Travis Dickerson Recording Studios Forum

I just thought I\'d share a lil track with ya\'ll, or at least anyone who wants to check it out. It\'s just a simple little instrumental track, very laid back, all guitars, no drums. I hope everyone has a good new year.

http://63.134.211.249/mp3/747.mp3

 :-/dang bro, you need to get with 2005, get yourself some Fruityloops. LMAO I got every drum sound ever made, plus some new stuff.

"I see the circus through the eyes of the clown" I\'ve always loved the line form NWO by Ministry. I always felt it was a great reference to clowns and their twistedness. Your picture is great, I love twisted clowns. You should check out the art work in the Infectious Grooves cd "Groove Family Psycho", there are some awesome twisted clowns in there.

I find the best way for me to get a good balance of what I am hearing in my head, and what everyone else is hearing, is to cover or plug one ear while singing. It may sound funny, but it really works, and can help you fine tune your pitch. I also play along with my guitar a lot, I think it really helps with pitch as well. It at least seems much easier to harmonize with another instrument, be it someone else\'s voice, or a guitar ect. When I sing along to my favorite music in the car, I cover one ear and it really helps em to hear what I am actually doing. Try it if you haven\'t. Also, when recording, it is super important for a vocalist to feel comfortable. It is the main task of the engineer to get the best performance from the vocalist, and part of that is trying to relax them, and make them feel comfortable. This can mean making a nice headphone mix for them, so that thier vocals aren\'t completely dry, and just being encouraging about thier performance. Once a person is uncomfortable or nervous, their vocal chords tighten up, and their singing goes downhill. :-/

I\'m a wannabe singer/songwriter. My biggest hurdle has always been, and still is, the fact that I hate the sound of my own voice. I am very much a perfectionist, and I am seldom actually satisfied with my work. In fact, usually, I hate everything that I do. In the last year though, I have really tried to ease up on the self-scorning, and just kind of cut loose some. My family is very musical as well, my mother and grandmother both have beautiful singing voices, so I guess I\'m just hoping it\'s there for me to fine tune. I have been seriously considering taking voice lessons, only, I do some heavy music, and I really want to work on all of it, not just sing songy stuff, although that is really where the coaching seems like it would come in, and not for the heavy vox.

The biggest thing I have figured out on my wn is, breath control. It is almost impossible to hit or hold a note, when you are out of breath. So, I try to keep my lungs as full as they can be when singing. Also, using the diaphragm to push the air from my lungs, instead of the upper part of the lungs, as usual. I would love some pointers from some of the more advanced singers though, I really want to improve my vocal skill.

One day I hope to have a whole wall with each of these on there, since they have all been such a part of my life.(the CDs I consider "the greatest") But I will list a few:

The Wall - Pink Floyd
Far Beyond Driven - Pantera
Are you Experienced - Jimi Hendrix(original version)
Paraniod - Black Sabbath
EZ does it - Easy E
Eat em and Smile - DLR
Master of Puppets - Metallica
could go on for a while........sry

Some handy links, and good reading.

Music Business Handbook and Career Guide - David Baskerville
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0761916679/103-8242570-1347823

J.C. Levinson Guerilla Marketing
http://www.gmarketing.com/

(if you are interested in recording)
Modern Recording Techniques - D.M.Huber & R.E.Runstein
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0240804562/103-8242570-1347823

http://www.homerecordingconnection.com/

http://www.harmony-central.com

The music business handbook is great. It is the book that took me from delusion, to reality, and I highly recommend it. It covers a great deal of info including rights, labels, distribution, ect. As I think of more links, or more info, I will post it.

 :)Thanks for your reply. I agree totally with everything you have said, to the threshold of my experience/comprehension. Perhaps I came across wrong, I often do, I sincerely didn\'t mean to imply that there was some "right way" or anything(and certinaly not that I know what it is). Of course, one\'s own expectations of their art being expressed, and as you said, dreams being fullfilled, is thier own definition of success. If it\'s being stinking rich, or just being humbly satisfied with doing what they love. My reasoning for starting this thread was to try to help anyone who may be under the grand delusion to see a little more clearly, before their lifetime passes away as they learn the hard way. But then, maybe the hard way is the only way. For myself, I am satisfied to be able to play my music, to have the skill and talent to just play. It\'s like this, if I were stuck on an island, I would play, because I love it. I\'d make me a fiddle out of a turtle shell and a stick like Kirk Douglas in 20K leagues. Anyway, I suppose you may want to delete this thread if it is hereby deemed pointless. :-/

My friend, all comments are welcome. We all start somewhere. My purpose for starting this thread is to try to help you(anyone) close the gap, to provide a little information to help you learn what has taken years to figure out the hard way. I am still a noob, this is why I asked for any input that Travis may like to give specifically. Travis is doing a lot of work here to promote art, his, his client\'s, and even yours. I just want to help people understand, that may need help. I suppose if you read anything here, and think, tell me something I don\'t know, move on. Hopefully this will help someone though. Maybe it\'s a bad idea, if so, Travis can delete the thread, with my humble appypollylogies.

