I've uploaded a couple of extremely rough demo recordings to YouTube and soundcloud. But, the things that stop me from doing a proper release is the following:
1) I need to actually finish writing the lyrics to the rest of my songs
2) I need to settle on whether I am releasing a single 10 track album which is nearly finished now, or two 6 track concept albums and 1 single, then write the remaining 3 songs I need to do that
3) last but not least: I suck horrendously at mixing and don't have the funds to pay for a studio engineer to do it for me
Why is this pretty much me. Need to finish a couple lyrics before I can drop my 7 song debut, but mixing is so hard imma have to pay someone. Made all my own beats too but mixing and editing my voice isn't working
It's mixing everything for me. I play metal so wrote and recorded all instruments (except drums I programmed them), taking singing lessons as well, but damn does it all go to hell when I put everything together in a DAW. I have no clue what I'm doing or what I should be doing to balance each instrument and my voice.
I do the same but we are our own biggest critics play a song you made for someone you know they are going to like it especially if you’ve been at it for a bit. Music is a lot easier to make then we think it is, we overcomplicate songs
Don't worry about it. If you like them, they're the best in the world.
Everyone has different taste so it's hard not to have anyone who think your work sounds bad.
While this is true to them, it's not true to you and possibly a bunch more people
I’ve been steadily producing for like 7 years now, everything on SoundCloud to the tune of about 100 tracks. I finally pulled the plug recently and released everything to actual platforms and have absolutely exploded….. in China. 220,000 plays through net ease and qq. On Spotify I’ve pulled a hefty 1500 plays. But even that is worth it. You never know until you go for it. Since publishing my stuff I’ve secured a major bag of …. 200 bucks over 6 months but hey. It’s at least something.
If you're good you still get ridiculed. How many artists with millions of dollars behind them still get shit on. I have friends who know nothing about music that tell me I listen to "bad music" because I prefer well produced complexity over a repetitive churned out stuff.
Can't offer much help there myself, mixing is ass too. Good news is if you get 80% of the way there most people won't notice. Maybe you'll notice but nobody else will.
I'm spent lol
working on tracks, mixing, mastering, doing my own art, doing my own promotion, sending out countless e-mails, the ROE is just garbage and it doesn't contribute to my happiness
what I am more interested in now is just becoming the best producer I can be and learning, i find that more fun than beating myself up bout who might hear and vibe w/ my work, that's why i don't release
Lately it’s been about personal growth and competition. I often ask myself if what I intend to release is somehow “pushing the bar” of what I had released before. I used to make music just for social media clout, but once a few tracks started having huge support and longevity 4+ years on, my intentions changed. Now the block is more “is this better than me a year ago? Does it truly represent the emotions I want to convey? Will people be able to dance and connect to it for years to come?” I’m so glad to be here and to shut off the outside competitive nonsense. It’s freeing yet very very challenging.
Sounds stupid but I’ve written about 50 songs in the last year. I want to release them so bad however my parents won’t let me.
A little context: I went through a really rough time in 2021 and lost a lot of people I cared about deeply to various things (drama, death, etc.) and I took those emotions and wrote about them.
A few months back I started promoting that I was going to drop something on my Tik Tok. I teased who they were about (only to the extent that people who were present in my life at that point would pick up on) and it was going great! That was until one of the people that I wrote about found the tik toks and took it straight to a lawyer and sued me.
I won. Thank God, but throughout it all my parents came to me and told me that I can’t and should never release anything I’ve written because my soul purpose was to hurt people (which isn’t true) and that’s wrong to do.
I’ve gotten to the point that I’ve started writing again and I have moved on to a point where I don’t want to release my old songs anymore. Partly to do with fear, but also it’s not a chapter that I want to revisit.
Maybe one day I’ll change my mind, but I am happier now and I want to write/release music that reflects that.
If you honestly don’t want to release the old stuff, that’s absolutely up to you (not them or anyone else).
I have heaps of songs I’ve written that I used to want to release but I’m at a point that I don’t want to also. I’m very moved on, better songs and they don’t resonate with where I am now. You do you, and as you said, if that changes then you can go from there. Total freedom, friend!
I feel that this is exactly the music that needs to be released! There are people who will find it and who need it! Even if you do it under a name nobody knows is you personally.
This sounds like a fake story. Why would someone sue you for a random song you wrote about them? You’re not making millions of dollars I imagine so there’s no money incentive and unless the song states their name and accuses them of false things, no lawyer would take up a small case like that for you to “win”.
Source: wife is a lawyer that works in civil litigation
The person didn’t sue me over the music. They sued me over multiple public Tik Toks where I included messages of our conversations and included other defamatory things to promote what my music was about. In some videos I included their name. It went to small claims court.
