𝓁𝒾𝒶𝓃𝓃𝒶𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓈𝑒

So the deadline is set: 30th April 2018. Is this a realistic deadline?

I have to admit, that I already postponed the deadline two or three times before. Hopefully, this will be the last time. But let me tell you what the EP consists of exactly and how far I am in the process of the EP at this point in time.

I divide the process into the following stages: writing (includes lyrics and music), recording, editing, mixing, mastering, and finally releasing. Within the process, I usually shift from the previous stage to the next, step by step. Sometimes, however, I go back to a prvious stage to correct things that I’m not satisfied with, often it is the recording stage that I go back to. 

So the EP consits of  a total of six songs. Two of them are in the recording stage, three are in the editing stage and one is in the mixing stage. None is in the mastering stage, since I’m never satisfied. The two songs in the recording stage are mostly ready but still lack some tighter vocals. 

With this being stated, it is a realistic goal and can be managed. The premise is that I keep up with my plan and really DO music. So let’s go!

I have a home studio. I have ots of songs that wait to be recorded. I have the basic skills of recording music. Now action has to take place.

This is probably the hardest part: to kick yourself in the butt and start making music. I sped hours and hours watching tutorials instead of recording and doing music. There are more and more songs that I keep writing and the song pile grows. What a pitty, indeed. 

Why can’t I just get going and start. It seems to be so simple. But I am a huge procrastinator. I keep pushing it all away and find lots and lots of excuses to do so. “Before I start X I have to do Y.” And this goes on forever. 

However, if I take a real honest look at myself and my behaviour it’s not that I don’t have time or lacking certain gear or knowledge. Yeah, I may be a beginner, but that’s no reason to keep you from making music if you really want to. The beginning isin many cases the time when you are most motivated. The thing that holds me back is insecurity. And insecurity turns into fear. Fear about what people think, when they hear my music. Fear about the music sounding cheap. Fear about not reaching anybody at all. 

So the hardest part - to actually really start doing music - is, in it’s core, to overcome your own insecurities. One way to do so, is to set a deadline for yourself and focus on that. 

So my goal is to release my first EP at the beginning of April 2018. 

Yes, this might be a total failure and can be quite embarassing if I post this now and not meet my deadline later. Still, at least I need to try it and hope that I’ll be able to do it.

In the next days I will try to keep this blog updatet on what I’m working on as a way of monitoring myself and my progress in the project of releasing my first EP.

So far, this is my little home studio right now. Very simple but effective. 😉

Having a dream is not that hard. But how do you put that into practice? That’s the hard part.

The decision was made. I had to find the right gear to satr my home studio. With the only experience whatsoever being looking over other people’s shoulder, I hardly knew how to even start a home studio. I knew you needed some kind of computer or laptop, a software, and a microphone. But I’m not a person who knows much about technology and how it works, so I knew I had to start learning those things if I wanted to be able to do it on my own.

Fortunately, we live in the era of the INTERNET and that’s why you find tutorials for EVERYTHING on YouTube and on the web. So I began to watch videos over videos on how to start a home studio, what I needed to buy and how to connect all those technical things which I had never heard before. That’s when I came across the best teaching site I’ve seen so far: The Recording Revolution from Graham Cochrane. I followed his instructions and suggestions on what gear to get.

The first thing I bought was in fact a Macbook. I wanted to separate my normal laptop that I use for private stuff and school from the one I use for music, and I did. Next thing was an audio interface, a mic, headphones, and later a better software and a keyboard for an upgrade. And that’s it, that’s my studio right now. Getting all those devices hooked up is doable. The hardest part though, what I’m still struggling with today, is getting to know the software, the editing and especially the mixing. What I do up to now is watching tutorials when I don’t know how to do a certain thing. I even subscribed to The Recording Revolution where I learn most of how to make music in a box. So I achieved the first steps towards my dream. 

I have been singing my whole life…

But let me tell you how it started: I wrote and composed my first complete song quite some time ago, when I was about 16 years old. Wanting to record it, I asked my cousin, who is a producer, if he would help me record and produce the song. This is how I started writing more songs, he would give me his beats and I would write lyrics to them. The next step was that he made me attend a very fortunate event as an MC, the crowd liked it and I started writing raps, too.

Finally, I became a singer, songwriter, AND rapper.

Unfortunately, there came a time when I didn’t write anymore because my producer cousin moved to another country and I didn’t know anybody else with a recording studio. What’s the use in writing songs when I can’t record them anyway, I thought to myself.

Some eight years later, I got the opportunity to study in the U.S., in North Carolina, for two semesters, and this was the most inspirational time I’ve had in a loooooooong time. I met so many creative people, friends, I made a lot of music while I was there, and inspired by those talents, I started writing again. I met a friend who owned a home studio and who helped me record my songs. I met another wonderful friend who is a songwriter herself and taught me how to be a better writer. By the time I returned from the U.S. I was so full of new hope and inspiration that I decided to build my own home studio.