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Remix jobs (pg. 5)
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| meriter |
| quote: | Originally posted by arskinetica
What else separates amateurs from the pros? |
a record deal |
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| Mad for Brad |
| being a pro in EDM is not really something you can always gage by money as the last few years have been rather unforgiving. Even some of the great composers had to teach before they really made it despite composing some of their greatest work while teaching. |
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| arskinetica |
| quote: | Originally posted by Eric J
There are a good deal of inexperienced producers who think that "making it" is getting "signed", having the record company hand you a fat sum of money, and living the good life. It doesn't work that way, not in any genre of music. Even in rock music, if a band gets "signed", they might get an advance but that money is expected to be paid back with proceeds from record sales, touring and merchandising, or by other means.
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That doesn't surprise me. I think like many things, there's a lot of slickness and marketing. The general public has a lot preconceptions about things.
It's like any other field then. You constantly have to work at it. Constant battles, needing to improve.
What I meant earlier was, the pressure from managers and execs to create something last week instead of today. I suppose that's just the way business culture is now. |
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| Mad for Brad |
is that really your issue tho ? I mean are people barking down your throat for 8 tracks so that your album will coincide with the marketing money shot they have in the works ?
one step at a time.
And EDM is not like that at all. If you want to feel pressure, go work in the Film Biz. Its like the army in that you are so sleep deprived but instead of being around hot built soldiers, you are around rotund coffee breath old people. Sexy. |
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| arskinetica |
True.
I just want to know what I am getting myself into. lol |
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| Mad for Brad |
| most likely a hobby that will never pay any dividends . I mean it isn't like you decided to go to music school. I mean what have you really invested or thrown away. I remember being at music school wondering why on earth am I doing this when I could be like a ing astronaut Then you graduate with what most would consider a set of extremely unique skills that nobody wants so you go to grad school to further escape reality, Try to extend that 3 years and then reality hits you at the end and you realize , what the am I gonna do now. Some people get so caught up in the silliness of their metier that they get a phd in music. Now imagine being 35 with the sort of knowledge nobody cares about and your only salvation from the real world is hogwartian refuge known as tenure. But then you get to sleep with your students so at least the phds are guaranteed something sweet. Basically my education was an 8 year heroin binge avoiding reality at all costs. The come down was brutal. |
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| arskinetica |
That may be true.
Although I did consider going to music school. I've made a lot of stupid choices in my life though.
However, even with a "useful" degree you aren't guaranteed anything any more. (Unless it's one of the right schools of course, or you have connections.) |
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| trance-ecj |
I know the topic is about doing remixes, but theres some other things mentioned in here and I'd like to jump in on the discussion.
As far as mastering goes, we have our material mastered by one of the most respected mastering guy's in the business...and on top of that, we also request that they go easy on 'pushing it' so it's not over compressed. However, lot's of labels will do it themselves to save any money they can (which is understandable) but it's also scary. You can't IMAGINE the distortion on some the promo's I get from other labels; in fact, I write back about how it's so bad that I can't support the track.
When we ask artists/remixers to deliver their tracks for mastering, we make sure there's no limiters on the master and that there's plenty of headroom...other labels ask their artists to have the tracks mastered themselves, which is always terrifying.
If we get sent a very promising track, but has a poor mixdown, we make notes for the artist so they can try to tackle the issue themselves, but usually, nothing really improves, since they're not going to magically grow ears for the job. SO what we've done is actually have them bounce material down and we end up doing it ourselves, which has worked out very well for everyone involved. I don't know if other labels do this or not...
Another thing about mastering...it costs money, and there's none to be had in digital sales, especially after Beatport takes their cut, then you have the distributor taking their share (if you have one), then of course, the label has to make up the mastering costs, and THEN split the remains with the artist. So, you can see why labels will try to avoid mastering if possible by just slapping a Waves limiter on it.
We do the 'financially stupid' thing and master our material...why? I guess cus it just sounds so damn good :)
As far as remixing goes, I always ask for a sample of the track so I'm sure I can deliver something good for the label. If you're not comfortable doing the project, it's best to not waste anyone's time.
And sending out material to labels...just be totally honest with yourself. We get so much bad material it's depressing. When we started up our label, I was expecting to turn down material that just didn't fit our 'sound' but instead, we turn down material becasue it's beyond terrible.
If you're sending out amateur material becasue you decided to get cracked copies of everything and throw a beat together for fun one night, nobody is going to pay attention to you ever again (I'm not accusing anybody here doing that, just sort of arguing out loud). But if you hold up you material against other really well made tracks, and your tracks are just as 'clean' as the best out there, then by all means, hit up the labels...we want good music! Just do some research on the labels your sending things to to make sure your sound fits their sound (I'm always surprised by some of the stuff we get that's TOTALLY different than what we release; it only takes a minute to research a labels sound....seriously.)
Idk why I decided to write all that, but if it helps anyone, great. ;) |
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| -FSP- |
Omar S is a very talented producer, and he works at an auto company. Robert Hood is great too, and he works in a farm. I'm not sure if they are considered pros, but they are very good artists and most people would agree.
There's a techno brain drain going on. Lots of guys are moving to Berlin because of the cheap rent and thriving scene. IIRC in my neck of the woods, Alland Byallo just moved there, and a few of the dritybird crew did too, and their music is acclaimed throughout clubland in their respective scenes.
the dance music industry seems like academia. once you get tenure in top-tier land, it's hard to not get gigs for some time. Just look at the familiar names at the latest festival. You just have to publish something time to time or you'll just perish. The unfortunate truth is that the guys below the top tier are scratching and clawing, i guess they are the equivalent to adjuncts. In academia, there are so many journals and so many articles being written. likewise, in club land there are so many labels and songs out there. |
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| arskinetica |
How are releases (and the people making them/performing) usually marketed these days?
I have a tendency just to browse Amazon or Beatport, and pick up the occassional CD locally, so I don't know much about it. |
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| Mad for Brad |
| they aren't. Unless you have major label support, the budget is a whopping ------> 0 . Kinda makes you wonder why even have a label if it isn't someone that will actually do something you can't do yourself. |
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| arskinetica |
I've often wondered that.
Why unsigned/unknown bands start labels. |
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