Need Upper Frequencies Help Desperately

[thecontrolcentre]

Congratulations on the live performance by NJ Order Of The Eastern Star Choir. That's something to be proud of. Did you get to see the performance?

[wagtunes]

Congratulations on the live performance by NJ Order Of The Eastern Star Choir. That's something to be proud of. Did you get to see the performance?

No, I didn't. It's a long story why I couldn't go and would rather not get into it here. Just opens up another can of worms about my life. But I was sad when my wife called and said that's all anybody could talk about for two days, that I should go to a publisher and this and that and blah, blah, blah. I was the big star of the convention and all I can do is imagine what it would have been like if I was there. But you know what? At age 60, it probably wouldn't have excited me as much as it would have at age 21 when I would have done anything to make it in the business.

Funny how age changes you. Now, I just make music because I like making music. Which kind of makes me wonder why I even care if somebody thinks my tambourine is too loud.

[whyterabbyt]

So in other words I'm looking at all of this negatively and instead should look at it with a more open mind, use what I want, discard what I don't find useful. But in either case, understand that there will always be feedback that won't entirely agree with what I ultimately ended up doing with the song.

is that pretty much it in a nutshell?

more or less, yeah.

[andrelafosse]

Steve, here's my take:

People can be deeply skilled in certain aspects of music creation, and completely naive about others. This is why different aspects of music creation are almost always handled by different people, ESPECIALLY if you look at classic rock/pop/mainstream recordings.

From what I've heard of your music, you're a really accomplished songwriter. Good melodies, interesting chord changes, catchy material. I have no doubt that your material was well-received at the choral performance.

These things are TOTALLY different skills than being an accomplished producer, or arranger, or recording engineer, or mixing engineer. And that's NORMAL.

If you look at the credits of any of your favorite albums, you're not going to see one person doing it all. For every Todd Rundgren or Stevie Wonder or Prince or Alan Parsons type who can multitask and wear many hats simultaneously, there are THOUSANDS of gifted, talented creative people who have one particular focus. They excel at that, and they're one of many different people who are involved in the creation of an album.

Most recording artists CAN'T produce or mix themselves. They don't have the kind of perspective on their own material, or the kind of understanding of production or mixing in general, that allows them to deliver a cohesive product. The sorts of things you're talking about in this thread - the difficulty of knowing where different instruments should sit in a mix, and why - are normal issues for a recording artist to have.

This is why you have different people doing different things on an album. This is why the vast majority of powerful artists, who COULD potentially insist on doing everything themselves, still choose to avail themselves of other people to handle the many different aspects of producing an album.

Now, there's nothing wrong with expanding your skill set. It's fine to want to delve into other aspects of music making, and it's totally possible to become accomplished at this stuff. By all means, learn about what you want to learn about.

But: accept that being really skilled in certain areas of music doesn't automatically mean that you're going to be great at all other facets of music creation. Try not to take criticism as a personal attack.

And, ultimately, I would say: think about what's really important to you in making music, and find ways of making that happen. If that means ceding certain aspects of its creation to other people, then... well, that means that you're part of the overwhelming majority of music makers in the world.

[wagtunes]

Steve, here's my take:

People can be deeply skilled in certain aspects of music creation, and completely naive about others. This is why different aspects of music creation are almost always handled by different people, ESPECIALLY if you look at classic rock/pop/mainstream recordings.

From what I've heard of your music, you're a really accomplished songwriter. Good melodies, interesting chord changes, catchy material. I have no doubt that your material was well-received at the choral performance.

These things are TOTALLY different skills than being an accomplished producer, or arranger, or recording engineer, or mixing engineer. And that's NORMAL.

If you look at the credits of any of your favorite albums, you're not going to see one person doing it all. For every Todd Rundgren or Stevie Wonder or Prince or Alan Parsons type who can multitask and wear many hats simultaneously, there are THOUSANDS of gifted, talented creative people who have one particular focus. They excel at that, and they're one of many different people who are involved in the creation of an album.

Most recording artists CAN'T produce or mix themselves. They don't have the kind of perspective on their own material, or the kind of understanding of production or mixing in general, that allows them to deliver a cohesive product. The sorts of things you're talking about in this thread - the difficulty of knowing where different instruments should sit in a mix, and why - are normal issues for a recording artist to have.

This is why you have different people doing different things on an album. This is why the vast majority of powerful artists, who COULD potentially insist on doing everything themselves, still choose to avail themselves of other people to handle the many different aspects of producing an album.

Now, there's nothing wrong with expanding your skill set. It's fine to want to delve into other aspects of music making, and it's totally possible to become accomplished at this stuff. By all means, learn about what you want to learn about.

But: accept that being really skilled in certain areas of music doesn't automatically mean that you're going to be great at all other facets of music creation. Try not to take criticism as a personal attack.

And, ultimately, I would say: think about what's really important to you in making music, and find ways of making that happen. If that means ceding certain aspects of its creation to other people, then... well, that means that you're part of the overwhelming majority of music makers in the world.

This is so well said. You should write for a living.

And with that we're back to the "Why doesn't Wags play well when working with others?" discussion, which is outside of the scope of this thread. Yeah, I know. I should peddle my songwriting talents and try to find people who can do the other things well. Problem is (and this probably comes as no surprise to a lot of people here) I simply don't play well with others. It's no always my fault, though I will take my share of the blame. Lots of people, I have found over the years, simply aren't reliable. They say they're going to do something but never do it. And the people who ARE reliable, well, they don't want anything to do with a nobody like me. So we're back to me doing everything myself. And I've been doing everything myself for over 40 years. You'd think by now I'd be better at the production end of it. While I've improved some, I really don't have the talent for it. Or maybe more accurately, I don't have the education for it. Songwriting I learned. Studied it for years. The other stuff, I've just kind of winged it my whole life. And it shows.

So that's where we are. Sure, I'd love to have somebody say "Hey, give me your stems and I'll give you a pro recording back. Just give me 50% of the royalties." I'd do it in a heartbeat. But we both know that I ain't making any money in this business so he'd be doing this for nothing. I have yet to meet anybody THAT generous.

Maybe in another 10 years I'll actually GET good at this. Who knows?

Hey, miracles can happen.

[v1o]

I'm 100% convinced Wag is Theo.

Every plugin conceivable and poor hearing. I know that's not unusual on a music forum but I just have a feeling...

They're completely different. Theo was very technical and knew his stuff but was overbearing. Wag is just into making synth tunes and selling presets.

[Mushy Mushy]

I'm 100% convinced Wag is Theo.

Every plugin conceivable and poor hearing. I know that's not unusual on a music forum but I just have a feeling...

They're completely different. Theo was very technical and knew his stuff but was overbearing. Wag is just into making synth tunes and selling presets.

This post is now extremely old and I'm not about to rehash a conversation that long ago.
Wags, we're good aren't we mate

[wagtunes]

I'm 100% convinced Wag is Theo.

Every plugin conceivable and poor hearing. I know that's not unusual on a music forum but I just have a feeling...

They're completely different. Theo was very technical and knew his stuff but was overbearing. Wag is just into making synth tunes and selling presets.

This post is now extremely old and I'm not about to rehash a conversation that long ago.
Wags, we're good aren't we mate

Yeah, and I'm shutting this train wreck down. I don't need more crap from the assholes.