Even though I can't afford to actually join the course right now, I'm still writing lyrics and about to finish recordings I started in...ahemm...2018. Thanks for the push to actually finish something!
The EP is awesome; great songs and production. Congrats to both of you. My favourites are The Good Life, Came to Win, and Myth of You. I follow Alternative genre religiously, so that was an icing on the cake. Thank you, and best wishes!
Hey man I listened to the EP yesterday and my favourite so far is “You don’t know me”. The whole song is great but I love the vocal performances and lyrics the most.
Just listened to the EP. Really great! My favorites were "You Don't Know Me" and "Scream." What a cool collaboration, you both seemed to bring out each other's strengths in this EP! Congrats.
Great EP, I am normally a hip hop guy when listening and producing, man your project was for sure added to my Apple music. Also great info with trying to create a EP. I like and subscribed. Thanks for the content.
Love you dont know me and scream. We are putting out a 12 song album right now, but definitely an ep later on. I liked how you said shop out the mixing if you dont feel comfortable. I just struggle with myself when i mix and its like one of those cheap apple pie snacks vs a warm homemade pie when my buddy does it😂😂 always great stuff from you. You taught me how to record and arrange an produce, ill concede the mixing.
Graham, thank you so much for sharing these experiences. Such a humble action from you. I think this kind of perspective is necessary to let musicians and producers know that effort is required and sometimes as you said it "you treat it like bullet points" and when you reach that point you feel like you took the soul out of it, and it's not the case. It's important for us to also embrace this part of the process and to don't forget that at the end of the day it's also a task but for being a task it doesn't mean it isn't part of something greater. Looking forward to get the course :-)
Dear Graham. Thanks for all your efforts and inspiration here. I actually got around to mixing and arranging better thanks to your teaching on down to core basics. Really liked the songs Graham. I can see how you constantly came back to fix on the Good Life. Im a drummer so I thought What would Phil Collins have done with that song.....my 2 cents if you still feel you need to revisit it. (Take me home comes to mind) My favourite track as a listener is Myth of you, You dont know me and then The Good Life - but it still has potential. All the best - Tom
Thanks as always for the quality information and advice! Regarding the tracks, I think "Myth of You" is the one with breakout potential, because of its strong hook in the chorus and pared-back arrangement. The rest are professionally done (of course!) and pleasant enough to listen to, but nothing really grabbed me, and they could be accused of being overproduced.
COLLABORATION WORKS!!! Yes it does. I was arranging a song couple months ago which to me it sounded great but theres was something missing didnt know what it was until another drummer player re recorded the drums on a studio. He did exactly what I have done but he added he's style...from there the song came to life. It wasn't the drums I did cuz he copied my arrangement ...he just gave he's own feel. The song right now is number 6 on the top christian songs on a radio station in Puerto Rico. -Nirmita Hernandez - Si tu no estas. Just in case somebody wants to listen to it.
Lyrics are the hardest and rewriting is tough! I am a DIYer too and I might be too old to change. ...And picking hits, ya you can only throw stuff against the wall and see what sticks. But I keep releasing oh, singles...ha. ha!
First of all congrats to both of you for a great EP, Love all the songs. They have all their different flavor. Hard to pick one after 1 listen. But there is something with Scream. Like I said, I like them all.
As you mention collaboration - here a tip on how you could extend collaboration to other muscians (if they are like me who plays one instrument only): MusiCollaboration - www.mucol.ch It is an little extension for the DAW called "Reaper". A couple of scripts allow from a "main-project" to generate instrument specific subprojects which can be shared over any of the available cloud-services (such as google-drive, OneDrive, iCloud or Dropbox). The subprojects can be used for recording or practicing independantly from all other project participants. The recordings made in all subprojects and the main-project can be synchronized using plugin-independant backtracks so that everyone involved has the latest work results available to them.
Well done on releasing your EP. Regarding Collab, with my latest project I tried to get a vocalist for 2 years with 0 success so ended up going entirely solo. My vocal skills have a long way to go before I would even rate them as okay, but I am curious to see how I grow as I go.
I think that if one spend a lot of time on something it's very easy to get caught up in the difficult parts and not seeing the forrest because of all those damn treea.
"Collaboration Works" except when it doesn't, which is most of the time. As far as producers go, I've collab'd with 1 who can write music and 1 other person who can do sound design and arrangement. Pretty much everyone else 'adds a sub' to double the bassline, or duplicates a channel with midi effects and dumb 'non-edits' before disappearing when mixdown comes along.
I really like the track Good Life, what reverb did you use on the vocal? And the song Myth Of You, really like the Bass sound. Was that Di or Amp or both?