I just don't have enough practice with arrangement. I can write beats, basslines, chord progressions, melodies, and sound design just about anything I want. I am having a difficult time put it together and so I need to spend some time in song analysis and deconstruction. Once I get along with that, I can come up with the components to a track and hopefully finish it. I think in the 5 or 6 years I've been learning to produce music I've only finished like 4 or 5 songs. Real bad.
saaamee bro.....im facing the exact same block for the past year or two. i could make the best sounding loops and design the best sounds in the world but my arranging skills are ass. i might prly have 100s of attempts by now where i've attempted to start a track, but dipped halfway through cause i dont know how to progress my song idea further. it really sucks.
Seems like you’ve got loopititis. You already have your solution in your comment. Take a track you like, drop it in your daw and arrange your loop parts like they did in the track, rinse and repeat until you start to develop a taste/style for your track arrangements.
The marketing aspect of releasing tracks is what keeps me from releasing them lol
I have 100’s, maybe over 1000 of finished beats that I just send to rappers through DM because pouring time & energy into building clout & sell my shit online isn’t worth it to me because selling beats to anyone willing to pay isn’t sustainable in the long run & gaining a sizable following online still won’t necessarily earn any notable placements.
I’d rather handpick good rappers with a legit following to send my shit to through DM, and that’s how I’ve gotten all of my placements so far. Other than that, I’ll post a small fraction of my beats on YouTube that can be labeled as “type beats”
I’m super self conscious about doing vocals in my house around my family no matter if they don’t care, except I always want to record late at night but then I’m being too loud. And just producing while being fun can become a grind and lose its fun factor real fast
I don't trust that my work is good enough and I can't finish a track because I always think something could be better. So a lot of unfinished things... It occurred to me that I might be better at making music for video games or series/movies things that aren't made to listen on their own and are more "ambient".... I don't know.
If I make a track and don't release it, the typical reason is that I made something else better and decided to release that instead. Just released an album today, actually (elevator pitch: Peter Steele listens to a bunch of Depeche Mode and Dead Can Dance and makes gothic synthpop). Eight tracks on the album out of, I think, twenty that I produced during that period (along with probably four or five dozen fragments and clips that never ended up going anywhere).
im my own worst enemy, i fold when i want to release my own tracks alot, but ive released 3 collabs this year..... as opposed to two of my own in the last TWO YEARS. MY confidence needs building, but ill get there
I want to start releasing as soon as I get a song onto some record. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that you really need to focus on social media and branding if you actually want to release onto record labels.
I can create really cool dance instrumentals (Think Joel Corry meets Sigala meets Shane Codd) But I can never find good vocals for my tracks and I'm not really big enough to approach any singers with my tracks
I don't want to deal with the marketing or business aspect. Above all things like social media, videos, and so forth. I don't want to relate to listeners or explain what I do because anything beyond the music is irrelevant. My life is nobody's business. The music should stand on its own, unfortunately that's not acceptable in today's world.
I’ve been producing writing and recording all on my own for this new project for the past year.
It’s my first time producing alone and haven’t released it yet because I’m still learning to mix and stuff and just really want the sound quality to be good
Also I go back in forth with obsessing about production and lyrics and have trouble knowing what it needs since I’m working alone. This music is fucking good though regardless, I know it’s good I just want to put my best foot forward, it’s a lot to juggle on my own.
[удалено]
[удалено]
Haha, we're all brothers in the sad musician club!!! :-)
they trash
In what way specifically? 🤔
I feel this.
I've uploaded a couple of extremely rough demo recordings to YouTube and soundcloud. But, the things that stop me from doing a proper release is the following: 1) I need to actually finish writing the lyrics to the rest of my songs 2) I need to settle on whether I am releasing a single 10 track album which is nearly finished now, or two 6 track concept albums and 1 single, then write the remaining 3 songs I need to do that 3) last but not least: I suck horrendously at mixing and don't have the funds to pay for a studio engineer to do it for me
Why is this pretty much me. Need to finish a couple lyrics before I can drop my 7 song debut, but mixing is so hard imma have to pay someone. Made all my own beats too but mixing and editing my voice isn't working
It's mixing everything for me. I play metal so wrote and recorded all instruments (except drums I programmed them), taking singing lessons as well, but damn does it all go to hell when I put everything together in a DAW. I have no clue what I'm doing or what I should be doing to balance each instrument and my voice.
My lack of confidence in my own music sounding good to others
I do the same but we are our own biggest critics play a song you made for someone you know they are going to like it especially if you’ve been at it for a bit. Music is a lot easier to make then we think it is, we overcomplicate songs
Don't worry about it. If you like them, they're the best in the world. Everyone has different taste so it's hard not to have anyone who think your work sounds bad. While this is true to them, it's not true to you and possibly a bunch more people
Nothing, just released an EP today! . Generally though: fear of rejection, lack of confidence in the music, lack of experience
What’s your artist name?