All the hard work you have been putting in here at TDRS is awesome Travis. I really appreciate it, and think the fact that someone at your level hasn\'t "sold out", at least in the sense of just focusing on appeasing the beast, is freeking awesome. The truth is though, I really think most artists these days, and I am refering to new artists, aspiring ect., still don\'t have a very realistic view of what it\'s "all about"; the definition of royalties, a full comprehension of rights, understanding things like advances, contracts, distribution, ect, ect. Obviously, this is a vast field, that no one knows everything about everything, but the thing is, it really occurs to me that a lot of the artists still don\'t know what\'s really going on.

For the last two years I have tried to find some people to record with. It has been more than hard, try impossible. The biggest problem I ran into, was that most of the cats I met, all thought they were gonna rock out thier local dive, and some fat cat with a cigar was gonna roll in, pull a magical contract out of his pocket, a fat pen, hand them a cigar, and lead them off to a limo. Not one "band" I checked out had a website, or a demo, but they all had issues. As soon as I mentioned the theme of creating a recording and playing behind that, marketing it, instead of just playing, hoping for some miracle, I was poopoo\'d.

Have you ever had a conversation with someone about a topic, and everything either of you said, the other was just about to say, or completely agreed with? Conversations like that in the field of music, for me, are few and far between. People in this day and age want someone else to do the work. They are waiting for the "big deal". LOL. Even if you get it, do you know what that really means?

Basically, I want to help. I will start with a few of what I consider fundamental concepts. Please, by all means Travis, if you feel I am incorrect say so. I am hoping to get yours and any other posters with experience\'s input.

1)If you do what you love, you will never work a day in your life
2)Who are you?
3)Why do I care?
4)Product - in order to sell something, you must have something to sell. Very few people get far selling concepts. In most cases, those who produce the best output, attract the biggest market.
5)You are responcible for you. Even if you have people on the case, how do you know they are straight? Learn as much as you can about your buisness, that will leave less gaps for you to get gaffled.
6)website/webpage(even) - do something man, in this day and age, you just don\'t exist if you don\'t have at least a small presence in cyber space. Not to mention there is no better way to achieve worldwide advertisement. If you do plan to market yourself to a label, they will want to know your stats, like hits on your site, and number of members of your forum for example.


Here\'s an analogy;
Microsoft absorbs companies everyday, left and right. What you don\'t see them do, is go to some kids house, and pull him out of his mom\'s basement, because he could make some great software. No. They go for the small guys who are breathing down their neck, or at least giving it enough hell to get noticed.

Now, if you are humble enough to not seek out that holiest of grails, then there is hope. Serve yourself, your art, and any fans you may accumulate along your journey, and all together we can cahnge things like heavy rotation, and the general degredation of music and music appreciation in general. OK. I\'m tired, that was alot of ranting.

 
I just uploaded a kind of old track of mine to my server, and thought I would throw a link up here, for anyone bored or w/e. It is a little jam I recorded several years back w/ a cat that I went to the Conservatory w/ who played drums. This was basically a little funky jam I came up w/, and had never even played before w/ anyone. I had some studio time, so I asked him to lay down some drums for me. I showed him the hook, and then we just free styled it. I played bass, and we jammed it out, then I came back and overdubbed the guitars. It\'s all one takes, mistakes n all, but it was just a fun track, and that is all it is.
http://216.119.72.197/database/feelthefonk.mp3

*I\'m much better at the guitar now.

I\'m from the Monroe area, betwixt Monroe and Jackson to be more vague. Believe me, there are plenty of not so interesting people there too, except maybe to an anthropologist.

I think it\'s really cool that this area is here. Lots of forums tolerate people posting thier music, but few actually encourage it. Sweet. Some people think I play country, but I never. It\'s more of a swampstomp kinda blues/funk, in the vein of Jerry Reed and Dr. John and such. I\'m from Louisiana, and I suppose it shows.  

http://216.119.72.197/database/biscuits&gravy.mp3
http://216.119.72.197/database/swampthang.mp3
http://216.119.72.197/database/salvation.mp3

Very good, really captured the depth in that first one, cool concepts.

I listened to a few. "A" for effort. That\'s not bad, I just mean, what I heard was cool, I\'m not going to say anything that could be mistaken for negative.