Graham just downloaded your EP. A question, how do you see how important it is in the classification of the music, you have chosen Alternative. Wondering how you came to that genre choice. Thanks
Hi my name is Tyrone and I am a inspiring beat maker can you give me some tips on how to make the melodies in the beat come together so I can become a better beat maker.
I did an album years ago and had my 2 favorites and one of my "filler" songs became people's favorite, and then because i played it more frequently it became a favorite for me. My favorite never seemed to connect with anyone. It was my favorite for the emotional connection for me, so makes sense it didnt hit others the same way. Great advice here, going to watch more of your EP vids. That seems to be the path my band is on right now, new EP
Random question for anyone. So I’m mixing a song and one thing I always do is play it through my iPhone’s speakers. (I know they’re really bad, but that’s how a lot of people listen to music) so when the phones volume is about half, the mix sounds great. But if I blast the phone speaker volume, the mix starts to sound off. (And this doesn’t happen if I play a professional mix off Spotify, so it’s not the phone) It starts to sound like it’s forcefully pushing air and the dynamics are getting blurred together. I’m wondering should I just turn down the master fader and just prevent the track from ever getting that loud? Or should I add some compression? Just wondering if any of you have experienced this.
For one data point: Drop your mixdown through www.loudnesspenalty.com/ (doesn't upload, all happens in browser) and it will show how much your track would likely be turned down by streaming services. If it indicates a lot of penalty, this could be a clue why things you listen to on Spotify are not overdriving your speakers whereas your mixdown is. ... Even more basic: is your track peaking at no more than -1Db? If going over, that is definitely a problem.
Don't know if you already done it, but try to compress and limit your mix a bit more - could be that there are too many peaks (maybe from Drums) that cause this distorted sound... maybe a brickwallLimiter could help. ✌️
My question is how can I record a keyboard if I don't know how to play it. I'm a guitar player and what happens if my song needs a keyboard. How can I do that?
The problem is that by the time you have done all the hard work on your best song you are sick to death of it. Many famous artists hate their most loved songs. Karen Carpenter hated Solitaire, Jeff Beck hates Hi Ho Silver Lining.
Love the video. Always inspiring and reminding me about how the process works. It's a journey and definitely one that has many ups and downs. Thank you for all you do. I do have a question, I do not have anyone to collaborate with and receiving honest feed back has been a struggle. Would you be will to listen to my first song that I released and give me feedback. I need some help with understanding my mistakes. I'm sure you may even have videos I could watch that could help, but unfortunately I dont even know where to start. Please help, I would appreciate it so so much. Just getting started unfortunately, but I refuse to let my lack of knowledge and understanding stop me from doing what I love.
I been waiting for your next music project! Ima be listening today!
Even though I can't afford to actually join the course right now, I'm still writing lyrics and about to finish recordings I started in...ahemm...2018. Thanks for the push to actually finish something!
Hope u did it!
Man, when you and ill Factor get together, it's fire! That "The Good Life..." exquisite!
“Don’t assume you know, let people tell you!” That was for me! Thank You 🙏🏽
Congratulations on your release! Thank you for sharing what you've learned; it's very motivating to me!
The EP is awesome; great songs and production. Congrats to both of you. My favourites are The Good Life, Came to Win, and Myth of You. I follow Alternative genre religiously, so that was an icing on the cake. Thank you, and best wishes!
Thanks man! 🙏
Especially the first point is so true. I always need to tell me that, and it's so calming to hear it again, here on your channel 🖤
Hey man I listened to the EP yesterday and my favourite so far is “You don’t know me”. The whole song is great but I love the vocal performances and lyrics the most.
Congrats!!! the EP is fire!!! Thank you I needed what you brought!!
Congrats on FINISHING something in order to release it to the world, Graham!! And thanks for the continual boost of inspiration...!
Thank you!
Just listened to the EP. Really great! My favorites were "You Don't Know Me" and "Scream." What a cool collaboration, you both seemed to bring out each other's strengths in this EP! Congrats.
Love this video, still working on my debut album and seeing this has opened my eyes to a lot :) Thanks a ton!
I actually added a few of your songs to my playlist and I'm very particular about what songs I add. Good stuff Graham!
Thanks Graham. Thank you soo much. You can't even imagine in what ways you have helped me in my music career.❤️
Listening to the EP right now. This is great stuff man!!
Oh look, a familiar face! Hi!
I love the cover art for your EP. Your info has got me started into putting myself out there on social media and it has really helped a lot.
Thanks!
Graham! Great job! Scream So I Feel is def my fav! Nice! 👍👍👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Thanks Graham. I just bought your EP. Will listen to it shortly ☺️🙌🏻
Great EP, I am normally a hip hop guy when listening and producing, man your project was for sure added to my Apple music. Also great info with trying to create a EP. I like and subscribed. Thanks for the content.