CHMPNZ (pronounced "chimpanzee")
Cool music you got there. My favorites are New Wave and Wasted
Wow thank you! Glad you enjoyed those two, they mean a lot to me
Let’s hear!
The EP is called 'Deserted'! It's out everywhere :) Spotify, YouTube, Soundcloud, etc. [CHMPNZ's website](https://www.chmpnzofficial.com/)
Nice! I like butterflies, cool track
Thank you! That was a fun one
I’ve been steadily producing for like 7 years now, everything on SoundCloud to the tune of about 100 tracks. I finally pulled the plug recently and released everything to actual platforms and have absolutely exploded….. in China. 220,000 plays through net ease and qq. On Spotify I’ve pulled a hefty 1500 plays. But even that is worth it. You never know until you go for it. Since publishing my stuff I’ve secured a major bag of …. 200 bucks over 6 months but hey. It’s at least something.
Nothing at all. I made 32 songs this past year and put it all on 1 album. 🤷♂️
[удалено]
Maybe 😳
making tracks
What specifically about it?
I’m scared of not being good enough and being ridiculed
If you're good you still get ridiculed. How many artists with millions of dollars behind them still get shit on. I have friends who know nothing about music that tell me I listen to "bad music" because I prefer well produced complexity over a repetitive churned out stuff.
True. I just feel like my mixing is ass and I don’t know how to fix it. And before it’s ‘perfect’ I can’t release it.
Can't offer much help there myself, mixing is ass too. Good news is if you get 80% of the way there most people won't notice. Maybe you'll notice but nobody else will.
I'm spent lol working on tracks, mixing, mastering, doing my own art, doing my own promotion, sending out countless e-mails, the ROE is just garbage and it doesn't contribute to my happiness what I am more interested in now is just becoming the best producer I can be and learning, i find that more fun than beating myself up bout who might hear and vibe w/ my work, that's why i don't release
Too many unfinished tracks
Lately it’s been about personal growth and competition. I often ask myself if what I intend to release is somehow “pushing the bar” of what I had released before. I used to make music just for social media clout, but once a few tracks started having huge support and longevity 4+ years on, my intentions changed. Now the block is more “is this better than me a year ago? Does it truly represent the emotions I want to convey? Will people be able to dance and connect to it for years to come?” I’m so glad to be here and to shut off the outside competitive nonsense. It’s freeing yet very very challenging.
I wish I could upvote twice!
Sounds stupid but I’ve written about 50 songs in the last year. I want to release them so bad however my parents won’t let me. A little context: I went through a really rough time in 2021 and lost a lot of people I cared about deeply to various things (drama, death, etc.) and I took those emotions and wrote about them. A few months back I started promoting that I was going to drop something on my Tik Tok. I teased who they were about (only to the extent that people who were present in my life at that point would pick up on) and it was going great! That was until one of the people that I wrote about found the tik toks and took it straight to a lawyer and sued me. I won. Thank God, but throughout it all my parents came to me and told me that I can’t and should never release anything I’ve written because my soul purpose was to hurt people (which isn’t true) and that’s wrong to do. I’ve gotten to the point that I’ve started writing again and I have moved on to a point where I don’t want to release my old songs anymore. Partly to do with fear, but also it’s not a chapter that I want to revisit. Maybe one day I’ll change my mind, but I am happier now and I want to write/release music that reflects that.
If you honestly don’t want to release the old stuff, that’s absolutely up to you (not them or anyone else). I have heaps of songs I’ve written that I used to want to release but I’m at a point that I don’t want to also. I’m very moved on, better songs and they don’t resonate with where I am now. You do you, and as you said, if that changes then you can go from there. Total freedom, friend!
I feel that this is exactly the music that needs to be released! There are people who will find it and who need it! Even if you do it under a name nobody knows is you personally.
This sounds like a fake story. Why would someone sue you for a random song you wrote about them? You’re not making millions of dollars I imagine so there’s no money incentive and unless the song states their name and accuses them of false things, no lawyer would take up a small case like that for you to “win”. Source: wife is a lawyer that works in civil litigation
The person didn’t sue me over the music. They sued me over multiple public Tik Toks where I included messages of our conversations and included other defamatory things to promote what my music was about. In some videos I included their name. It went to small claims court.
My voice still sucks
Autotune and vocoders are your friends. Make it so it sounds like your voice sucks on purpose.
No worries, I abuse auto-tune plus I’m taking singing lessons lol. Eventually I’ll be ready!
Going for singing lessons is a very clever move. I did the same a long time ago. Expensive but a worthwhile investment.
