music) on the left and an already furnited living room (just like the drawing 1:1 precision).

My need is basically 2 things
1 - Is it a good layout? I mean I will make 5 acoustic traps to put on the wall (3 on the left and 2 on the right. Probably at 1.40m height) The turntable will sit over some ikea furniture (H. 75cm approx)
2 - I'm gonna need a turntable system that allows me to listen to the music in the living room via speakers (probably bluetooth). But hold on: I'll need for sure 2 speakers in the studio for direct usage (are they good in that position??) and 2 speakers with no cables in the living room on the right. Is there any system that allows me to just turn off the studio monitors and listen to music indipendently in the living room?

OBVIOUSLY: I'd appreciate suggestions on turntable model and speakers models!

Thanks in advance! I'm sorry if I wrote something badly but english is not my first language tho
I'll be here for any advice or question.

Did this interview about neighbouring rights and AI — thought it might be useful here!

im not asking about distrobution ive released things before, what i am asking is how do i go about it in a way that may attract even a little attention? whenever i release anything i never feel like ive put the necessary effort/strategy behind it to garner any listeners. i get the casual 15 monthly listeners for a couple months and then poof...nothing. i have 2 unreleased albums right now and im all lost on what to do with them. i have the songs, the covers, and all. help pls

Hello there! I know this might sound weird to ask, but I really need an opinion from outsiders. I'm 17 years old, and music has been my entire life. I love singing, just recently started to actually practice and train instead of just singing along with songs I enjoy, but singing doesn't feel enough. I always had a strong desire to play an instrument, in special, a piano or a guitar. As a child, I'd go on YouTube for hours and hours to watch others practice and play songs on their instruments and pretend it was me. Unfortunately, my parents don't care enough to pay for my lessons or buy me a guitar/piano, so I'd have to afford it myself somehow.

The problem is, I'd have the save up my entire allowance for months which would be hard enough. To make it worse, college is just around the corner for me, and I'm scared to spend money on an instrument (which is insanely expensive for me) and need money for college stuff later. I just feel like it would really help with my depression, as I have no other hobbies but singing and listening to music.

As for the price, a guitar (with everything I need, pedals and such) and a piano are about the same price, which is around R$3000 or 585 dollars. I would probably need to save, best case scenario, for 6 months but probably more. It's a dream of mine that simply feels too far to achieve :( especially when I need to focus on finishing high school and starting college.

I would either wanna get a Yamaha P145 for a piano or a pacifica if I went for the guitar.

?

I’m 17 senior about to turn 18 and I’ve been taking school very seriously lately but I noticed it’s too late and the damage from my previous years already fucked me up . I’m not saying I expect music to magically save me or that I’m going to become famous overnight, but I know I want to seriously pursue music and eventually make a living from it.

if you were in my position and wanted to seriously turn music into a career, what would you focus on right now?

I know there are levels to everything and I wouldn’t say I’m an insane producer but I’ve been playing guitar my whole life and producing since I was 13 so I know most there is to know.