Thanks for sharing your insights, Graham.
thank Graham for always sharing valuable info!
Love you dont know me and scream. We are putting out a 12 song album right now, but definitely an ep later on. I liked how you said shop out the mixing if you dont feel comfortable. I just struggle with myself when i mix and its like one of those cheap apple pie snacks vs a warm homemade pie when my buddy does it😂😂 always great stuff from you. You taught me how to record and arrange an produce, ill concede the mixing.
Graham, thank you so much for sharing these experiences. Such a humble action from you. I think this kind of perspective is necessary to let musicians and producers know that effort is required and sometimes as you said it "you treat it like bullet points" and when you reach that point you feel like you took the soul out of it, and it's not the case. It's important for us to also embrace this part of the process and to don't forget that at the end of the day it's also a task but for being a task it doesn't mean it isn't part of something greater.
Looking forward to get the course :-)
Glad to help!
You are very honest my Friend 🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗👏🏻👏🏿👏🏽👏👏🏼
Love the new EP Graham! Myth of you is probably my favorite, it has a cool 80's vibe!
Your new album sounds great! I hear Ill Factor's influence. For me, I like your previous album more because of your excellent guitar work!
Thanks to your first video this year, our new single will be release TOMORROW!!! :) Thank you for the inspiration! :)
Weekend - Single by Acillionaire
music.apple.com/za/album/weekend-single/1497188506
Data file host : www.datafilehost.com/d/a662f880
Spotify : open.spotify.com/album/3vMhFIAvugfkumnRJXvLNQ?si=CIjrEE6ySzSytSj7P5CpJA
Apple music: music.apple.com/za/artist/acillionaire/1497173056
UA-cam music: music.ua-cam.com/video/7ZGhaSqPAPE/v-deo.html&feature=share
Instagram: instagram.com/acillionaire/
Twitter: mobile.twitter.com/acillionaire
Facebook: m.facebook.com/acillionaire
Plz send me a link to your music
Heck yes!!! So proud of you.
Graham > great tips! And, listening to your experience(s) validate what I am doing +/-
thanks for keeping us motivated to write and record more music in 2020! BTW "scream" is my fav from the EP, awesome!
I appreciate every single video!
Sounds killer, Graham! Great job. After my first pass, my favs are a toss up between "You Don't Know Me" and "Scream".
"You Don't Know Me" is definitely the strongest track. Sounds like a hit to me
Dear Graham. Thanks for all your efforts and inspiration here. I actually got around to mixing and arranging better thanks to your teaching on down to core basics. Really liked the songs Graham. I can see how you constantly came back to fix on the Good Life. Im a drummer so I thought What would Phil Collins have done with that song.....my 2 cents if you still feel you need to revisit it. (Take me home comes to mind) My favourite track as a listener is Myth of you, You dont know me and then The Good Life - but it still has potential. All the best - Tom
Glad I watched this today :) Thanks for making these points -- always good to refresh :)
Thanks as always for the quality information and advice! Regarding the tracks, I think "Myth of You" is the one with breakout potential, because of its strong hook in the chorus and pared-back arrangement. The rest are professionally done (of course!) and pleasant enough to listen to, but nothing really grabbed me, and they could be accused of being overproduced.
COLLABORATION WORKS!!! Yes it does. I was arranging a song couple months ago which to me it sounded great but theres was something missing didnt know what it was until another drummer player re recorded the drums on a studio. He did exactly what I have done but he added he's style...from there the song came to life. It wasn't the drums I did cuz he copied my arrangement ...he just gave he's own feel. The song right now is number 6 on the top christian songs on a radio station in Puerto Rico. -Nirmita Hernandez - Si tu no estas. Just in case somebody wants to listen to it.
Man I love your Track No.2 You dont know me !! Felt like it was from a movie scene hahah !! Keep it up man !
Lyrics are the hardest and rewriting is tough! I am a DIYer too and I might be too old to change. ...And picking hits, ya you can only throw stuff against the wall and see what sticks. But I keep releasing oh, singles...ha. ha!
Great stuff man. I hope to work with you this year man. From one JMU alum to another: keep up the great work!
First of all congrats to both of you for a great EP, Love all the songs. They have all their different flavor. Hard to pick one after 1 listen. But there is something with Scream. Like I said, I like them all.
As you mention collaboration - here a tip on how you could extend collaboration to other muscians (if they are like me who plays one instrument only): MusiCollaboration - www.mucol.ch
It is an little extension for the DAW called "Reaper". A couple of scripts allow from a "main-project" to generate instrument specific subprojects which can be shared over any of the available cloud-services (such as google-drive, OneDrive, iCloud or Dropbox). The subprojects can be used for recording or practicing independantly from all other project participants. The recordings made in all subprojects and the main-project can be synchronized using plugin-independant backtracks so that everyone involved has the latest work results available to them.