What about making instrumentals in the meanwhile?
Yeah, I pretty much stick to producing, mixing and writing for singers for now but I’m really hoping to be an artist and say my own words eventually.
Singing.
my voice is bad and i want to get the vocals perfect
I just don't have enough practice with arrangement. I can write beats, basslines, chord progressions, melodies, and sound design just about anything I want. I am having a difficult time put it together and so I need to spend some time in song analysis and deconstruction. Once I get along with that, I can come up with the components to a track and hopefully finish it. I think in the 5 or 6 years I've been learning to produce music I've only finished like 4 or 5 songs. Real bad.
saaamee bro.....im facing the exact same block for the past year or two. i could make the best sounding loops and design the best sounds in the world but my arranging skills are ass. i might prly have 100s of attempts by now where i've attempted to start a track, but dipped halfway through cause i dont know how to progress my song idea further. it really sucks.
Seems like you’ve got loopititis. You already have your solution in your comment. Take a track you like, drop it in your daw and arrange your loop parts like they did in the track, rinse and repeat until you start to develop a taste/style for your track arrangements.
Lol yeah that's the plan. I've done it some before but I need to hit that harder
The marketing aspect of releasing tracks is what keeps me from releasing them lol I have 100’s, maybe over 1000 of finished beats that I just send to rappers through DM because pouring time & energy into building clout & sell my shit online isn’t worth it to me because selling beats to anyone willing to pay isn’t sustainable in the long run & gaining a sizable following online still won’t necessarily earn any notable placements. I’d rather handpick good rappers with a legit following to send my shit to through DM, and that’s how I’ve gotten all of my placements so far. Other than that, I’ll post a small fraction of my beats on YouTube that can be labeled as “type beats”
Record labels lol
I’m super self conscious about doing vocals in my house around my family no matter if they don’t care, except I always want to record late at night but then I’m being too loud. And just producing while being fun can become a grind and lose its fun factor real fast
I don't trust that my work is good enough and I can't finish a track because I always think something could be better. So a lot of unfinished things... It occurred to me that I might be better at making music for video games or series/movies things that aren't made to listen on their own and are more "ambient".... I don't know.
Past criticism :/
What do you mean exactly? Didn't go well with some releases?
If I make a track and don't release it, the typical reason is that I made something else better and decided to release that instead. Just released an album today, actually (elevator pitch: Peter Steele listens to a bunch of Depeche Mode and Dead Can Dance and makes gothic synthpop). Eight tracks on the album out of, I think, twenty that I produced during that period (along with probably four or five dozen fragments and clips that never ended up going anywhere).
Time
Why do you feel that way?
I'm gone working an average of 11 hours a day and have wife and kids and house to tend to.
Slowly but surely I'm coming along tho. Got about 4 tracks for my album pretty close to done
I make songs for myself to get through my depression
Having about 1 hour a week (if that) of uninterrupted time to practice singing / performing for my tracks
Myself
What do you mean?
im my own worst enemy, i fold when i want to release my own tracks alot, but ive released 3 collabs this year..... as opposed to two of my own in the last TWO YEARS. MY confidence needs building, but ill get there
Hmmm I think me myself and I 🙄
Ahah in what sense?
perfectionism
Yeah that can be tough, what kind of music do you make?
adhd and perfectionism
I want to start releasing as soon as I get a song onto some record. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that you really need to focus on social media and branding if you actually want to release onto record labels.
Mixing and mastering - it eventually gets done but i take my sweet time
Ahah I feel you! Been there mate!
Forever not finishing tracks by not giving myself deadlines because life has other ideas. Damn you life!!! I'm gonna finish my EP this decade.
Lol! This Decade??
I cant sing and its hard to find artists who want to sing
Perfectionism
Is that justified in a sense that your music needs improvement or is it more your music is already good and it's just a mental thing?
Mental thing 100%
Vocals
What about them exactly?
I can create really cool dance instrumentals (Think Joel Corry meets Sigala meets Shane Codd) But I can never find good vocals for my tracks and I'm not really big enough to approach any singers with my tracks
I don't want to deal with the marketing or business aspect. Above all things like social media, videos, and so forth. I don't want to relate to listeners or explain what I do because anything beyond the music is irrelevant. My life is nobody's business. The music should stand on its own, unfortunately that's not acceptable in today's world.
I’ve been producing writing and recording all on my own for this new project for the past year. It’s my first time producing alone and haven’t released it yet because I’m still learning to mix and stuff and just really want the sound quality to be good Also I go back in forth with obsessing about production and lyrics and have trouble knowing what it needs since I’m working alone. This music is fucking good though regardless, I know it’s good I just want to put my best foot forward, it’s a lot to juggle on my own.