Everything's gotten a lot easier. Technology is a mixed
blessing. Everything goes faster, and takes a lot less time. But
speed makes people crazy sometimes – too much info too fast.
Anyway, I'm not complaining when it comes to recording and releasing
music.
I started out with a 4 track cassette recorder in the 90's, rewinding
takes and ping ponging tracks to put 10 parts in one song. I
can't imagine the time I spent with this, not to mention the tape
degradation with all the winding back and forth.
Fast forward, pun intended, to an era where with a laptop and a mic,
you can create whatever you want by yourself in a fraction of the
time. Back in the day, we needed all of this outboard equipment
to get the finished sound – mix down the tape to another tape machine –
run it through preamps, compressors, eq's and effects units to get a
master. Then burn it to a cd recorder. Ha ha, it's funny to
think about the cost, the time and the space it took to make a record –
and this is still in a home studio. If you recorded in a studio,
mastered with an engineer, cut cd’s with a plant and sold through a
label, you could spend tens of thousands of dollars!
DIY – do it yourself – the mantra of the cost conscious self-starter,
or the non-corporate ethos of the punk rocker. Yes, with my
laptop, I can record as many tracks as I want, mix and master the
songs, and upload them to a pro service that sends the music all over
the globe – all for less than $100, and I will share with you how.
Recording and Mastering
I have to preface this with the fact that I'm kind of a lo-fi guy. So,
I love the authentic analog sounds of the late 1960's. But, there
are plenty of people like me in home studios with similar setups
making top 40 hits.
When I retired the 4 track, I progressed to an 8 track cassette
recorder, which was life changing. When I go back and listen to
those recordings from twenty years ago, I am pleased with the sound
that came from a thin inexpensive blank cassette. The genuine warmth of
analog sound is hard to beat.
A huge turning point occurred again when I bought a laptop. I
will speak from the experience of a macbook. In the Mac world,
the computers come with Garageband. Mine came with Logic Express,
around 2008. Inexpensive or free recording software is out there
and easy to find. I eventually progressed to the full
professional version of Logic – it just performs better.
Digital recording software is incredibly powerful, similar to photoshop
in the design world. The pros use either Pro Tools or
Logic
(the
Apple version). It's fairly intuitive and easy to learn without
reading a book. Tutorials for specific tasks are easy to find online in
guides, forums and videos. I taught myself through trial and
error. It's actually a fun and captivating exploration. You can
record as many tracks as you want, and I have recorded tracks that are
over two hours in length. All of the processing, effects, eq,
compression that are imaginable are available through the program. Even
mastering the project is a whiz. The tools that are available are
imaged from well-known and highly regarded outboard equipment. All of
those racks of machines are now smashed into your computer! With 16 and
24 bit recording capability, I honestly can't tell the difference from
a good analog recording, except for the tape hiss is missing, ha!
The digital process is limitless and transformational from analog
recording, much in part because it is visual. Parts can be moved
around, cut, copied and pasted and looped. They can be stretched,
synced, pitch shifted, duplicated – you name it.
Master recordings can be saved in all of the familiar file formats
including wav and mp3. It's a great idea to burn your masters to disc
and back them up to a separate drive or in cloud storage.
Oh, and the microphone. If you are really cheap and lo-fi, you
can record through the built in mic on your laptop, ha. I do it
all the time, when I don't feel like running cables. I have
recorded walkie talkie vocals, acoustic guitar and garage sounding
drums on the built-in mic. Or, you can find a really decent USB mic
that plugs directly in to your computer for less than $50. There
are also audio interfaces for less than $50 that allow you to plug in
mic cables and instruments through them into your computer.
Art
How creative do you want to be? Make a painting, take a picture or scan
it, and you have an album cover. All computers have some sort of
design software that allows you to layer text and images to create
album art. Have a friend create it and give them credit on the back
cover. The possibilities are endless and don't have to cost anything.
Copyright
Most people don't realize that once you simply create something
original, you create a copyright for it, which protects you as the
originator of the work. But, the creation in itself isn't always
date verifiable. I have always submitted my work to the US
Copyright Office / Library of Congress just to document and date
stamp
it. The most important document is the Form SR (Sound
Recording). It costs $35 to submit an album, and it takes about
30 minutes to do it online. We used to have to mail copies to
Washington, but those days are over. They mail you a date stamped
certificate with a filing number.
Performance Rights
Joining a performance rights organization is easy and free. They
track public performances of your works, mainly radio, TV and
digital. BMI
and ASCAP are the
biggies. BMI is free to join
and submit works, and ASCAP charges a nominal membership fee. You
upload song titles (not music files) to their sites and they do
the rest, including mailing you checks when your music is played.
Digital Rights
This is the newer frontier that continues to evolve. Presently,
Sound Exchange
is the primary source for tracking and monetizing
digital streams for copyright owners and publishers through venues like
Sirius XM, Pandora and TV music channels. This is the fastest
growing segment of the music industry, since most music is now being
broadcast and shared digitally.
Syndication
Independent artists have many outlets for getting their music out to
the world. I have worked with CD Baby for a long time, because
they are efficient, practical and they stay on top of the
technology. It takes less than an hour to upload an album and it
costs about $50. CD Baby submits your music to iTunes, Spotify,
Amazon, YouTube and dozens of music portals all over the world.
They track streams and downloads, and CD Sales (if you choose to send them
CD's).
Marketing
Most marketing these days is online and can be free in a lot of
instances. Artists promote through Facebook and Instagram their
new music, tour dates and social happenings. We submit new music
to record companies and promoters through email with links to web sites
and uploads.
Bandcamp is also
very popular for independent artists to sell their music and
merchandise, and it's free.
Soundcloud is a
top source for streaming, sharing independent music and linking to
audio.
Musicians can submit individual songs to playlist curators in Pandora
and Spotify.
Getting on a popular playlist can really boost your
visibility and fan base.
Shoot and edit a video on your phone, import your audio and upload to
YouTube – bang. People love to click videos. iMovie has a mobile
version for iPhones that will do it all.
Ok, so you need a computer or recording device and a mic to get
started. Besides that, you can do the rest for very little, by
paying for your copyright and digital syndication. Yes, you can
digitally release an album for less than a hundred bucks, believe it or
not. You can even do it for free if you want to upload it to
sites like Bandcamp and Soundcloud and skip the copyright office and
syndication route. Take a screenshot with a datestamp of your release
for your own copyright verification. Or, some people even mail
themselves a copy of their recording with the postmaster's date stamp.
All this said, I don't have a huge following and haven't made a living
selling original music. But I'm doing what I love and making a little
mailbox money. I get periodic payments from BMI and CDBaby –
haven't seen much from Soundexchange yet. But it takes a while for a
fraction of a cent per stream to add up. I'm having fun and I'm able to
easily record music and share it globally without breaking the bank –
and you can too.