Well done on releasing your EP. Regarding Collab, with my latest project I tried to get a vocalist for 2 years with 0 success so ended up going entirely solo. My vocal skills have a long way to go before I would even rate them as okay, but I am curious to see how I grow as I go.
Point 3 is too accurate, one of the tracks I really had to struggle to get through was my most streamed. I was like *wut* *why*
Fascinating
I think that if one spend a lot of time on something it's very easy to get caught up in the difficult parts and not seeing the forrest because of all those damn treea.
The URL is not working for me; however I received your email re: the EP Blueprint > many Thanks!
What platform did you sell your EP on?
"Collaboration Works"
except when it doesn't, which is most of the time.
As far as producers go, I've collab'd with 1 who can write music and 1 other person who can do sound design and arrangement. Pretty much everyone else 'adds a sub' to double the bassline, or duplicates a channel with midi effects and dumb 'non-edits' before disappearing when mixdown comes along.
Sounds like you need to work with better people and develop some actual friendships with musicians you trust. Not easy - but worth it.
Took a listen to “the good life” !!!
Thanks!
I really like the track Good Life, what reverb did you use on the vocal? And the song Myth Of You, really like the Bass sound. Was that Di or Amp or both?
Graham just downloaded your EP. A question, how do you see how important it is in the classification of the music, you have chosen Alternative. Wondering how you came to that genre choice. Thanks
Hi my name is Tyrone and I am a inspiring beat maker can you give me some tips on how to make the melodies in the beat come together so I can become a better beat maker.
I did an album years ago and had my 2 favorites and one of my "filler" songs became people's favorite, and then because i played it more frequently it became a favorite for me. My favorite never seemed to connect with anyone. It was my favorite for the emotional connection for me, so makes sense it didnt hit others the same way. Great advice here, going to watch more of your EP vids. That seems to be the path my band is on right now, new EP
you don't know me is the best one haha!
Thanks!
My favorite is "Myth of You".
Random question for anyone. So I’m mixing a song and one thing I always do is play it through my iPhone’s speakers. (I know they’re really bad, but that’s how a lot of people listen to music) so when the phones volume is about half, the mix sounds great. But if I blast the phone speaker volume, the mix starts to sound off. (And this doesn’t happen if I play a professional mix off Spotify, so it’s not the phone) It starts to sound like it’s forcefully pushing air and the dynamics are getting blurred together. I’m wondering should I just turn down the master fader and just prevent the track from ever getting that loud? Or should I add some compression? Just wondering if any of you have experienced this.
For one data point: Drop your mixdown through www.loudnesspenalty.com/ (doesn't upload, all happens in browser) and it will show how much your track would likely be turned down by streaming services. If it indicates a lot of penalty, this could be a clue why things you listen to on Spotify are not overdriving your speakers whereas your mixdown is. ... Even more basic: is your track peaking at no more than -1Db? If going over, that is definitely a problem.
Don't know if you already done it, but try to compress and limit your mix a bit more - could be that there are too many peaks (maybe from Drums) that cause this distorted sound... maybe a brickwallLimiter could help. ✌️
If I sent you my song would you give me advice on what you think of the quality meaning mixing and mastering production and even song
Yoo can someone link me the video where the roots played his track? 😭
My question is how can I record a keyboard if I don't know how to play it. I'm a guitar player and what happens if my song needs a keyboard. How can I do that?
Point 3...I did a 5 album set...55 tracks..the top ten streamers..I would have only predicted one of them
What does EP mean?
Here ya go: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_play
Extended play
The problem is that by the time you have done all the hard work on your best song you are sick to death of it. Many famous artists hate their most loved songs. Karen Carpenter hated Solitaire, Jeff Beck hates Hi Ho Silver Lining.
What's your band called, alethia? What does that mean, man?
You don’t know me is my favorite
every song sooner or later becomes work
Love the video. Always inspiring and reminding me about how the process works. It's a journey and definitely one that has many ups and downs. Thank you for all you do. I do have a question, I do not have anyone to collaborate with and receiving honest feed back has been a struggle. Would you be will to listen to my first song that I released and give me feedback. I need some help with understanding my mistakes. I'm sure you may even have videos I could watch that could help, but unfortunately I dont even know where to start. Please help, I would appreciate it so so much. Just getting started unfortunately, but I refuse to let my lack of knowledge and understanding stop me from doing what I love.
Don't like them to be honest...but if I had to pick one....The Myth of you....because of the instrumentation...
'I don't need humans...' :)
every year the same routine
Still forgot the part, make good music.